LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE: First of all, what a great idea! Coming out with a collection of Texas horror stories from Texas writers in October. What was the genesis of the project? How did it get started?

E. R. BILLS: Well, actually it sort of originated at the North Texas Book Festival in Denton. Bret McCormick and I met and spent a fair span of the day visiting, discussing books, film, sci-fi, horror, etc. Along the way putting together an anthology was brought up in passing, but I think the more we thought on it, the more it appealed to us. And we couldn’t find where anyone had really done it before. This was April of 2016, and the thing seemed half-baked at first- — but we put our shoulders to it and the project picked up steam.

How long did it take to gather and edit the work?

We started in mid-to-late April and got ambitious. We decided we wanted it out before Halloween. Things moved at a breakneck pace, but we brought in Rio Grande Valley writer David Robledo and Austin proofreader Misty Contreras to help with edits. It was difficult and incredibly taxing, we got the book done and out in roughly six months.

Can you tell us a little bit about some of the authors who contributed?

Sure.

The heavy hitter was Champion Mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale, the Stephen King of Texas — and probably the current Harlen Coben/Michael Connelly of Texas as well. Arguably the state’s greatest active writer. I’m in talks with Joe about doing a project with him and his son Keith, and I asked him if he wanted to contribute to the anthology. He didn’t think twice. He’s as good a guy as I’ve ever met. I’m a huge fan.

David Bowles is an exciting Mexican American writer out of the Rio Grande Valley. Polished, smart and compelling. A writer going places. He appears with us in Road Kill, but he also recently released Ghosts of the Rio Grande Valley with Arcadia.

Russell C. Connor is an award-winning indie writer with eleven books to his name, including Good Neighbors and Through the Deep Forest, the first book in his Dark Filament series. There’s a lot of buzz around Connor, and for good reason. Impressive submission to Road Kill and I think he's destined for big things.

Anna Davis—An up-and-coming cyberpunk writer who just won a Writer’s Digest’s Self-Published Book Award for her debut novel, Open Source. She’s smart and probably prescient in terms of what consequences our growing cyber culture will lead to.

Michael H. Price is the Dean of Metroplex horror, and he’s worked in so many different mediums he’s hard to quantify. I dug him as a Star-Telegram movie reviewer and a musical contributor for Hip Pocket Theatre productions here in Fort Worth, and just love his work in general. His Forgotten Horrors, an excellent, multi-volume compendium of forgotten horror flicks is a fascinating resource.

Glen Coburn was the writer and director of indie cult classic film Bloodsuckers from Outer Space, a much beloved horror spoof from 1984. He’s a solid writer who’s still cranking out engaging prose.

Carmen Gray is a talented Mexican-American writer living in Austin. Gray served up her first foray into horror for Road Kill, and it features a gripping, true-to-life account of the heartbreaking fate of an underage sex slave.

Mike Baldwin—An accomplished poet, author—a really creative guy, and a nice guy, Baldwin sneaks up on you. He delivers work you don’t expect — including his latest book, Surpassing Strange.

Another impressive indie writer we were happy to land, Stephen Patrick is a great storyteller who added a great twist to a traditional Texas tale for the book.

Can you tell us a little about some of the stories?

Here are just a few:

1) Connor’s “Pretty Deaths” is about three teenagers who ill-advisedly sneak into a “body farm.”

2) Lansdale's “Not from Detroit” is about an aging African American couple who decide to challenge the Grim Reaper.

3) McCormick’s “Crepuscular” is about a handyman who discovers that the fixer-upper he’s working on has a doorway to the past that’s way out of square.

4) Patrick’s “False Face of Donovan O’Grady” is about a demon who plays cowboy and takes on the Texas Rangers.

5) Gray's “Daniel’s Dilemma” is about an aging hippie who gets tangled up in the death of an underage sex slave.

6) And Beauvais’s “Bamfires” is about a young child who is haunted by vampires.

Eddie, I see that you and Bret McCormick are each listed as editors. What was the process like with two editors?

It was often tough, but it was necessary. We both read the material and expressed our opinions. Sometimes my decisions carried the day, and sometimes Bret’s did. I think our different interpretations and perspectives rounded out the process. McCormick was an invaluable resource. It took both of us to bring this thing together, especially as quickly as we did.

What makes Texas horror stories distinctive from other horror stories?

The “Zodiak” Killer has nothing on the “Phantom Killer” of Texarkana in the late 1940s (featured in The Town that Dreaded Sundown). And neither Jason (Friday the 13th) nor Michael Myers (Halloween) have anything on Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I think there's a fierceness about Texans and Texas lore — good and bad — from their football to their paranormal leanings. You can hardly discuss Texas without utilizing superlatives. Things are bigger and scarier here, and the authors involved in Road Kill very effectively traversed the state for new and fresh horrors to explore.

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