Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am happiest when I am outdoors, whether at a local lake or crossing Scotland on the Great Glen Way. I’ve been a fisher, farmer, sailor, paddler, and always a woods-wanderer. A native of western New York State, I graduated from West Virginia University and worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. I completed my MFA in creative writing at Queens University of Charlotte in 2004, and taught creative writing at North Carolina A&T State University. I’m the author of four novels: To the Bones, a folk horror/mystery set in Appalachia; Blood Clay, a novel of the New South; Survivors, a Rust Belt family tragedy in the ’70s; and Neena Gathering, a post-apocalyptic tale set in Appalachia. In the Lonely Backwater, a Southern gothic YA/crossover title, will appear in 2022. I’ve also published a collection of short fiction and three poetry collections. Awards have included a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, West Virginia and North Carolina arts fellowships; the Emma Bell Miles prize in the essay; two Elizabeth Simpson Smith prizes for the best short story by a writer in the Carolinas; and numerous poetry prizes. I was a founding editor of Prime Number and Kestrel journals
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In the Lonely Backwater is a mystery, a story about stories, and more. Inspiration came from many places, from an inscrutable inscription in my high school yearbook to years spent sailing on a North Carolina lake. The book doesn’t actually come out til May 2022, so I guess I should also give my most recently published, To the Bones, that takes on the destruction of Appalachia by Big Coal in a story drawing on horror, mystery, folk tales, and romance.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Is there such a thing? Writers are all strange and cranky creatures, each in their own way. I don’t write to a schedule, but can write steadily for a long time when I’m engaged. I must have silence — no music, TV, or other intrusion.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read, and read, everything, so it’s so hard to choose one or two, but I’ll say that Ray Bradbury and Ursula LeGuin became major influences when I was a teen, and I love Margaret Atwood.
What are you working on now?
The second volume of a historical fantasy trilogy. Set at the turn of the first millennium, it has much to do with politics and belief, as well as family and dynastic intrigue.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use three sites regularly, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I have a website. But I still believe in meeting readers face to face, and really enjoy traveling to book clubs, festivals, and other sites where lovers of the word get together.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Listen to your voices, the ones in your head–you know what I mean. Write the stories that come to you, that demand to be told.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Most writers fail through attrition. Don’t attrish.” From Fred Leebron, director of the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte.
What are you reading now?
Songbirds and Stray Dogs by Meagan Lucas, There, There by Tommy Orange, Appleseed by Matt Bell — and that’s just scratching the surface of the book stack! Then I have a bunch of beta reads to do for friends.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be on the road for In the Lonely Backwater in 2022, and planning to travel widely in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic visiting libraries, schools, colleges, bookstores. Meanwhile, I’m working on the second book of a historical fantasy trilogy, one I’ve been working on for many years. I’ll also be trying to corral a stack of poems into a book.
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 complete works of Shakespeare, to start. A big fat book of modern poetry. And perhaps the complete Edgar Allen Poe, because that would include mystery, horror, poetry and more.
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