Gemini Ink

Joe McKinney is a jack of all trades. By day he’s a homicide detective for the San Antonio Police Department and by night he’s penning horror tales. McKinney is the author of Dead City (Kensington Publishing Corp., 2006) and Quarantined (Lachesis Publishing, 2009). He has more than 30 horror, crime, and science fiction short stories published, and has received extensive professional training in disaster mitigation, forensics, and homicide investigation techniques. His upcoming novels include Apocalypse of the Dead, The Zombie King, Inheritance (all forthcoming from Kensington), and Lost Girl of the Lake (Bad Moon Books).

McKinney will also conduct the class, Writing Modern Horror on Saturday, April 10. In the class, participants will  reexamine their characters through in-class writing exercises and by the end of the day, the skeleton of a story will have some real meat on it.

Gemini Ink intern Melinda Gonzalez interviewed McKinney and discussed how he realized he wanted to become a writer, and what frightful projects he’s been working on.

Melinda Gonzalez: What is the first horror book/story you remember reading?
Joe McKinney: I’m not sure, to tell you the truth. It was probably something by Ray Bradbury or Charles Beaumont. But I do remember the first horror book that really, really made an impression on me. It was Stephen King’s Nightshift collection. I remember going through those stories and thinking that I had just discovered something incredible.

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve heard other writers say they always knew. I didn’t. I mean, I had the overpowering urge to write way back when. I remember being 10 or 12 and skipping out of an afternoon of bike riding and exploring to write stories. Throughout my teens I wrote stories, stapled the pages together, put them on the corner of my desk, and then promptly forgot about them. I knew writing was an important, even a necessary, part of who I was, but I never had a desire to publish anything. I never saw writing as a job I could have one day. I guess I didn’t start thinking of it that way until my first daughter was born. I don’t know if other parents identify with this feeling or not, but when my daughter came along, I suddenly felt this overpowering need to capture who I was on paper, almost as though I wanted to freeze that moment in time, preserve it. I got lucky when my impulse turned into a full time writing gig. I’ve been fortunate.

What type of obstacles did you experience before having your first book, Dead City, published?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard. I wrote the manuscript, revised it quite a few times, and then sent it out to a few publishers. I got back politely written rejections, some offering genuine encouragement. Well, I knew the book was a good one, so I figured I’d get an agent. At the time, being a complete stranger to the publishing business, I had no idea how difficult a process that is for some writers. I sent it out to half a dozen agents, got a nibble, and that agent turned around and sold the manuscript to one of the publishers that had rejected me only a few months before. All of my obstacles and learning experiences have come since then, and most of those deal with the technical points of contracts. My advice there … writers beware. There are some unethical people out there. Just because somebody sticks a contract in front of you doesn’t mean you automatically have to sign. Read the fine print.

What, or who, has influenced your writing?
I read somewhere that nearly every horror writer today was either heavily influenced by Stephen King, or is lying when he or she says they were not heavily influenced by Stephen King.  That is pretty much true.  The man stands taller than the Marston House over modern horror.  But influence, for a writer, is more than a single source.  It’s more like being part of a web.  Every professional writer I know reads voraciously … and not just horror.  They read EVERYTHING they can get their hands on.  It is impossible to point to a single source and say, “My influence stopped there.”  There’s just too much input for that to be true.

What does your family think of your writing?
My mom was so proud when she went to buy my first novel from the store. Then she took it home and read it. A few days later, she came up to me, her expression sad and a little confused. “You were such a happy child,” she said. “Did we do something wrong?” Since then, of course, they’ve grown used to it. Nowadays, they have no problem introducing me as their son who writes about zombies and ghouls and ghosties. I think they even get a secret thrill out of it.

Who is your favorite author and what is it about them that you find most intriguing?
John McPhee. If I had to point to just one favorite (and man, that is a hard task), it would be John McPhee. I love science writing, and I love elegant, moving prose, and McPhee combines them both. If you’ve ever read Basin and Range, or Assembling California, or The Curve of Binding Energy, you know what I mean. The man’s writing leaves me speechless.

Are there any current projects or ideas that you would like to tell us about?
As a matter of fact, yes.  I’m the co-founder of a new crime fiction publishing house called Gutter Books. Our intent is to publish a mixture of new and old pulp novels and short stories. So far, we’ve got my novel, Dodging Bullets, a short story anthology, a John D. MacDonald reprint, a Graham Greene reprint, and two other modern crime novels all set to go. We plan to release three books this year, three or four the next, and see where the ride takes us.  My partner, Matt Louis, and I both love the classic pulps of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, but those stories, great as they are, don’t mix well with modern reading tastes. We’re looking to mix the classic elements of pulp fiction with modern sensibilities.  I think it’s going to be a great series of books.  I’m also beginning work on a second anthology for 23 House, which I’m co-editing with Mark Onspaugh. This one will be a collection of stories about abandoned buildings, and hopefully it will bring in a good mix of genres as well. My first anthology for 23 House, Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology, will be out in April. I’m also publishing the second and third books in the Dead City series. The second one, Apocalypse of the Dead, is due out in November, and the third one, The Zombie King, is due out in September, 2011. I’ve also got two short novels coming out from Bad Moon Books in 2011. The first, called The Lost Girl of the Lake, is a coming of age horror story.  The second, called The Red Empire, is about super intelligent giant fire ants. In all, it’s going to be a busy time.

Anything else you would like to add?
You bet.  I do a monthly column for a true crime website called In Cold Blog.  You can read my articles there, or you can stop by my website, Old Major’s Dream, for news and updates.