Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m still writing out of my bedroom. I hope someday to have a writing shed in the backyard. I have written a lot of books, but I only have published two. ‘5150: A Transfer’ is the start of a fiction series about the process of recovery from psychosis. The second book ‘Half’ was just released. I completed the third book, ‘M3X1(0’ and am still in the middle of editing it. I’ll take a break from editing in November to attempt to write “A Quarter” – the 4th book of the series – during NaNoWriMo.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Half is the book that was just published. It’s a continuation of the story that began in ‘5150: A Transfer.’ The main character slowly regains his sanity, but it proves elusive at times. He finds comfort in easy, repetitive tasks and games.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write on my iPad sometimes when I’m too lazy to get up from the TV.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, Jean Genet’s The Thief’s Journal, Jean Cocteau’s ‘Les Enfants Terribles,’ Garcia Lorca’s Casa de Bernarda Alba, Coleridge’s poem Kublai Khan, Canti by Giacomo Leopardi, Pablo Neruda’s Ode to a Pair of Socks, JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, a gay pornographic novel called “Bunk House Hunks,” A to B and Back Again by Andy Warhol (and Bridgid Polk), James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, The Shining by Stephen King…I guess I could go on for a long time, but those are the ones that spring to mind.
What are you working on now?
M3X1(0 is written, and I’m editing it now.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
If I knew that, I probably would hire someone to write this interview for me! Emails to friends, facebook, it’s all shots in the dark, and there are no fish in the barrel.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. Don’t think about it; don’t plan to do it; write. If you have trouble with parts of speech and grammar, I highly recommend Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition – especially the part where you diagram sentences.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Buy the most expensive house you can afford and the cheapest car you can stand.
What are you reading now?
“Joyland” by Stephen King.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to sell the rights to the series to a powerful movie studio and watch money pour in. I work at a movie studio, so I just have to spill some coffee on the right producer.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The 1967 edition of the Unabridged Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The three part series of the complete editions of Physique Pictorial (I won’t go into why), Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso in the original Italian…and one good potboiler by Stephen King or Preston & Childs that I haven’t already read. Oh and a huge blank notebook.
Author Websites and Profiles
Duncan MacLeod Website
Duncan MacLeod Amazon Profile
Duncan MacLeod Author Profile on Smashwords