Dragon Soul Press had the chance to interview Caleb James K., an author featured in Beautiful Darkness: Volume Three!
1) Introduce yourself!
As anyone who has ever met me can attest, I’m terrible at introducing myself. The only thing I’m worse at is introducing other people to each other. Digressions aside, I’m a former freelance writer, a current fiction writer, and the host of the most sophisticated lowbrow literary podcast on the market, the Drunken Pen Writing Podcast. If the name makes you suspect that the podcast is recorded in a filthy back alley by inebriated dunderheads pretending to know what they’re talking about, you wouldn’t be wrong.
2) What prompted you to begin writing?
Growing up in the 90s, my family was poor. Not a “Oh no, our dirt farm isn’t producing enough dirt, let’s pack up and move to California” level of poverty, but we were borderline destitute. Welfare generally kept us fed, but there were many times, and this isn’t hyperbole, that I ate stale ice cream cones (not the ice cream, just the cones) for dinner. Life wasn’t great.
Being poor did afford me something I think more financially privileged people miss out on, though. Without the latest gadgets and expensive toys, I often had to rely on my imagination for entertainment. And with life always seeming to be in a state of chaos, never knowing if we would have enough money to pay rent or bills, I began conjuring stories in my head to escape the real world. When I was around seven, I believe, my mother gave me her old typewriter. That’s when the idea of becoming a writer first took hold.
3) Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
I actually have two stories that I hold dear. The first one is “Dead Men Don’t Scream,” which you fine folks published in Beautiful Darkness 3. That one is about a group of early 1900s fishermen stuck inside an old seaside pub during a raging storm. While they think the storm is their only nemesis, a stranger suddenly knocks on the door, and despite the men’s trepidation, they allow him to enter. As things naturally go, this leads to a crazy monster story full of gore and drunken buffoonery. Think Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse meets John Carpenter’s The Thing.
My other favorite story is one I’m currently shopping around, titled “Hear the Peddler’s Song.” I don’t want to give anything away just yet, but I can tell you that it’s an Appalachian Gothic ghost story written in a Cormackian style.
4) How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
The winds of change often fill my sail, and it’s difficult to know in which direction they’ll take me. I’m always working on a few projects. Currently, I’m halfway through writing my first novel, and I have a handful of unfinished stories that need, well, finishing. My most promising project is a sword and sorcery story starring my original character, Ashur Kang, who first appeared in “Ashur Kang VS the Army of the Undead,” which was published in Ethereal Nightmares Volume 1 by Dark Holme Publishing.
5) What is your writing process like?
It’s simple. I write the first draft (most of it on my phone during my lunch breaks at work) in Google Docs. There’s no real routine or anything to what I do. I just write when the mood strikes me. Then I edit, rewrite, edit, rewrite, and edit some more. Once I can’t stand looking at the damn story anymore, I know I’m done. Sometimes that means I finish a story in one sitting. Sometimes it takes months.
6) Where do you draw inspiration from?
Music, books, movies, real-life encounters, etc. I never know what’s going to inspire me. Usually it’s something mundane and entirely unexpected.
7) Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
Can’t say I have a favorite author, but John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy, Haruki Murakami, Yukio Mishima, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Miguel de Cervantes are all worthy of the title. I can say my favorite book is Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. Though Don Quixote and The Lord of the Rings could easily supplant that spot after a reread.
8) What is one goal you have for your writing future?
I want to publish a full novel.
9) What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
The language. A lot of writers can tell a great story, but I think the language used to tell a story is equally as important and often overlooked.
10) Where can readers learn more about you?
Dragon Soul Press 