About Gregory Lamberson

Gregory Lamberson is the author of five published horror novels and one nonfiction book on independent filmmaking. A two-time winner of the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror for his novels Johnny Gruesome and Personal Demons, and a three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist, he has three books scheduled for 2012: his zombie novella Carnage Road, from Creeping Hemlock Press; The Frenzy War, Book Two in his werewolf series “The Frenzy Cycle” from Medallion Press; and Tortured Spirits, Book Four in his occult detective series “The Jake Helman Files,” also from Medallion. An Active member of International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, Lamberson also has a following as a cult horror film director and is best known for Slime City and Slime City Massacre.

Visit him at his website, www.slimeguy.com.

The Interview

What is your favorite quality about yourself?

I like to help people, and there’s very little I won’t do for a friend in need. Also, I’m stubborn; if I take on a fight or a cause, I follow it through to the end.

What is your least favorite quality about yourself?

I have a quick temper, and very little patience for fools, which results in wasted time and energy.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?

“Hey! This is about the law, man!” That was Ken Wahl as undercover FBI agent Vinnie Terranova to his best friend, mobster Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey) on the 1980s crime drama Wiseguy. I’ve been influenced by TV, movies, and comic books as much as I have novels, and the finale of this arc featured brilliant writing by David J. Burke and Stephen Kronish. All of the shades of gray that the show was about – an undercover operator being seduced by the forces he sought to bring down – crystallized in that dialogue.

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?

I’ve been toiling in film and fiction since 1984, and everything started coming together these last few years; I’m a model of perseverance. Honestly, I’m proud of everything I’ve created in the last eight years, including my daughter, who I co-authored with my beautiful wife.

How has your upbringing influenced your writing?

My mother, an artist and English teacher, raised me and my sister in a small town. We had no car and we were really poor. I was a child of television, and the movies I watched set my imagination on fire, whether they were Hammer horror films, Don Knotts comedies, or Tarzan flicks. I knew fairly early on that I wanted to create entertainment.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I wrote a story in second grade – it was called “They,” and it was about people living under a dome for protection from radioactive mutants – and both my teacher and my mother told me I wrote good dialogue. A little bit of encouragement was all I needed.

How long have you been writing?

I started adapting novels into screenplays in high school. After one year of film school in New York City, I wrote my first original screenplay, Slime City, which I directed at the age of 21 and completed at 23; it’s gone on to become a cult film, and I made a sequel, Slime City Massacre, a couple of years ago. In 2000, after I directed my third low budget feature, I decided that my career as a filmmaker was not going in the direction I wanted it to be, so I switched gears. My first three novels – Johnny Gruesome, Personal Demons, and The Frenzy Way – were all based on screenplays I wrote, and two of them have spawned series.

When did you first know you could be a writer?

I never thought I couldn’t be a writer!

What inspires you to write and why?

I have lifelong influences, but no specific inspirations; the stories I write are inside me, they’re part of me, and I need to get them out. If I have dreams or nightmares, I don’t remember them; I’m a sound sleeper.

What genre are you most comfortable writing?

I love horror, but I also love crime drama and noir thrillers. Most of my novels incorporate police procedurals, femme fatales, or counter-terrorism; they’re horror with a heavy emphasis on action and surprises. A lot of readers tell me, “I don’t normally like reading horror, but your books are different.” All part of my master plan!

What inspired you to write your first book?

As I said, Personal Demons was based on a screenplay. But I was living in New York City when 9/11 happened, and that event – and the selling of fear afterward – really shaped that novel, and many that I’ve written since.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began?

When I was in high school, planning a career in film, my heroes were George A, Romero, who directed Night of the Living Dead, and Jack Arnold, who directed older B pictures like The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Then Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot and Peter Straub’s Ghost Story were published, and a whole new world of possibility opened up to me. Once I decided to write novels, David Morrell, a supreme thriller writer, and William F. Nolan, who writes science fiction, horror, biographies – anything under the sun, really – were big influences.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general?

My novel contracts typically call for 80,000 words. I don’t outline when I can avoid it, but I do formulate story ideas. I always worry that I won’t have enough material for the minimum, but I end up running long and abandoning some ideas.

Do you intend to make writing a career?

It is my career!

Have you developed a specific writing style?

I think so. I like fast pacing, and a lot of action. I tend to italicize key thoughts of my characters even though some of my literary brethren scoff at the technique, but that’s the influence of comic books and I’m not ashamed of it.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Pacing.

About Carnage Road

Boone and Walker, the last two members of the Floating Dragons motorcycle gang in Buffalo, set out to re-discover America during the zombie apocalypse. Their odyssey takes them to Ohio, Kansas, Hollywood, and a last stand in Texas. Along the way they learn just what happens when the federal government ceases to exist, and it isn’t pretty.

A tale of friendship and loyalty, Carnage Road is author Gregory Lamberson’s unforgettable ode to westerns, biker pictures, and the cinema of the living dead.