Author Darren Speegle Discusses His New Novel, Defense Contracting, and the Future
Crystal Lake Publishing is one of the premier independent publishers on the market right now for horror and dark fiction, and their latest release, The Third Twin, is bound to go down as a treat with scare aficionados. While the story doesn’t quite adhere to the rules of any particular genre, those with an affinity for the macabre are bound to find it an exhilarating read.
Telling the story of an extreme sportsman named Barry whose family is terrorized by a figure known only as the “Elephant Man,’, The Third Twin follows our protagonist’s investigation as he tries to get to the bottom of a surreal mystery with potentially apocalyptic repercussions.
Recently I had the opportunity to interview the author, Darren Speegle, about his new book and some of the influences that inspire him as a writer.
Dread Central: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? When did you first start putting your imagination to the page?
Darren Speegle: I grew up in the South and have lived or worked in practically every corner of the world since. Alaska, Germany, the Middle East, Thailand (my current home). That’s the life arc part of it. The writing’s less wild. My parents were avid readers, and my father introduced me at an early age to some of the classics. When he realized I had a particular appetite for the likes of Tolkien, Verne, Wells, Poe, he expanded my horizons in that direction. Asimov, Clarke, Herbert were next.
I’m not sure where his suggestions left off and my own hunger for such material came in, but I was hooked on anything speculative. I started writing young. I think the first thing was a short Western – there had been some pulpier stuff and Louis L’Amour in my reading too – at age twelve maybe? In my teens I wrote a super-long epic fantasy. No idea what happened to that thing. It was in a box, like 1,500 pages of it, bouncing around for years, but somewhere along the way it disappeared.
DC: As a writer, who are some of your main influences and what are some of your favourite books?
DS: Tolkien was certainly one. When you’re young and in that dreamy world of his, if you have the writerly juices, they’re going to start flowing. Poe influenced some of my style early on, even in some of my early published works, before I understood I was living in a different century. Clive Barker introduced me to an even darker side of myself. And his beautiful language. And the fact that he didn’t justify, didn’t feel the need to explain the whys. He turned me to horror, there’s no question. And that’s where I made my mark early on. But I write a lot of science-fiction now as well. I left straight fantasy behind somewhere along the way. I like a range of literary artists, from Steinbeck to LeCarre to McCarthy to Barker to Le Guin to you name it. Le Carre’s A Small Town in Germany might be my favorite book. But with genre stuff, there’s so much good material out there anymore it’s hard to say. I have a deep place for Ramsey Campbell’s The Face that Must Die, Gene O’Neill’s Indigo Man. Laird Barron, Brian Evenson, John Langan, Jeffrey Ford, B.E. Scully, Damien Walters, Paul Meloy. The work being produced now is outstanding. I’m an anthologist, too, and it’s a pretty damn fine crop when you gauge who to solicit.
DC: You’ve had several books published now. Are there any you’re particularly proud of? Furthermore, what would be a good introductory point for new readers?
DS: I’m very proud of my PS Publishing collection, A Haunting in Germany and Other Stories. It’s the fifth of the five collections I’ve had published so far, contains all original material, and I believe represents a peak for me in terms of its literary content for that particular phase in my career. Gothic Wine and A Dirge for the Temporal, my first two, are favorites too.
DC: What can you tell our readers about The Third Twin?
DS: I can tell you it’s probably unlike anything you’ve read before. It’s not exactly horror, not exactly science-fiction, not exactly an occult mystery. It deals with family issues at first, then segues into darker territory, the harrowing suspense of knowing you are being targeted, as a family, by a man in an elephant mask who is looking for something that you don’t understand the meaning, much less allure of. Until the last, that is, when the final revelations prove to be about more than this world, more than the next. The Third Twin, in my mind, is a ladder-like journey into other, transcendental spheres. But what do I know? Brian Evenson, who wrote a brilliant intro for it, would probably know better than me. I wrote the thing working night shift as a defense contractor at a camp gate in Iraq with fireworks all around.
DC: Would you say your background in defense contracting has informed your writing at all?
DS: Absolutely. Especially in the last couple years. It took some time to come to terms with the thing enough to write about it. Not because of shell shock per se, but because war is serious business and should be dealt with accordingly. I always want to speak truth. I say that sometimes to contributors to my anthologies. Truth is more important than anything else. War certainly provides that opportunity, but it’s not easy until you’re completely comfortable with it. But in the last couple of years I’ve written at least three directly war-related pieces, which will be showing up soon.
DC: What projects do you have coming up next?
DS: My human evolution-themed anthology Adam’s Ladder (co-edited with Michael Bailey and featuring Laird Barron, Ramsey Campbell, Damien Angelica Walters, etc.) is due in the fall from Dark Regions Press. DR will also be doing my dark futuristic novel Artifacts. A new collection from Raw Dog Screaming Press, Cries from the Static, is due this year. I have a novella collaboration with Gene O’Neill coming in Chiral Mad 4. Ah, and Michael Bailey and I also have our anthology Prisms coming. Busy but lovely times.
The Third Twin is available to pick up now.
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