Welcome to my new quarterly feature ‘Introducing to you…’ where I’ll be speaking to authors and highlighting their new and/or old, deliciously dark reads that you can add to your bookshelf, e-reading device, coffee table, bedside cabinet or wherever else you might keep your books, and obsess over.
Kicking things off in this first edition, author John Watson tells us about his novella Curse of the Bean House (as well as some of his other offerings).
So, sit back, get comfy and read on.
RHD: Hey John, first thing’s first, before we start talking shop, tell us a little bit about yourself.
JW: I was born and raised in a small town in Scotland called Linwood. My parents and I immigrated to Canada when I was 19, and I later moved to the Atlanta area, where I now live with my wife, Penny, who is a chef. Between us, we have 4 kids, all of whom are adult aged.
RHD: Sounds like quite an adventure. So, how long have you been writing and is it something you always aspired to do?
JW: When I was a kid, I was horribly shy and would hide away in the local library in my town. I read a lot and would start to think about what happened to characters beyond the end of my favourite books. I started writing little stories about that before moving on to my own ideas, most of which were about monsters and such. I think I was about 13 when my sister found some of my stories and went out and bought me an old, used typewriter. I wore that thing out.
RHD: Monsters and typewriters – sounds like a pretty cool combination to me. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your book Curse of the Bean House?
JW: I’ve been interested in the legend of Sawney Bean, a Scottish man who lived in a cave with his family and cannibalized the locals. I never really had an idea for a story until I saw an article about an old mansion for sale in Scotland for one pound. Both things just kinda merged in my head to create the story.
RHD: An old mansion in Scotland for a quid? Wow. As a fellow horror writer, I can imagine the influx of ideas and possibilities that article must have brought with it! As for the Bean House in your story, is it based on an actual place – the Scottish mansion, perhaps? And if we wanted to, could we visit it?
JW: The Bean House is not real, but you can visit the cave where the Bean family lived. It’s called Bennane Cave and is on the Ayrshire coast in Scotland.
RHD: Interesting. I tend to go to the west coast of Scotland at least once a year – it’s one of my most favourite places – so I’ll add Bennane Cave to my list of places to visit if I find myself on the Ayrshire coast. And I’ll be sure to report back on any such field trip. Anyway, back to writing – what comes first for you, the plot or the characters?
JW: I have a rather weird method. It all begins with the little glimmer of an idea, oftentimes from dreams or from something I overhear in conversation. Once I get that little nugget of an idea, I try to formulate a very basic beginning, middle, and end. It’s at that point that I start to have conversations in my head that might be part of the story, which is where the characters are born. Sometimes, though, they come to me while I write. I wrote a non-horror story called “Be Kind, Rewind” that was initially going to be a whole lot darker. When I wrote the first line from the elder female character, I heard her speak in my mum’s voice. That changed the entire direction of the story.
RHD: Without spoilers, what was the hardest scene to write in Curse of the Bean House and why?
JW: I don’t really remember any scene in that book that was particularly tough to write. For the most part, once I have a fully formed idea, the words tend to flow quite easily. The only book I remember having difficulty with was “Swimming Upstream.” The idea for that one came via a dream where my son kept telling me that he was dying. It stuck with me, so I decided to write it out of my head and ended up doing a story that was very personal and autobiographical at times. I had several major crying moments during the writing of that one.
RHD: I totally get this. Often my dreams inspire my writing projects and can sometimes feel so personal, the writing project ends up being quite cathartic in a sense. There’s a lady in black who appears whenever I have night terrors, but I’ve never written about her yet. I think maybe I should. But I digress, she’s for another time! My favourite trope within the horror genre is the good old haunted house. How about you, what’s your favourite trope?
JW: The final girl. One thing I always try to do in my books is to have strong female characters. I don’t care for the damsel in distress, perhaps because all the important women in my life and strong. Why should female characters wait for a man to save them when they are perfectly capable of saving themselves?
RHD: Great answer! Which leads nicely onto the next question: How many novels, novellas and short stories do you have and do these cover a range of different tropes?
JW: I should probably go and count, but I believe that I have 16 at this point, as well as some stories in anthologies. I like to cover all the horror bases, but it’s creature feature type tales that are my favourite.
RHD: Can you tell us what you’re currently working on?
JW: I have a few things on the go. I’m currently dusting off some old short stories that I’m selling individually on a new online store I set up. I have an alien cult novella called “A Taste of Jasmine” in the works. Once that is done, I am going to start on a series, which will all be able to be read as standalones, called “The Matt Collins Chronicles.” These will be about a man living the van life who stumbles upon all manner of supernatural situations.
RHD: Sounds intriguing and fun, maybe you could come back and speak to us about these projects once they’re completed? Now, just for fun, here’s one last question before we wrap up. Tell us something completely random about yourself – the sillier the better. For instance, in certain parts of Texas, I may or may not be known as Right-Eye Rach and can split a bullet on an axe head, no problem. I’d be good to have around in a zombie apocalypse – so long as I have plenty of ammunition and a large Elastoplast to cover my left eye.
JW: I may have just realised that I am the least interesting man in the world. Not really silly, but I have a head full of random trivia, particularly when it comes to movies and music. My wife and my sisters frequently call me when they can’t remember a particular song or movie title. They’ll give me the vaguest description ever and I can usually get it. I am also on a bit of a weird hat collecting phase. I’m talking ball caps, which I usually pick up when visiting bars or breweries.
RHD: Thanks for your time today, John. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you.
Curse of the Bean House is a fun, page-turner of a read. It has ghosts and human monsters, is based in Scotland and costs less than a cup of coffee. What’s not to like?!
You can grab some of John’s other work here:
Watson’s House of Horrors
R. H. DIXON 