Touching on the art of the kill scene, the importance of bodily fluids, and the urgency of marijuana legalization, Chuck Nasty shares some of his recipe for Lot Lizard Stew.
Lot Lizard Stew
Albert Ridgeway is an asshole. He’s also a trucker with a sketchy past and an unhealthy addiction to raping and killing prostitutes at truck stops. These ladies of the night are known as lot lizards. After having his fun, he feeds the fresh meat to two double-headed, mutant alligators.
After a tragic run-in with Albert that left two of her loved ones dead, Julie is able to get away. Hoping to find help, she quickly realizes she has to take matters into her own hands.
The Interview
1. Profiling Albert (Al) Ridgeway.
LAC: Introduce us to Al, where’s he’s coming from, and the kind of guy he is.
CN: We all knew that one guy in school who always had a bad attitude. Never could play nice or work well with others, unless he was running the show and did things his way or nothing…that’s Al Ridgeway. He’s a filthy bastard who likes to have a good time doing very bad things, and when those things are stalled, he sees red and slightly goes off the deep end. Sadly, he’s a metaphor for what can happen when parents don’t parent and expose their children to an X-rated world.
LAC: What would he be like to hang out with on a Friday night?
CN: Hanging out with Al on a Friday night would be dangerous. I’d say it would start out with smoking large amounts of cannabis and gulping down shots of whiskey, chugging beers the whole time. The night would probably progress into chaos that would most likely involve unspeakable acts of some sort.
2. Comic Sadism?
LAC: The idea of people like Al and his accomplices doing what they do is intrinsically scary, but am I a bad person if my primary emotional reaction to their bloody antics is bemusement (complete with chuckles)? Why or why not?
CN: Does it make someone a bad person for laughing at something they found humorous? Not at all. It’s in the context of why something is funny to someone that makes them a bad person. If someone can laugh at something dark and think, “I really shouldn’t laugh at that,” then they probably aren’t that shitty of a human and have somewhat of a conscience. However, if someone can laugh at something horrendous and not have the inner dialogue of “Maybe I shouldn’t laugh at that,” then most likely they are cold and heartless, and people should flee from them as soon as they can. Ha!
3. Misogyny and Queerphobia.
LAC: Al has some less funny… problems… with other people. His biggest issue is with women, who usually appear in the book as objects for fucking or killing, often both. Why is his hatred of “lot lizards” so pervasive? The book points toward his mother as a possible answer—would you be Freudian enough to say that he keeps fucking and punishing his mother over and over again?
CN: It’s not so much that he hates “lot lizards” or women in general, really. Like most big bullies, he usually chooses to make who he sees as “weak” his targets. With any villain that has a backstory such as his, rooted in parental abuse and witnessing all the wrong ways to treat someone, he knows no real other way to be. Raping and killing, then throwing someone away like trash, it’s kind of all he knows. The evil is ingrained in him from day one. To say there is something Freudian about Al’s dirty activities, maybe there is, but mainly, he just thrives on having control and being an inebriated asshole.
LAC: In addition to the misogyny, there’s some odd queerphobia, including deeply unsettled feelings surrounding a sexual experience Al has involving a gender misread and Al’s sidekick Joey repeatedly worrying about having to suck cock. Why are these phobias important to the characters?
CN: I have to make it known that I don’t usually know what is going to happen before I sit down and start typing. I have ideas, but those always change when I actually am doing the deed. So, when it came to the scene you are referring to with the misgendering, knowing the type of nasty fella Al is and how he gets when his plans get foiled, how would he act if the “lizard” he picked up wasn’t the gender he was expecting? I would say it would go as violently and senselessly as it does in that scene. As for Joey and his phobia of having to suck a dick, he’s the weakling of the crew. He is the one who is easily messed with. Seeing the vile life he and his “friends” lead, the bullying is more aggressive and hurtful. Not to mention, since they are all pieces of shit, the fear of having to do that for punishment seems like a legit fear to have. Thus, why we must choose our company we keep very carefully.
