INTERVIEW: Linda D. Addison & Alessandro Manzetti

By Jezzy Wolfe

The unexpected collaboration of Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti have gifted us with two impressive poetry collections, The Place of Broken Things, and The Raven, Il Corvos. Addison’s charming lyricism paired with the sharp edge of Manzetti’s gritty prose make for luscious amalgamations of brutal beauty and dark decadence. Of course, each poet is already a veritable legend on their own.

Linda Addison is a five-time Bram Stoker award winning author and poet, and the first African American recipient of a Stoker. She has had over 350 poems, stories, and articles published, and received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. She is the poetry editor for Space & Time magazine, as well as a frequent honorable mention in the Year’s Best Horror and Fantasy, as well as the Year’s Best Science Fiction. With a lengthy list of notable awards and nominations, she is one of the most respected and inspirational authors of our time.

Likewise, Alessandro Manzetti also boasts an impressive catalog of awards and accomplishments. He is a two-time Bram Stoker Award Winning author, as well as a SFPA Elgin Award Winner, in addition to countless nominations for various Bram Stoker, Elgin, Rhysling, and Splatterpunk awards. He has received at least 20 honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Horror, and in 2017 he won the HWA award for specialty presses as the CEO for Independent Legions Press. His work can be found in publications all over the US, the UK, and Italy. Alessandro has also translated works from some of the biggest names in horror – Richard Laymon, Poppy Z. Brite, Edward Lee, Graham Masterton, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, to name but a few.

Weird Tales Magazine features poems by Manzetti and Addison, The Canal, and The Last War, respectively. We caught up with the pair for a discussion about their work together, and the challenges of poetry collaborations.

JEZZY WOLFE: When did you first become a fan of Weird Tales? How old were you when you first read the magazine?

LINDA ADDISON: I discovered Weird Tales when I worked a summer job on campus in college in the 1970’s. I rented a room in a fraternity house on campus and they had piles of old books and magazines in the attic. It was like discovering a hidden treasure.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: My first time with Weird Tales was in in the early 1990s, discovered some copies in a comic book store in Rome. The owner of that store was a great fan, and showed me his collection. I was immediately fascinated by the fantastic vintage cover arts, and bought a couple of issues.

JEZZY WOLFE: Weird Tales launched the careers of a lot of landmark authors, such as HP Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, CL Moore, etc. Were any of them influences on your writing?

LINDA ADDISON: Some of my influences published in Weird Tales are: Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, and Stephen King.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: In addition to Lovecraft, I should mention Robert Bloch, Fritz Leiber and Richard Matheson.

JEZZY WOLFE: Do you focus on creating implicitly horror-themed poetry? If not, do you find it more or less challenging than writing in broader poetic themes?

LINDA ADDISON: I rarely decide what the theme of a poem is when I write, unless I’m writing for a particular publication/theme. For example, when I wrote Poe-inspired poetry for Alessandro (The Raven, IL Corvos) I re-read Poe’s poetry (Poe was a major influence from my teen years) and let the Muse/inspiration take over. Often my poetry does give voice to shadowy themes because my heart responds to what causes others pain and suppresses them.

I’m also drawn to broader poetic themes because I’m always reaching for a wider understanding of humanity on Earth and in the Universe.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: Usually my poetry works are focused on the dark side, using a 'street' and 'expressionist' style; I think they can be defined as horror, weird, and magic realism themed. But labels are not so important, and no theme is more challenging than others. The point is to be open to all noise, screams and music you can hear reverberating at full volume inside your soul, while you’re observing and living the modern world.

JEZZY WOLFE: Do you take much inspiration from current events, or do you rely on classic horror themes and elements as you are writing?

LINDA ADDISON: Every thing inspires me, the news, everything I see, hear, my reactions to the world around me, today and the past. I grew up watching B horror movies on TV and loved them. They are as much an inspiration as new movies.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: I'm inspired by the world around me, by the stories I've come across, directly or indirectly; bunches of hard days and nights are my muses and guides, and quite often they appear like vivid, dark daydreaming. No classic horror themes, simply real-life themes, which can be worse.

JEZZY WOLFE: Are you influenced by past poets, and who would you say are your biggest poetic influences?

LINDA ADDISON: I read everyone I could get my hands on growing up, so that’s a long list, but some at the top of the list are through high school, not all poets, but some because of the poetry in their writing: Poe, Baldwin, Kafka, Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Cheever, and Toni Morrison. I loved to read out loud when alone. I was completely in love with words and the music I felt in them. In retrospect, I imagine many of these writers/poets cadence influenced my writing, helped me discover my own rhythm.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: The list is long also for me, I read poetry since my adolescence, falling in love with French poets, especially Verlaine, Rimbaud and Baudelaire, and other big names like Alighieri, Blake, Keats, Whitman, Eliot, Thomas and many others. After growing up, and a long period during which I was greatly fascinated by surrealists (see Apollinaire, Éluard, Desnos) I discovered a new world thanks to beat poets, my heroes, Ginsberg, Corso and their crazy friends. I think all this imaginary route guided me, one piece at a time, to find my style, my own vision.

