USA TODAY–bestselling author David Niall Wilson has been writing and
publishing horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction since the mid-1980s. He
has written over a dozen standalone novels as well as numerous novels for his
own DeChance Chronicles and Cletus J. Diggs series, plus tie-in
novels for Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate Atlantis, World of Wraith, and others, plus ten short story collections (not to mention about 150
stories in various magazines and anthologies). An ordained minister, former
editor of The Tome magazine, former President of the
Horror Writers Association, and recipient of multiple
HWA Bram Stoker Awards, Dave is CEO and founder of
Crossroad Press, which occasionally keeps him a little busy. His
collection, The Devil’s in the Flaws & Other Dark Truths, is scheduled for release in January 2023.
Thanks for taking time out for A Graveside Chat, Dave.
AGC: You’ve been a prominent figure in the speculative fiction field
for four decades, there or about, and you’ve not only kept up with its
evolution but influenced it, particularly with Crossroad Press. What are some
of the biggest changes — and challenges — you’ve experienced in this business
over these decades, be it from the perspective of author, editor, and/or
publisher?
DNW: The Internet has changed the world, and writing is no exception.
Ebooks and simpler avenues for self-publishing have opened a lot of doors,
which, in one sense, is good. The world of publishing, when I started, had
clear boundaries. Success was a sale to NYC, and you could get there through
the other side of the boundary, the small press. But slots were very limited.
Agents and editors were like gatekeepers and thousands of books, good, bad,
wonderful, and awful were simply never in a position to have a legitimate
chance. That has all changed.
That’s the upside. The downside is those thousands of books are all out there
now. Some are good, some are awful, many are edited poorly but packaged with
professional covers. More are awful than good, and as this becomes clear to
consumers, it becomes more difficult to sell an independently published book.
It’s also a totally one-sided marketing war — NYC with millions of dollars,
and the rest of us with, well, Bookbub, who now take too many titles, still
charge a fortune, and have become hit-and-miss. More than ever before, the key
to writing success has become a mix of talent and visibility, the second being
the hardest thing to achieve. I think the floor has leveled over the years,
but you have to be very active, you have to remain relevant to the world, read
what is selling now and not what sold twenty years ago. It’s a very volatile
industry.
AGC: You’re widely read, not just in speculative fiction, but in all
varieties of literature. Who do you consider some of your primary influences
as a writer? What most inspires you as a storyteller?
DNW: Sometimes questions like this flummox me. I am probably
influenced by thousands of books and writers, but I can trim it down and offer
reasons. I love the work of Edgar Allan Poe, his themes, and his sense
of dread. Modern writers I have learned pacing and formula from
Stephen King, writing on different levels from Peter Straub,
Kathe Koja, and Poppy Z. Brite showed me how inconsequential
limits are…
More recently I’ve learned things that limit my writing by reaching beyond my
normal reading… authors like Hailey Piper, Eric LaRocca, and
Gemma Amor have shown me different perspectives.
Stephen Graham Jones, a recent obsession, has a voice he can hit where
it’s him telling the story, and it’s mesmerizing. Grady Hendrix,
Paul Tremblay, I steal bits and pieces. And books like
The Things They Carried, where you pick up on how objects and settings can anchor your writing. It’s
an endless stream. Lately, I’ve found rabbit holes while writing letters to my
daughter in college, adding trivia to each one, which have given me things I
know I will use. Maybe I influence myself? I hope I never cease finding new
inspiration.
AGC: You’ve collaborated with other authors on numerous works — many of
which appear in the volume, Intermusings: A Cabal of Dark Fiction,
which features a broad sampling of your collaborative stories. Do you
particularly enjoy collaborating with other authors? Is there anyone with whom
you’d especially like to collaborate that you haven’t yet? Do you have more
upcoming collaborative work scheduled?
DNW: Currently I’m not collaborating on anything. I think my last major
collaboration was with my wife, Trish, when we wrote
Remember Bowling Green (all proceeds to the ACLU). I have had a lot of interesting
collaboration experiences. I’ve written the most with Brian A. Hopkins,
Brett A. Savory and Trish, but, as you know, that book is FULL
of collaborations. I find that when it works, when the editing goes back and
forth a few times, a new voice arises. It’s not what either author would have
done, but it builds on the strengths of both.
AGC: You are an insanely prolific author, even with Crossroad Press
(and a full-time day job) occupying what is presumably more than a negligible
amount of your time. (Do you ever sleep???) What do you have on your upcoming
agenda(s) as a writer, editor, and/or publisher that you can talk about
here?
DNW: It’s funny you say that. Up until last spring, I was becoming less
and less prolific. I’ve started publishing stories again, have a lot of things
in the works, a novella upcoming, and other things in anthologies, but only
recently. Before that I have done nothing but poke at it since around the time
the Orange Anguish became president. I’m pulling it all back together and feel
as if I’ve written a lot of things lately, new things I’m proud of, pushing some
boundaries. I have at least two stories in anthologies this year. I have an
NFT-only book of stories involving Potatoes coming out through
Book.iO (It would take an entire separate interview to cover all of
that). I have at least two novels in serious progress, a novella, and some
stories that are for markets who have solicited me. It’s a sort of rebirth. I’ve
been asleep creatively for a very long time.
This year, finally, my anthology The Canterbury Nightmares will
be published, and I had a lot of fun with that, but the general miasma of the
last few years has prevented it from happening as quickly as it should. You
keep moving or you grow moss and mold, so I’ll be writing a lot. My
collection, The Devil’s in the Flaws & Other Dark Truths, just released and seems to be doing pretty well.
AGC: You have written a lot of series projects as well as standalones.
Which do you prefer, and why? What can we expect to see in the future?
DNW: I’ve noticed over time that almost everything I’ve written ties
together. I mention a place, or an event, and suddenly there is a link between
Deep Blue and Donovan DeChance. I write in a set number
of fictional locations, which probably facilitated this. I’ve created a
sub-page on my website called “The Worlds of David Niall Wilson,” where I’m relaunching all of the books, one at a time, as NFT collectible
editions (and eventually readers editions) through a company called
Book.IO.
The first to come out was Heart of a Dragon, so the DeChance Chronicles will come out first. Readers of my
work will know this ties in with the Cletus J. Diggs stories, the works
I’ve done with Poe as a character, and the novels of the O.C.L.T. – but
the standalone novels like Deep Blue, Ancient Eyes, and Darkness Falling intersect again and again.
I see myself taking twin paths going forward. I intend to continue the series
books because I love the characters, but I am also working on new stories, a
novella, and at least two novels that don’t directly connect — at least not
yet. Still hoping for that one break-out, as are we all.
