Horror & Love Entwine In RABID HEART: An Interview With Author JEREMY WAGNER
Michael Pementel
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How far would you go for love? Horror author Jeremy Wagner answers that in his new book, Rabid Heart (Riverdale Avenue Books). After the Necro-Rabies virus breaks out, turning most of the world into zombies, Rhonda Driscoll discovers her once thought dead fiancé is actually alive (or more accurately, one of the living dead). Rabid Heart follows Rhonda as she takes off with her lover, fearing her military father will kill him; on their road trip to start a new life, Rhonda will come face to face with thrills, romance, and terror.
Some of you may already know Wagner as the lyricist/guitarist of Chicago death metal act Broken Hope; beyond his music, however, Wagner has an impressive writing career. His Best-Selling novel, The Armageddon Chord, earned a Hiram Award, a first-round ballot Stoker Award nomination, and has received critical acclaim from a number of publications. Wagner also has an impressive resume of published short stories across many anthologies.
His passion for writing and horror all began at a young age. “It all started when I was like five years old,” Wagner says. “I began by writing adaptations of monster/dinosaur and horror movies I saw on TV and writing my own creepy stories. My love for horror began at that age—kindergarten. I loved Halloween and all that creepiness that the holiday celebrated. From there it all evolved into horror movies, horror magazines, horror comics, and horror books. My mom has always been a big reader, and she always read dark fiction [such as] mystery and horror novels; so I grew up with those books around, and I began reading at an adult level in grade school. When Stephen King and Peter Straub appeared in the ‘70s, I devoured them. All of these things made me a ‘horror fan-kid’—I am still that kid!”
Like many writers, Wagner’s work with Rabid Heart came as a surprise; what was meant to be a short story eventually grew into something more. As he continued to write, the creative cogs in his mind began moving, further developing the story and shaping his post-apocalyptic zombie road trip. “Several years back I was offered to sell a zombie romance story to St. Martin’s Press for an anthology called, ‘Hungry For Your Love.’ Rabid Heart started there… but it wouldn’t stop. IT WAS TURNING INTO A NOVEL!”
He continues, “Before I knew it, I had written 30,000 words and had to stop because my story for the anthology had to be no more than 5K words or something. So, I stopped in my tracks, and I wrote a completely different story for the anthology titled, ‘Romance Ain’t Dead.’ After that, my other novel, The Armageddon Chord, was sold to another publisher and I got busy promoting that and then started ANOTHER new novel. A year after [The Armageddon Chord] dropped, I returned to focus on Rabid Heart, finished the first draft and then reworked it numerous times until I was happy with it. I was lured back to finish this novel because I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I like it a lot. It got under my skin in a way that Cormac McCarthy’s The Road got under my skin. My stories aren’t happy with happy endings, and that’s how I like my fiction. And that’s why I was so into Rabid Heart—it’s a legit and deep story full of darkness and the hope of getting through that darkness.”
Over the past few years horror has begun to take on more spotlight in mainstream attention; in particular, the zombie genre saw a massive boom. From The Walking Dead to Zombieland and a hundred and one other stories about the living dead, everyone was feeling the zombie fever. As someone who loves zombie stories, Wagner states, “Zombies have always been more horrifying than anything in cinema for me. [George A. Romero] had it down man. The Walking Dead has it down.”
Wagner also recognizes that there are a lot of these kinds of stories, and in that acknowledgment, he has set out to portray a different spin with Rabid Heart. “I’m such a huge fan of zombie films and apocalyptic films/concepts. I’m quite aware that the zombie genre is saturated with zombie movies, zombie books, zombie comics, zombie toys, and more. Being original is paramount for me. To that end, I feel Rabid Heart stands apart because it’s a bit DEEPER of a story than most. That’s not a diss on anyone else; it’s just that on TV and whatnot, zombie stories happen fast, with injections of horror and action that gloss over the meat of the story. I wanted to tell the story of Rhonda Driscoll in reality—the reality of pure terror and PTSD one would suffer in this fucked up, apocalyptic scenario. Not to mention how one would deal with a loved one who became infected and homicidal.”
“With that, I liken the setting of Rabid Heart to something akin to Day of the Dead meets 28 Days Later meets The Road. Pure horror on [the] one hand, survival in a bleak and lethal world on the other hand—with a protagonist desperately clinging to [an] element of LOVE. [It’s a] ‘love’ which really is already lost in one respect, but, it gives her purpose to live. Know what I mean? I don’t write romance novels, but I am a romantic and wove that into this tale of terror and world brought to its knees by the Necro-Rabies virus; I also tried to make the ‘virus’ that sets off the pandemic to be based in reality as much as possible. I referenced Richard Preston’s, ‘The Hot Zone,’ for much of that.”
Between being in a band and writing, one might assume Wagner is a pretty busy guy. But regarding his workload, he’s determined to focus on his passions. He shares, “I’ve always been able to balance music and writing. The writing of books, editing, revising, blasting out short-fiction all usually takes place every morning, while the music and band stuff all takes place at night. Right now I’m in a great place as I’m focused and devoted to only writing new books and getting other new books ready to publish next year. As far as Broken Hope, I’m taking a break for a bit from that. I’ll do [Broken Hope] stuff when the time is right. No matter what, writing books and music are my two main passions in this life, and I make it all work.”
Photo Credit: Stephanie Cabral
When it comes to effective horror writing, Wagner believes in tapping into emotion. While Rabid Heart contains plenty of gruesome and intense moments, at the core of the story is fear and love; two feelings that are prominent in everyone’s lives, pushed to unthinkable extremes in Wagner’s novel. Through Rhonda, he presents a character with real drive and purpose, hoping to protect all she has left in a world gone to hell.
Speaking to writing horror, he says, “Someone said prostitution is the oldest profession and I say that HORROR is the oldest story. Whether it’s a cave painting, early people telling stories around a campfire, the Bible, [or] Charles Dickens, horror is at the heart of the great tales. Effective horror starts with characters that readers care about; readers want the best for the character—I put mine through hell, and therein is another component to effective horror. Using gore, horror, and terror as [proper] ‘tools’, along with tension and suspense and fear, makes for effective horror. Tell a human story and mess it up. A real protagonist like Rhonda Driscoll in Rabid Heart really fucks up and makes mistakes. That’s sobering. Tragedy. Write about things that terrify you. And remember, the more we know in a horror story, the less frightening it becomes.”
In a world full of zombie stories, Rabid Heart provides a unique spin on the genre. Romance is a fascinating element to find within horror, and Wagner does an excellent job balancing emotion with action. Through the book’s protagonist, we witness someone go through numerous dangers, all for the sake of trying to find hope. For those looking for a different kind of zombie story that offers something a little more than what we’re used to, you can’t go wrong with Rabid Heart.
It brings Wagner a great amount of joy to see the praise for Rabid Heart (especially since some of that praise comes from some folks he looks up to). “First off,” Wagner says when discussing the rewards of writing the book, “actually finishing the book and getting it published with my new publisher was immensely rewarding. Then there [are] the blurbs for Rabid Heart and [about] me by some of my favorite writers like Peter Blauner, Alma Katsu, Peter Straub, etc.That’s fucking huge for me. I don’t take that lightly! And when it comes to the overall writing process, let me tell you, I LOVE IT! I absolutely love the craft of writing; I love the editing, the revising, making the story even better, the research, watching a new tale take on a life of its own. This is why I do what I do; I love [writing] to death and with great passion. Everyone should find that in life.”
You can purchase a copy of Rabid Heart via the Riverdale Avenue Books website or Amazon.
Categorized:Editorials
