Andy Graham Author

Author of dark fiction and fantasy, dystopia, horror.

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One Book Interview #31 – Duncan Bradshaw (Author)

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We’re up to Interview #31 and I have absolutely no idea how to introduce this week’s author.

Go read his bio at the bottom of this page or on his website.

Go on.

I’ll wait.

Back already?

See what I mean?

How do you introduce someone who can’t even introduce himself? (Hi, Dunk, you’re not really reading this are you?)

If, however, you’ve been too lazy to click on a few links, I’ll leave you with this, from the self-professed ‘loon’ himself.

“It’s taken me a long time in my life to pull my finger out and do something that I enjoy, to most people, myself included, work is a chore. Writing helps me get through that by giving me a shining beacon to keep me going. Whatever that beacon is in your life, follow it, embrace it and make the most of it. Life is too fucking short, don’t have regrets, just do it.”

That’s not crazy. That’s utter sanity.

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Chippenham, Wiltshire (UK)  – Duncan Bradshaw

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

There are a number of books that lay to the claim of ‘stone cold classics’, and I agree with a number of them. Personally, I’d say that everyone has to read 1984 by George Orwell, without a shadow of a doubt. Yes, there are parts in the final third which feel a bit superfluous to the modern reader, but as a work of fiction, it is near peerless. With recent events, this, and a number of other dystopian books have been pimped out again, whilst they (Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, Handmaid’s Tale, A Brave New World etc) are excellent reads, 1984 surpasses them all.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

I’d take House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski with me. This would be a bit of a bold move on one main fundamental issue. I haven’t actually read it. I bought it a few years back following a recommendation by a friend. It has sat, nestled within my TBR pile since that fateful day. As other books have been picked up and devoured before it, still it looks out at me, hoping for the day when its turn will come. Being marooned on a distant planet, where time and the sheer size of this weighty tome are no longer considerations, I’d finally be able to read it. I just hope that I enjoy it, else it’s going to be a loooonnngggg time on the red planet.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Got to go with Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. You know those books where you hear people go on about, even those who you don’t know that well, and you feel inclined to pick it up, just so you know what they’re banging on about? That was Ready Player One. I snagged it in Southcart Books, in Walsall, when I was doing a reading, with the intention of slinging it on the TBR pile, and getting to it at some point, (a la House of Leaves). I ended up starting it a few days later and was completely and utterly hooked. Not quite knowing what to expect, as I got more into it, I realised that this book is aimed squarely at me and my generation. So many references in there, so many favourite games and popular culture references, I loved it. I passed it to my brother who approached it with similar expectations, and he loved it too. It’s a winner.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My personal favourite is, heXagram. It’s six stories, set across five hundred years of human history, charting the dissemination of an ancient Inca ritual. It is fundamentally an action/horror book, based on the adage ‘we are all made of stars’. What if it could be harvested? How can knowledge, partial or complete, be twisted to fit different people’s views or hopes? It tracks this information as different people come into contact with it, and seek to use it to their own ends, visiting the American Civil War, the Whitechapel murders, a suicide cult in the eighties, up until the modern day. For me, it was the most serious thing I’d written, using different styles to create a patchwork quilt of a narrative, all wrapped up in an epic overarching story. Sounds pretentious huh? It certainly isn’t and has definitely been my ‘marmite’ book, but to me, it is my absolute stonewall favourite.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

When I was halfway through college, we moved 40 odd miles down the road, which meant that I had to get the train to study. This gave me vast parts of the day with time to kill. There is only so much bowling and arcade games that you could play, so I decided to work my way through my mum’s bookshelf. I ignored the Stephen King, and headed straight for the Russian literature, mainly Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich stood out a mile. The struggles of getting through one day, alive, and somehow surviving, knowing that the next day would be the exact same situation all over again, gripped me. History has always interested me, but learning about things which governments tried to bury and suppress, trying to silence the victims and the survivors, left a profound effect on me. Though I later read the likes of Primo Levi, it was always One Day In The Life…that left an indelible mark.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

I’ve never been a fan of authors giving tips on writing, it just seems a bit silly. What works for me, is anathema to someone else, and downright crazy for the next person. I think the book that gave me the confidence to write what I wanted was Vinyl Destination, by Adam Millard. If you’re not familiar with his work, you really are missing out. Vinyl Destination is a simple premise, but pushes the silliness envelope into overdrive. I was on holiday when I read it, and the amount of times I laughed out loud and got odd looks from people was high. When I finished it, I thought if he can do it, why can’t I? Not in the same way, that’s impossible, but it showed me that I shouldn’t be limited in my ambition. Most of my ideas are a little odd, and as I don’t plan what I write, even mundane scenes end up veering off into weird territory. This book took off my mental shackles, and allowed me to be the writer that I want to be, not what I think I should be, and that’s a helluva big deal.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

I’m mostly known for two things, zombies and silliness. This is encapsulated perfectly in my zombie short story collection, CHUMP. Nine stories on the undead, each one is very different from the others. There is one set in the Wild West, another gives an alternative reason as to why the Eastern Bloc boycotted the 1984 Olympics. There is even a story featuring zombie fish! In the midst of it all, is a novella length story, and a serious one at that, which follows a courier living in the apocalyptic wilds. It’s passe, but there really is something for everyone in it, even if you’re not that fond of zombies. It is a true mix of styles, and was even nominated for a Saboteur Award at the beginning of 2017. Which was nice.

