So many memorable cultural moments, pop and otherwise, play a significant role in this book: Halley’s comet, Chernobyl, Master of Puppets, Photon. Lovecraft had his New England towns and back roads. That sense of place is in my DNA I spent years running around in those fields and forests and soaking in the weirdness of those rural areas. When Lazy Fascist Press invited me to write a book on a tight deadline, I knew that I needed the setting to be somewhere very close to home. What is it about this part of Oregon that compelled you to set a novella there?Ĭarson: I grew up in the backwoods of Oregon. There is such attention to detail in the way you depict this part of the world.

It’s very similar to having a song on a compilation album like Metal Swim or the Sabbath tribute that we’re on.

My very first fiction sale was to the Word Horde anthology Cthulhu Fhtagn!. It’s been a blast to see my name in the table of contents with so many other authors who I admire.

As it turns out, my early interest in Lovecraft came in handy–that became a great entry point for me to share my adult fiction with a new audience. After several careers, much world traveling, and fifteen years as a music journalist, I figured that I was finally ready. These stories were terrible, but excellent practice anyway.Īfter that, I realized that I needed more life experience so that my insights could imbue my work with deeper meaning. In high school, I got more ambitious and spun out pastiches of HP Lovecraft and Clive Barker while blasting Social Unrest in my bedroom. The first story I wrote was a tale about a family of dinosaurs. Nathan Carson: I’ve always been interested in reading and writing. What drew you to writing fiction? More specifically, the weird, Lovecraftian fiction you specialize in? Starr Creek is available now from Lazy Fascist Press. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book, as well as give us the opportunity to premiere the fabulous new trailer for it as well, which can be seen below. As much a student of horror fiction as he is heavy metal, Carson has a keen eye for detail as a writer as well as a vivid imagination, and those two characteristics are a big reason why this briskly-paced novella works so well. Starr Creek is the first book published by Carson, who is best known by Decibel readers as the drummer for Portland doom greats Witch Mountain. In just 163 pages Nathan Carson’s new novella Starr Creek brings together hesher teens, D&D-obsessed 11 year-olds, bikers, cult members, hillbillies, a crazy demonic goat, a hell of a lot of drugs, and a big monster in a crazed collision of Lovecraftian weirdness and, best of all, macabre fun.

Starr Creek by Nathan Carson