Interview with: Scott F. Falkner
Job: Book author
Recent Books: “Exile the Collected Helman Graff”
“Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Hoard”
Publisher: www.stonegarden.net
Interviewed by: Allen Klingelhoets
www.jazmaonline.com
Allen: Welcome back to www.jazmaonline.com
Scott Falkner. It has been over year since we had chance to talk about your new books. What does your middle
initial stand for?
Scott: Francis.
Allen: Now that we got that out of way let’s dive right into some questions about your recent books. What is your
routine for writing novels?
Scott: It’s actually changed somewhat in the past year or so. Used to be that I’d write through the entire night,
not stopping until four or five in the morning. That changed with the birth of my third child. Now, I tend to get to
work right after the kids are all in bed, around seven or eight, and write through midnight, or if it’s a late night,
until one or two. The word count goal is still the same, however. I’m still shooting for fifteen hundred to two
thousand words per day, I’m just trying to finish earlier in the evening… or morning, whichever is more accurate
at the time.
Allen: What helps you get into the mood for stories?
Scott: Oh, I guess I’m always in the mood for stories. It’s sort of the reason I do what I do. Lately, however, what I’
ve been doing to physically psyche myself up for writing is a little exercise with i-tunes. When I sit down at the
computer, I bring up i-tunes and throw it on shuffle. The first song that comes up—regardless of what it is—I use
the title of the song for a piece of flash fiction. The short-short story doesn’t have to have anything to do with the
song itself, but the title of the song provides the mandatory inspiration to write something. This gets the old brain
box going… sort of loosens up the synaptic grease and flexes the fingers. I’ve got probably close to a hundred
of these little i-tunes-inspired shorts… maybe someday I’ll throw them together in a collection.
Allen: What types of music do you like to listen to while writing stories?
Scott: Usually I have a standard rule of “nothing with lyrics” - so that leads me to classical and soundtracks and
the like. When I was writing “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde,” a dark fantasy about a bounty hunter in the
Old West, I listened to a lot of Ennio Morricone, a lot of Spaghetti Western soundtracks. Lately, however, I’ve
deviated from that routine. I’m currently writing a horror novel in which the protagonist is a very, very angry
young man, and Slayer’s music has really helped to energize that mentality. So I guess it really depends on what
I’m writing. The feel and vibe of certain pieces really helps to augment the feel and vibe of what I’m writing… at
least in my mind.
Allen: Do you find it easier to write long novels or short stories?
Scott: Long pieces are really my milieu. I enjoy spreading the wings out a bit when it comes to character and
story development. I find it more challenging to compress things down and make my points in a short period of
time/pages. That said, I understand that to be a fiction writer worth your weight you’ve really got to have a
decent handle on the entire spectrum. When I was approached about doing, “Exile: The Collected Helman
Graff,” [a short story collection, January 2009] I was really hesitant at first, but I just jumped in—either bravely or
naively—with both feet and forced myself to do it. I ended up being extremely satisfied with how the stories came
out, and the readers and critics seem to be satisfied as well. So, perhaps I can do the short stuff all right, it’s just
a psychological thing that I’ve got going that makes me think I struggle with it.
Allen: What seems to be your favorite stories and genre to write?
Scott: You know, I’ve been asked this question before and I always struggle to give a concrete answer. The truth
is that I love all forms of speculative fiction. Horror, Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction… it’s all a blast to read and
write. As I’ve said before, I hate being pinned down to one genre substrate, so… there you go.
Allen: Do you like to read your stories out loud while writing them?
Scott: No, I’m fairly silent when I’m working, though after a book is finished, after a few drafts, of course, I’ll
seclude myself somewhere and read the entire thing out loud. It’s amazing what you can catch, meaning the
mistakes, when you read something out loud, when you physically hear it, that you don’t catch when you’re just
reading it in your head. At least, that’s the case for me.
Allen: Tell me about recent Delving books. When were Delving novels published? What sort of books are they?
Scott: The first book, “Delving: Obligations” was published in January 2007. The second, “Delving: Assassins”
came out in June of 2008. The third and final book, “Delving: Culminations” will be released in 2010. It’s a dark
fantasy trilogy that revolves around a thousand families in the world made up of “Delvers”—individuals that
possess certain powers and who collectively control the world—financially, politically—through secret back
channels. The families are controlled by a Delving Council, five Delving Masters that make the rules and
whatnot. The books focus primarily on a girl who’s grown up in one of these families. By the end of the first book,
she’s dealt with some deception and hypocrisy prevalent in the Delving doctrines. In the second book she finds
herself in an unlikely position as the Delving world becomes embroiled in a civil war of sorts. The last book will
deal with the girl—now a young woman—coming to grips with who she is and what she’s done. In the end, the
books are really about expectations being placed on us as a result of the family and circumstances we’ve been
born into, and the different way we deal with those expectations.
Allen: Tell me about Helman Graff. I recall in our last interview you mentioned that he was like a modern day
Abraham Van Helsing. Is Helman Graff in most of your books? Would you still describe him in same sort of way?
What is his true origin?
Scott: Helman is a recurring character in some of my books. Yes, he’s much like a modern day Van Helsing,
taking on supernatural foes and dealing out his own particular brand of justice. He’s featured somewhat
prominently in my first book, “The Feast of Catchville,” and he’s alluded to in the Delving books. He won’t make
an “on screen” appearance in the Delving saga until the final book is released, some time next year. Of course,
“Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” is all about him. Helman first appeared in a few short stories I had published
when I was just starting out, and those stories, along with several others [ten in all] are featured in the collection.
The character’s true origin is largely the basis of the final Delving book, so I won’t give too much away—safe to
say that after “Delving: Culminations” is released, I’ll most likely be finished with the Graff family for the
foreseeable future.
Allen: Do you envision Helman Graff as hero?
Scott: The term “hero” is sort of a slippery moniker, isn’t it? Who was the hero of “Heart of Darkness,” Marlow or
Kurtz? Antihero probably speaks best to his nature. The ends justify the means in his mind. He’s much more
Batman than Superman.
Allen: Do you find it easy to develop stories involving Helman Graff?
Scott: I’ve been writing the character for so long that what he does in a given situation is fairly obvious to me,
and in that sense, the stories were easy to react to. The challenging part is placing him in situations that will be
interesting to the readers, though I think I’ve succeeded in that respect.
Allen: Do other characters in past books appear in more recent books like Swaybuck or Delving novels?
