Lucas Mangum

Lucas Mangum is another talented horror author from my native Bucks County Pennsylvania. His novel GOBLINS is a gothic story receiving high praise. It is currently in e book form availiable from Smaswords. I asked Lucas about his writing goals and future plans.


Lucas's novel GOBLINS is described as follows:
Connor and his sister, Christine, go driving to the town of Yester Castle, TN looking for Christine’s wayward husband, Jack. Instead they find the town completely abandoned and signs of a struggle. Soon, Connor and Christine are in the fight of their life when they uncover that Yester Castle has been overrun by a cult of goblins and their high priest, Christine’s husband, Jack.


When did you write your first novel?
I wrote a few novels when I was in my teens, but since I was still young and naive, they were mostly unpublishable. I have since written pieces that I feel much more comfortable shopping around.


How many books have you written?
Not counting my earlier attempts, 3 and half!


How many hours a day do you write?
I try to write two to three hours a day if I can. On the weekends, I generally get four hours in. Some of my writing is done at ungodly hours of the morning before I go to my day job. If it's a slow day there, I try to outline, and then I write some more when I get home. I don't usually set a schedule. I just make sure I reach my word quota every day and I'm almost always writing in my head.


What is your favorite book?
Out of all the books I've read, I would have to say either It by Stephen King or Clive Barker's Imajica would be my favorite. Hard to pick between the two. If comics count, Garth Ennis's Preacher beats them both.


What is your favorite movie?
Of all time? Jeez... it's really hard for me to narrow it down to just one. A Clockwork Orange, Oldboy, Night of the Living Dead... I could go on and on and on. I'm a huge movie buff.


What books scare you?
Bryan Smith's The Killing Kind, and anything by Jack Ketchum are good for scares. As much as I enjoy supernatural horror, it isn't going to really do much in the fear department for me. Goblins, ghosts, and werewolves are my friends. The human monsters (serial killers, terrorists, sociopaths) are what's really scary. I have to admit that when I found out Ketchum's Girl Next Door was based on a real case, I lost a little faith in humanity.


Would you ever consider writing a book outside the horror genre?
I'd love for my career to be pretty eclectic, because I read a lot of different styles. While horror is my first love, I would love to write some urban fantasy or military science fiction sometime down the road. I'm up for anything!


What are your current projects?
Right now, I'm getting ready for the release of my experimental horror, Welcome to Video Babylon, as an e-short story through Trestle Press. I'm also shopping Flesh & Fire, a horror novella about a man who's life is turned upside down when his 30-years-dead ex comes to him seeking his help in her escape from hell. Depending on who picks it up, it could be the first of a trilogy or a stand-alone story. Last but not least, I have another novella that will be released early next year in a zine put out by Video Horror Show.


Please in your own words write aparagraph about yourself & your work.
When I'm not writing, I can best be described a pretty average guy. I have a day job at a local, community bank. I'm married to an extraordinary woman. I just got a cat. I love spending time with my family. However, my gift (curse?) is that I have a fascination, sometimes I'd even call it an obsession, with the darker side of things. Nothing is more interesting to me than people's fetishes and fears. I believe that putting them on the page (or on a screen, a canvas, or in a song) binds them so that we can observe and experience them safely.


About lucas Mangum
Lucas Mangum is the author of “Abhorrent” (Death Head Grin, February, 2011) and “Welcome to Video Babylon (Splatterpunk is Not Dead, forthcoming). Read his blog, The Dark Dimensions, at http://www.lucasmangum.wordpress.com or find him on Facebook or Twitter @LMangumFiction. He lives in Bucks County and holds the bi-monthly Awesome Reading Fest in Doylestown.