The Fantasy Authors Handbook Interview Xx Logan L Masterson

THE FANTASY AUTHOR’S HANDBOOK INTERVIEW XX: LOGAN L. MASTERSON Logan L. Masterson describes himself as a “poet, writer, actor, storyteller, artist, photographer, and new world man.” Logan and I share a few of these traits, along with a relationship with Pro Se Productions, a number one small press publisher targeted on new pulp. Something I at all times tell my college students is that with hard work, willpower, and expertise, getting your work out there's not as impossible as it could appearâ€"and now we get a chance to hear from an writer at the very starting of what I’m sure might be a long profession. Logan L. Masterson Philip Athans: Define “fantasy” in 25 phrases or much less. Logan L. Masterson: Fantasy is that fiction which accepts that surprise and magic are key components within the human narrative. We all believed in magic as soon as. Philip Athans: Define “science fiction” in 25 words or much less. Logan L. Masterson: Science fiction, on the other hand, frames its surprise within the limits of theoretical chance, buying and selling magic for rational thought. Philip Athans: Ravencroft Springsis your first revealed novella. How did you get in touch with the writer, Pro Se Productions . . . how did it’s publication come about? Logan L. Masterson: I was fortunate sufficient to meet Tommy Hancock and Morgan McKay nee Minor at a neighborhood comedian book occasion. It wasn’t quite a convention as such, more of a one-day gathering in a small house right here in Nashville. I was totally unprepared, having to deliver up my manuscript on my cellphone, but the Pro Se of us have been willing to take a look at that, and I guess Morgan was fairly impressed, as a result of they provided me a contract on the spot! Available Now! Philip Athans: I’ve written a few novellas myself, and located that the e-guide format appears to have breathed new life into the novella. Where do you see this pattern leading, if it’s a pattern in any respect? Logan L. Masterson: Oh, you betcha! Of course, a number of the main genre awards have had novella & novelette classes for years, so it was never a lifeless format. Heck, one of the recognizable pieces of the English Canonâ€"A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickensâ€"is a novella. That mentioned, there's new life in the form, and the e-book is an enormous part of that. I hope that it'll permit a wider audience for these shorter types. With authors and publishers capable of set reasonable prices, it should be an ever more viable format. Philip Athans: I’ve written a pair short stories for Pro Se and plan to write extra. Are you a fan of the pulp tradition, and the way do you see it’s place within the modern media world? Logan L. Masterson: I love pulp! Some of my favorite science fiction is the Humanx Commonwealth created by Alan Dean Foster, which is sci-fi adventure pulp at its greatest! I additionally love Doc Smith, Harry Steeger’s Spider, Michael Moorcock and H.P. Lovecraft, all of whom have pulp of their veins. Really, pulp is the equivalent o f the trendy action film: it applies progressive language and bombastic characters the same method film pushes the envelope of visible effects. There’s loads of room for action and excitement that eschews the trimmings of self-important literature. Philip Athans: Ravencroft Springs is billed as “a Lovecraftian story of suspense” . . . I even have to assume you’re a fan of H.P. Lovecraft. When did you first encounter his work and what about his peculiar milieu got your creative juices flowing? Logan L. Masterson: I guess I first learn Lovecraft as a young teen. I should have been 13 or fourteen after I discovered “The Call of Cthulhu.” I was instantly impressed by the cosmic scale of issues, and the weird fusion of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. I mentioned to myself, “that is what Poe was reaching for.” Philip Athans: When you first began writing, the place did you go to learn your craft? Did you learn books on writing, did you pursue a degree with writing in thoughts? Logan L. Masterson: I started by diving in, head first. I had a pal in Dallas who had written one thing great, and it impressed me tremendously. I wrote a number of little somethings, and abruptly felt I had discovered my calling. I did plenty of poetry in my youth, for the emotional launch as much as anything else, and finally turned a severe eye to creating correct fiction a lot in a while, in my thirties. I actually have no formal education, but I have read a ton of nice books on the method and business of writing. I favor Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, Structure, Styale, and the Principles of Screenwriting and Stephen King’s On Writing particularly, however I will often take a look at something new from the library in search of those little gems I even have one way or the other missed elsewhere. Philip Athans: What have you discovered to be essentially the most surprising aspect of being an expert, published creatorâ€"what had been you least ready for when you we re nonetheless “aspiring”? Logan L. Masterson: Starvation? Seriously, although, I am most shocked on the welcome I even have obtained from the community of authors. Those writers I meet at occasions and online are just about universally cool people, prepared to lend a hand, share their experiences, and assist us noobs alongside the winding uphill highway. Philip Athans: Ravencroft Springs is about in the Tennessee Appalachians. Have you spent a lot time there? How did you decide on that as a setting on your Lovecraftian horrors? And how important is an creator’s direct expertise with a real world setting when it comes to with the ability to deliver it to life in prose? Logan L. Masterson: Ravencroft Springs, the city, is predicated on the true-world artist colony and trip spot of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I used to go there as a child with my parents, and I took my spouse there for our honeymoon. It’s an excellent little mountain town stuffed with artists and old hippies, ga lleries and bookshops and quirky eating places. I don’t know the way it survives there. During our winter honeymoon, we walked the streets and explored the outlets, and I couldn’t help wonder in regards to the more sinister features of the placeâ€"the non secular and political conflicts that surely seethed beneath the surface. And that seething beneath the surface bit is what grew right into a story, and it’s the explanation I transplanted the setting. The Appalachians are among the oldest mountains on earth, and will even have been linked to the mountains of Scotland within the primordial past. They’re related to the people of Scotland now, being settled by Scot and Irish immigrants who came to the area searching for alternative and one thing like house. And sure, I have spent plenty of time there. The Appalachians are great for climbing and camping, and the mist that rises within the morning and settles within the evening offers the region an eeriness that can’t be defin ed, as if one thing actually had been sleeping beneath the hills. It was very important to the story that Ravencroft be evocative, chilling, a character in its personal right. In that sense, I do not think I might have done the setting justice without having skilled each of the sources immediately. Philip Athans: Where can individuals go to find out extra about you, your writing, and what’s developing next for you? Logan L. Masterson: My web site, agonyzer.com, features a blog where I discuss my upcoming initiatives and occasions. I also have a Facebook author page for those who find that simpler. There’s a page for Ravencroft Springs, too! Philip Athans: Thanks Logan, we’ll be on the lookout for more! About Philip Athans Fill in your details beneath or click an icon to log in: