Interview: Michael Aronovitz

I recently reviewed Alice Walks, a great contemporary ghost story. Michael Aronovitz was kind enough to answer a few questions for readers.



How did you get started in writing horror fiction? What first attracted you to horror/the weird?

I started writing horror fiction because of Stephen King.  I was never a big reader, but he interested me.  At first, I thought it was just the gripping shock value that kept me engaged.  As I grew older, I reasoned that it was King's "familiar" voice and ability to develop character, but now I realize it was always a bit more.  The horror genre provides the writer the opportunity to take characters and put them in moral dilemmas they would not face in real life.  The supernatural element also opens the door to temporal issues that more standard realistic fiction can not.  Therefore, in the the end, I suppose the horror genre becomes a vehicle for character development, which drives a good read.  Moreover, I like scary shit.  It is fun.  I don't see horror as a "genre," but more a necessary element that moves plot action.  It is a spice.  Remember trying to listen to classic rock on CDs?  It sounded empty, no salt or something, and we all went to the antique specialty shop and bought turntables for our old vinyl.  A story without a horror element is a classic rock CD.  I prefer the I-pod, played on volume 10.  The downside occurs when the artist in question depends on the spice for story.  One can not eat a bowl of salt. 



Alice Walks serves as an excellent example of a ghost story. It not only sets a creepy mood, but the ghost in the story is much more complex and active than the Gothic ghosts of old. What were your inspirations for this story, and how did you go about approaching the ghost story in this manner?

"Alice Walks" was not conceived with the idea that I was going to upgrade the traditional ghost story, nor revive it.  Though I do have a masters in literature, I am no historical expert and I would not feel qualified for such a venture (I am a modernist, thesis work in Hemingway).  I don't outline my fiction, because often the story changes a bit as it progresses and I want to leave room.  On the other side of that coin, I rarely just "go" with no idea in mind.  I usually begin with a horrific yet beautiful image and build a story around it so that visual can take place somewhere in the timeline with meaning.  Before starting I also usually have a point A to B and maybe C, but little more, maybe the ending.  I have only been able to come up with something without any prior planning twice.  The first was "The Echo," featured in my collection "The Voices in Our Heads," Horrified Press, February, 2014, and again one Saturday last winter during break when I wrote a piece of flash fiction titled "The Matriarch" in one sitting.  (Still up on Bosley Gravel's Cavalcade of Terror site for free).  I am currently 30,000 words in on the Matriarch novel, but back to "Alice," I initially wanted to do some sort of play on the "Bloody Mary" legend.  All I knew about it was that one said her name three times while looking in the mirror and she would show up in the background.  The image that formed in my head was a graveyard in the winter time at night, a girl-figure of maybe 14 of greenish tint floating between the headstones in her burial dress.  Then some boys who awakened her throw rocks in a loose religious allusion, causing symbolic blood to flow from her.  Once I figured out a fictional scenario to make that occur, I had the premise for "Alice Walks."



You are, or were, a teacher and some of your works that I have read (Alice Walks, How Bria Died) both heavily involve schools and teachers. How has working in education affected your fiction?

The field of education provides a wonderful influence for my writing.  First, from a standpoint of being behind the scenes, I read student fiction and composition constantly.  This keeps me in tune to what people are thinking and the avenues they use to develop argumentation.  This is important, because a paper is simply an exercise in manipulating one's own logical fallacies into what should be read as a "truth," while exposing the flaws in the invisible opponent's platform.  Fiction requires its writer to prove a reality in a similar manner, just delivered through a different voice.  Also, there is just an endless character bank to draw on in the classroom.  To top it off, anything classroom oriented provides a familiarity we all share, while also yielding fictive boundaries built for suspense.  We all know from our fiction classes that time limitation mixed with a "crucible" of sorts (a literal or metaphorical trap) causes an almost automatic sense of the dramatic.  Well, a classroom is a requirement that is a strange enclosed space where the players are meant to sit still when they really don't want to most of the time.  There's even a bell, as in a boxing ring, letting them know when the drama begins and ends.  What could be more perfect?



What scares you?

Ha.  I can tell you what does not scare me.  Ghosts, monsters, haunted houses, and graveyards. Horror books and horror movies do not scare me either.  The things that scare me are far more personal.  Mediocrity.  Apathy (from others...meaning I write and no one listens).  Making mistakes that leave stains.



