Best-selling Alabama horror author talks blossoming career and new Peacock show ‘Teacup’

Robert “Rick” McCammon has created dozens of creatures for his horror novels over the years – werewolves, vampires, aliens, witches, “river monsters”, reptilian fiends – but it’s safe to assume he’s only personally interested in one type of supernatural being encountered: a ghost.

McCammon, 72, of Vestavia Hills, is the bestselling author of numerous short stories and 29 novels, one of which was the inspiration for the upcoming Peacock horror series “Teacup,” premiering Oct. 10. During a recent sit-down interview with AL.com, McCammon shared a favorite story about his early years in Alabama before he found commercial success.

As a young journalist in the 1970s, McCammon knew Alabama folklorist and storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham, who wrote the local legend series “13 Ghosts and Jeffrey,” which featured her roommate, a friendly ghost named Jeffrey. McCammon worked as an editor at Birmingham Post-Herald but wanted to write books. Maybe knowing Windham might help his cause, he thought.

McCammon called Windham and told her he wanted to write a story about her People Magazine. He arrived at Windham’s Selma home with his camera over his shoulder to give an interview and take photos. As the session ended, McCammon made vague promises about it People Story, the two heard a loud BANG! It sounded like a door slamming… but no one else was in the house.

“All I could think was that Jeffrey knew,” McCammon said with a laugh. “Jeffrey knows I’m not from around here People Magazine.”

There was another moment that influenced McCammon’s writing career – when he pitched some feature story ideas to the editor Post-Herald in 1977, only to learn that McCammon would not leave the editorial desk as long as the editor was in charge. As much as McCammon appreciated the work he and his copy desk colleagues did, he said he knew he wanted something different.

I don’t want to die herehe thought and began to write. His first novel, “Baal,” was published in 1978.

In the 1980s, McCammon found success, winning several Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Awards and producing the New York Times Bestseller list for the first time. Despite all this success and comparisons to horror icons like King and Koontz, McCammon’s works have not often been adapted for the big or small screen, although his short story “Nightcrawlers” was adapted into an episode for the 1985 reboot of “The Twilight Zone” he directed Willam Friedkin, director of “The Exorcist.”

The lack of adaptations was partly due to a long break from writing he took in the 1990s, and partly due to numerous problems he had with agents and the publishing industry over the years. Now that he is in his 70s, everything has changed.

Leviathan, the final novel in his popular historical novel series by Matthew Corbett, will be published in December, the last of ten books. An official opening party will be held at the Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham on December 7, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. Details can be found here.

Additionally, interest in adapting McCammon’s books is growing, starting with some of his earliest works. Long-time fans are thrilled. The first adaptation to appear is the Peacock series “Teacup,” loosely based on McCammon’s best-selling 1988 novel “Stinger.”

The series will be different from the novel, but that’s okay with McCammon, who said, “The book will always be my book and it’s kind of interesting to see what other people can do with it.”

He hasn’t seen it yet. McCammon said showrunner Ian McCulloch offered to send him episodes to preview, but he decided to wait. “I wanted to watch the premiere with my group on Tuesday night,” he said, referring to his group of friends who meet every week. They plan to watch the show at a friend’s house on Thursday night and see it for the first time along with the rest of the world.

Click here to see all the details about “Teacup,” from episode airtimes to a cast list and the series trailer.

Next up is an adaptation of one of McCammon’s best-known novels, 1987’s “Swan Song,” and there are also short stories in development, although McCammon said he is contractually bound to secrecy about future projects. “Swan Song” is listed on IMDb as a TV series scheduled for release in 2026.

“It’s a great place because of all the struggle and everything I’ve been through [with the industry] is behind me,” McCammon said. “I’m less of a legend and more of a survivor. No one can tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.”

The author said he was thrilled that horror was becoming more and more popular.

“Think about Halloween itself,” he said. “It turned into a multi-million dollar vacation. People enjoy venturing into the dark side, but in a fun way.”

Grew up in Alabama

One of McCammon’s most popular novels, 1991’s “Boy’s Life,” is set in the fictional town of Zephyr, Alabama, and features a coming-of-age story reminiscent in tone of Stephen King’s novella “The Body” in the film “Stand By Me.”

