Will Viharo is a Seattle-based author who has published numerous transgressive novels and stories that blend elements of surrealism, sex, and horror. He describes his work as “existential pulp fiction.”
His body of writing includes the Vic Valentine series (Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me, Fate Is My Pimp/Romance Takes A Raincheck, and I Lost My Heart In Hollywood/Diary of a Dick), Lavender Blonde, and Down A Dark Alley. Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me, originally published by Wild Card Press in 1993, was republished in August 2013 by Gutter Press, in anticipation of the movie adaption, which Christian Slater will direct and star in. In 2023, his epistolary memoir, Graffiti in the Rubber Room: Writing for My Sanity, was published.
Viharo, who was born in New York City on April 2, 1963, has also written two supernatural horror works: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up To Your Room.
From 1997 to 2012, Viharo, under the name Will the Thrill, regularly hosted Thrillville, a series of B-movie showings, with his wife Monica "the Tiki Goddess" Cortes Viharo. The locations of these stagings included the Parkway Speakeasy Theater in Oakland, California, which closed in 2009; the Cerrito Theater in El Cerrito, California (now operating under different management); and the Roxie Theater in San Francisco.Sean McCourt, "Write what you know," San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 13, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2017.Peter Harlaub, Thrillville's Will Viharo takes act to Alameda, SF Gate, July 31, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
Viharo's parents named him after William Shakespeare. His mother is a former beauty queen, and his father, Robert Viharo, a B-movie actor.Stefanie Kalem, "Faster, Parkway Guy! Write! Write!", East Bay Express, November 23, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
In April 2014, Viharo and his wife, Monica Cortes Viharo - a college professor - moved from Alameda, California to Seattle, Washington.Evan Carp, "Delayed Movie Inspires Big Changes", SF Gate, December 23, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
On July 24, 2015, Viharo's The Space Needler's Intergalactic Bar Guide, an erotic science fiction book co-authored with Scott Fulks, was published.
In a March 2014 interview, Viharo stated that he was working on short stories - "an unusual form" for him - and would soon be finishing his sixth Vic Valentine novel, then (publicly) untitled.Evan Karp, "The Write Stuff: Will Viharo on Self Therapy and Throwing Out Notes in Bottles", SF Weekly, March 20, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2017. On November 29, 2015, that novel (titled Hard-Boiled Heart) was published.
Just prior this period, actor Christian Slater—who had begun in earnest to adapt Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me for the silver screen—was side-tracked by the success of his first-season television show Mr. Robot.
Works VIC VALENTINE SERIES
Novels: Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me Hard-Boiled Heart Vic Valentine vs. the Vampires Classic Case Files: Fate Is My Pimp Romance Takes a Raincheck I Lost My Heart in Hollywood Diary of a Dick Mental Case Files: Vic Valentine, International Man of Mystery Vic Valentine, Lounge Lizard for Hire Vic Valentine, Space Cadet Short stories/novella: Vic Valentine, Private Eye: 14 Vignettes Vic Valentine Fever Dreams All Souls Are Final plus Panty-Stuffed Snakeskin Shoe CHUMPY WALNUT TRILOGY Chumpy Walnut The Romance of Chumpy Walnut Chumpy Walnut Conquers the World
THE THRILLVILLE PULP FICTION COLLECTION Volume One: A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge and Freaks That Carry Your Luggage Up to the Room Volume Two: Lavender Blonde and Down a Dark Alley Volume Three: Chumpy Walnut and Other Stories
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS/NOVELLA Things I Do When I’m Awake (novella) VIHORROR! Cocktales of Sex and Death One-Way Ticket to Thrillville
MEMOIR Graffiti in the Rubber Room: Writing for My Sanity
WITH SCOTT FULKS It Came From Hangar 18 The Space Needler’s Intergalactic Bar Guide
References
External links Viharo's personal website