by Anthony Trevino
Scott Cole is one cool cat. I had the pleasure of meeting him at BizarroCon 2014 and he’s been an awesome friend ever since. His work makes me think of what if Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon made the jump from film to writing, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading SuperGhost yet, then get on that! It’s an excellent read that’s as scary as it is gut-bustingly funny.
Scott Cole is one cool cat. I had the pleasure of meeting him at BizarroCon 2014 and he’s been an awesome friend ever since. His work makes me think of what if Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon made the jump from film to writing, and if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading SuperGhost yet, then get on that! It’s an excellent read that’s as scary as it is gut-bustingly funny.
AT: So, to kick this off, I just wanted to say
thanks for taking the time to do this, and was the Frizzi 2 Fulci show as
awesome as I think it was?
SC: Thanks for asking me to take part!
Yeah, the Frizzi 2 Fulci thing was indeed pretty
great. I’ve been a Fulci fan for so many years, and the idea that I would be
able to hear the music from some of those classic films performed live is
something I never really expected I’d have an opportunity to experience. The
fact that they played my city as one of only 5 North American shows made it
feel even more special.
I got to see Goblin twice (2 different configurations
of the band) in 2013, so there was an odd sense of balance in my musical brain
getting to see Fabio Frizzi now.
If the rumors about John Carpenter touring soon
prove to be true, my head’s going to explode. Here, take this poncho.
AT: Oh, man, I’m so jealous. I had a similar
experience when I saw Faith No More in 2010. There’s this great surreal feeling
you get when something that never before seemed tangible suddenly becomes real.
If Carpenter tours for Lost Themes I’m going to line up at that venue now.
How’d you end up being a part of last year’s New
Bizarro Author Series?
SC: I had been wanting to submit something for a while,
but really never felt comfortable writing something longer than a few thousand
words. I had always just considered myself a short story writer. I figured it
out eventually, though. And once I did, I started coming up with tons of
longer-form ideas.
Anyway, I finished the first draft of SuperGhost just before heading to my
first BizarroCon in 2013. When I was there, I sort of inadvertently pitched the
book to Spike Marlowe, and a couple months later, after some revisions, I sent
her my official, more formal pitch. She liked it, and we moved forward from
there. Next thing I knew, I was at my second BizarroCon launching my first book
and thinking of ways to promote it.
The entire NBAS experience has been a great one. Now
I’m looking forward to the incoming group of books, yours included.
AT: Thanks, that’s great to hear, man. I think you
knocked it out of the park with SuperGhost.
For a book about a giant incorporeal Frankenstein’s monster and ice cream it’s
as funny as it is horrifying.
Let’s talk a little bit about promotion. I know
you’ve been hitting the pavement pretty hard in terms of spreading the word. So,
looking back on last year, how was your experience promoting the book? Also, do
you have any phantom gummy arms left?
SC: Thanks, man! I’m glad SuperGhost has struck a
chord with as many people as it has. It was a lot of fun to write, and I’m
really happy with the way it turned out.
Promoting the book has been a lot of fun, too, but
also a little tricky, in that you need to find the right balance between
getting the word out, but not being too spammy about it on social media. I tried a bunch of different things—some were more
successful than others, and some were more exciting than others. But it was fun
getting a little press, doing interviews, vending at cons, and also coming up
with contests and small scale tie-in products.
I’m a fan of weird toys and cool limited edition
trinkets, so I knew I had to do something along those lines for SuperGhost. One thing I did, which you
mentioned, was to create limited edition SuperGhost candy. It’s actually a hard candy in the shape of a hand and arm that I had a local company produce, and then I designed a header card to make it look like
something you might buy off a rack in a store. I had a few of them with me at last year’s BizarroCon, which I gave away at my reading/performance (people had to drink shots of “Super” Ghost Pepper hot sauce to win them). The rest have been doled out as prizes over the course of the past year. They’re all gone now, I’m afraid.
I also had Killin’ Me Softly design and produce
super-crazy-limited edition plush SuperGhost keychains, which turned out really cool. Those were available as prizes in the recent SuperGhost September contest.
AT: Damn, I should have taken that pepper sauce
challenge. Oh, well, my stomach is weaker than rice paper anyway.
So, with all these great promotional items and the SuperGhost September contest, it looks
like you had the promotional aspect on lock down. Was there anything you
weren’t able to do to get the word out there, but really wanted to?
SC: Before deciding to do the candy, I originally
wanted to get little glow-in-the-dark plastic phantom limb keychains made—actually,
I found a number of people willing to do them for large amounts of money, and
one person who could do it for a reasonable cost, but simply didn’t have time.
I might have to revisit this sort of idea in the future.
I also teamed up with Little Baby’s Ice Cream for a
co-promotional giveaway thing over the summer. I had hoped to convince them to
do a SuperGhost flavor, but unfortunately, time and logistics were against us.
Other than that, there was certainly some press I
hoped to get that just didn’t pan out, and some scheduling things that didn’t
work out. But for the most part, I did what I could and had fun doing it.
AT: If the keychains ever do work out, I’ll take
five! All things considered, I think you’ve done an amazing job getting the
word out there, man. Kudos.
What words of wisdom would you like to pass on to
this year’s NBASers?
SC: Think big. Be cool. Promote who you are as much
as, if not more than, the books you’re trying to sell. Work together. Support
and promote each other. Use the fact there are 9 of you and the fact that you’re spread across several
different continents to your advantage. Know that there will be times of doubt
and frustration, and be prepared to push through them. Have fun.
AT: One more question and I think we can wrap it up.
It’s a bit generic, but since I loved SuperGhost,
I wanted to ask what do you have in store for us next?
SC: At the moment I’ve got a few different things in
the works, but I generally don’t like to reveal too much about
works-in-progress until they’re essentially finished. That said, if you like
weird horror and grindhouse movies and 80s sci-fi/action stuff, you’ll probably
like what I’m cooking up for the future.
AT: Totally understand. I’m sold based on that short
teaser alone. All right, Scott. Thanks again for taking the time to do this!
SC: No problem. Thanks so much for asking me to take
part. And best of luck to you and the rest of the New Bizarro Authors.