Horror Author Tim Prasil #Interview
Tim Prasil Interview
1. Congratulations on your books Help for the Haunted and Guilt is a Ghost! Can you tell us a little about this series?
The Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mysteries series spotlights a journalist living in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Think of the muckrakers such as Nellie Bly, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis. On the one hand, Vera crusades against phony Spiritualist mediums, but on the other, she fully believes in ghosts. She explains this seeming contradiction by saying, “Ghosts are like cats. They’re real—but they hardly come when called.” One Spiritualist medium Vera defrauded was Lida Prášilová. The fake psychic agreed to share her professional secrets with the journalist, which led to a ghost hunt – which led to a deep friendship. Chronicling the ghostly investigations she shared with Vera over the years, Lida became a Dr. Watson to a very distinctive, quirky, and funny Sherlock Holmes.
2. When did your interest in the paranormal and dark fiction begin?
I think it was Friday nights when WGN, the Chicago TV station, aired its weekly “Creature Features” movies. Something about those old Universal Studios monsters sparked my interest. Oddly enough, my reading leaned toward – not Edgar Allan Poe and his type – but Nathaniel Hawthorne and authors who seasoned very relatable, very human stories with a dash of supernatural spice. I think this shows in the Vera Van Slyke stories, which read less like horror and more like mystery or even historical fiction.
3. Have you ever seen a ghost or been ghost hunting?
I volunteer at our local community theater, and it’s alleged to be haunted. (We’ve had ghost hunters investigate the place on a few occasions. Diagnosis: probably haunted.) Personally, I’ve heard my name whispered by a disembodied voice. I’ve caught a corner-of-the-eye glimpse of . . . someone . . . someone who turned out to not be there. Others have experienced similar phenomena there, too. Is it a ghost? I’m prefer to leave it at “wonder” rather than pin it down with “belief or disbelief.”
4. Let’s talk a little about writing. What would you say is your writing kryptonite?
I’ve heard other authors gripe about editing. I guess they love the early drafts, the initial creation process. I’m sort of the opposite. While I do enjoy that discovery stage—finding out where the story takes itself, often against my original plans—I see it as the most laborious and certainly the slowest. It’s like making clay from thin air, so maybe that’s my kryptonite. Once that clay exists, though, I especially relish molding and shaping and adding the fine details.
5. Who is your favorite author?
Do people really have a favorite author? I can’t say that I do. I lean toward authors who mix a touch of fantasy with otherwise very realistic, very human stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Shirley Jackson, and Ray Bradbury come to mind. Character and plot, I think, are equally important and even symbiotic. I shy away from authors who lean hard on just plot.
6. What’s next for you? Any projects you can discuss?
I’m halfway through the next Vera Van Slyke Ghostly Mystery! A major, never-ending project is my indy press, called Brom Bones Books. Along with the earlier Vera Van Slyke series, I’ve put out a collection of poetry (if you want to call it that) titled The Lost Limericks of Edgar Allan Poe along with a couple of non-fiction books about Victorian-era ghost chronicles. I also anthologize “forgotten” fiction, such as ghost stories, occult detective fiction, and right now I’m working on a book of tales about life on the Moon written from the rise of the telescope to the point when it was pretty much agreed that life can’t exist on Earth’s loveliest satellite.
7. Where can people find you online?
My main site, and I also try very hard to be funny on Facebook and Twitter. I’d be happy to read you a story on the YouTube channel for Brom Bones Books.
8. Last chance! Anything else you’d like to say?
Visit the For Fun and Edification wing of BromBonesBooks.com to walk down the Ghost Hunter Hall of Fame, stroll through the Chronological Bibliography of Early Occult Detectives, and giggle at Old Phantoms with New Captions.
Tim Prasil