Bring on the Monsters

My writing is a mixture of the nearly subtle, and the not at all subtle. At least I think so.

I’ve approached subtlety in my short stories, and my reading passions veer toward the more subtle end of the scale.

But when it comes to actually making money from my writing, the bucks come in fastest from the most unsubtle of my work. THE INVASION is not in the least bit subtle — an apocalyptic alien invasion thing with flesh-eating goop, plucky survivors and nasty, no redeeming qualities aliens. People over the last nine years have lapped it up in their tens of thousands. It’s much the same with other of my more pulpy works, with thousands tuning in for THE VALLEY, ISLAND LIFE and THE HOLE, to name the most popular. And good old Derek Adams still sells regularly.

My recent CARNACKI and GHOST CLUB books, while getting critical praise and good reviews, do sell, but only in the hundreds compared to the thousands of the pulpier books.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the last 26 years trying to turn away towards the more subtle, in the hope of making an impression among the weird fiction group, as that’s my own reading passion. But now, the Sigils and Totems stuff, (i.e. the more subtle of my recent work) has fallen off the radar completely, and meanwhile the S-Squad series creature features are taking off, and proving to me, all over again, that the direct, no-nonsense, big beasties and big bangs stuff is what my core readership is after.

So I’m going to chase them for a wee while.

Subtlety be damned.

Bring on the monsters.