Full Name:
Kerry Michael Lipp
Do you have a nickname or what do your friends call you?
Lipp. Squid. Or Giant Squid.
Birthplace:
Celina, Ohio
Current hometown:
Dayton, Ohio
Favorite city and why?
Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the best and worst place on earth. I once turned my last $5 into $1,500 and lost in all in the same night. The emotional highs and lows (not to mention the free flowing booze) don’t come like that anywhere else.
Birthday / Age:
December 28, 1983. I just turned 30.
How would you describe yourself physically?
I can take my shirt off and still be wearing a sweater.
You should offer to shave logos into your torso hair and sell the ad space in exchange for parading around on the beach in the summertime.
The beach is one of my favorite travel destinations. You know anyone that might be interested? I’ll cut ‘em a deal. Actually a friend of mine in high school was the kicker for the football team. He used to shave goal posts on his chest before games. Maybe he’d be interested in being my designer.
How would someone else describe you physically?
Probably smiley and approachable. A lot of people think I’m skinny, but I just hide it well. If I don’t start working out/eating better I’m in deep shit in the next few years.
The first thing people notice about you is…
Smile, sense of humor, black baseball cap I always wear unless I absolutely can’t get away with it.
Religion, if any?
I was raised Methodist. I no longer buy into Christianity although I think there is some value in some of the principles it teaches. I think there’s got to be something more than nothing out there somewhere, but I believe in myself, working hard, and being good to others more than I believe in god. I think that might technically make me a Satanist. I’m cool with that.
You’d probably make a pretty good Satanist.
Hey, I was always taught that if you’re good at something go for it!
Are you superstitious at all? Any phobias?
I recently started living alone for the first time in my life. I like to sit on my bed Indian style and play Xbox and I’m always scared when I look back into my doorway some silent creep is going to be standing there watching me. I also fear technology is dangerously close to destroying/enslaving the human race. (Not a joke.)
If the technology we create leads to our destruction, then we deserve whatever we get. It will just be the next step in our evolution. A thinning of the herd. If cell phones give people brain cancer, then the species will just move on and work with whoever’s left. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Agreed. A friend of mine put up a Facebook status a couple days ago that said something like “Do you think historians will look back in 500 years at where we are now and call it a dark age?” I thought it was an interesting question. I’m pretty sure we’ll all be dust by then, but who knows. But when you think about it, a lot of the crazy science fiction from the past is becoming true in one way or another. I’m kind of curious where it’s going to go and what’s going to happen if it all comes to a head. I also love the sort of “digital wild west” it creates with how information and entertainment is delivered.
Do you smoke / drink? If so, what? Any bad habits?
I drink daily but only to excess a few times a year. I guess that’s good? I greatly prefer beer and vodka over whiskey and wine. I smoked cigarettes for about 8 years, but I recently quit. It’s been about three months and I rarely crave them anymore and I’m happy about that. Looking back now, the whole thing seems kind of ridiculous. I’m a recovering bar/fast food junkie just now learning how to cook.
Current occupation / Dream job:
I’m a supervisor at a grocery store on an air force base. I work the night shift. I used to teach composition at a community college, I miss it sometimes and would like to return to it someday in the near future, but grading papers absolutely sucks. Takes way too much time. Composition courses need to figure out how to do a multiple choice test. Dream job would be sipping cocktails all day poolside working on my next cult bestseller.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
Read and write for sure. I’m a gamer. I like to go out for drinks with friends or by myself. Being alone doesn’t bother me as long as I’ve got a book or a laptop. I’m starting to learn how to cook, that’s kind of cool. I’m actually enjoying it more than I thought it would. I enjoy traveling when my parents throw me a bone or when I can afford it myself.
My author icon pic is a picture of me at a bar posing with Everything Is Under Control by Robert Anton Wilson. Because I’m the kind of guy that brings a book to a bar. I like my ladies to be more interesting than whatever I bring to the bar to read. If you can’t beat a book, we probably shouldn’t practice making babies.
Funny you mention that. I’ve done a large amount of reading and writing at bars. A lot of people don’t get it. Those people are dumb, (laughs) I’ve also been known to pick up a server or bartender from time to time. Don’t’ try it, it never works out. Anyway, my favorite line was always “If you’re going to stop me from reading, you’ve got to be more interesting than the book.” Then you look them head to toe and add “And it looks like you’re in deep shit.” They’ll either flirt back or leave you alone. Win-win.
