In my early stories, I would try to shock my readers with ghosts and a lot of blood. Now I know that sometimes less means more. We have movies like the Saw series, and games like DEAD SPACE, and they will be more effective, much scarier in a traditional way, than books can be. So, I’m looking for something different.

Q: You’ve written about viruses, parasites, and fungi—what is it about these pathogens that fascinates you? A:
Everything! I figure I have two choices, with as much as I know: I can either be extremely fascinated and excited and enthralled, or I can be terrified and never leave my home again.

“I Make People Do Bad Things” is a historical story set in the late 1920s, early 30s. It’s based on the real historical figures of Madam Stephanie St. Clair and Bumpy Johnson. I enjoy blending genres, especially in historical or alternate history pieces, because it allows for re-imagining these eras through limitless realms.

For years, I had been toying with the idea of a science fictional brothel that afforded human beings the opportunity to virtually experience the sex acts of creatures from other worlds. It didn’t work as space-faring science fiction, especially when my first few attempts centered on multiple dalliances culminating in total, irreversible surfeit … I then had the epiphany: what if there was only one transcendent experience, and anybody who sought it had to sacrifice everything, including his future?

The first image that came to me when putting this story together was the lipstick scene, and the idea of make-up as body modification or even physical abuse. There seemed to be a natural extension from this to the idea of stage make-up, so housing the imagery of the story in the setting of a theatre helped support that process. Theatre is an art form that recreates physical reality in a way that is tangible and living but still never quite real.