Editor Interview – David Watson on Horror Addicts Guide to Life

It’s an honour today to have the editor for the Horror Addicts Guide to Life in Killion’s Kave.  Please welcome to the spotlight, David Watson, the nicest, horrific bloke I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing.  

Let’s learn more about how the guide came to fruition, shall we?

So tell me about the concept “Horror Addicts Guide to Life” where did it originate? Why the guide, what is it’s purpose?

When I first came on staff five plus years ago, I had heard of a book that was a goth guide to life. I liked the concept of a group of people who see the world the same having a lifestyle manual. Right away I thought: “I’m a writer for horroraddicts.net, this is a website/podcast that looks at horror as a lifestyle so why not have The Horror Addicts Guide to Life.”

I brought up the idea to Emerian Rich four times and on my fourth try she decided it was a good idea and we should work on it. I wanted this guide to show people who make horror part of their everyday life by watching movies, listening to music, reading and dressing up. There are a lot of different aspects to the horror lifestyle, and hopefully we did a good job touching on all of them.

This book has a horror almanac, horror-themed recipes, articles on horror writing, party planning, healthy eating, advice on surviving the zombie apocalypse and so much more.

It’s amazing how much horror affects the everyday lives of so many people. When did you decide horror was a major part of your life?

I can’t remember a time I didn’t like horror. When I was a kid, I can remember seeing Universal monster movies and thinking they were great. I remember any time I made up a game as a kid there was always a monster in it. One thing that really inspired me to love horror was seeing the 1979 version of The Amityville Horror as a kid with some younger cousins.  They screamed through the whole movie, and I thought it was the most awesome thing ever.

Me too! I am a huge fan of creature feature and B horror movies.

I’m anxious to learn more about topics such as The Gothic Tea Society and Horror Party Planning. What inspired the topics of this guide?

Emerian Rich and I did some brainstorming on what we thought were important topics to have in a book about the horror lifestyle. We felt you had to have things like horror viewing, horror writing, horror reading, fashion, art, party planning and lifestyle. The Gothic Tea Society is an article by Kristin Battestella about a group of Goths who have interesting and eccentric personalities, they look at the Odd, Mis-Matched, Bizarre and Unusual and also share their views about goth culture.

We also included a lot on party planning here because what horror addict doesn’t want to have a horror themed party. There are several pumpkin recipes by Dan Shaurette.  A creepy crawly party planner by Chantal Boudreau, and some bloody good party games by Emerian Rich.

Would you say that the “Horror Addicts Guide to Life” is a culmination of the many years of stories, podcasts, contests, and interviews they have entertained us with over the years?

Yes, we get into the history of the show quite a bit in this book and we talk about our favorite interviews, stories and moments from the show. So if you were a fan of the podcast this is a must read.

Definitely, a Must Read!

What is the name of cool font used in the table of contents?

The fonts were done by our publisher and Horror Addicts hostess Emerian Rich, she used two fonts, the funky one is rock show whiplash and the other pretty font is called A Charming Font. We we’re trying to give the book an artistic independent feel, so we didn’t want to use just a plain font.

What is your favorite part of the book? Was there a section where you would like to have seen more of content expanded?

There are so many excellent articles in The Horror Addicts Guide To Life that its hard to just pick one, I like the almanac quite a bit because I like the fact that there is so much horror trivia in one place and I like that it gives horror themed activities and movies to watch for each month.

Another Article that I really liked was Practicing Safe Satisfaction by Laurel Anne Hill, the title alone really sticks out and it talks about how you can get a horror fix when your in a situation like a meeting at work. I look at horror fans as having a good sense of humor and this was a good funny article.

One article that we don’t have that I wish we did was something on how a horror addict would date a non horror addict. Even though we don’t have that we do have a story by James Newman called: More To Offer Than Blood And Boobs (Not That There Is Anything Wrong With That) Or Seven First Class Fright Films To Show The Uninitiated. It may not be about dating but it shows how we can share are passion with non horror lovers.

I should have written that one since I have to bribe my spouse to watch scary movies with me!  LOL

Is there a possibility of this guide rolling out to become an annual event?

I’m not sure if it will be an annual event but we might have the occasional blog post on the horror addicts blog that will expand on the idea of horror as a lifestyle. One idea that I’ve been kicking around is based on an article in The Horror Addicts Guide To Life called The Horror Addicts Guide To Good Health by SparkyLee Anderson. In this article she talks about how important it is for a horror addict to stay healthy. This got me thinking: Would it be possible to create a horror themed workout and healthy eating plan? This is something I want to write about in the future.

Tell us what is a day in the life of a horror editor like for horror addicts?

Editing The Horror Addicts Guide To Life was a big task, I had never done anything like this, so I was lucky to get a lot of help from Emerian on it. I loved working with all the different authors on the project and hearing about all the different ideas they had. One thing I got out of this project was a deeper respect for how hard writers and editors work. Its not easy to get your ideas down on paper and make them sound good to an audience.

I’m a constant reader and have always loved writers but now that I’ve worked on a book myself I see writers and editors in a different light. Writing is an art form and its something you have to practice at if you want to find your voice and an audience. Writers deserve more respect then they get and I’m hoping in the future I can get better at helping writers promote themselves.

 

 

 

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Killion Slade is comprised of a married writing team who met in the virtual realms of Second Life and virtually enjoy everything. Mrs. Slade crafts & writes their stories, while Mr. Slade concentrates on publishing. Members of the Horrors Writers Association and the Paranormal Romance Guild, they storyboard their characters inside Second Life as their avatars reveal their stories. Killion’s published short stories can be found in Sirens Call, The Danse Macabre, Cynic Magazine, Bewildering Stories, Midwest Literary Magazine and in the anthologies Bite from the Heart, Death Sparkles and the upcoming anthologies The Ghoul Saloon from Static Movement and Roms, Bombs, and Zoms from Evil Girlfriend Media. Mrs. Slade was the winner of the 2012 Wicked Women Writers Award for “Children of Angels” short story podcast from Horror Addicts. Killion has found a new love of turning the written word into an audio podcast auralgasm.