Occasionally you get approached by a drunk idiot, but not too often. I get less distracted working in public than I do at home. That’s just the way I am.
What is your zombie outbreak survival plan?
Go as long as I can without dying. Try and hole up in a liquor store or something with a stable of WWE Divas. Maybe get ‘em drunk and see what happens next. Go out with a “bang” so to speak.
Weapon of choice:
Kitchen knife. Serrated. I’ve heard that makes it easier to work free.
Do you have any special skills?
I’m good at looking at things that most people see two sides of and see eight sides. I’m pretty charismatic. I can usually break through to people and get them out of a shitty mood. I also have a strong background in public speaking.
Tell us more about this “strong background in public speaking”.
I think I was a junior in college when I got hired at a public speaking teaching assistant. I wasn’t even old enough to drink, greener than baby shit and I had to teach people my age and older how to speak publicly. I learned in a hurry and quickly fell in love with it. I taught public speaking for three years and then composition for several more. I think a lot of teachers look at it as just a job. With my background in public speaking and with all that fear totally gone, I looked at it a little differently. I tried to take a subject most people hate, English composition, and make it interesting and fun as well as informative. I learned that if you could make students laugh and keep their interest and engage them in discussion for a class period, they’d enjoy the learning, get more out of the class, show up, and WANT to do better work. I’m sure a lot of people would fight me on the “fun” approach, but it’s worked for me and I’ve got the evaluations and the student progression to prove it. Damn. Now I want to get back in the classroom!
Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
I did. I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism. I realized I hated it right before I finished my undergrad. Then I went to grad school for English Literature. I’m just about the worst English major (master technically) ever, I haven’t read many of the “classics” and don’t’ like many of the ones I have read.
The “classics” also often known as “the western canon” are historically important to understand the evolution of the written word. Every writer should read the Modern Library Top 100 at some point in their writing career, just so they can be familiar with what has already been done. You have to learn before you can improvise. I hate self-professed or aspiring authors that say they have “problems” with spelling and grammar. That’s like saying you’re a carpenter that has a problem with hammers and sharp tools. Spelling and grammar are the basic tools of the writer. At least familiarize yourself with the elementary tools and when in doubt, spell-check is your best friend and co-pilot.
I’ve got a pretty good grasp on spelling and grammar though I’m far from perfect. I just Googled the Modern Library Top 100. I’ve read 7 off The Board’s List and 14 off The Reader’s List. But “Guilty Pleasures” by Laurel K. Hamilton on that list? C’mon. I actually read that one to see what all the fuss was about a year or two ago. I was about 100 pages in when I had to decide. I either needed to put it down or blow my brains out. As you can see, I’m still alive for this interview. Honestly, I’d never heard of that list until just now. I have interest in reading a lot of these, I think the key word is MODERN. I took a Dickens seminar in college and couldn’t get through more than a few hundred pages of the thousands we were assigned. Although I did give like an hour presentation on a book I hadn’t read. I got an A. Thank you strong background in public speaking!
If you went to college, did you manage to pay off your student loans?
I worked three jobs for all but my freshman year while I was in school, and with occasional help from a pair of fantastic and financially wise parents, I’m happy to say I made it through debt free. Since I taught, I even got paid to go to school for my last year in grad school.
Any pets? If so, what are they and what are their names?
No current pets. I can barely take care of myself.
I’m glad you have a solid sense of priorities.
Wake up. Eat. Make money. Write. Don’t die.
What is your favorite animal?
Squid. Frog. Bunny rabbit. In that order.
Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
I don’t like lazy people. I don’t like people who think that talking about something is the same as doing it. People with low social intelligence. I don’t like people who use their cash on lottery tickets and cigarettes and their food stamps on Red Bull and beef jerky. And I fucking hate it when I’m moving or in a groove and people slow me down. And when McDonalds forgets the sauce you ask for. That’s the worst.
Always check the contents of your bag before driving away from the drive through window. It’s shit pay, so expect careless work. Don’t give them any shit, working at McDonald’s is punishment enough. But do check your order.