Scott: From day one I’ve been conscious of the Mythos mentality: that is, trying to construct worlds that interact
with one another from story to story. King’s Tower Mythos, Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos, and Keene’s Labyrinth
Mythos are some great examples of the heights you can take the notion, and the idea of interweaving concepts
and characters has always appealed to me. As far as some of the characters that I’ve crossed between projects,
Helman Graff appears in “The Feast of Catchville” and the “Delving” series. There’s a character named Stitch
McGowan in “Swaybuck” that uses weapons also portrayed in my science fiction serial, “Plane Station”. There
are several dozen different ways that all my books come together in an eventual mega-series, though that’s all
happening in my head at the moment so the current readers wouldn’t be able to pick them out yet… but you will
eventually.
Allen: I just bought “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff”. The book was dedicated to Hayden Charles. Who is
Hayden?
Scott: One of my children.
Allen: How long has this collection been in development? Is this your first short story collection?
Scott: Yes. This is my first collection to date. As I said before, the original Helman stories were amongst the first
things I got published. I believe “Mad Martin” was the first one to be placed and “Lupine Lover” came next. I think
that five of the stories were pre-existing when we came up with the collection concept, leaving me to write five
originals. Kris [Stamp - EIC of Stone Garden Publishing] and I talked about the idea at some point in early 2008,
and he was on board from the get-go. When my first book, “The Feast of Catchville” was released, I was pretty
amazed at how well it did, both critically and sales wise. And after it came out I was even more amazed at how
interested everyone was in Helman Graff. My email inbox was filled with questions like “Is there a part two?” and
“Are you writing more Helman Graff books?” For my money, I was glad to move on to new characters and new
settings, but after enough time had passed and I was still being asked about him, it was pretty clear that the
Graff character had struck a nerve. I think I’d always had the idea to do a collection of Helman stories in the back
of my mind, but it was definitely the push of the readers that got me to do it. The stories offer a generous mix of
my favorite kind of yarns, those being filled with adventure, a dash of horror, some science fiction, and a ton of
fun… and I think those elements were well delivered with the Graff collection.
Allen: It seems like you fit all sorts of things into your stories. I was trapped in a town with a killer during a
snowstorm in “The Feast of Catchville.” I still recall the scene where the main character looks through a keyhole
and sees another person’s eye looking back at her. You threw a shiver down my spine. I was enraptured with the
story. I could not stop reading until got to conclusion. It did not help that I was reading story during Wisconsin
blizzard and the story occurred in Northern Wisconsin. I have seen all sorts of things in your novels. What pulls
you into this field as writer? What were some of your influences?
Scott: Wow. I love that that scene had that kind of intense effect on you, Allen. Those are the kind of reactions
that fiction writers live for.
What pulls me into the field of being a writer? First and foremost, I possess a monster god complex - I would be
lying to say I didn’t. Creating worlds and the things that inhabit them is a first class rush. Controlling their lives,
deciding who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies, who ends up happy and who ends up miserable… I
extract an immense amount of joy from all of it, and it’s one of the main reasons I do it. Another main reason I do
it is for the reaction of the reader. Getting a reaction just like the one I just received from you as a result of that
particular scene in “Catchville” is fantastic. I love the idea of being able to take over someone else’s mind for just
a short while, of being able to direct the readers’ thoughts for even a few minutes… again, I’d be lying to say that
I don’t enjoy that sort of power.
As far as influences go, well, it’s definitely the writers that give me the same sort of thrill that I love to give my own
readers. Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Clive Barker
are all right at the top of the list for me, as well as a host of others. If you’ll notice, all of the above writers have
the ability to write in multiple branches of the Speculative Fiction tree. None of them have been pigeon-holed to
Fantasy or Horror or Science Fiction. Though they might be known best for a particular genre, they’ve all
deviated from what they’re “supposed” to be doing, and I admire them all greatly for it. Outside of books, Stanley
Kubrick and Ray Harryhausen are probably my two biggest influences, both for their distinctive styles and
overwhelming passions for their particular brand of films. Certainly Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry are big
influences from the screenplay side of things. Of course, all these men are giants, and I can only hope to get the
barest glimpse over their shoulders of what the universe must look like from their viewpoints.
Allen: Did you like reading many horror comics in your youth?
Scott: As a matter of fact, I didn’t. None of the horror stuff, be it comics or films or books, appealed to me as a
kid. I avoided it like the plague because it scared the crap out of me… seriously, to the point where I’d get sick
from lack of sleep because I was so terrified of the nightmares. I didn’t develop a solid appreciation of horror until
I was in college, when I realized that I could be the one inducing the nightmares instead of getting them. And
then a funny thing happened, once I started telling scary stories, I was suddenly less affected by them in turn.
Allen: Tell me about the cover artist for “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff.”
Scott: A fantastic artist named Nathan Fehlauer did the cover work.
Allen: How did you find Nathan Fehlauer? I noticed he also did an illustration for each story in collection?
Scott: Nate and I actually went to college together. I hadn’t seen or talked to him since, but we met up again on
myspace of all places. I’d been highly involved in the covers of my first four books, I painted the covers for
“Catchville” and “Swaybuck” - and had a heavy design influence with my partner Ren Richfield on the “Delving”
covers. When “Exile…” was starting to come together, I wanted to get away from being so involved with the
artwork - it was just too much of a strain on my time - but I was also loathe to give up the control. What I needed
was an artist who I felt like I was really on the same page with, an artist who I knew would be able to blow my
mind. When I found Nate on myspace, I remembered seeing some sketches he had in his apartment in college. A
little more research told me that he was a graphic designer in Milwaukee, which in turn told me that he was doing
artwork professionally. Anyway, I contacted him and told him about the book. I sent him a few stories, I believe,
and he sent me some artwork samples, and we took it from there. Right away I knew that he “got” what Helman
was all about. The over the top visuals melded perfectly with the over the top story. After a bit of work, Nate
actually brought up the idea of illustrating each of the stories. I was ecstatic with the idea, and Kris [Stamp - EIC
of Stone Garden Publishing] gave us the go ahead. I couldn’t be happier with how they all turned out.
Allen: Why were the pictures done in black and white?
Scott: For purely financial reasons. Nate originally did all the pieces in color - and they are GORGEOUS I can
tell you - soon I hope to have all of the illustrations up at www.scottfalkner.com so that everyone can see how
fantastic they are - but they were changed to black and white to keep the costs down. To portray the colored
images correctly, meaning to give them the brilliance of the originals, you’d end up charging fifty bucks for a two-
hundred page book, and unless that book is a hardcover tray-cased limited edition… those numbers just aren’t
going to fly.
