 Okay, I know I said my next video was gonna be a dapper history, and that's still coming up. I'm just finishing the script, but something much more exciting has happened in the meantime. So if you watched my last video, you'll know I talked about the book Dead Inside by Chandler Morris. You know the one about the necrophiliac and the cannibal getting into hijinks? Well, guess what? I interviewed him. Chandler Morris and the author. I got an interview with him. I don't know if it's like an official interview because it happened in Twitter DMs, but I asked him questions and he answered them. I will now read the DMs to you. Fair warning. I will have to read both the parts of myself and Chandler. I tried to get my dad to play ball and like read his messages, so it would feel like an actual interview, but that was not happening. No. I am not reading that crap. You don't even have to show your face or anything. I am not reading the works of some pedophile. Well, he's a necrophiliac. He's not- well, he's not the- I'm disturbed that you're even reading that crap. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hear me out, though. Hear me out. I- no, I'm junky. Okay, let me set the scene. The time? 1.26 a.m. I am a red wine drunk on a Thursday night, having the time of my life, not a single inhibition in my entire body. While in my drunken stupor, I discovered that Chandler Morrison has a Twitter account, and his DMs are open. I'm going in. Our interview begins. I open with, I reviewed your book, King. I really enjoyed it. Someday I want you to sign my copy of Dead Inside. I then passed out, but when I woke, there was a response. Thank you. I enjoyed your review. It was smart and nuanced in a way many reviews often are not. Was sorry to hear you weren't a fan of the ending, but you're correct in your assumption that the intent was to reflect that people don't change, and the world is a bleak, terrible place filled with awful people. I respond. Thank you for responding, and thanks for clarifying the ending. Honestly, that helps me to understand it better. I can't wait to read what you write in the future. Thank you. I've been gradually moving away from the horror genre because I've always considered myself more of a satirist than anything, and I've gotten sick of the shock jock edge lord label that mistakenly gets applied to me. In the meantime, you might enjoy Along the Path of Torment. It's also pretty disturbing, but I consider it to be my best published work to date. Like any good journalist, I have to know more. When do you think you got labeled as an edge lord? Was it mostly in response to Dead Inside, or have you been getting in trouble another way? It's almost entirely Dead Inside. A few of my other books have sparked conversation like that, but none so much as Dead Inside. There's a lot of, obviously, he just wrote that book to shock people. But I don't care about shocking people. That's never my intent. And honestly, it surprises me that people got that takeaway from Dead Inside, because it's deliberately ridiculous to the point that it's not even realistic. It's supposed to be so absurd that you kind of laugh at it. I was really making fun of movies like a Serbian film, not trying to emulate them. And so it always sort of baffles me that so many people take it seriously enough to be shocked by it. Okay, that's actually interesting, because I read it as a comedy, and that's why I think I enjoyed it so much. I laughed out loud multiple times reading it because of the absurdity. It's probably that the vast majority of people can't see the comedy because it's impossible to get past the violence and offensive content. Yeah, I think the people who read it totally straight are going to have a much different and less enjoyable time with it. Like even the twist at the end isn't really supposed to be a twist. It should be obvious, but the narrator's perception is so limited by his narrow view of things that he remains totally oblivious until it's too late. The plot was thickening before my eyes. Oh my god, okay, that actually helps me enjoy the story more. Because at the end, when the twist was revealed, all I could think was, how did he not see that coming? I hadn't even considered the possibility that it's because he's an idiot. At this point, I decided to seal a deal and make it official. Since this is already sort of a Q&A, could I ask you some more questions about yourself and your writing, and quote them in a video? If not, it's okay. Which he agreed to, he answered all of my questions, so here is the official Q&A. What is your least favorite literary trope? Additionally, what kinds of books can you just not stand? It's funny, the books I'm not a fan of are the same types of books a lot of people accuse me of writing, i.e., sordid nastiness without purpose or substance. At the risk of sounding like a pretentious snob, any violence or depravity in my work is rooted in some sort of satirical element. It always serves a purpose grander than shock value. