Interview With Duncan Ralston
Duncan Ralston is a Canadian horror author known for his dark, character-driven fiction that delves into themes of fear, disgust, and fascination. Ralston is the author of novels like Salvage, The Method, and Ghostland, as well as the novellas Woom and Wildfire. His work spans both fiction and screenwriting, and he is also the founder of Shadow Work Publishing, which supports various dark fiction authors.
Where are you from? What is your background?
I was born and partly raised in Toronto and moved to small-town Ontario in my teens. I’ve been writing fiction since I was a teenager, around the time I discovered Stephen King and Clive Barker, so a little over thirty years now. I’ve worked as a television professional in the broadcasting side for almost twenty years.
What inspired you to become a writer?
I’ve always enjoyed telling stories and reading, but it was mostly stuff I did for class, and when I was younger, I was more into drawing. It wasn’t until I found a short story my younger brother had written for fun on our computer that I decided to do the same on my own free time, I guess somewhat out of spite (we didn’t get along back then as we shared the same room). It was the combination of that and reading King and Barker for the first time that made it stick, I think. I loved sitting up in my room imagining things, and I discovered I was much better at it than drawing.
My first efforts were essentially pastiches of King’s Dark Tower and Night Shift books, and Barker’s Imajica and Books of Blood. I remember one, in particular, was a short story called In Articulo Mortis and I’d drawn a closeup of an eye with a knife blade moving toward it for the cover. I can’t recall what it was about, but I assume it was something about the “moment of death,” since I was super jazzed to find that Latin phrase in some book or another, possibly one of Barker’s. I wrote the first hundred pages or so of a couple of novels, one that was clearly a play on Imajica called The Magisphere, another imagining Leland Gaunt from Needful Things as the lecherous pervert superintendent of a highrise apartment complex inspired by Ira Levin’s Sliver. Obviously they weren’t very good but now that I’m remembering them, maybe there’s a kernel or two in there I can rework for something new.
What inspired the story Artifact (#37)?
“Artifact” was inspired by the gonzo pornographers Bang Bus. When they first came out in the early 2000s, there was speculation as to whether or not they were real. In the videos they would pick up women off the street, one of them would have sex with her while another filmed and the third drove the “bus” (which was actually a grimy van). When they were done they would leave the woman on the side of the road, often naked, always angry or embarrassed. The guy who held the camera was particularly obnoxious, which inspired the character Mad Bastard. Actually, originally, it started off as a revenge tale, called “Filthy Lessons,” but the ending of it didn’t work. It was basically “screw them before they screw you,” in a literal sense, with the main character getting abused on camera for his viewers. It felt cliché and silly. When I decided on the haunting aspect, I had to rework it from page one, though I did keep the opening lines. This story probably wouldn’t have been written if I hadn’t seen how far writers like Jack Ketchum and Clive Barker could push the envelope and somehow remain in good taste.
Have you had any problems with censorship of any kind? An editor asking for changes because they were offended?
I’ve never faced that, fortunately, but several dozen people have actively tried to prevent others from reading my work, particularly the novella Woom, which seems to have ruffled plenty of feathers. I wrote a novel about a writer getting “canceled” for something he’d written, and a week before the book launch it came to light that there was some, let’s say “inappropriate language,” in Woom. It’s labeled as extreme horror (though I like to think of it more as transgressive fiction), yet somehow it became wildly popular in a thriller readers’ group and went somewhat viral on TikTok. Naturally a lot of these readers were shocked by the content, despite the warning, many of them having never read horror before, let alone splatterpunk. So, I’ve taken a lot of abuse from that online, but also gotten my share of praise. Gotta take the good with the bad, I suppose.
Who are some of the writers, artists, or performers who inspire you?
King and Barker shaped my youth, along with ‘90s alternative and hip-hop music. In my late teens and early 20s, it was Tarantino, David Lynch, Steven Soderberg. I spent a lot of time writing screenplays in those days, from horror to comedy. Other than King and Barker, I guess my biggest literary influences would be Irvine Welsh, Chuck Palahniuk and Jack Ketchum. Though they’re very different stories, “Artifact (#37)” was directly influenced by the legendary Ketchum’s short story “Mail Order.” It was amazing to discover several years after I’d put it out into the world that he’d read the collection I’d published it in (Gristle & Bone) and gave me a nice blurb for the cover.
What advice can you give to new writers?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Never stop learning and branching out. The worst thing you can do in your career is keep writing the same thing over and over. Be respectful to readers and other writers (unless they’re disrespectful to you, in which case, don’t let them get the upper hand). Take your time. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Don’t be worried if your first book isn’t a success, and don’t waste time marketing the same book that isn’t selling. Write the next one. Then sell it or publish it yourself.
How do you feel about the current state of genre fiction?
I feel like we’re in a bit of a renaissance for horror fiction. Possibly not among the Big Four publishers but definitely in indie and small/midsize press. There’s been a ton of amazing stuff coming out in the last five or six years, and while reading for the Stokers in the past I’ve been lucky enough to read a good share of it. It seems like the big publishers may be less likely to take risks, but the smaller folks are publishing a lot of exciting, fresh stuff. Anyone who says the horror market is stagnant isn’t looking in the right corners.
Another thing that’s great is that recently, brick and mortar stores have been taking chances on indie books. The popularity of “Booktok” and “Bookstagram” has pushed a lot of people’s voices to the forefront who wouldn’t necessarily have been given a shot before. I do hear that possibly corporate might be reneging on this decision, but I have a feeling that may be due to pressure from the Big Four. Regardless, it’s a great time to be a horror reader and an exciting time to be a horror writer.
Do you think your environment, past area you’ve lived in, has an effect on your writing?
It’s possible. I did get sort of a best (and worst) of both worlds in that I grew up half in a big city and half in a small town. Along with some minor world travel and dealing with chronic illness most of my life, I feel like it’s given me a sort of unique perspective on society.
What was the oddest thing you’ve ever been asked to do in your career as a writer?
As a writer whose name is now synonymous with traffic cones, I’ve been asked to do a lot of weird and unmentionable things.
What projects are working on now?
I just finished a gamebook with Mark Tullius for the TRY NOT TO DIE series, returning to my Ghostland universe. It should prove to be bloody good fun. Currently I’m writing a standalone novel featuring demons.
