Name: Nathan Crowder
Author of: “The Fishwives of Sean Brolly”
Age: 41
Geographic Location: Seattle, Washington
Original Hometown, if different: Durango, Colorado
Twitter: @Natecrowder
Website: http://nathancrowder.com
Past publications: Short fiction — “Fists of Felt” in Byzarium, “Ink Calls to Ink” and “Memory in the Time of Bones” at WilyWriters.com, “Deacon Carter’s Last Dime” in Crossed Genres and in Crossed Genres Year One, “None Left Behind” in Absent Willow Review, “Frames of Reference” in Close Encounters of the Urban Kind, “The War at Home” in Cobalt City Timeslip, “Kid Gloves” in Thug Lit, “Dancing Tonight! Live Music!” in Rigor Amortis
What’s your favorite H.P. Lovecraft story or other Mythos story? “Pickman’s Model”
What comes to mind when you think “Lovecraft” + “Erotica”? The scene in the movie Dagon when the “local girl” whips back her bedding to show her tentacle legs…her hot, tentacle legs.
How did you hear about Cthulhurotica? The usual suspects on Twitter.
What inspired your story? The fishwives were very, very fringe characters from another unfinished story, crossed with lingering memories of some unhealthy personal relationships that were nowhere near as bad as depicted in my story.
What music or movies helped you to write this story? The soundtrack to the movie City of Lost Children was strangely compelling, and comes to mind when I close my eyes and think of the story.
How many rewrites did you do before submitting? Three – one specifically to add in more sensory detail to the individual paragraphs, and one to remove a confusing framing device/flashback and smooth it over so it didn’t leave a scar.
What is your favorite bit?
That’s an easy one.
“I’m not a freak. I just know what I like.”
I think that really sums up the core of the character as he reaches that revelation.
…hot tentacle legs. I love that. Great interview Nathan. Thats quite a list of fiction you have there. Im really looking forward to reading your story and checking out some of your other work. Your website is a good read also i might add.
Great interview! I’m looking forward to reading your story in the anthology.
I had the pleasure of reading this to a group of people at the Foolscap convention last night. Though I’m pretty sure some people might have walked away scarred for life, it was very well received. I can hardly wait for the finished book!
Scarred for life!? I might just have to read that one first.
I love that quote from the story. I love the inspiration for it in general (hot tentacle legs!), but the quote just put the nail in the–er, coffin.