You can find Duncan at: www.duncanpbradshaw.co.uk

Give me a D! D. Give me a U! U. Give me an N! N. Okay, so this wasn’t the best idea was it? If you hadn’t guessed already, Duncan P. Bradshaw (spell out the letters in your head if you want), was a cheerleader in a previous life. Many was the day spent practicing his moves on windswept playing fields, and nursing twisted ankles after nasty spills on wooden gym floors. When he was murdered brutally by renowned serial killer, Ed Turpin, aka The Broom-handle Basher, he was reincarnated and, sometime later, the memories of his hideous demise came flooding back. Day and night he was wracked with visions of his final moments, and other things, other lives, other futures. GASP! So, to try and make sense of it all, he began to write them all down, hoping that he can bring enough words into existence that he might be able to form them into a broom-handle of his own, find Ed Turpin, and HAVE HIS REVENGE! Please help him, by reading his books, or by leaving out snacks on your porch. He mostly likes tea (milk, one sugar) and biscuits.

One Book Interview #28 – Steve Van Samson (Author)

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This week’s author is a man after my own heart – mixing genres such as horror, dystopian, dark fantasy and adventure. A man who believes that:

‘character is king and there should always be little seeds planted between lines, that the reader will only discover in subsequent readings’.

Except for the vampires. He has vampires in his stories.

(And a pet dragon at home.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Lancaster, Massachusetts – Steve Van Samson.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

The Shining by Stephen King. I think it might be fair to say that at this point, more people are familiar with the film, than the novel. Even though both stand as legitimately fascinating characters, it’s a little shocking how little book-Jack has in common with movie-Jack. In fact, King’s Torrances are written so intricately, so staggeringly human, we are left with no recourse other than to fall madly in love with them. That’s why I believe that all fans of Kubrick’s “The Shining”, owe it to themselves to check out the original novel.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Mars is a hike–why take just one story? The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard is literally my favorite compilation, ever. The tales range from werewolves, to sea curses, to explorations of Howard’s bottomless interest in the ancestral roots of men. Included are some of Howard’s best works including two of my favorites: Pigeons From Hell, and Worms of the Earth. Though the writer is best remembered for creating Conan the Barbarian (and with him, that sub-division of the fantasy genre known as “Sword and Sorcery”), this collection reveals at least one more genre we can thank him for, “The Weird Western”. What’s more, the book also features numerous stunning black and white illustrations by Judge Dredd artist Greg Staples, as well as a fascinating introduction by editor Rusty Burke. That should keep me busy on Mars for a while, I reckon.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman. First let me state that Gaiman is (skill and style wise) probably my favorite writer of all time. His prose is so expertly crafted, so brimming with restrained wit–as I read, I constantly feel like I’m being winked at. That said, I do not necessarily adore every single thing the man does. As it happened, my wife had urged me to read TOATEOTL for a while, almost a year. And truthfully, I don’t know what my problem was. I think the title evoked something that didn’t interest me. Maybe I thought it was going to be too childish, or a sap-fest. Not sure anymore. Long story short–when I finally read the thing, I found myself immediately whisked away on a magical coming of age story unlike any other. By the end, my butt was sore from all the kicking I did (you know, for not reading the darn thing sooner).

