Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m originally from Washington State but I’ve lived most of my life in the American South, between Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. I have been working in education for about 10 years now.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Blessed are the Dead is my latest (and first publicly available) book. What inspired me originally was reading an article about the Cristero War in Mexico during the 1920s. I came across this group of priests who had fought against the Mexican government, and it seemed like such a dissonant image that I thought it would make a pretty interesting book.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Sometimes, especially if I’m nearing a deadline, I’ll go take a shower before I start writing. Something about having no distractions lets me gather my thoughts. When I get done showering, I’ll almost always be able to write for several hours without any hesitation.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My influences vary a lot because there are all kinds of authors whom I admire. Some of my favorite authors are Ernest Hemingway, William Vollmann, and Mario Vargas Llosa.
What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on a novel which involves the dark history of a little town in Alabama that probably no one has ever heard of.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a blog which I try to update fairly regularly with general thoughts, advice on writing, or just topics I find interesting at the time–I especially like to make a list of all the books I’ve read in a given year and upload that around New Years.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I don’t have any advice other than the generic, but nonetheless true, advice: write every day. If you write every single day you’ll watch a book grow in no time at all. Yeah, it’ll require edits and the whole process ends up being a long one, but you can’t even get that far if you have nothing on the page.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is that your job doesn’t define you. Make your job be the vehicle of your dreams, even if the job itself isn’t one of them.
What are you reading now?
Right now I’m reading A History of Byzantium by Timothy E. Gregory
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have another book completed which will probably be released later this year, around August from what it looks like right now.
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 Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Author Websites and Profiles
James Corkern Website
James Corkern’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account