An inside look at Spontaneous Human Combustion with Richard Thomas
Fans of dark and weird fiction will want to sink their fangs into Spontaneous Human Combustion, a new collection of tales by Richard Thomas. If you haven’t heard of Thomas by now, he’s an award-winning author with several novels and short story compilations under his belt. He’s also a columnist for Litreactor, a writing instructor, and the former editor-in-chief of Dark House Press and Gamut. With Spontaneous Human Combustion, Thomas knocks it out of the park with fourteen weird and wonderful tales that explore humanity’s darkest tendencies.
Writers understand that a story must show a character going through a change, and Spontaneous Human Combustion delivers on that notion with terrifying vigor. The characters in these pages transmogrify in ways that defy comprehension, whether by a glorious epiphany that ultimately vindicates them, or by a fatal misstep that leads to their eternal damnation. Thomas’s characters aren’t necessarily the most likable at the outset. In fact, many of them are broken, from rapists to serial killers to demented clowns. Furthermore, they’re capable of some pretty despicable actions. Still, Thomas finds a way to coerce us into rooting for them, if just a little. In “Repent”, a morally corrupt cop thinks he’s reached the end of his rope, until his son becomes ill, and then he discovers the abyss truly has no bottom. A callous and calculating businessman has to answer for the cruelties he’s bestowed on others in “Requital”. And in “Undone”, the last survivor of a nightmarish invasion runs into a literal dead end, and in turn, releases something far more horrifying on the world he leaves behind.
Beyond these character studies, you’ll find other gems just waiting to be discovered. A couple of my favorites were “In His House”, a Lovecraftian prayer that implicates the reader in a chilling plan to bring about the end of days. And “Ring of Fire”, in which a convict undergoes treatment for a mental condition by submitting himself to isolation in an Arctic bunker, or so he thinks. It’s a gripping, raw and earnest tale that may be Thomas’s finest moment yet.
Although Thomas is highly skilled at creating characters, there’s also power in his descriptive prose. The author has an eye for the arcane, and a talent for dredging up uncomfortable feelings like pain, despair, hopelessness. His imagination conjures myriad dark worlds for us to explore, and his descriptions are dark and sensual, fully immersing you in these often-horrible situations, whether you’re ready or not. You’ll want to read with the light on
I caught up with Thomas to ask him some questions about Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Note: this interview contains a few possible spoilers, so don’t read past this point if that sort of thing upsets you. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Gary.)
“In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman.”
How has your writing changed over the last five years?
One thing I’ve done is work more hope and love into my dark stories. There used to be a lot of death and violence at the center of my stories. It’s still there, but it’s not the dominant element. In writing my latest novel, Incarnate, I had to balance the horror with the hope, the cold element of the arctic with the warm physical aspects of the human body. It’s a sin-eater book, so there are sins, but also forgiveness, paired with justice and redemption. So, it goes back and forth. I think this collection of stories show some of that evolution. The end of “Battle Not With Monsters” is classic body horror, but the end of “Ring of Fire” is change and hope. I’d like to think my writing is only getting better—deeper, more emotional, layered, and complex, taking you to dark places, but then finding light, and something more positive on the other side.
What inspired the monster at the heart of “Repent”?
It starts and ends in that alley, right, and there was definitely an old school homage to various creatures. In my head, I always saw it as Tim Curry from Legend. But then something else, partly a classic demon, but also something more contemporary, maybe with antlers instead of horns. I kept seeing elements of Adam Nevill’s The Ritual as well.
The opening page of “Requital” in Spontaneous Human Combustion by Richard Thomas.
There are two clown stories here: “Clown Face” and “The Caged Bird Sings in a Darkness of its Own Creation”. Are these the same character, maybe? If not, how are they different?
You know, that’s a very interesting question, especially since Lezlie Smith over at The Nerdy Narrative seems to think that Krinkles (from “The Caged Bird…”) ends up being the same character that is in “Clown Face.” I did not intentionally write them that way. But that is actually quite creepy if that IS the truth. I certainly see how it COULD be possible, years down the road. I was on assignment for two clown stories, having never written one, so I meant for them to be entirely different clowns, but it may actually be the same guy.
In “Undone”, the main character is fleeing some awful, creeping things. But then he gives birth to a different awful, creepy flying thing. Can you elaborate on what impact this will have on the story world?
The creatures that are pursuing him, are more like wolves or raptors maybe. Monstrous for sure. Maybe both? I liked the idea of a man being able to give birth, it’s something I’ve always been jealous about, watching my wife have twins, the idea of carrying life inside you like that, the bond and closeness. The creature though, yeah, what he births is not human. It’s something between a dragon and pterodactyl. So that begs the question, “How did he get pregnant not only as a MAN, but from this creature?” All kinds of horror in that answer, I think. To me this is an evolution, the human race done, we blew it, something new taking over.
The aliens in “From Within” are sooo weird! What inspired them?
In part, jellyfish. The cover of the anthology, The New Black is a photo I took at the Shedd Aquarium, and then in Photoshop I shifted the hue. I saw them as pink, translucent, or white, but very sheer, hardly there at all. So they’re hard to kill. If you shoot them, as happens in the story, the bullets just go right through them. You’d have to hit a major organ, a nearly impossible shot. So the end of this story, how that all happens, makes sense, in how to attack them, where they might be vulnerable.
Who are the narrators in “Ring of Fire”?
Ha, that’s a great question. I purposefully didn’t want to show them or explain them. So I guess I could do the “writer” thing and not tell you. But much like the end of “The Caged Bird Sings in a Darkness of Its Own Creation,” there are options, and it’s up to the reader to decipher and judge. On one hand, they could be aliens, watching from a distance, trying to understand mankind, help it evolve. Or they could just be employees of this projects, scientists, or administrative staff members, overseeing the experiment and conditioning. I guess the question could be WHAT are the narrators? There is a scene in the middle of this story that may help you to decide the answer to this question.
Spontaneous Human Combustion is available for pre-order now and officially goes on sale February 22. If you enjoyed this article and you also enjoy horror fiction, check out my review of Stephen Graham Jones’s latest novel My Heart is a Chainsaw here.