Greetings friends, this time I have a special treat for everyone! I have a special guest for all of my dear readers. This time, I got to sit down with Citizen Colin Martin, otherwise known as The Ringmaster.
Colin Martin is a writer, a video producer, and an all-around fun dude to hang out with.
He is the leader of the horror story troupe, The Satanic Players Society, which focuses on telling intriguing tales of the macabre and horrifying. Be on the lookout especially for some stories and poems contributed by yours truly.
He is also the publisher of a collection of short fiction and poems called The Horror and Madness of the Sideshow.
He is also the publisher of a collection of short fiction and poems called The Horror and Madness of the Sideshow.
You can find Colin at the Satanic Players Society website:
https://www.satanicplayerssociety.com/
And as a shameless shoehorn of self-promotion, you can find me on youtube where I talk about the society and how I became involved with the madness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=562&v=MPMlj3Kn-WE
So without further ado, let us take a stroll down the left-hand path with none other than Colin Martin.
1.
How did you stumble across Satanism?
Stumble
is the correct word! lol, when I came out of the army in 2008 I ended
up working in a security job. After performing my routine tasks I
found myself with a lot of time on my hands staring at monitors. I
used to go on random chat forums a lot, deciding to have a laugh and
try and engage with people who didn’t take life too seriously (a
very difficult thing online) I decided to use my login ID to create
various characters and try and generate a giggle or two.
I
decided to use religion as my basis as these types of conversations
tended to get pretty intense. I came up with a number of outlandish
people based on various religious denominations, for example, “Cathal
the Catholic”, “Ben the Baptist”, “Aalim the Islamist” (I
thought that Muhamad the Muslim would have caused too much of a
stir), “Mike the Mormon” and finally “Cyril the Satanist”.
What
I did was post in the manner of the character “Praise the Laaawd”
type stuff and use references from their particular faith in my
conversations. When I got to Cyril I went searching to something akin
to “The big book of Satan” to see what was out there and could be
used to garner a laugh. This is when I came across a meme listing the
11 Satanic Rules of the Earth. Initially, I wasn’t sure whether this
was genuine or not, but it was completely different to the usual
devil-worshipping tripe that gets spouted by angsty heavy metal
teenagers (I was one, so can speak with authority lol). When I delved
a bit further and discovered that this was a religion that actually
existed I thought “ah-ha” I could be onto something here.
My
first warning bell which rang quite loudly, of course, was the fact
that the Church of Satan was based in the United States. Uh oh! Gotta
be careful of those cults, the last thing I wanted was to find myself
locked away in some commune having signed away my home, savings, and
rights as a human being. I looked for Satanic books and found a list
of the COS cannon. They weren’t that expensive and I like to read a
lot so I ordered them. The next question I asked myself was “What
other Satanic Churches are out there?” I didn’t see anything pop
up initially so I went searching. Practically everything I found had
been created by ex-members of the COS or people that mentioned the
Church and proclaimed them as the “new” or “alternative”.
Before the Satanic Bible even arrived in the post I’d come to the
conclusion that this was the first and anything else out there was
reactionary. This made me more interested in getting to know about
this organization. To cut a long story short, I read everything,
agreed with the philosophy and realized that this had been something
that was already built into my DNA. I joined not long after and the
rest is history, here I am you lucky, lucky people! ;-)
2.
What was the catalyst for The Satanic Players Society? What caused
you to get this cabal of storytellers together? How did you become
the "Ringmaster?"
The idea for the SPS began to form when I started collaborating with
Aaron Mantle. We had been friends for a while when he produced the
first episode of “Satanic Story Time”. This piqued my interest
and creating sound effects for the show and I offered to help out.
When he started featuring old time radio shows I thought to myself
“maybe some of could do that”. I broached the idea to him as
maybe a one-time holiday special and we decided to give it a try. I
sourced a script called “The Shadow People” then went trawling
for victims, um I mean willing participants.
I
was quite surprised by the interest in the project. I managed to get
7 people roped in and we began recording. I’d never actually
produced a show like this before and found myself traversing a
massive learning curve, but we got it done and released it on
Halloween of 2014. It went down well and we decided to have a go at
another story to release maybe later the following year. That’s
when things started taking off, we started getting approached by
authors who wanted some of their stories performed and the thing
started developing a life of its own.
Unfortunately
as time went on Aaron and I began to have creative differences about
the future of the show. The Satanic Players had basically become its
own entity, and the average show was between 45 minutes to an hour long
and no longer a short segment. After a discussion with some members
of the troupe, it was decided that we would branch out on our own.
After a brainstorming session, we came up with the idea of the circus
theme. I thought it would be a cool idea if people took to the stage
as a particular circus or sideshow act. This would give members a
chance to step out of themselves and also provide anonymity to those
concerned about repercussions by being associated with the big scary
“S” word. There are still people out there who would do us harm
or just mess with our lives out of spite.
