Nick Carlson

A fascination of nature and its more unsavoury denizens led directly into Nick Carlson's passion for horror writing. He first released a self-published novel in February 2020 and is currently a contributing writer at Chilling Tales For Dark Nights.

​His first traditionally-published novel, Hell's Gulf, is set to release in 2022 under Temple Dark Books.

​In a few words, tell me about your latest novella, Cold Blood.

Cold Blood is a sci-fi horror novella about the last manned mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa to find extraterrestrial life within the Solar System. Taking place in 2070, it follows a skeleton crew consisting of the only men and women willing - and damaged enough - to volunteer for such a foolhardy endeavour. With the ghosts of the previously failed expeditions haunting them, what will they find brewing underneath the moon’s icy surface? And how will their fated discovery ultimately impact them?

What inspired you to write it?

It’s funny where inspiration comes from. This story, for instance, was the result of a short story I was writing for a contest, where 5k words in I realized I had completely misinterpreted the contest’s parameters and now had a useless submission. Rather than becoming discouraged, I wiped the slate clean and started over, rewriting it as a novella, and after a year-and-a-half of on-and-off-again work, I finally have the story I always intended. And now what we have is a bleak, dark, and contemplative homage to sci-fi horrors like Alien, The Thing, and Dead Space. Of all the story ideas that have come and gone in my head, it’s strange to me that this one rose to such prominence despite the circumstances, but I’m proud and I’m rolling with it nonetheless.

Which part did you enjoy writing most?

As corny as it sounds I loved writing the gory and suspenseful creature moments. Writing is enjoyable but some parts are just fun to write, you know? There’s a grim, shadowy giddiness I felt when one of the creatures was the highlight of the scene, and feel like that really help keep writing from feeling like a chore. I guess that’s one reason I enjoy writing horror so much…but that’s for a later question.

How did you come up with the characters?

Cold Blood is at its core a character-driven story. The small cast of characters on Europa’s surface carries their own unique baggage: some self-imposed, some imposed by external forces, which leads to friction within themselves and among each other. Since this is a near-future where Earth is dying and the international conversation about space travel has shifted dramatically, it fell upon me to craft my characters based on how conditions have changed over the decades. What relevance would an astrobiologist have after years of failure to find extraterrestrial life? How would a hardened astronaut feel about the Europa missions considering she’s certain that space is truly dead? It was an interesting challenge to extrapolate the struggles that humans who haven’t even been born yet might be facing, and it’s their arcs that define the heart and soul of Cold Blood. 

Who's your favourite character?

Our main protagonist, Commander Theodore Standish, is the leader of the Europa mission, yet he has zero experience with space. Therefore his idealistic perceptions clash heavily with the astronaut and astrobiologist under his command. Writing for him was fascinating; I felt like this character was organically revealing himself to me as the plot transpired, and I was interested to see how he changed - and in some cases, remained the same - despite all that was happening. But you’ll have to read Cold Blood to find out exactly what he’s about…and what his ultimate plans for the crew are.

What's something you would like people to take away after reading Cold Blood?

It is my wish that readers take away from Cold Blood a nuanced and unique look at the issues that define us as humans: desire, obsession, our influence on our world and other worlds among them. But all that can be considered “subtext.” Most of all I wish that my readers find this story entertaining, suspenseful, and thoughtful because that’s what ought to come first. I could write the most profound and elaborate tome on the human condition, but if it’s not intertwined with a good story first and foremost, then why bother even writing fiction at all?

You have written a fair number of stories in the horror genre, what draws you to this genre?

Well, apart from it being fun to scare people and craft kickass imagery, it is my belief that horror is the most time-tested and versatile of literary genres. From Frankenstein to Jaws to The Only Good Indians, horror has been utilized to comment on, warn, and explain the darkest places life has to offer. At the root of every horror story is a fundamental struggle with being human: man vs. self, man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. the “other,” among many others. Truth comes from chaos, and with horror’s primary goal to elicit discomfort, I believe there’s no better way of ascertaining that truth.

What's one piece of advice you would give to authors writing a novella?

Novellas are kind of like the ugly stepsister of literature in my opinion. Cold Blood for instance came from a short story that just went way beyond its boundaries, but due to its short story roots, there wasn’t quite enough there to qualify as a novel. I knew, however, this is what I wanted for the story I wished to tell, and I trudged onward with determination. Readers might feel inclined first to compress their novel-length stories into a novella, but I might suggest the opposite. Imagine your narrative as a short story, then nudge it beyond your original scope, and soon you’ll find yourself writing and writing, hitting the mark comfortably in that novella range.

Why have you decided to publish on Novellea?

I decided to publish Cold Blood on Novellea because I believe it represents a unique opportunity for me. While Novellea is geared more towards short stories, once I came on board it occurred to me that I could serialize my novella. In the Victorian era, authors such as Charles Dickens serialized their own works, having one or two chapters at a time appear in their local papers. Therefore, my plan is to strategically release a handful of chapters per day, and then go from there once all forty-three chapters are out on Novellea. It is my hope that you, the readers, are enraptured by Cold Blood’s icy embrace and you stick with it all the way through.