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| What's your background?
H.P. Lovecraft, originator of The Call of Cthulu
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I graduated the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1991 with a degree in Journalism, with a concentration on creative writing. I had been an avid reader of Lovecraft, and was really into the game. I would run games all the time in college, and collected everything I could about HPL and Call of Cthulhu. I've been to Lovecraft's grave, all that sort of stuff. When I was approached about the book, Brian [Courtemanche] and I took the tone of-- because of where we live, and our knowledge -- "There are only three people who can write this book, us and Keith Herber."
And to add just a side note off topic, Keith passed away in early March of last year. However, he did read the manuscript and told us he really liked it. So to me, that is the highest praise it can ever receive; especially since it was the second step on what he first created on HPL's town. I have such great respect for Herber's work, and in terms of the Cthulhu Mythos, after HPL, Herber is canon. |
You have written a book called Arkham Now, for the RPG
Call of Cthulhu.
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First let me say I wrote the book with Lovecraft expert Brian Courtemanche. The book is for the rpg, and it is a sourcebook for the town of Arkham in present day.
We very carefully studied the original source book by the amazing Keith Herber, Arkham Unveiled, and modernized the town. Both Brian and I live in Lovecraft Country, and we were able to really get the actual feel about what this area is like.
So it is a sourcebook on the town, its residents, work places, environs, etc. Plus there are some adventures in it. Sadly, we did not have the easiest time working with the publisher Chaosium, and never even saw galleys or proofs on it. Some of the things have been altered, much to our chagrin, and I was not happy about some of these things. However, it is arriving in stores soon, and still, a lot of it is the original text that Brian and I wrote.
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| How did you get the gig?
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This manuscript had been kicking around Chaosium for a while. They received a first draft from some writers, and rejected it. They sent it to Brian Courtemanche, who had done some editing for them, and he started working on it.
One day Brian mentioned it to me over lunch, and that he had a lot of family and work obligations which didn't give him a ton of free time. He asked me to look at it and give him some feedback. He emailed it to me, and I read the whole thing immediately, then called him. I told him I wanted to change some things.
"How much?" he asked me.
"The whole thing."
So he gave me the green light. It was a lot of work, and we decided to split it up. Brian is a librarian at a college, and knows what goes on in those places today. I haven't been in one since I graduated in 1991. So he was in charge of Miskatonic University. I was handling the town part. We would write, then meet; and read our work to the other person. Believe me, you better have thick skin when you do this. I mean you need to have thick skin in writing no matter what, but to see the other person's face... It can be tough. But it was a great writing experience, and I was writing about 3-5 hours a day for six weeks to finish the first draft. I listened to Black Sabbath's "We Sold Our Souls for Rock and Roll" the entire time. If there was ever a band for writing COC, it is Sabbath.
As for the adventures, we just wrote what we could come up with. Stylistically, we are very different. I am very much from a more minimalistic school than he is, so my adventures are a lot shorter; although I don't know if they will take less time to play. We didn't compare notes on the adventures. It was sort of writing in a vacuum. We thought we would get a lot more editing advise from Chaosium, but in the end, we received not one word. I don't even know if it was copy edited, but like I said, someone altered some of the text...
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You've also working on a book called Haunted Salem, also
part of the Call of Cthulhu mythos.
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There was a time when we thought, due to a total lack of communication, that Chaosium was never going to publish Arkham Now! So we sent the manuscript to Miskatonic River Press, which is where Keith Herber read it. He wrote me and said, "Listen, I want to talk to Chaosium about us publishing this."
I mean, this is praise from Caesar himself! I called Brian and he was ecstatic. The next week, I ended up in the hospital with a kidney stone. When I got home, I was all doped up on pain killers, went online, and there was an email from Brian telling me Keith had passed away. I thought to myself, this book will never be published, I was really distraught. But then literally a minute later I receive an email from Chaosium asking for some information, because they were getting ready to publish Arkham Now! I think that once Keith showed an interest, they hopped to it. It was like this gift he gave Brian and me and never knew it.
So because of this, I was in contact with Tom Lynch who is now the head of MRP. He and I talked a lot about Keith passing and how much he meant to us in different ways. After some time passed, I told him I was working on a modern day Innsmouth book for the game. He was looking for something different and we batted some ideas around.
We came up with the idea for a COC sourcebook on Salem Massachusetts in the 1920s. I wrote a proposal and he and head-editor there Oscar Rios accepted it. This all went down very quickly, and I knew these were two guys I could work with very easily. Those two guys are so professional, and any ideas and questions, I bounce off them, and they are right back with answers and suggestions. In fact, Oscar took his family to Salem, and came back with some great ideas. It has been fantastic to work with them so far.
Of course, once people edit your stuff there is always some contention, because as a writer you want everything your way, and you want everyone to tell you how amazing it is. It doesn't really help you develop at all as an artist, but who doesn't want that? I am looking very forward to the whole process.
Brian Courtemanche will be in on this project too. One thing I stressed to Tom Lynch is that if you strip the Lovecraft stuff out, you could use this as a history book. Street names, curfew times, crimes, speakeasies, precise locations and dates have to be exact.
Right now Brian and I are doing a lot of research on the place. Once I set the town up correctly, then we'll go back in and add the monsters. It is kind of funny, because Tom Lynch seems really into the history, and Oscar seems much more into the adventures and monsters. It is because there is this arc with them, that I think we will really produce something excellent. Plus, I know the two, Tom a bit better than Oscar, and want to help them succeed.
Both of them were great when we were dealing with the whole Arkham Now thing. Tom helped keep me sane, and Oscar was very supportive to me. I would say to any authors out there looking to produce something for COC, contact MRP.
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| You're writing an article for Mad Scientist on the "Key to Time" story arc/season of the Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker's Doctor Who.
