An interview with Richard Thomas

"In range alone Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury."—Chuck Palahniuk

Originally published 26 October 2024.

An interview with Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas

When I remembered that award-winning author Richard Thomas has a new novel out, Incarnate, this seemed like the perfect time to catch up with him and find out more about his inspirations and what drives him as a writer. I first became aware of Richard and his work around 2012. I was trying to find a publisher for my first novel but was very inexperienced and had some difficult conversations with George (Yorgos?) Cotronis, an incredible artist and designer who at the time was running Kraken Press. He was interested in my book, but had to gently explain to me what the reality of working with a small, independent publisher would look like, shattering my dreams of overnight infamy. I kept in touch with George (who later contributed a piece to our HERETICS exhibition in 2016), never published the novel, then began questioning my life choices when Kraken Press published Richard’s short story collection, Staring into the Abyss, and I realised that it was a beautiful, perfect collection.

“If I’m honest, the blurb I got from Chuck Palahniuk for my last collection, that stunned me. I cried. He said, ‘In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman.’ Chuck is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, so generous, so supportive.” – Richard Thomas

A few years later Richard launched the first iteration of Gamut, an online magazine of horror fiction and dark poetry. These are obviously things that appealed to me, so I offered a little time to help with the launch PR. It was a tough market and difficult to persuade people to pay for subscriptions, so Gamut ended after its first year, returning in 2023 as a non-profit home for dark, speculative fiction.

Again, maintaining a paid literary magazine is tough, and it looks like December 2024 will mark the end of the current iteration of Gamut magazine, but the level of quality that the team achieved this time is exceptional and something to aspire towards. Throughout the past decade Richard has taught a seemingly endless amount of writing classes, geared towards the darker spectrum of art (the kind of things that most educational institutions frown upon!), published a frightening amount of short stories and novels, leading to the recent release of Incarnate, which Richard will tell you about in his own words.

1/ What inspires you as a writer? What was it that originally drove you to write stories and what drives you now to continue?

I love telling stories, connecting with an audience, taking them somewhere they’ve never been before. It started when I was in grade school—I’ve always loved to read and write. 15 years into my career, I’m inspired by the amazing authors in the horror community, and other genres as well.

I don’t just write horror. I was finalist for a Thriller Award, and I have a story out in Lightspeed this year—a bit of science fiction. What really makes this some of the most satisfying work I’ve ever done is the response I get. When somebody “gets me,” and has an intense experience reading my work—whether that’s scaring them, helping them deal with loss and grief, or the wonder of something weird and uncanny—it feels intimate, this relationship we have.

2/ I feel like you're recognised as a teacher as much as an author. What's the most common mistake that you see when you're assessing the work of people in your classes?

I think the biggest mistake an author can make it not understanding where they come from, and what they’re trying to do. It’s the first assignment in my Short Story Mechanics class—tell me about your five favourite authors, books, stories, films, and television shows. Somewhere in there are commonalities, themes, recurring elements, motifs, and genres. But don’t ignore the anomalies, the outcasts, the weird outliers. Study what you’re drawn to, and then based on that, look at where you are, and what you’re trying to do.

Bring into your stories your race, culture, jobs, families, gender, orientation, religion, hopes, desires, and experiences. That’s what makes a Stephen Graham Jones werewolf story different than a Benjamin Percy werewolf story. If my students are open, and vulnerable, they can quickly evolve and improve. You certainly have to put in your 10,000 hours.

3/ Can you tell me a little about Incarnate and the creative process behind it?

Man, this was one of the hardest and most satisfying experiences of my career. I must have spent two years studying, doing research, filling my head with images. I watched films like The Thing, and television shows like The Terror. I revisited books and stories—The Giver, The Only Good Indians, The Fisherman, Annihilation. I filled my head with all of that, and then sat down and wrote 52,000 words in two weeks. It was intense. I wrote the remaining 30k over a series of Fridays, 4,000 words a day. I hired an “arctic advisor” in Repo Kempt, who helped me to get those details right.

I studied the arctic, Alaska, watched documentaries, YouTube videos, and read nonfiction accounts of expeditions gone wrong. The book originally came out of the manifestation of grief that I saw in a short story, The Familiars by Micaela Morrissette. I teach it in one of my classes. That, and I have always been fascinated by the long period of night, the 60-90 days of darkness up in Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow). Out of that, what might emerge? Add to that the sin eater—a concept that has long fascinated me—and we were off to the races. Every religion has such a person—priest, witch doctor, shaman—call them what you want.

As a maximalist, I knew this setting would be a great place for me to express my maximalism—heavy setting, sensory detail, immersive horror, tense atmosphere. And every meal the sin eater ate, it was a meal I cooked—such as my chili recipe, including all of my secret ingredients. It’s a three act novel—Sebastian Pana, the sin eater; Mother Monster, in a desert wasteland; and Kallik, a young Inuit boy. When you smash that all together it’s what The New York Times called, “a must-read book for fans of strange, surreal horror.” The uncanny, the weird, the Lovecraftian—it all plays out across this narrative, that is not without hope.

4/ What moment in your creative career to date are you most proud of?

Obviously being a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, for my fourth short story collection, Spontaneous Human Combustion, meant a lot to me. Though I didn’t win, out of the 64 collections on the reading list, to make the final six, it was an honour. Gabino Iglesias reviewing Incarnate for The New York Times meant the world to me—that’s a bucket list item.

And if I’m honest, the blurb I got from Chuck Palahniuk for my last collection, that stunned me. I cried. He said, “In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman.” Chuck is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, so generous, so supportive. It’s really the perfect intersection of what I’m trying to do—weird, uncanny, and wondrous. It’s so nice to be seen. I thought he was going to pass on the blurb request!

5/ If time, budget and audience were no impediment, what would you most like to create, in any medium, and why?

Man, that’s tough. I’ve failed twice now with Gamut, so that certainly has left a mark. I love teaching, and hope to be able to continue doing that. I love publishing authors—the work we did at Gamut this year (and in the past) as well as my time running Dark House Press, it was a real pleasure. To connect with authors all over the world—men and women, and nonbinary voices; authors of colour and a wide range of cultures; voice across the LGBTQ+ experience; stories from so many different countries, each with their own mythology, rituals, and beliefs. What a thrill.

I’d love to just keep doing what I’m doing, while being able to still carve out enough time for my family, friends, travel, and those life experiences we all seek out. It’s always a tough balance, right? But nothing has made me happier—writing, editing, teaching, and publishing. Nothing has ever been as satisfying.

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I first interviewed Richard for Starburst Magazine 11 February 2016. Read the interview in full here: https://www.starburstmagazine.com/features/richard-thomas-interview/

– P M Buchan