Just in time for the holiday, SHOCK interviews Maddie Holliday Von Stark: author, artist, eccentric.
The writer and artist known as Maddie Holliday Von Stark is a bit of an enigma. Relentlessy weaving her way across social media, her pixie-blonde good looks betray the deranged, dark and obsessive style of her writing and really, Im not sure what to make of her. Theres nothing and no one else like her toiling in the genre today, that is without debate.
Which is why we needed to speak to her, of course
The enigmatic Ms. Von Stark is the editor-in-chief of her own imprint, Von Stark Publishing, which releases such word-heavy materials as GIRLS ROCK HORROR HARDER, DREADFUL GEOGRAPHIC, HOOLIGAN BLENDER and HORRGASMA, all available on Nook, Amazon Kindle and iTunes.
I have not read any of these.
But I have read her first and, to date, only novel, a deeply strange, 4th wall smashing noir confessional meta-fiction, horror mystery called THE WIDOWS GAME that blurs the lines between fact and fantasy and places the writer as the protagonist. Reading it is disorienting, compelling, frustrating and fascinating.
Just like its author.
Here then, readers, just in time for Christmas, we unwrap Maddie Holliday Von Stark.
SHOCK: Tell us about your early years; Growing up what sort of wordplay did you read?
MVS: I was a curious girl that read anything I could get my hands on. However, I have three books that I kept on my person at all times. The first of these was, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain, taken from my fathers vast library shelves in 1983. A part of my soul, ear-marked by Huck Finn. The second book and by far the heaviest was a black leather collected works of Edgar Allan Poe, which I commandeered from Sacred Heart Catholic School in Marshfield, WI, circa 1988. And finally, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that I checked out of the Bozeman Public Library, in 2000, and have yet to return.
Then there was my ghost book. A novel I refused to own because I simply hated it and was haunted by it. Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce. Its the devils right hand when it comes to my own words. Bastard Joyce!
SHOCK: How did you start immersing yourself in the world of horror?
MVS: When I was a kid I had a gypsy at the local fair look into my palm and sneer. She managed to hiss and sneeze before revealing the edict, Child your life line, starts and then vanishes completely! But wait, it suddenly reappears in the shape of an hourglass! And that is a dangerous omen. I had stared at the old lady wide eyed. She looked back half toothless and breathing hard, That will be ten bucks. Needless to say, that old batshit crazy gypsy was right on her whiskey that night.
I have had two lives. One before a tumor under my brain was found, and one after it was taken out. Long story short, the tumor was found after I was fanged by a black widow spider on the ear while sleeping. I was only 27 when I went into a coma, had my head taken apart, got it stapled back together, resembled Frankenstein, tripped on mass quantities of drugs, got chemo’d, tattooed, started a tie collection, taught Catholic School and made some hooligan friends. When you dont fear death anymore, you dont just ride the crazy train but you engineer that motherfucker.
At age 28, I started writing horror fiction, creating massive artworks of horror. I had looked into the abyss, the abyss looked back and it was love at first sight.
SHOCK: THE WIDOWS GAME is a bizarre, fascinating book; how much of the fictional you is really you?
MVS: My own reflection is fractured, like the Mandelbrot set facing a hall of mirrors. My goal was to have the reader sit inside my brain and have a virtual reality experience. Step into the Maddie Multiverse. Red or blue pill? Are you a one or zero? The possibilities are endless
The MVS story itself was an adaptation of my life as a Catholic School Teacher in small north-woods, Wisconsin town, Marshfield. So when I was supposed to be reading my bible, attending church, paying attention to my study hall students, sitting in meetings and generally working, I was actually busy writing.
SHOCK: What has the response been to the book thus far?
MVS: Some people love it. Some people hate it. All I can say is that the words will move your soul in one direction or another. And in that, I defy gravity. I would say I accomplished what I set out to do.
And without the support of the horror writing community I would not have succeeded. We have a strong web of people working towards similar creative goals. There couldnt be a better time to be a horror writer. The Horror Writers Association is a brilliant organization. I recommend starting there to any aspiring writer.
I have also been lucky to have the guidance, teachings and supporting of big backers. Craig Spector was really an amazing supporter when I first started and continues to be a great friend. Daniel Knauf was my mentor.
“Reading Von Starks prose is like watching Shaun White skate a half-pipe; she rockets out sentences in looping digressions of stream-of-consciousness to the gnarly edge of spinning off into the void of irrelevance, then just powers it back to the spine of the narrative like she’s got it on a fucking tractor-beam. Truly breathtaking!” ~ Daniel Knauf, creator, Carnivàle (HBO), producer-writer, The Blacklist (NBC)
SHOCK: Has it been difficult to market?
MVS: I went from L.A. to New York and met with agents and publishers. My work was not in the land of Fifty Shades of Twilight. And they so wanted it to be. There is a sad version of this book on a jump drive I keep in a box in my basement. I was tempted, but I didnt write the book to be famous. I wrote it to make a work of art that I was proud of.
I am currently looking for representation for THE WIDOW’S GAME. While it has done stellar on its own being self-published, it would seriously rock the pants off the POP culture in a bigger market. Think Fight Club meets a Sexy Sherlock Holmes and her Demon Watson! And Erik Wilson and I have a graphic novel almost halfway finished. One word: badass!
SHOCK: What have you read lately that really turned you on?
MVS: Lately I have been casing out I TELL YOU ITS LOVE written by Joe Landsdale and illustrated by Daniele Serra at the Marshfield Public Library. What an enchanting and haunting work. No, I have not stolen it yet.
SHOCK: How important is branding in making people aware of your work?
MVS: I would say its elemental in being an author and artist. I actually have a entire back tattoo of a black widow spider in a bed of moon roses. Crowned in Von Stark. I hope that when people see the black widow hourglass, they think of me
