Interview with Brian Asman, Celebrating the Release of MAN, F*CK THIS HOUSE
Congratulations to Brian Asman on the release of MAN, F*CK THIS HOUSE (AND OTHER DISASTERS). To celebrate, we caught up with Brian and asked him about his thoughts on various spooky matters, and to get a peek into his publishing process.
What’s the first sign on looking at a house that it might be haunted?
It usually starts with doors opening/closing by themselves—that’s not the wind!
What’s the scariest room in a house?
Basement, definitely. If you think about it, the basement is sort of like an audition for being dead. You’re six feet underground, and if your house was built in the ‘70s you’re probably surrounded by hideous wood paneling. The only difference is that with a basement, you can sometimes—but not always—get out.
What’s the worst noise to hear at night? And during the day?
Either time, it’s your name, spoken by someone who isn’t there.
What’s the oddest pet behavior to witness?
Staring/barking at a corner, so disconcerting.
What’s the best defense when inside a haunted house?
Pull out your cell phone. Ghosts are notoriously camera-shy, otherwise the 1,000,000 ghost hunter shows on cable would’ve caught something more than dust particles on video.
What is your favorite haunted house story from childhood and why?
Might not technically be a haunted house story but it is about ghosts coming to a house: Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. This was always my favorite spooky season special growing up. I think I identified with Garfield a lot, in that I hated Mondays and loved lasagna. Still do!
What about as an adult?
A few great haunted house books I’ve read this year are The Grip of It by Jac Jemc and The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry. Some of my all-time faves are The Shining, The Haunting of Hill House, and House of Leaves.
You had the opportunity to revise “Man, F*ck This House” after its original release. Not many authors get this chance, especially not so soon after original publication. Can you tell us about your own internal reflection, reader responses, and editorial feedback that inspired you to change the story?
It’s definitely a unique experience. In this case, it was more a matter of adding stuff in. The original version had to be under 40K words, which meant I had to cut a bunch of scenes. This revised edition let me add those scenes back in, which makes for a more fully-fleshed out narrative. I also tinkered with several other scenes, either reworking when certain things were happening or just revising dialogue. Overall, I’ve very fortunate to be able to deliver the version of the story that I always wanted to see.
Tell us about the editorial process. How does your editor push you to be your best?
Working with Brendan Deneen is great. Most of our conversations involve big picture stuff, and I get a lot of interesting perspectives on aspects of the book I hadn’t thought about. I’d say the biggest impact Brendan had on this collection is the story “In the Rushes.” I can’t say too much about spoilers but the ending was MUCH darker originally.
How did you decide which “other disasters” were the right stories to accompany the cornerstone novella? What ties them together?
Some of the stories have obvious connections—“Beware the Hurlyburly” also features a troubled youngster, while “In the Rushes” examines a fraught mother/daughter relationship. “The Tire Swing” is essentially a pure bookend to “Man, F*ck This House.” There’s some common elements, a family moves to a new house and strange things happen, but in some ways “Tire Swing” runs a bit darker and more pessimistic.
The other stories in the collection don’t much in the way of direct or indirect thematic connections, but we felt they had the most potential to grab readers. It was important to me to deliver a range of different stories here, a little something for everyone, which is why we’ve got everything from urban legends (“Razor Bill”) to a supernatural crime drama (“Line of Sight”).
MAN, F*CK THIS HOUSE (AND OTHER DISASTERS) is available everywhere now!
