Withersin’s Damned Interview with:
Tom Hamilton is an Irish Traveler, along with his wife Mary Theresa and their three
small daughters: Tiffany, Hope and Catalina, he lives in
List some of your works (stories,
books, poems, songs, albums, movies, etc):
I've
had two poetry chapbooks published: The Rain Draw Bridge from Alpha Beat Press
and The Last Days of my Teeth from Budget Press. Both are, of course, out of
print. My short stories have appeared in Sinister City, Necrography,
Bewildering Stories, Whisper World, Tales of the Zombie Wars, Dark Recesses,
Parade of Phantoms Podcast, Anthology Builder, Red
Wheelbarrow Literary Journal, Dark Fire, Curious Volumes, Existere,
Big Ole Face Full of Monster, The Harrow, Southern Gothic, Literal Minded,
Macabre Cadaver, Michigan State University Press, Southern Fried Weirdness,
Tales Askew, Demon Minds, Midnight in Hell, Ethereal Gazette and in the popular
Dead Worlds zombie book series. My poetry credits are really too numerous to
get into but I did have some works appear along side Charles Bukowski's poems in the Main Street Poetry Rag. I'm awfully
proud of that one since Bukowski is a big idol of
mine. I have since stopped writing poetry however. I got to the point where I
knew just enough about poetry to realize that the poems I was writing were real
bad.
Your website: I
don't have a website as I feel a little too modest for that type of self
promotion. I also feel that any writer who has their own website should already
be famous, although I realize that promoting one's self is a means to that end,
so it's kind of a catch 22.
How can you be contacted? Anyone
who wants to comment, question or critique my work can contact me at
maytraca@aptmail.net. I'd be delighted
to hear your point of view.
In your own words,
define Withersin.
Quote the Raven; Nevermore. I think Poe would have
enjoyed the magazine.
If you were a sideshow
act, what would you be?
The Fat Man
What is your greatest
non-literary influence?
The
suddenly coherent and ghostly voices of late night radio.
Describe your most
irrational fear.
Sometimes I feel like the police are going to break
in and arrest me, even though I haven't committed any crime, at least not
recently. I feel a little less vulnerable sitting down in our finished basement
and this helps the paranoia subside somewhat.
How about your most guilty pleasure?
I eat a lot of ice cream late at night. It reminds
me of that television commercial where the husband breaks into the room to find
his wife in bed and a giant quart of ice cream with one sock on trying to hide
behind the curtain.
Name the most
disturbing nursery rhyme/fairy tale you can recall.
Definitely Hansel and Gretel, I saw a graphic
version of it once when I was a kid and there was a lot of blood and severed
body parts.
Do you eat meat?
Does a Quarter Pounder
count?
What were the skies
like when you were young?
When I was ten years old I used to look for a
certain cluster of stars at night. I'm sure that the formation has some Greek
name, but to me the design was shaped like the state of
Name your favorite
garden tool.
Shovel.
Name your least
favorite color, first job and worst job.
I don't have a least favorite, Kelly Green is my
favorite.
Asphalt Seal coater: First, worst and last.
Favorite:
Author, Movie, Music Group, Song, and Quote.
- Paul Auster, Albert Camus, George Orwell, Brett
- Godfather Part II, Sexy Beast, Inland Empire, Merry Christmas Mr.
Lawrence, Live and Die in L.A. Day of the Dead, A Street Car Named Desire,
Green Card, Miller's Crossing, Goodfellows, Breaking
The Waves, Chopper, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Scarface,
Dirty Harry, The Bounty, Sense and Sensibility, Rocky, Raging Bull, Hombre,
Platoon, The Killing Fields, Jackie Brown, Schindler's List, Salvador, Casino, Carlito's Way, A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet, Alien,
Blade Runner, Panic in Needle Park, The Evil Dead, Eyes of Fire, To Die For,
Eyes Wide Shut, Reservoir Dogs, One Eyed Jacks, Serpico,
Kiss of Death ( 1994 ), Jade, Prince of the City, Q&A, First Blood,
Birthday Girl, Once Warriors, Disclosure, Starship Troopers, Pulp Fiction,
Unlawful Entry, An Officer and a Gentleman, There Will Be Blood and The Last
Seduction.
- U2, R.E.M, The Police, Split Enz/Crowded
House, The Replacements, Joe Jackson, Jackson Browne, The Smiths, Nirvana,
Smashing Pumpkins and The Pogues.
- With or Without You- U2, Thunder Road- Bruce
Springsteen, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes- The Platters, Just Like Heaven- The Cure,
For Once in My Life- Stevie Wonder, All Apologies-
Nirvana, Every Day is Like Sunday- Morrisey, Cowboys-
Zeitgiest, Harbor Coat- R.E.M. Romeo & Juliet-
Dire Straights, You've Been Talking in your Sleep- Crystal Gale, Turn it on
Again- Genesis, At My Most Beautiful-R.E.M.
- “We are born crying, with all those around us
smiling. Hoping that we can die smiling, with all those around us crying” -Irish
Proverb.
If you were a loaf of
bread what kind would you be?
Beef Steak
Weirdest news you have
read in your local newspaper:
A fourteen year old boy posed as a police officer
and rode around in a patrol car with a partner for five hours without arousing
suspicion.
If you have a message
to the people of Earth, tell us what it is:
I'm still trying to find out what the message is myself.
And finally, a
question you can take anyway you like: But Why?
Why not? And what else have I got to do.
Here’s
a photo titled, “INEDIBLE NOT INTENDED FOR HUMAN
You have 112 words.
Go.
Go- I don't really like to participate
in writing exercises, It's too much like trying to learn something with just a
text book which was primarily all the education I ever received. I also feel
limited in my search for a clever caption since I would probably anger myself
if it turned out that my comment seemed too cute. I hope you don't mind if I
respectfully decline to describe my thoughts on this picture.