You may not want to read this interview. It could be hazardous to your health and a devastating experience. Wrath James White is, among other things, a writer and a professional kickboxer. Reading his fiction is like stepping into the ring with him; it is a brutal, intense experience that will leave you gasping and defeated, shocked and beaten. Like a fist of fury his words pummel you beyond recognition until you have to go crying home to Mommy. Wrath is the co-author of “Teratologist” with hardcore horror legend Ed Lee, “Poisoning Eros” with Monica J. O’Rourke and “Broken” with Hertzan Chimera and Alex Severin. He has written many short stories, which can be found in such places as Shivers III and Brutal Tales.

His short story “Hurting Him” is a particularly brutal and disturbing work, almost too intense to read. His writing combines religious horror, graphic violence, and perverted sex to create a unique style. His words are weapons and he goes to war with the reader. What makes him a great writer is that in addition to all the depravity and gore, he creates realistic, memorable characters who we can sympathize with and he uses striking imagery for great effect.

His next work will be the novel “Succulent Prey” from Bloodletting Press (Here's an excerpt from "Succulent Prey" exclusively for Really Scary readers! Strictly for adults.) And there are rumors of a sequel to “Poisoning Eros”. You have been warned, you are about to read the words of a fighter who physically attacks you with his words in a way that is just as devastating outside the ring as it is in the ring. Better lace up your gloves and put in your mouthpiece, the interview is about to begin…

Really Scary: How long have you been writing and fighting and which did you start first?

Wrath James White: I’ve been fighting for ten years in the ring. Outside the ring? I had my first fight at age four. It was a dispute over a tricycle. I’m always amazed when I meet grown men who have never been in a fight. I had my first fight before I could spell my own name.

I started writing Horror in high school. I submitted my first story when I was seventeen and got a really nasty rejection from a magazine called Night Cry. That was in 1987. I didn’t submit another story until 2000 though I kept writing.

RS: Have your experiences in the world of fighting affected your writing?

Wrath: The places I’ve visited in my fighting career and the people I’ve met definitely make appearances in my writing. I wrote a story that took place in a Muay Thai training camp in Thailand that I never could or would have written if I hadn’t been there. I’ve written three or four stories whose main protagonists were fighters of some sort. And the women definitely show up in them. That’s one thing you experience a lot of as a fighter.

RS: You have collaborated with a number of writers such as Ed Lee, Hertzan Chimera, Alex Severin and Monica O’Rourke. What do you get out of collaborative writing and why do you do it?

Wrath: Self improvement is the main reason I do collaborations. I am very strong-willed and opinionated and often unyielding. Since I did my first collaboration years ago with a performance art troupe and now with my recent literary collaborations I’ve learned how to let my own ego dissolve into a team. It’s still difficult. I’m still a control freak, but people who knew me ten years ago would never have even thought me capable of collaborating with anyone on anything. I’m not really a team player. I guess you can say I don’t play well with others. But I’m learning. Socrates said: “The unexamined life is not worth living” meaning that you can amass years of experience without gaining an ounce of knowledge if you never ask “Why did this happen?” “How did this happen?” and seek answers. I know many an old fool for just that reason. I examined my life years ago and realized my potential for success would always be limited if I did not expand my social skills. That’s when I began my collaborations. The other thing it did is increase my writing my skills, which I still work on everyday. Seeing how other authors put phrases together and even their editing process has definitely been a help to me. My tour of duty in the small press will helpfully lead to me growing into a much more polished writer when I at long last break into the mainstream. Man is like fruit on the vine. When he ceases to grow he begins to rot. I forget who said it, but it is so true. Muhammed Ali said that “The man who thinks the same way at fifty five as he did at twenty five has wasted thirty years of his life.” Hopefully I will not be writing the same way at fifty-five as I am today. I really don’t have the time to waste.

RS: How does the process of collaborative writing work for you?

Wrath: We usually start with an idea and agree on a set number of words we will each write before handing it off then we go back and forth writing say 500 words each time. When I collaborated with Ed Lee I thing we were doing it in 2000 word blocks. I’m not usually really strict on the words though. If we agree on two thousand words each time but the other person gets to a part where they want to write more or less than that’s fine too.

RS: If you could write a story with anyone, alive or dead, who would that be?