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

I’m still pretty knew at this whole being published thing, so I’ll choose the last book I finished (which will be released this fall). The book is called Marrow Dust and it is the second in my Predator World series. As with its predecessor, Marrow Dust is set in Africa and deals with the business of survival, some decades after a vampire apocalypse. I had never written a sequel before and crafting a story that felt not only worthy of telling but necessary, wasn’t easy. I’m definitely proud as heck of the thing, and of my tough as nails, female protagonist, Mirèlha Nanji.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Oh boy–this is a tough one since I generally read fluff and nonsense. The hell with it, why fight the tide? Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry. That one holds a very special place in my heart. When I was a tot, my mother instilled in me, a great love of books. We read nearly every night, just as I now read to my own daughter. That said, as time went on, books were replaced by Nintendo and then the far more majestic Super Nintendo–and though it pains me to admit it, at the age of 17, I had never read a novel I wasn’t “forced to, for school”. Fortunately, that all changed with Shadows of the Empire. It was the one book, I couldn’t not read. Billed as the lost Star Wars film, the story fit between Empire and Jedi. And if that wasn’t enough, the novel was only one part of a three pronged Lucasfilm multimedia assault! Prongs two and three were a series of comic books, and a video game for the N64, respectively. All bore the title of Shadows of the Empire and I had to have them. All of them. What was so great about this marketing strategy was this–you couldn’t get the whole story without consuming all of the separate media. The stories were not redundant adaptations of one another, but rather separate tales that intertwined into one massive whole. There were plenty of familiar faces to get excited about, but also new ones like Han Solo’s slightly scruffier pal, Dash Rendar. Best of all though was the villain of the piece, Prince Xixor of the Black Sun crime organization. An evil man, by all accounts, but one who reserved his true hatred for one, Darth Vader. Despite being only 385 pages, this book proved that reading a novel for pleasure was something I was capable of–and as silly as it sounds, when I finished, I was pretty stinking proud of myself.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Hands down, the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Reading these books taught me so much about the sort of writer I wanted to be. They proved that the relationship between reader and writer is a tenuous thing. That sometimes, to be a really great writer, one must first become a tyrant. Manipulating not only their characters, but the hearts of those who read. I definitely don’t agree with everything Martin does (there really is only so much chin grease one logically needs to describe), but he has a way of playing his audience like few others can. Beyond the merits of an unexpected death, he has also shown me the value in creating a character that we will have no choice but to despise… only to then spend the next two books turning our hearts on the subject. When done properly, it’s a heck of a thing.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

The Bone Eater King is my first published novel. The book was inspired by the Robert E. Howard story The Hills Of The Dead which featuring Howard’s famed monster fighting puritan, Solomon Kane. As with THOTD, I decided to set my vampire story in Africa–far away from the typical settings of some modern city or Victorian Europe. With The Bone Eater King I strove to create a pulpy and thoroughly unique adventure tale with horror elements, told from the perspective of an amnesiac. Someone who begins the story in the middle of a pitch dark savanna, unsure who he is or what the dozens of sinister eyes which now surround him, belong to. The book will be released for Kindle on Aug. 21st and then in paperback on Sept. 25th.

You can find Steve at: www.shatteredscribblings.com

Author of the forthcoming pulpy horror/adventure books “The Bone Eater King” and its sequel “Marrow Dust”, Steve is an artist, graphic designer and dad by trade, but also a part time pod-caster, wannabe rock star and a great lover of all things GEEK.

 

 

One Book Interview #22 – Rachael Dixon (Author)

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This week the One Book Interview brings you a life-long horror enthusiast writing out of the Northeast of England. (Somewhere near Winterfell, I think.)

A writer who “enjoys exploring the darknesses and weaknesses within the human psyche,” Rachael enjoys reading works by Shirley Jackson, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Joe Hill, Susan Hill, Ramsey Bolton Campbell (Two ASOIAF jokes in as many paragraphs. I’m on a roll!), Stephen King (AKA The Man) and George R. R. Martin.

Good people of the Internet, the horror author that is Rachael Dixon.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker manages to stoke the imagination of the reader with a classic tale that’s filled with fear, hope, love, lust, dread and vampires. Need I say more?

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It’s a very short book, but it’s quirky, funny and disturbing in equal measure. I doubt I’d ever get bored of reading it. The main character, Merricat, is as mad as a box of frogs, so I reckon she’d be wonderful company to have with me on Mars.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. Usually I don’t read epic fantasy, but wow this really paid off. So much so I went on to devour the rest of the A Song of Ice & Fire books and can’t wait till the next one is out!

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My latest novel, A Storytelling of Ravens. I had a lot of fun writing it and I think this really shows. I took the idea of four people being stranded in a cabin in the woods and let it run in all directions. The story has an immediate energy and doesn’t let up till the last page.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Fluke by James Herbert. I read it when I was about ten, when I was craving more than just children’s books. It inspired me greatly and gave me a thirst for the horror genre. I knew as soon as I’d finished reading it that that was what I wanted to do with my life: write horror fiction.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Again, going back to Shirley Jackson: The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson writes the kind of horror that I prefer. Very character driven, psychological stuff. The anthropomorphism associated with Hill House and the ambivalent nature of Eleanor, the main character, makes the story very subjective and personal to the reader. As in, the reader can take from it what they will.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Emergence, my debut horror novel. It’s the story of a young widower who has to look to his ambiguous past in order to save his little girl from an unknown evil. It’s based in my hometown in the northeast of England, and this, I think, lends the story a certain grittiness and dose of believability.

You can find Rachael at: www.rhdixon.com

H. Dixon is a horror enthusiast who, when not escaping into the fantastical realms of fiction, lives in the northeast of England with her husband and two whippets.

