DERANGED, a horror/bizarro anthology from 6K Press certain to make your toes curl in unexpected ways, is available for pre-order and drops tomorrow, December 16, 2019.

But what about the authors included in it? Wouldn’t you like to tear their clothes off and expose the sickos responsible for such vile (yet oddly tantalizing) extreme kink stories?

We thought you would, so drop your drawers and grab your ankles with us. It’s about to get sticky.

DERANGED 5-QUESTION QUICKIE INTERVIEW: ANTONIO SIMON, JR.

Antonio Simon, Jr. is an award-winning multi-genre author, with several books and over thirty short stories published. His debut novel, The Gullwing Odyssey, was an instant hit, attaining the number five spot on Amazon’s Kindle Bestsellers of 2014. He is one of the founders of Darkwater Syndicate, an independent publisher in Miami, Florida, and has been involved in the company’s operations since its inception in 2008.

DERANGED: “Dogfaced Eve” by Antonio Simon, Jr.

Editors: If you were a sexual position, which one would you be and why?

Antonio Simon, Jr.: Oh, so this is how we’re going to start, is it? I don’t think I can sum up my existence into quite so neat and tidy a definition, so I’ll take a pass on this one.

Is the Kama Sutra the ultimate bedroom playbook, or something you would never be interested in perusing?

It’s just a book so far as I’m concerned. Call me cynical, but it doesn’t impress me.

Is this your first time mixing horror and erotica? Do you enjoy blending the two into your stories? Why or why not?

Yes, if you can call what I’ve written erotica. While it is true that sex is part of what generates the unease in this story, I consider the overall composition a work of body horror. There is no love to be found here. This story is about hatred, revenge, and the animal instinct to breed with an unwilling subject.

As for whether I enjoy mixing the genres, I must admit I derive a bizarre sense of pride knowing this is perhaps the most offensive thing I have ever written. I don’t think I’d do it again. When I wrote this, my life, and my state of mind, had hit record lows. If nothing else, it isn’t erotica but anger that permeates this work, and it is palpable in the point-of-view character. If this story is about anything, it’s about the drive for revenge . . . and what results from it.

Truthfully, I don’t think I can write anything like this again. I write clean fantasy/comedies. I think whatever motivated me to write this is now out of my system—for the time being, presumably, and hopefully for good.

It was definitely one of the most brutal, shocking pieces we received (and we loved it!).

Most publishers we approached wouldn’t touch the original Deranged open call with Ron Jeremy’s cock, let alone their own, due to wording and desired story content. We said fuck it and rolled with it anyway (and we’re damn glad we did!). What is your stance on censorship in writing?  Do you think any topics are still taboo today?

I’m no fan of censorship, but I stand for decency. Odd talk coming from someone who’s written a story such as mine, but hear me out. There are still many taboo topics even in those genres, like horror, where the audience may be more willing to give writers a pass. I’ll bet you can guess what some of those topics those are, so I won’t bother mentioning them, short of categorizing it as “shock” for our purposes.

I’m also concerned that overreliance on shock leads to bad writing. Use of shock—that is to say, themes which writers know will derive a powerful emotional response strictly because those themes are taboo—is lazy and irresponsible writing if not done properly. All too often a writer might be tempted to write a shocking scene for its own sake. When this happens, it’s the literary equivalent of a jump scare in film. It does nothing to develop the characters or move the plot along, and you wouldn’t miss it if it were cut out.

When this concept is applied to a work’s main theme, you shortchange the audience by giving them zero-calorie storytelling. The Final Destination film series comes to mind—which we all know aren’t famous for their brilliant plot progression or character arcs. Boiled down to its elements, Final Destination delivers what it promises, but all it promises is the destruction of a handful of teenagers the audience doesn’t care about in a series of coincidences even Rube Goldberg couldn’t think up. And yet this is nothing new. When you think critically about it, the Marquis de Sade’s infamous 120 Days of Sodom is nothing special. All it has going for it is its notoriety. It isn’t much of a story. You read it, you tell yourself “Eww, that’s gross,” and then you put in on the shelf and forget about it.

There are myriad reasons why people write stories, just as there are scores of reasons for why people enjoy them. My philosophy is that the audience should relate to the characters, their circumstances, their motivations, and so on; so that readers can learn something about themselves. Admittedly, this is easier to do in some genres than others, but it is doable regardless. The reader should come away with more than just a gross-out factor. It’s the mark of a good storyteller that the reader gains a different perspective, or why else should we be so eager to peer into the lives of imaginary people who live only on the printed pages?

Tell us in 1-2 sentences what your story in Deranged is about, and why we should read it.

“Dogfaced Eve” is about a modern-day hedonist who finds himself shunted to a bizarre world with a single female inhabitant (magic is involved, just roll with it). She’s in heat, and her instincts will not be denied, notwithstanding his wishes or that she is a filthy, flea-bitten hyena-headed woman. The end will have you wondering: who really screwed who?

Thanks for enlightening us, Antonio. You have unique and interesting takes on the subjects!

You can find Antonio enriching the lives of readers worldwide over at the Darkwater Syndicate headquarters.

And you can pre-order Antonio’s story “Dogfaced Eve” and more in Deranged by clicking here. Go ahead. Discover a new kink.

      Catch a whiff 
      on December 16.

DID YOU MISS ANY OF THE OTHER DERANGED 5-QUESTION QUICKIES? WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED!

5-Question Quickie: Jonathan Butcher

5-Question Quickie: Sarah Cannavo

5-Question Quickie: Sidney Williams

5-Question Quickie: Colleen Anderson