Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born under startlingly ordinary circumstances in Philadelphia, PA, and carted off to the nearby suburbs to become addicted to 70s television.
We watched a man walk on the moon. We saw wounded and body-bagged soldiers in Vietnam. We watched Nixon cry, quit the presidency, and take off in a chopper.
One way or the other, my writing was inspired by those times plus my addiction to movies and stories, which also started in those days. I owe something to EC Comics, Dr. Shock’s Horror Theater and the Creature Double Feature and specifically all the science fiction, fantasy and horror of the 50s, 60s and 70s.
My professional writing career started with feature articles written for a small newspaper in Yorktown, VA, followed by more of same, plus advertising, for a variety of freelance clients, including a 10 year stint as a weekly Film Critic for PortFolio magazine, Hampton Roads Virginia’s former Alternative Weekly.
Mostly unpublished outside of college publications, I’ve written 30-some short stories, a screenplay, a couple novellas and three novels. The novels are decent, but they feel like practice novels now.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My fourth novel, The Queen’s Highway was inspired by a desire to write a novel spanning thousands of years so I could explore future projections of human medical, sociological and climatic evolution. I also wanted to pay homage to all my early and contemporary influences in reading, and therefore writing. So I’ve dedicated this book to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, Dan Simmons and others.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I never outline my novels. I tried it with my second book, and hated how it ruined the spontaneity and organic flow. I like being surprised by what happens. So while I may start with a basic idea of what I want to write about, I always start with characters first, put them into a difficult situation, and let how they react to everything reveal what they’re made of and therefore control the direction(s) the story flows.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In addition to the ones mentioned earlier, Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Silverberg, Stephen King, Peter Straub, James Dickey, Cormac McCarthy, John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut. Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, The Time Machine, Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, Moby Dick, Slaughterhouse Five, Johnny Got His Gun, Catch 22, A Clockwork Orange, Deliverance and Jaws were strong early influences.
What are you working on now?
I’m still working out the details in my head, but I’d like to write a novel that’s both humorous, suspenseful and horrifying. I’ve seen a few movies that successfully struck that balance, like Reanimator, Fright Night (1985) and Shaun of the Dead. I’d like to pull off the literary equivalent.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Not sure yet. I’ve just gotten started with self-promotion. Facebook has been helpful.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Practice, practice, practice, and you’ll find that your work gets better every year, especially if you try to stretch yourself. Make every book an attempt to do something you didn’t do in your previous work.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make sure your written work is full of things you actually care about. You can’t fake passion. If you want to be interesting, do interesting things, or learn about interesting things, then work it into your prose with genuine passion.
What are you reading now?
Always fiction and non-fiction, simultaneously.
In fiction, I’m reading Haunted, by Chuck Palahniuk, which is fascinating, both in format and content.
In non-fiction, I’m reading The Diet Myth, by Tim Spector, which is enlightening.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Another novel.
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?
I would take four books I haven’t read, like the upcoming finale of “The Passage” trilogy, the upcoming finale of the Stephen King “Bill Hodges trilogy”, and whatever Dan Simmons and Harlan Ellison are putting out next.