I ask myself that same question every morning. Unfortunately, it appears my psyche is staying tight-lipped, so we’ll have to consider the answer to that “pending”. On the surface, at least, I appear to be an Irish immigrant, relocated to the wastelands of Ohio where I have written a number of novels, hundreds of short stories, and edited one or two anthologies. But I’m not sure how reliable that description is either. I might be omitting dark secrets for the sake of my public image.

2. Why horror?

Basically because I grew up on it. My mother had me watching horror movies when I was eight years of age, and shortly thereafter I started stealing and smuggling Stephen King books from wherever I could get them. I was hooked, and quickly decided I wanted to write the kind of stuff that scared other people as much as the horror I was reading scared me. That’s the short answer. The long one is pretty much the same, but with more vowels and an extra “the.”

3. What is your favorite type of story, the one thing that will guarantee you’ll pick up a book or a movie, even if you’ve never heard of it before–man’s inhumanity to man, zombies, vampires, aliens?

Siege stories. I love stories that trap the characters in a situation they’re unlikely to get out of due to the elements, or the nature of the confinement or antagonist. Think stories like Tim Lebbon’s “White”, Peter Crowther’s “Eater”, Dean Koontz’s INTENSITY, or movies like THE THING, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THE DESCENT, ALIEN, SAW, CUBE, etc. The claustrophobia adds an element to the horror that you can feel with or without the monsters. I also love the focus it forces on character, how the relationships devolve due to the entrapment.

I’m also particularly fond of psychological horror stories, in which you usually focus on a single character and how the horror comes from inside themselves, or the effect an outside antagonist has on their emotions, whether monster, ghost, or human.

4. You wrote a wovel online. What’s a wovel? How did it work out? Is the story still available to read for free? Is something else going to happen with it now that it’s done? How hard was it to write to people’s votes?

A wovel is an “web novel”. Basically I was hired to write a novel one chapter a week. Every chapter ended with a choice for the reader to decide what happened next. The choice that got the most votes would influence the next chapter. For example, a woman turns a gun on a character. Does she pull the trigger? The reader must decide. It was much like the choose your own adventure novels of yesteryear. And I had no idea how challenging it was going to be. Giving up creative control of a story is not something I’m used to, and although I enjoyed the interaction and the novelty of it all, I’m not sure I would do it again. If I did, I’d plan it better, as I’m not entirely sure the end result was all that successful, though the readers seemed to think so!

The story is no longer available online and there are no immediate plans to reprint it. But a new “wovel” is on the site now, written by the ferociously talented Jeremiah Jefferson. You can find it at UnderlandPress.com

5. The wovel, free reads on your website…you’re one of those wretched pixel-stained technopeasants aren’t you?

Yes. Considering the high prices my books go for upon release and then on the secondary market, I like to make free stuff available whenever possible, both as a thank you to those who shell out $40 or so at a time for my books when they come out, and for those who simply can’t afford that and who want to sample my work.

6. Are your books normally available in electronic format or only the free stuff? If they are, where do we find them?

I haven’t really looked into the electronic format until recently, so very little of it is available outside of the work I post myself on my website – www.kealanpatrickburke.com. But over the past few months, I’ve had a lot of readers write to me asking if my work is available for the Kindle, so I’m planning to ensure that happens now that there seems to be a demand for it.

7. What’s coming up for you? How are you stretching yourself as a writer?

To be honest, I’m not. Upheavals in my life over the past year or so have kept me away from the keyboard, so I haven’t written very much of anything. I’m gradually getting back to it, and looking forward to the release of a new novel this summer, entitled KIN, which is very different from anything I’ve written before. As regards stretching myself, well, I try to do a few jumping jacks in the morning, but there’s only so much you can do in an apartment with a low ceiling.

8. Tell us about “Peekers.” How is the movie different from the story? Did you write the screenplay? How did it feel having something of yours made into a movie? What happens to it after it’s finished with its film festival run–will we be able to see it?

While some of my stories put the majority of emphasis on character (sometimes at the expense of plot), this was created simply as a short, sharp, scare story. It’s about a man who is asked by his elderly neighbor to come see something at his house. He claims there’s something there that will make everyone think he’s crazy unless he has a witness. Begrudgingly, our main character agrees, and as is typical for this type of story, everything goes to hell from there.

There are small differences in the movie, things that were added, things that were left out, but for the most part, it stays pretty faithful to the story, and what it changes, it changes for the better. I didn’t write the screenplay. That was handled by veteran novelist Rick Hautala, and he did a wonderful job with it.

I’ve had quite a bit of movie interest in my work over the years, but little of it has come to anything, so I no longer get excited about it until there’s actually something to get excited about. With PEEKERS, I knew it was going to be a very low budget production, nothing flashy, and to be honest didn’t expect much from it. I was, however, very flattered that Mark Steensland liked it enough to want to film it, and in the end, I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the end product. So much so, that I was more than happy to let him option another story of mine for future production.

The film is slated for a DVD release as part of a compilation that features other short films by Mark Steensland and one directed by SFX maestro Tom Savini, sometime next year. Until then though, you can watch PEEKERS here: http://www.playwithme.tv.

9. If we could only buy one anthology you’ve edited, which should it be? Why? What makes it special?

TAVERNS OF THE DEAD, because it was my first, and because it was a dream come true for me. I’d fantasized about doing the book back when I was tending bar in Ireland, but never imagined it would come to fruition. And though it was a labor of love to get it done, it’s still the book I’m most proud of. It contains wonderful stories written by many of my literary heroes.

10. Assuming our readers have consumed everything available on your website, and bought at least two copies of every book you’ve published or edited, where would you send them to find great content on the web, horror or other? What are your favorite websites?

Shocklines.com or The Horror Mall are good sites at which you can find great horror by both up-and-coming writers and established professionals. There’s a wealth of wonderful stuff available there. Just make sure you have a few days free to sift through it all!