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I recently met
an average looking young chap by the name of Matt Shaw at HorrorCon 2016. We
chatted about his work, amongst other things. Whilst with him, I purchased two
rather fantastically priced novels which he dutifully signed. I had heard a few
little things about Mr. Shaw beforehand, and how he is described as one of the
sickest authors in the world. Worse than Ed Lee or Jack Ketchum? That has to be
pretty awesome in itself!
Back at the hotel, I read through ten pages of Sick Bastards, one of many books
under a cool black cover series. Incest, cannibalism, raw brutal savage
violence. I considered gently tearing a penis sized hole in the novel's pages
all the way and... because I loved it so much!! Then I figured, I best finish it
first.
Matt Shaw has been writing and writing over one hundred pieces of drooling
snarling creations (some in collab with other like minded sicko's) which are
from another world. I mean, he steps beyond the above mentioned Lee and Ketchum,
early Hutson, if he ever decided to properly lose his mind, he'd give Carlton
Mellick III a major run for his money.
With all that said, I promised I'd be in touch soon for an interview, so here it
is!
Alright, Matt. First off let
me say it was great speaking with you at HorrorCon 2016. You and your wife both
looked like you were having a great time soaking in the event and atmosphere.
How did it go for you?
 You know, I really wish I could
remember you. I mean… Honestly… Did you really come to my table or are you just
making this up as an opener to this interview? In which case you really need to
mention how awesome I am too. That always gets my attention (Great meeting you
too by the way, you were awesome…) You know, I loved HorrorCon 2016. It was
probably one of my favourite conventions for this year. Definitely up there with
Walker Stalker. The other shows have been a little hit and miss recently so,
yeah, a breath of fresh air! A great show with great crowds. If they invite me
back next year, I will definitely be there.
I'll be at your table then,
grinning insanely, as I do. I noticed the price of your novels were very
reasonable and I know I mentioned this to you. You said that you were cutting
your own throat but in doing so people are buying your books and getting to know
your work. Tell me, has it been an uphill struggle for you as it is for some
authors? Or have you had a few lucky breaks?
It is a constant fight. Any
author who says it isn’t, got very lucky or is lying to make themselves look
better than they are. Having said that, I don’t tend to set the prices so low at
conventions as they were at HorrorCon because that is business-suicide. The
reason for the prices at HorrorCon was because the audience was dedicated
horror. These are the people whom I want going home with my books and if that
means selling them cheaper than usual, so be it!
With regards to lucky breaks. I’ve had a couple, to be fair, and the first was
with the release of Sick B*stards. I released this book as a joke and --
boom -- everything went mental. It hit number one on Amazon in the horror
section. It stayed in the top 100 for two years and even got the attention of a
major film studio, which was great. Currently we are adapting it to Graphic
Novel and a comic series. BUT, with that lucky break was a lot of dedication and
hard work. I was writing for ten years (whilst working a full-time job) to make
this happen and people don’t understand that. Well, not everyone understands
that. You need a certain amount of luck and you need a lot of hard work!
You're a very talented writer,
your descriptions can easily conjure up images and the scenes are rather
graphic. You deal with so many shocking taboos and have written so many books.
What's a standard day in the life of Mr. Matt Shaw? How many hours do you put
in? Would you consider this as a full time job with the amount of time you put
in, including touring the country and isn't there a web series you've started on
as well?
I wake up around 7-ish and write
for a few hours. Then I get something to eat and go for a walk. Come home and
write some more -- usually finishing just before my wife gets home at 7pm where
I’ll then cook dinner. Sometimes, if I am really busy or on a roll, I will carry
on working after she goes to bed around 11. I don’t think people understand how
many hours I put in. They hear I work from home and think I’m skiving all of the
time but -- to do this as a career -- you need to be really dedicated to make it
work. And make it work I will. I’m not going back to a “real” job now thanks! As
for touring -- when I tour -- I take my work with me. So I’ll do a convention
and carry on working in the hotel room. A couple of weeks ago I took a couch to
Dublin, from Southampton, for a convention. On the way home from this con, I
wrote a complete short story! Typed it up the following week and -- bam --
released it to the general public. No time off though. Soon as I finished that I
was working on The Farm 2 and a new horror called Terror Teds.
