Ask the Author: Michael Jensen
Answered Questions (4)
For my current novel, Flood, the historical facts also dictates the setting in which I have to tell my story. But again, I was drawn to this particular story, both for its location in time -- 8,000 years ago -- and the setting -- ancient Turkey because I find them fascinating.
I'm currently working on a contemporary novel that could be set anywhere, but I chose Seattle, both because I love the city and because I think the city's dynamism fits with the story.
So why do I write horror? What appeals to me about it? I honestly don't know! I don't particularly like to be frightened and a good horror novel can leave me feeling anxious and uncomfortable by the time I get to the end. And yet, as soon as I discover another horror novel with an intriguing premise, I snatch it up.
However, writing horror is an entirely different experience for me, as writing the most horrifying stuff doesn't bother me at all. My husband will often read my work and be shocked that it came from mild-mannered me, the guy who can only watch horror movies holding his hands over his face.
I guess I write horror because I like putting characters in extreme situations and seeing how they react to what is happening. I also like writing books with (hopefully) clever plots and twists that keep the reader guessing.
Perhaps I'll go get that therapy now and see what REALLY drives me to write horror....
One explanation is that the quality always lacked a certain polish because mainstream publishers shied away from most gay content. Then there is the fact that unlike say, African American readers, the population of GLBT readers has never been large enough to truly support a vibrant GLBT literature scene that has broken up. One caveat here is that I haven't spent much time looking at the GLBT self-published culture that is going on and that might be doing much better than the traditional model.
Personally, I am more interested in reading mainstream genre fiction that includes GLBT characters. Here I think the situation has improved dramatically over the years. In the past it seemed that GLBT characters were either missing entirely, or were used to create a seedy, other atmosphere (want to show an alternative bar is really degenerate? Show two men kissing!) or a villainous character was made ambiguously gay in order to make him even more evil.
Today, I'm seeing GLBT characters included much more positively. While I didn't care for The Vacationers or The Three, both included gay characters in very natural, realistic ways that I thought actually reflected the way GLBT people live in the world. And that, I think, is a pretty awesome thing.
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