October 2023: Interview with Victor H. Rodriguez
Interviewer: Aigner Loren Wilson (she/her) is a 2023 double Ignyte Finalist for best novelette and best critic. She is a senior fiction editor for Strange Horizons, and her writing has appeared in F&SF, Lightspeed Magazine, Monstrous Futures, and more. You can follow her on her website, newsletter, or on Facebook.
Horror Author: Victor H. Rodriguez is a talent manager and writer. He’s been an audio director and soundtrack producer for hundreds of film, TV and video game projects, including The Crow, God of War, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He's also a regular contributor to Seattle’s Noir at the Bar, and a couple of popular podcasts (including Phantom Galaxy, and Wrong Reel, the podcast for hardcore cinephiles). You can pick up a copy of his first book The Sound of Fear via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/vhrodriguez. Follow him on Twitter/IG @dimestorecaesar.
This interview is a part of the HWA Seattle Member Blog Interview Series. If you’d like to check out the other interviews, check here. HWA Seattle members who would like to be interviewed for the blog, reach out here.
Aigner Loren Wilson: So, you’re a talent manager! That’s very cool. Could you give us a bit of a rundown of exactly what you do and who for?
V.H. Rodriguez: I’m fortunate enough to make a living cultivating artistic careers in entertainment, so I get to read scripts (in the case of my writer clients) and listen to my composer clients’ music every day. I also review their work to provide feedback, help them navigate contracts, and connect them with projects that are a good fit for their individual talents. I started Rad Vlad Entertainment ten years ago, when I moved to the Pacific Northwest, with one client, the brilliant film/TV/game composer Penka Kouneva, who recently won her first Grammy. These days, I also represent scriptwriters, sound designers, and a film production company. I added three scriptwriter clients within the last year, including David Becker and Shannon Barnes, an East Coast team who have written an extraordinary horror-thriller spec property.
ALW: What was your journey putting together The Sound of Fear, your short story collection?
VHR: I've worked at several film, TV, and game companies over the years. One of my favorite gigs was heading up audio production for THQ, a video game publisher (Destroy All Humans!, Saints Row, Red Faction, etc.), where I hired composers, voice talent and sound designers for game developers under the THQ umbrella. My love and fascination with the audio side of entertainment has never dimmed. The stories included in The Sound of Fear are all about encounters with weird audio phenomena, or feature characters who work in audio production. I think fiction feels a bit more authentic when it includes a few rare real-world details.
ALW: While browsing your blog looking for things to ask you about, I saw you were a runner. I am a morning runner as well and find it inspirational for coming up with horror stories. Have you had this experience of being inspired by something you came across or saw while running?
VHR: Running is so good for us. In addition to the natural benefits of getting the blood pumping to the brain with a little cardio every day, I’ve met a few crows who like to make gifts of odd things they've found in exchange for unsalted peanuts. They also look rather cool, don’t they? I find them, and the objects they bring me, inspirational.
ALW: You’ve done a bit of scriptwriting for HBO. What can fiction writers learn from screenwriting to make their stories better?
VHR: A scriptwriter is part of a production team, so they have the benefit of instant feedback, and intense creative pressure, from the project’s producers, director, and others. There are also agents and managers (like myself) who give the scriptwriter additional critique to make the writing even sharper. Finally, there are firm deadlines to keep scriptwriters focused on the project from start to finish.
If a fiction writer happens to be the type of person who thrives under similar high-stress conditions, they have to create that environment for themselves through peer review groups, self-imposed deadlines, and finding subjects or characters to write about that push them creatively in new directions.
ALW: If a reader was unfamiliar with your work, what’s the story you’d suggest they start with?
VHR: I normally recommend the first story in my Sound of Fear collection, ‘Smoke.’ It is written from a neurodiverse perspective (a man who cannot tolerate loud or unusual noises) who has the “simple” task of traveling a few city blocks — in Lower Manhattan during a blackout on Halloween night — to complete his goal.
ALW: Do you have any upcoming releases or projects you’re working on that you’d like to talk about?
VHR: In addition to three new short stories currently awaiting approval/rejection, I co-host The Horror Movie Podcast, which we publish every two weeks wherever podcasts can be found. Some of the themes we’ve tackled in recent episodes are: the Evil Dead franchise, underrated/offbeat slasher movies, and new horror shows available on the various streaming services.
ALW: What are you reading, watching, or playing right now?
VHR: I’m reviewing six movies for the next HMP episode whose release dates range from 1968 (The Devil Rides Out) to 2019 (The Wretched). I’m reading Experimental Film by Gemma Files, and eagerly awaiting the release of World of Horror, a 1-bit-style adventure video game for PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation.
To stay up to date on V.H. Rodriguez, you can follow or find him here:
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ve found a new author or a deeper love for an author you already know.
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