#MiHM2015 Men In Horror Month 2015 Presents: Frank J. Edler

13/3/2015

Aaah, Frank. Frank, Frank, Frank, *taps chin thoughtfully*
What can I say about Frank J. Edler that you can't garner yourself from his author photo?

Well, he runs a cool blog called Books, Beer and Blogshit. (no, that wasn't a typo) he likes, beer, books, blogs and sh.. woah, hang on a minute, let me just move this right along to his interview, I don't want to give you a misguided impression of him in any way.

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Frank J. Edler is a man. At least he likes to think so. When he’s not busy existentially examining his masculinity, he writes. He has short stories published in various anthologies including Strange Versus Lovecraft, Dying Days: Still Dying 2, Strange Fucking Stories as well as three instalments of the State of Horror anthology series. He has also published SCARED SILLY five frightening stories to tickle your funny bone. Frank resides in New Jersey and is desperately seeking a home for his first novel, BRATS IN HELL.

Social Media Links

Frank J. Edler on Facebook
Frank J. Edler on Twitter
Frank J. Edler on Amazon
Frank J. Edler on Barnes and Noble
Frank J. Edler on GoodReads

The Interview

What do you do when you’re not writing about the end of days or things that go bump in the night?

Ahh, the alter ego of the writer. I could embellish and say that during the day I am a mild mannered person of semi-importance, responsible for the health and well being of agricultural and green products not only on the eastern coast of the United States but also on a vast global scale. But, that’s boring.

Instead I will attempt to convince you that by day, I am the evil mastermind behind such things as Internet memes, click-bait news articles and trending hash tag topics on Twitter on a daily basis. I am responsible for everything that puts a bee in your social media bonnet on a daily basis. You’re Welcome.

You bang on quite a bit about writing something new and original in regards to horror, but do you not find that really, it’s all been done before anyway?

You had me at I bang. (Of course I did! haha)

Yes, it’s all been done before. The trick is to twist what has been done before and fool the readers into thinking they are reading something fresh and new. And when you can’t fool ‘em you should at least try to lead them into believing they are reading a clever homage to such and such a movie, book, artwork, 60’s pornographic social statement, etc. etc.

Tell me a bout your latest book.

Book Blurb & Cover

PURCHASE LINKS BELOW

AMAZON USA

AMAZON UK

From SCARED SILLY (“Old Scrote”)
I looked at Brad who stared out the window with an astonished expression on his face. Who could blame him for his reaction? It's not every day that you see the half-rotted, reanimated corpse of a clown with a chewed up human scrotum hanging out of its mouth.

"I guess you're looking at Old Scrote?" I ask him with playful amusement.

Brad turned to me confused. "You've seen that one before? How long has it been walking around with balls hanging out of his mouth for?"

What are you working on next and when can we expect it?

I’ve written a few more short stories for submission to various anthologies. The best part is if they don’t find their way into their respective anthologies, they will wind up in my next short story collection.

Also, I’ve been working on my second novel (even though the first has yet to find a publication home.) It’s working title is DEATH GETS A BOOK. This follows the first character/story I had published and takes it to something full length and fun. I had such a big reaction to the character of Death I wrote in my first published story that I felt he was worth exploring more.

There is also a super secret collaboration I’m working on. The project is still in its infancy and I can’t comment on it further than that just yet. But when I can, you’ll be the 551st to know!

Are you a prepper with an apocalypse plan in place, or are you just going to wing it?

I work best on my toes. No plans. If I had to work off of a general outline I would have to say when the dung hits the fan, I will seek out all my fellow Men In Horror Month writer compatriots to form a band of superheroes. Together we will fight the ultimate force of the apocalypse, women!

Let’s face facts. A woman will be responsible for the apocalypse. The only way to stop the onslaught of estrogen annihilation will be to pool our testosterone fuelled resources. It will be difficult. It will be the ultimate trial of our will and perseverance. I can’t promise anyone we will rise victorious. Those women and their estrogen, that’s some powerful stuff.

But win or lose, we will find one another. We will band as brothers. We will build man caves. There will be beer. There will be porn. There will be beards. Showers will be sporadic and we will consume copious amounts of meat (both raw and cooked.) We will slap metal on things for no other reason than to slap metal on things!

Who’s with me?!?!?!

Wait, what was the question?

What’s your apocalypse/horror song?

For me, the quintessential horror song is Dokken’s “Dream Warriors” from the Nightmare on Elm Street 3 soundtrack. Yes, it’s specific to one movie but damn it gets you going for just about any dark scenario you can throw at it!

All writers know that reviews are our gold, but are there any reviews—both good and bad—that have stuck with you?

I really try not to place much emphasis on reviews. Yes I know they are important to rankings and sales and all that stuff. But I think this culture of shilling for reviews and suggesting that readers owe it to indie writers to give reviews is just overdone.

Instead, I just want to be genuine. I want to write what I write, put it out there. Try to find an audience for the work without being a douche about it. Then, if reviews come in, they will be genuine. Not the result of begging and hounding and you’re grandma feeling bad for you.

As a reader, those are the types of reviews I look for in a sea of mumbo jumbo reviews that are all too prominent in indie book reviews. It’s easy to separate the gratuitous reviews from the ones that are genuine. Why harvest nonsense?

Does your family and friends read your work? (mine don’t hahaha)

They do. I don’t shove it down their throat. Any family or friends are just as aware of what I write as anyone else. I won’t ever place any emphasis on family and friends opinions of what I write because obviously they probably feel obligated to say all the right things.

My wife reads. But, she reads things completely different from what I write. She gets exposed to a lot of my works in progress but what I write just doesn’t ring true with what she likes. And that’s okay. It’s that way with most of my friends and family.

Even if they do like the stuff I write, I am still sceptical. They are much to close to the project for me to appreciate their feedback. I am fortunate enough to have one friend who does and will give me the straight dope on what I write and tell me when he thinks it’s cheap, or shit or done before. Those types of friends are a treasure to have but still, their opinion doesn’t carry as much weight as a perfect stranger’s.

To me, a stranger’s opinion carries more weight.

Dude, are you still reading this? Wow, cool. If I’ve grabbed your attention this long, why not check out my short story collection, SCARED SILLY. It’s always available at a dirt cheap price. I’d love a review as much as the next person but I would love it much more if you reached out to me through Facebook, Twitter or Email! Reach out, let’s touch one another!