The world in Boy’s Life was inspired by McCammon’s own childhood in Birmingham. Rick was born in 1952 to Jack and Barbara McCammon and began writing at the age of 6. “As a child, I was actually very interested in science fiction and was influenced by the work of Ray Bradbury,” he said. “There are many others I could mention, but the only work that comes to mind is the short story ‘The Lake’ by Bradbury. I’ve always been interested in ghost stories and Southern folklore too.”

His love of science fiction also extended to television. “I definitely watched ‘The Twilight Zone,'” he said. “Also ‘Thriller’, hosted by Boris Karloff, and the ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ series. ‘Outer Limits’ was also there.”

By the time he attended Banks High School, a school that closed in 1989 and was demolished in 2021, he already had a taste for the macabre, penning an award-winning short story about “a leech attached to a dying soldier who he tries to talk to.” begins”. the Vietnam soldier,” said a 2010 report in the Daily Mountain Eagle.

McCammon said Birmingham has changed since he was a child.

“When I was a kid, there was a Steel Town mentality – we don’t want outsiders disrupting the way we do things,” he said. Now, he said, Birmingham has a young population, restaurants and plenty of entertainment options.

“It helped us a lot to have a wealth of other opinions,” he said. “There is a sense of pride that I didn’t experience as a child.”

From journalism to author

McCammon graduated from the University of Alabama with a journalism degree and worked for the Post-Herald. Although his desire to write stories there was rebuffed, he wrote some stories for other newspapers including The Birmingham News. He recalled being sent to Guntersville, Alabama, in the late 1970s to write a story about Bigfoot sightings in the area. Having no idea where to look for the creature, he stopped at a store to ask. McCammon said a few locals at the store offered to take him to the location where the sightings occurred.

“We were standing on a cliff overlooking a ravine and they pointed down to show me where Bigfoot had been spotted,” he said. “I was standing on the edge of the cliff taking photos and they were standing behind me. That’s when I realized how stupid I was; I didn’t even know these guys.”

He didn’t see Bigfoot, but he got a byline.

After his books began selling, he said he learned a hard lesson one evening at a book signing. He was seated at a table in the back of a bookstore with no signs or information about why he was there. Only one person approached him – a woman who wanted to know where the Bear Bryant books could be found. The disappointment was a cold bath.

“I could feel tears in my eyes,” he recalled. “Then I thought, ‘I have to remember that.'” He knew it wouldn’t always be that way. These days, his book signings are usually standing room only.

Still, the ups and downs along the way could be dizzying. After the release of 1992’s “Gone South,” McCammon said he was tired of dealing with the publishing industry. He stopped publishing for eight or nine years. Luckily for his fans, he started again in 2002 with Speaks the Nightbird, the first part of Matthew Corbett’s historical novel series.

In the same year the Post-Heraldwhose former editor didn’t give McCammon a chance to write, published a story about his success as an author. The article quoted Richard Chizmar, editor of Cemetery dance Magazine: “In my opinion, Rick has always been one of our best storytellers, right up there with King and Koontz. “He brings a little dignity to the field.”

There is still more to do

McCammon is still involved in one of his pet projects. In 1985 he had the idea of ​​founding an organization for horror authors, as they often didn’t receive the same respect as authors of other genres. He founded it with the help of author Dean Koontz and Joe and Karen Lansdale. Today the Horror Writers Association is a worldwide organization that oversees the Bram Stoker Awards.

“We needed something to help young writers by giving them a resource; a sense of community,” he said.

These days, McCammon writes whenever he wants and spends much of his time with his adult daughter Skye. He and Skye’s mother are no longer married.

A night owl, McCammon might stay awake until 3 or 4 a.m. and then sleep until 11 a.m., he said. This gives him plenty of time to write.

“I will be working on finishing my four-part bounty hunter/gunslinger/vampire series,” McCammon said of the “I Travel By Night” series. “I’ve done two of them, so I’m halfway done. Next I have some ideas that are competing with each other, so we’ll see what happens.”