Horror Q&A: Gustavo Bondoni (Something Wicked This Way Rides)
“My stories are mainly driven by ideas—weird, cool, frightening, whatever.”
Gustavo Bondoni was born in Argentina, which, he believes, makes him one of the few—if not the only—Argentinean fiction writers writing primarily in English. His fiction spans the range from science fiction to mainstream stories, passing through sword & sorcery and magic realism along the way, and it has been published in fourteen countries and seven languages to date.
His story “Borrowed Gods” appears in the Western-horror anthology Something Wicked Thus Way Rides. In this exclusive interview, Gustavo tells Monster Complex how he approached his story, the inspiration for “Borrowed Gods,” and how the story compares to his other fiction.
More in this interview series:
Q #1 Gustavo, what’s your favorite thing about mashing up horror with the Old West?
It allows us to play with situations and tropes that aren’t quite as frequent in horror as others. For every Wild West horror story, there are a dozen satanic rituals or urban serial killers.
Q#2 Did you approach your story as a western story with elements of horror—or vice versa?
Definitely a western with elements of horror. In fact, the story would never have worked in a different setting.
Q#3 What inspired this particular story, “Borrowed Gods”?
To me, the Old West and steam trains are intimately linked, so when I started thinking of the story, I knew there had to be a train in it. For some reason, I thought of Bloch’s Hell-bound train (although that one wasn’t a western) and thought… what if the train was coming from hell instead of going there? And the story went from there.
Q #4 How does your story in this anthology, Something Wicked This Way Rides, compare or contrast with your usual fiction?
I don’t do many westerns, but other than that, it’s a good example of the kind of stuff that comes into my head. My stories are mainly driven by ideas—weird, cool, frightening, whatever. These ideas pose questions I want to know the answer to. So I explore them as I write.
Q #5 What do you want tell Monster Complex readers about your latest or upcoming work?
I love monsters, too! I have recently published the fourth novel in a series of loosely linked monster books in which rogue geneticists are selling dinosaurs and other large monsters to different villainous groups. The latest is called Lost Island Rampage but, since each stands alone, readers can start at any point. The three before it are titled Ice Station Death, Jungle Lab Terror and Test Site Horror.
FIND THE AUTHOR ONLINE
http://gustavobondoni.com
ABOUT THE BOOK
Something Wicked This Way Rides
An anthology of weird westerns and genre fiction in the Wild West
Click here for the Goodreads page!
This book is appropriate for teenagers.
The anthology Something Wicked This Way Rides explores the Old West with a skewed view, showcasing the weird western genre through stories that explore the peculiar and fantastic, the wicked that was and could have been. Experience spiritual nightmares, mythical monsters, cosmic outlaws, discerning gods, and science run amok. Even the North Pole Security Division isn't immune to the supernatural strangeness that stalks the late 1800s. In the tradition of pulp and western stories of a bygone era, these are thirty tales to intrigue, amaze, and perhaps downright spook readers out of their boots.
Includes stories from:
Gustavo Bondoni
Marilyn "Mattie" Brahen
Kenneth Bykerk
Dwain Campbell
Gregg Chamberlain
Vonnie Winslow Crist
Stuart Croskell
Lawrence Dagstine
J.B. Dane
Kevin M. Folliard
John A. Frochio
Steve Gladwin
L.L. Hill
Adrian Ludens
Stefan Markos
Jonathon Mast
Gregory L. Norris
Q Parker
Peter Prellwitz
John B. Rosenman
Alistair Rey
Darrell Schweitzer
Bradley H. Sinor
Matias Travieso-Diaz
Charles Wilkinson
Martin Zeigler
RELATED LINKS
Horror Author Q&A: John S. McFarland (The Dark Walk Forward)
Horror Author Q&A: Laura J Campbell (No Lesser Angels, No Greater Devils)
