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We put out an open call for interviews on The BLOGshit's Twitter (it's still open in fact.) The legendary Scottish author, John McNee, was the first to take up the call. John McNee first came on our radar when we became aquainted with Rooster Republic Press. John has appeared in several of their Tall Tales With Short Cocks volumes. He also has a full length book published through Rooster Republic, which is cited as one of the publishers personal favorites, GRUNGE PUNK.
We've also found that in addition to the odd style John McNee uses in GRUNGE PUNK, he also loves to write some splattery horror fare. And his horror stories are no joke. His short stories have appeared along side of the likes of Wrath James White, Shawn McKenzie, Brian Lumley and Joe Lansdale just to name a few.
So lets jump into the mind of a man who writes from all the way across the pond, in the wilds of Scotland. When you're done with this entertaining interview, be sure to check out his links and pick up some of this prolific authors work!
The Blogshit: Welcome John McNee to Books, Beer and Blogshit. Can you give us a feel for what sort of genre your writing fits into?
John McNee: Mostly I write horror. A lot of my stories end up filed under 'extreme horror' (just because there's a little blood) but then there are the Grudgehaven stories which are a little more difficult to pigeon-hole. They were printed under a bizarro label and marketed as bizarro, but I've had too many people tell me it's not bizarro to continue claiming them as such. It's noir and horror and steampunk and dieselpunk and fantasy and sci-fi and new weird, but it's not bizarro (which apparently has all these traits and defining characteristics I didn't know about). I've just about come to terms with that now. For a little while I thought I was a bizarro author, but it turns out I'm just a 'grudgepunk' author. But one of the reasons I settled on that title is because the stories don't really sit comfortably in any one genre, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
The Blogshit: Your book, GRUDGE PUNK, has been published by our friends at Rooster Republic Press. We've noticed however that the majority of your published work is short stories published through various anthologies. Do you prefer the short story format over longer form work?
John McNee: I prefer whichever works best for the story concerned. I believe the vast majority of stories can be told in 5,000 words or less. I also believe a writer hones their craft by writing in short form. Too many authors, I think, leap straight into novels and damage their own stories by trying to stretch them to fill 300 pages. Particularly in horror, where brevity is especially effective, and bizarro, which can quickly wear out its welcome in 10 pages never mind a hundred, the best way to tell your story is as briefly as possible. There are stories that are too big to be told in 5,000, 10,000 or even 50,000 words, but I think they're the exception and an author shouldn't try to push it.
The Blogshit: You've managed to get into quite a roster of anthologies. The likes of Wrath James White, Shane McKenzie, Joe McKinney and Brian Lumley just to name a few, have shared the pages with you. How have you managed to work with some big names in writing?
John McNee: 90 per cent chance, 10 per cent design. I was very lucky in that the first story I ever had printed (not the first I submitted, by a long shot, but the first accepted) was for 'Ruthless', edited by Shane McKenzie, right before he started becoming “the next big thing”. I try to work with the same editors and publishers as much as possible, so when he put out a call for his next anthology, 'A Hacked-up Holiday Massacre', I submitted again, got accepted and – because he'd been making connections all over the place – got to see my name in the TOC with Joe Lansdale, Nate Southard, Bentley Little, etc. So I was able to ride on his coattails just a little before he gave up editing to focus on his own writing, but it's been a similar situation with Blood Bound Books, who I've got a good track record with. When I first submitted (to 'D.O.A.') they were just starting out, but they've grown to attract much bigger names. And because I keep submitting to them – and they've been nice enough to invite me to submit for things like 'Blood Rites' - I've been able to capitalise a little on their success. So it is luck, but I think there's also a lesson in all that about loyalty, or at least the importance of trying to foster good professional relationships with publishers.
We put out an open call for interviews on The BLOGshit's Twitter (it's still open in fact.) The legendary Scottish author, John McNee, was the first to take up the call. John McNee first came on our radar when we became aquainted with Rooster Republic Press. John has appeared in several of their Tall Tales With Short Cocks volumes. He also has a full length book published through Rooster Republic, which is cited as one of the publishers personal favorites, GRUNGE PUNK.