Wrath: I don’t know. Maybe Albert Camus or Gore Vidal. Could you imagine a horror novel by Wrath James White and Gore Vidal? That would be fucking amazing! Voltaire would have been a blast to write with too.

RS: How has the Marquis de Sade influenced your writing?

Wrath: If anything he has influenced my philosophies on life and in that way influenced my writing. When you read past the redundant scatological references in books like Philosophy in the Bedroom and Justine there’s some pretty potent social commentary and Naturalist Libertarian philosophy there. His thoughts on atheism are interesting to me as well since I’m a professed militant atheist. I don’t believe in putting anything above man’s own freewill except maybe the freewill of others and neither did De Sade. The difference is of course in the extremes.

RS: Who has influenced you and your writing?

Wrath: Baudelaire, Comte De Lautremonte, Stephen King, Albert Camus, Arthur Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Ice Berg Slim, Donald Goines, Sun Tzu, Huey P. Newton, Robert McCammon, Ed Lee, Marquis De Sade, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Ayn Rand, Gore Vidal, Jack Ketchum, Jean Paul Sartre, Voltaire and many more that I’ve probably forgotten . Everything I read influences me in some way, but the aforementioned have left the most lasting impressions.

RS: What do you think of snuff movies?

Wrath: I’ve never seen one and probably wouldn’t want to. There are some things that should remain in the realm of fantasy.

RS: Have you ever been doing research on necrophilia or something like that and seen something that made you sick?

Wrath: Anything involving cruelty to animals sickens me. I can laugh my way through Rotten.com’s worst until they start showing animals that have been tortured or abused. Animals are innocent. People on the other hand… Let’s just say you could make a case for abusing most humans Necrophilia doesn’t bother me because the dead really don’t suffer. Though I’d probably take issue with a picture of someone fucking the corpse of a dead baby seal or something.

RS: What grosses you out?

Wrath: Skin diseases freak me out. I used to go to the Mutter Museum all the time in high school. That’s the museum of medical oddities in Philadelphia. I found most of the deformities profoundly interesting and some down right hilarious. That is until I get to the section on skin diseases and they start showing rashes, boils, and lesions. That shit makes my skin crawl.

RS: For Posioning Eros, did you have to research bestiality films?

Wrath: I get enough Farm Sex spam in my mailbox. There was really no need to go looking for it. That was my primary inspiration for writing it in the first place. You have to wonder what would bring a woman to such a low. Many of the women you see in porn are quite attractive too, even the ones that show up in x-rated spam getting gang-banged by Dobermans. Makes you wonder.

RS: What is Succulent Prey about and when will it be available?

Wrath: Not surprisingly Succulent Prey is about sex. Sex addiction to be specific. I used bloodlust as a metaphor for the sex drive. The story centers around a young Psychology student named Joseph Miles who believes that an event that took place in his childhood left him inflicted with a virus that is turning him into a serial killer. He believes that this virus is transmitted through blood and saliva and possibly even semen and that it could be the same one that afflicts all serial killers and may even be the cause of the werewolf and vampire myths. The book follows him as he searches for a cure for his disease before it overcomes him and forces him to prey on the woman he loves.

RS: Will we ever get a Wrath James White children’s book?

Wrath: I’d love to write a children’s book. I’m a big fan of Edward Gorey. My son has all of his books. I know he’d love it if I wrote a children’s book since I don’t let him read most of my stuff. I did write a children’s story once called “The Broken Smile” for an anthology by Yard Dog Press. It was about a boy who tries to trick the tooth fairy and winds up getting all his teeth snatched out while he sleeps. My kid loves that story.

RS: Do you believe in the death penalty?

Wrath: Absolutely. I believe that it is grossly misused in this country, however. It’s no secret that if you are a minority in this country you are six times more likely to get the death penalty than non-minorities who commit the same crimes. I think there are some crimes for which you should be put to death without question like serial rapists, serial murderers, and child molesters. Why? Because these are crimes that reveal the immutable nature of the person that commits them. Bank robbery is a crime you commit. A child molester is something you are. That’s not going to change after six years in prison. To put someone to death because a failed robbery attempt ends in a fatal shooting is stupid. That criminal is capable of rehabilitation. To let a child molester back out into the population after a couple of years in prison though is perhaps the crowning act of idiocy.

