House of Horror Interviews: Ex HOH Co-Editor Shane McKenzie

Shane McKenzie has been a horror fanatic since he was a kid. He still watches any horror movie he can get a hold of, the gorier the better. He has only been writing horror for about 8 months, but knows a good horror story when he sees one. He has stories published at Flashes in the Dark and House of Horror (before becoming the co-editor), as well as stories in the anthologies Mausoleum Memoirs and Creature Features.

He lives in Austin, TX with his fiancee and three dogs where he works for the police department.

Shane, I know you waned to leave the terrors of the House of Horror behind you when you dragged yourself through the gates of hell, but you cannot escape that easily. Since leaving House of Horror as Co-Editor of Long Fiction, how has life been treating you?

Life has been good. I am about to get married in August, and we are very excited about it. It has been stressful as hell, but we’re making it. Work has been crazy, I’m sure you have all heard about the plane that hit the building in Austin, well, I work for the police department, and it has been nuts. Things are calming down, though. I have been writing furiously every day, and am FINALLY about to start writing my first novel.

Has working with me and the ezine helped you in anyway?

Working for House of Horror has helped me dramatically. It taught me how to look for common mistakes in writing, as well as how to make my writing stronger. It’s just so much easier to edit others work than your own, and it has taught me to look at my own work like someone else wrote it. It’s taught me what its like to have deadlines and how difficult it can be to make them. The best thing about it has been Ruthless, by far. I have really enjoyed the experience, from making the cover, to reading the stories, to the editing process. I learned to aim for the top and not be scared to do it. Bentley Little has been very cool about everything.

Tell us what are your plans now regarding your writing?

My plans are to write every single day. What I have been doing is writing a short story, just blazing through the first draft, then putting it away and not looking at it for at least 3 weeks. While it sits there, I write something else, then something else, and so on. That way, by the time I get to editing that first story, it truly feels like someone else wrote it. I find things in there that I can’t believe I wrote, and it’s easier to use that delete button. Besides shorts, I am about to start my novel, which I won’t get into just yet. I have started about three books, and never finished any of them, but I have finally found an idea that I love, and I’m gonna pump all of my energy into it. I hope to have the first draft done in a few months, then I’ll set it aside and not look at for probably two months.

You have taken full control of the RUTHLESS anthology, how do you plan on marketing this anthology and do you think this will be the first of many projects for you in the future?

I am exploring many different avenues for Ruthless, but don’t want to say too much about that right now. I’ll get back to you on that. As far as other projects, I would love to, but my own writing has to come first right now. I just don’t feel like I’m anywhere near the writer that I want to be, which is why I left House of Horror in the first place. I really need to fine tune my craft, and I can’t have any distractions. I’m aiming for the fences.

Tell us Shane, how long have you been writing and where do you see yourself in say, well you're still quite young, so in ten years?

I have been writing for just about a year now, and the amount that I have learned since I started is pretty amazing. Thanks to my friends at Zoetrope, I have improved much quicker than I thought I could. That being said, I have a long, long road ahead of me. I want to be able to write for a living, and I know that’s ambitious, but I don’t care. I will make it happen if it kills me. So to answer your question, in ten years, I’ll either be a published author or dead.

Who/what has inspired you to write over the last few years alive/dead/real/fictional?

First and foremost, what inspires me is to make a great life for myself and my family doing what I love most. I love horror, I have always loved horror. I used to think I wanted to make video games, horror ones of course, so I graduated from the Art Institute in Dallas with a degree in Environmental Modeling for 3D games/movies. That sounds cool and fun, but I realized that I had no passion for it. It sucks, cuz I’m still paying for it. But, live and learn. So then, I thought I wanted to do special effects for horror movies. I spent a lot of money on materials and self learning books and videos, and got pretty good at it. The problem is that I’m way too messy and unorganized for that. It was really fun, and I still do it for fun sometimes, have made lots of friends and family into zombies. I’m actually possibly about to do a film, but not sure yet. Anyway, I started reading horror novels. Clive Barker, Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, Brian Keene, and of course, Stephen King. I still read horror books constantly for inspiration. Once I actually started writing, I realized how much I loved it. I was able to get my horror fix in a whole new way, and I haven’t stopped since.

When you sit down to write, do you have any pre-requisites i.e a drink, a smoke?

Well, I do most of my writing at work, so a drink would probably not be good. Although sometimes I wish I had a keg with the nozzle hanging from my lips. It can get pretty damn stressful, especially when I’m writing and getting interrupted every other minute or so. My only pre-requisite is to sit my ass down and do it.

What do you think the future holds for Shane McKenzie?

My immediate future holds becoming a husband, then getting a house, then impregnating my wife. I am very excited to start a family, and we are taking the first step this year. For the distant future, I hope to have multiple novels published, along with countless shorts stories. I am also in the process of building a robot that will destroy the world.

Will you continue to do the odd pro-bono work as in guest edit, illustrate for House of Horror?

I really want to concentrate on my writing right now, so I won’t be doing any illustrating. I don’t feel its strong enough to get me anywhere. The same goes for editing, at least right now. I am very determined to become a very good horror author, and if I have other things distracting me, it will just prolong that process. I love House of Horror, and I wish Sam and everyone else involved the best. 

Do you have any last words for the readers of House of Horror, before we set you free?

Keep reading. House of Horror is a great ezine, and their anthologies are fantastic as well. I have no doubt that it will keep growing and becoming more recognized, Sam Cox won’t allow anything else. Look for any and all books put out by House of Horror, and maybe, MAYBE, some day, you can find one of mine in a bargain bin somewhere. Now, I have some writing to do.