I can’t give them any shit. I work third shift. McDonald’s is pretty much the only place open if I want something quick after work. They know me, and I prefer my food spit free haha.
Favorite / Least favorite Food:
Pizza. Candy bars. Taco Bell. I’ll eat just about anything except olives, mushrooms and rare cooked meat. And oysters. I’ve tried ‘em every way they make them. I don’t get it.
What is your favorite quotation / motto / saying?
Pretty much anything the band Hatebreed has ever said. And Eminem. I love Eminem. The last verse of the song “Sing For The Moment” is some powerful shit. Also: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Teddy Roosevelt
What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
My first story sale (and second publication) went to a collection called DOA2 from Blood Bound Books. I found myself among authors that I’d been reading for years. Authors like Jack Ketchum and Wrath James White. A lot of writers don’t publish or sell, even at a penny a word for years. I did, and about 4 months in. For better or for worse, that made me feel like I was for real and that my time was being well spent. I honestly don’t know where I’d be today without Blood Bound Books taking a chance on an unknown with ZERO publication credits at the time they offered me a contract. I got to meet the guys that run BBB at Killercon a few months ago. I got to thank them in person and we had a few beers. That was pretty cool. Joe and Marc are really good guys.
They sound pretty cool. I like Ketchum, despite the fact that he stole a girl out from under me at a convention one time a few years back. But if she was that easy to steal, he was welcome to her. *laughs* No love lost. You never forget your first time. After I wrote my first book I built up my anthology credits and Amazon bibliography for a few years and last fall I leaned back and realized I had about ten books half written in various formats. I decided to focus on finishing a few novels and putting them out myself since I was sick of shopping my work around to publishers. Thus was born Burnt Offerings Books. I published seven books in the past two months and even started up a splinter imprint I’m calling Radiation Sickness Books to publish more extreme and transgressive fiction. I’m looking forward to publishing some really vile, violent and transgressive fiction in 2014.
Haha, that’s funny about Ketchum. Hey as us writerly types know, we can usually get over anything as long as it leaves us with a story. The guys at Blood Bound are really cool. I really hope I get to work with them again. I’d love to get a story in when DOA inevitably returns with volume 3. I also just submitted to Radiation Sickness Books. Hopefully I can find a home there, but even if not, I’m looking for some good things.
What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve experienced very little pain and very little tragedy in my life. All the obstacles I’ve faced have made me stronger and don’t seem so bad when I look at them through the rearview. At least I think so. It’s hard telling how traumatic events shape people. Maybe not facing any of that is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me and when something really bad DOES inevitably happen, it’s really going to mess me up.
Ever had your heart broken? Is there a story worth telling behind your answer?
More than once. Seems like it happens at the end of every summer. I wrote a story about a fairly recent one called “Don’t Call Me When He Tries To Kill You.” It’s in an anthology from Siren’s Call.
Damn it! That sounds perfect for an anthology that I’m planning for February! That’s okay, I’m not against considering reprints.
I’ve got a few more in the cannon haha. I sent a pretty sick erotica horror story to an erotica only market. I’m eagerly awaiting the response. I think it’s going to be hilarious.
Ever broken someone’s heart? Is there a story worth telling behind your answer? Yes and probably not, although there’s no real way to not feel shitty about it.
What is the best thing you’ve ever done?
I’ve talked more people off the ledge than I can count on both hands and feet. I don’t mean this literally, but I’ve talked people out of making horrible decisions, quitting their job, quitting school, starting fights etc.
Good man. I’ve talked a couple shotgun barrels out of a couple times in my time too. I’m of the opinion that if your life is really so bad that death would be better I’ll help you figure out how to go out with the least amount of pain and mess. But if you need someone to talk you out of a bad place I’m a pretty good guy to know.
It’s a good quality to have. It’s a good feeling to help someone through something tough, and develop a strong bond. It’s a great way to build loyalty and trust and people don’t forget stuff like that.
Oh, I don’t know about that whole “strong bond” thing. I don’t even talk to most people that I talked off the ledge anymore. People change and time destroys everything. It’s not the people that say that they’re going to kill themselves that you have to worry about. It’s the people that you wonder years later what the hell ever happened to them. The people that make their suicide other people’s business usually end up talking themselves out of it or being talked out of it by someone else. Like most things in life, it’s the quiet ones you’ve got to watch out for.
