Wayne Simmons
Plastic Jesus is a sci-fi thriller set in the near future.
The story takes place in Lark City on Maalside Island, a hedonistic haven off the coast of Total America. The West is struggling to recover after a mass holy war caused the Middle East to implode and the oil trade to die out.
We follow Johnny Lyon, a young Code Guy struggling to get his life back on track after the loss of his wife. Johnny is tasked to write a Jesus programme for release via Virtual Reality. His employers, Alt Corp, hope to use the new VR to reinvent and rebrand religion after the Holy War. But, of course, things don't go according to plan.
This is a very character-driven book dealing with issues of grief and faith and family and addiction. It’s my first release through Salt Publishing, which is very exciting for me.
Please tell us about your debut novel in 2008?
Drop Dead Gorgeous is my debut, an offbeat apoc-horror novel released in 2008 by Permuted Press and then re-released in 2011 through Snowbooks. The story's set within Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the aftermath of a weird happening where 99% of the population suddenly fall down dead. Like all my books, DDG is primarily concerned with the characters; a varied bunch of everyday, ordinary folks dealing with an extraordinary event. And then there's our antagonists, the fallen women who instead of rotting away like all the other bodies, start to reanimate, becoming more beautiful, soon rising up to seek vengeance upon the men who wronged them in life. You could describe it as an anti-zombie book or feminist horror fest: think Dawn of the Dead meets The Ring with some Irish mythology thrown in for good measure.
Plastic Jesus has been compared to Blade Runner and Inception, so what was your reaction when you heard this?
Well, Blade Runner's my all-time favourite film so a comparison like this means the world to me. It's been a definite influence on this book, for sure; from the sprawling cityscape of Lark City to the noir stylings of characters such as trench coated cop, Rudlow, and his burlesque girlfriend, Dolly Bird. In fact, I'd go one further and describe Plastic Jesus as my love letter to Ridley Scott for Blade Runner, William Gibson for Neuromancer as well as a host of crime writers through the ages: Lawrence Block, Day Keene, Donald E. Westlake, Christa Faust etc.
In terms of Inception, I think there's a surreal aspect to Plastic Jesus that may remind readers of Christopher Nolan's direction on that movie; the digital world bleeding into everyday life, creating a virtual hell on earth.
What is it about the horror genre that is appealing for you as a writer?
Horror's the ultimate in excitement; the Pandora's Box that you just have to open, regardless of what terrible things you know to lurk inside.
For me, the obsession with this stuff came from watching Hammer House of Horror as a child. There was something taboo and dangerous and attractive about that series that appealed and I wanted more.
Of course, horror wasn't as accessible back then as it is now: as a teenager, I used to rent a load of horror videos every weekend and chain-watch them with some friends until all hours. But you were limited to what your local store would stock and soon we'd seen just about everything they had.
Again, that added to the whole attraction, though: you had to seek this stuff out, particularly during the video nasty era when uncut versions of banned movies like Evil Dead were passed around town like contraband and you had to know 'the right people'.
Today, I still love horror. It's a huge part of my life, from the books I write to the events I attend and take part in and even organise (I'm the co-producer of a brand new horror expo in Cardiff called SCARdiff). I'm tattooed practically from head to toe and, yep, you guessed it, the theme is mostly horror. But my tattoos are bright and colourful and vibrant because, for me, horror isn't a downbeat thing: it's something that enthuses me, that entertains me and gives me a lot of pleasure in life.
Does that make me weird? Probably...
Who are your favourite reads in the world of fictional horror?
Stephen King's a biggie. His novel Carrie is my favourite read of all time, across all genres. Shaun Hutson, James Herbert and Richard Laymon are others I've enjoyed: their no-nonsense brand of pulp gore defines the 80s for me. In more recent times, I've enjoyed Brian Keene and Susie Moloney. David Moody's a favourite, too: he writes the everyman brilliantly, pitting the natural against the supernatural in a way we haven't seen done as well since Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.
Please tell us about your role on the online genre zines before you began writing your novels.
Again, it comes back to being a lifelong fan of this stuff. I like everything genre-related: films, books, comicbooks, music, tattoos, the lot. Eventually, being a passive participant wasn't enough and so I reached out to a few online blogs and zines, places like Zombie A-Go-Go and Pretty Scary (both now defunct), and started reviewing the books and movies I was enjoying, interviewing the folks behind them. This was great in terms of building inspiration and momentum for doing my own stuff: one thing led to another and before long I had written debut novel, Drop Dead Gorgeous, which was very much a product of all the things I was enjoying as a fan back then.
Today, I still do reviews and interviews for a few select zines and blogs, places like The Lair of Filth. I also have a podcast called HACK wherein I review the films I like and interview other folks within the genre world, as well as reading my own stuff.
How difficult is it for a writer to come up with something new in a very saturated genre like horror?
I think it's impossible to come up with something totally new. The best you can hope for is to bring a fresh angle to an existing trope, such as Northern Ireland's sectarianism to zombies (Flu), or social networking and cell phone obsession to cyberpunk (Plastic Jesus). For me, a good story with interesting characters should be the main aim: that transcends genre labels. A good recent example would be John A Lindqvist's excellent coming-of-age novel, Let The Right One In: a great story, in itself, before you even think of vampires or horror.
What is your writing process?
I tend to do a lot of free-writing: writing without planning in order to find a direction, to get to know my characters, to get that all-important hook. Then there'll be lots of editing and re-editing, rewrites and a bit more make-it-up-as-you-go-along until I get into my groove. Basically, the aim is to breathe enough life into the characters for them to take over and write the book for me, Jimmy Page style. It's quite an unconventional way to roll but it works for me: keeps the story fresh as I write it.
What is next for you?
Lots more genre stuff. There's a crime book parked at first draft, a vampire book parked at 3rd draft and a slasher horror being co-written with fellow genre hack and good friend, Andre Duza. And then there's the final book in the Flu series, a fantasy book I've made a start on and the idea for a revenge thriller that's been kicking around my head for a long time, now. I'm always writing, always coming up with new ideas. So plenty more on the way, if people still want to read me.