RS: Is censorship a problem for you?

Wrath: Not so far. People read what they like and as long as there are people who want to read it there will be those to produce it. I make a good living outside of my writing career so selling twenty thousand copies of a book would be lovely, but it isn’t necessary in order for me to keep writing. I write because I have shit I want to express. The approval of my fans and peers in the form of monetary compensation is strong motivation, but it could never supercede the other unless we’re talking about the kind of money that makes you independently wealthy. If we’re talking about the difference between selling 500 copies and 5,000, that’s just not enough to make me censor myself.

RS: Does the fact that your writing is so extreme ever get you in trouble?

Wrath: I get idiots sending me hate mail through my website occasionally, but I love that shit. It lets me know that people are listening even if they don’t really understand. Most people are intelligent enough to know the difference between metaphor and symbolism and reality. Those who aren’t I find merely amusing. At one time I did find them sad, but I’m done weeping for humanity. It does no good.

RS: Are you worried about the future of freedom of speech?

Wrath: It’s all cyclical. Each period of repression inevitably leads to one of riotous self-expression and vise versa. We’re transitioning into the age of PG13 now, but it won’t last very long. The type of cultural changes that used to take decades before the information age now take only a few years thanks to modern technology.

RS: Do you think people will have protests against Succulent Prey?

Wrath: That would surprise me. I’m not quite that big yet and while Succulent Prey will be one hell of an enjoyable read I don’t think of it as something capable of that type of impact. The novel I’m currently shopping around just might though.

RS: Have drugs had an impact on your writing? The main character in Poisoning Eros is a junkie, how did you write about that with such realism?

Wrath: I grew up in a drug infested neighborhood in Philadelphia as one of the only kids I knew who did not drink, smoke, or do or sell drugs. I was the innocent bystander watching others destroy themselves. Just like in prize fighting it’s the guys outside the ring who see the most. The embattled contestants can only see reality through the haze of their own, pain, fear, and desire. The life of the protagonist in Poisoning Eros mirrors what I saw happening to those around me.

RS: Can you kill a person with your bare hands and in how many ways?

Wrath: Killing someone is easier than you think. My biggest fear when it came to street fighting was always accidentally killing someone. I can break a 2x4 with my shin. Breaking a skull with it wouldn’t take much. And I know half a dozen different choke holds any one of which could be fatal. A punch to the solar plexus could potentially shatter a person’s Xiphoid Process and collapse or even puncture their lungs. Life is fragile.

RS: How did you get your start in writing? How did you get to the point of being a published author with a following who works with others at the top of the hardcore horror genre?

Wrath: My following is small compared to most. I’m still a small fish in a small pond. I started writing because I could. I believe in utilizing every ounce of my potential and writing was something that I had a knack for. My first professional erotic story was written for a woman I was trying to seduce online. She raved about it so much that I submitted it to Hustler and they accepted it for their online webzine (though I still have not received a check for it and don’t know if it ever actually got published). Later I decide to rewrite some of my erotica as horror and I submitted it and started getting fan mail almost immediately. I didn’t even know that what I was writing was “Extreme Horror”. I was just writing what I enjoyed writing. At that time I hadn’t read horror in almost ten years. I didn’t know what was or was not acceptable. I just wrote what I would have wanted to read.

RS: How would you categorize your writing? Hardcore horror religious erotica?

Wrath: I have never found any attempt to categorize my writing that I agreed with. I’m just happy with my work being different. I write different horror, “Other Horror”. I really don’t enjoy most of what is written in horror today. You can rewrite the same zombie or ghost story a dozen times and people in this genre will praise it every time. Originality is almost frowned upon in favor of traditional themes and that just doesn’t do it for me. I read what’s being written now apparently for the exact opposite reason that others do. I read it so that I don’t imitate it. I would be horrified if I put out a novel or a short story that resembled someone else’s. It happens of course. There are only so many themes to choose from. But it seems that some go at writing with the expressed intention of writing a vampire story just like Anne Rice or a Zombie story just like George Romero. I don’t get that.

RS: What inspires you to write such graphic prose? Do you have to research anatomy in order to write about mutilating it?

