Hearing Voices with Joe McKinney

Joe McKinney is the San Antonio-based author of several horror, crime and science fiction novels. His longer works include the four part Dead World series, made up of Dead City, Apocalypse of the Dead, Flesh Eaters and The Zombie King; the science fiction disaster tale, Quarantined, which was nominated for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in a novel, 2009; and the crime novel, Dodging Bullets. His upcoming releases include the horror novels Lost Girl of the Lake, The Red Empire, The Charge and St. Rage. Joe has also worked as an editor, along with Michelle McCrary, on the zombie-themed anthology Dead Set, and with Mark Onspaugh on the abandoned building-themed anthology The Forsaken. His short stories and novellas have been published in more than thirty publications and anthologies.

In his day job, Joe McKinney is a sergeant with the San Antonio Police Department, where he helps to run the city’s 911 Dispatch Center. Before promoting to sergeant, Joe worked as a homicide detective and as a disaster mitigation specialist. Many of his stories, regardless of genre, feature a strong police procedural element based on his fifteen years of law enforcement experience.

A regular guest at regional writing conventions, Joe currently lives and works in a small town north of San Antonio with his wife and children.

So sit down with Joe McKinney and feel free to leave any comments to the following conversation.

HV: Why Zombies?

JM: Initially, it was because I fell in love with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. That’s the movie that got the ball rolling and failing to give it the credit it is due is simply criminal. Later, I fell in love with zombies because you could actually do something with them. You could tell a story, sure, but you could also use them in all kinds of metaphorical ways. You could do anything with them. As a writer, that kept my interest going. But the real answer to your question, the simple answer, is that I find zombies just plain cool. I don’t think vampires are especially scary. Sorry, but not even a little bit. Likewise, serial killers stories are just plain weak. Ghosts can be scary, but more often times than not miss the mark. For me, zombies are horror’s high water mark. They’re not new, not by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve had revenants ever since we started telling stories. But with zombies, we’ve turned the revenants into a mob, and that is truly scary. The zombie mob is horror for today’s world.

HV: If--and when--the Zombie craze dies out will you continue to write in the sub genre or will you hold off and write in another genre until it resurrects once again?

JM: I definitely think we will see a waning in popularity for zombies at some point in the next decade. Exactly how long the bubble will keep expanding, I don’t know. It’s only natural for public opinion to grow hungry for something else, so I don’t think anybody will be surprised when the trend starts to slow down. But if the last forty years have taught us anything, it’s that zombies don’t ever go away. They just fade into the background for a little while before surging back into popularity. I’m actually kind of looking forward to that inevitable dip in the zombie’s popularity. Currently, I write crime fiction, science fiction and a lot of non-zombie horror, but the zombie stuff is what sells because it’s such a hot topic right now. When zombies start to fade into the background, it’ll give me a chance to show what I can do in those other areas as well. As a writer, I consider that a golden opportunity.

HV: What is there left to write about in regards to Zombies, seeing that there is so much of it out there? Is there such a thing as over saturation with them?

JM: I have always admired Brian Keene. Love him. Think he’s a fantastic guy. And I know he has some very definite opinions about this particular question. I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think if you asked him point blank, he’d say that it’s all been done and the genre is now lumbering along on life support. I’m pretty sure that’s why he chose to begin his outstanding graphic novel series, The Last Zombie, at a time right after the last zombie was put down. Come to think of it, Max Brooks may have had the same idea, which explains why World War Z takes place after the war against the walking dead has been won. The thing is, I don’t buy it. Granted, setting zombies up against Jane Austen or dropping them into other books can make the genre seem rather silly, but neither that, nor the amazing proliferation of crap writing in the zombie genre can really kill the storytelling potential of the zombie. Furthermore, I think looking at what else the genre has left to do kind of misses the mark. It’s not a matter of what the genre can do, but what writers and filmmakers can do with the genre. There really is no limit on creativity, or on meaningful stories. That being said, yeah, I think we can over-saturate the market. That hasn’t happened yet, despite the massive amount of stuff getting cranked out each month, but it’s only a matter of time.

