Next up in my series of interviews to celebrate the launch of the new anthology WRESTLE MANIACS is… James Newman!
Name: James Newman
Story Title: A Fiend In Need (A Nick Bullman Story)
Firstly, how would you pitch your story to potential readers?
“A Fiend In Need” is inspired by a real-life tragedy that occurred in the wrestling world a few years ago. Chris Benoit – a.k.a. “The Canadian Crippler” – murdered his family then took his own life. Benoit’s autopsy revealed that he had taken too many hits to the head with steel chairs through the years – not to mention struggles with steroid abuse and alcoholism – and as a result the damage to his brain was so severe it was comparative to that of someone suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s.
I thought it would be interesting for Nick “The Widowmaker” Bullman (the disfigured ex-wrestler from my novel UGLY AS SIN) to encounter a fellow like Benoit right when this all going down, as he’s preparing to do commit these terrible crimes against his loved ones. How would you deal with something like that, knowing that your friend has lost his mind and it’s up to you to save four innocent lives? That’s “A Fiend In Need.”
Did it turn out how you expected?
For the most part. I will say that it’s a lot more fun when the characters take over and tell the story themselves. Things don’t always go exactly like the writer thought they would, and that’s a good thing. Because if I’m surprised the reader will be too. Sometimes it’s like I’m just watching it all from nearby, dictating the events as they unfold. Love it when that happens.
What is the first wrestling match that you can recall watching?
I honestly can’t remember. I recall my dad watching wrestling a lot when I was a kid, and I know I shouldn’t admit this, since we’re promoting an anthology of wrestling-themed stories here – I hated it with a passion. I think my disdain for it was mostly due to dealing with bullies quite a bit when I was growing up, and back then said bullies loved nothing more than to use on their victims the latest moves they had seen their spandex-clad heroes do on TV. The “Russian sickle” was a fave. Unless you were on the receiving end of it.
My wife and I briefly got into watching wrestling in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. Pretty obsessively, in fact, which is weird considering I despised it when I was younger. We bought every Pay-Per-View, even went to a live event or two when the W.W.F. came to town, but then we suddenly got out of it again and I haven’t watched it in over a decade.
Do you have any favourite eras, or matches?
Like I said, I got into it very late in the game. There’s an unintentional pun in that last sentence, because the era my wife and I loved so much was when Triple H (“The Game”) and Stephanie McMahon were always battling with the Rock. When the sledgehammer came out, my eyes were glued to the TV. Triple H was such a great heel.
If you had to compare your fiction to any wrestler, who would it be and why?
The Rock. Because I like to think my stuff is bad-ass and ballsy, but at the same time pretty damned funny when it wants to be. Out of all the crazy stuff we’ve seen in the wrestling world through the years, I’m not sure there’s ever been a wrestler like the Rock who kept me laughing so hard. Man, he could cut a promo like nobody’s business.
Then again, there’s probably some Mick Foley in there too, as far as my fiction is concerned. It’s a tad schizophrenic, the way I’ve always tended to jump back and forth between various dark-fiction genres without concern for what it might do to my career.
Which of your fellow contributors would be most likely to win a Battle Royale?
Adam Howe. Because that fucker doesn’t stop. I have no doubt he’d be bleeding from a hideous gash in his brow after a deadline nearly decapitated him, bruised from head to toe after an all-night bout of word-slinging, feeling aches and pains in places he’d never felt them before following a hardcore editing session (“killing your darlings” is never easy, in fact it’s often brutal) . . . and through it all I’d be willing to bet he would have his kid on one hip. He never stops. Sumbitch is relentless, always has his eye on the ultimate prize.
Finally, do you have any additional publishing plans for 2017/18 and beyond?
By the end of 2017 there should be an official announcement from the publisher regarding my next release, a short novel called DOG DAYS O’ SUMMER. It’s a coming-of-age horror tale that I co-wrote with my friend Mark Allen Gunnells (author of FLOWERS IN THE DUMPSTER and THE QUARRY). Also, sometime within the next year or so, readers can expect to see a crazy-ass occult horror novel called SCAPEGOAT, co-written with the aforementioned last-man-standing himself, Adam Howe. Folks are gonna dig the hell out of it . . . and I should mention that ‘GOAT has a rasslin’ connection too, as it takes place on the night of Wrestlemania III.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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