Allen: I heard you read “A Simple Haunting” from “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” at the Thyme Worn
Treasures signing in Rice Lake, Wisconsin on May 23rd, 2009. How long have you been interested in ghost
stories?
Scott: Ghost stories are probably my favorite part of the Horror Genre for a lot of reasons, the primary being that
ghosts can be so “unknowable.” Fear stems from the unknown, and the most unknowable thing in our existence
is what happens after death. Ghosts are representations of that great mystery, and that makes them hella
interesting in turn. Another great thing about ghosts is that there aren’t 1001 “rules” you should follow when
writing about them. For example, when it comes to vampires, you might want to know a thing or two about
crucifixes, wooden stakes, garlic, et al. For werewolves, some lunar and silver weaponry knowledge can be
helpful. Zombies… a shot to the head will usually suffice. However, when it comes to ghosts the sky’s the limit. It’s
more difficult for the reader to guess what’s going to happen next, and that “not knowing” puts them on edge all
the more.
Allen: How much research occurred for you to learn terminology for “A Simple Haunting?”
Scott: Oh, I knew most of it through my addictions to shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State.” Part of
me wants to go ahead and do the seminal haunting story - something like “The Haunting of Hill House” or “Hell
House” - but instead of using the stodgy mediums and psychics, using a fun, younger team like Jason and Grant
from “Ghost Hunters” - I don’t know, maybe it’s already been done. Anyway, the protagonist in “A Simple
Haunting” is a young woman who idolizes those type of paranormal investigation shows, and as I’m a huge fan of
them too, it didn’t take much research.
Allen: The Monster Squad mentioned in story was movie about 20 years ago. I saw you questioned this in “A
Simple Haunting”. I recently watched that DVD. I just thought you should know that enjoyed you mentioned The
Monster Squad in the story questioning origins.
Scott: That’s great. Yeah, she’s trying to come up with a name for their group right at the start of the story, and
“Monster Squad” crosses her mind.
Allen: I think it’s best to move on. Tell me about your newest book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde”.
Scott: “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” is a dark fantasy western. It takes place in the Old West - but there’s
a lot of off the wall, “fantastique” elements.
Allen: Tell me about characters and setting for the book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde.”
Scott: Calvin Dyer is a bounty hunter. He can look into a man’s eyes and see everything that’s happened in that
man’s life in just a few seconds. Of course, that tends to help him out in his line of work. Unfortunately, Calvin
also suffers from fantastical, image-laden bouts of narcolepsy… and that tends to hinder things a bit. In the
course of a routine bounty, Calvin comes across a mysterious glass orb that he discovers must be destroyed. In
the course of destroying it, he must elude a host of killers sent after him by the territorial crime boss, pass
through a perilous land filled with savage, bloodthirsty tribes, rescue a beautiful empress from another world,
and fight off a demonic army that threatens to destroy the entire world. It’s good fun.
Allen: What did you like best about writing about Calvin Dyer?
Scott: Believe it or not, his humor. Calvin isn’t an outwardly funny guy, but his dry view of the world made me
chuckle more than once.
Allen: How did you think of idea for Calvin to have narcolepsy?
Scott: That’s a good question. I wrote the first draft of the book probably three or four years ago, so that’s going
back a while. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m guessing that in giving him the ability to read men’s lives with one
glance, I also wanted to give him an Achilles Heal of sorts… and somehow that notion led me to the narcolepsy.
My wife is convinced that I have narcolepsy - so perhaps that’s how the concept was introduced into my mind.
Allen: What is a Reatian Horde?
Scott: The Horde is a demonic army that’s threatening to destroy our world. Why, how, and when is all explained
over the course of the book.
Allen: How did the concept for this story come about?
Scott: I’ve always liked Westerns and wanted to try my hand at one. Of course, if I’m writing a Western, then it’s
not going to be cut and dried… it’s going to be a bit Falkner-ized.
Allen: Who is book dedicated to and why?
Scott: I dedicated this one to the memory of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Since I was very small I’ve always enjoyed
Burroughs’ books - from John Carter, to Tarzan, to Pellucidar… there’s a level of imagination in those books
that never ceases to amaze me, especially when you think about the time that they were written. “Calvin…” was
written in that spirit, the spirit of trying to just crack the right side of my brain open and let the imagination ooze
all over the keyboard.
Allen: Will Nathan Fehlauer again be cover artist for “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde?’
Scott: Yeah. I reached out to Nate again for the cover of this book and he was gracious enough to do it. I just
can’t speak highly enough of Nate’s artistic prowess - and his professionalism and grace under pressure just
make him that much more valuable. I hope to work with him a lot more in the future.
Allen: Have you been putting more thought into having your stories adapted into comic book form?
Scott: To be completely honest, Allen, it’s difficult to get hyped up over something you’ve already written. By the
time a book is published, I’ve been over it a few dozen times with a fine-toothed comb. I’ve read it backwards and
forwards, aloud and silently, over and over again. By the time the book gets to the reader, I’ve moved on to
something else. That said, OF COURSE I would love to have my stuff adapted into either comics or film… but, it’s
not something that I’m actively going to seek out. If someone, either an artist, a publisher, or a filmmaker, came
to me and said, ‘look, we want to do something with one of your books,’ that would be fantastic. I’d be more than
happy to sit down with them and discuss options and involvement and the like. I’d even be happy to take a crack
at the writing aspect of adapting one of my books for comics or film, but it would have to be the result of
someone asking and paying me to do it. It’s not something that I’m going to do on my own… at least not at the
moment. There’s too much else to focus on.
Allen: Scott. I know that you are working on script for some sort of comic book. It’s on your website at The Daily
Cave [https://thedailycave.blogspot.com]. I also know it’s your first time working on this sort of project. How is this
going for you? Do you have set publisher? What sort of story are you writing?
Scott: This is sort of amusing given my previous answer above, however, I am working “casually” on a script for a
comic, but it’s for something completely new, and not an adaptation of one of my existing books. At the moment,
there is no publisher set up, it’s just something that I wanted to do on my own. When I’m done with the story, I
plan on discussing it with Nate [Fehlauer] to see if it’s something he might be interested in working on. If it’s not,
well, I’ll go from there. At the moment I just want to plow through the story, get it done well in the comic format for
the first time. That’s the primary goal. The publishers, the artist, that all comes later… ‘I’ll jump off that bridge
when I come to it’ is the motto.
