Name: Ahimsa Kerp
Author of: “Tuning in, Turning On, and Dropping Out at the Mountains of Madness”
Age: 33
Geographic Location: Portland, Oregon
Original Hometown, if different: I’ve moved around a bit. But Portland is as much home as anywhere.
Twitter: @ahikerp
Website: http://obscureclearly.wordpress.com/
Past publications: My story “Mr. Potato Head” is coming out on The New Flesh next month. My alternate history novella “Blades in the North” appears as part of a mosaic novel called To Baldairn Motte – coming out the second quarter of 2011. I have written a fair few travel articles that are scattered around the web, as well.
What’s your favorite H.P. Lovecraft story or other Mythos story? It’s hard to choose just one, but I think “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” holds up the best in terms of what we as modern readers expect from a story.
What comes to mind when you think “Lovecraft” + “Erotica”? Tentacles. Ewww.
How did you hear about Cthulhurotica? On Duotrope. I was looking for a market for a different story but when I heard the term “Cthulhurotica,” I was hooked.
What inspired your story? I was playing Beatles Rockband, thinking about shoggoths, as you do, and I realized that the 60’s and Lovecraft go really well together. I thought of an independent character who was sort of new to the counter-culture scene and from there the narrative suggested itself.
What music or movies helped you to write this story? For the dark, freaky aspects, I listened to the Proposition soundtrack a bit, but to get in the mood I mostly listened to music like Arlo Guthrie, The Who, and CCR.
How many rewrites did you do before submitting? The story that was accepted was a complete rewrite of an earlier attempt. This story came together really quickly and the version I submitted was really the first draft.
What is your favorite bit?
“You’ve been to Kathmandu? Kabul? Benares? Ceylon?” she asked.
Nyarlathotep interrupted her. “That’s not the kind of traveling I do. Think more … celestial.”
Euphoria understood all right. She wondered if she could bag some acid off of him.