Glen Hirshberg's Blog - Posts Tagged "peter-atkins"
Interview by Brian Lillie
Brian Lillie, who played a CRUCIAL role in helping me set up my Ann Arbor gig on July 21st, has conducted an interview with me. Asked me some smart, good questions, too (so thanks yet again, Brian). I've posted the whole interview below:
Acclaimed horror author Glen Hirshberg coming to Ann Arbor’s Literati Bookstore July 21st, 7:00 pm
July 10, 2014 at 10:02am
Glen Hirshberg , celebrated author of ‘spectral fiction’, is coming to Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor on July 21st to read from his acclaimed novel Motherless Child , recently published by Tor Books.
The Los Angeles Times Review of Books wrote about Motherless Child : “Always one of his generation’s finest stylists, its most able students of character, [Hirshberg] has written one of the best books of the year”. Its many other accolades include starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, as well as praise from such genre stalwarts as Locus, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Fangoria.
Glen was kind enough to answer a few questions about growing up in Detroit, the genesis of Motherless Child , the importance of music in his life, and the infamous Rolling Dark Revue…
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your connection to Detroit?
GH: I grew up in suburban Detroit; my family left for the west coast just before my 14th birthday. Not only have I always considered myself a Detroiter--and been grateful that I spent my key formative years there instead of in California--but I think the city continues to color everything I write.
Detroit's tragedies and its resilience, its magnificent, messy mix of cultures and peoples and classes, its industrial-colored skies and its lakes, its subcultures springing up, constantly amid the ruins...it's not just my kind of place. It's still me.
Q: Your new novel Motherless Child is a vampire tale that is as much an ode to motherhood and friendship as it is a scary-as-hell horror novel. What were the threads that led you to write this book?
GH: To be honest, I never thought I'd write a vampire story. In fact, I was determined not to. But those two women at the heart of the novel, Natalie and Sophie, waltzed into my head one day and started chattering. And given that my father was part of the team that DESIGNED the original GTO, I think I was pretty much fated to try a proper road novel, sooner or later (although, honestly, ALL of my novels have been road novels of one sort or another).
Those things, plus my experiences living in the South, plus a nagging sense that people have been getting too comfortable with monsters, losing track of the fact that they ARE monsters... I think those all blended together over time, and one day, Motherless Child just started spilling out.
Q: Motherless Child is chockfull of music, both in the actual story and in the characters’ lives. What can you say about the importance of music in your own life and writing?
GH: I've been a passionate music junkie all my life. My first professional writing gig was as a critic in Seattle, right as that whole scene broke. My dad had a hit single in 1957. I still have a band.
But until Motherless Child , music hadn't played so central a role in my fiction. Pretty early, though, I realized how important music would be both to Natalie (the heroine) and the Whistler (arguably the most monstrous of the book's monsters). After that, I just started having fun. From the "Da Doo Ron Ron" riff in the novel's first lines ("She met him on a Monday. Her heart stood still. At the time, she thought his did, too. Of course, she turned out to be right about that") on down. I sang this book as much as wrote it.
Q: You are known for your live readings, including the infamous Rolling Dark Revue. What can people expect at your Literati reading?
GH: I wish I could bring the whole Rolling Dark experience to Ann Arbor. The RDR was originally dreamed up by the great Dennis Etchison, screenwriter/novelist Peter Atkins, and me over endless Big Boys and conversation at the Bob's in Burbank. We were lamenting how NOT fun most readings tend to be. So, after too many discussions about what we could do to make them better...we set out to make them better.
Dennis retired pretty early on, but Pete and I have developed the thing into an annual event that tours the west coast every fall, and has also done some international dates. Essentially, we drape a framing play (usually featuring a scenario that ends with Pete and I dying, every single year) around three ghost story readings. Our 10th Anniversary show is coming up.
My Literati reading will probably be more of a straight-up reading (the horror bluegrass band we were shooting for couldn't make it). I can only promise that I've at least honed my skills over years of performing. I'll bring what I've got. Maybe I'll even sing.