As to the story, it centers around a demon that’s not entirely pleased with the way a lot of evil works in the world,
that is, he’s a bit disconcerted with chaotic, or “mindless” evil. This particular demon expects evil to be given a
certain amount of respect when it’s performed. Ergo, he begins going out into the world and “showing” these
mindless evildoers just what “real” evil is… As a result, the forces in charge of both Heaven and Hell become a
bit peeved with the demon, and the hunting begins. The story is still in its infancy but I think it’s wide enough to
go for a while - at the very least, it’ll provide a decent backdrop for an initial graphic novel.
Allen: Are you possibly considering more writing in the comic book field?
Scott: Certainly.
Allen: Tell me about your appreciation for Robert E. Howard and Ray Harryhausen?
Scott: Howard and Harryhausen both belong to a list of artists I think of as Inspirationalists. It all comes down to a
question of why an artist produces art, I think. Certainly, all real artists do their work because they’d be miserable
if they didn’t, however, beyond that, I think that there’s an underlying effect on their audience that artists are
attempting to achieve. Some artists do their work to educate. Some do their work to strictly entertain. Some do
their work to change other people’s points of view. And then there are those artists who, I believe, really have
the least amount of interest in the way in which an audience will react. These are artists who do their work simply
to bleed their imaginations dry. Howard. Harryhausen. Burroughs. Frazetta… I suppose they could be called
Imaginists as much as Inspirationalists. At any rate, I really admire what these artists do, and as such I suppose I’
m attempting to belong to the same sort of list with some of my works like “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde.”
Allen: When will book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” be published?
Scott: “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” will be published the end of June, 2009, on the 26th I believe. Stone
Garden [www.stonegarden.net] is accepting pre-orders now, and the book will be available everywhere when it’s
released.
Allen: How can people buy signed copies of your books?
Scott: We used to offer a thing through my website where members of the www.scottfalkner.com mailing list could
get signed copies of any of my books. The books would be sent to me first, and then they’d be sent onto the
members. I also used to supply books to the Shocklines.com bookstore before Matt shut the store side of the
website down. Now, the best way to get a signed book is to come to a book signing, but if someone really, really
wanted a signed copy of the book, they can email us through the Contact section of www.scottfalkner.com, and I’
m sure something could be worked out.
Allen: Do you do many book signing events?
Scott: I used to do more, and I’d like to continue that, but it really turns into a time and money issue. As any
midlister will tell you, publishers don’t usually finance book tours, and as such, the cost all falls on the author.
That can be a drain. I like to do as many as I can, and when I do they’re always posted on the events section of
www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: When is final Delving book going to be published? What will be title?
Scott: “Delving: Culminations” will be released at some point in 2010… I’m guessing next summer. It was
scheduled to be released in June of this year, but I sort of ran into a wall. I spent much of the latter half of ’08
and the start of ’09 moving my family to a new location, and as such the writing part of my life really suffered. I
did end up completing the final Delving book in time to be published this June, but after editing and revising it, I
realized that I wasn’t satisfied with the caliber of the story. To me, it wasn’t the whiz-bang ending to the story that
I’d worked so hard on through the first books. Luckily, I’d already turned in “Calving Dyer and the Reatian
Horde,” and that book was due to be released in 2010. When I explained to Kris [EIC of Stone Garden
Publishing] the situation, he agreed that it wouldn’t be right to release a book that I wasn’t happy with. So, we just
switched up the release dates; “Calvin” comes out in June, and “Culminations” will come out next year. I really
think that it’s for the best, and I can’t thank my publisher enough for allowing me to do it.
Allen: Tell me about your future books like the Young Adult novel “Netherwood.”
Scott: I’ve always wanted to write a YA novel in the spirit of the “Oz” books or the “Chronicles of Narnia.” Those
YA fantasy books had such an impact on me at a young age that I’d love to return the favor to future
generations. The idea of “Netherwood” germinated a few years ago, and I started writing the book out by hand in
a leather bound journal. I got fifty or so pages in when other things—and by other things I mean other
deadlines—took precedence. I fully intend to get back to the book after a few other projects are wiped off the To-
Do list.
Allen: I also would like to know how it is going with Horror novel “Wellsprung?”
Scott: “Wellsprung” is a working title. This one centers around a haunted island lodge, and as with “Netherwood,”
there’s a lot already done it, a lot that was interrupted by other things. This book is number three to be written…
so I’m guessing that I’ll return to it in the fall.
Allen: When do you think these books will appear in stores?
Scott: Oh, who knows? These are books I don’t want to rush, so I would say 2012 at the absolute earliest.
Allen: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Scott: Isn’t that enough? Heh. The last Delving book, the demon comic, a Young Adult novel, two horror novels…
I think that that’s enough to keep me busy for a bit.
Allen: Do you read many comic books at present time?
Scott: I’m trying to go back through as many of the ‘must read’ graphic novels as I can. I’m playing a lot of catch-
up. As far as regular comics, I have enjoyed Joe Hill’s “Locke and Key” thus far.
Allen: Are you still doing many art drawings in your free time?
Scott: Free Time… now there’s something I wish I had more of. At present, the writing is taking up all my
available work time, though now that we’re more settled in our new house, I plan on getting back to painting.
There’s a level of calm that accompanies oil painting that I really miss. It’s an entirely different process than
writing, for me at least. Writing is so cerebral and painting is much more… what’s the word? Free flowing might
describe it best. With painting, there’s no expectation at the outset. You can just put the brush to the canvass
and “go.”
Allen: What do you feel inspires your creativity?
Scott: I suppose it’s a need to get what’s in my head out in the open. It’s really as simple as that. I have these
thoughts, these ideas, that seem to overflow from my subconscious into my conscious mind, and the best way to
get rid of them—for me, anyway—is to convey them in an artistic sense, whether that’s by writing or painting or
whatever…
Allen: What is the best way to contact you?
Scott: Through the Contact section of www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: What is best way to contact Nathan Fehlauer?
Scott: Nate has a myspace page, that’s how I got a hold of him. Nate’s contact info is also accessible through the
“Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” section of www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: We are again at end of another interview. Would you like to lead us out with any closing thoughts?
Scott: Don’t look too far ahead. The future is now. How’s that for being existential?
Allen: Thank you Scott F. Falkner for the interview.
Scott: Thank you, Allen. It was a pleasure.
