thechainsawmafia.com - ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS

Written by TCM Staff Writer Necromagickal

Author Mary Goff refreshes the experience of terror within a genre all too often bleeding easily upon the blade of ocular horror such as cinema, video games, and assorted technological sentient experiential abominations.

All The Pretty Girls is a collection of short fiction and poetry that exposes the reader unto the darkness lurking within the psyche of miss Mary Goff. Our first entrance into Mary’s world takes us into the story “Consummate”. It is a tale of the possible consequences one may face when copulating in adulterous antediluvian erotica. It is yet another cautionary tale to never promise your heart to another.
What follows in All The Pretty Girls is a journey through torture, internal torment, and pure human, and preternatural, wickedness. The story “Suffering is Optional” is a testament to the presence of masochistic voyeurism within all form of creatures human or not. Mary Goff then takes us into the often too well known realms of self-hate and its psychological effects within “Me, Myself, and Eye”. The character of Lisanne is an appropriate incarnated social commentary on the darker side of the focus on expectations of clichéd physical beauty within society.
The final piece within All The Pretty Girls is a poem called “Maestro”. It is a haunting and evocative piece whose first stanza is worth repeating.
I count the ribs
Arc my fingertips
Stroke his bones
Like piano keys;
The organs, symphonies.

All The Pretty Girls is a short collection of twenty-seven pages, and worth every minute spent reading. As a literary introduction into the work of Mary Goff, the book leaves one waiting for what else she will exhume from the depths of her unhinged psyche.

TCM_Necro: How long have you been writing horror and macabre? And what originally drew you to the genre?

MG: I have been writing horror and macabre stories probably as long as I started seriously writing stories. In my pre-teen and teenage years I wrote a lot of mini-plays for my cousin and I to act out, most of them horror. I had a short story published in high school titled “Judith” about a mishap with a postal delivery worker and one paranoid woman…it didn’t end well. Anyway, because everyone that read Judith had enjoyed it or had given me a physical reaction such as, “Ewww! Mary! That was gross!” to the bashing of a human skull, I knew then what I loved to write as well as what reactions that I wanted from my readers. I really love stories that I wouldn’t read aloud to my children, to my parents, and to most of my friends and acquaintances—Unsanitary stories. I started reading at a young age and horror always seemed to be a favorite on my menu. My taste in horror movies are somewhat different from my taste in reading but sometimes they coincide. Anyway, since I couldn’t (and still can’t) make a movie, I write stories.

TCM_Necro: How do you perceive the creative process between short stories and poetry—how do they differ, if so at all?

MG: I found it difficult at first. I tried to cram too much into a poem, I spared too little in a story. Then I discovered that I could tell an entire story with just a few choice words. Poetry and fiction writing differ only in form and label. A poem and a story are one in the same. It took me a very long time to realize this. I am still learning how to tell a good story.

TCM_Necro: Do you feel that the voice of horror, at least in the written word, differs in any manner between genders?

MG: I do notice a difference, actually. Though not necessarily through a gender gap, but through a sexuality and perspective gap. Sadly, stereotyping crosses gender, race, and species.

TCM_Necro: You are connected to Pretty-Scary.net correct? What is your connection to the site and how did that come about?

MG: Yes you are correct! My connection to Pretty-Scary.Net came about in the year 2006, I think it was. I came across the website, which at the time was only two years old. I signed up and perused the forums once in awhile, reading and responding. I think I can find my original post as a matter of fact, which was full of some sappy shit about my father and why I love writing…anyway, Heidi posted a classified that she needed help with the website and I responded. Steve Grainger lent some extra approval and I guess (I assume) with that, Heidi let me on board. I’m the Managing Editor— as a working title—the fiction editor and content editor, a contributor... I am the assistant to Heidi Martinuzzi. Whatever she needs, I do. Let’s leave it at that. It is great. I can’t thank Heidi enough for all that she has done for me since becoming a part of Pretty Scary. She’s a sweet person.

TCM_Necro: When writing, do you need to generate a specific surrounding atmosphere to add to the writing process? Any rituals need to be performed?

MG: Yes! I grab a chicken and I do a dance with it. I speak odd words and lick it. I then raise it toward the sky and call out, “Finger lickin’ good!” Then I eat it…After that, I sometimes I fall into the right atmosphere and mood. Usually it involves music and some deep thinking. So, I like to listen to songs of a certain time period, metal songs, an eclectic mix of songs and music, or songs that allow me to take a walk back into the time before my brain switched on. It was off for a very long time. Other times I like to have no sound at all. I love to be alone when I write, or secluded at best. Night-time is best for me but I write during the day because so many ideas come to me in my sleep, I get up and write them—even early in the morning. I write a lot in my head. I guess my ritual is, put the kids to bed, get a cup of coffee (or during the summer, grab a glass of wine or a beer) and write. It used to be grab a smoke then come write. But I’ve quit smoking (almost one year now)! Thank you Bryan.