4. Pornoviolence, Porn, and Violence.
LAC: Most extreme horror is at least somewhat episodic, as the kill scenes are strong components that often take on lives of their own. Especially in the first half, Lot Lizard Stew builds the larger story around alternating episodes of explicit sex and explicit violence, with some sex and violence occurring simultaneously. To what extent are you deliberately juggling types of scenes to keep your audience gratified?
CN: When it comes to the sex, the book is called Lot Lizard Stew. Since a “lot lizard” is a sex worker who mainly creeps around rest areas and truck stops looking for a client or a John, as they are mainly called, sex is an obvious. When it comes to the sexual violence, a sad truth is, that kind of thing happens in reality all the time when prostitution is a factor. I like for the reader to understand how bad a character may be, and I’ll use whatever imagery I see fit to show that. And again, these scenes aren’t usually things that come to me before I sit down to work, they just pop in when a story is getting heated in some way.
LAC: Do you feel like parts of the book qualify as erotica?
CN: I don’t. No. In order for something to be erotica, there needs to be a point where the sex is passionate and at times loving with maybe some kinks here and there. A book like this one has none of that. The sex in this book is repulsive and meant to anger the reader. And when I say meant to anger, I mean, I want you to remember that regardless of the humor, Al and his buddies are pieces of shit.
5. The Art of Variation.
LAC: Speaking of the kill scenes, one of extreme horror’s artistic challenges is keeping them fresh, establishing variation to keep readers satisfied while staying within the logic of the story. Lot Lizard Stew has a LOT of kills. What do you do to avoid repeating yourself?
CN: I’m a firm believer that anything can be something horrible. In the case of ways to take a life, the ideas are endless. A lot of times I just think of where the scene is taking place and think of what may be around that can be used. If the scene is taking place in a familiar spot, just think of what else could be in that killer’s reach and think of the most violent and depraved ways they can use those instruments.
LAC: I’ve assumed something so far, but I want your take: is the kill scene a form of art?
CN: In ways, yes. Pretty fucked up art form. Ha! But, yeah, the ways to kill are endless, and the more creative someone can be is something the reader looks for. It’s the same reason we watch Friday the 13th films, to see how Jason will kill next. Art is something that is desired, and we, the horror fans, want the red in any sadistic form it can be given to us.
6. Piss and Other Effluvia.
LAC: Why is there so much piss in Lot Lizard Stew? Not just people pissing on each other, but people just randomly going off to relieve themselves, explicitly. In addition to piss, we get a fair amount of semen, non-negligible squirts of spit, farts with bonuses, and the perhaps more expected sprays of vomit and buckets of blood. Why does human liquid belong in horror?
CN: Great question. I guess, when it comes to hardcore horror (extreme and splatterpunk), disgust is a necessity. It’s a big reason why people read it. Not just for the fecal matter or urine draining, but for the gross-out in general. Any time there is a moment where something disgusting or rude can occur, it most likely will.
LAC: Why don’t more stories feature so much human liquid?
CN: Oh, there are many that do. Especially in the hardcore horror world. Hell, there are stories and books written where human liquid is the main basis for the story.
LAC: Does all this human liquid have something to do with body horror?
CN: That’s a fair assumption, honestly. The human body is at the center of these horribly grotesque and fun stories we read and write. Without the gore that rests in each of us and the many liquids waiting to be shot from whatever orifice, the genre would be much different. It would be trees getting stabbed or some shit. Ha! So, yes, body horror in ways, and the liquids are needed Ha!
LAC: Speaking of liquids, without spoilers, what can you tell us about the mystery liquid, that purplish ooze, that’s such a feature in your novel’s stew?
CN: The mystery liquid is a few things. Being a substance with many different psychoactive effects, in ways, it’s a metaphor for hard drugs. Some drugs don’t have all of the same effects on one person that they have on another. Also, the mystery liquid is something that will be making many appearances in future releases.
7. Reefer Madness.
LAC: Al mostly avoids other drugs due to childhood trauma, but he and his accomplices smoke huge amounts of weed. What does all the pot-smoking say about the characters?
CN: The cannabis use throughout the book doesn’t say much, really. We have a cast of characters who come from the South who like to get “Off the frame”. Two of the main things people like in the South, things that aren’t the harder stuff, are booze and bud. How do I know this? Many years of research. Ha!