JEZZY WOLFE: You have worked together on two collections of poetry, The Place of Broken Things, as well as The Raven, IL Corvos. What challenges can one expect when collaborating on poetry, and how did you circumvent them?

LINDA ADDISON: For me, a big part of making collaborations work smoothly is the ability for each author to be open to input from the other. Alessandro and I began with a great amount of respect and love of each other’s work. We worked without ego, our main purpose was to create the best work possible for our book. As we shared pieces of poems, we each could decide to play in building the poem together or not (in which case, the originator would finish the poem). In the end, our book was a third collaborative poems, a third poems by each of us separately. Staying open allowed us to inspire each other to write work that was unique to our partnership.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: I agree with Linda, we worked together and found a unique voice, giving life to a 'third poet', playing the same songs; it was a fantastic experience. To do that you need the right traveling companion, and to get over yourself to follow the music, the words, the images of something new, over there, someplace where you've never been, where our four legs and two hearts brought us. It's a matter to put aside your ego, since we think our ideas, visions and styles are so important and absolute. This is the challenge of a collaboration.

JEZZY WOLFE: The new Weird Tales is moving in a different direction — focusing on inclusion and unique voices of all kinds. What was your reaction when you heard about that?

LINDA ADDISON: I was so excited to hear about this change and the fact that Jonathan Maberry was the editorial director. There are so many wonderful voices out there who aren’t the traditional names. Adding new voices to the mix will create fantastic energy for readers and the magazine, as well as exposure for authors who may not have been read by a wider audience.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: It's the right way, and I was excited when Jonathan explained to me the new direction. We need to hear new voices, often outdone by mass market's 'orchestra'; we have so many talented writers out there. It will be a new blood for the genre, and a righteous and creative rebirth for Weird Tales.

JEZZY WOLFE: Do you feel that the industry is making strong enough efforts to increase publication opportunities for writers of color, and other marginalized groups? What would you like to see more of, going forward?

LINDA ADDISON: There are efforts being made now, but there’s more work to be done. Excellent work is being done by people like Jonathan Maberry with Weird Tales, and Christopher Golden & James A. Moore editors of The Twisted Book of Shadows anthology and others who are making a conscious effort to reach out to underrepresented communities, to include them in their editorial group. Professional writing organizations, like HWA’s column The Seers Table, in their monthly newsletter to introduce membership to writers outside the usual.

More has to be done with including more diversity in the levels of editorial staff. It takes extra effort to make sure publications are inclusive. Doing things the same way, will produce the same results. The horror community has called out publishers who create anthologies that don’t include the usual excluded groups, because they weren’t mindful about their process.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: Industry is making something about it, but it can do better than that. I would like to see many more works of writers of color, especially in the horror field; editors and publishers should make a more serious commitment about that, reviewing their plans, working harder in scouting and submissions, and including a new young open-minded staff. I don't forget marginalized groups and underrepresented communities, but considering the many initiatives luckily carried on in the last 3 to 4 years, I think the main problem for now still involves the writers of colors.

JEZZY WOLFE: What is the best piece of advice you have received in the course of your writing career?

LINDA ADDISON: Read widely, not just in my area of interest. Keep a journal (on paper, computer or phone) of any bits and pieces that come to mind. Try to set a schedule for writing, even if only for five minutes a day. Let first drafts be what comes through, without judgement or editing, just write from beginning to the end. Be open to try new forms.

Re-write as well as I can, if possible get feedback, then submit to appropriate markets, after reading the submission guidelines carefully.

Repeat.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: Don't be afraid, write your book as if it's the last thing of your life, each time, without thinking of tomorrow. You're not a salesman, don't worry about the numbers. Market expectations are bad company.

JEZZY WOLFE: What advice do you have for young poets looking to place their work in today’s professional publications?

LINDA ADDISON: For each piece I finished, I make a list of at least three possible markets. The list starts with the top markets in pay, prestige or personal interest. When I first sent my poems out years ago, I loved Charlee Jacob work and would send my poems to places that she was published in. Once a poem was as good as I could make it, I keep circulating it. If a poem comes back and I see how to make it better, make the change(s), send it out and work on something new.

It’s not that rejections aren’t upsetting, it’s that feelings aren’t reality. Feel bad, but keep sending your work out. We aren’t the best judge of our own work.

When reading a market submission, pay attention to the subjects they want or don’t want, the limits of number of lines or words they define, etc.

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: I have only one suggestion: Read.

Read the works of the best known and successful contemporary poets.

Read the poems published by the publisher, magazine (or the anthologies edited by an editor) you would like to submit something.

Read your poem many times, and put it in an imaginary drawer, lock them up. Take it out the next day, with a fresh soul, and continue to work on it, make it better. Do the same thing several times, don't waste words, don't rush to submit it.

Read your heart and found your voice, without mimic your heroes.

JEZZY WOLFE: Where can readers find you on social media?

LINDA ADDISON: Website: www.lindaaddisonpoet.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.d.addison

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nytebird45

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nytebird45/

ALLESANDRO MANZETTI: Website: www.battiago.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/alessandro.manzetti.5

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amanzetti