Night Worms Interview with Author John Boden:
JB: ready when you are.
NW: Let me just tell you that sometimes this app is hard to tell when someone is busy typing so when you're officially done answering a question, can you type (end) at the bottom?
JB: sure thing END
🙂
NW: hahaha ohhhh man, you're gonna be a live wire aren't ya?
that's a question!
JB: Maybe. Probably. It's a gamble.
NW: Okay, so John Boden-first question, do you or do you not own a leisure suit?
JB: I do not. The closest I ever came was the polyester 70's Western suit that my wife and I had our anniversary pics were taken in last year (Epic!) but it was not comfy so I sold it.
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NW: Hahaha, so Chad lost that bet
JB: He doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does.
🙂
NW: I was VERY excited to learn that you two were collaborating on something again...Title: GRAVEDIGGAZ
JB: A leisure suit is a specific style of suit, a lot of folks think any polyester suit from the 70's is a leisure suit. Not true at all.
Heh. That is not going to be the title. But we started it back in the spring with the intention of having it done in time for an October release. But then we got busy--he with his 32 books and me with my Bob Ford collaboration s and stuff. And it's just been sitting waiting for our love. END
NW: "waiting for your love" haha nice. Well after “your love” comes the love we get to give it, so I hope you guys bump that up the priority list
JB: Did he even tease you to the fact that he, Bob Ford and I are going to try and tackle a three-way collaboration next year?
NW: Stop
That's going to blow my mind
just stop it
JB: So far that's as far as we've gotten-that we wanna try it but yeah. Also, Bob and I legit just started a new "Knucklebucket" story.
NW: Do you know how many Knucklebucket books there will be?
JB: Nope. All we've ever discussed is that it will be a loose series only being tethered by locale and sometimes recurring characters.
They're so much fun to write.
NW: I'll tell you a Sadie Secret:
I am VERY meticulous about my Fall reads. I only pick the best possible books. The ones I'm really excited about. Of course, I have sniffed the two Knucklebucket books I have in my hands but they are waiting for Fall (currently reading RATTLESNAKE KISSES)
Because I know that I know that know
JB: All I will tell you about them is this--not spoilery--but while there are occasional lines that you'll probably be able to suss who wrote them, stylistically those books are pretty far from what I do solo.
NW: That sounds like so much fun--for readers but tell me a little bit about the writing process between you two. You mentioned it's fun for you too
JB: it's a little different than writing with Chad. I love Chad and love working with him. He's more detail-oriented and likes to fix and smooth things along the way. When Bob and I go at it we just run with it. Write out whatever we think of--back and forth and then patch holes and paint walls after. Bob and I had eerily similar childhoods. Lots of farms and woods and rural color. We gel very well on that and get one another deeply. Chad and I do as well, but different if that makes any sense.
Bob and I also try and fuck with one another with our volleying. One-upping each other for grossness and stuff like that.
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NW: Makes perfect sense to me. You and Chad are around the same age, yeah? So you have that--and Bob is a little older, so the dynamic is going to be different, right?
JB: for sure--Bob is a different writer than Chad
NW: But the three of you together?! I'm still thinking of it
JB: Chad is a teeny bit older than me I think, like months maybe. I think Bob is like a year or two. I'm a good mimic. And while I think the three of us all have our own voices, I think there is enough similarity to the ore we mine to make it work...it's either going to be brilliantly cool or a hot buttered mess.
🙂
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NW: Can that be the title, please? Hot Buttered Mess
JB: Heh. We'll see. I say that all the time.
NW: I say "Hot Garbage" but everything is better with butter
JB: so true.
NW: speaking of, what's your favorite snack? Do you eat while you read/write?
JB: I've been trying hard to drop some weight so I don't snack as much as I used to...my go tos: Wheat pretzel rods, cinnamon jelly beans, and occasionally dark chocolate Oreos. Also, I will rarely say no to ice cream.
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NW: Interesting collection of snackage
JB: I'm a weirdo.
NW: Yes, having finished WALK THE DARKNESS DOWN, you are a weirdo. But it works so well in your favor. Let's chat about that novella for a sec. Should that be a reader's introduction to your work?
JB: It could be. I'm never good at directing folks to that. I mean, DOMINOES was the first thing I had out but it's so different from JEDI SUMMER. All of my stuff is kinda different from the others. Although, I think I started to discover my signature "tone" with JEDI and I think it's present in the rest of the stuff. So yeah, it could be a good dive off point.
NW: I was just thinking the other day that if someone hadn't read any of your books before, I would direct them to Darkness--so I'm glad we agree
Hey John Boden
What books have you read this year that you'd like to recommend?
