Welcome, Jason!

Jason Forbis is a North Carolina Native and former radio broadcaster. The majority of his career was spent in talk radio. His writing career began in his early teens with awards for poetry at the age of thirteen. Over the decades he has written essays and editorials, poems and novels. His recent foray into Westerns was born from spending time in the Southwest. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, he has no interest in writing a standard White Hat/Black Hat story. The combination of western settings mixed with the supernatural was very appealing and he took the reins and was off, so to speak.

About The Train Through Hell

This isn’t the West you know. Things have gotten weird. Prairie dogs as big as a calf, gilas longer than a dinner table, and beings scouring the Plains and towns looking for souls. Since the barrier between the worlds of the living and dead was broken, danger and horrors await everyone. Anchor Kessel had left behind the cattle drives and long, hard trips across open ground to push cows to market for another man to rake in money. It was time for him to find his own fortune. Riding a train into the New Mexico territory seemed like a good way to start. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He went from staring at the backside of a wandering cow to fighting demons for his very life. It seems he traded one task for the charge to save his friends, himself, and possibly the territory as a whole. It was not what he planned for his retirement from cow punching, but as he has said, “Everybody’s got to be somewhere, I guess this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Interview with Jason Forbis

Tell us about yourself – what is something readers would be surprised to find out? 

I have been writing since Middle School. I was encouraged by my parents and won my first award in the ninth grade for poetry. I have always written for the fun of it. It wasn’t until early 2000’s that I tried to get published. After banging my head against many closed doors, I got my first contract in 2012. Since then, I have had numerous pieces published including essays, a new adult novel, even a few romance titles. I began work on my weird western novels in 2014. I approached several publishers with no luck until I found David Barnett with Weird West Publishing / Necro Books. I had signed the contract, and we were just getting started when he was taken from us by an accident caused by a drunk driver.

After some time, I chose to bypass traditional publishing and to self-publish novels. “The Train Through Hell” is the first in an ongoing series entitled Chasing Spirits that is currently at 9 novels. I also have always been a fan of Role Playing Games or RPG’s. A new one hit the stands a couple of years ago called Weird Frontiers. It was a perfect match for my stories. I joined with game writer Gilbert Isla and we decided to take the novels and break them into three “adventure modules” per novel. It’s something that hasn’t been done before and we are excited to see these introduced to the gaming world. As far as something might surprise the readers.

In my working life, I am a professional narrator. I am currently narrating a true crime YouTube channel called “Beyond Evil.” I have done commercial work, standard narrations, audiobooks, and just about anything else that needs a voice. Since 2020 stories in my voice have been heard over 140 million times. That’s mind-blowing. Before you ask, yes, there will be an audiobook version of each novel. 

What is it about the Weird West genre that draws you to it?

The freedom. The genre is wide open when you bring in aspects of fantasy, horror, and even science fiction. It presents the traditional west as a backdrop and as a writer I can insert any scenario I wish to that palate. Plus, there is the adventurous nature of the old west that sets the readers into a certain mindset, and Weird West jumps in and while respecting the genre, it throws the reader a few curveballs. I think it makes for a great read. 

What are your favorite aspects or examples of this often-underappreciated genre?

The old west has such a vibrant reputation. There were so many diverse reasons for the expansion and those who undertook it were amazingly brave and creative. Then you add in additional hardships such as magic and monsters, it’s fun to see how folks adapt to the change and how they individually handle it. There are so many great authors in this field, and I love seeing how they take chances, approach the problems they create, and still remain true to the western ethos.

What inspired you to write this story?

The easy answer is a desire to be published, but it’s far deeper than that. I mentioned that I always had wanted to write a western, but not a traditional one. So, the thought was ruminating in the back of my head for a long time. I had played a Weird Western RPG called “Deadlands” and loved it. At some point that experience ran into the thought, and I realized that the weird west setting was perfect for me to write a story in that kind of setting. Oddly, I started a story and it quickly turned into a 65-thousand-word story. As I edited it, I realized that there was a lot of room for other stories, and I went to work. I planned out three novels but realized that the one I had written wasn’t a “first novel” for a series. It got bumped to third after I finished the other two. Since then I have completed six others and now have 9 novels in edits, and am writing three more.

If you were living in the Weird West, what kind of character would you be?

A simple shop keeper, general store, or mercantile owner. With the challenges faced by a west with monsters, magic, and ne’er-do-wells, I think it would be better to be a spectator. It would certainly offer a longer lifespan.

Are there any other writing projects you’re working on?

As I mentioned I have three novels underway in this series, and plan to continue to write Weird Westerns as long as I have ideas. They are just so much fun to write.

What are you reading right now?

Edits! Lots and lots of edits! But for fun, I just finished the complete Jonah Hex comic book series. A good friend gave me a collection of those, and I had forgotten how much fun they were and how well written.

Favorite weird west movie/book/comic/etc. and why?

My favorite recently is Make Me No Grave by Hayley Stone. Beautifully written, well-paced and with a female antagonist, there is so much greatness in this novel.

Anything else you’d like to add about writing or the Weird West (tips, etc.)?

Much like any genre, you must have a suspension of disbelief with weird westerns. However, a reader comes into the novel with certain preconceptions. I love playing on those, taking them to an extreme, turning them on their heads, and trying to make a dry-leather genre into something the reader doesn’t expect. I encourage anyone who has an interest in trying to write these kinds of stories to jump right in and do it! I have never been one to follow convention when it comes to writing. Every hero doesn’t have to take the “hero’s arc”, heck, there doesn’t even have to be a hero at all. Write for the fun of doing it. If you write something that you don’t like, I guarantee no one else will like it either. Have fun with the words. They used to say that a blank page is the most intimidating thing in the world. I’ve never believed that. A blank page, or screen these days, is a colossal field of possibilities. Should cowboys ride unicorns? Is the Faro Dealer actually a demon? Did someone get sick and tired of all the dust, so they paved the street in gold cobblestones? Yes. Yes, to everything. Just like life, it’s your story, make it a good one.

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