An Interview with Chris Turner-Neal

Chris Turner-Neal is a writer and editor living in Buenos Aires. Formerly on the editorial staff of Country Roads and 64 Parishes; his online home is now upsidedownandinspanish.substack.com.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

I had always “been funny” and had co-written three light humor books with a friend a few years ago, but I always found myself reading horror. When I started finally trying my hand at fiction, it was horror and weird fiction more generally where I felt I had some measure of talent and, more to the point, something to say. So they current project comes from my hopes to marry my comedic voice to my horror sensibility.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

I had the title before I had the idea. “Lovecraftian standup” was kicking around in my head as something that was generally funny—”Hathor? I hardly know her!”—and then this idea glommed onto my book concept.

Describe your dream book cover.

My first book was, inexplicably, designed to look like it was covered in denim. After that, I dare not dream.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

“Paint It Black” – The Rolling Stones

“Green River Killer” – The Judy Chops

“Veronika” – Raiven

“Shaking of the Sheets” – Steeleye Span

“Bad Moon Rising” – Rasputina

“Luktelk” – Silvester Belt

“Vrazhe” – Angy Kreyda

“They Aren’t Real” – Molly Rice

“O Death” – Kate Mann

I caution that these songs are chosen by VIBES. If I do this book right, the dread will mount slowly and then collapse onto my central characters. As in tragedy, the end should be shocking but inevitable.

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

As many horror short stories as I can comfortably ingest, low-impact gay cozy mysteries, children’s books in Spanish.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I have taught, done most kinds of general writing for pay you can think of, and I briefly worked at the New Zealand Food Safety Authority. If you imported dried deer penises from Canada into New Zealand after 2007, that’s because I filed the papers!

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

When I was a child, my mother worked at the hospital in our town, and sometimes as a treat my father would take me to visit her and to see “the Big H” (the helipad had an H on it so they knew where to land). I was such a bookish child that seeing a big letter H was special for me, so I was probably always going to end up like this.

Where is your favorite place to write?

It has to be at my desk. I bought a fancy wooden chair to make myself seem Grand.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Quit planning so much and get words on the page.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

The image of a woman filling her purse with popcorn shrimp at a casino buffet.

While the book will reflect my understanding of good and evil and my general fatalism, it’s meant as a fun, escapist read for people who find fart jokes and the end of the world cathartic. Save it for a treat after you finish something edifying, like Evan O’Connell’s Mrs. Bridge or Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.