I agree that time erodes most things, but I also think that if it’s that significant, whether or not they would’ve talked themselves out of it, you did it and helped them out of that funk a little bit sooner. Also agree about looking out for the quiet ones. You hear something like that almost every day. Somebody loses their shit and does something bad, or when they catch a serial killer.
What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
This is going to sound like a joke, but it’s absolutely serious. I was at King’s Island with my family. My little nephew was like 4 and he was on a kiddie rollercoaster. I went to win him a stuffed animal while he was riding. I played one of those squirt gun races. I was the only one playing and I told the guy to start and he said ok. At the last second a little girl and her dad sat down and I beat them both and walked away with the stuffed animal. I know that sounds like nothing, but I’ve felt bad about it ever since. That was like 2 years ago and I still think about it. Also, I wrote a story called “Precious Damaged Cargo” that went personal places I never should’ve gone, but that’s also the story that started it all for me. It took me a while to make peace with myself after what I did with that story. I’ve sent some awful text messages to people. Done some bad things drunk. But nothing the world remembers later on down the line. At least I don’t think so…
If you could kill one person, who would it be, and why?
I hate to be a question dodger, but even if I got away with it legally and the person I killed totally deserved it, I think it’d haunt me too much. Here’s a vague real answer: Critics who have never created anything.
I’ve never found the actual quote from Hemingway, so the Henry Rollins paraphrasing will have to suffice, “Critics are like people that watch a battle from a safe distance and then come in and kill the survivors.”
Haha. I’ve never heard that quote, but it’s so fucking true. What a bunch of assholes. It’s fine if you don’t like something, I have no problem with that, just don’t be smug about it. I’m pretty sure smugness is like the absolute worst personality trait out there.
I do review books, but if I can’t think of anything nice to say, I won’t publish a review. That being said, if I publish a review where I congratulate the author on being able to put words together into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters until they ended up with a book, but I don’t mention anything about the content of the book, then it probably wasn’t a very good one. I’ve had to message a few authors and tell them privately that their book was unreadable, but I prefer to do that privately so they can hate me in private rather than have to try to make up for any embarrassment they might feel in a public forum. No one wins in that scenario.
Makes sense. I don’t review often, usually only the stuff that I really like. And I’ve been on the verge of posting some one star reviews on Amazon, but never go through with it. Although I probably should. Someone needs to stop the 5 star reviews self-published writers are getting from their family and friends or social media contacts on that shitty first draft they didn’t even glance over before heading straight to KDP.
What do you do?
I work full time third shift. I try and work on my writing career for at least 1-2 hours a day minimum. Sometimes it’s new stuff, sometimes revision, sometimes it’s researching and submitting, sometimes it’s interviews like this, but I always try to do something.
How did you get started doing what you do?
I took a lot of creative writing courses in college and loved it. I got to study under a great writer named Brady Allen. I did a little bit of decent work. But without the grade gun to my head, I only wrote 3 stories in about 4 years after I graduated. Pathetic for someone that wanted to be a writer. I read like a fiend though, burned through books and audiobooks at a rate of about 100 per year all genres, all authors, fiction and non-fiction. Finally one day I was halfway through a book, and a slammed it shut and yelled fuck this. After I got off work that night/morning I took a case of beer, my ipod, and my laptop out to my front porch. 14 hours, 20 or so beers, and about 10,000 words later I had two very rough drafts of the two best things I think I’ve written to date. I don’t think I’ll ever have a session that good again, but that was the fuse, the bomb exploded, lots of fictional people died, and I haven’t stopped killing them.
I love stories like that. I went nuclear last October. I started typing paragraphs in what I call “The World Of Nigh” on a thread on Facebook, using my phone while bored at work. I realized I had accidentally written enough for a short, I decided it was time to write that book. I launched a crowd-funding campaign to see if it had legs. I didn’t meet my goal, but I made enough to justify writing the book, and I found that I liked writing it and savored the challenge. I took a look around my old files and realized I had at least five or six books mostly written so I decided to go for broke. Twelve in Twelve in 2014. Try to keep up.
