"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style." - Stephen King

Hi. I’m Lucas Mangum and this is Less Than Pulp, a newsletter for fans of my work. You’re receiving this because you’ve signed up for previous newsletters of mine or corresponded with me in the past. I’ve decided to restart my newsletter to keep everything I want to share in one place. The goal is to do these weekly, but we’ll see how that goes.

Last weekend, my dad visited. Because of Covid restrictions and post-pandemic anxieties being what they are, it was his first time meeting my daughter and my first time seeing him in about three years. My daughter is a little over one year old and strongly objected to the attention I gave my dad after not seeing him so long. She’s used to me doting on her almost constantly. Funny how jealousy can manifest at such an early age. I tried to split my time accordingly for the rest of his stay.

He also got some quality time in with my son. He’s great with my kids. I hope he gets to see them more often. Here he is with his first truck. He’s pictured on the left. My uncle is on the right.

I finished writing a new book. It’s called SNOW ANGELS, and it’s about a town under siege during a snowstorm. The attackers are the vengeful spirits of six convicts left to die in a previous blizzard. I’m pretty proud of it, as it’s my most straightforward book since MANIA. It still needs some revisions, but the bones are there, some meat too. Some of my work is painfully serious (see GODS OF THE DARK WEB and SAINT SADIST) while other books I write are more playful (MANIA and EXTINCTION PEAK). I believe SNOW ANGELS falls in the latter category.

I revisited one of my favorite splatter horror films this past week. I DRINK YOUR BLOOD is quintessential 1970s exploitation. Jeff and I discussed it on the latest episode of MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN PODCAST. Did you know I have a podcast? Well, now you do. You can check it out here or play the video below.

I’m currently reading FEAR STREET: THE BEGINNING by R.L. Stine and listening to the audiobook of SCARY BASTARD by Aron Beauregard.

As a younger reader, I jumped straight from GOOSEBUMPS to Stephen King and skipped over FEAR STREET entirely, though I distinctly remember some of the covers. It’s fun exploring this missed piece of horror history for the first time. I’m forever in awe of Stine’s output and how he streamlined his process. Apparently, he wrote 1,000 words on a GOOSEBUMPS book and 1,000 words on a FEAR STREET book every day. Crazy! But I totally want to try something similar.

SCARY BASTARD is great so far. Beauregard has clean, crisp prose I seldom see in indie horror. No wonder he’s found so much success. Food for thought!

Until next week, friends.