Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I came of age in a small town in the deep South suspended in time and haunted with stories. I’ve published novels, poetry, short stories, and a play. Today I live in the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve been addicted to writing since childhood. I sold my first book door-to-door in the neighborhood when I was ten. I have five published novels: two horror (THE CALLING and ROADKILL), an American odyssey set in 1968 (LONG TIME GONE), and a dystopian thriller with a climax in a drive-in theater (RING OF STARS). That’s four. The fifth takes me to the next question.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
THE SOUL SNATCHERS. Look around—we’re happily addicted, notochord-level. We’ve become mesmerized by our tech, possessed by it. We’ve ceded important ground. I wanted to show how that works out when we think about addiction and power. And cyberterrorism.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write by hand in notebooks. It’s more intuitive to me than typing. But then I can’t face keying it all in, so I dictate from my handwritten pages. Smartphones have gotten crazy good at voice recognition and translation.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
It’s kind of like asking what air have you breathed? So many. Early on, William Golding, Lawrence Durrell, Rod Serling. Later, mainly literary. I’m attracted to stylists: Bellow, James Salter, Michael Ondaatje, Nabokov, Walker Percy. T.C. Boyle. A couple of my favorite genre writers are Thomas Harris (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) and Neal Stephenson (SNOW CRASH).
What are you working on now?
Publicity for THE SOUL SNATCHERS (http://www.invernesspress.com/soul_snatchers.html), just published in January by Inverness Press.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang.com looks promising!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Decide which rules for you—the muse or mammon. “You have to serve somebody.” If sales are more important, choose a genre and brand yourself to it. If it’s writing for the love of it, don’t quit your day job. Don’t quit it in either case.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Many are called but few are chosen.
What are you reading now?
Elaine Pagels, Lewis Mumford, Jennifer Egan, Czeslaw Milosz.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Maybe La La Land in 1970s Chicago.
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?
FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE–Jacques Barzun
THE MASKS OF GOD–Joseph Campbell (multivolume cheat but I might finally get to finish all the volumes)
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF W.B. YEATS–William Butler Yeats
ROBINSON CRUSOE (a user guide)–Daniel Defoe
Author Websites and Profiles
Richard Sanford Website
Richard Sanford Amazon Profile
Richard Sanford Author Profile on Smashwords
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