I’ve seen some of your posts about 12 in 12 on Facebook. I wish you all the best. That is insanity. I still haven’t found my feet on longer works so that’s tough for me to wrap my head around, but I think Bradbury said something like “write a story a week for a year, it’s impossible to write 52 crappy ones in a row.” That’s pretty good advice.
I was talking with another guy the other day who said “I should start writing poetry again, but I don’t’ have anything to say.”
My answer was “Maybe you need to write a bunch of poems to find what you actually need to say. And hell, maybe when you look back, you’ll realize you’ve been saying some good shit all along.” The ONLY way to do it, is to just fucking do it.
I totally agree. I often tell people that the only thing stopping them from writing is themselves. I get that people have obligations, but if you can’t find time to wrote at least a thousand words a day then you really don’t want it badly enough. I mean, this interviews alone is almost 7,000 words which is the outside limit of what is conventionally accepted as short-story length. If you want to write, you will write. Someone on my Facebook linked an article about comedian Jerry Seinfeld the other day too. It said a lot of the same stuff. Work and work everyday consistently without sweating the results. Love him or hate him, I’d say he knows what he’s talking about.
I think that’s going to be my plan for 2015. 2014 is going to be my year of writing a book a month. For 2015 I want to use one of those “365 Day Song Challenges” and instead of picking a song to post on my Facebook wall, I’ll write a story using the prompts. That way I’ll have 365 stories that I can expand into books. Maybe I can hook up with a talented photographer doing a “Picture A Day For A Year Challenge” and try to use their daily image and the “365 Day Song Challenge” suggestion and see if any synchronicity happens. But that’s 2015 and about a year away. I know a guy that used to use a random story idea generator. He’d have three lists of twenty themes each and he’d roll a twenty-sided die three times and whatever he rolled he’d write. It’s an interesting idea, but unfortunately that guy was a total hack, a Juggalo, and barely literate. But there’s all sorts of ways you can find inspiration for stories. You can pick a book off of your shelf and open it up at random and whatever line you point to, that’s the first line of the story that you write that day. Or the last line. But what it boils down to is that if there’s something you’d rather be doing than writing, you’ll end up doing that thing. If you want to write, you’ll write. If you don’t you won’t. And no amount of inspirational memes about writing will write your book for you. You want to finish writing your book? Get the fuck off of Facebook and write. Only use the internet to Google information for your book and write. That’s how I’ve been writing a book a month. It’s the only way I know how. One word at a time, to the exclusion of everything else.
I’m a self-confessed “facebook and other shit while I write guy.” But, I’ve been living without internet for almost a month now. A few days ago I tried something I’d heard about. I left my phone downstairs and put a Post-it note over my clock and my word count. It was the first time I’ve been all alone with my work in months. I did 1,800 words in a little over an hour. I think I’m going to stick with that method for a while.
Also I love your idea about inspiration coming from everywhere and trying new things. As we’ve seen in the last 10 years, the concept of the books is changing a little bit. Lots of opportunity for success especially exploring unexplored territory.
I often tell the story of what I did while writing my first book. I put a piece of masking tape across the top of my TV that read “Would you rather be entertained or would you rather be famous?”. Each time I went to fire up the X-Box or put in a DVD I’d see that message and work on a chapter of my book instead. I don’t need the piece of tape anymore since that work ethic is now ingrained in my mind. When I finish all of the books I want to write and all of the projects I want to work on, then there will be time for video games. I still cheat and watch a movie in the background every now and then, but while I’m watching a movie, I’m still working on projects.
What is your advice to other people that want to get started doing what you do?
Just because you wrote something, it doesn’t matter how long or how good you think it is, no one, not editors, not publishers, not readers, no one owes you SHIT. You’re on your own. Get ready for rejection and more rejection and don’t take it personally, learn, move on and keep writing and keep submitting. Try and make all the friends you can and be nice to everybody unless they are a total asswipe. And for the record, an editor that rejected your story is NOT an asswipe. Write more, get better. Don’t wait on stories that are out there, write more and submit more. Try and have 5-10 stories submitted at any given time and be writing and submitting while you’re waiting. Don’t wait. Don’t quit.