Busy, busy.
How did you find your core
audience? You're quoted as to saying, don't do it for the money, which is a very
true statement. However, somehow an author explores and discovers their public.
What did you originally write before becoming this totally sick monster?
 I’m not sure how I found them
really. My readership was growing slowly with each new book but then, as
mentioned before, “Sick B*stards” came out and everything went mental.
Before the Black Cover Books, I was writing tamer horror -- think psychological
stuff akin to Stephen King. Even now, with my readers still in place, I don’t
stick to the Black Cover Books though. I love writing in different genres
(erotica, extreme horror, horror, children’s stories, tear-jerkers and even
dinosaur porn… Yeah, I went there). By doing this it keeps the audience guessing
as to what comes next. I don’t want to be a one trick pony or have my writing --
and stories -- get stale. By the way, I prefer “Sick Genius” to “sick monster”.
Just saying.
Fair enough. Some horror
authors who are big and famous are known to betray their public by having a
laugh at the expense of the genre or openly admitting they don't like horror. As
an individual, who are your favourite people in the realm of horror fiction? In
fact, what movies float your boat?
I fucking hate horror. I like
Romantic Comedies. Okay, that was a lie. My favourite “horror” film (of sorts)
though is definitely Jaws. Recently, films have been way off the mark
relying on cheap jump-scares or crap CGI. Or, and this pisses me off, they are
just re-releasing films from yesteryear. ‘Oh look, another fucking remake.
Just what we didn’t need.’ With regards to other horror authors, I tend not
to read horror because I don’t want to be influenced by other authors (for
example, Stephen King). I’ve read loads of reviews of friends’ books and there
are comments along the lines of “reminded me of such and such…” I don’t
want to remind someone of someone else. I want to be Matt Shaw. I want them to
not be able to compare. I want them to simply say, ‘Fuck.’
We're very similar in our
views buddy. Remakes, aside from one or two, make me wish to thumb my own eyes
out. I know author Shaun Hutson in his earlier days used to lament all the ass
kissing comparing reviews on so many books as well. You told me at HorrorCon you
have plans to work with other people in the genre. Please tell us about who you
have worked with and who you plan to work with.
I’m already working with loads as
I publish other authors too. I’ve published work from Stuart Keane, Matt
Hickman, Paul Flewitt, Duncan Ralston, David Owain Hughes and Glenn Rolfe -- all
talented little bastards. I’ve also co-written a book (The House that Hell
Built) with Keane and, of course, worked a lot with Michael Bray (Art,
Trapped, Monster, Home Video and the upcoming release
Twisted Bitches). Then of course there are the anthologies I’ve posted with
a whole string of top-notch authors involved! Basically I like to mix it up a
little. I also have a book coming out before the end of the year with guest
chapters by David Moody, Jasper Bark, Wrath James White, Gary McMahon, Kealan
Patrick Burke and Shane McKenzie! I will be taking a step back from this avenue
though because I am just drowning in projects at the moment.
I want to ask about Menu, your
short film debut. How did this come about? Also, I read that there was an issue
with Kickstarter and your second feature?
I wanted to make films before
writing books. I ended up writing books because KDP made it much easier for us
to do just that -- whether people then sold them or not is another matter, but
we could at least release our work! With films you need money and friends and
time and blah blah blah. Menu was supposed to cost me £1000.00. It cost
£3000.00 and is only 12 minutes long! Then of course there were other costs
associated with that which then went on top of that figure. I’m not put off
though. I will be making more films and as for Kickstarter, let’s just say I
won’t use them again and leave it at that.
Okay, I noticed there's a lot
linking you with Terror Teds. Tell me more about this.
Sarah, Simon and I met at a
Swingers Party. We got chatting, after we fucked, and apparently they make these
bears “Terror Teds.” Well, Sarah makes them. Simon just prances around looking
pretty. Okay, that was partly a lie. They tweeted me once about my book
Monster. There is a scene it in where a man is turned into a birthday cake.
