"ALMOST EVERYONE HAS SOME PROFESSIONAL OR INTENSE PERSONAL TIE TO MUSIC.": 120 MURDERS' NICK MAMATAS

Nick Mamatas, a master craftsman of crime and dark fiction in his own right, gathered almost two dozen gifted writers of various backgrounds for 120 Murders, stories inspired by songs from the alternative scene, Besides being entertaining, they touch on music, alienation, obsession, and the Gen Xers who listened and performed them. We talked to Nick about the book, themusic, and writing in general.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: How did the idea for 120 Murders come about?

NICK MAMATAS: There have been a handful of tribute anthologies from micropresses for various recording acts. I was happy to contribute to one celebrating the music of Warren Zevon. However, it always struck me that the books could be more expansive and reach out to a more varied group of writers, and so 120 Murders was born. I love the short story and I love editing or co-editing anthologies, so I put a lot of effort into getting the book out into the world.

S.M.: What do you think the music has in common with crime and dark fiction?

N.M.: The particular types of music that inspired 120 Murders—"left of the dial" college radio of the 1980s and the music video-focused alternative rock of the 1990s—often explored dark themes, and in a way that was artful rather than cheesy. "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam is a million times better than "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith. (I'll never do an album-oriented rock radio anthology.)  This music was often in a minor key, had non-rhyming lyrics that hinted at despair, ennui, rage, sexual anxieties...when this metagenre was at its height someone could actually turn on a radio and find something that allowed them to feel sad, or bad. So the music fits the fiction perfectly.

S.M.: While all these stories are different there are shared themes and tone. In choosing the authors, did anything go into deciding other than the best writers you could get? 

N.M.: Almost everyone has some professional or intense personal tie to music. Josh Malerman is a recording artist and touring musician with his band The High Strung. Cara Hoffman sang classical music with the St. George Choral Society and plays guitar. Silvia Moreno-Garcia was a music journalist as a young writer and her first novel, Signal to Noise, has a music theme. Selena Chambers wrote a 33 1/3 volume about Babes in Toyland, Chris L. Terry co-edited the stellar anthology Black Punk Now. Maxim Jakubowski used to work for Virgin Records. Michael Marano took me the late Abbey Lounge (aka The Scabby Lounge!) to see a show by Boston perennials The Lyres. Paul Tremblay can't stop talking about Hüsker Dü; if I recall correctly he first reached out to me many years ago when I published a story entitled "Land Speed Record", which was not so coincidentally the name of Hüsker Dü's first album. Libby Cudmore is a ferocious record collector and writes a detective series about a former alt rocker turned PI. Molly Tanzer was a college radio DJ and is the world's greatest evangelist for Neutral Milk Hotel. William Boyle I follow on social media largely because of his expansive music (and movie!) recommendations. Alex Jennings often writes about funk, jazz, and other genres in his fantasies. I could go on!Jeff Ford on the other hand, he just had a great story and we more or less assigned him a song—"TV Party" by Black Flag—to pretend to like after the fact. But when Jeff Ford queries an anthologist and has a perfect story already in hand, one makes room!

S.M.: Which author surprised you the most with the way they interpreted the song they picked?.

N.M.: Almost all of them, of course. I read to be surprised. I will say that I was especially surprised by "A Slasher Cozy" by Selena Chambers, which she warned me might be too light and cozy. Anyway, at the risk of spoilers, there is a closet full of corpses in it. I was also particularly surprised and amazed by "The Show Must Go On" by Cyan Katz—the story is Katz's fiction debut and it is fiercely, even hysterically written, as though a first and last chance at creative expression.  

S.M.: Which alt musician do you think would make the best crime writer or dark fiction writer?

N.M.: Robert Pollard, the songwriter behind Guided by Voices. Many of his songs are dark little short stories already, and he's prolific enough to fill anthologies on his own. 

S.M.: What three songs do you think best capture the alternative era?

N.M.: "Everyday is Like Sunday" by Morrissey—though I wince that the title isn't "Every Day", and also Morrissey is a silly racist.

"Freddie's Dead" by Fishbone, which is of course a cover of the classic by Curtis Mayfield, but still counts. What is alternative but a reimagining of the mainstream?

"Only Shallow" by My Blood Valentine. When people ask me what my goals as a writer of short fiction is, I say it is to write a story that reads like this song sounds.