Interview with Christopher and Kris Hawkins Creators of One Buck Horror

Interview with Christopher and Kris Hawkins Creators of One Buck Horror

Today I am interviewing Christopher and Kris Hawkins, a husband wife team that, created One Buck Horror. Welcome to my world of Insanity.


1. What led you both to create One Buck Horror?

Well, we're both horror fans and avid readers. Chris is a writer who deals with web technology in his other life. Kris is super-organized and great at finding quality stories. It seemed like a great way to bring all that experience together into a single project. And once we saw how quickly the market for ebooks was growing, we knew we had an opportunity to bring some great horror fiction to a mass audience. From there, it all just sort of fell into place.


2. Has there ever been a story you had to turn away not because it was a bad story, but because it was too twisted?

I don't know that we've ever turned down a story for being too twisted, but we have turned down a lot of perfectly good stories because they weren't quite right for our publication. We have a pretty specific vibe we're going for with One Buck Horror, and it makes us really picky.


3. What has been the most rewarding experience for you both doing One Buck Horror?

The most rewarding thing has been working with such a great group of writers, and being able to give them some of the exposure they deserve. We've gotten some great response so far from our readers as well, and being able to connect the two groups has been really exciting.


4. What is each of your favorite stories out of all three volumes?

That's a little like asking us which of our two children we like best! It's really hard to say, and on any given day, we might give a different answer. There are definitely a few that stand out, but we'd rather let the readers pick their own favorites.


5. Which type of horror do you both prefer, the subtle, sneak up on you type, or the in your face blood and gore from the start?

Well, there's definitely a place for both in One Buck Horror. What really matters is that the story is written effectively, and that it's scary. Blood and gore are fine, as long as they serve the story, though we probably lean a bit toward the "sneak up on you" stories. But approach matters less than substance, and good stories will rise to the top no matter what.


6. What scares you?

Spiders. Clowns. The Chupacabra. Congress. Doll parts. Country music. Snooki. The list goes on and on...


7. I see One Buck Zombies is in the works. Want to tell us about it?

Well, it's chock-full of zombies and only costs a buck! What more can we say? All kidding aside, we have some great stories in that book, and they're all fairly unique takes on the zombie genre. We think our fans are going to love it!


8. What are you looking for in contributing authors?

We're looking for stories that grab onto you right from the beginning, whether that's by scaring us right in the first few sentences, or by presenting compelling characters, or by putting us into an irresistible setting. Too many horror stories are a long, slow wind-up to a scary twist that comes in the last few pages, which is hard to pull off in a horror anthology when the reader know that something scary is going to happen eventually. The best stories command the reader's attention right away, and don't let go even after they're finished.


9. What's the best advice you can give someone who wants to be a horror writer?

Read everything you can, and not just horror. If all you read is horror, then your stories will look just like everything that's come before. Immerse yourself in different genres and different styles. Let them all inform your writing, and create something that's truly unique.



10. Has One Buck Horror brought you both closer together as husband and wife?

It definitely has. Working together is a challenge, but it's a lot of fun, and we hope to continue doing it for a long time.


Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.