HV: Besides Zombies, what other genres would you like to write in that you haven't?

JM: Well, I’ve written in my three favorite fiction genres already - horror, science fiction and crime. I would really like to do some non-fiction stuff eventually, specifically history. I’m a huge fan of Texas History, with a strong interest in the Hill Country and the Texas-Mexico border, and eventually, I’d like to write some popular history focusing on Texas during the first three decades of the 20th Century. As for fiction genres I haven’t touched yet, I’d like to try my hand at YA. That’s a great emerging market right now, and one that will continue to produce some great literature for a very long time.

HV: Who--in your mind--do you consider to be on top of their game right now as a writer? What work of theirs would you scream to the world to read?

JM: That’s actually a pretty long list. We have a glut of major league talent these days, and I have a running list of about thirty or forty writers I’m always eager to read more from. Let’s see, among the established writers who are working at the top of their game right now, I’d list: Joe Hill, Brenna Yovanoff, Bob Fingerman, Laird Barron, Stephen Graham Jones, Carl Hiaasen, Brian Hodge, John Langan, Ernest Cline, Adam Troy-Castro, Sarah Pinborough, Miguel Riojas, Sarah Langan, Jonathan Maberry, Dennis LeHane, Lee Thomas, Paolo Bacigulupi (I never miss anything by him), James Morrow, Cory Doctorow, and bunches more. Like I said, we’ve got an amazing group of writers
working today. I feel fortunate as a reader.

HV: How about up and coming writers?

JM: That’s another long list. I know I’m going to leave a lot out, but some of the emerging writers I always try to catch are: Nate Southard, Jeremy Shipp, Norman Prentiss, Paul Tremblay, Gary McMahon, RJ Sevin, W.G. Marshall, Matt Darst, John Garumba, E. Michael Lewis and Iain McKinnon. Like I said, that’s not even a sampling of the talent out there. Those are just the first few who came to mind.

HV: For the newcomers to the writing business what advice would you give to them as they enter this tough industry?

JM: This is pretty simple, actually. First of all, if you want to make any sort of living at writing, you’re going to have to treat writing like a business. That means you show up to work everyday and you put in a full day’s work. You keep up with the competition, the markets, the trends, and you constantly strive to make yourself better. And when you put stuff out there, you do it in an organized, professional way. When you send stuff out, even if it’s just a query, you make damn sure there are no typos, no routine grammar mistakes. I cannot tell you how many people tell me they want to be writers, and yet have no qualms whatsoever about sending out stuff that’s loaded with routine errors. It’s just disgusting, really. But above all - and I cannot tell you how important this last point really is - never forget the value of a handwritten thank you note. It’s a lost art these days, which is too bad, because taking the time to put a few quick thoughts down with a pen and paper can turn a routine sale or chance meeting at a convention into a lifelong friendship.

HV: What work can we expect from you in the near future?

JM: It’s been a busy year so far. I’ve released two novels, Flesh Eaters and The Red Empire, published eighteen short stories in various anthologies and online sites, and edited two anthologies, The Predatory Kind and The Forsaken. The Predatory Kind came out last month and The Forsaken, an anthology of stories set in and around abandoned buildings, should be out sometime before the end of the year. In just a few days I’m going to be releasing a zombie novella called The Crossing, which will be available exclusively as an ebook. I also have a short zombie novel called On the Road to Marvin Gardens coming out from Creeping Hemlock Press in January, a coming of age horror story called Lost Girl of the Lake coming out in February from Bad Moon Books, a collection of my zombie short stories called Dating in the Dead World and Other Stories coming out in March from Creeping Hemlock Press, a six part graphic novel called Blood in the Water coming out in the summer, also from Creeping Hemlock Press, and the fourth (and perhaps final) book in the Dead World series coming out from Pinnacle in September. In between those projects I have another ten or so short stories that will be appearing in various anthologies, including a big one in the new Zombies vs. Robots anthology put out by IDW. I keep an up to date listing and do regular announcements on my website, Old Major’s Dream.

HV: Thanks, Joe!

You can find Joe McKinney at the following links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1279984186
Website: http://joemckinney.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @JoeMcKinney