William Cook

Recently I had the pleasure of talking with fellow New Zealand author, Lee Murray. She asked questions - I responded, oh yes, that's right, it was an interview! And here it is (please make sure to check out Lee's great blog and subscribe). Thanks for reading. Welcome William! Give us your personal definition of horror. How would you describe it: blood curdling spatter, or through the looking glass, darkly?  I’m not sure my personal definition of horror is different than standard definitions, but here goes: Horror, in its many guises ‒ fiction, cinema, real events ‒ is a highly subjective phenomena directly related to the individual’s own interpretation of things that inspire fear in the imagination. Fear is the greatest component of horror as an experience. The fear of losing one’s life, the fear of someone close to you losing their life, the fear of a threat that borders on the incomprehensible . . . and so on. Horror is an experience that builds in the...

Recently I was interviewed by author and fellow countryman Tim Jones for his wonderful blog 'Books in the Trees' . I first met Tim whilst completing a creative writing course at Victoria University run by Science Fiction author Robert Onopa . Tim is a fantastic writer and I had the good fortune of being able to include his wonderful story 'Protein' in my horror anthology, Fresh Fear: Contemporary Horror . Please note that Tim is running a give-away for 5 e-copies of Fresh Fear so please visit his blog and follow the prompts to win a copy. Anyway, without further ado, here is the interview:   An Interview With William Cook William Cook was born and raised in New Zealand and is the author of the novel Blood Related . He has written many short stories that have appeared in anthologies and has authored two short-story collections ( Dreams of Thanatos and Death Quartet ) and two collections of poetry ( Journey: the search for something and Corpus Delicti ). ...

OMINOUS 13 Dark Fiction Author Interview Series: WILLIAM COOK Hi William, thanks for agreeing to this interview for my Ominous 13 dark fiction author spotlight series! For starters, let me note that as far as dark fiction, or the macabre, goes, your work is about impressive as it gets: very dark, very creepy. Is it easy for you to get into that kind of vibe to create your dark works? Thanks Paul – I have always had a morbid fascination with the darker things in life so I am usually in that state of mind anyway. I do use certain techniques to raise the energy/darkness levels when it comes to writing horror. Some things I do to get ideas and the heartbeat racing are to listen to my favorite music while I’m tapping away on the keyboard. I listen to a lot of soundtracks, horror and otherwise. Some of my favorites include the soundtracks to Halloween, Taxi Driver, Maniac (Jay Chattaway), Hannibal etc and other albums from Acanthus, Fantomas, and anything by Danny...