Four Questions with Wrath James White
If you’ve been paying attention to horror literature at all, then author Wrath James White needs no introduction.
Ahead of the CLASH Books Summer 2023 release of his collection, The Ecstasy of Agony, White was kind enough to stop by and share his thoughts on, among other topics, the differences between the Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror sub-genres. His insights are clear-eyed and powerful, and we are lucky for his visit to Tamika Talks Terror.
Tamika Thompson: What is horror?
Wrath James White: I would be repeating what so many others have already said to explain that horror is the evocation of visceral, primal emotions of fear, anxiety, distress, uneasiness, and disgust. It traverses many genres e.g. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thrillers, Mysteries, etc. But that's the answer you will get from anyone you ask.
What is horror?
Horror is reaching a hand into a dark room and groping for the light switch, worried about what might reach out from the dark to touch your hand.
Horror is the shadows under the bed, in the closet, the attic, the basement, and the fear of what those shadows might hide.
Horror is the palpable threat of violence in a stranger's eye, or even the eyes of a loved one.
It is the knife, the axe, the chainsaw, the claws, the teeth, cutting, slashing, ripping, tearing the helpless victims.
It is the eviscerated, exsanguinated, masticated aftermath of violence bleeding on the floor. It is the voice in the dark, the scraping, scratching, chittering, screaming, maniacally laughing sounds of the predators in the night.
I could go on, but hopefully you get the picture.
Thompson: What is the spookiest experience you've ever had?
White: I don't know that I've ever experienced anything you could rightfully term "spooky". I can recall seeing roadkill once when I was a kid that looked like a human baby with its head smashed. I tried to tell everyone what I had seen and they all insisted it must have been an opossum, but I had seen dead possums before, and this wasn't the same.
Thompson: What is the scariest book you've read and what about it frightened you?
White: When I was reading Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, there came a point in the book when I realized there wasn't going to be a happy ending, that everything wasn't going to work out okay for that little girl. Then I looked at the book and I still had a hundred pages left to read. I was filled with dread as I turned every page afterwards.
Thompson: You’ve been called the “heavyweight of hardcore horror.” And I once noticed you make the distinction between your tastes in Extreme Horror and Splatterpunk. What do you see as the difference between the two and how does that play out in your upcoming collection, The Ecstasy of Agony?
White: The pioneers of Splatterpunk were making a statement, rebelling against what was then the status quo. Their work had depth and meaning while also pushing the boundaries of what was permissible at the time in terms of sex and gore. They were going beyond the type of horror that was on the racks at the grocery store.
The subject matter was as transgressive as the graphic depictions. It wasn't the standard suburban or rural horror tales, the dark woods, spooky old house, small town horror.
These stories took place on subways and urban movie theaters. There was sex and violence that wasn't merely suggested, but graphically described, and there was social and political commentary.
That's how I still think of Splatterpunk, and that's what I still try to do with my writing. But that's not what Splatterpunk is anymore. Now, it's used to describe works that are just as gross as you can possibly make them. That are kind of silly and fun. That's not what I do. We used to call work like that Extreme Horror, and Edward Lee was sort of the godfather of that genre.
When I started writing, us new authors didn't dare use the term "Splatterpunk" out of reverence for the Skipp and Spectors, and Jack Ketchums, and Joe Lansdales, and David J. Schows who were the original Splatterpunks. We called ourselves Extreme Horror Writers. Now, the terms have sort of flipped. I'm not mad at it. Words change. Voluptuous used to mean hypersexual or overtly erotic. Now it's a code word for obesity. Words change. We evolve with it or we become the old curmudgeons stubbornly complaining about the loud music, the kids on the lawn, and how different it was in our day.
One of the things that does annoy the hell out of me is that Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror still get hit with that "gratuitous sex and violence" slur. It's how wannabe "literary" types try to elevate themselves by putting us down. I don't know about you, but I have had a lot of sex, and it was never gratuitous.
I don't think every gory, violent, gross, or erotic scene has to be absolutely necessary to the plot any more than a funny, or sad, or spooky, or joyful, or spiritually uplifting scene needs to necessarily advance the story. I don't think sex or gore needs any more justification than a humorous or inspirational scene does. If the intent of the writer was to gross you out, and they succeeded, then that was a good piece of writing in the same way as if the intent of the writer was to make you laugh or cry. No one ever talks about gratuitous humor or gratuitous happiness in a book. Only gratuitous sex and violence gets a bad rap. Fuck that. None of it is gratuitous if it achieves what the author set out to achieve.
Now, The Ecstasy of Agony is as violent and transgressive as anything I have written, but it is more Splatterpunk in the traditional sense of portraying the darkest, most violent, and disturbing aspects of life and humanity without pulling punches. I write because I have shit to say and the sex and violence is to get you to listen. I could write an essay about the objectification and fetishization of Black men, or I could write a story about a Black dude with the world's biggest dick fucking those who fetishize and objectify him to death with it. Which one do you think people are most likely to read?
I'm sure most of my readers have heard me say before that I don't leave much to the reader's imagination because I believe the reader is paying me for mine. So, don't expect that to have changed. The Ecstasy of Agony doesn't leave much to the reader's imagination. When they pick up one of my books, readers expect to see the perversity, and creativity, and horror, and eroticism in my head. And, dammit I'm going to give them what they are paying for.
Wrath James White is a former World Class Heavyweight Kickboxer, a professional Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts trainer, distance runner, performance artist, and former street brawler, who is now known for creating some of the most disturbing works of fiction in print. Wrath is the author of such extreme horror classics as The Ressurectionist (now a major motion picture titled "Come Back To Me") Succulent Prey, and it's sequel Prey Drive, Yaccub’s Curse, 400 Days of Oppression, Sacrifice, Voracious, To the Death, The Reaper, Skinzz, Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, The Book of a Thousand Sins, His Pain, Population Zero and many others. Wrath lives and works in Austin, TX.