We've also found that in addition to the odd style John McNee uses in GRUNGE PUNK, he also loves to write some splattery horror fare. And his horror stories are no joke. His short stories have appeared along side of the likes of Wrath James White, Shawn McKenzie, Brian Lumley and Joe Lansdale just to name a few.
So lets jump into the mind of a man who writes from all the way across the pond, in the wilds of Scotland. When you're done with this entertaining interview, be sure to check out his links and pick up some of this prolific authors work!
The Blogshit: Welcome John McNee to Books, Beer and Blogshit. Can you give us a feel for what sort of genre your writing fits into?
John McNee: Mostly I write horror. A lot of my stories end up filed under 'extreme horror' (just because there's a little blood) but then there are the Grudgehaven stories which are a little more difficult to pigeon-hole. They were printed under a bizarro label and marketed as bizarro, but I've had too many people tell me it's not bizarro to continue claiming them as such. It's noir and horror and steampunk and dieselpunk and fantasy and sci-fi and new weird, but it's not bizarro (which apparently has all these traits and defining characteristics I didn't know about). I've just about come to terms with that now. For a little while I thought I was a bizarro author, but it turns out I'm just a 'grudgepunk' author. But one of the reasons I settled on that title is because the stories don't really sit comfortably in any one genre, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
The Blogshit: Your book, GRUDGE PUNK, has been published by our friends at Rooster Republic Press. We've noticed however that the majority of your published work is short stories published through various anthologies. Do you prefer the short story format over longer form work?
John McNee: I prefer whichever works best for the story concerned. I believe the vast majority of stories can be told in 5,000 words or less. I also believe a writer hones their craft by writing in short form. Too many authors, I think, leap straight into novels and damage their own stories by trying to stretch them to fill 300 pages. Particularly in horror, where brevity is especially effective, and bizarro, which can quickly wear out its welcome in 10 pages never mind a hundred, the best way to tell your story is as briefly as possible. There are stories that are too big to be told in 5,000, 10,000 or even 50,000 words, but I think they're the exception and an author shouldn't try to push it.
The Blogshit: You've managed to get into quite a roster of anthologies. The likes of Wrath James White, Shane McKenzie, Joe McKinney and Brian Lumley just to name a few, have shared the pages with you. How have you managed to work with some big names in writing?
John McNee: 90 per cent chance, 10 per cent design. I was very lucky in that the first story I ever had printed (not the first I submitted, by a long shot, but the first accepted) was for 'Ruthless', edited by Shane McKenzie, right before he started becoming “the next big thing”. I try to work with the same editors and publishers as much as possible, so when he put out a call for his next anthology, 'A Hacked-up Holiday Massacre', I submitted again, got accepted and – because he'd been making connections all over the place – got to see my name in the TOC with Joe Lansdale, Nate Southard, Bentley Little, etc. So I was able to ride on his coattails just a little before he gave up editing to focus on his own writing, but it's been a similar situation with Blood Bound Books, who I've got a good track record with. When I first submitted (to 'D.O.A.') they were just starting out, but they've grown to attract much bigger names. And because I keep submitting to them – and they've been nice enough to invite me to submit for things like 'Blood Rites' - I've been able to capitalise a little on their success. So it is luck, but I think there's also a lesson in all that about loyalty, or at least the importance of trying to foster good professional relationships with publishers.
The Blogshit: You're from Scotland. How are we Americans supposed to understand anything you write?
John McNee: If I'm even halfway good at my job, you shouldn't even be able to tell. I'm not Irvine Welsh. I don't have much of a Scottish 'voice' in my writing. And I try to make it as accessible as possible. I use correct punctuation and quotation marks and all that, I don't try to break the rules of sentence structure. I even format everything I write into the US spelling BEFORE I send it to a publisher (another top tip). 'Grudge Punk' is heavily stylised in the vein of 40's American Noir anyway, which is a kind of language I'm very familiar with, so I don't think it's an issue. Going forward, I would like to write a few more horror stories set in Scotland or featuring Scottish characters, because I realise it's a region that doesn't get much of a look-in in the genre and I could be cornering that market. But the Scottish accent is a very, VERY difficult one to put on the page, so it could be a struggle.
