10 Questions with Wrath James White
1. Where did you come up with the idea of having a novel featuring zombie cage fighting?
I was contacted by Severed Press about doing a zombie novel. As you know, there is a glut of rotting corpses stumbling around the horror bookshelves. The prospect of adding to the deluge of offal was, to say the least, unappealing. But, I like to pride myself on not turning down a challenge. So, I considered what I might be able to bring to the table that no one else could, and the answer was my fighting career. There aren't many other horror writers out there with my fighting background. It would be foolish not to utilize that.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
Like most other horror authors who grew up in the 80s, reading Stephen King was what made me want to write horror. Everything I have ever read, watched, or otherwise experienced has influenced my style in one way or another.
3. What is the best zombie novel that you’ve ever read?
I would have to give credit to Jonathan Mayberry's Patient Zero. That was a clever and original take on the zombie mythos. I enjoyed World War Z as well.
4. What current writing projects are you working on?
I am collaborating with Monica J. O'Rourke on an erotica novel. No horror, just straight erotica. BDSM erotica to be specific.
5. Who would win in a fight in their prime, Bruce Lee or former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva?
You would have to assume that, were they contemporaries, Bruce Lee would have comparable knowledge and his skills would have evolved along with the sport of MMA, so what we would really be discussing is their physical gifts.
Even were you to give Lee a slight edge in speed, the edge in size, reflexes, and athleticism would still go to Silva. That's a lot to overcome.
6. What advice do you have for beginning writers?
Experience the world. Diversify your interests, your hobbies, and your knowledge. Being a more interesting person will make you a more interesting writer. Just sitting at home reading horror novels, watching horror movies, and playing video games won't cut it. You have to live!
Don't just read outside the genre, live outside the genre. Go outside your cultural, societal, ideological, and geographic bubble as much as possible. Live an interesting life.
7. How has your background in combat sports helped you as a writer?
As I mentioned earlier, it gives me experiences to draw upon that are outside the mainstream. And, of course, when I write about physical violence, I can speak from direct experience.
Once, I wrote a story in which a guy stabbed someone to death after being shot, but couldn't remember doing it. The editor found it unbelievable that someone could do that, but have no conscious memory of it. I then told him about how I chased four guys with a knife for three blocks after being knocked unconscious and could not remember doing it. I heard about it from the cop who stopped me. I have also fought entire rounds that I couldn't recall after taking a particularly hard shot square on the jaw. There's no substitute for experience.
8. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
No. The only limits would be in how deeply and graphically I explore those subjects.
9. What draws you to writing extreme or hardcore horror?
How do you define success as a writer?
I write what appeals to me, and I have never bought that idea that a writer should "leave it to the reader's imagination". As a reader, I hate that shit. I always found it to be gutless and lazy. Even now that I am a writer as well as a reader, and know that writing less graphic horror is a stylistic choice, not due to a lack of courage or ability on the author's part, it still pisses me off as a reader. I will not write that way. I believe readers are paying us for our imagination, not to leave it to their own. If that makes me "extreme", so be it.
I will feel successful when I can pay all my bills by putting words on paper, and can quit my day job.
10. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Jack Ketchum would be my dream collaboration. That said, if I got a call from Clive Barker to collaborate on a new Hellraiser novel, I would probably orgasm.
Another collaboration that I have been dying to do for years appears to be coming to fruition next year, under unfortunate circumstances, I'm sad to say. Hopefully, something positive and wonderful will emerge from the tragedy that spawned it. That's all I can say about that one, for now.
10. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Jack Ketchum would be my dream collaboration. That said, if I got a call from Clive Barker to collaborate on a new Hellraiser novel, I would probably orgasm.
Another collaboration that I have been dying to do for years appears to be coming to fruition next year, under unfortunate circumstances, I'm sad to say. Hopefully, something positive and wonderful will emerge from the tragedy that spawned it. That's all I can say about that one, for now.
I was contacted by Severed Press about doing a zombie novel. As you know, there is a glut of rotting corpses stumbling around the horror bookshelves. The prospect of adding to the deluge of offal was, to say the least, unappealing. But, I like to pride myself on not turning down a challenge. So, I considered what I might be able to bring to the table that no one else could, and the answer was my fighting career. There aren't many other horror writers out there with my fighting background. It would be foolish not to utilize that.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
Like most other horror authors who grew up in the 80s, reading Stephen King was what made me want to write horror. Everything I have ever read, watched, or otherwise experienced has influenced my style in one way or another.
3. What is the best zombie novel that you’ve ever read?
I would have to give credit to Jonathan Mayberry's Patient Zero. That was a clever and original take on the zombie mythos. I enjoyed World War Z as well.
4. What current writing projects are you working on?
I am collaborating with Monica J. O'Rourke on an erotica novel. No horror, just straight erotica. BDSM erotica to be specific.
5. Who would win in a fight in their prime, Bruce Lee or former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva?
You would have to assume that, were they contemporaries, Bruce Lee would have comparable knowledge and his skills would have evolved along with the sport of MMA, so what we would really be discussing is their physical gifts.
Even were you to give Lee a slight edge in speed, the edge in size, reflexes, and athleticism would still go to Silva. That's a lot to overcome.
6. What advice do you have for beginning writers?
Experience the world. Diversify your interests, your hobbies, and your knowledge. Being a more interesting person will make you a more interesting writer. Just sitting at home reading horror novels, watching horror movies, and playing video games won't cut it. You have to live!
Don't just read outside the genre, live outside the genre. Go outside your cultural, societal, ideological, and geographic bubble as much as possible. Live an interesting life.
7. How has your background in combat sports helped you as a writer?
As I mentioned earlier, it gives me experiences to draw upon that are outside the mainstream. And, of course, when I write about physical violence, I can speak from direct experience.
Once, I wrote a story in which a guy stabbed someone to death after being shot, but couldn't remember doing it. The editor found it unbelievable that someone could do that, but have no conscious memory of it. I then told him about how I chased four guys with a knife for three blocks after being knocked unconscious and could not remember doing it. I heard about it from the cop who stopped me. I have also fought entire rounds that I couldn't recall after taking a particularly hard shot square on the jaw. There's no substitute for experience.
8. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
No. The only limits would be in how deeply and graphically I explore those subjects.
9. What draws you to writing extreme or hardcore horror?
How do you define success as a writer?
I write what appeals to me, and I have never bought that idea that a writer should "leave it to the reader's imagination". As a reader, I hate that shit. I always found it to be gutless and lazy. Even now that I am a writer as well as a reader, and know that writing less graphic horror is a stylistic choice, not due to a lack of courage or ability on the author's part, it still pisses me off as a reader. I will not write that way. I believe readers are paying us for our imagination, not to leave it to their own. If that makes me "extreme", so be it.
I will feel successful when I can pay all my bills by putting words on paper, and can quit my day job.
10. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Jack Ketchum would be my dream collaboration. That said, if I got a call from Clive Barker to collaborate on a new Hellraiser novel, I would probably orgasm.
Another collaboration that I have been dying to do for years appears to be coming to fruition next year, under unfortunate circumstances, I'm sad to say. Hopefully, something positive and wonderful will emerge from the tragedy that spawned it. That's all I can say about that one, for now.
10. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Jack Ketchum would be my dream collaboration. That said, if I got a call from Clive Barker to collaborate on a new Hellraiser novel, I would probably orgasm.
Another collaboration that I have been dying to do for years appears to be coming to fruition next year, under unfortunate circumstances, I'm sad to say. Hopefully, something positive and wonderful will emerge from the tragedy that spawned it. That's all I can say about that one, for now.
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