That’s one of the best answers I’ve gotten from a writer. It’s all true. As an author, you are your own brand. Write. Write some more. Write better every time. Submit everywhere you can. All the time. If you want it bad enough. You can have it. But you have to want it bad enough.
Thanks. I appreciate that. I blog about writing for www.horrortree.com and have talked about this and lots of other aspects of writing at length. Writing posts about writing helps me understand the whole mess a lot better and helps others understand as well. It’s been a fantastic experience. I try and to as honest as possible.
Give us a little history if you will.
Well, I’ve got 10-45k word starts on about 6 various novels. Still haven’t finished one. I really like short stories but I’m trying to focus on finishing a novel at the moment. Most of the stuff I write has roots in reality and stays that way. I’m much more interested in what humans are capable of when pushed or trapped in ridiculous circumstances. I’ve got a lot more in common with Jack Ketchum than Clive Barker. I’m not a big fan of the supernatural. But , that said, I’ve also written giant monster frog stories and rewritten fairy tales and stuff like that. I try and stay diverse. I was writing a lot of funny stuff and wanted to get away from that so I wrote a story called “Misery.” I remember crying my eyes out as I typed the last few paragraphs. It had the same affect on a few people that read it. Making them cry made me feel good. I don’t want to be a one trick pony.
Great. Now I want to read that. How am I supposed to work on my own stuff when I’m reading yours? Damn you, you literary succubus! DAMN YOU!!!
But, seriously, finish some of those novels. If you can wrap six books this year you’re doing more work than most people out there and I like people that set the baseline.
That’s the worst isn’t it? It’s so much easier to read than write and there’s so much good stuff out there! That story is actually available for free in audio format. Check out The Wicked Library podcast if you haven’t before. They do a great job. “Misery” is episode 303. I’ve also got another story with them in episode 213. And I’d love to clean some house and take care of unfinished business in 2014. Having someone a little interested might be the shove I need!
I’m about 65,000 words into a novel. It’s hardcore horror set firmly in reality with no supernatural elements. I’d also really like to negotiate/submit/publish a short story collection in 2014. I’ve got the rights to almost all my stories and I’d like to put ‘em together with some stuff that no one has seen yet. I’ve even got the perfect title, (I think) but I don’t want to mention it quite yet.
If no one bites, I’ll put it out through Burnt Offerings Books. No advance, but a better royalty split than any other indie and I cover the edit, formatting, cover-design and publishing. I’ve published eight books in the past three months, but I don’t want my imprint to end up being a vanity press. You write ‘em, I’ll publish ‘em. Let’s make awesome.
I’d love to make some awesome. I’ll keep you posted! Thank you.
I currently have no Internet or dvds. The only movie I have access to on my laptop is Pineapple Express. I watch about half of it every day when I eat dinner. This has been going on for a few weeks now.
I recommend Apocalypse Now on a loop. That’s what I usually use for background when I’m on a writing jag.
I’ve never seen it. I’m like the worst movie person ever. I’ve also never seen any of the Star Wars or Godfather movies. The list goes on and on.
Well, now you know what you need to do to get your writing finished. Apocalypse Now on a loop, until you finish all six of them.
I promise you will track down Apocalypse Now.
What are you listening to?
Usually podcasts like The Wicked Library, Pseudopod, Tales to Terrify, or The Self-Publishing Podcast. I also really like talk radio. 700 WLW is my favorite. Music wise, I’ve pretty much reached the age where I don’t like a lot of new stuff and I listen to a lot of the same bands over and over. Luckily for me most of them have decent sized catalogues. I recently discovered Spotify, I think that’s pretty cool.
What are you reading?
I’m currently reading my contributor copy of Attack of the B-Movie Monsters from Grinning Skull Press. I’m about 3 or 4 stories in. Killer potatoes spliced with giant squid genes. The rest practically writes itself. Good stuff. A good friend of mine that I’ve never met sent me a Kindle copy of The Book Thief for Christmas/my birthday. That’s the next novel I plan to dig into.
Favorite author / book?
Authors: Laymon, Ketchum, King, Curran, Maberry. And a thriller/crime writer that’s sold a lot of books yet no one seems to have heard of him. His name is Linwood Barclay.
Fiction: Battle Royale
Non-fiction: The 50th Law.
Favorite band / song?
