Why don't you start us off by telling us how you discovered/decided you wanted to become a writer?
See, that's a hard question for me to answer, because my granmother was a writer, and I'm not sure I ever made a conscious decision to be one. It was always an option. And I always enjoyed it. I loved reading, so writing just seemed like the natural thing to do in response. By the way, my advice to aspiring writers is also read, read as often as you can. Seems obvious, but it's too easy to let reading slip away as you get caught up in your own writing.
Do you have a favorite TV show you can't miss?
Ooh, I think it's a tie between Breaking Bad and The Venture Brothers. Admittedly they don't seem to have anything in common, but I think both are spectacular examples of writers being allowed to just tell the story they want to tell. In Breaking Bad's case, it's a relentlessly downbeat character study of a man embracing his inner monster, but it's so beautifully done. As for The Venture Brothers, the writers are doing some of the best world building in television right now. They've created this huge, wacky universe that would be really fun to live in, if slightly perilous. Still, not as bad as the BB universe, which you really wouldn't want to visit.
What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?
What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?
I can't outline. I just suck at it. Having said that, I always know exactly what beats I want to hit and the plot itself. But I very much fly by the seat of my pants within this framework. Some people are great at outlining, and my hat's off to them, but I am not one of those folks.
So what is your latest or upcoming book about? Give us all the details behind this masterpiece.
Well, right now, it's the third in my Infected series, Infected: Life After Death, and despite what the title suggests, it's not about reincarnation. It's about picking up the pieces after someone in your life has died, which is just a seismic shift for you, but the world just goes on like nothing has happened. It has, of course, but it's only your world that's changed. This picks up a year after the second book in the series, Infected: Bloodletting, and Roan is just trying to figure out if he even wants to go on. But having said that, I must add it isn't all depressing, as a new case gets foisted on him, and he's sort of compulsive about solving riddles, and along the way, his universe expands. He meets some new friends, some people who teach him he still has something to give to the world after all, and while grief isn't something that goes away instantly, he finds ways of coping. Some healthier than others.
What are your thoughts on love scenes in romance novels, do you find them difficult to write?
I think some people write them really well, and others can't. I'm in the latter camp, which is why there's a decided lack of love scenes in my books. If I could write one without laughing, and without thinking it was just terrible, I would. But so far I haven't. I have nothing against a writer who can do it, and I wish I was one of them. I'm not. I don't know why.
Who are some of your favorite authors, and if we were to visit your home, what books would we find on your bookshelf, end table, floor or e-reader?
Oh dear. So, so many. The list would just be insane. Here's a few authors: Jim Shepard, Ken Bruen, Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale, Ursula K. LeGuin, Tanith Lee, Richard K. Morgan, David Sedaris, Joseph Hansen, Kristine Katherine Rusch, Jonathan Lethem, Sarah Vowell, James Lear, Clive Barker, Warren Ellis, Hunter S. Thompson, Steve Niles, Ruth Rendell, Philip K. Dick ... the frighting thing is I could keep going. The same goes for favorite books, which is a changing list and just about as long as the author list. Off the top of my head, I think my favorite books are Motherless Brooklyn, Love and Hydrogen, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, The Left Hand of Darkness, Mucho Mojo, Misery, The Guards, Altered Carbon, White Fang, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Red As Blood ... I should stop, right? I'll stop. Just keep in mind it would be even worse if I also listed graphic novelists. (Some of whom are also prose writers. In fact, several of the list above have done comics as well.)
If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why?
Paris, obviously. He'd be sexy and fun. There's a tragic aspect, sure, and if he was pre-Infection Paris he'd be as trecherous as all get out, but if this is pretend time, I can pretend he isn't, so there. Roan would be number two. I'm afraid Roan might have too much 'tude for me, in that his often bad attitude is too much like mine for us to get along.
Could you tell us about any work-in-progress, current projects, what we can expect from you in the future?
Well, I started writing a flashback story, to the time when Roan and Paris first met. I knew the story in my head, but I never thought about writing it down until a reader brought it up. There's also a fantasy tale in the works, with the amount of genre smashing and humor that I hope readers expect from me (or at least I expect it from me). And there's more in the Infected universe, as I love playing around in that world. Is it terrible to admit you kind of love some of the characters you've created? Because I do, even though I do terrible things to them. I should also say I had this early horror series I wrote, pre-Infected, that I really want to see get published, mainly because I absolutely love writing horror. So much fun!
Also, I just signed a contract with Dreamspinner for the release of a hardboiled detective novella called The Little Death. It's all about hard drinking, two fisted detective Jake Falconer, and what happens when a sexy guy hires him to find his missing twin brother. Yes, it has all the detective cliches, but brought into modern times, with a couple of twists. That should be out in October or November.
A biography has been written about you. What do you think the title would be?
What The Hell Happened?
Have you ever found that you didn’t like your Hero or your Heroine? If so, what did you do to change that?
Roan can get a bit self-pitious and depressed at times, which I totally understand, and yet it can tick me off at times. I don't usually do anything, because usually something happens to shake him out of his funk. Yes, I'm acting like the stories are a surprise to me. Sometimes they are.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Reading! Also watching TV and movies, listening to music, doing some light home improvement. Heavy home improvement is not relaxing. The truth is, writing is often relaxing for me.