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with those kinds of books, plenty of people love them, but they just don't interest me. Shock typically fades as quickly as it's aroused. It's an extremely temporary sensation. I'm interested in art that goes deeper than that, and leaves people with something permanent. Do you have any advice for other independent authors? Style and voice are everything. The market is completely oversaturated with content. It seems like everyone's written a book and you're not going to be too hard-pressed to find someone who's willing to publish it. What makes an author stand out is having a unique idiosyncratic voice that's easily recognizable from one book to the next. The best writers are the ones whose books I can open and know exactly who wrote it without having to look at the name on the top of the page. Do you have anything you'd like to tell fans of your work? Anything you'd like to tell the people who hate your work? I am hugely appreciative of all my fans and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. I never expected Dead Inside to be the kind of a runaway success that it wound up being. I thought maybe a couple hundred people would read it, so it never ceases to amaze me when my publisher sends me the sales numbers each month. As for the people who hate my work, I don't know. I mean, they're entitled to their opinion. I don't write for universal adoration. It always surprises me when people have these viscerally negative reactions to it, though. Like, it's fiction. It's not real. And the vitriol towards Dead Inside is particularly perplexing to me. I never anticipated that people would take it so seriously. The whole premise is intentionally kind of ridiculous and you're not supposed to read it totally straight. I see a lot of people compare it to a Serbian film, which is odd because I was making fun of that kind of movie when I wrote Dead Inside. Even the nastiest parts of the book are so blatantly over the top and excessive that I'm not sure why anyone would interpret it as anything other than tongue-in-cheek. It's basically an extended version of the aristocrat's joke. Just wrapped up in a very cynical takedown of modern relationships and the roles people are expected to inhabit. Can you tell me anything about your upcoming work? I have a book coming out later this year that I can't say too much about yet. But I expect the announcement is imminent. It's something about departure from my past work and that it's more of a literary novel without any genre trappings. There's not any violence or horror in it at all. It deals with a lot of similar themes that I think people have come to expect from me, just without being so abrasive and in your face. I felt for a while now that I've been put into this extreme horror box and I never considered myself to be an extreme horror author. From the beginning, I've always labeled myself a satirist. Even the transgressive label makes me bristle a bit. But because of my reputation, I've, to varying degrees, been playing into those labels with each book. Simply because I felt like that was what's expected of me. With this new book, though, I set out to write what I wanted to write. Expectations be damned. I think the finished product will ultimately please most of my current fan base, even if it's different from what they're each seeing from me, at least in terms of content. While also appealing to certain subsets of readers who might have steered clear of my past work. What's your opinion of spoilers? Do they ruin a story or are people being overdramatic about it? I ask this question only because I have very strong feelings about spoilers. This shit matters to me. Personally, I don't care about spoilers all that much. For me, the story is the least interesting aspect of any narrative work. Style, mood, atmosphere, voice, that's what's interesting to me. The story is just something to move your characters from one scene to the next. I think if the strength of your work hinges upon some kind of plot reveal, then the work really isn't as strong to begin with. But that's just me. I know a lot of people disagree with that. And for many, story is everything. It's what you're looking for when you pick up a book or turn on a movie. So I understand why spoilers are such a hot button issue for so many. But to me, it's a non-issue. Could you recommend any other independent authors that you think deserve more exposure? Oh, there's so many. Autumn Christian, Gabriel Hart, Elizabeth Victoria Aldrich, HLR, Lindsey Lerman, Regina Watts, Thea Hashishnahovic, Tex Grism, Anderson Prunty, C.V. Hunt, Lucas Mangrum, Stefan J. Golds, Ryan Harding, Nicole Ejner, Wes Southerd, Max Booth III, Wile E. Young, Janisar, just to name a few. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone. And that's really where the official interview ended. I just want to say a huge thank you to Chandler Morrison. He didn't have to answer any of my questions at all. And he was very polite and understanding about it. I mean, I'm looking forward to reading his other works and the works of these other independent authors that you will see on the screen here. And I want to thank you all so much for watching. New Daffer history coming soon. Subscribe if you want to. Done if you don't. Who gives a fuck? Go read a book.