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Interview: Maurice Broaddus
Maurice’s short story, “Broken Strand”, appeared in issue 12 of Apex Digest. His novella (co-authored with Wrath James White) was published in June 2008. Mr. Broaddus was our featured author in October, 2007. Here is his interview.
Apex Online: Tell us a bit about your featured story (”In the Shadows of Meido”)?
Maurice Broaddus: “In the Shadows of Meido” involved one of my first real “writer” experiences. I was in my car, on the highway coming home from work when the voice of the narrating character hit me with such force, that I pulled the car over and started writing. Every horror writer has to write at least one zombie tale and one vampire tale, and this is my vampire story. It just combines with one of my loves, ancient Japan/samurai culture.
The story received the fourth prize in the 2002 World Horror Convention/Weird Tales Story Contest and was published in the IDW line of comics in December 2005. It pretty much launched me onto the writing scene.
AO: Open-ended question: As a black man of devout Christian faith what are some of the challenges you face in the horror/sf/fantasy genres?
MB: The biggest issue comes down to marketing and is something I’m constantly thinking about as I further my career. I want my stories to be read by as many people as possible, so I don’t want to be ghettoized. For example, there are folks who would like me to write explicitly Christian horror. That’s all fine and good (and don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of money to be made there), but I don’t want to be an author primarily marketed to the Christian market and a mainstream one secondarily. Same with being a black writer: I’ve had two stories published in all African American authors anthologies, but I don’t want to be found solely in the African American interests section of a bookstore. No, I want my Christian audience, my black audience, AND the mainstream audience because I’m greedy that way.
The Christian thing has its own baggage. Most of that involves constantly explaining to Christians that it is possible to write dark fiction and not be in league with Satan; and to horror fans that I am not writing Bible tracts with vampire camouflage.
AO: Who has the bigger entourage? You or Brian Keene?
MB: Man, having an entourage takes work. I think Keene has it down because his meets him places. I still coming up, so I have to pick mine up and cook for them. But I think we’d both agree that we don’t have entourages as much as a group of faithful friends.
AO: You invite people to your message board at the end of every blog post you make, yet you apologize in advance for the members’ behavior. Is that your way of scaring us away from the madness?
MB: It’s the madness of family. I love being able to interact with folks, but I’m much better in person, so I’m still getting use to the online environs, customs (and trolls). But, I love the idea of fashioning an online community.
AO: The past couple of years you’ve held a mini-horror convention in your church (Mo*Con). How do you reconcile this with the congregation?
MB: At first we didn’t. The first time (with Brian Keene) I think we told the church the day of or the week before and when the church didn’t burn down, we decided to do it again. The second time (with Wrath James White, Gary Braunbeck, Lucy Snyder, Chesya Burke, and the Keene) we really talked about what it was we were as a church. We were either going to be an accepting community or we’re not. Either we’re going to be a safe place for people to come and wrestle with their questions or we’re not. Either the church is a group of people who can carve out a sacred space wherever we are and be about serving the world or we’re not. And if we’re not, we need to find something else to do about and quit lying to folks.
AO: Do you fear being pigeonholed into a role within the genre community? The “black guy”…”the Christian”…”the Sex Symbol”…
MB: So much of the “business” of writing involves things like marketing and image and it’s great when those things line up with who I already am. I don’t fear things, I use them to my advantage. I’m all about playing the hand I’m dealt. Sure, it can be a little disconcerting to have publisher rush up to meet you at a writers convention … to ask you questions about faith. So sometimes it’s a matter of being flexible about what hat I’m wearing at the time.
Plus, I’m about the most sexless sex symbol around. Sure, there’s my inherent hotness, but once the “minister” rep comes out, I get nothing. There’s no line of women wanting me to sign their body parts. When I make appearances, I never have to warn my fans to not flash anyone. Which I suppose is good, cause it keeps me out of trouble.
AO: How would you describe your own fiction?
MB: There is no non-pretentious sounding answer to this question, so I’m going to go with I’m new school with old school sensibilities. My stories tend to be more atmospheric/existential horror (sometimes fantasy) with the “boo factor” secondary to whatever real evil I’m wrestling with. I’d like to believe my stories are a thoughtful mix of humor and social commentary. Those are my goals, how well I succeed I’ll leave up to the readers.
AO: Share one wild convention experience…
MB: Nothing good ever happens once I find tequila. Well, I take that back: nothing good ever happens once I find tequila and start preaching. You know it’s bad when I start talking about “tucking dollars for Jesus.”
AO: Favorite writer?
MB: I’m all over the place, so it depends on what mood I’m in. Neil Gaiman, Patrick O’Leary, Tom Wolfe, Gary Braunbeck, George Pelecanos, Toni Morrison.
AO: Indiana has an active horror writing community and even boasts a regional chapter of the HWA (the Indiana Horror Writers Association). Is there something in the water that makes the area turn so scary?
MB: Hey, you spend your days surrounded by cows and corn and see what you come up with.
Maurice Broaddus works as an environmental toxicologist by day, a horror writer by night, and a lay leader at The Dwelling Place, a faith community in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a notorious egotist who, in anticipation of a successful writing career, is practicing speaking of himself in the third person. His stories have appeared in dozens of markets (from Weird Tales Magazine to the Dark Dreams anthologies to Horror Literature Quarterly), but it should be noted that he only want to get famous enough to be able to snub people at horror conventions. Visit his site so he can bore you with details of all things him at www.MauriceBroaddus.com. Most importantly, read his blog. He loves that. A lot.
Read In the Shadows of Meido
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