CHRISTOPHER FULBRIGHT is the editor of SAVAGE NIGHT Zine, and the writer of many tales, notably his novella WOMEN ARE SO COLD (link available on this website).

Chris: So, let's start by talking about some of the projects you're working on now. What can we look forward to in the near future?

Shrews: Well, aside from working feverishly on the new web site, readily promoting several new anthologies I am appearing in, I have a pretty good story that I am reworking right now, and revising a couple novels -- several in fact, but one is a major barbarian/historical novel.

Chris: Ahh yes. GODFORSAKEN

Shrews: Yes, GODFORSAKEN is the barbarian one...

Chris: Guess I'm one of the lucky few who's had an advance peek at GF.

Shrews: Yes, you are one of the few. I have let a couple people see some snips but you received the full monty as it were.

Chris: I enjoyed it immensely. Good bet someone’s going to pick that up, I'll wager.

Shrews: It (GODFORSAKEN) is sort of the essence of what I write. Broad, historical... pagan gods thrown in, with big characters... lots of war, action, and religious furor with a moral overall, or perhaps a tinge of how I see history.

Chris: I loved the Lovecraftian/Howard/Biblical undertones ... and yet it's unique. I've never read any kind of barbarian piece quite like it.

Shrews: I appreciate you saying that, since you have read the above writers. The Lovecraftian elements, well, some of that was on purpose in the latter parts, but the Howard-isms, well, that sorta flows from me.

Chris: Long live Robert E. Howard!

Shrews: YES. Howard was and is the man.

Chris: So, let's talk about some of the anthos.

Shrews: Shoot.

Chris: What's upcoming, where can we find you?

Shrews: ATROCITAS AQUA is one …

Chris: Yes. The Horrors from the Deep.

Shrews: I hear Chris Fulbright has a great tale in that one.

Chris: Bah, you're too kind.

Shrews: Well, in ATROCITAS AQUA I have a story called CREATING A BARBARIAN MAN; Picts swimming the channel in pre-Roman Briton, don't ya know.... it should be out in paperback in March.

Chris: I'm looking forward to seeing the paperback ... should be pretty sharp.

Shrews: Deron does terrific work on the covers, plus, the layout, the line up for AA, just great. PLUS a bunch of my poems appear in CEMETERY POETS also from Double Dragon.

Chris: I saw that ... and a #2 slot in the 2002 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll for poet laureate! Congratulations on that!

Shrews: Yeah, my fans came out for that one. I was stunned, for I submit few poems these days. WINGS was always one of my best. It was on SHADOWKEEP and it appeared in a print mag, HAUNTS, years ago.

Chris: Hey ... I had a story in HAUNTS in 1993! Great mag.

Shrews: Wow, another HAUNTS alum!

Chris: So you also have a book of short stories coming out from Double Dragon don't you?

Shrews: Right you are. DEPTHS OF SAVAGERY - 13 tales of barbarism and the human animal due out this summer in eBook format. Rumor is that if it sells well I can beg Deron for a paperback version.

Chris: Awesome. I'll definitely support you on that one.

Shrews: I appreciate it. It contains a lot of my barbarian stuff that’s been spread out here and there, but many others never seen before, such as NOT TO BE -- the Viking version of Hamlet. Had fun crushing that into 18 pages. NOT TO BE came about when I watched VEGGIE TALES: LYLE the KINDLY VIKING with my son and then read a line in Hamlet, “Where the offense be, let the great axe fall.” And just who was in Denmark before the middle ages? Singing SPAM SPAM no doubt. The rest was easy.

Chris: Viking version of Hamlet, huh? I'll be curious to read that one ...

Shrews: It also contains a civil war tale, BLACK RIBBON OF JOSEPHINE, about the Missouri raiders, from which I am descended.

Chris: I recall you talking about that. So, I'm curious ... you're an amazingly prolific writer. How often do you sit down to work? An average output.

Shrews: Well, I try to work about 90 minutes a day. That is not a set time, that is just when my brain shuts off...well, at the computer anyway. I write tons of notes at work, on scraps of paper etc. My mind is always coming up with stuff. But I try to work at it about an hour a day. I can do a rough draft of 10 pages or so in 45 minutes

Chris: In a variety of genres, too. From what genres do your major influences fare?