Chimaira, Devil Driver, Lollipop Lust Kill, Nothingface, Spineshank, Hatebreed, Eminem. They play a lot of country and pop at work too, so I also really like Pink and The Band Perry (at least their hits).
Least favorite band / song?
I’m about over male fronted country music. I like beer and trucks and hot chicks as much as anybody, but I try and branch out just a little bit. I don’t know how people are dumb enough to keep buying the same songs over and over again.
If you could do anything other than what you do now, what would you do? Probably dump third shift for first shift and pursue a more active social/dating lifestyle.
Dating is over-rated. Focus on your writing. First you write the books. Then you get published. Then you get the women. At least that’s how I think it works. At least I fucking hope so, because if not I’m doing it all wrong.
Well, a lot of the chicks that have read my stuff I usually end up in bed with. And then I get dumped a few weeks later. It’d be nice to be in control and on the other side of things. *laughs*
Who would you want to meet that you haven’t met?
You get three choices: Alive. Dead. Fictional.
Damn, this is a tough one.
Stephen King/Bree Olson
Richard Laymon
Randy Marsh/Jack Bauer
What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
I moved furniture during the summer from ages 16-22. I made a lot of money, at least for someone that age and that job really reinforced the concept of hard work, but it WAS hard work. I don’t remember it being so bad (outside of a couple days) but I helped my roommate move out a few weeks ago and we handled a fraction of what I handled during a day on that job and I still thought I was going to die. I don’t know how I did it 60-80 hours a week in 90+ degree heat for entire summers without flinching. That’s crazytown.
Best job is writing and trying to sell myself on social media, hopefully one of these days it pays a little more. I also used to be a giant seagull mascot and go to parades and fairs and stuff. That was wild.
Best story from your giant seagull days… go!
Sadly I have no good stories from those days. But that job did inspire the only zombie story I ever wrote. Zombie apocalypse happens while you’re in a seagull suit during a parade and can’t take it off.
Are there any questions that I didn’t ask that you wished I had asked that you would like to answer now?
Nothing appropriate. Haha.
Fine then, how about inappropriate questions?
Nah, I think you covered things quite nicely. Let me also say that I enjoy the bounce back aspect of this interview as opposed to just answer questions and post. This is like a conversations or something. Holy shit! People should try it sometime.
Not everyone gets that. If someone’s so boring that I can’t think of any follow-up questions or comments, as long as they fill out most of the interview and include a bio at the end then I’ll run the interview because that’s about what you get with most interviews, including most of the ones that I’ve been asked to participate in, or, rather, asked to be interviewed for. I much prefer when the interviewee give me something I can work with and takes the questions and runs with them. If you can’t be interesting, at least be funny. I know you may not smoke or drink, but answering “No. / No.” is a waste of time for everyone involved. It’s a waste of time sending you the interview, you answering it with a boring one word answer, my having to read your boring response and unfair to the world in general to have to read your boring fucking interview. That being said, I can’t make people be interesting and I wouldn’t if I couldn’t. I’ve got my own writing to do at the end of the day, and I can’t be bothered to teach people how to be interviewed. If you don’t know how to be interviewed, then go off and read a few interviews and figure it out and then come back and ask to be interviewed.
Ok. Cool.
I’m kidding. I’ve definitely enjoyed the process. Keep it up. And best of luck will all of your projects. I hope our paths cross often.
Anyone you recommend I interview that you can put me in touch with?
I’ve got a couple writer buddies Marta Salek, Kevin Bufton and a co-author Ken MacGregor who are all doing good things with a keyboard. They’d probably be happy to talk with you.
You make the introductions and I’ll handle the follow-through.
I’d be happy to.
Got any questions for me?
Do you think you could kill someone and get away with it?
Absolutely. I’m the kind of guy that makes mental notes of decent body dump spots when driving around. I haven’t killed anyone yet, and don’t intend to anytime soon. But if I ever have to, no one will ever know except for me and thee, and dead men tell no tales. Also I’ve read a fair amount of true crime and Henry C. Lee books. Like all of life’s adventures, solid planning prevents future failure.
