Alistair Cross > Alistair's Quotes

“Self-confidence is usually little more than wishful thinking in a thigh-high pair of Come F*ck Me boots.”
― Alistair Cross

“Any writer of horror needs to at least have a good, solid love of the genre. Also, good horror writers need to have a slightly twisted sense of humor. Without humor, horror just isn’t as good.”
― Alistair Cross

“Good horror is written by people who understand that fear is one of the cardinal passageways into the core of humanity. Good horror is generally written by folks who grew up on horror; books, movies, etc. You can’t simply decide to write—in any genre—if you don’t first have an understanding of the topic and a strong mental backlog of reference.”
― Alistair Cross

“They want to be stimulated. They want to read something that can get under their skin and hang out there for a while.”
― Alistair Cross

“Deadlines help me, but my muse hates them. My muse functions in fits and starts, and tends to take very long vacations. Deadlines are like a hot poker to his ass. They force us both to sit down and write, which is what it takes to do this.”
― Alistair Cross

“Most of all, kink comes up in my writing because that is, very simply, just the way the cat o’ nine tails flails. Any writer knows that there isn’t always an explanation for the behaviors of his or her characters and the subjects of his or her storylines. For whatever reason, kink just kind of comes out of me.”
― Alistair Cross

“The trouble, I think, is that horror is often confused with slasher, gore, and torture porn - which are actually very different entities. Slasher tends to be thin on plot and heavy on body count, whereas horror, as a veritable genre, leans more heavily on issues of morality - the eternal struggle between good and evil. Horror, as I understand it, demands answers to the hard questions about right and wrong.”
― Alistair Cross

“Horror doesn’t concern itself with the material world. It doesn’t worry about what shoes you should wear or whom you should date. Horror tends to ask – and demand answers to – the harder questions in life. Horror wants to know the meaning of it all.”
― Alistair Cross

“After a while, the people around you come to understand that you're serious about your writing, and then they treat it seriously, as well. But if you treat it like a hobby, so will everyone else.”
― Alistair Cross

“What is art, if not the mind materialized?”
― Alistair Cross

“I haven't noticed that horror gets any less respect than most fictional genres. Many of the most notable classics (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe) are horror. Even Dickens' A Christmas Carol, one of the most famous and most celebrated stories of all time is, at its core, a horror story with all of its ghosts, hauntings, and macabre imagery. So horror, from my experience, gets its fair share of respect.”
― Alistair Cross

“I don’t believe I write horror as a means to conquer fear, no. As for my childhood fears, I mostly feared real threats such as intruders. As for ghosts and vampires and such, I only looked forward to meeting one.”
― Alistair Cross

“I think erotica goes nicely with horror, and so do romance and history - but to be honest, if it's got horror, I'm happy!”
― Alistair Cross

“I think that horror and comedy go together for the same reason sweet and sour go together. They compliment each other because both sit at extreme ends of the spectrum and, alone, can be very intense. They offset each other nicely.”
― Alistair Cross

“I've loved Anne Rice's books all my life and being able to talk with her was surreal. It was the only time I've ever been truly starstruck.”
― Alistair Cross

“I remember writing all kinds of stories as a kid, but I really don’t know what the first thing was. Whatever it was, I’m certain it was bloody and twisted, though, and probably involved talking cats.”
― Alistair Cross

“I would have to say that what scares readers most these days is the same thing that scared them centuries ago: the unknown. The world may change, but being human really doesn't. We're all more terrified by the things we can't see than the things we can. I believe that's because the human imagination is darker and scarier than any reality.”
― Alistair Cross

“I think horror, when done well, is one of the most direct and honest ways to get to the core of the human experience because terror reduces all of us to our most authentic forms.”
― Alistair Cross

“I think good promotion is every bit as important as a good product. I consider it arrogant to assume the world will care that I wrote a book.”
― Alistair Cross

“I do believe in evil. It's a tricky word because of its religious connotations, but in a general sense, yes, I definitely believe it exists. And I think we've all seen it at work in some form or another.”
― Alistair Cross

“I’m certain I’ve written things that have offended people, yes – but no, I have never written anything for the sake of shock. Shock value isn’t strong enough to stand alone. It’s too easy. If you’re going to drop jaws, you had better have a point.”
― Alistair Cross

“That's how stories are born - mysterious noises, creaks on the stairs, bumps in the night, and tricks of the light.”
― Alistair Cross

“If people feel like you’re trying to educate them on some invaluable life lesson, they’re going to fade. People don’t generally pick up horror novels to get a sermon… but yes, I think there is a definite responsibility on the part of any writer to not only entertain the reader, but also to try to bring him or her a new perspective on something, or a closer look at some dark corner of the heart, the mind, or the world.”
― Alistair Cross

“I'm more interested in the mystery - the quiet horror. Personally, I'm far more intrigued by the creak of the floorboard than the ax-weilding madman.”
― Alistair Cross

“I've always thought the best way to promote a book is to write a damned good one. If it's good enough, people will talk about it and do a large part of the marketing for you.”
― Alistair Cross

“My big dream was to write. I never thought about movie deals or book awards or bestseller lists. I still don't. All I've ever wanted from this gig is to sell enough books to allow me to keep writing more of them.”
― Alistair Cross

“She (Tamara Thorne) has this fascinating way of wrapping herself around the things I write and bringing out the best in my writing, and I often think that if it were a sound we were creating, it would be a pitch-perfect harmony.”
― Alistair Cross

“People have an idea of what writers are: crazy; intellectual; moody; slightly more interesting than other people. Sometimes you just have to throw a chair, set something on fire, let loose with a random string of profanities, (or at least wear an obnoxious hat) just so they don’t feel cheated.”
― Alistair Cross

“I'd like to be a handsome corpse. At my funeral, I'd like people to look in my coffin and say, "Wow. He's so handsome when he's dead!"

I guess it'd be kind of okay, too, if they made my books required reading in schools or something, but as far as leaving a legacy goes, I just want to be the hottest cadaver in the graveyard.”
― Alistair Cross

“I’d been reading Tamara Thorne's books since the mid-nineties, and to say I was intimidated would be a great understatement… but as I’ve said many times before, when horror-lit royalty like Tamara Thorne asks you to collaborate, you don’t say no. So, I agreed to do it.”
― Alistair Cross