Today you'll be meeting another one of my "Scream and Cream" co-authors, J. Rocky Colavito. His entry in that book is the disturbingly named "SporeGasm." Anyway, here we go.
J. Rocky Colavito is nearing the end of a forty-plus year career of teaching college students English, Literature, Rhetoric, Film Studies, and Horror. His classroom journey has taken him from upstate New York, to urban and rural Arizona, to the bible belt of Louisiana, to the urban sprawl of Indiana. He started writing horror very early in life, took a long hiatus because of a bunch of different factors, and returned to it in 2017 courtesy of a random opportunity to teach a horror writing class. Out of that came the short story “Red Eye” (published in Dark Dossier), and the collection Can You Handle This, My Darling? (recently updated to Malevolent Micros). Participation in a writing group led to his first paid sales and the beginnings of his association with Buck Neighkyd, his first serial character whose adventures can be followed in Caveman Magazine and in the novel Creative Control (Buck’s Origin story). He has subsequently published in a variety of horror genres ranging from quiet to extreme. He is the author of the Neo-giallo series (five works, and counting), the stoned cryptids series (inspired by Cocaine Bear, two books forthcoming in 2024), and professional wrestling adjacent horror (also forthcoming in 2024). He hails from Western New York, but calls Tucson, Arizona his adopted home. When he’s not curating his social media and dealing with his classes and grading, he follows local professional wrestling, the writings of a special group of author friends, and practices the arts of cooking and puzzle solving courtesy of the New York Times.
If you could talk to any writer, living or dead, who would it be, and what would you discuss?
Carl Hiaasen, I’d love to find out how he sharpened his eye for dark human, human folly, and environmental consciousness.
Do you plan your entire story or novel all out in advance, with a complete outline, etc., or do you just start writing, and see where it takes you, making it up as you go along?
Total pantser; I might have a rough idea of structure once I get started (ie when to change beats, add a killing or sex scene, and so on). I like watching the piece form organically.
How do you come up with your story titles?
Inspiration from past artifacts (lots of the Neo-Giallo titles reflect the titles of Giallo films), obscure stuff (nursery rhymes), twists on quotations, and my dreams.
What writers have influenced you the most?
James Ellroy, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carl Hiaasen, Jonathan Maberry, endless writers of Giallo films, the Rialto report, porn journalism of various types, Frank Edwards, Mickey Spillane, Dan Jenkins.
What is your current work in progress?
PCPiasa, the third novel in the Stoned Cryptids series (preceded by SmackSquatch and MethMoth—these are currently in limbo as the press that was going to publish them disbanded and a new one is being reorganized from the wreckage). This one involved another regional cryptid—a flying creature that is invulnerable to conventional weapons and capable of bringing down aircraft. Qulaifies as extreme horror because of the presence of sex and violence.
Do you prefer writing short stories, novellas, or novels?
Comfortable in all three. Preference is dictated by what the call asks for.
What is the best stunt, lie, or practical joke that you’ve pulled off?
Back in the day we used to wear athletic supporters that had this snap pouch in the front where you inserted the protective cup. I and a couple friends caught a frog and put the damn thing in the pouch in a teammate’s jock. He was in a hurry and put the thing on and the frog kicked> much hilarity. Those were definitely the days.
What is your favorite beer/alcoholic drink/wine?
Quit drinking over twenty years ago. Back then it was Corona with lime and tropical drinks (mai ties, margaritas, mojitos, et al).
What are your five favorite novels?
No particular order:
American Psycho.
The Big Nowhere
Kiss Me, Deadly
The Dragon Factory
Native Tongue
What are three things you wish you hadn’t done in your writing career?
Connecting with a certain person who is the source of constant travail
Trying to do everything myself (covers, editing, marketing, et al)
Waiting so long to start
What do you do to break a case of writer’s block?
I rarely suffer from it, when I do I start something else
Which book do you wish that you’d written?
American Psycho
Do you have any guilty pleasure reads, and if so, what are they?
Porn journalism.
What is the first book you remember reading?
The volume of a children’s encyclopedia on dinosaurs
Have you had any negative fan experiences, such as cyber stalking or the like?
Not from fans, just with another author/editor.
What’s your stance on reviews of your work? Do you ignore them, read every one, obsess over them?
Appreciate them regardless of stance.