Wrath: I keep a copy of “Gray’s Anatomy Coloring Book” handy. Like I said, I write what I enjoy reading. The thing that attracted me to horror as a kid was the graphic descriptions. I was always amazed by the skill it took to describe the indescribable. That’s the skill I wanted to possess and I think it has become my greatest literary strength.

RS: What else are you working on right now?

Wrath: I originally set out to write a novel because I wanted to write something that would change the way people think. I wanted to write something that people who’ve never met me could read generations from now and know exactly how I felt about the world. I wanted to reproduce my own consciousness, my own unique perspective on the world through art. My first attempt almost a decade ago was waaaay too ambitious for my skills at that time. It may still be too ambitious for my writing skills, but I’ve finally managed to rewrite it and I’m shopping it around now. It deals with race, religion, crime, sex, and death. I’m hoping it will see print in some form next year or the year after.

RS: What are you currently working on right now in terms of boxing and managing?

Wrath: Frank Mir (Current UFC Heavyweight Champion) is recovering from a motorcycle accident that shattered his femur and he just recently came back into the gym. I’ll be helping to get him back into fighting shape while still developing a few other young fighters.

RS: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Wrath: Read everything and anything and experience everything you can that won’t kill you, bankrupt you, or get you arrested. I’m not the world’s greatest writer. I’m a writer of modest talents with great imagination and even greater experiences that when added to my writing abilities make my limited skills appear grander. I’ve seen many writers with far better skills than I who couldn’t write a single sentence anyone would want to read. They’re called English professors. Good writing should have a hint of the extraordinary in it. If your own thoughts and experiences are mundane then your writing probably will be as well. If you can’t directly experience the extraordinary then read about it. Fantasize about it and give those fantasies depth and texture by researching them and finding out how these things would be possible if you could do them. Just don’t settle for a pedestrian existence. Great artists don’t lead pedestrian lives though it may often feel like it or even look that way from the outside, but if you could look inside our heads you’d find experiences that would cower the most extreme adventurers.

RS: Are you worried someone is going to brutally torture someone else to death and then blame your writing when he gets caught?

Wrath: That might be my only hope of breaking into the mainstream.

RS: Are you a sadist? Do you enjoy inflicting pain, or just describing it?

Wrath: I don’t like pain. I like inspiring fear and sexual arousal. That’s why I write erotic horror. That’s also why I fight.

RS: What do you think of modern horror films? What films recently have you enjoyed? What are some of your favorite films?

Wrath: I hate this new trend of PG13 horror. M. Night Shammalya or however you pronounce his name does it well, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else can or should. For the most part what I’ve seen is great scripts neutered for the sake of a PG13 rating and the R rating becoming a gutter where all the bad stuff gets tossed. Horror films now a days wouldn’t scare a toddler let alone a thirteen year old. I’m generalizing of course, but I groan every time I see a movie come out that looks good and then I see the rating at the end of the trailer. PG 13 is just another word for “ Lots of creepy shit proceeded by lots of nothing.” I’m so sick of ghost stories I could vomit.

“Monster” was an excellent new film and so was “Collateral”. “Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer” remains a favorite. “Dog Soldiers” was excellent. Despite the above rant against PG 13 horror I really liked “Signs” though I know many did not. I also liked “Sixth Sense”. “Frailty” was one of the best horror movies in recent years. The most recent movie to blow me away though was “Hero”. It’s not a horror movie but it’s just breathtaking.

RS: What type of music do you listen to?

Wrath: In my CD player right now is Prince’s greatest hits album. I like him because he’s the antithesis of everything I am. He’s a pretty little religious man and I’m neither pretty, little, nor religious. Most of his songs are about sex though and that I can relate to. I also have all four of DMX’s CDs, Marvin Gaye, JadaKiss, Al Green, Ministry, and Skinny Puppy. My tastes are all over the place. Right now anything that reminds me of when I was younger and better looking is most likely to wind up in my CD player.

RS: Do you have any other projects coming out you’d like to mention?

Wrath: Succulent Prey should be out by Bloodletting Press in the next few months. I’ve also got a couple novellas coming out late this year, but it’s too soon to talk about those. Hopefully Succulent Prey will be enough to hold off my readers until I sign the contracts for the others.

RS: Thanks for doing this interview and putting up with my questions, Wrath.

Wrath: No problem. I enjoy this shit.