Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
My name is Chase A. Folmar, and I’m primarily a writer of Sword & Sorcery short stories and novellas, though I do dabble here and there in other speculative genres. S&S has really struck a chord with me in the past several years, however, because of its adjacency with horror, and how the fantastical elements within such stories are, more often than not, a source of sublime terror rather than awe. The blurred line along which both wonder and horror reside is something that always fascinates me about this genre, and is a continuous source of inspiration I try to infuse much of my own writing with.

For most of my life you could have found me creating strange and fantastical worlds in my imagination. When I was younger this often took the form of drawing and making maps for other worlds and continents, trying my hardest to emulate those I found in the fantasy books I was reading. It’s only been within the past several years that I’ve managed to codify the stylistic tools that speak the most strongly to me when it comes to writing, and find the authorial voice which best matches the way I want to see those stories told.

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
Writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Jack Vance, E.R. Eddison, Lord Dunsany, and Gene Wolfe are probably those whom I take the most inspiration from. Reading them, it’s abundantly clear how the language and syntax of a story can have just as strong an impact upon the reader as the plot itself, sometimes to an even greater degree. The use of strange and esoteric diction, especially the kind which has totally fallen away from societal use, can immediately invoke a sense of otherness within a story, an immediate feeling that the setting you’ve entered is weird and fantastical in nature. There’s a quote of CAS where he describes his own writing style as endeavoring to cast upon his readers a sort of “verbal black magic” so that the utter impossibility of his stories might be believed, and this is an ideal to which I similarly strive in my own work.

Editing is definitely the best tool I’ve found to prevent myself from becoming too derivative! Often times in the initial draft of a story, I’ll have a very specific influence or style in mind, and so that first version will be more of an imitation (or attempt at an imitation) than anything else. It’s only on the next few passes, when you have the chance to cut away what doesn’t work and expand upon things which do that my own writing voice starts to break through.

Many authors say marketing is one of their biggest challenges. What tactics have you found to be most effective for getting your name out there?
Honestly, tactics such as those still elude me! I’m inherently a reserved and quiet person, so the idea of marketing myself and my work out into the world has always been like pulling teeth. It’s unfortunate too, since even when you’re able to do this, there is currently such an immense influx of different forms of entertainment available to people these days that it can sometimes feel like trying to make yourself heard whilst in the middle of a hurricane. The best I try and hope for is for my work to have enough of an impact on the people who do read it that they’ll be intrigued and excited for the next project I put out, because as long as there’s at least someone interested, I consider that a win.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
Since I hold writing to be more of a hobby than the means to an income, I don’t have much of an idea of an audience in mind while I’m writing, nor any expectations to be had. More often than not I assume that very few people, if any, are going to end up reading the stories I create, and so I’m usually more concerned whether or not they end up being the sort of thing I would want to read. At the same time, I still try and be very aware of the genres in which I write, which have their own series of expectations and boundaries. Experimentation is vital and necessary for a genre to persist, but it is also critical to not go too far afield and transgress into something wholly unrecognizable, so that the reader doesn’t feel like they’ve been tricked, or worse, manipulated in some way.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
Earlier this year I released a novella, Frolic on the Amaranthyn, which is a sword & sorcery adventure/heist tale that very much draws from the weird and horror side of the genre. I’ve been incredibly pleased by how it’s turned out and the positive reception it’s gotten so far. I’ve also got a new story coming out in an upcoming issue of the fantastic Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword & Sorcery I’m incredibly excited for people to read.

And there’s always an unfinished story in one my notebooks or on my computer inching its way closer and closer to completion. I feel like I can be a frustratingly slow writer at times, and am prone to jumping around too regularly to other things that catch my interest, so who knows when those projects will see the light of day!

Name one newer and one older book you have read and enjoyed recently. (“Newer” meaning from the past year or so, and “older” meaning written before 1980.)
On the more contemporary end of things, I’ve recently been making my way through Schuyler Hernstrom’s excellent The Eye of Sounnu collection. It’s uncanny how well he’s managed to capture a style and tone so close to many of the great pulp-era writers, specifically Robert E. Howard and Jack Vance, while still being unique and creating something that wholly stands on its own. I’ve also very much been enjoyed Jeff VanderMeer’s City of Saints & Madmen, and how it plays around with meta-textuality throughout each of its corresponding novellas.

For older works, Italo Calvino’s The Castle of Crossed Destinies. The entire novel is a collection of stories from different travelers within a medieval castle, but told through the interpretation of Tarot cards, as an unknown magic has stolen every character’s voice and left them unable to tell their histories any other way. It’s a really fascinating and experimental way of trying to tell a story.

Any final words?
Just a huge thanks to DMR for doing these Indie Author Spotlights! It’s been great to see so many different types of writers, whether having just started out or with years of persistence behind their belts, get a chance to have some focus put on them, and I’m incredibly honored to have been included.