The original idea was to host the longer pieces submitted on our own
platform and then “travel” around other podcasts with shorter
presentations. This actually worked well, we continued to feature
pieces on Satanic Story Time, 9 Sense, Raising Hell and a few others.
For most of these appearances, I would source royalty-free scripts
online, one thing I began to realize was that I wanted to actually
collaborate with the people that wrote material and not just grab
stuff from the web. Somehow this didn’t feel fulfilling and I
started to foster this idea and concentrate on this ethos for the
show.
What
we have today is basically a melting pot of creativity. People can
voice act, write, create music or art if they get the inspiration no
one is tied down to a particular role of function. This is what I
believe has kept us fresh and relevant. To reflect this change and
growth a number of segments have since been established since our
original airing. “The Travelling Sideshow of the Macabre” is
our main feature, “The First Taste of Horror” is a chance to get
to know how our members fell down the rabbit hole of this wonderful
genre. “A thought with the Ringmaster” are my musings and
thoughts on creativity and some interviews with other creative types,
“Myths, Legends and Monsters” is the brainchild of Estelle, The
Escapologist. She takes on a journey through European folklore and
our latest segment “Prose from the Shadows, hosted by Clover, The
Magician showcases poetry and prose submissions from our members and
fans. Last year we put out our first anthology “The Horror and
Madness of the Sideshow”. The second is currently underway with
Delilah, The Snake Charmer taking the lead on this one planned for
release early 2020. As you see we are keeping quite busy.
3.
As a writer, I am always interested in what other practitioners of our
craft use as inspiration. What are some of your favorite literary
works?
Well
I’m sure after looking at my bookcase for more than 30 seconds you
quickly realized that I’m a massive Terry Pratchett fan. Although
my first step into the fantasy genre was The Hobbit it was the
Discworld series that really fired my imagination. Sir Terry’s
subtle references to the real world and anecdotes about the human
condition was an inspiration; I was really devastated when he
passed.
A
close second in terms inspirational works would have to be Raymond E.
Feist. I discovered him later in life when a longtime friend gave me
a copy of The Magician. Two things that resonated were his writing
style; this really wanted me to up my game in terms of my vocabulary.
The other was the fact that he included real world logistical issues
to his narrative. An army simply didn’t just jauntily march to
battle. Horses needed fed, wagons needed to be mended and people picked up
injuries along the way. He also embedded the notion that not just
warriors, but the blacksmiths, cooks and those that eased the burden
of the supply chain could gain honor.
I’m
not a massive fan of science fiction writing, I’ve always found
this to be more of a visual genre. However, Frank Herbert’s Dune
series has been something that has stuck with me for decades. He
managed to create a universe so far removed from our world (many
Sci/Fi franchises fail miserably in this aspect) that I’m able to
just let go and immerse myself in this world. Even references during
the series to events such as the Butlerian Jihad are so far ahead of
our time that even the series ancient history doesn’t drag you back
to reality.
4.
If you could time travel, where would you go?
Alright
then, time to get my geek on. I’ve thought about this a bit over
the years so here’s where I would go if I could explore the main
types of time travel:
Single
Continuum Travel – I would like to visit and spend some time during
the Renaissance period. This is generally considered an optimistic
time brimming with creativity. I’d like to walk the streets in the
evening soaking in the excitement as new forms of entertainment and
ideas were brought to life.
Fixed
Point Travel – Although there is no guarantee I could actually
change anything by suddenly appearing there is definitely one thing I
would like to try. I’d want to go back to the point when Freddy
Mercury was about to hook up and contract HIV. I throw him some
condoms and scented lube and maybe say something like “Bag up big
lad, the world still needs you! When you are gone we are left with
the Kardashians, Kanye West and the tragedy that is Brian May and
Roger Taylor running around with some boy child hanging desperately
on to Queen’s legacy!”
Temporal
Replacement – Coincidently enough Clover and I have been talking
about this concept lately. What part of our lives would we go back
and change? I’ve come to the understanding there is no point
visiting my childhood, at that stage in life we are not really in
full control, our parents and other agencies hold the keys and we
basically just drift along hoping to get out and start making our own
way in the world. Thinking about my life and the directions I’ve
taken the point that would have the most impact would be when I left
high school and about to go onto higher education. Rather that
wasting three years trying to go into forensic science, failing then
getting a useless degree in Business Admin. I would take a year,
build up my skills in Maths then go on to pursue a career in Data
Science. Having replaced my young, hormonal socially awkward self
with this cynical old fart I’d be more focused knowing what the
future in technology holds and not having to worry about fitting in,
getting girlfriends (been there, done that lol). I’d set myself up
for a better future. Yes, I’m likely to make new mistakes along the
way, but with knowledge of the future, I’d definitely make a point
of avoiding certain relationships and psychic vampires!