When reading and writing she enjoys exploring the darknesses and weaknesses within the human psyche, and she loves good strong characters that are flawed and put through their paces.

When not reading and writing she enjoys travelling (particularly wildlife-spotting jaunts involving bears, wolves and corvids), painting and drawing pet portraits, collecting animal skulls to put on her bookcases and drinking honey-flavoured Jack Daniels.

 

 

One Book Interview #16 – Ken Preston (Author)

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This is great – funny, informative, quirky, and honest. A huge thanks to this week’s author for one of my favourite interviews so far.

Good people of the Internet – Ken Preston.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Oh man, you could have started off with an easy question, couldn’t you?

I would have to say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It’s a wonderful book, full of love and compassion and tolerance as well as being a first rate read. This is a book I reread from time to time, but I try not to read it too often. I don’t ever want to become too familiar with it.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Well, I suppose the easy answer to that one would be The Martian by Andy Weir, as I would then have an instruction manual on how to survive on Mars!

Or, the other answer would be: Can I take my Kindle, because then I can have lots of books, which would be my ideal choice. I’m guessing a Kindle doesn’t count as a book though, does it?

Then again, maybe I should take the longest book ever written so I would be kept busy reading that for a good long while.

As you can see, I don’t have a sensible answer for you. If really pushed into answering this question I would look to a book that I have already read more than once and still enjoyed. So that would be To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Or maybe Misery, by Stephen King.

Both of these books are rich and layered and, even if I don’t get marooned on Mars, I will probably read both of them at least one more time.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

To be honest I tend to be disappointed more than pleasantly surprised by books these days, which is a shame. I think the last book I enjoyed which I hadn’t thought I would (it was pressed fervently onto me by a book loving friend) was The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Not particularly my kind of read, but I was drawn in and moved by its descriptions of ordinary, everyday love, and one man’s determination to do something with his life, even if it was just to deliver a letter.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

To be honest, I love all my books, even the ones I never finished writing, and the ones I did finish writing but will never be published because I can’t face inflicting them upon the world at large.

But if I had to pick ONE, I guess it would be Joe Coffin Season One. I published Season Three earlier this year and I will be starting work on Season Four soon, but I think number one will always be my favourite as it now feels like the start of a great adventure.

Season One also feels like the point where I got serious about writing and publishing. I had self-published a few books before this, and had a couple traditionally published too. But Joe Coffin Season One feels like the starting point.

A mashup of crime and vampire horror, I wrote Joe Coffin in ‘Seasons’ to resemble a TV series. It’s fast paced, violent, gruesome, funny and filled with cliff hangers. Just like the TV shows I like to watch.

When I started work on the first of the Joe Coffin books I was writing it for myself really. But that big, ugly, mob enforcer turned vampire hunter seems to have caught the imagination of lots of people, and women in particular have fallen for him big time, which came as a surprise to me.

Joe Coffin sprang from a very dark place in my life, working as a sort of therapy for a while. There’s a lot to be said for writing as therapy!

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Now this is going to sound weird, but a book I have owned for years and have looked through many times and, yes, has probably influenced me more than any other (even the Bible which had a powerful grip on me during the years I called myself a Christian and regularly attended church) is this one: Walker Evans: Photographs for the Farm Security Administration 1935-1938.

Basically it’s a collection of photographs taken by American photographer Walker Evans who was hired by the government to document the lives of share croppers in Alabama. And that’s it.

But it is stunning in its stark, black and white simplicity, and more than thirty years after I bought it I still find myself returning from time to time to gaze at the photographs of poor dirt farmers who will now be long dead but have lived on in my imagination.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

This book could also be filed under personal, but I will answer it here as it is probably the one that finally enabled me to pick myself up off the floor and get on with the business of carving a career out of my love of writing. For many years I resisted reading Susan Jeffers’ book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, but after a spell of crippling depression I gave in and picked it up.

And it’s a revelation.

If you have long harboured a dream but are too scared to follow it, I strongly recommend this book. I don’t agree with every word, but then I don’t have to. It’s the message that counts. And the message at its most simple is this: Go ahead and live your life.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Joe Coffin Season One! Definitely. And you don’t have to take my word for it, as you can try it for free on Amazon.

You can find Ken at: www.kenpreston.co.uk

Ken Preston is the author of the Joe Coffin series of books, YA adventure series Planet of the Dinosaurs, and the Romance and Adventure line.

He writes in his cellar, on the street where Jack the Ripper was born, and lives with his wife, two boys, and two cats. The cats often contribute to his books by walking across his keyboard.

Join his growing list of VIP readers and get two free books within your first week of membership. That’s right, you will get JOE COFFIN SEASON ONE, all of it, with your first email. that’s over 400 pages of British noir and vampire mayhem for free, and then Population:DEAD!, a collection of bizarre and twisted stories including How to Eat a Car, and The Man Who Murdered Himself.