Shrews: Well, oddly enough, my eyes were poor as a child, so my mother got me books on tape and the first things I ever heard were THE BIBLE drama and ODYSSEY. Then it was on to comic books; SPIDERMAN, SGT ROCK, JONAH HEX and stuff like that. I read Robert E. Howard before I went to Jr. High. My brother Mark is my major influence in that genre. He took me to see CONAN and CLASH OF THE TITANS.

Chris: Ahhh, Conan.

Shrews: He got me reading Howard and Lieber and Burroughs. I loved Douglas Adams and Dr. Who as a kid, too.

Chris: Burroughs is one of my favorites.

Shrews: Yes, the PELLUCIDAR material is pretty cool. Just got a copy of TARZAN AT THE EARTHS CORE in a shop the other day. John Carter of MARS was a fave as well.

Chris: I liked PRINCESS OF MARS and the first few in that series. I'm particular to TARZAN, though, and some of his individual novels ... THE MONSTER MEN ... THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT ...

Shrews: TIME FORGOT was excellent. Great tale. John Carter wasn't my fave, but it was all they had to read in the high school library when I was screwing around – hahaha. But, back to Howard, I actually love his non-Conan material. Who said it – Lovecraft? – that Conan was the dregs of his talent? Dunno if that is so, but his westerns, El Borak, and his horror tales are great. And his poetry was terrific.

Chris: I don't know if I'd agree with that, either, but a lot of his westerns, straight adventure, and pirate tales are awesome ... the seafaring tales are just great. There's a lot of it ... only 20% of what he wrote was Conan.

Shrews: Ahhh....what folks are missing. Anyways.

Chris: New question.

Shrews: Okay.

Chris: So when you write, you prefer the short story over the novel?

Shrews: They are easier, it seems. The novel is the homerun we all want, right? It is the big payback, but short tales are easy to plot, etc.

Chris: Seems like the only way to make any money at it these days, anyway. If you want to do it for a living, novels are necessities for a writer.

Shrews: Yes. Novel ideas are easy to get, getting them all down perfect is kinda hard, but not impossible. The story is there telling itself through my hands. It flows kinda like dictation.

Chris: I find anymore that it's tough for me to write short-short stories, they like to drag on ... but the plot keeps getting more complex. As a result, I've got pile of novellas laying around, but none that are quite novel-length.

Shrews: Yes, that happens a lot to me too. I have a number of ideas that seem to stall short of novel length

Chris: So ... a lot of people checking out your new site are going to want to know ...

Shrews: Yeah?

Chris: What happened to Dack Shannon.com? I know there was some controversy.

Shrews: Well, that is an interesting tale.

Chris: Care to explain any of that?

Shrews: Hmmm. Well, some folks believed that my novel, NOCTURNAL VACATIONS and the material on the site was too violent, Satanic and unfit for consumption by humans. Which is silly if one actually reads the material some folks who confuse fantasy with reality got a tad overzealous.

Chris: That’s too bad.

Shrews: Yes. Let us say that I doubt the aforementioned Burroughs dropped babies into the Congo to see if TARZAN would work. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor not a detective. Stephen King has never killed anyone that I know of, but how could I possibly know how to describe an occult ceremony unless I performed one? It is preposterous. My material is no rougher than a LAW & ORDER episode. But ...to preserve the fabric of humanity, and allow my wife to keep her job teaching, I pulled the site. I did a great deal of soul searching and decided God gave me some talent, however small...and I doubt he then turned me over to Satan. Just because I discuss the darker aspects of life doesn't mean I endorse them. Besides, folks it is just FICTION.

Chris: There were a lot of Christians who wrote dark material that people don't think about these days. M.R. James, H. Rider Haggard, Henry Whitehead from the golden age of Weird Tales …

Shrews: Yes, that is true. Lewis’s SCREWTAPE LETTERS is dialogue with Satanic beings themselves. I enjoyed a post you did when all this happened ... that I was influenced by that book I read as a kid, one filled with violence, paganism, and sodomy. The Old Testament.

