Conversations with Ken MacGregor

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ken MacGregor.

Hi Ken, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
I came to writing through a fairly convoluted route. For many years, I wanted to be a professional actor, and, in fact, was for a short time while living in St. Louis, MO. I even had an agent, did TV and radio commercials, and was on the Discovery Channel once. At the same time, I was doing a lot of live theater and holding down a full-time job. I had done improv comedy in Michigan and joined a sketch comedy group in St. Louis (The NonProphets), where I discovered I had a knack for writing it. When I moved back home to Ypsi, no one was doing sketch comedy, so I created my own group (Monkey Rampant), and wrote, directed, and performed for another four years. I was doing a fair amount of independent film, too, in both states, and one of the guys I was working with said he wanted to make the scariest short horror film of all time. So, naturally, I started sending him scripts. We made one (The Quirk and the Dead, a zombie comedy/horror/romance movie available on YouTube–you should watch it), but he finally told me I should turn these scripts into short stories, contact the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (I’m still a member, since 2014), and get published. Since then, I’ve had about 130 short stories (many collected together to form three books), a novella, a co-authored novel, and I’ve edited three anthologies (the most recent of which edited with Douglas Gwilym). Yep. That about covers my origin story. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think any writer who’s not independently wealthy has had a smooth road. This business is rife with rejection, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and the fear that you’ll always wallow in obscurity. I’ve had over 500 rejections since I started submitting stories. I have friends with over 1,000. Yet, I’ve also sold a lot of stories. I have nine books for which I am responsible. I’ve made some incredible friendships I will likely cherish for life. Readers have told me I moved them to tears or scared the pants off them, or made them laugh out loud. One told me I was his favorite writer… out of all of them. I was floored. In 2018, my wife died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage. That derailed me, mentally and emotionally, for months. Still, five-and-a-half years later, grief can blindside me. I wondered if I’d ever be able to write again. I didn’t know if I wanted to. What was the point? Why bother? But, eventually, I did. I started by publicly expressing my struggle with grief on Facebook, writing out what I was feeling. After a time, I was able to get back to writing fiction again, often using it as catharsis for the turmoil raging in my heart. 

As a solo parent now, I continue to struggle to find time to write, work full time, spend quality time with my partner and her kids, and keep the house somewhat clean. 

There will always be challenges. Yet, I will continue to write and edit fiction because I love it. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m mostly known as a horror writer. Which is fine. I do write a lot of horror. I also dabble in fantasy, weird, slipstream, science fiction, children’s stories, magical realism, and even skirting the edge of romance. And a lot of my work has humor sewn into it. Readers have told me I have a unique “voice”–that you know when you’re reading a Ken MacGregor story. That’s pretty cool. The thing I’m most proud of is my second anthology as editor, Stitched Lips. The theme is “silence,” and the writers are all under-represented folks: women, People of Color, LGBTQ+, etc. The proceeds go to support the Southern Poverty Law Center. It’s a good cause and a great book, and I’m delighted with the responses it’s gotten. The cover is by Ypsilanti artist Holly Schoenfeld; it’s so cool that I have the original painting in my dining room. 

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Oh man. Wow. I don’t know that I could pick a favorite. I’ll drop some highlights: in 1976, I was in third grade (I’m pretty sure. Possibly second), and my school had a huge bicentennial celebration. I dressed up as Uncle Sam as part of it. Can’t remember why or what exactly I was doing, but it was my time performing for a crowd, and I was hooked. In high school, my theater class wrapped the final performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (my second time doing the play), and our teacher gave us each a long stem rose at the cast party. I was walking home through the U of M diag with my rose when I came upon a woman crying alone on a bench. I have no idea what was going on, but I dropped the rose in her lap and kept walking. She stopped crying for at least a moment. I like to think it made whatever was wrong just a little better. I like to think she still thinks about that day now and again. 

Pricing:

• Novus Monstrum $23
• Stitched Lips $13
• Lions & Tigers & Weres $19
• Headcase $20
• Devil’s Bane $9

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kenmacgregor.com/

Image Credits
Trevor Henderson
Holly Schoenfeld
Blood Bound Books
Aurora Christie
Luke Spooner