Richard Milleville
asked
Alma Katsu:
I've read accounts of that many times and people may have an opinion, but it doesn't mean squat until you're put into that position. This is not meant to be disrespectful but everyone has a breaking point. That point can change from year to year such as in the book, "The Red Badge of Courage." This is a thing that will drive a man crazy or he will be scorned to death. The question I must ask is what do you fear?
Alma Katsu
Hi Richard, You're right, what a person fears is apt to change over the course of one's life. Generally, when I'm asked this question I tell people I don't have any fears, not in the conventional sense, because at one point in my life, I had a job in which I had to deal with the worst of humanity--genocides and mass atrocities. This was in the 1990s, so there was no shortage of this kind of collective insanity. Living in the relative peace of the US, you realize that you will never face this kind of threat and it makes your personal fears seem trivial. That's not to say down the road, something might come along that will teach me to be afraid again, but I've found that being unafraid to look the worst in the eye does lends itself to writing horror.
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