Maurice Broaddus graduated in 1993 from Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Biology (with an undeclared major in English). He works as an environmental toxicologist for a local firm, Commonwealth Biomonitoring. He comes from a family that includes several practicing obeah (think: Jamaican voodoo) people, but is now the facilitator for the church, The Dwelling Place. Obviously his areas of interests includes religious studies, folklore, and myths. It should be noted that he only wants to get famous enough to be able to snub people at horror conventions. To that end, he has already started to practice referring to myself in the third person.

He's married to the lovely Sally Jo:

They have two boys: Maurice Gerald Broaddus II (thus, Maurice gets to retroactively declare himself "Maurice the Great") and Malcolm Xavier Broaddus.

Together, they are the Broaddus League of America:

He is a contributing editor for the Hollywood Jesus web site and the Gila Queen Guide to Markets.

INTERVIEW

Have a question? Email: maurice@mauricebroaddus.com

What writers inspired you or continue to inspire you?
Poe was my early influence. A lot of my early stuff was derivative of him. Then Stephen King. And you know, I really don’t limit myself to "authors". Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Brian Michael Bendis, and Alan Moore are all comic book geniuses. Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction made me pull my stories out of my desk drawers and start writing again after I gave it up. And I "read" television, too. Joss Whedon, Aaron Sorkin (when he can get his scripts in on time), Tom Fontana, and the guy behind "The Shield".

When did you know that you wanted to write horror stories? Tell us about your first attempts at writing horror fiction.
Oh I was one of those all black wearing, brooding, melancholy teenagers. When we did a creative writing section in our "Advanced Placement" English class, I received a lot of good feedback on my dark, descriptive stuff. So I started writing more, which left a lot of people (especially my mom) worried about me: a teen so focused on death. It took years before I found my voice.

Are you consciously trying to "be scary" as you write a horror story, or do the horror elements creep in and surprise you, just as the elements would surprise a reader?
I sit down and go where the story or characters take me. Once I know where I’m going, if the story is meant to be "scary", my later drafts more consciously guide it there.

How do you decide how many graphic details to include in a scene? Do you worry about "going overboard" with the gore? Why or why not?
I treat gore and sex the same way: just enough to drive the story. I try not to write either gratuitously, but each scene that has either element has to be long enough to drive my point home, so to speak. Basically, if I can leave a lingering image with the reader, my job is done (especially with gore, sometimes one line can have all the gore and impact I need).

Are there any subjects you would not write about in a horror novel? If so, what are the subjects, and why won't you write about them?
I don’t know. My first novel deals with race, and there are few subjects people feel less comfortable talking about than that. I won’t write anything I consider sacrilegious. That’s not to say that someone else won’t paint my work as (entirely) sacrilegious. I also don’t do perverse (again, subjective), especially for perverse’s sake or just to shock.

What is your favorite contemporary horror novel? Why is it your favorite? What is your favorite contemporary non-genre book? Why?
I actually don’t read a lot of horror. I only get to ready about two books a month and I try to vary them as much as possible, so only about four horror novels get read a year (and four fantasy, four Chrisitian/theology books, etc.). That said:

Stephen King’s The Shining, Desperation, It (except for the end), and Bag of Bones. I guess you can say that I like his "quieter", more atmospheric and character driven stuff.

Books of Blood by Clive Barker. He’s improved a lot since these early stories, but for raw horror that’s intense, I keep coming back to this
collection of short stories.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley. Malcolm X is a hero of mine, a role model in many ways, and his life’s story and intellectual development are as compelling today as when I first read them.

A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe. I read it while working on my first novel, since it had race as one of its themes. But I learned so much about the craft of writing from reading him.
A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren because it really made me think about what it means to be a Christian and turned my thoughts, and theology, on their ear.

How has the Internet impacted your writing career?
My goal is to pop up as many times as possible when I type my name in Google. I’ve seen several writer’s websites and I wanted mine to be at least a little different. That’s why I have the interview section where people can ask me questions and a message board where we can share information and discuss things. I like to be able to keep in touch with the people who care about what I write.

Are you comfortable being labeled a horror writer?
I write stories that scare people. I belong to the Horror Writers Association. I go to horror writers conventions. I walk like a duck and talk like a duck, so it's pointless for me to be ashamed of being called a duck. Plus, I like being called, though some would say pigeon-holed as, a horror writer. I don't consider it a pejorative. It's my job to shock, disgust, frighten, or otherwise leave the reader unsettled. Of course, I guess that could still be my job and me be a romance writer.

What "kind" of horror writer are you?
There are kinds of horror: Atmospheric, supernatural, serial killer, splatter/"gross out" and other ways I could categorize it. But I tend to think that horror writers fall into two very general camps: traditionalists and extremists (for lack of better terms). It is the tools you use to scare that define what camp you find yourself in.Traditionalists tend to be more character driven, letting the horror arise from or intrude on the mundane. They are often more atmospheric, and explore the eerie or weird with a moral code. Oh yeah, traditionalists are good vs. evil moralists. Extremists are more visceral. Quicker to go for the blood and guts/gross out or the perverse. I'm actually disturbed by how much value-loaded (read: judgmental sounding) language I'm using, but it's the easiest way I know to describe it.I'm more of a traditionalist, which is not to say 1) that I don't occasionally enjoy a good extremist or 2) that traditionalists or extremists exclusively write with only that set of tools. It's a pallette: You have a broad spectrum of colors and styles to choose from to create your painting. And sometimes it's like your taste in music: most times I listen to 70's R&B, but sometimes I need a little Rage Against the Machine or Dream Theater to get me going. Most times I naturally gravitate toward the traditionalist stuff Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, but sometimes I need a shot of Clive Barker or John Shirley to shock the palate.