LITERATI BOOKSTORE is located at 124 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. For more information: 734-585-5567, info@literatibookstore.com
Click to read and share this interview on facebook-->
Jerry Hirshberg's book.
The New York Times on my dad, Jerry Hirshberg,
Acclaimed horror author Glen Hirshberg coming to Ann Arbor’s Literati Bookstore July 21st, 7:00 pm
July 10, 2014 at 10:02am
Glen Hirshberg , celebrated author of ‘spectral fiction’, is coming to Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor on July 21st to read from his acclaimed novel Motherless Child , recently published by Tor Books.
The Los Angeles Times Review of Books wrote about Motherless Child : “Always one of his generation’s finest stylists, its most able students of character, [Hirshberg] has written one of the best books of the year”. Its many other accolades include starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist, as well as praise from such genre stalwarts as Locus, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Fangoria.
Glen was kind enough to answer a few questions about growing up in Detroit, the genesis of Motherless Child , the importance of music in his life, and the infamous Rolling Dark Revue…
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your connection to Detroit?
GH: I grew up in suburban Detroit; my family left for the west coast just before my 14th birthday. Not only have I always considered myself a Detroiter--and been grateful that I spent my key formative years there instead of in California--but I think the city continues to color everything I write.
Detroit's tragedies and its resilience, its magnificent, messy mix of cultures and peoples and classes, its industrial-colored skies and its lakes, its subcultures springing up, constantly amid the ruins...it's not just my kind of place. It's still me.
Q: Your new novel Motherless Child is a vampire tale that is as much an ode to motherhood and friendship as it is a scary-as-hell horror novel. What were the threads that led you to write this book?
GH: To be honest, I never thought I'd write a vampire story. In fact, I was determined not to. But those two women at the heart of the novel, Natalie and Sophie, waltzed into my head one day and started chattering. And given that my father was part of the team that DESIGNED the original GTO, I think I was pretty much fated to try a proper road novel, sooner or later (although, honestly, ALL of my novels have been road novels of one sort or another).
Those things, plus my experiences living in the South, plus a nagging sense that people have been getting too comfortable with monsters, losing track of the fact that they ARE monsters... I think those all blended together over time, and one day, Motherless Child just started spilling out.
Q: Motherless Child is chockfull of music, both in the actual story and in the characters’ lives. What can you say about the importance of music in your own life and writing?
GH: I've been a passionate music junkie all my life. My first professional writing gig was as a critic in Seattle, right as that whole scene broke. My dad had a hit single in 1957. I still have a band.
But until Motherless Child , music hadn't played so central a role in my fiction. Pretty early, though, I realized how important music would be both to Natalie (the heroine) and the Whistler (arguably the most monstrous of the book's monsters). After that, I just started having fun. From the "Da Doo Ron Ron" riff in the novel's first lines ("She met him on a Monday. Her heart stood still. At the time, she thought his did, too. Of course, she turned out to be right about that") on down. I sang this book as much as wrote it.
Q: You are known for your live readings, including the infamous Rolling Dark Revue. What can people expect at your Literati reading?
GH: I wish I could bring the whole Rolling Dark experience to Ann Arbor. The RDR was originally dreamed up by the great Dennis Etchison, screenwriter/novelist Peter Atkins, and me over endless Big Boys and conversation at the Bob's in Burbank. We were lamenting how NOT fun most readings tend to be. So, after too many discussions about what we could do to make them better...we set out to make them better.
Dennis retired pretty early on, but Pete and I have developed the thing into an annual event that tours the west coast every fall, and has also done some international dates. Essentially, we drape a framing play (usually featuring a scenario that ends with Pete and I dying, every single year) around three ghost story readings. Our 10th Anniversary show is coming up.