JB: I've read a lot of good stuff this year. I review so I get early stuff. Steve Rasnic Tem's forthcoming collection THE NIGHT DOCTOR is one of my faves. I also go to beta Chad's PALE WHITE novella. I loved and read all three of David Joy's books this year. I read a lot but am never good at recalling them on the spot when asked. THE FINITE by Kit Power was amazing.
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NW: I'm so excited for Chad's novella and people often tell me to read David Joy
A good place to start?
JB: They're all 3 fantastic so grab one and get at it.
I get to read everything Chad writes first....have I told you that?
🙂
NW: Yes, be quiet.
😐
NW: Hey John Boden! (changing the subject)
Um, are you going to any Bookish events next year? Which ones and how do you feel about being seen and hobnobbing and bumping elbows and socializing?
JB: I usually only commit to attending Scares that Care. I've been going to that since it began and it's more of a family reunion than anything. Other than that, not likely...but not 100% off the table. That shit costs more than I'd be comfortable plunking down money for. I have a family and things that demand that more and that's where my responsibility rests. I'd love to go to all of them.
NW: Yeah, I'll admit, not going to Scares That Care this year hit me pretty hard. I really should have been there. I won't miss that one again
JB: It was a good time.
NW: It seems like a really good time and it supports a great cause, win/win
JB: Yep. And the thing is VERY author-friendly. I never expected to sell like I did last month. I mean it was nuts. I really was surprised to sell the advances of SPUNGUNION so quickly. I'm super excited for that one to come out. It is still my favorite thing I've done.
NW: Can you type that word phonetically for me
JB: SPUN GUN YUN The last half the word said like ONION.
NW: YEAAAAA, I'm so glad I asked!
JB: I've heard it butchered many ways.
when I see it, my brain automatically says "Sponge Onion"
JB: You're not the first. It's a word my Pap made up.
JB: I love that. I have used Cattywampus in my everyday life, but not SPUNGUNION
Tell me more about that book. It’s being reprinted?
JB: Yes. It was originally published in late 2017 by Dynatox Ministries...but was limited to only being available through their store so it kinda struggled. I took it back and long story short, John Skipp took it for his Fungasm Press and it will see release in January 2020. It's a sad story about a trucker whose wife is murdered and his trying to come to grips with the monster of grief that is consuming him...also, it has mythological creatures in it.
NW: I happen to be very into grief horror actually, so that would be right up my alley
JB: I wrote it after my Dad died and after losing a dear friend from work. grief is one of the strongest feelings we have and we all feel it.
NW: Yeah, I think many authors stay away from it for fear of being taboo or triggering but it's my opinion many of us are here for it, to explore stories about it, process our feelings
Was writing that book cathartic for you?
JB: It was, in a way. I tend to operate from a place of sadness in a lot of what I write. Not always grief but there is always a level of sadness in my characters...WTDD had a lot of it. JEDI as well. SPUNGUNION might be the mother lode. So far.
It was also present in OUT BEHIND THE BARN
NW: Well, you guys wreck us. You and Chad. I always know you guys are out to get our feels.
JB: One day, I'll write the most upbeat, sunshiney thing ever and you all will turn on me like wild dogs.
NW: We'll be like WHO ARE YOU?? You had 3 releases this year? WTDD, Cattywampus and Rattlesnake Kisses, yeah? Can you tell us what 2020 looks like as far as you know?
JB: Yep. I have a couple of stories out in some anthos--both SHALLOW WATERS things from Crystal Lake and the recent 100 WORD HORRORS books. I have a story forthcoming in the charity antho DARK TIDES. Then just SPUNGUNION, in January. That's all until I finish some stuff. My project with Chad...My project with Bob. My oft-started-and-more-oft-ignored novella, SNARL. I'm also going to try and write a straight western. So I guess the short answer is I'm not exactly sure.
Chad and I both have helped with SHOCK TOTEM's resurrection...rife with delays and things but we will see a new issue hopefully by the time fall swings in hard.
NW: That all sounds impressive and exciting and on behalf of Night Worms and myself, we're here for all of it John. Happy to promote, read, review your work--all of it. Always.
Thank you so much for meeting with me to chat today!
JB: Thanks--blushes like an old Looney Tunes Elmer Fudd after Bugs-in-drag kisses his cheek.
NW: That description is so much better than a gif
JB: Anytime. Thank you for the unflinching support. You and Night worms and that whole bookstagram movement have helped surge a breath of new life into the scene. It's unabashed and unconditional support...it's needed and it helps.
NW: I'll speak for the whole community and say, this is the expression readers have always wanted. Just to build that community around the work that makes such a huge impact on us.
I hope you have an awesome rest of your day, John Boden!
JB: I will do my best. thanks for taking the time out of yours to chat with me. Have a lovely afternoon!!!
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