They said they would love to make this for real and -- thinking they were joking
-- nothing really came of it. Months later, I met them at Birmingham Comic Con (MCM)
when they came by my table. Turned out Sarah was a big fan of my work (quite
right too). Within half an hour of them leaving the table, I sent them a message
asking if they wanted to release some Matt Shaw bears. They said, ‘Yes.’
You can see these bears at
TerrorTeds.com -- I have my own special link! And -- talking of Special -- I
am in the middle of writing a fucked-up book based on the Terror Teds: how
they’re made and what happens when they come to life! Think Gremlins
mixed with Misery and you’re close.
An obvious question now. What
inspires your creative juices? And of course, how do your nearest and dearest
find your work?
 My wife is supportive. My mum is
supportive. I think my whole family, with the exception of one who can -- quite
frankly -- get hit by a bus, is proud of what I am achieving whether they like
the stories or not. As for inspiration? Ever watched a film and realised it
wasn’t what you were expecting? That’s my inspiration. I take the film I just
watched (and hated) and then I write the story I actually wanted to see. You put
enough effort in and it becomes original and the readers can never see the
inspirational source material within the pages. Dreams. I also have bad dreams
which inspire my works -- all of which is details in my helpful videos designed
for people who want to write for a living (free to watch, over on my
website).
 What's the process like for
you and publishing your novels?
I can write a book in about two
weeks (25,000++ words), I can get it edited by the editor within a week. A few
days to go through the tweaks and done. I publish it. I don’t believe in padding
stuff, I don’t believe in re-writing, I don’t believe in keeping the readers
waiting. Get it out there to them! It’s hard, it’s fast-paced and (for me) it
works!
Do you get emotional over
negative reviews? There must be some who simply don't get what you're doing.
I used to but, honestly, I don’t
give a fuck. Half the time the person makes themselves look stupid by reviewing
me anyway. By that I mean the people who moan that the work is sick and how much
they hated it. Well, of course it is sick. It has a warning on the front stating
as much and a provocative and aggressive title (Whore, Rotting Dead
F*cks, PORN). I just read the review and wonder what the hell they
were expecting. Now that doesn’t apply to everyone. Sometimes you get a one star
review where they pull your work apart. Those reviews are pretty good and I’m
glad the person took the time to write them because it gives me something to
learn from for the next book. I’ll be honest though, I haven’t looked at reviews
for over two months now. I used to check daily. Oh, one example of a bad review?
Someone saying how sick Rotting Dead F*cks was. One star. I checked into
what they read before this and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Like, how do you go from that over to one of my books?! And, what makes you
click “buy.” That’s just weird, right?
Sounds like a sicker
individual than yourself. I want to be a voyeur in your room and one thing
always interests me is background noise. Even though I'm into music ranging from
Psychedelic to Hip Hop, when I write I like to play soothing piano music in the
distance. Do you write accompanied by music? Or the dead silence?
I just have the television on in
the background. Usually shit programs like Judge Rinder and Jeremy Kyle (what a
cunt). It takes away from the silence but isn’t distracting enough to stop me
from working. I’ve also got over 300 blu-rays, half of them still sealed and
occasionally I’ll chuck one of those on and write to that.
Been awesome chatting to you
Matt, you are simply one of a sick kind in this country. A King of Vile. Oh, one
thing though, what words of inspiration could you give anyone up and coming who
are ready to take your dirty filthy crown?
Just fucking die. It’s my
crown and I don’t share.
If however you want to work in the genre alongside me -- and the other authors
already here -- then feel free to check out my videos on
www.mattshawpublications.co.uk which give you insight as to how I work.
They’ll give you tips, tricks and -- hopefully -- inspiration! Anyway, fuck off,
I have fourteen hookers showing up with bags of drugs. That was a lie. I have a
new puppy and she needs to go for a walk.
I can testify
that he wasn't lying. I had meanwhile shaved my beard and dressed as hooker
number ten carrying a bag of white stuff.
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