TCM_Necro: How often do you write? Is it a daily exercise or simply when the inspiration arises?

MG: I write as often as I can. I read more often than that!

TCM_Necro: What is your favorite story or poem you have written and why?

MG: Well, that is a difficult question. I guess Lullaby of Saints—for poetry. For stories, my favorite is always the next one that I am going to write. After they are written, they are like bastard children and I don’t want anything to do with them. Seriously, I’m a dead-beat mother when it comes to my stories. Hah! No, really, my favorite story is Skeletons vs. Invertebrates. No one really likes it but me…

TCM_Necro: Do you feel horror is more effective in written word or cinema and do you think that with a more technological and visual society, the impact of written horror is lessened?

MG: I do believe that it has lessened. I remember cruisin’ around a horror convention that Bryan and I attended in the summer (2008), and I saw people flocking to film stars and cult stars. Hardly anyone stopped to peruse, let alone purchase, horror literature. Not unless the author was a house-hold name…and had a tattoo on their butt. Let’s face it, good writing takes a lot of work to both create and read. Anyone can see a movie and translate what they have seen into something they can understand. Anyone can make a movie, or try to anyway (not saying that it would be a good movie, now. Look at what has drawn major audiences these days). It is quick and it is impactful. But that isn’t to say that the written word is dead or isn’t appreciated. It may be just a fantasy, but I have this feeling that reading is making a comeback…especially when movie goers and aspiring film-makers realize that everything starts with a script.

TCM_Necro: What are some of your favorite horror authors?

MG: Are you ready for this? Ha-ha! Dora Sigerson Shorter, Mary Shelley, Poppy Z. Brite, Marquis de Sade, Shirley Jackson, Tanith Lee, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, and thanks to Chris: Harlan Ellison. I have many, many more that I love to read. I don’t have “favorites” but I have some that I come back to read more from. It is difficult because some authors, I love their short stories but not their novels. Others, vice-versa. But this list will do.

TCM_Necro: What else are you working on?

MG: Right now I am working on another chapbook and a couple of longer stories. I am trying my hand at a novel, but I just don’t see people holding my novel of necrophilia stories. People don’t seem to care much for those kind of stories. They also will be self-published.

TCM_Necro: Where may we find your work?

MG: Hacker’s Source (http://www.eveblaackpublishing.com ). They are one of the first publications to publish my horror genre work. Eve and Starrla are good-hearted horror lovin’ women and I will be eternally grateful for their encouragement and contribution to my horror chapbook. Without them, I probably would not be filling out this interview right now. Let’s see…if you want something racy, you can always check out Ruthie’s Club (http://www.ruthiesclub.com) my story, “Just another love story.” is there. Revenant Magazine (http://www.revenantmagazine.com) has my story “Inmate No. 762030”. Fantastic Horror (http://www.fantastichorror.com) Issue #8 “Hypnogogia” (http://www.fantastichorror.com/08/) . The Bedlam Halloween Reader from Bedlam Publishing (http://www.bedlampublishing.com) and of course, LuLu.com (heh) and in the Pretty-Scary.net member’s fiction section (http://www.pretty-scary.net) . Not a lot of places have my stories. I most always have violent content and explicit sex with foul language sprinkled on top.

TCM_Necro: What five horror films do you wish to be burned or buried with?

MG: Oh my—For burial: The Crawling Eye. Nekromantik (the first one, not the second one.) Re-animator. Near Dark. Stephen King’s Christine (I had a major thing for Keith Gordon for some reason). For burning (because I hate them so much) name five current remakes or “re-takes”, I’ll take them all to Hell with me! So that way, the damned will be forced to watch unimaginative regurgitated Michael Bay type of crap for eternity. Cue evil laughter.(This may also include some sequels)

TCM_Necro: What five horror books do you wish to be burned or buried with?

MG: There are only two books that I want to take with me: a dictionary and a thesaurus. My favorite books and stories are locked away inside of my head. They’ll always go with me.

TCM_Necro: Beyond manifesting from your mind, do any of your stories or poems hold a biographical nature to them?

MG: Most of my stories and poems come from personal demons, sections of my own life, and from strange crossings with peculiar people. They also express my opinions, my dreams, and my nightmares.

TCM_Necro: If you could become one literary horror character for 24 hours who would it be and what would you do?

MG: Yog-Sothoth! Need I say more?

TCM_Necro: Besides writing, what other hobbies do you have?

MG: Art and singing. I am supposed to meet with someone and aid him with some background vocals but I am not sure when that will be. I admit that I am a karaoke-fiend. I LOVE singing karaoke. I’m not a performer, but I can sing the hell out of Melissa Etheridge tunes!

TCM_Necro: Any last words for our readers?

MG: Without your fears, repulsions, fetishes, and your deaths there would be no horror. So… Thanks for dropping dead.

Carnal Cadaverous and The Chainsaw Mafia would like to thank Mary for taking the time to visit our crimson stained chainsaw chambers.