Today we’d like to introduce you to Vaughn Jackson.
Hi Vaughn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I feel like every author says that they’ve been writing as long as they can remember, or for as long as they could hold a pencil/crayon, and unfortunately I’m going to have to play into the cliche. With near picture perfect clarity, I remember writing my first “book”, which was little more than a picture book with a few words per page about a pair of Pokemon going on an adventure. Guess that means I can also say I got my start with fan-fiction as well, huh?
I wrote from time to time, but mostly poured myself into books. My favorites were fantasy and science fiction, and may Dad later introduced me to horror via Stephen King. I expanded my horizons into the works of Lovecraft, Moorcock, Adams, Gaiman, and the like.
Fast forward several years, and when I was about to graduate High School, I had it in my head that I wanted to major in Creative Writing and make a career as an author. Somewhere along the way, this ended up leading me to get a degree in Computer Science instead. Because of this change, and the course work I dealt with, my writing fell to the wayside until my Junior year where I picked up a creative writing class on a whim.
To say it reinvigorated my passion might be one of the understatements of the century. While taking the class, I decided to write my first novel. It was terrible, but I finished it, set it aside, and moved on to the next one–Touched by Shadows–which ultimately became my second published work. And I haven’t stopped since!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think any person’s journey is smooth, personally, though some may have an easier path than others. For me, I think the biggest personal challenge has been making time to do my work as an author while maintaining my day job. I often joke that I have two full-time jobs because I’ll get off at the end of day, come home, and settle right back in front of a computer screen to slap words on paper.
And of course, being an author means being rejected. It happens a lot, and no matter how much it happens, it stings. I have received rejections nicer than some of the acceptances I’ve had, and they still hurt like nobody’s business. You can’t do this if you have thin skin. It’s painful. Maybe it will get better as I spend more time actively in this career–only 3-ish years so far–but until thin, I’ve to grin and bear it.
Lastly, while it’s a more…nebulous…item, I can’t speak on obstacles and challenges without addressing the issue of race. The issue of race, or more specifically racism, in the publishing industry has been pulled to the forefront more and more in recent years. Most of this takes place on the side of the business I can’t see–people’s biases when considering my story are invisible unless they outright tell me. So far no one has, so anything is pure speculation on my part. But, from talking with fellow black writers and writers of color it is something that does affect your chances in the industry. What I have experience a lot of is being the only black person on convention panels or, in one convention in particular, being one of only a handful of POCs at all. It can be disheartening, but I always tell myself that my presence at these events, on these panels, and in the community, is a sign for other POC that than can exist in this space and thrive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So, if it hasn’t been clear up to this point, I’m an author. As for what I right, I actually have recently rebranded myself with a short, sweet tagline: Creatures, Kaiju, and Cosmic Horror. While the first is pretty straight forward, from time to time people look at me like I’ve grown horns when I mention the other two.
Kaiju is literally translated as “strange beast”, though modern connotations more often relate them to giant monsters in the vein of Godzilla, King Kong, and that thing from Cloverfield. I’ve been watching movies like this since…probably 1998, when I was three years old.
Cosmic Horror, per Wikipedia, is “a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock”. The idea of slimy things with too many tentacles is the image present in the cultural zeitgeist most often associated with this genre, though it’s focus is more on the existential than the monsters themselves. The monsters are usually a stand in for the grand scheme of things in which humanity has no importance.
Since I’ve only been in the profession and adjoining community for around 3-4 years, I’m not entirely sure what I’m known for. Obviously I have a stake in the genres above, but I hope that when people think of me, they focus more on my passion for the craft and for encouraging and making space for other people to succeed alongside me.
I am most proud of the project myself and co-editor Stephanie Pearre have coming out on July 10th. It is an anthology of diverse cosmic horror, a label we approached at the molecular level. Not only are the stories all from authors of marginalized background, but their stories reflect the different ways the genre can exist and be approached by writers. While some of the authors in this antho are well know, maybe even famous, something I’m delighted about–I’m even more excited that at least 5 of our authors have never been published before. This anthology is getting their names out there and giving them a foothold in the writing scene.
Finally, as for what sets me apart, well, every writer approaches their stories from their personal perspective, so even if a premise sounds familiar to you, the story won’t be the same as what you expect. Essentially, you ain’t never read an author like me!
(Or anyone other author, for that matter…unless you’ve already read them…)
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Trends are something I’ve always been terrible at predicting, so I’m not sure I can offer too much insight on this front. I do think we will see a shift from focusing on the nigh-omnipotent, large publishing houses to a more distributed network of smaller, indie publishers. We are already seeing a bit of that shift as we speak.
As a genre, horror itself has had a bit of a comeback in recent years, at least according to older authors I speak to. It seems like it was kind of an untouchable genre for a while, unless you were Stephen King. So I think we’ll see other underrepresented genres popping back up–pulp, sword and sorcery, space opera–but with several new perspectives as authors from more diverse backgrounds pick up the pen and paper!
And of course, as more POC help pave the way, I think we will inevitably see a more diverse population of writers cropping up in the near-ish future.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.vaughnajacksonauthor.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaximillion_author/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blaximillion
- Other: https://creatures-kaiju-cosmic-horror.curated.co/
Image Credits
Fearless Photo Company Lynne Hansen Art Frank Noble Art Falstaff Books Vaughn A. Jackson
