Darren Speegle is part of a new generation of writers bringing mystery and beauty back to horror. His short stories are hungrily devoured by many. One of his stories is featured in Bare Bone #6. He also has two short story collections available, A Dirge for the Temporal and Gothic WIne.

TDP: How did you first become attracted to writing? How has it impacted your life?

DS: As a kid I was mesmerized by the writing of such authors as Poe, Tolkien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexander Dumas, CS Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle -- anything with an element of fantasy or adventure to it. As far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to write. My first story was a three-page western, no doubt inspired by the Louis L’Amour books I used to devour as well. It was later that I began to appreciate certain styles. Clive Barker, with his wonderful imagery, stands out as one of my main influences in steering me toward darker fiction.

As to how writing’s impacted my life…it has given me added purpose, a sense of fulfilling a calling. Many writers will tell you about being driven, about the passion. All that is certainly true. When a story takes off without your permission, you know there are muses. Writing to a writer is not only an artistic outlet, it is a cleansing of the soul. It’s about constantly learning more about yourself, coming to terms with your world. It’s about peace.

TDP: Elements of several genres are blended seamlessly into much of your work. Is there any particular style/subject you prefer? Is genre even a consideration when you sit down to write?

DS: Good question. Genre, to be quite honest, is only a consideration when it comes to a paycheck. If it needs to be horror for a particular anthology, then it's horror. It's only a tag after all. In my mind nothing I write is horror. I have rarely, if ever, set out with fear or scaring the reader in mind. If I have any intent when I write what might be called horror, it is to disturb. Probably because that's what I like in a piece of fiction. If tags must be applied, horror is too limiting. I would consider myself a fantasy writer, as I think of it as the umbrella under which the other related genres fall. But no, in general genre is not a consideration.

TDP: Your characters are often displaced, either in an unfamiliar land or on the run. Is this a metaphor for having one’s security stripped away, or is it more about a transformative journey?

DS: Both, I'd say, though leaning toward the former. I often place characters in circumstances that change their perspective, warp their view of the world, and that in itself is a transformation. The discovery that reality is subjective, relative, a matter of perception drives many of my stories. As does the being cast out in limbo, finding yourself without the ability to control your fate. I find this kind of loneliness and isolation to be a terribly disturbing prospect, but a very real, inevitable human truth.

TDP: Primal urges play a significant role in your stories. Is there something inherently dangerous about pulling off our masks and operating outside “the norm”?

DS: Given that society and civilization are not just external, but in our genes, absolutely.

TDP: “Extreme horror” has been quite popular recently, yet your own work tends to go against this trend by allowing an element of mystery remain. While your stories are by no means prudish, you manage to skip the gratuitous details and allow your characters room to breath. Is this attributable to an outside influence, or are you making a statement?

DS: It's a cliche, but my feeling is that what is not said is far more effective than what is said. Neat, cut and dry stories are not my thing. Life is not neat, nor is it cut and dry.

I can think of no outside influence unless it's life itself. And I am definitely making no statement. I do, however, feel more comfortable splashing the page with questions than with blood. To me the questions, in a way, are the blood.

TDP: What do you have in development, and where can readers find your work?

DS: In addition to a couple short story commitments, I am working on a novelette titled The Sire of Relequien and an untitled novel, both of which are set in the world of my short story, Last Days of Solitude, which appears as an original in my short story collection A Dirge for the Temporal from Raw Dog Screaming Press.

This month I've tales appearing in Fortean Bureau, Underworlds II, and Bare Bone #6. In the coming months my work will be published in The Third Alternative, Crimewave, Flesh & Blood, and Brutarian.

Read Speegle's story The House of Monks.