I’ve got a few ideas myself. Not sure if I should say this out loud, but I think I’d got an idea to blow up an airplane despite current national security settings. Obviously I’d never do it. Not sure if I could get arrested for even thinking about it or I should call somebody and tell them or just wait and use it in a book. I mean I watch the show 24, it’s my favorite and they come up with wild shit like this all the time. It almost begs the question, do the writers report their ideas or just write ‘em and consequences be damned. Can of worms = open.
Thanks for letting me subject you to being interviewed!
Thank you! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity! This has been fun.
Pitch parade:
Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of them.
Facebook: kerry giantsquid lipp or new world horror – kerry g.s. lipp
Twitter: @kerrylipp
Website: www.newworldhorror.com will launch one of these days.
Here’s a link to my amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/Kerry-G.S.-Lipp/e/B00DTKTM1G/
Blog: I guest blog at www.horrortree.com when I’ve got something to say.
E-mail: newworldhorror@gmail.com
Kerry G.S. Lipp teaches English at a community college by evening and writes horrible things by night. He hates the sun. His parents started reading his stories and now he’s out of the will. Kerry's work appears in several anthologies including DOA2 from Blood Bound Books, and Attack of the B-Movie Monsters from Grinning Skull Press. He has stories in several more forthcoming anthologies. His story “Smoke” was adapted for podcast via The Wicked Library episode 213, and pioneered TWL’s inaugural explicit content warning. KGSL blogs at www.HorrorTree.com and will launch his own website www.newworldhorror.com sometime in 2014. Say hi on Twitter @kerrylipp or his Facebook page: New World Horror – Kerry G.S. Lipp.
About the Interviewer:
Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to
write about.
Mostly because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
He is currently working on ten novel-length book projects which will be released in 2014.
He also publishes themed collections of interviews from his interview blog You Are Entitled To My Opinion.
His reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces electronic music under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
He is currently working on a novel-length expansion of a short-story titled, "The End Of The World Is Nigh", a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, post-apocalyptic, zombie epidemic project.
Check out the blog for the book here: theendoftheworldisnighbook.blogspot.com
Check out the Facebook Fan Page for the project here: www.facebook.com/TheEndOfTheWorldIsNighBook
Check his author profile at: www.amazon.com/Scott-Lefebvre/e/B001TQ2W9G
Follow him at GoodReads here:
www.goodreads.com/author/show/1617246.Scott_Lefebvre
Check out his publishing imprint Burnt Offerings Books here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burnt-Offerings-Books/1408858196016246
And here: http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/
Check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here: master-control.bandcamp.com
Check out his videos at: www.youtube.com/user/doctornapoleon
Check out his IMDB profile here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3678959
Follow his Twitter here: twitter.com/TheLefebvre or @TheLefebvre
Follow his Tumblr here: thelefebvre.tumblr.com
Check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/shop/ScottLefebvreArt
Join the group for The Arkham Film Society here:
www.facebook.com/groups/arkhamscreenings
Stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
E-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com
Mostly because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island, and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
He is currently working on ten novel-length book projects which will be released in 2014.
He also publishes themed collections of interviews from his interview blog You Are Entitled To My Opinion.
His reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces electronic music under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
He is currently working on a novel-length expansion of a short-story titled, "The End Of The World Is Nigh", a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, post-apocalyptic, zombie epidemic project.
Check out the blog for the book here: theendoftheworldisnighbook.blogspot.com
Check out the Facebook Fan Page for the project here: www.facebook.com/TheEndOfTheWorldIsNighBook
Check his author profile at: www.amazon.com/Scott-Lefebvre/e/B001TQ2W9G
Follow him at GoodReads here:
www.goodreads.com/author/show/1617246.Scott_Lefebvre
Check out his publishing imprint Burnt Offerings Books here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burnt-Offerings-Books/1408858196016246
And here: http://burntofferingsbooks.blogspot.com/
Check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
And here: master-control.bandcamp.com
Check out his videos at: www.youtube.com/user/doctornapoleon
Check out his IMDB profile here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3678959
Follow his Twitter here: twitter.com/TheLefebvre or @TheLefebvre
Follow his Tumblr here: thelefebvre.tumblr.com
Check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/shop/ScottLefebvreArt
Join the group for The Arkham Film Society here:
www.facebook.com/groups/arkhamscreenings
Stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
E-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment