Richard Meldrum is one of the writers whose stories are featured in the soon-to-be-published anthology The Haunted Train: Creepy Tales from the Railways. Here he answers questions about childhood fears and writing inspiration.
What scared you when you were a child?
All my fears related to night time: shadows in the room, having any part of my body outside the blanket, darkness itself. During the day I was fearless!
Have you ever seen a ghost? Tell us about the experience.
I
don’t think so, although I did manage to scare myself badly twice when I
was a teenager – once when we’d spent the evening with a Ouija board
and I had to walk home by myself in the dark. My imagination did all the
work that night and I ended up sprinting for home. Another time I was
walking on an unlit country lane and saw something white in the shadows.
Turned out to be an abandoned fridge.
What’s the creepiest experience you’ve ever had in a train?
Sadly, a few years ago the train I catch to commute to Toronto was used by someone to kill themselves – they stepped in front of it. Not sure this falls into the category of creepy, but it was certainly heart-breaking.
What do you like about the horror genre?
It explores the darker aspects of humanity. I don’t like gore or explicit violence – I prefer ‘quiet’ horror, some of which isn’t actually horror, in the modern sense. Good horror should challenge, it should provoke, it should allow the reader to think about humanity and what comes after death. It should almost be cathartic. I like stories that have a redemptive element.
Who are your favourite horror authors? What do you like about them?
Basil Copper, MR James, Edith Wharton, Shirley Jackson, Robert Aickman, August Derleth, Ramsay Campbell, HP Lovecraft (despite his personal views). They all write (or wrote) innovative, interesting stories.
What’s your favourite horror book? What do you like about it?
I don’t have a favourite. I have a number books that I will happily re-read and still enjoy.
What do you personally, as a reader, like about anthologies?
They are a pick and mix, even when they are written within a specific theme. You can usually find something to suit your mood or the time you have available. I’m always amazed how good some short stories are, especially the really short ones (drabbles, flash fiction etc.).
How would you describe your writing voice?
Creepy, atmospheric, restrained (in terms of violence and gore). Sometimes redemptive and even wholesome.
What’s the scariest story you’ve written?
Probably the novelette ‘Placid Point’ – not because of anything supernatural, but because it’s about a biological weapon and a careless government that is all too plausible.
ABOUT R. J. MELDRUM
R. J. Meldrum specializes in fiction that explores the world through a dark lens. His subject
matter ranges from ghosts to serial killers and everything in-between. He has had over two
hundred short stories and drabbles published in a variety of anthologies, e-zines and websites. He has had work published by Midnight Street Press, Culture Cult Press, Horrified Press, Infernal Clock, Trembling with Fear, Black Hare Press, Smoking Pen Press, Darkhouse Books, Breaking Rules Press, Kevin J Kennedy and James Ward Kirk Fiction. His short stories have been
published in The Sirens Call e-zine, the Horror Zine and Drabblez magazine. His novellas“The Plague” and “Placid Point” were published by Demain Press in 2019 and 2021. He is a contributor to the Pen of the Damned and an Affiliate Member of the Horror Writers Association.
Facebook: richard.meldrum.79
Twitter: RichardJMeldru1
ABOUT THE BOOK THE HAUNTED TRAIN: CREEPY TALES FROM THE RAILWAYS
But be careful: you can’t know the train’s real destination, nor your fellow travellers’ intentions. Once you’ve closed that door behind you and the wheels start rolling, you may not be able to get out.
The ebook is available for pre-order from Amazon at the special offer price of 99 cents until 31 January 2023. (After that date, the price will go up.) https://mybook.to/Train
The paperback edition will be available soon.
8 comments:
I'm with you, Richard: good horror fiction makes readers think. Whether it makes them think aobut humanity and what comes after death, as you say in your interview, or whether it sets them wondering what decision they would have made in the character's situation (like in your story), if a horror story engages the reader's mind after the story's end, then it's a good story.
Nice interview.
Those examples of scary moments in your teenage years highlight that it's often the mind projecting those fears instead of there being an actual danger - and that I think makes for good (modern) scary stories.
I'm interested in checking out this anthology now.
Your mention of a Ouija board brings back memories. My cousins had one and I tried it out. Despite the fact that I'm constantly imagining ghosts and monsters, I just knew my cousins were moving it and trying to trick me. They always tried to creep me out. They left a window open and the wind going by it sounded like someone moaning. Then they told a ghost story and the story and moaning scared my sister so much that she ran around the outside of the house screaming. ;)
I agree that gore and unecessary violence are just cheap horror. They can have a good effect on the reader, sure, but it's really tricky and just a tiny bit over the limit would put off anyone who has enjoying the story.
I also agree with what you said about the horror genre. A great horror story shouldn't just make you scared and give you goosebumps, it should make you delve into the deepest pits of the mind and play a little with your sense of morality and decision.
I'm interested to pick up the anthology when it comes out, lots of promising stories.
Although I was not very satisfied with Richard Meldrum's responses to questions about his childhood fears and writing inspiration, I was happy to see that many writers have come together in the same anthology to create works. Our perspectives on trains differ, but coming together in this way is a positive thing.
I like your point of view on what makes horror good. Sadly, we are generally exposed to and focus on the visual elements of horror so much that those redemptive aspects are partially ignored.
How quickly a moment of fear and terror turns into a hilarious one - like the abandoned fridge story told here. I believe this is a great example of how horror and comedy/ridicule are linked closely. Also, I've never heard of some of the authors R. J. Meldrum mentions here, will definitely check them out.
I haven't tried the Ouija board but it always interests me, it looks like a fun game to play with your friends but scary at the same time since you can never tell if there's really a spirit that will interact back. Your experience about going into a train in which someone used to unalive himself gave me chills, I can't imagine how does it feel.
Post a Comment