{"id":705,"date":"2023-08-05T09:45:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-05T09:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=705"},"modified":"2023-08-05T09:45:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T09:45:40","slug":"lone-star-listens-prepare-to-be-scared-with-e-r-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=705","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Listens: Prepare to Be Scared with E.R. Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Halloween Eve editor and author E.R. Bills<\/strong> talks with us about a new collection of horror stories from some of Texas\u2019s best known writers in the genre. <\/span>Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers<\/a><\/em><\/strong> <\/span>offers Lone Star readers a chance to be scared by their own. Bills shared with us via email how the project came together.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: First of all, what a great idea! Coming out with a collection of Texas horror stories from Texas writers in October. What was the genesis of the project? How did it get started?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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E. R. BILLS<\/strong>: Well, actually it sort of originated at the North Texas Book Festival in Denton. Bret McCormick and I met and spent a fair span of the day visiting, discussing books, film, sci-fi, horror, etc. Along the way putting together an anthology was brought up in passing, but I think the more we thought on it, the more it appealed to us. And we couldn\u2019t find where anyone had really done it before. This was April of 2016, and the thing seemed half-baked at first- \u2014 but we put our shoulders to it and the project picked up steam.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How long did it take to gather and edit the work?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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We started in mid-to-late April and got ambitious. We decided we wanted it out before Halloween. Things moved at a breakneck pace, but we brought in Rio Grande Valley writer David Robledo and Austin proofreader Misty Contreras to help with edits. It was difficult and incredibly taxing, we got the book done and out in roughly six months.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Can you tell us a little bit about some of the authors who contributed?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The heavy hitter was Champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, the Stephen King of Texas \u2014 and probably the current Harlen Coben\/Michael Connelly of Texas as well. Arguably the state\u2019s greatest active writer. I\u2019m in talks with Joe about doing a project with him and his son Keith, and I asked him if he wanted to contribute to the anthology. He didn\u2019t think twice. He\u2019s as good a guy as I\u2019ve ever met. I\u2019m a huge fan.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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David Bowles is an exciting Mexican American writer out of the Rio Grande Valley. Polished, smart and compelling. A writer going places. He appears with us in Road Kill<\/em>,<\/span> but he also recently released Ghosts of the Rio Grande Valley<\/em> with Arcadia.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Russell C. Connor is an award-winning indie writer with eleven books to his name, including Good Neighbors<\/em> and Through the Deep Forest<\/em>, the first book in his Dark Filament series. There\u2019s a lot of buzz around Connor, and for good reason. Impressive submission to Road Kill<\/span><\/em> and I think he’s destined for big things.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Anna Davis\u2014An up-and-coming cyberpunk writer who just won a Writer\u2019s Digest\u2019s Self-Published Book Award for her debut novel, Open Source<\/em>. She\u2019s smart and probably prescient in terms of what consequences our growing cyber culture will lead to.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Michael H. Price is the Dean of Metroplex horror, and he\u2019s worked in so many different mediums he\u2019s hard to quantify. I dug him as a Star-Telegram<\/span> movie reviewer and a musical contributor for Hip Pocket Theatre productions here in Fort Worth, and just love his work in general. His Forgotten Horrors<\/em>, an excellent, multi-volume compendium of forgotten horror flicks is a fascinating resource.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Glen Coburn was the writer and director of indie cult classic film Bloodsuckers from Outer Space<\/em>,<\/span> a much beloved horror spoof from 1984. He\u2019s a solid writer who\u2019s still cranking out engaging prose.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Carmen Gray is a talented Mexican-American writer living in Austin. Gray served up her first foray into horror for <\/em>Road Kill<\/em>, <\/span>and it features a gripping, true-to-life account of the heartbreaking fate of an underage sex slave.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mike Baldwin\u2014An accomplished poet, author\u2014a really creative guy, and a nice guy, Baldwin sneaks up on you. He delivers work you don\u2019t expect \u2014 including his latest book, Surpassing Strange<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Another impressive indie writer we were happy to land, Stephen Patrick is a great storyteller who added a great twist to a traditional Texas tale for the book.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Can you tell us a little about some of the stories?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Here are just a few:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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1) Connor\u2019s \u201cPretty Deaths\u201d is about three teenagers who ill-advisedly sneak into a \u201cbody farm.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2) <\/span><\/span><\/span>Lansdale’s \u201cNot from Detroit\u201d is about an aging African American couple who decide to challenge the Grim Reaper.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

3) <\/span><\/span><\/span>McCormick\u2019s \u201cCrepuscular\u201d is about a handyman who discovers that the fixer-upper he\u2019s working on has a doorway to the past that\u2019s way out of square.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4) Patrick\u2019s \u201cFalse Face of Donovan O\u2019Grady\u201d is about a demon who plays cowboy and takes on the Texas Rangers.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

5) Gray’s \u201cDaniel\u2019s Dilemma\u201d is about an aging hippie who gets tangled up in the death of an underage sex slave.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

6) And Beauvais\u2019s \u201cBamfires\u201d is about a young child who is haunted by vampires.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Eddie, I see that you and Bret McCormick are each listed as editors. What was the process like with two editors?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It was often tough, but it was necessary. We both read the material and expressed our opinions. Sometimes my decisions carried the day, and sometimes Bret\u2019s did. I think our different interpretations and perspectives rounded out the process. McCormick was an invaluable resource. It took both of us to bring this thing together, especially as quickly as we did.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What makes Texas horror stories distinctive from other horror stories?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The \u201cZodiak\u201d Killer has nothing on the \u201cPhantom Killer\u201d of Texarkana in the late 1940s (featured in The Town that Dreaded Sundown<\/em>). And neither Jason (Friday the 13th<\/span><\/em>) nor Michael Myers (Halloween<\/span><\/em>) have anything on Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/em>.<\/span> I think there’s a fierceness about Texans and Texas lore \u2014 good and bad \u2014 from their football to their paranormal leanings. You can hardly discuss Texas without utilizing superlatives. Things are bigger and scarier here, and the authors involved in Road Kill<\/span><\/em> very effectively traversed the state for new and fresh horrors to explore.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  On Halloween Eve editor and author E.R. Bills talks with us about a new collection of horror stories from some of Texas\u2019s best known writers in the genre. Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers offers Lone Star readers a chance to be scared by their own. Bills shared with us via email how the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[229,53,9,8,15],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-authorinterview","tag-interview","tag-lonestarliterarylife","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-texasauthor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}