Job: Book author
Recent Books: “Exile the Collected Helman Graff”
“Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Hoard”
Publisher: www.stonegarden.net
Interviewed by: Allen Klingelhoets
www.jazmaonline.com
Allen: Welcome back to www.jazmaonline.com
Scott Falkner. It has been over year since we had chance to talk about your new books. What does your middle
initial stand for?
Scott: Francis.
Allen: Now that we got that out of way let’s dive right into some questions about your recent books. What is your
routine for writing novels?
Scott: It’s actually changed somewhat in the past year or so. Used to be that I’d write through the entire night,
not stopping until four or five in the morning. That changed with the birth of my third child. Now, I tend to get to
work right after the kids are all in bed, around seven or eight, and write through midnight, or if it’s a late night,
until one or two. The word count goal is still the same, however. I’m still shooting for fifteen hundred to two
thousand words per day, I’m just trying to finish earlier in the evening… or morning, whichever is more accurate
at the time.
Allen: What helps you get into the mood for stories?
Scott: Oh, I guess I’m always in the mood for stories. It’s sort of the reason I do what I do. Lately, however, what I’
ve been doing to physically psyche myself up for writing is a little exercise with i-tunes. When I sit down at the
computer, I bring up i-tunes and throw it on shuffle. The first song that comes up—regardless of what it is—I use
the title of the song for a piece of flash fiction. The short-short story doesn’t have to have anything to do with the
song itself, but the title of the song provides the mandatory inspiration to write something. This gets the old brain
box going… sort of loosens up the synaptic grease and flexes the fingers. I’ve got probably close to a hundred
of these little i-tunes-inspired shorts… maybe someday I’ll throw them together in a collection.
Allen: What types of music do you like to listen to while writing stories?
Scott: Usually I have a standard rule of “nothing with lyrics” - so that leads me to classical and soundtracks and
the like. When I was writing “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde,” a dark fantasy about a bounty hunter in the
Old West, I listened to a lot of Ennio Morricone, a lot of Spaghetti Western soundtracks. Lately, however, I’ve
deviated from that routine. I’m currently writing a horror novel in which the protagonist is a very, very angry
young man, and Slayer’s music has really helped to energize that mentality. So I guess it really depends on what
I’m writing. The feel and vibe of certain pieces really helps to augment the feel and vibe of what I’m writing… at
least in my mind.
Allen: Do you find it easier to write long novels or short stories?
Scott: Long pieces are really my milieu. I enjoy spreading the wings out a bit when it comes to character and
story development. I find it more challenging to compress things down and make my points in a short period of
time/pages. That said, I understand that to be a fiction writer worth your weight you’ve really got to have a
decent handle on the entire spectrum. When I was approached about doing, “Exile: The Collected Helman
Graff,” [a short story collection, January 2009] I was really hesitant at first, but I just jumped in—either bravely or
naively—with both feet and forced myself to do it. I ended up being extremely satisfied with how the stories came
out, and the readers and critics seem to be satisfied as well. So, perhaps I can do the short stuff all right, it’s just
a psychological thing that I’ve got going that makes me think I struggle with it.
Allen: What seems to be your favorite stories and genre to write?
Scott: You know, I’ve been asked this question before and I always struggle to give a concrete answer. The truth
is that I love all forms of speculative fiction. Horror, Dark Fantasy, Science Fiction… it’s all a blast to read and
write. As I’ve said before, I hate being pinned down to one genre substrate, so… there you go.
Allen: Do you like to read your stories out loud while writing them?
Scott: No, I’m fairly silent when I’m working, though after a book is finished, after a few drafts, of course, I’ll
seclude myself somewhere and read the entire thing out loud. It’s amazing what you can catch, meaning the
mistakes, when you read something out loud, when you physically hear it, that you don’t catch when you’re just
reading it in your head. At least, that’s the case for me.
Allen: Tell me about recent Delving books. When were Delving novels published? What sort of books are they?
Scott: The first book, “Delving: Obligations” was published in January 2007. The second, “Delving: Assassins”
came out in June of 2008. The third and final book, “Delving: Culminations” will be released in 2010. It’s a dark
fantasy trilogy that revolves around a thousand families in the world made up of “Delvers”—individuals that
possess certain powers and who collectively control the world—financially, politically—through secret back
channels. The families are controlled by a Delving Council, five Delving Masters that make the rules and
whatnot. The books focus primarily on a girl who’s grown up in one of these families. By the end of the first book,
she’s dealt with some deception and hypocrisy prevalent in the Delving doctrines. In the second book she finds
herself in an unlikely position as the Delving world becomes embroiled in a civil war of sorts. The last book will
deal with the girl—now a young woman—coming to grips with who she is and what she’s done. In the end, the
books are really about expectations being placed on us as a result of the family and circumstances we’ve been
born into, and the different way we deal with those expectations.
Allen: Tell me about Helman Graff. I recall in our last interview you mentioned that he was like a modern day
Abraham Van Helsing. Is Helman Graff in most of your books? Would you still describe him in same sort of way?
What is his true origin?
Scott: Helman is a recurring character in some of my books. Yes, he’s much like a modern day Van Helsing,
taking on supernatural foes and dealing out his own particular brand of justice. He’s featured somewhat
prominently in my first book, “The Feast of Catchville,” and he’s alluded to in the Delving books. He won’t make
an “on screen” appearance in the Delving saga until the final book is released, some time next year. Of course,
“Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” is all about him. Helman first appeared in a few short stories I had published
when I was just starting out, and those stories, along with several others [ten in all] are featured in the collection.
The character’s true origin is largely the basis of the final Delving book, so I won’t give too much away—safe to
say that after “Delving: Culminations” is released, I’ll most likely be finished with the Graff family for the
foreseeable future.
Allen: Do you envision Helman Graff as hero?
Scott: The term “hero” is sort of a slippery moniker, isn’t it? Who was the hero of “Heart of Darkness,” Marlow or
Kurtz? Antihero probably speaks best to his nature. The ends justify the means in his mind. He’s much more
Batman than Superman.
Allen: Do you find it easy to develop stories involving Helman Graff?
Scott: I’ve been writing the character for so long that what he does in a given situation is fairly obvious to me,
and in that sense, the stories were easy to react to. The challenging part is placing him in situations that will be
interesting to the readers, though I think I’ve succeeded in that respect.
Allen: Do other characters in past books appear in more recent books like Swaybuck or Delving novels?
