A short interview with Conrad Williams

A brief biography taken from http://www.conradwilliams.net/home.html:

Conrad Williams was born in 1969 and has been in print since 1988. He has sold around 80 short stories to a diverse range of publications and anthologies.

He is the author of three novels, 'Head Injuries', 'London Revenant' and 'The Unblemished'; three novellas, 'Nearly People', 'Game' and 'The Scalding Rooms'; and a collection of short stories, 'Use Once then Destroy'. He is a past recipient of the Littlewood Arc Prize and the British Fantasy Award.

He lives in Manchester with his wife, the writer Rhonda Carrier, their sons, Ethan and Ripley, and a monster Maine Coon cat called Reddie.

Why horrors? Did you like horrors as a kid, too?

Yes I did. I loved all the old monster films - Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Werewolf... One of my favorites, and still is, is the 1933 original King Kong. The Hammer House of Horror TV series around 1980 was a big thrill for me.


Your books are in print for 12 years. Reading your earliest writings now, are you satisfied with them? Would you change anything in your past work?

I am satisfied with them, but there's always something you feel you could have done to improve them. Best to just ignore that frustration and concentrate on the next one!


How would you entice somebody to read your work?

I hope the work speaks for itself and doesn't need any enticement.


What advice would you give to young writers?

Write. Keep writing. Fail. Fail better.


What can your readers expect from you next?

I've got a few novellas coming out this year - The Scalding Rooms from PS Publishing and Rain from Gray Friar Press. I'm working on a new novel, but I've only just started that. And stories in Ellen Datlow's Inferno and Cemetery Dance's The British Invasion.


What is your favorite memory from your carrier?

Selling my first short story, aged 19, after a summer of typing and packaging and posting. And winning the Best Newcomer Award from the British Fantasy Society in 1993.


When did you decide you were going to work with books?

As soon as I started reading.


What is your motto?

Get a move on.


If you were an alien, what would you look like?

A piece of shrubbery.


If you were to own several monkeys and/or midgets, how many would you own, and what would you name them?


Just the one. A monkey. And I'd call him Geoff.

Thank you for your time and patience. We wish you the best of luck with your work. :)