About allegory and symbolism—do you often intentionally insert these things into your stories? Have you ever looked back on one after you’re finished and realized you put in some of these without consciously realizing it?
Not deliberately, and no, I don’t intentionally look for this kind of stuff.
How do you handle rejection from magazines and publishers? Do you have any particularly funny or unprofessional rejections to share?
Shrug, say a quick thanks, and move on. When something's rejected it just means that there’s another place for it.
What is the most disturbing movie(s) you’ve ever seen, and why?
Full Metal Jacket—total dehumanization of the soldiers and what happens to the protagonist at the end.
Do you usually do a lot of research before you start a project?
Depends, I’ve done a lot of research in my time as an academic, so I draw upon that. I look up stuff as needed otherwise.
Most of my research wis watching movies in the genre I’ve chosen, or reading within that genre.
What are your feelings about your earliest stories? Do you feel they still hold up, or are you a bit embarrassed by them?
They’re a starting point, I hope I’ve built on how I started.
What pieces of advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Grow a hide—people gonna hate and be critical, listen to the useful stuff, tune out the rest
Make writing a non-negotiable part of your everyday life. Don’t let shti get in the way of doing it.
Don’t be afraid to try new things
Listen to your characters; voice is important.
Just do it!
What’s your writing history? Did you start as an adolescent, or was it later? And then how long did it take before you starting submitting your work?
I’ve written on and off since I could push a pen on paper. I got to be pretty good at writing academic essays, and that’s how I spent most of my life prior to a few years ago making writing part of my life. I got the chance to teach a horror writing class for non-majors and that was the start. I did the projects for the class alongside the students. Self published a collection of micro fictions, and then got my first unpaid fiction publication from that class. My first paid publication introduced a serial character, and my first novel published by a press was that character’s origin story.
The movement into fiction from scholarship was abrupt, but it is how I’m going to spend my retirement.
Are there any topics that you refuse to write about, because you think they’re in bad taste, or are too extreme? Explain
I try not to kill animals “on screen” and I won’t include graphic child exploitation. Children do die, but not in the way that adults do. I’m pretty cool with writing extreme horror, so I have few to no boundaries.
What’s your post-writing process? Do you edit extensively? Do you use beta readers or writing groups?
Spell and grammar check, post submission edits with line editing as needed. I also edit as I go.
How much of your work is based on your personal experiences, such as work, relationships, and so on?
Not much, I have set works on college campuses so a lot of that is informed by places I’ve worked or attended. I do keep an ear to the ground for news of the weird emanating from colleges and universities, and I’ve personally lived and experienced a lot of weirdness in my forty some years of teaching. Characters may be composites of people I’ve known or heard about. Situations may be similar, but not exactly so.
Do you have any writing rituals, such as doing it at a regular time every day, or writing in public places, or while listening to music?
I pretty much write after dinner, but am trying to do it earlier in the morning before doing other stuff. I don’t have rituals per se other than eating some kind of snack that’s bad for me while I write. I’m really partial to large size Smarties at the moment.
What famous books and movies do you think are underrated, and why?
Original Godzilla in Japanese; it’s a textbook on allegory
The Fog—an excellent take on The Crazies
The Crazies (original)—unsettling because it’s something that could happen
The Children of Ravensback—cries for a quality remake, also chilling because of the basis in reality
What famous books and movies do you think are overrated, and why?
Everything by Stephen King after The Stand—too ponderous and self absorbed
The Walking Dead series—too many spin offs and overstayed the welcome
You’ve been a writer, editor, and publisher. Which of these is your favorite? And has serving as the latter two changed you as a writer?
Actually, I’ve only been a writer, so I can’t talk about the other two. But watching others put collections together is super fascinating and instructive.
As an editor/publisher, what’s the most unprofessional and/or crazy experience you’ve had with a writer, or submitter?
I’ll flip this and speak to an unpleasant experience with an editor who engaged in a destructive back and forth with the head of a press I was attached to. I was put in a position to have to choose sides and ended up having four items being put in limbo as a result of the press collapsing. I cut off contact with the troublesome editor, who then had the sack to contact me through an intermediary in an effort to mend fences and get me to contribute to another one of his projects.
Otherwise, things have been positive.
I'd like to thank Rocky for stopping by, and letting us know a bit about him. Be sure to check out his books. And obviously, don't forget about "Scream and Cream," available now on Amazon, in both ebook and paperback.
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