Many things have landed at my door, lately. On Monday, the arthritic vampire from the down the hallway paused by my apartment to compose himself – and then couldn’t move an inch for three days! Yesterday, I went to grab a Pomegranate Rip-It, my life blood, at the convenience store in the lobby and tripped over the remains of Hilda, one of the lesbian prostitute nuns who raised me. (Oh, those tangled, blood stained maternal coils!) Thankfully, exquisite author Adrian Lilly is luckier than I. His latest novel is titled The Wolf at His Door and it sounds like a scintillating wonder. Proving that point, Lilly, recently, joined me in a lively chat about his woolly literary pursuits and his love of horror.
BGHF: Hey, Adrian! Let’s do a more interesting take on Maria Van Trapp – and start at the very beginning! What first got you interested in horror?
Adrian: My first horror story was a brutal, little story about a family getting murdered; I wrote that in the first grade. Later, in a computer programming class in middle school, my friends and I programmed a choose-your-own adventure horror/murder game, where the character’s sister went mad and was killing everyone. In short, I’ve always loved horror. Starting when I was really little, my mom and I would stay up and watch all the classic horror on the late, late show — Beyond the Door, Exorcist, The Shining, less-than-memorable Hammer films, and many others.
BGHF: Cool! So, was it always your intention to be a writer or did you just fall into it?
Adrian: I’ve always been a reader and a writer. I love both. I briefly detoured in college when I planned to be a marine biologist. Then, about half-way through college, I switched to creative writing. I’ve never looked back.
BGHF: That could be dangerous in a slasher flick! Are werewolves your favorite creatures?
Adrian: I’m a sucker for werewolf horror but not just the I-just-changed-into-a-lame-wolf werewolves. I really love the half-human monsters—The Howling, American Werewolf in London and the like. Okay, so I actually also love zombies, vampires, and just crazy beasts, too. I pretty much like all monsters.
BGHF: I love them all, too. Well, expect for the ones I wind up dating, of course!! Can you tell us about The Wolf at His Door? And – What is your take on gay themed horror in movies and literature? I, myself, almost prefer films and books that contain strong queer characters as opposed to works that are completely gay oriented. (They often seem to apply to the lowest common denominator and focus on sex. I don’t think throwing some blood on a former porn star and calling it a horror film really qualifies.)
Adrian: The Wolf at His Door is your everyday world—people like your friends and neighbors—thrust into a maelstrom of lycanthropic horror. The Runes family is at the center of the novel, with secrets of their own, that threaten to destroy them. As the body count rises, Alec Rune begins to suspect his new boyfriend, Jared, may know more about the werewolves than he’s admitting; only adding to the tension.
In The Wolf at His Door, I more fully explore the spectrum of sexuality, with gay, straight, and bisexual love/sex scenes. I try to create a world that more closely approximates the one we live in. As an author, I don’t ignore that the gay characters have straight family members and friends. So, for me, it’s important to create a world that isn’t only inhabited by a narrow definition of gay.
BGHF: Brilliant! Are you working on anything else, currently, that you would like us to know about?
Adrian: I’m the type who works on a few things at once. The second book in The Runes Trilogy, The Wolf in His Arms, will be out in early 2014. I’m also working on a series called The BlackBird Mysteries. Daniel Black and Pete Bird, the main characters, have no choice but to work together to solve supernatural mysteries, despite not liking each other very much (or at least despite the crazy sexual tension). There’s a good deal of camp in these, so they’re a little lighter than most of my work. The first in the series is called Last Will and (De)testament. If anyone wants to know more, they can follow me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/adrianwlilly – friend me on Goodreads (there are a number of reader reviews there) or find me on Google+. I’m completely open to questions, so that would be cool.
BGHF: Awesome! Thanks, Adrian!
You can purchase The Wolf at His Door for a mere $3.99 at Amazon, as well!:
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan
Big Gay Horror Fan 