CRK: Well, I guess this “new Gothic” movement has really been building for quite some time, if not since Shirley Jackson in the 1950’s, then at least since Anne Rice published Interview With The Vampire in 1975. And Storm’s first books, the Wraethu trilogy, first appeared in 1987. Then Poppy came along with Lost Souls in 1992. So, yes, I think this is something that’s been developing for some time. All those writers had an influence on me, especially Poppy. Lost Souls came out when I was working on my first novel, The Five Of  Cups, which I finally shelved. It had sold, but the publisher was taking forever to release it, and in the meantime I finished my second novel, Silk, which is really a much better book. By that time I wasn’t interested in seeing The Five Of  Cups published, so I pulled it from the publisher and Silk became my “first” novel, instead. There really wasn’t anything in The Five Of  Cups that hadn’t already been done by Poppy or Anne Rice or in some other vampire novel, and I think it was an important step in my maturation as a writer that I finally realized that on my own. But what influences me? Many things. Obviously, other authors. The Modernists were an important influence, especially W. B. Yeats, James Joyce, and T. S. Eliot. A number of “weird” and supernatural fiction writers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, M. R. James, and J. Sheridan LeFanu. Some later fantasists, like Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison, along with Shirley Jackson, who I already mentioned, were very important formative influences. Of more contemporary authors, I’d list Kathe Koja, Angela Carter, Ramsey Campbell, Thomas Ligotti . . . there are really too many to list. I’ve also found architecture can be very inspirational, and certain places. Place is very important to my fiction. There’s also the work of the Pre-Raphaelite painters. And far too many musicians to list. All these disparate things come together in my stories, I think.

MH: Are there any plans to get your novel, Silk, republished in the UK?

CRK: In 1997, when Silk was being marketed to American publishers, it was also being marketed to English publishers. But there wasn’t much interest from the UK. One editor even wrote us that the “American setting...is overt and could be off-putting.” So, we never sold the British rights. Of course, now the American edition has been nominated for the British Fantasy award, which I find pretty amusing. I think another factor that probably affected the willingness of UK publishing houses to accept the book is that American editions, through such internet sources as Amazon.com, are now readily available to British readers. I get a lot of mail from UK readers, from European readers in general, especially from The Netherlands, and these people haven’t had a lot of trouble getting the book. So, I’m not sure there ever will be a UK edition of Silk. Maybe. We’ll see. I would like there to be one.

MH: How is Silk doing?

CRK: Very, very well. Much better than I’d expected. Sales are good, and it received the Barnes & Noble Maiden Voyage Award and the International Horror Guild Award for best first novel. It was also nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, the British Fantasy Award, and tied for second place in Locus magazine’s poll of best horror novels from 1998. And the reviews have been wonderful. I’m very pleased with the way Silk’s doing.

MH: I understand that you are working on a musical project entitled Crimson Stain Mystery - could you give us details of your work, and when can we expect to see anything?

CRK: In 1996, I started a goth band called Death’s Little Sister. I left the band in ‘97, right after Silk sold. I’d started working for DC Comics, writing for The Dreaming, and it was hard to deal with both the deadlines from DC and the hassle of being in a band. Since DC was paying the bills, the obvious choice for me at the time was to leave the band. I’d been the vocalist and had written lyrics, and instead of finding a replacement, the other members decided to split up. But I’d written a lot of material for Death’s Little Sister and I’ve hated that it’s just sitting there, unrecorded. So now I’m working with a new group that will record the material under the name Crimson Stain Mystery. I’d hoped we’d have the CD done early in 2000, but I’m so busy that it’s going to take much longer than I thought. I honestly can’t say when the disc might be finished. I wish I could.

MH: What was it like being the MC at Convergence 5 in New Orleans?

CRK: It was fabulous. Really. That was such a wonderful weekend. The bands were great, the crowd was great, The House of Blues was great, the DJs were great. I really don’t have any complaints. I was very flattered when Heather Spears asked me to MC and I think the experience gave me a better sense of goth as a community.

MH: What is the gothic/darkwave scene like in the US?  And what got you interested in the first place?

CRK: I think the American goth scene is very diverse, and is different in different parts of the country. The New York scene seems very close to the SM/fetish scene, for instance, and the LA scene still seems to have strong punk ties. Neither of those things are really true of the scene in Atlanta and New Orleans, where I’ve spent more time. I was attracted to goth for a lot of reasons. I think it has the potential to be a lot more than fashion and music,  a lot more than spooky kids in plastic fangs, that it could eventually form a sort of Neo-Romantic/Neo-Victorian aesthetic, and restore some grace and dignity to Western culture. It amazes me that goth has survived for more than twenty years. I know goths who were born after the scene first split away from the UK punk scene in the early eighties. That really freaks me out. Anyway, I was drawn to goth at a time when I was having a lot of trouble reconciling darker aspects of my personality, those things that Jung called the “shadow self,” that we’re generally taught to disregard or repress.  So, for a while, goth was a place to hide from the world. Now it’s become the way I see the world, and is helping me imagine the way the world could be changed.

MH: If you could change one thing in your life, what would that be?

CRK: In 1995, a very close friend took her own life. If I could change one thing, it would be that.

MH: Share with us an embarrassing moment on stage!

CRK: For me there’s never been anything worse than being on stage and forgetting lyrics to a song. That happened a couple of times with Death’s Little Sister. We did a lot of very long ballads with lots and lots of lyrics and every now and then I’d just draw a blank. That’s horrible. Also, we did a show or two where virtually no one showed up, but we had to play anyway. There are few things more embarrassing than playing a whole set to the bartender and the sound guys.

MH: What are your plans for the future?

CRK: Well, now that I’m writing The Dreaming full time, that seems like the main thing in my life. Having to do a script a month. But I also have a collection of short stories coming out next year called Tales Of Pain And Wonder. The hardback edition of Silk, illustrated by Clive Barker, was just released, and I’ll be promoting that. I’m working on the next novel, titled Trilobite, which I expect to finish sometime in 2000. DC is rereleasing my mini-series, The Girl Who Would Be Death, as a trade paperback, and I’ll be doing stories for their The Sandman Presents title.

MH: If readers were interested in obtaining you work, where could they order it from?

CRK: Just about everything I’ve done, even some of the comics stuff, is available from online booksellers, like Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) and Barnes & Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com). It’s really very easy to find my work, even if you don’t see it in a local bookshop. I’d also recommend that people visit Pandora Station, the website I share with Poppy Z. Brite and Christa Faust. There’s a section of the site devoted to selling our work, and my complete bibliography is posted there. And I’ve sold a lot of short fiction to British anthologies, such as The Mammoth Book Of Best New Horror 9 and Dark Terrors 3.