John L. Taylor: All Art Is Science

John L. Taylor is a recent find from my Facebook friends list. It only seemed fair that you meet him too. I”m just an “a’right, a’right” guy like that. 

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

My latest work is a self-published collection of poetry and flash fiction called Liber Dulcis Dolorum: The Book of Sweet Sorrows. Its contents are horror and pulp fantasy themed in a vein like Clark Ashton-Smith and features my own illustrations. It will be available in June as a physical book, With electronic editions coming this summer. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

This is complicated, but at the end of high school I realized (and by realized, I mean was informed by career counselors) That my math skills weren’t good enough to get me into college for the career in science I was pursuing. Their computer job assessment was that I would be best suited to do car repossessions for the IRS. I literally looked up from the paper and said “** this, I’m doing comics.” I learned to draw and had some minor exposure as a newspaper cartoonist in rural Kansas, but couldn’t get a break in comics after eight years. People did tell me I was a gifted speaker and storyteller, so I took a correspondence course in creative writing. Afterward, I had some essays and op-ed column’s run and won a $250 prize from the Marquette monthly’s annual short story contest. But I didn’t like the literary fiction style. I grew up reading authors like Edgar  Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and various other pulp authors. In 2014, began writing neo Pulp pieces and had greater success getting published. It’s not profitable, but I enjoy it 

What inspires you to write?

A mix of dreamlike fantasy and real-life pain. I’m on the Autism spectrum and was beat to hell by other kids when I was young. My retreat was books of both pulp fiction and books on the paranormal, occult, and science. Dark, pulp fantasy is my comfort zone and I write both for the joy of storytelling some degree of catharsis.

Read more:

https://seanhtaylor.blogspot.com/2021/06/john-l-taylor-all-art-is-science.html