Dean M. Drinkel talks about Through a Forest Dark, part of the Dark Continents Darkness and Dismay release.

Okay Dean M Drinkel, this is a little Q & A to get to know a little more about you and thicken up those stalker portfolios.

1 – Milk or dark chocolate?

                       

            Definitely Milk.

2 – What are your feelings in reference to LEGO’s?

If you mean the children’s toy then yes, love it, always have.  Luckily I have two nephews that love it too and this past Christmas I bought them some Star Wars Lego sets.

            If you don’t mean the children’s toy then let me know LOL

3 – I know a lot of people as what the favorites are in regard to horror movies, but my question to

you...what is your favorite comedy and why?

This is Spinal Tap!  Can’t stop watching it – very very funny.  Would love to make a film like this one day.  Love Christopher Guest’s movies ever since.  I have also made shorts based on two of my own comedy plays and by God, these are so funny that we need to make feature length films about them.

4 – What is the story/novel you are most proud of?

Great question – without sitting on the fence, I love everything I create (otherwise I wouldn’t ‘put them out there’) but for different reasons. As well as writing stories I write and direct short films and in the theatre. 

           

A couple of years back I directed Clive Barker’s play “Frankenstein in Love” in London.  We staged it in a small theatre, it was very claustrophobic.  For those that aren’t familiar with the play, the first act finishes with one of the characters being flayed.  We didn’t have a big budget but we managed, with low lighting and some clever thinking, to create something very memorable – which led to many walkouts (girls screaming / fainting – nice) due to the violent nature of the scene!!!!  As a director I was very happy with that.

Also, my first short film “The Imp Of The Perverse” (inspired by Poe’s short story) also screened at the Cannes Film Festival.  Again, low budget so we had to think on our feet – we created something quite atmospheric and I managed to get some great performances from the two actors I cast.

Last year, my story “Y for YHWH” which appeared in the anthology “M is for Monster” was also a great success and received some amazing reviews – I was compared to early Clive Barker which was a great honour.

From “Monster” I came up with the idea of an anthology based on “Phobias” – I pitched this to Dark Continents and they let me run with it.  I have to say with 28 writers, it wasn’t always easy but we got there in the end and I have to say, produced a very high spec product.  James Powell created an amazing cover which has literally blown people away.  We had a signing event at Forbidden Planet in London which went down a storm – loads of copies were sold and the store was very very happy with us.  It was brilliant to walk into the store, see the book everywhere and then they asked to sign numerous “pre-sold” copies!!!!!  I hope we can do a sequel.

5 – What is the most interesting thing you have learned?

I am educated to degree level and when I look back at my life (not that I’m that old!!!) it suddenly hits me that I was schooled in England, Saudi Arabia and the US at various points in my life – not bad hey?!

It is quite fashionable nowadays to take time out from leaving school to going to University.  I didn’t, but sometimes I look back and wished I had.  I didn’t get a bad degree but I think if I had done it a couple of years later, with a bit more “experience” under my belt then maybe I would have done even better.  In my thesis I also argued that the Salem Witches really were witches – not sure if that was the best way forward.

As I’ve got older – I’ve studied a lot more history and in the future want to write something about Napoleon, Louis XIV and Arthur Rimbaud.

One thing though – life is too bloody short!!!!

6 – Do you do a lot of research for your writing?

            Depends – at the moment I am completing a short antho on the Titanic so yes, that has meant

some research.

7 – Tell me about the collection you have with Dark Continents?

It is called “Through a Forest Dark” – four stories set in Paris, two of the stories are connected whilst the remaining two are independent.  However, there are common themes running between the stories and there are references to the poet Dante posted throughout the collection – even the title is taken from The Inferno.

I have to say, the stories are quite dark with a good smattering of violence and sex (though not necessarily violent sex it must be said) – these are definitely not for the faint-hearted, just the way I like it.

There is another story that is part of the connected ones – this story is called “The Rape Of Emmanuelle” – we decided not to include this story at the time but I am hoping to have it as an “added extra” either in a future collection or as a stand-alone story. Again, this is a very dark piece and does push a boundary or two!!!!!

 http://www.amazon.com/Through-A-Forest-Dark-ebook/dp/B006SAM1XA/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327703253&sr=8-1-spell

8 – How do you like to tell a story? Character driven, location of importance, or something else entirely?

Without sounding pretentious, the way I look at it is that the basic foundations for any story I write run through my head, perhaps like rivers, and whenever I need to, I dip in my toe and see how hot the water is!!!  Sometimes it can be a character’s name that interests me and then I can go with that.  The last couple of years I have been spending more and more time in France and that is becoming more and more evident in my stories and also how I write them!!!

9 – What kind of music do you listen to when writing?

I’m always getting into trouble for my eccentric taste in music – I can listen to Opera, French Baroque but then also a great deal of Pop music – the Killers, U2, Robbie Robertson for example.  I’ve really been getting into Florence and the Machine, David Lynch’s new album is brilliant as is Tom Waits.

10 – What is the most difficult thing you find about being a writer?

Probably the same as most, money!!! Time also can be a pain – you have to learn the juggling act!  Also – if you have a life – it can get in the bloody way.  The more writers I meet, we all seem to suffer from insomnia – is this because our minds are always on the go?  I often say I didn’t want to be a writer, I had no choice, I AM a writer.

11 – Something about you that no one would believe.

Leonardo DiCaprio came to my 30^th birthday party which was in Cannes a couple of years back, oh and I was frequently abducted by aliens when I was a child but that happened to everyone, right?

12 – Okay, now promote yourself here, what else have you done that you would like people to know about?

I am a published short story writer, poet, film writer / director as well writing / directing for the theatre.  I was runner up for the Sir Peter Ustinov Screenwriting Award for my feature film screenplay Ghosts in 2001 (an International Emmy Award).  My first short story collection, The Burial is soon to be re-issued.  I have recently contributed to M Is For Monster, Monk Punk, Estronomicon, Theaker’s Quarterly and Morpheus Tales.  In 2011, I compiled and edited Phobophobia for Dark Continents Publishing.  2012 sees the release of my anthology Cities of Death (Static Movement) and Titanic Tales (Dark Continents).  I am currently working on a horror novel set in the South of France which should see publication, fall 2012.