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"My first agent sent the book around...no one knew what to do with it.
Horror editors thought of it as science fiction. Science fiction editors thought it was fantasy.
Fantasy editors thought it was horror. The mystery houses didn't know what to do with it..."
"I loved Dick Tracy because he was so horrible, I couldn't believe that he was getting away with what he was doing, all these rotting corpses and all, bless Chester Gould's heart"
"What I discovered is that the world of the spirits is maintained by the tribes as a form of psychological hygiene. This is not the same as saying that spirits are simply psychological projections. Once out there the spirits have a will of their own. It's a way of dealing with some very negative group or communal forces that threaten the harmony of the tribe. Which do you find the most odd? This, or Oprah Winfrey's self-help TV programs?"
"Cocteau put it well. He said, 'Whatever I do I am a poet.' He speaks of poetry as being the transformative power in his life. The transforming thing in my life...is the thing which pushes the envelope of reality and snaps it, breaks it, shows you something that you didn't even think existed."
"You say to them 'Listen, do you have a car?' They answer, 'Yeah?' and you say, 'Fine, leave the keys in it tonight because I'm coming by. I need to drive to West Virginia and I'm going to take your car and drive it. Don't worry about it, it'll take three or four days but don't worry I won't trash it or run it off a cliff. I'll just leave it by the side of the road in case someone else wants to use it.' They just don't get the connection."
Even though she's still perceived as being someone she isn't, Brite can live with it. "Let this be a warning to anyone who becomes well-known at age 25 and consequentially does a lot of growing up in the public eye, even as tiny a 'public eye' as it may be for a writer. What the hell, though; my only real concern is the work, and I think my 'image' has interested more potential readers than it's turned off."
The short answer is: What men want. A heightened visceral experience that possess some psychological significance. Original stories, images, themes. A sense that, though the vehicle is "horror," the experience is human and touches an intimate chord. This might happen to me. Or, more horribly --This has already happened to me. -- Joyce Carol Oates
"There is a reason why I've really upset several publisher publicists over the years by saying no to People Magazine and to appearing on David Letterman, when those entities invited me. I'd probably say no to Politically Incorrect, too. I'm a writer, and a storyteller, not a personality...And I remember Stephen King in a hotel suite in Boston in 1992 saying 'If I had my life to live over again, I wouldn't do the American Express TV ad.'" |
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