Chris: Heh-heh ... indeed. Book of Judges, Samuel, Kings. Good stuff.

Shrews: Yes, the Philistines and those of Sodom were not nice folks.

Chris: Neither were the Romans for that matter.

Shrews: Indeed. Gonna write a book about some of the Philistines soon, but that may be telling.

Chris: Ahh, Dagon worshippers

Shrews: Yes, Baal, Asteroth and Dagon were the gods of the seafaring Philistines demanding child sacrifice. What an era, eh?

Chris: Yeah, the good old days. Heh. I wonder how many Lovecraft fans know about the Biblical origins of some of his Cthulu Mythos gods?

Shrews: I have wondered that as well. I would love to see HP’s library. That says a lot about a writer. When I read Lovecraft the first time it was in high school and I knew about Dagon and was like, wow. Lovecraft is another author with incredible talent.

Chris: Incredible imagination.

Shrews: Yes, he could make you feel like you were on a slide in a microscope of the cosmos.

Chris: So ... I suppose we could on like this all night ...

Shrews: Yeah, probably. Good thing we aren't drinking.

Chris: Hah-hah ... LOL. Good thing. So ... Anything in the works for Dack Shannon coming up, or is he waiting in the wings for when the stars are right?

Shrews: Well I have some new Dack tales, quite a few of them, ready. There is a great one called DUST that may be ready for the site when it pops up. ISSUE FROM THE ROTTEN WOMB is another and so is AGENT AQUA. I have a new anthology in mind for him.

Chris: Cool.

Shrews: But I don’t know when I will have it published. I am revising a MAJESTIC novel called WOLVES AMONGST SHEEP that will tell Hank's origin and some great conspiracy stuff... PLUS Thor Alexander has been swaggering around in some new tales, as yet unseen. The new PDF download from BIZARRE eBooks for Thor is a neat deal. I had a deal in Canada for Dack in some print stuff but the company collapsed.

Chris: Man … a book deal?

Shrews: Kind of a regular publication ... out of a comics company. That would be the ultimate – a Dack Shannon comic book.

Chris: Dude ... that would be sweet!

Shrews: I'd write that until I died.

Chris: LOL! I'll bet you would!

Shrews: Anyone interested WRITE ME. It’s the perfect format -- probably how I conceive the tales like I do. Dack is a fascinating character, and fun to write. I have so many tales of him I lost count, maybe 50 or 60. Every time I think I am tired or weary of him he arises and some of the best stuff is yet to be told.

Chris: Well, when it breaks for you, you should be well set to flood the market. Seems like the big publishing houses would be ready to jump on DS with your output ... what's that they say? A reliable commodity.

Shrews: Hey, I am all for it. I have serials, shorts, novels, the whole shootin’ match with him and Thor.

Chris: Cool. Well, man, I better wrap it up. Anything else you want to say before I deliver my last question? Plug? Promote?

Shrews: Well, thanks to all of the people who stuck by me when times were bad. TheyI never gave up on me and so I kept at it. Thus, when folks write me for things like SCRIPTURES OF THE DAMNED (With my tale IN THE HEATHEN GROVE) and SCARY HOLIDAY anthos I am in, it is gratifying to hear good things and know one has some friends out there. Also, the Dack Shannon anthology NOCTURNAL VACATIONS is still available from Publish America. You can find it on AMAZON or B&N, or go to the links on the page here, if anyone wants to know what Dack is all about. By the way, thanks Chris for the ground-breaker interview here - we must do this again sometime.

Chris: No problem ... it's been a blast! Like I said I could do this all night, but the wife might not take kindly to that.

Shrews: Cool. Someday we should choose a topic and go for it.

Chris: Absolutely. Okay, last question.

Shrews: I am wearing pants.

Chris: LOL. No really …

Shrews: Okay.

Chris: Ellie May Clampet ... or Ginger?

Shrews: LOL. Ginger. Redhead - no contest.

Chris: Rock on, brother. Take care, man.

Shrews: Later.

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