LAC: What do frequent pauses for the enjoyment of blunts and joints add to the overall feeling of Lot Lizard Stew?
CN: Mainly they show that regardless of the despicable acts characters are performing on people, they still make sure to catch a buzz in between. Shows how humans can act when doing inhumane things, honestly. Think about it. Hardcore smokers will blaze up before and during anything, doesn’t really matter what. The question is, what do murderers do while waiting for it to be time to do what they do again? In this case, drink beer and smoke weed. There’s a part where the gators are chasing around two women in the pit–what are the villains doing? Watching while ingesting shots of whiskey, lots of beer and tons of weed and commenting like sportscasters.
LAC: Should marijuana be legalized—or completely banned again—across the U.S.?
CN: As the one given the nickname, The Stoner Gore King, I say cannabis should be legalized all across the board. I am so tired of people who fail to do research or focus on what facts are when it comes to the power of the herbs. It’s been proven to help with many illnesses (I have Crohn’s disease, and it’s the only thing that has ever, EVER calmed my pains). Living in Kentucky, we are about to go medical, however, because people want to bitch and moan about anything they don’t understand, we aren’t allowed to legally have flower yet, only edibles and things not able to be smoked. America needs to get the corn cob from its ass. So many states have gone recreational, and there are reasons for that. Many good reasons: it creates jobs, helps with sickness, lowers crime rates, and all of that and more has already been proven many times over by the states that have been recreational for a while. Sorry for the rant. I am quite passionate about this topic.
8. Freaks of Nature, Freaks of Nurture.
LAC: As the description at the beginning of this interview highlights, double-headed mutant alligators are at the heart of the story, but ideas about freaks don’t seem to stop there. Characters use the word “freak” to describe themselves and each other several times, and after the novel shows more of the people and area around Al’s home base, nearly every local male seems to be a freakish sexual predator. Why the focus on freaks?
CN: Part of the fun of writing hardcore horror is coming up with interesting characters, and some of those characters are despicable. The despicable ones are usually in some kind of “freak” category, be it in a sexual sense or in a behavioral manner. Them recognizing that what they do is fucked-up just adds to the sinister aspect of their personalities. When it comes to the two-headed gators, one could see them as the type of “freak” that knows no better, just does what they do based on instinct and environment.
9. Profiling Julie.
LAC: As the description above indicates, Julie is “the one who got away.” Introduce us to Julie. Did you model her on the classic Final Girl?
CN: In ways, I did. I have a few stories and books out that have very strong female final girls. When I write a character like Julie, I always have a couple of female film characters in mind. Barbara from the Tom Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead, Lt. Ripley from the Alien franchise and Sarah Connor from the Terminator films. There are many more strong female roles in horror and sci-fi, but those are the three that come to mind when creating a badass female character. Funny thing is, Julie wasn’t supposed to be a final girl. There was actually a male character that I scrapped early on. This was due to seeing where the story was going. A bunch of pigheaded, horrible excuses for men causing misery on women… yeah, there needs to be a woman to kick some ass. That change happened as I wrote Julie. I was about to have her lose her head, and then I saw her attitude and thought, “Nah, she isn’t the type to give up, and she’s going to be the one to bring justice and be an all-around pain to the bad guys.” Ha!
10. Access!
LAC: How can readers learn more about you and your works (please provide any links you want to share)?
CN: My Facebook page CHUCK NASTY is the best place to see what I am up to or to reach me.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/chuck-nasty/author/B0C959H5LV
And Unveiling Nightmares Press, which is going through some changes and the site is down at the moment.
About the Author
Chuck Nasty is a resident of Whirlin’ Sterlin’, Kentucky. He has one of his stories in the first issue of the comic book Tales of Shock and Terror as well as a few stories in Any Last Words Magazine. When he isn’t writing pure horror and disgust, he plays drums and does vocals for the band Bastard Sons of a Judas Goat. Being one who likes to talk, he also has three podcasts: Nasty Nation, Graveyard Talk and Video Store Clerks Podcast.