Horror Reanimated… the home of Bloody Books

Angry Robot comes to life by JD’L

June 30th, 2009

Earlier today I escaped the confines of the Horror Reanimated dungeons – nice though the new décor is – and went topside to talk to the editors of the brand new genre imprint, Angry Robot.

I say topside; the meeting actually took place with the three of us – Marc Gascoigne, Lee Harris and me – strapped top-to-tail along the nearside rail of the Central Line. Crotch first into the oncoming tube-trains, waiting to be riven from bollocks to brains if we didn’t conclude the interview within the allotted time.

I just love a thrill, don’t you?

Angry Robot is an imprint of the massive mainstream publishing house Harper Collins.

Here’s what the lads, soon to be ladies if they weren’t succinct, had to say for themselves. Amazing, really, how fast a person can speak when time is a factor…

THE REAL AR: Just to let the readers know, the evil clowns who run this debacle had filled in some answers already, way before we got to see this. The cheeky little scamps. In the interests of full transparency, kids, we have no option but to heckle them, and ourselves I guess, via an alternative tag. Beware all imitations, kids!

Joseph D’Lacey: Hi, gentlemen. I’m delighted you could join me for a quick chat about what promises to be a great leap forward for genre fiction.

Angry Robot: Just get on with the bloody questions, can’t you?

THE REAL AR: Oh no, that’s not us. We would have said something far stronger than bloody. Weaselly word, fit only for second-rate upstart horror houses if you ask us.

JD’L: As you wish. Now what was it I was going to ask you?

[…distant echo of hurtling trains…]

Oh yes, I remember now. Angry Robot launches on the 1^st July. How many titles are you launching with and can you tell our readers a little about each of them?

Angry Robot: Here’s the list. Perhaps you could, like, read it later.

[I couldn’t. I was far too interested in what lies in store for genre-reading fans. I share this list with you now.]

THE REAL AR: Oh yeah, like we’d skip an opportunity to plug our books? Get real. Two books per month, all paperback originals. July is Slights by Kaaron Warren, a massively disturbing serial killer horror novel; and Moxyland by Lauren Beukes, bleeding edge day-after-tomorrow cyberthriller about losing your identity in an ID-compulsory world.

JD’L: It appears that what makes Angry Robot different from other F/SF & H publishers is their interest in cross-genre material. Is it that simple, guys, or is there more behind the imprint’s ethos?

THE REAL AR: Well, it’s not simple, but you are. B-boom. Only joshing with you. [Punches Joe’s arm. Hard.]

In truth, there’s a whole world of difference to Angry Robot, from the obvious (the content of the books we’re publishing) to very subtle organisational and strategic differences that, if we were to explain, we’d need automated whiteboards and PowerPoint and several days.

But “crossover” is a big deal for us, that’s true. There’s a whole bunch of complicated reasoning stuff I could go into, but in my head there’s simply a little memory-impression from first playing one of the Final Fantasy games on the first Playstation. My hero is stood there in the steam train wrecking yard, eight foot sword on his back. There are helicopters and dragons in the sky, spells and guns in my backpack. And it feels OK. Better, it feels bloody great.

No-one’s got a major problem with books that mix and match genres these days. Indeed, “is it horror or fantasy” is a compliment if you ask me, and damn but you can’t move for really excellent novels that cry out to be labelled “science fantasy”. But somewhere between the bookseller’s need to shelve books here and not there, reviewers’ needs to pigeon work so they can assess it and an underlying human liking for things being straightforward, we’ve developed this habit of putting genre stuff into little boxes.

We were talking about this with the big SF guy at one of the UK’s biggest bookchains (no names, no fistfights). His take was that soon enough there will be a new shelf – or more likely, a table at the front of the store, cos this stuff isn’t necessarily just for the long-term enthusiasts – where the crossover stuff sits: video game-derived fantasy and horror, literary SF that’s marked for general reading, massive Facebook-boosted teen novels, and the best of the hardcore genres too. We’re just right on the tip of that wave.

There’s a second whole string to this, for Angry Robot particularly, and it’s the unwieldy but essential term “Post-YA”. If you were the same age as Harry Potter when you read his first novel, you’re too old for that pre-teenage stuff and have been for several years. If you spent the last five years loving Doctor Who, ditto. There’s a whole generation reared on fabulous new departures in SF and fantasy, whether in books, games, graphic novels.

As an aside, this generation hasn’t read every influential book published in the last fifty years. That’s going to mean that some of the books they love, and want more of, will seem like rehashes of past glories, from authors slavishly devoted to the bygone styles of earlier great authors. There’ll be moaning about derivative work. And we will encourage this with all our might. There’s plenty of resources there to help new genre readers find the greats once we, and other imprints like us, have hooked them in the first place. But we need fresh blood (leave it!) and you don’t attract that by continuing to publish the same old traditional stuff that was past its sell-by twenty-five years ago.

JD’L: Apologies in advance for the cynicism of this question but it must be asked!

Following the recent demise of the Virgin Horror line and the credit crunch destroying thousands of jobs across every sector, doesn’t it seem a little gung ho to be starting a new publishing business?

THE REAL AR: Hmm, let’s see if we can answer this without both impugning the fine intentions and dedication of the hapless Virgin crew and coming across like total arrogant cocks. Nope, probably going to fail on both counts. Let’s just say that there’s plenty of room in all the genres for good new writing, as much now as at the height of the last economic boom. Without it, genres will continue to age and become even more moribund than they sometimes seem even now. And, part two, well, we ain’t them. We’re going about it a different way, as masters of our own destiny rather than pawns of a large organisation – we’re not one editor in-house, we’re a separate division with agreed targets and strategy, but other than that full permission to go and do what we need to do.