Is there a genre you haven’t done that you would like to explore in the future?
Well, I'm not sure. I'm not really wedded to genre, I just write whatever story idea has me gripped at the moment. But I would love to write something that's true horror, as I really enjoy writing horror. I tried to put some horror aspects in Infected, but it's not a horror story by any means. In fact, while I know it gets lumped in with urban fantasy, I've always seen it as a science fiction/mystery hybrid.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? Somebody wants to publish me. I still can't get over that.
What is your favorite candy bar?
Oh hell. While a Snickers is good, as is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, I truly love dark chocolate.
When you looked in the mirror this morning, what was the first thing you thought?
Would I look better with green hair?
What is your favorite pizza?
Almost as hard as the candy bar question. But as long as the pizza has a good, spicy sauce, in great quantity (red sauce - none of that white sauce, thank you), and lots of cheese, I am happy. And probably full.
What genres and authors would we find you reading when taking a break from your own writing?
Look at the author's list above, and get back to me. But honestly, I read whatever has struck my fancy at the time I was looking for a book to read. At the moment, I have a comedy, a mystery, a superhero novel, and a short story collection going. I'm a big believer in leaving yourself open to new things. Try everything once. If you don't like it, fine, but at least try.
If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why? Infected: Prey is the obvious choice, as it starts the whole Infected series. But also, I think it's a very accurate introduction to my writing style.
What else would you like readers to know about you or your work?
Basically, one of my readers led to me getting published. I love my readers, and I love hearing from them. Thank you. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Please know you're appreciated.
And writing may be the only thing keeping me sane. Well, sane-ish.
Sneak Peek into Infected: Life After Death
Available at Dreamspinner Press
General blurb: In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds. He does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears his kind… and occasionally worships them.
Excerpt (from Infected: Life After Death):
As Roan grasped his upper arm firmly, trying to staunch the flow of blood, he wondered how he'd gotten himself into this mess.
Maybe the problem was this was another male lion, one not inclined to fold, but also, he could smell illness coming off of it—it wasn't right in body or mind, and therefore it was not assessing threats correctly. The panicky people didn’t help either; their fear was sharp in the air, and it was making Roan salivate just as much as the lion growling in the alley.
“Roan—” Dylan asked pleadingly, visible in his peripheral vision.
“Get away!” he snapped, and as the lion took a step forward, Roan took a step toward the cat as well, roaring a challenge that made its ears flatten against its scalp. It knew he was injured, but it also had to know he was still stronger than it was. Its mane was predominately black, making Roan wonder if it was a black-haired man under the transformation, although such a characteristic wasn’t always a sure bet. He was a good-sized guy, though, at least six feet, somewhere around two hundred and fifty pounds.
How had this happened? He had been meeting Dylan for coffee before Dylan went to work—that was all. Innocent as could be. Then he heard a woman scream, a truly genuine scream of horror, and he came charging around the corner to find a man under attack by a lion, which had him on the ground and was gnawing his forearm like a turkey leg. Roan didn’t have a chance to finesse this, and of course he wasn’t armed, as he had closed up the office for the day. Not that it mattered—there was no way he‟d open fire on a cat anyways, and certainly not with civilians around.
Roan did what he had to do. He charged the cat and tackled it, ripping it off the man and sending them both rolling out into the street as he yelled at Dylan to get the man inside. Cats, being a hell of a lot more flexible than people, were hard to keep hold of at the best of times, and this was a big lion, slippery with blood and its own fevered sweat. It twisted violently in his grasp as a car’s tire just missed their heads by inches, and it sank its teeth into his arm, tearing through the flesh like paper.
A mistake. On the cat’s part, as Roan had been holding back his instincts quite well, but now, with the pain ripping through his body, his own cat instincts had broken out. He threw the cat bodily away, so hard that it hit a parked Lexus with an audible thud, making it rock on its shocks and leaving a huge dent in its side door. The cat landed unsteadily on its feet, shaking its head, as Roan struggled to hold in the cat instincts wanting to emerge. He felt his jaw shift, heard the bones crack, and tasted blood in his mouth as his teeth ripped through his gums, but the most troubling thing was he wanted to rip its fucking throat out. He could almost taste its flesh in his mouth, and he wanted it as badly as he had ever wanted anything. It was a desire so electric he wanted it to sweep him away.
4 comments:
Hi Andy,
I LOVED this first book in the infected Series. Do you or Dreamspinenr plan to put all the books in a print volume or separately? I would love to have these in print.
Thanks for being here today.
Great interview.
Sounds like a great book!
Hi!
They're all being published in separate volumes. Right now, two follow ups (I hesitate to call them sequels, as I essentially wrote them as one serialized story) are out, Infected: Bloodlines and Infected: Life After Death, and I just signed the contract for Infected: Freefall (all out through Dreamspinner Press).
Enough promo-ing. I'm glad you enjoyed it, Dawn.
Enjoyed your interview! And I LOVE your book covers and the excerpt! I'd seen these books, and now need to add them to my wish list!
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