Matthew Vaughn is the author of The ADHD Vampire from Bizarro Pulp Press, Mother F’ucking Black Skull of Death from Morbidbooks and most recently Hellsworld Hotel through Red All Over Books, Matthew and his brother Edward Vaughn’s own press. He lives in Shelbyville, Kentucky and is the father of four little children, yet he and his wife are just big kids too. By day he maintains machines and robots, by night he is a writer of Bizarro and Horror fiction.
KR: Coffee?
KR: Could you tell me a little about yourself please?
I am a Horror and Bizarro writer from Kentucky. I’ve been writing for most of my life but didn’t start getting serious until about 2008. I started out like most getting some short stories published before finally landing my first novella, The ADHD Vampire, with Bizarro Pulp Press.
KR: What do you like to do when not writing?
Besides trying to spend as much time with my family as possible, if I’m not writing I’m reading. I’ve really gotten into audiobooks over the last couple of years. It’s common to see me with an ear bud in if I don’t have a book in my hand. Reading is pretty much the only hobby I have anymore, I have four young children that eat up most of my time so hobbies have all been forgotten these days.
KR: What is your favourite childhood book?
That’s a tough one. How far do we go back into childhood? As a wee little one my favorite book was probably There’s a Monster at the End of this Book. When I got into novels, I was probably eleven or twelve, I bought Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and read it numerous times.
KR: What is your favourite album, and does music play any role in your writing?
That is a tough question that I don’t know I can answer. I have so many favorite albums. Strapping Young Lad’s City, Faith No More King for a Day, and Bloodbath’s Nightmares Made Flesh are a couple off the top of my head.
I do like to listen to music when I write but its usually just for background noise. Most of the time it’s a mix of death metal, deathcore, and black metal.
KR: Do you have a favourite horror movie/director?
That’s as hard as picking a favorite album! I love horror movies, I can’t choose just one favorite. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of The Dead (OG and remake), and 28 Days Later are some favorites. It’s the same with directors. Wes Craven, George Romero, Lucio Fulci, and Kevin Tenney come to mind.
KR: What are you reading now?
I am currently reading If You Liked School You’ll Love Work by Irvine Welsh.
KR: Who were the authors that inspired you to write?
Early on I was inspired by Orson Scott Card, then as I got into horror Clive Barker became a big influence. When I decided to get serious about writing I became inspired by more transgressive authors like Irvine Welsh and Bret Easton Ellis.
KR: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
As a kid when I tried to write anything I would plot it all out and by the time I finished plotting it I was bored with the story. Eventually I gave up plotting and became a pantser. It works out so much better for me.
KR: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
A lot of what I write doesn’t require any research. If I don’t know something I’ll either do some quick google searches or just make it up.
KR: Describe your usual writing day?
I don’t have a usual writing day. I carry notebooks with me, and recently I’ve been typing on my phone, and whenever I get a spare moment I try to write. At night after the kids are in bed I usually work on editing
KR: Do you have a favourite story/short that you’ve written (published or not)?
It’s hard for me to choose a favorite. I like my stories for different reasons but I don’t know if one is my favorite over all the others.
KR: Do you read your book reviews?
Yes I do. I like to see what works with readers and what doesn’t. I try not to be bothered by any bad reviews because everyone likes different stuff, not everyone will have the same reaction to what you write, but that’s hard to do.
KR: Any advice for a fledgling author?
Don’t give up. Push through that first draft and remember, the first draft isn’t meant to be a polished masterpiece. Get it all out and then you can go back and make your words shine.
KR: What scares you?
Sending my children out into the World. It can be a crazy place and I hate that I can’t always be there to protect them. I can just hope we’ve raised them to make good decisions and to be good people.
KR: E-Book, Paperback or Hardback?
I love hardback books. I don’t have a problem with paperbacks or e-books, but I’d much rather read a HB and look at it on my book shelf when I’m finished.
KR: Can you tell me about your latest release please?
My newest novella is Hellsworld Hotel. I wanted to create the kind of iconic, murdering family like The Sawyers in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Firefly’s in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devils Rejects. So I have The Harringtons, a family that moved into small town Eminence and opened up a haunted house attraction for the Halloween season, only their patrons tend to become their props.
KR: You can read our review of Hellsworld Hotel here
KR: What are you working on now?
I’m always working on multiple things at once. Whatever grabs my attention the most usually gets completed faster. Right now that is a book about four young guys that go on a killing spree and use the internet to make them famous in a Natural Born Killers kind of way.
KR: You find yourself on a desert island, which three people would you wish to be deserted with you and why?
You can choose…
a) One fictional character from your writing.
Martha from The ADHD Vampire. She’s a cybernetic enhanced spy so she has a lot of skills that could help us to stay alive while on the island.
b) One fictional character from any other book.
John Locke from Lost. That dude knew how to survive on an island. If we were gonna be there for a while he could probably keep us alive.
c) One real life person that is not a family member or friend.
Jeff Goldblum, he’s spent time fighting dinosaurs, aliens, and even hanging out in space, surely he could be helpful on a deserted island. Plus, he seems like he might be interesting to talk to.
KR: Thank you very much Matthew.
You can find out more about Matt by visiting his official website www.mcvaughn.wordpress.com
Follow Matt on Twitter @mcvaughn138
Matt’s author page can be found here
As the Halloween season approaches, the newest residents of small town Eminence are hard at work opening a haunted house attraction called Hellsworld Hotel. The local townsfolk are excited, especially the teenagers. Normally you would have to drive to one of the big cities for something like this. But local Sheriff Stan Maxell is skeptical, even more so when he takes notice of how many of the young people in his town are disappearing.
Hellsworld Hotel is a tale of family horror in the vein of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of 1000 Corpses, brought to you by the author of The ADHD Vampire and Fast Times at Cine Mega Plex High.
You can buy Hellsworld Hotel from Amazon US & Amazon UK
Featuring six inter-connected stories involving the students of Cine Mega Plex High. The movie obsessed student body identify their various cliques by movie genres. There are no nerds, jocks, or preps. There are Sci-fi, sports, and romance kids. Taking place over the course of a couple days, Fast Times at Cine Mega Plex High follows the lives of various genre kids as they encounter new friends, both artificial and extraterrestrial, demons, monsters and all around bizarre situations.
You can buy Fast Times At Cine Mega Plex High from Amazon US & Amazon UK
A cruise ship for retired sex addicts, The U.S.S. Exciter, is the site of a party a lot of people on board will never forget (but some of them will, anyway). Lurking in the cargo hold is Horace Dracul, half-brother of the legendary Dracula, and he dreams of reaching the shores of a country where the blood flows like wine, and bright, shiny lights are seemingly infinite. However, another member of the Exciter’s well-aged population has some secrets of her own: Martha—retired cyborg and ex-spy.
In the grand tradition of slasher-horror literature in which a lot of people are murdered in gruesome ways, The U.S.S. Exciter will host an orgy of violence and sex toys, and an easily-distracted vampire named Horace might have himself a bloody-good time.
You can buy ADHD Vampire from Amazon US & Amazon UK
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