Scott: From day one I’ve been conscious of the Mythos mentality: that is, trying to construct worlds that interact
with one another from story to story. King’s Tower Mythos, Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos, and Keene’s Labyrinth
Mythos are some great examples of the heights you can take the notion, and the idea of interweaving concepts
and characters has always appealed to me. As far as some of the characters that I’ve crossed between projects,
Helman Graff appears in “The Feast of Catchville” and the “Delving” series. There’s a character named Stitch
McGowan in “Swaybuck” that uses weapons also portrayed in my science fiction serial, “Plane Station”. There
are several dozen different ways that all my books come together in an eventual mega-series, though that’s all
happening in my head at the moment so the current readers wouldn’t be able to pick them out yet… but you will
eventually.
Allen: I just bought “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff”. The book was dedicated to Hayden Charles. Who is
Hayden?
Scott: One of my children.
Allen: How long has this collection been in development? Is this your first short story collection?
Scott: Yes. This is my first collection to date. As I said before, the original Helman stories were amongst the first
things I got published. I believe “Mad Martin” was the first one to be placed and “Lupine Lover” came next. I think
that five of the stories were pre-existing when we came up with the collection concept, leaving me to write five
originals. Kris [Stamp - EIC of Stone Garden Publishing] and I talked about the idea at some point in early 2008,
and he was on board from the get-go. When my first book, “The Feast of Catchville” was released, I was pretty
amazed at how well it did, both critically and sales wise. And after it came out I was even more amazed at how
interested everyone was in Helman Graff. My email inbox was filled with questions like “Is there a part two?” and
“Are you writing more Helman Graff books?” For my money, I was glad to move on to new characters and new
settings, but after enough time had passed and I was still being asked about him, it was pretty clear that the
Graff character had struck a nerve. I think I’d always had the idea to do a collection of Helman stories in the back
of my mind, but it was definitely the push of the readers that got me to do it. The stories offer a generous mix of
my favorite kind of yarns, those being filled with adventure, a dash of horror, some science fiction, and a ton of
fun… and I think those elements were well delivered with the Graff collection.
Allen: It seems like you fit all sorts of things into your stories. I was trapped in a town with a killer during a
snowstorm in “The Feast of Catchville.” I still recall the scene where the main character looks through a keyhole
and sees another person’s eye looking back at her. You threw a shiver down my spine. I was enraptured with the
story. I could not stop reading until got to conclusion. It did not help that I was reading story during Wisconsin
blizzard and the story occurred in Northern Wisconsin. I have seen all sorts of things in your novels. What pulls
you into this field as writer? What were some of your influences?
Scott: Wow. I love that that scene had that kind of intense effect on you, Allen. Those are the kind of reactions
that fiction writers live for.
What pulls me into the field of being a writer? First and foremost, I possess a monster god complex - I would be
lying to say I didn’t. Creating worlds and the things that inhabit them is a first class rush. Controlling their lives,
deciding who wins and who loses, who lives and who dies, who ends up happy and who ends up miserable… I
extract an immense amount of joy from all of it, and it’s one of the main reasons I do it. Another main reason I do
it is for the reaction of the reader. Getting a reaction just like the one I just received from you as a result of that
particular scene in “Catchville” is fantastic. I love the idea of being able to take over someone else’s mind for just
a short while, of being able to direct the readers’ thoughts for even a few minutes… again, I’d be lying to say that
I don’t enjoy that sort of power.
As far as influences go, well, it’s definitely the writers that give me the same sort of thrill that I love to give my own
readers. Richard Matheson, Harlan Ellison, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Clive Barker
are all right at the top of the list for me, as well as a host of others. If you’ll notice, all of the above writers have
the ability to write in multiple branches of the Speculative Fiction tree. None of them have been pigeon-holed to
Fantasy or Horror or Science Fiction. Though they might be known best for a particular genre, they’ve all
deviated from what they’re “supposed” to be doing, and I admire them all greatly for it. Outside of books, Stanley
Kubrick and Ray Harryhausen are probably my two biggest influences, both for their distinctive styles and
overwhelming passions for their particular brand of films. Certainly Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry are big
influences from the screenplay side of things. Of course, all these men are giants, and I can only hope to get the
barest glimpse over their shoulders of what the universe must look like from their viewpoints.
Allen: Did you like reading many horror comics in your youth?
Scott: As a matter of fact, I didn’t. None of the horror stuff, be it comics or films or books, appealed to me as a
kid. I avoided it like the plague because it scared the crap out of me… seriously, to the point where I’d get sick
from lack of sleep because I was so terrified of the nightmares. I didn’t develop a solid appreciation of horror until
I was in college, when I realized that I could be the one inducing the nightmares instead of getting them. And
then a funny thing happened, once I started telling scary stories, I was suddenly less affected by them in turn.
Allen: Tell me about the cover artist for “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff.”
Scott: A fantastic artist named Nathan Fehlauer did the cover work.
Allen: How did you find Nathan Fehlauer? I noticed he also did an illustration for each story in collection?
Scott: Nate and I actually went to college together. I hadn’t seen or talked to him since, but we met up again on
myspace of all places. I’d been highly involved in the covers of my first four books, I painted the covers for
“Catchville” and “Swaybuck” - and had a heavy design influence with my partner Ren Richfield on the “Delving”
covers. When “Exile…” was starting to come together, I wanted to get away from being so involved with the
artwork - it was just too much of a strain on my time - but I was also loathe to give up the control. What I needed
was an artist who I felt like I was really on the same page with, an artist who I knew would be able to blow my
mind. When I found Nate on myspace, I remembered seeing some sketches he had in his apartment in college. A
little more research told me that he was a graphic designer in Milwaukee, which in turn told me that he was doing
artwork professionally. Anyway, I contacted him and told him about the book. I sent him a few stories, I believe,
and he sent me some artwork samples, and we took it from there. Right away I knew that he “got” what Helman
was all about. The over the top visuals melded perfectly with the over the top story. After a bit of work, Nate
actually brought up the idea of illustrating each of the stories. I was ecstatic with the idea, and Kris [Stamp - EIC
of Stone Garden Publishing] gave us the go ahead. I couldn’t be happier with how they all turned out.
Allen: Why were the pictures done in black and white?
Scott: For purely financial reasons. Nate originally did all the pieces in color - and they are GORGEOUS I can
tell you - soon I hope to have all of the illustrations up at www.scottfalkner.com so that everyone can see how
fantastic they are - but they were changed to black and white to keep the costs down. To portray the colored
images correctly, meaning to give them the brilliance of the originals, you’d end up charging fifty bucks for a two-
hundred page book, and unless that book is a hardcover tray-cased limited edition… those numbers just aren’t
going to fly.