What are your personal favorite horror/weird fiction novels/stories? How about films?

This is an easy one.  Favorite books: The Stand, Christine, Hannibal, Night Shift, Misery, parts of Dreamcatcher.  Favorite films: Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Halloween 1.  Favorite TV Show: Trilogy of Terror (just the Karen Black segment).



With one collection out (Seven Deadly Pleasures, Hippocampus Press) and one novel (Alice Walks, Centipede Press) you have already built a reputation. What can readers expect from you in the future?

This is going to be a big year for me.  I have "Alice Walks" available through Centipede Press currently, and my old collection "Seven Deadly Pleasures" through Hippocampus.  In February of 2014, my dark collection "The Voices in Our Heads" will be released by Horrified Press in the UK, and Hippocampus is shooting for as early as April, 2014 to publish my dark apocalyptic novel "The Witch of the Wood."  My hard hitting "true crime" leading to the supernatural piece "The Matriarch" will be completed most probably by Christmas. 

Review: Alice Walks by Michael Aronovitz

Barring religious and mythological texts, the oldest form of horror tale is that of the ghost story. Mankind has always been fascinated with spirits and the afterlife, and every culture not only has their own idea of what happens to us after we die, but every culture also has their own idea of ghosts.

Ghost stories in Western culture became popular in the Victorian era, with writers such as Le Fanu. The turn of the century saw a rise in spiritualism, and an even bigger rise in the ghost story. M.R. James, Oliver Onions, and Algernon Blackwood all helped foster the ghost story even further.

Now, early on in the 21^st century, ghosts still remain as popular as ever. I can’t even turn on the TV without finding it riddled with ghost-hunting shows, or shows like Paranormal Witness, where people share their experiences while actors recreate key scenes. Horror cinema is much the same, with ghost films seeing another rise in popularity due to movies such as Paranormal Activity and The Conjuring. Publishers seem to be jumping on this opportunity as well, in the last two-three years alone I could easily name five or more anthologies all dealing with hauntings and ghosts, helmed by many of the big-name editors including Ellen Datlow, Stephen Jones and Paula Guran, and there’s definitely no shortage of novels dealing with the subject either.

Readers may wonder why I’ve included such a lengthy opening talking about ghost stories without getting to the review. The reason is simple: it has to be understood that the industry is flooded with ghost fiction. Some use time-worn tropes but are written well enough that they are worth reading. Some take the concept of ghosts in radical new directions, making for a fresh take on the genre. Michael Aronovitz’s Alice Walks does a bit of both.

I came across this book on a recommendation by my friend CM Muller. It didn’t hurt that the book was published by Centipede Press either, as Centipede Press is pretty much synonymous with quality. I went through this book rather quickly, and putting it down to head into work was a struggle. 

Alice Walks takes place in a Pennsylvania suburb in the 1970s. The book’s narrator, now an older man suffering from health problems in modern time, is passing his story on to his son. Michael, the narrator, relates the life-changing events that took place during the winter of his own fourteenth year, when he and two friends go playing around in the cemetery his father works and awaken the spirit of a girl their own age that rather recently died. Things escalate from there.

Aronovitz does a masterful job at conveying character and setting. His characters are believable, and he easily puts the reader in the shoes of Michael, who is a rather average fourteen year old boy. The emotional weight that Michael feels every day in his household, due to his father’s shameful suspension from a teaching career over dubious circumstances, has a very authentic feel to it.

When it comes to the ghost, Aronovitz also does something fresh. Alice is a very interesting ghost as far as ghosts go. Many times ghost stories can lose their sense of terror by the end, when the ghost usually becomes a sympathetic figure. The reader finds out that the ghost responsible for all the spooky moments was a murder victim, trying to gain closure and finally be at peace. Aronovitz does something much different with Alice, who goes from evoking terror, to being a sympathetic figure, and then back to evoking terror. Alice’s motivations are different from the norm, and this keeps the story very interesting, as the reader never knows what to expect.

Alice Walks is a shorter novel, and Aronovitz has a strong sense of pace, never allowing the story to slow down or become overburdened and bloated. This sense of focus, combined with an excellent sense of character and setting, as well as an original take on the ghost, make for an excellent debut and marks Aronovitz as a writer to watch. Being a Centipede Press book, the novel's price tag is heftier than average, but it’s worth every penny.

The novel can be bought HERE.