John McNee: In terms of the work itself, for the most part, it's fine. Everything's done over email and Paypal these days anyway, and publishers are used to getting submissions from all over the world. But I don't get to meet anyone face-to-face. I don't get to mingle with other writers (except Chris Kelso) or pitch projects to publishers over cocktails or drunkenly hit on cosplayers from behind the Rooster Republic stall at Texas Frightmare. So that sucks. And promotion is difficult, because there's no real opportunity to do readings or signings. The only tool I have is the internet, and while I recognise it's a fantastic tool, I still haven't quite figured out how to get the most out of it.
The Blogshit: What country/region do you find most of your reader base is coming from?
John McNee: It seems to be pretty limited to America, which I'm certainly not going to complain about. I love America. I would like to have a few more readers in Scotland, but we always seem to be a few years behind the curve over here. Most readers are still very suspicious of anything that isn't mainstream publishing. Small press or self-published gets written off as vanity press and what little underground there is is so far underground that even I can't find it, so connecting with an audience here is very difficult. Maybe when I remake myself as a SCOTTISH writer, writing SCOTTISH books about SCOTTISH people for SCOTTISH readers, a few libraries will finally agree to put me on their shelves (in the 'Scottish Authors' section), but it's a bit of a gamble.
The Blogshit: Are you currently working on anything longer form or will you be sticking to short stories for the future?
John McNee: I have written a horror novel and signed a contract on that, but I don't know yet when it'll be released. Right now I'm working on a sequel to 'Grudge Punk' which will take the form of a full-blown novel. It feels quite epic in scope, but I don't particularly like long books, so I'm constantly self-editing, trying to cut out all the extraneous crap like character development and descriptive prose (no-one cares about that, do they?) and stream-line it as far as possible, so it'll be a lean, lithe epic. I don't know what's coming up after that. I have a few other ideas for novellas/novels, but I would like to return to short stories for a while.
The Blogshit: What sort of shaving razor do you prefer to use?
John McNee: Excellent question. I hate shaving and try to do it as infrequently as possible, but when I do, I prefer a straight razor. I've tried a lot of fancy modern razors over the years and found them all very disappointing. There's a reason the straight razor endures – it's high risk, high reward. You will get the best, closest shave you can possibly get in your own home. But if you cut yourself, you really cut yourself.
John McNee: If I'm even halfway good at my job, you shouldn't even be able to tell. I'm not Irvine Welsh. I don't have much of a Scottish 'voice' in my writing. And I try to make it as accessible as possible. I use correct punctuation and quotation marks and all that, I don't try to break the rules of sentence structure. I even format everything I write into the US spelling BEFORE I send it to a publisher (another top tip). 'Grudge Punk' is heavily stylised in the vein of 40's American Noir anyway, which is a kind of language I'm very familiar with, so I don't think it's an issue. Going forward, I would like to write a few more horror stories set in Scotland or featuring Scottish characters, because I realise it's a region that doesn't get much of a look-in in the genre and I could be cornering that market. But the Scottish accent is a very, VERY difficult one to put on the page, so it could be a struggle.
The Blogshit: Is it tough to play in American publishing markets from all the way across the pond?
John McNee: In terms of the work itself, for the most part, it's fine. Everything's done over email and Paypal these days anyway, and publishers are used to getting submissions from all over the world. But I don't get to meet anyone face-to-face. I don't get to mingle with other writers (except Chris Kelso) or pitch projects to publishers over cocktails or drunkenly hit on cosplayers from behind the Rooster Republic stall at Texas Frightmare. So that sucks. And promotion is difficult, because there's no real opportunity to do readings or signings. The only tool I have is the internet, and while I recognise it's a fantastic tool, I still haven't quite figured out how to get the most out of it.
The Blogshit: What country/region do you find most of your reader base is coming from?