My Literati reading will probably be more of a straight-up reading (the horror bluegrass band we were shooting for couldn't make it). I can only promise that I've at least honed my skills over years of performing. I'll bring what I've got. Maybe I'll even sing.
LITERATI BOOKSTORE is located at 124 E. Washington Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. For more information: 734-585-5567, info@literatibookstore.com
Click to read and share this interview on facebook-->
Jerry Hirshberg's book.
The New York Times on my dad, Jerry Hirshberg,
Year's Best Dark Fantasy
Just arrived: my contributor's copies of Paula Guran's The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Edition antho, which features BOTH Peter Atkins' and my stories from last year's Rolling Darkness Revue (The Imposter's Monocle). My story, "Pride," is the second of my tales featuring the Collector, my vaguely Mysterious Mr. Quin-style central figure--more catalyst than occult detective or even protagonist--and the second straight to appear in one of the major year's best collections. Lots of great stuff in this book, from Nathan Ballingrud, Kit Reed, Dale Bailey, Steve Duffy, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, and more. And Peter Atkins's story may be my favorite single thing he's done, which is saying a serious something, as far as I'm concerned.
Interviews and "Like Lick Em Sticks"
In preparation for teaching Motherless Child at the University of Ottawa last week, the redoubtable Sean Moreland conducted a new interview with me for the excellent Postscripts to Darkness website and zine. That interview, plus a rare reprint of my story, "Like Lick Em Sticks, Like Tina Fey"--the vampire tale I swore I'd never write, that triggered the trilogy I couldn't have imagined--can be found at the link above. Sean and James Greatrex also conducted the longest and best interview ever with Peter Atkins and me about the Rolling Darkness Revue a few years back, and you can find that archived on the site as well.
Special kudos to Sebyth for the stunning illustration,
which I so wish could be the cover of the forthcoming MOTHERLESS paperback...
Special kudos to Sebyth for the stunning illustration,
which I so wish could be the cover of the forthcoming MOTHERLESS paperback...
Rolling Dark 2015
The line-up for the last (?) Rolling Darkness Revue shows. Dates and location should follow by the end of the weekend. And just wait until you see the chapbook cover...
The contents:
The Voyage of the Dead (framing play by Peter Atkins and Glen Hirshberg)
"He Wasn't There Again Today" by Peter Atkins
"Cheap Medicine" by Thomas St. John Bartlett
"The Ones Who Are Waving: A Last Rolling Darkness Revue Story" by Glen Hirshberg
Show features the great Kevin Gregg, reprising his role as Ganymede, the gentleman-butler of the Underworld...Kate Hirshberg, reprising her role as Ms. Blister, the Queen of Hell...music by the Rolling Dark House Band (Jonas Yip and Rex Flowers)...Glen and Pete...and a few other surprises.
Once more, with feeling, y'all. Last call. Can't wait...
The contents:
The Voyage of the Dead (framing play by Peter Atkins and Glen Hirshberg)
"He Wasn't There Again Today" by Peter Atkins
"Cheap Medicine" by Thomas St. John Bartlett
"The Ones Who Are Waving: A Last Rolling Darkness Revue Story" by Glen Hirshberg
Show features the great Kevin Gregg, reprising his role as Ganymede, the gentleman-butler of the Underworld...Kate Hirshberg, reprising her role as Ms. Blister, the Queen of Hell...music by the Rolling Dark House Band (Jonas Yip and Rex Flowers)...Glen and Pete...and a few other surprises.
Once more, with feeling, y'all. Last call. Can't wait...
What Scares Horror Writers
In her article for the Nerd Element "Everybody Scares Sometimes" Desiree Guzzetta talks with us scaryfolk (including the entire original Rolling Darkness Revue, Dennis Etchison, Peter Atkins, and me, plus my pals Kate Maruyama and Lisa Morton) about stories that scare us.
My choice is one of Ramsey Campbell's...Could have been many of Ramsey's...
My choice is one of Ramsey Campbell's...Could have been many of Ramsey's...