The White Guardian
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I think that whoever was playing the Doctor when you first watched the show becomes "your" Doctor. I first saw Terror of the Zygons on PBS when I was about seven in 1976. Tom was the Doctor and I was hooked, man. Plus there was Sarah Jane, played by Elisabeth Sladen. At that age, I knew I liked girls but wasn't sure why. She was so sweet and seemed so nice. I really had a thing for her.
In 1978 when "Key to Time" was shown, I sort of knew why I liked girls and into the TARDIS walks Mary Tamm as Romana. She was resplendent in an all white outfit, much like Grace Kelly in Rear Window. Oh my... Plus at first, Romana is really edgy and arrogant. There is something about the way she carries that makes you unable to stop watching. Mary did such a great job playing her. I regard Lis Sladen and Mary Tamm as my first two "TV girlfriends." |
| How did you get the gig?
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I am a big collector of horror magazines. Just put some hideous face with fangs on the cover, and I'll buy it. I think a lot of Mad Scientist. So I had a few ideas about stories and bounced some off of Martin. He is a Doctor Who fan too. Now to do an overview of episodes is sort of old hat. You have to have a bit of a hook. So I decided to get some interviews with people on the show. He liked the idea and just told me to go for it. |
| Whom have you interviewed?
Bruce Purchase in "The Pirate Planet"
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I am presently interviewing Davyd Harries who was in "The Armageddon Factor", and Paul Seed who played the Graff Vynda-K in "The Ribos Experiment". But the biggest one is Mary Tamm. She did a great interview with me, and could not have been more accommodating. I can't wait for people to read it. She wouldn't give away all the dirt, as she has published a book, and is releasing a new one. The new one has a lot of Doctor Who gossip and can be bought at fantomfilms.co.uk. She also has her own website at Marytamm.com. She still looks just as good as she did in the series.
I am also in the process of trying to hunt down Tom Baker. He is a bit elusive, and I am sure doesn't even know I am trying to find him. He is a big star in the UK still, but I am determined to do an interview. Plus, I will get some other people involved in the show as well.
I was shocked to see how many people from there have passed away. Terrence Dicks is gone, Robert Holmes, Graham Williams, Douglas Adams, John Nathan-Turner, and quite a few of the actors. So there are many stories that will be told no more. Quite sad.
So I am trying to gather as many of the stories remaining as I can. Once I am on to something I go fast. I tracked William Burroughs down and wrote him about interviewing me for this 'zine I was publishing in the 1990s called Angry Youth Comix. He died, I think it was ten days before we were suppose to talk.
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| The "Key of Time" arc was originally conceived by producer Graham Williams, who had proposed it as part of his application for the producer's job in 1976.
"The Power of Kroll"
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Graham Williams pretty much, it seems, got the job as producer after he wrote a three page proposal for the concept of the Key to Time. There were going to be powers greater than the Time Lords -- a White and Black Guardian of Time. This was supposed to happen in his first season, season fifteen. However, there were a lot of problems he encountered already. Time constraints more than anything. You can only imagine the work it takes to align all the scripts to stay consistent with this story line.
He didn't have it easy. In season fifteen, they were also working on a gothic vampire episode by Terrance Dicks called "The Witch Lords". The BBC put the kibosh on this because they were about to do a television movie of Dracula, and they thought the show would be too close in theme and style. So they had to figure out what to do instead of this.
Also fans and some inside the BBC thought Williams was making the show a bit too comical, and Tom Baker was sort of becoming a parody of what he had been as the Doctor. Plus I've read the relationship Baker had with Williams was pretty strained. In recent interviews Tom has pretty much admitted he wasn't the easiest guy on some of the writers, and he loved to ad lib lines. He didn't he even want a companion, but as we can see in The Deadly Assassin, it helped the show a lot.
From what it seems, they had the arc idea, but not how to end it. So the stories were not completely written for that purpose. You can take something like Pirate Planet or The Stones of Blood, take out the theme of the key, and they can stand alone. It is hard to say because, so sadly, people like Douglas Adams and Terrance Dicks have passed away. Overall, I think it was an interesting concept, with some memorable moments, and I think Mary Tamm is superb. However, I liked Tom Baker when he played the Doctor more seriously, like in "Genesis of the Daleks". I think the end of season fifteen is where we see him beginning to play the character differently. |
| Explain a typical day in researching for this article.
The Cailleach in "The Stones of Blood"
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It is a lot of fun. I get to watch Doctor Who and explain to my fiance, "This is research, I have to do this." (All writers need a very understanding partner, and I am forever grateful to mine). Also the Television Companion: The Unofficial and Unauthorised (sic) Guide to Dr. Who, by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker, has been essential to me. I can't recommend that book enough. I also pore through my old Doctor Who magazines.
Like all Doctor Who, I've watched them a bunch, but I've never been a big quote guy. In college I met too many people who would quote from Monty Python ad nauseum and it drove me crazy. If I have a favorite line it is from "Pirate Planet" where Romana is eating some jelly babies.
"Where did you get those?" asks the Doctor.
"Same place you did," Romana replies. "Your pocket."
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| What's your next project after you bring all the above to fruition?
The Black Guardian |
I have quite a few projects going on this year. I am finishing up a book I co-wrote about my friend's heart transplant titled Surviving a Heart Transplant. I have an article about the infamous director of such gems as Beast of Yucca Flats, Sky Divers and Red Zone: Cuba, Coleman Francis, coming out. I have a lot of places interested in it, and pretty much it will go to the highest bidder.
I also am working on an overview of the BBC Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I just interviewed Sandra Dickinson who played Trillian by phone the other night, and am getting ready to interview the director. Hunting the cast down takes time...
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Matt's own horror magazine he drew at 7 years old
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