JD’L: A personal question now to each of you. Which writers of any era have affected you most profoundly? - the genre is unimportant.

Marc Gascoigne: Aw jeez, that’s a long list; I go back a long way and I can gush for England. How about instead, a gush of authors I can think of that I’d boost to someone whose horizons I wanted to broaden? Get online and discover for yourself what the best novels to track down and read from this little lot… Mark Helprin, Keith Roberts, Matt Ruff, Daryl Gregory, Frances Sherwood, Ernest Bramah, Lucius Shepard, Nancy A Collins, Ian MacDonald, Jonathan Carroll, Marco Vassi, John Franklin Bardin, Edward Whittemore, Thomas Disch, Patrick Harpur, Marc Behm, Langdon Jones, Ben Marcus, Connie Willis, Barrington Bayley, Conrad Williams, Jonathan Littel, Barry Hughart, David Schow, Peter S Beagle, Michael Blumlein, Dan Rhodes, Christopher Priest, Edmund Cooper and about a million others… and a bit of a sneaky boost, AR author but a real talent for blowing your mind, the incredible Kaaron Warren and Slights. Fuck me, what a book.

Lee Harris: I’m not nearly as widely read as Mr G within the genre, but then I’m not nearly as old. I have some crossovers with Marco (Disch, Williams, Priest) and a few others to throw into the mix. I love the work of Mike Carey in all its formats, Richard Matheson, Tolkein (the obvious ones), much of Stephen King’s output (though I tend to prefer his psychological horror, rather than his supernatural works) and most of Orson Scott Card’s back catalogue. I’m currently working my way through a lot of Charlie Stross’ books, and enjoying discovering Graham Joyce and Michael Marshall Smith. I remember reading Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia as a child, and that was the first book I remember reading that had believable family relationships, and complex emotional themes. As for classic SF, the usual suspects: Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov. They’re considered the classics for a reason…

JD’L: Are you hoping to discover similar talent with Angry Robot? Perhaps you have already…

THE REAL AR: See previous answer, kid. Told you, that’ll teach you to send a prepared set of questions.

[At this juncture, I felt the desire for a cigar. Marc and Lee did a lot of twitching and swearing but it didn’t ruin a damned good smoke.]

JD’L: Ahh. That’s much better.

THE REAL AR: We should perhaps point out at this point that Joe actually lives on the shabbier side of Leicester, with his unsurprisingly youthful mother, and works in KFC, and wouldn’t know a good Monte Cristo if it was stubbed out in his left eye. No denying the strength of his imagination though. And we’re based in Nottingham, so why the hell he decided to pretend we were on some London underground line, well, only Joe can answer that one.

JD’L: Now then, as editors of many years standing (I’m not saying you’re old or anything) and therefore based on your experience, what would you say is the function of Horror?

Marc Gascoigne: Oh, you know the answer to this one. Hell, a child of six could explain. Caves, sabre-toothed tigers, the sudden urge to piss against the wall here rather than down behind the trees next to the stream. Next question!

Lee Harris: *rolls eyes* (although, not in the usual Horror Reanimated sense of the phrase) Some of us take these questions a little more seriously, Marco.

I’ve been a fan of horror literature as far back as I can remember, and have become somewhat immune to it in recent years, and I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that horror just didn’t work for me, any more. Last summer, however, I took a copy of Ramsey Campbell’s The Grin of the Dark on holiday with me, and read it at night when my wife and children were tucked up in bed. While reading it, for the first time in many a long year I found myself curling my legs up off the floor and checking the shadows. I knew there was nothing in the room with me, nothing hiding in the shadows. I knew this. But you can never be too careful. You know – just in case. That book reminded me why I’d always loved horror: a well-crafted tale of terror should unsettle. It should make you uncomfortable. It should disturb. It should make you feel.

JD’L: We usually give interviewees the opportunity to make Sword of the Ultimate Darkness and Plague Pit awards, however, I felt it would be unfair to put two editors on the spot in that way. Besides, I’m sure these tracks are vibrating…

THE REAL AR: What are you talking about? Jesus, geeks. Here’s a suggestion: get out of the house, learn to talk to real human beings.

JD’L: One last question, though. Apart from interviews like this one, what frightens you to your very core?

Marc Gascoigne: While typing some of these answers, I was listening to a bootleg of exotic Beatles cover versions. Forget Shatner (if you can) for I must report that Arthur Mullard’s three-falls-and-a-submission assault on “Yesterday” nearly caused unexpected leakage. In book terms, though, nothing yet. My normal reaction is more a lick of the lips at a truly deliciously nasty reveal than a shudder of terror. An admirer of the technique rather than a blubbering wreck.

Lee Harris: My wife. Alone. With a credit card.

JD’L: Well, gentlemen, this has been an absolute pleasure but I believe I can feel the approaching breath of the next train to Ealing Broadway. Must dash!

It only remains for me to add that all of us at Horror Reanimated wish you the greatest success with Angry Robot Books. I hope we’ll soon have reason to showcase some of your titles right here!

Thanks for joining us and being such good sports.

THE REAL AR: Yeah, whatever. Jesus. He does go on. Shakes head sadly.

Entry Filed under: The Infection Spreads, Uncategorized