5.
Tell us one of your favorite jokes.
I’m
actually terrible at remembering jokes. What I will share with you is
one of the funniest comedian routines that still has me roaring with
laughter to this day. Look it up on YouTube. It’s Billy Connolly
describing the attempted terror attack at Glasgow airport. Here are
some of the lines:
What
were they f****** thinking, bringing terror tae Glasgow? You should
have known better than that, we don’t mind a bit of terror in
Glasgow.
‘Religious
fanatics?’ I’m not sure about religious fanatics without a
f****** football team.
I
saw the whole thing in New York on the news, I thought I would need
an ambulance. I have never laughed like it, f****** eejits!
You
know sometimes you hear something about yer home toon and ye go “f***
yes, I come from there, that’s where I f****** come from ye know!
Yes! I f****** live there! And don’t you forget it!”
I’ll
let you good people look up the whole sketch, I still laugh!
6.
Spill the beans, do you have any projects outside of the Satanic
Players Society that you are working on?
Always!
Lol, I’m currently working on two books. One is a short story and
the other is a collection of essays and poetry, hopefully, I have
these out by the New Year. I am also in the planning stages with a
good friend on the production of a new podcast. I’m not going to
give away any details until we are ready to go, but it’s something
different and I hope you like it.
7.
America can be a fun and crazy place, what caused you to come here?
And how are you liking it so far compared to your homeland?
I’ve
been back and forward to the U.S. over the last 15 years, usually
through work. However when it was on one of the more recent trips to
Washington D.C. for a certain devilish event that things changed.
Unbeknownst to me at the time I ended up meeting my future wife.
After some time in a relationship travelling back and forward we
decided to take the plunge and here I am!
Two
things I like are the space; Utah is quite spread out with amazing
mountain ranges and the weather. It’s nice being able to actually
plan barbeques and outdoor activities without constantly having to
worry about the rain.
8.
Wine or beer?
Beer
definitely! One thing I miss from home are local ales and lagers. I’m
partial to a merlot as well. On a bit of a tangent I enjoy a spot of
Rum but you’ve seen what happens when I let the Captain in, so I am
careful how I indulge!
9.
What is your favorite Satanic concept and why?
It
has to be without question the idea that achievement in Satanism is
what benefits your own personal life. What’s good for me may not be
good for you or anyone else. There is no need to measure up to other
members (unless someone genuinely inspires you). This I have found to
be really freeing, I’m not forced into a mold being told “This is
Satanism, you have to be like this to be doing it right”. I also
think this is an important concept that a lot of people don’t
understand. There are so many people I see that try too hard trying
to be what they think is expected from them. All you need to do is
relax, decide what your own goals and priorities in life are then
enjoy getting on with them.
10.
I met your friendly pooch, Chaz. How did you come across such a
loveable oaf?
He
was only meant to be a foster for two weeks. A lady posted online
that she needed someone to help out by taking him in while she worked
towards finding a permanent home for. She was moving home and the new
landlord didn’t allow pets, she also had health problems and was
finding it difficult to care for him so we agreed to take him in to
help out.
Within
20 minutes of him coming into the house he decided “yep, I live
here now you’re my new family” and of course we buckled and ended
up keeping him. When Anton Lavey talked about animals being great
magicians he wasn’t joking, one of the funniest examples of this
was during your baptism when he strategically positioned himself to
make sure EVERYONE gave him a belly rub before heading down to the
ritual chamber!
11.
If you were stranded on a deserted island with only a TV and three
movies (somehow this island has a power source) what are the movies
that you would choose?
I
could live with only three movies; honestly, I’d be too busy trying
to survive to watch them very often, but sure let’s give it whirl:
The
Matrix – I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched
this movie, at least four or five times in the last six months. For a
movie made in the late 90’s the effects still stand up. This is a
great stand-alone movie, the sequels although fun as popcorn flicks
really didn’t add anything to the original. I’ve never found
myself needing to stick the other two on after watching this to find
out what happens next.
Dune
– Before reading any of the books this movie captivated me,
although dated now, the artwork used in the backdrops and costumes
are amazing. As I talked about with regards to my inspirational
writings, I love the world-building and premise of the story.
Although only hinted at during the movie, it reeled me in.
The
Empire Strikes Back – Yes, George and I have fallen out after the
prequels and I detest KK with every fiber of my being, but damn this
has to be one of the best movies of all time! Some of us are actually
heading out in September to watch this movie accompanied by Utah
Symphony Orchestra. Yes I’m that nerdy, pew, pew, zap zap, whom!
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