BarkerCast Recap: Stephen Jones (#464)

In Episode #464 of the @BarkerCast, we had the pleasure of speaking with Stephen Jones, a renowned editor and author in the world of Horror fiction. With decades of experience in movie journalism and the publishing industry, Stephen has worked on countless anthologies like The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror for decades, created The Lovecraft Squad, and many other collections and original works, contributing significantly to the genre and the culture. He has published an impressive array of authors in his anthologies, including renowned figures such as Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Peter Straub, Stephen King, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Poppy Z. Brite, Brian Lumley, Robert Silverberg, Lisa Tuttle, David J. Schow, Dennis Etchison, Richard Matheson, Tanith Lee, and Michael Marshall Smith, all of whom have contributed to the rich legacy of horror and dark fantasy literature.

We delved into his journey from the days of being a young avid fan of DC Comics, fascinated with the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft, cinema and comics or magazines like Castle of Frankenstein; then got into television and journalism and became unit publicist for movies, after a life-changing conversation with John Carpenter on set at Big Trouble in Little China. The first project he worked as unit publicist was of course Hellraiser after conversations with Clive and Chris Figg, and he would go on to work on Hellbound and Hell on Earth, as well as Nightbreed for example – among other movies. As Unit Publicist he strived to be a kind of liaison between producers and the artists, making sure that the strategy with the media presented and promoted the movie in the best possible way, bringing in journalists on set and setting up an authentication system with badges, creating the press kits, etc.

Throughout this time also working as an editor, he addressed some of the challenges of curating stories, balancing between older established voices and new author voices, consuming vast amounts of stories daily and shared insightful anecdotes from his collaborations with well-known authors, as well as some behind-the-scenes intricacies of editing horror fiction.

He also gave us a preview for his latest book, to be published by the end of the month, VideoTapes From Hell — the foreword on this was written by Joe Dante, and various chapters including articles by Pete Atkins, Mick Garris, Ramsey Campbell, Sir Christopher Frayling ,Stephen King, Kim Newman, Adam Simon, Stephen R. Bissette, and many more! If you grew up watching tapes, or collect them now, this is a great resource to learn more about these movies and the various releases, and enjoy taking a trip to a time when all you needed was the smell of popcorn and a CRT TV in a dark room playing your favorite movie on VHS.

If you have been following our series of commentaries for most of the movies references in Clive Barker’s A-Z of Horror, we also dove into the story behind the BBC show and companion book.

Kudos for Ryan for starting the invite chat and making the episode happen in a matter of days! Stephen was generous enough to share his time with us from 5 to 7 PM (on a Saturday!) at which time he left for dinner but he was very willing to return, so we’d love to continue this conversation soon. We definitely have a lot of meat left on the bone to pick at… and we’re still hungry!

Whether you’re an aspiring writer, editor, or simply a fan of the genre, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into Stephen Jones, a master of horror and an influential scholar.

Thanks for Listening.

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