Allen: I heard you read “A Simple Haunting” from “Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” at the Thyme Worn
Treasures signing in Rice Lake, Wisconsin on May 23rd, 2009. How long have you been interested in ghost
stories?
Scott: Ghost stories are probably my favorite part of the Horror Genre for a lot of reasons, the primary being that
ghosts can be so “unknowable.” Fear stems from the unknown, and the most unknowable thing in our existence
is what happens after death. Ghosts are representations of that great mystery, and that makes them hella
interesting in turn. Another great thing about ghosts is that there aren’t 1001 “rules” you should follow when
writing about them. For example, when it comes to vampires, you might want to know a thing or two about
crucifixes, wooden stakes, garlic, et al. For werewolves, some lunar and silver weaponry knowledge can be
helpful. Zombies… a shot to the head will usually suffice. However, when it comes to ghosts the sky’s the limit. It’s
more difficult for the reader to guess what’s going to happen next, and that “not knowing” puts them on edge all
the more.
Allen: How much research occurred for you to learn terminology for “A Simple Haunting?”
Scott: Oh, I knew most of it through my addictions to shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Paranormal State.” Part of
me wants to go ahead and do the seminal haunting story - something like “The Haunting of Hill House” or “Hell
House” - but instead of using the stodgy mediums and psychics, using a fun, younger team like Jason and Grant
from “Ghost Hunters” - I don’t know, maybe it’s already been done. Anyway, the protagonist in “A Simple
Haunting” is a young woman who idolizes those type of paranormal investigation shows, and as I’m a huge fan of
them too, it didn’t take much research.
Allen: The Monster Squad mentioned in story was movie about 20 years ago. I saw you questioned this in “A
Simple Haunting”. I recently watched that DVD. I just thought you should know that enjoyed you mentioned The
Monster Squad in the story questioning origins.
Scott: That’s great. Yeah, she’s trying to come up with a name for their group right at the start of the story, and
“Monster Squad” crosses her mind.
Allen: I think it’s best to move on. Tell me about your newest book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde”.
Scott: “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” is a dark fantasy western. It takes place in the Old West - but there’s
a lot of off the wall, “fantastique” elements.
Allen: Tell me about characters and setting for the book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde.”
Scott: Calvin Dyer is a bounty hunter. He can look into a man’s eyes and see everything that’s happened in that
man’s life in just a few seconds. Of course, that tends to help him out in his line of work. Unfortunately, Calvin
also suffers from fantastical, image-laden bouts of narcolepsy… and that tends to hinder things a bit. In the
course of a routine bounty, Calvin comes across a mysterious glass orb that he discovers must be destroyed. In
the course of destroying it, he must elude a host of killers sent after him by the territorial crime boss, pass
through a perilous land filled with savage, bloodthirsty tribes, rescue a beautiful empress from another world,
and fight off a demonic army that threatens to destroy the entire world. It’s good fun.
Allen: What did you like best about writing about Calvin Dyer?
Scott: Believe it or not, his humor. Calvin isn’t an outwardly funny guy, but his dry view of the world made me
chuckle more than once.
Allen: How did you think of idea for Calvin to have narcolepsy?
Scott: That’s a good question. I wrote the first draft of the book probably three or four years ago, so that’s going
back a while. I’m not 100% sure, but I’m guessing that in giving him the ability to read men’s lives with one
glance, I also wanted to give him an Achilles Heal of sorts… and somehow that notion led me to the narcolepsy.
My wife is convinced that I have narcolepsy - so perhaps that’s how the concept was introduced into my mind.
Allen: What is a Reatian Horde?
Scott: The Horde is a demonic army that’s threatening to destroy our world. Why, how, and when is all explained
over the course of the book.
Allen: How did the concept for this story come about?
Scott: I’ve always liked Westerns and wanted to try my hand at one. Of course, if I’m writing a Western, then it’s
not going to be cut and dried… it’s going to be a bit Falkner-ized.
Allen: Who is book dedicated to and why?
Scott: I dedicated this one to the memory of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Since I was very small I’ve always enjoyed
Burroughs’ books - from John Carter, to Tarzan, to Pellucidar… there’s a level of imagination in those books
that never ceases to amaze me, especially when you think about the time that they were written. “Calvin…” was
written in that spirit, the spirit of trying to just crack the right side of my brain open and let the imagination ooze
all over the keyboard.
Allen: Will Nathan Fehlauer again be cover artist for “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde?’
Scott: Yeah. I reached out to Nate again for the cover of this book and he was gracious enough to do it. I just
can’t speak highly enough of Nate’s artistic prowess - and his professionalism and grace under pressure just
make him that much more valuable. I hope to work with him a lot more in the future.
Allen: Have you been putting more thought into having your stories adapted into comic book form?
Scott: To be completely honest, Allen, it’s difficult to get hyped up over something you’ve already written. By the
time a book is published, I’ve been over it a few dozen times with a fine-toothed comb. I’ve read it backwards and
forwards, aloud and silently, over and over again. By the time the book gets to the reader, I’ve moved on to
something else. That said, OF COURSE I would love to have my stuff adapted into either comics or film… but, it’s
not something that I’m actively going to seek out. If someone, either an artist, a publisher, or a filmmaker, came
to me and said, ‘look, we want to do something with one of your books,’ that would be fantastic. I’d be more than
happy to sit down with them and discuss options and involvement and the like. I’d even be happy to take a crack
at the writing aspect of adapting one of my books for comics or film, but it would have to be the result of
someone asking and paying me to do it. It’s not something that I’m going to do on my own… at least not at the
moment. There’s too much else to focus on.
Allen: Scott. I know that you are working on script for some sort of comic book. It’s on your website at The Daily
Cave [https://thedailycave.blogspot.com]. I also know it’s your first time working on this sort of project. How is this
going for you? Do you have set publisher? What sort of story are you writing?
Scott: This is sort of amusing given my previous answer above, however, I am working “casually” on a script for a
comic, but it’s for something completely new, and not an adaptation of one of my existing books. At the moment,
there is no publisher set up, it’s just something that I wanted to do on my own. When I’m done with the story, I
plan on discussing it with Nate [Fehlauer] to see if it’s something he might be interested in working on. If it’s not,
well, I’ll go from there. At the moment I just want to plow through the story, get it done well in the comic format for
the first time. That’s the primary goal. The publishers, the artist, that all comes later… ‘I’ll jump off that bridge
when I come to it’ is the motto.
