Publisher Interview: Richard Chizmar

November 29, 2014

The Black Cat Horror Blog sits down with the owner/founder of Cemetery Dance Publications, Richard Chizmar. Cemetery Dance Publications is a two-time World Fantasy Award winner, a four-time International Horror Critics Guild Award winner, and has been awarded/nominated for just about every other thing  in existence when it comes to publishing. Do yourself a favor and, after the interview, sign-up for their magazine subscription–you won’t regret it!
TBC: It’s December 1988, and Cemetery Dance issue # 1 just hit the stands. Did you ever think Cemetery Dance would become what is it today? Or that you’d get to work with the top talent in horror–King, Koontz, Little, Ketchum, Matheson, etc.
Richard: Well, I knew I wanted  to, and I knew I was willing to do whatever work was necessary to make it happen…but did I absolutely know it? Nope. But I definitely dreamed it and chased it with everything I had.
TBC: Which authors/books inspired your love for the horror genre?
Richard: Stephen King’s novella “The Monkey” is what made me want to be a writer. That led to all his novels. Also, the early Koontz paperbacks from Berkley. Before that, I read the usual horror comics. Loved THE TWILIGHT ZONE and any scary movie I could find on television. But Stephen King was definitely to blame for all this.

Read the full interview @ The Black Cat Horror Blog.