John McNee: It seems to be pretty limited to America, which I'm certainly not going to complain about. I love America. I would like to have a few more readers in Scotland, but we always seem to be a few years behind the curve over here. Most readers are still very suspicious of anything that isn't mainstream publishing. Small press or self-published gets written off as vanity press and what little underground there is is so far underground that even I can't find it, so connecting with an audience here is very difficult. Maybe when I remake myself as a SCOTTISH writer, writing SCOTTISH books about SCOTTISH people for SCOTTISH readers, a few libraries will finally agree to put me on their shelves (in the 'Scottish Authors' section), but it's a bit of a gamble.
The Blogshit: Are you currently working on anything longer form or will you be sticking to short stories for the future?
John McNee: I have written a horror novel and signed a contract on that, but I don't know yet when it'll be released. Right now I'm working on a sequel to 'Grudge Punk' which will take the form of a full-blown novel. It feels quite epic in scope, but I don't particularly like long books, so I'm constantly self-editing, trying to cut out all the extraneous crap like character development and descriptive prose (no-one cares about that, do they?) and stream-line it as far as possible, so it'll be a lean, lithe epic. I don't know what's coming up after that. I have a few other ideas for novellas/novels, but I would like to return to short stories for a while.
The Blogshit: What sort of shaving razor do you prefer to use?
John McNee: Excellent question. I hate shaving and try to do it as infrequently as possible, but when I do, I prefer a straight razor. I've tried a lot of fancy modern razors over the years and found them all very disappointing. There's a reason the straight razor endures – it's high risk, high reward. You will get the best, closest shave you can possibly get in your own home. But if you cut yourself, you really cut yourself.
The Blogshit: If we were to produce "The John McNee" sandwich in a sandwich shop, what would we have to put on it?
John McNee: I've asked myself this question many, many times. I take sandwich art very seriously and have even run Facebook masterclasses on the correct preparation of specialist sandwiches such as the 'Christmas Leftover' sandwich and 'Shooter' sandwich, so I believe I know a thing or two. And if I wanted to I could probably run off a list of fancy ingredients to try and make “The John McNee” sound refined and sophisticated, or pack it with local Scottish produce to reflect my heritage, but would I actually eat either of those sandwiches? Probably not. So I would humbly submit, for a sandwich that best represents me, a sandwich that I invented at 2am using what little I had in the fridge – peanut-butter, layered turkey, salt and vinegar crisps (potato chips) and processed cheese on lightly toasted white bread. Like my writing, it might sound a little off-putting, a little unrefined, and it fuses various elements that shouldn't work... but it does work. And, like me, it's much more agreeable after a few drinks.
The Blogshit: Can you understand what those guys from The Proclaimers are saying?
John McNee: Of course. Can't everyone?
John McNee on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/John-McNee/e/B007X6RJY4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1394587301&sr=8-1
John McNee on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4150063.John_McNee
John McNee: I've asked myself this question many, many times. I take sandwich art very seriously and have even run Facebook masterclasses on the correct preparation of specialist sandwiches such as the 'Christmas Leftover' sandwich and 'Shooter' sandwich, so I believe I know a thing or two. And if I wanted to I could probably run off a list of fancy ingredients to try and make “The John McNee” sound refined and sophisticated, or pack it with local Scottish produce to reflect my heritage, but would I actually eat either of those sandwiches? Probably not. So I would humbly submit, for a sandwich that best represents me, a sandwich that I invented at 2am using what little I had in the fridge – peanut-butter, layered turkey, salt and vinegar crisps (potato chips) and processed cheese on lightly toasted white bread. Like my writing, it might sound a little off-putting, a little unrefined, and it fuses various elements that shouldn't work... but it does work. And, like me, it's much more agreeable after a few drinks.
The Blogshit: Can you understand what those guys from The Proclaimers are saying?
John McNee: Of course. Can't everyone?
There he is constant blog readers, Mr. John McNee! Do yourselves a favor and pick up something from this guy and check it out. There is a ton of short story work out there you can get and never go wrong with the names Mr. McNee rolls with. Also check the end of this blog for a reading from Grunge Punk with John McNee, it's like testing the book out for FREE!
John McNee on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4150063.John_McNee
A Reading From Grunge Punk
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