As to the story, it centers around a demon that’s not entirely pleased with the way a lot of evil works in the world,
that is, he’s a bit disconcerted with chaotic, or “mindless” evil. This particular demon expects evil to be given a
certain amount of respect when it’s performed. Ergo, he begins going out into the world and “showing” these
mindless evildoers just what “real” evil is… As a result, the forces in charge of both Heaven and Hell become a
bit peeved with the demon, and the hunting begins. The story is still in its infancy but I think it’s wide enough to
go for a while - at the very least, it’ll provide a decent backdrop for an initial graphic novel.
Allen: Are you possibly considering more writing in the comic book field?
Scott: Certainly.
Allen: Tell me about your appreciation for Robert E. Howard and Ray Harryhausen?
Scott: Howard and Harryhausen both belong to a list of artists I think of as Inspirationalists. It all comes down to a
question of why an artist produces art, I think. Certainly, all real artists do their work because they’d be miserable
if they didn’t, however, beyond that, I think that there’s an underlying effect on their audience that artists are
attempting to achieve. Some artists do their work to educate. Some do their work to strictly entertain. Some do
their work to change other people’s points of view. And then there are those artists who, I believe, really have
the least amount of interest in the way in which an audience will react. These are artists who do their work simply
to bleed their imaginations dry. Howard. Harryhausen. Burroughs. Frazetta… I suppose they could be called
Imaginists as much as Inspirationalists. At any rate, I really admire what these artists do, and as such I suppose I’
m attempting to belong to the same sort of list with some of my works like “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde.”
Allen: When will book “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” be published?
Scott: “Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde” will be published the end of June, 2009, on the 26th I believe. Stone
Garden [www.stonegarden.net] is accepting pre-orders now, and the book will be available everywhere when it’s
released.
Allen: How can people buy signed copies of your books?
Scott: We used to offer a thing through my website where members of the www.scottfalkner.com mailing list could
get signed copies of any of my books. The books would be sent to me first, and then they’d be sent onto the
members. I also used to supply books to the Shocklines.com bookstore before Matt shut the store side of the
website down. Now, the best way to get a signed book is to come to a book signing, but if someone really, really
wanted a signed copy of the book, they can email us through the Contact section of www.scottfalkner.com, and I’
m sure something could be worked out.
Allen: Do you do many book signing events?
Scott: I used to do more, and I’d like to continue that, but it really turns into a time and money issue. As any
midlister will tell you, publishers don’t usually finance book tours, and as such, the cost all falls on the author.
That can be a drain. I like to do as many as I can, and when I do they’re always posted on the events section of
www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: When is final Delving book going to be published? What will be title?
Scott: “Delving: Culminations” will be released at some point in 2010… I’m guessing next summer. It was
scheduled to be released in June of this year, but I sort of ran into a wall. I spent much of the latter half of ’08
and the start of ’09 moving my family to a new location, and as such the writing part of my life really suffered. I
did end up completing the final Delving book in time to be published this June, but after editing and revising it, I
realized that I wasn’t satisfied with the caliber of the story. To me, it wasn’t the whiz-bang ending to the story that
I’d worked so hard on through the first books. Luckily, I’d already turned in “Calving Dyer and the Reatian
Horde,” and that book was due to be released in 2010. When I explained to Kris [EIC of Stone Garden
Publishing] the situation, he agreed that it wouldn’t be right to release a book that I wasn’t happy with. So, we just
switched up the release dates; “Calvin” comes out in June, and “Culminations” will come out next year. I really
think that it’s for the best, and I can’t thank my publisher enough for allowing me to do it.
Allen: Tell me about your future books like the Young Adult novel “Netherwood.”
Scott: I’ve always wanted to write a YA novel in the spirit of the “Oz” books or the “Chronicles of Narnia.” Those
YA fantasy books had such an impact on me at a young age that I’d love to return the favor to future
generations. The idea of “Netherwood” germinated a few years ago, and I started writing the book out by hand in
a leather bound journal. I got fifty or so pages in when other things—and by other things I mean other
deadlines—took precedence. I fully intend to get back to the book after a few other projects are wiped off the To-
Do list.
Allen: I also would like to know how it is going with Horror novel “Wellsprung?”
Scott: “Wellsprung” is a working title. This one centers around a haunted island lodge, and as with “Netherwood,”
there’s a lot already done it, a lot that was interrupted by other things. This book is number three to be written…
so I’m guessing that I’ll return to it in the fall.
Allen: When do you think these books will appear in stores?
Scott: Oh, who knows? These are books I don’t want to rush, so I would say 2012 at the absolute earliest.
Allen: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Scott: Isn’t that enough? Heh. The last Delving book, the demon comic, a Young Adult novel, two horror novels…
I think that that’s enough to keep me busy for a bit.
Allen: Do you read many comic books at present time?
Scott: I’m trying to go back through as many of the ‘must read’ graphic novels as I can. I’m playing a lot of catch-
up. As far as regular comics, I have enjoyed Joe Hill’s “Locke and Key” thus far.
Allen: Are you still doing many art drawings in your free time?
Scott: Free Time… now there’s something I wish I had more of. At present, the writing is taking up all my
available work time, though now that we’re more settled in our new house, I plan on getting back to painting.
There’s a level of calm that accompanies oil painting that I really miss. It’s an entirely different process than
writing, for me at least. Writing is so cerebral and painting is much more… what’s the word? Free flowing might
describe it best. With painting, there’s no expectation at the outset. You can just put the brush to the canvass
and “go.”
Allen: What do you feel inspires your creativity?
Scott: I suppose it’s a need to get what’s in my head out in the open. It’s really as simple as that. I have these
thoughts, these ideas, that seem to overflow from my subconscious into my conscious mind, and the best way to
get rid of them—for me, anyway—is to convey them in an artistic sense, whether that’s by writing or painting or
whatever…
Allen: What is the best way to contact you?
Scott: Through the Contact section of www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: What is best way to contact Nathan Fehlauer?
Scott: Nate has a myspace page, that’s how I got a hold of him. Nate’s contact info is also accessible through the
“Exile: The Collected Helman Graff” section of www.scottfalkner.com.
Allen: We are again at end of another interview. Would you like to lead us out with any closing thoughts?
Scott: Don’t look too far ahead. The future is now. How’s that for being existential?
Allen: Thank you Scott F. Falkner for the interview.
Scott: Thank you, Allen. It was a pleasure.
Scott F. Falkner's Official Website
