Andy Graham Author

Author of dark fiction and fantasy, dystopia, horror.

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One Book Interview #44 – JR Rice (Author)

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I read Dracula when I was about fourteen years old. I did it in one sitting because I wanted to know how it ended before I tried to sleep.

I have a feeling that if I read author 44’s books, I’d need to do the same thing.

(Or at least read them in a country where the sun never sets.)

Good people of the Internet, writing on an island, near a dark forest, by moonlight – J.R. Rice.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

First published in 1954, it was a novel ahead of its time. I consider it the patriarch of all vampire/zombie/end-of-the-world apocalyptic novels. Famed writer/director George A. Romero claimed Matheson’s novel was his primary inspiration for his 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead.”

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

Spacecraft Repair for Dummies by Jerry Rigg.

Alternatively, if that doesn’t work out:

Zen and the Art of Whiskey Making by Glen Livet

All lame attempts at humor aside, I would have to go with Stephen King’s “It” for content, length, and re-readability factor.

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

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda.

It was first published in 1968 by the Berkley: University of California Press as a work of anthropology, and submitted as the author’s Master’s thesis, although many people—including myself—contend that it is mostly a work of fiction.

The story documents the events that took place during an apprenticeship—by the author—with a self-proclaimed Yaqui Indian Sorcerer, don Juan Matus from Sonora, Mexico between 1960 and 1965.

It’s a fascinating and moving blend of fact and fiction with regard for Nagualism, and other Native American/Mesoamerican folklore.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

I’m a new writer, so I’ve only written two novels. The second book in my Bane County Series “Bane County: Returning Moon” is my favorite, so far.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

It would be a toss-up between Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

I would say that the writing style of Michael Crichton in novels such as “Jurassic Park” influenced me most. Crichton’s seamless blend of science fact and science fiction make your “suspension of disbelief” almost unnecessary.

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 first book in my Bane County Series is “Bane County: Forgotten Moon.” Readers should start there.

You can find JR here.

J R Rice is the author and creator of Bane County: a horror/suspense/thriller series.

Book One and Two of the Series are available now:

Bane County: Forgotten Moon (Book 1)

Bane County: Returning Moon (Book 2)

Book Three is currently underway:

Bane County: First Moon (Book 3)

 

An Active Member of the Horror Writers Association, he lives on a large island, near the edge of a dark forest, with his beautiful wife, unruly children, dogs that he loves and cats that he tolerates, and one very nasty monster who lives under his bed and never shuts up.

He enjoys interacting with readers, so please feel free to join him at:

www.Facebook.com/JRRiceAuthor

(Fan page) Facebook.com/jrricefanpage

Twitter.com/jrriceauthor

Amazon.com/author/jrrice

Plus.google.com/+JRRiceAuthor

Instagram.com/JRRiceAuthor

Goodreads.com/JRRICE

Youtube.com/c/JRRiceAuthor

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One Book Interview #41 – Matt Hickman (Author)

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The hangover has cleared after last week’s 40th birthday  celebrations, and The One Book Interview is back with what counts – the authors.

This week, I’m very happy to have with us a British author who is rapidly carving out a name for himself in the UK horror scene.

Not literally, you understand.

(I hope.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Tipton*, UK – Matt Hickman

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Since a young age, I’ve been a massive fan of the work by Roald Dahl. The man had an imagination that was out of this world, I can still picture him scribbling his crazy ideas in his notebooks in the hut where he wrote at the bottom of his garden. His writing manages to cross any boundaries of age or sex; they’re as much loved today as they were when I was a boy, and the joy between those pages has been passed down to my two children. I would find it difficult to pick a certain title as a favourite, so as a book that everyone should read, I would choose Tales of the Unexpected, his eclectic short story collection which really showcases his diverse literary talents.

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

Damn, I knew there would be one of these types of questions. If you were stranded on Mars, aside from playing volleyball against little green men, you would need something fairly substantial to keep the boredom at bay, a book where you could get immersed into its pages again and again. For my choice, it would be The Stand by Stephen King. Weighing in at over 1000 pages, it’s a massive read, and also one of the best takes on an apocalyptic pandemic, threatening to wipe out humanity that you’ll find.

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

Back when I was living at home, my dad was studying for an Open University course in the classics, and I picked up a battered, dog eared copy of The Iliad (a poem) by Homer that he had left on the kitchen table. Oblivious to the theme of the book, and it being a modern version of the translated text, I started to browse the contents and found myself blown away. I’d never seen such a cocktail of sex, violence, deceit and revenge. Those Greeks really knew how to do a number on each other.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

That would be one of two, but I think I’ll go with my novel, Amnesia. I awoke suddenly one morning in a hotel while working away in Crawley, with an intensely violent and disturbing scene running through my mind. I’m not sure whether I dreamt it, and it etched itself into my psyche. That scene was the only thing I knew I wanted to write. Without any other ideas for plot or the story, I went to work, blind. A few months later, the novel was complete. A slow burn and build in tension until it erupts into hell. I have recently received the digital rights back from the original publisher, so I will be writing the prequel, Flashbacks, and releasing them together. The paperback is still available.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

I think that would have to be Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. I read a copy of the book when I was about fourteen years old and it scared the living shit out of me. It was the first time I’d really looked at any depth into the depravity of humanity, and the way that realism can, in some ways be more horrific than monsters or the supernatural. In addition, the book introduced me to a character that was to become a lifelong obsession, Hannibal Lecter.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

That’s a really difficult one to answer, as I don’t really consider myself anything like professional. I’ve certainly never studied any books on writing techniques or taken any creative writing classes. I kinda just fell into this after years of being an avid reader with an astute eye. I haven’t dodged around the question properly have I? Okay, I’ll pick a book from a writer that I would say is one of the biggest influences on my style of storytelling, Endless Night by Richard Laymon. When I first read this book, I knew immediately that I would be pursuing more of his work. The story is an intense, harrowing, and adrenaline fueled piece of fiction. For me, it was all about the characters, good and bad, an equation that ultimately works for me.

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

As with most authors, my work varies in content and style. I think the best place to start would be with my short story collection, Sinister Scribblings. There are thirteen of my own stories ranging from seasonal horror, to extreme, nasty shorts, to tales underpinned with dark humour. The book also contains additional stories from other emerging authors within the indie market.

You can find Matt at : www.matthickman.co.uk

Matt is an avid fan of horror fiction. He spends a majority of his free time reading books from both established and independent authors. With a diverse knowledge of the genre, and an astute mind for the macabre, he has taken to writing his own brand of horror – dark, relentlessly violent and blood-soaked, and often peppered with dark humour. With the support of his peers, some of which are established writers themselves, he has taken on a new career, one that has seen him take the genre by storm. He currently resides in Tipton, a small town in the West Midlands with his partner and two children. He travels the width breadth of the UK on a regular basis as a Sales Manager for a construction company.

 

Since his debut eighteen months ago, he has been featured in numerous short story collections, including anthologies for charity, as well as releasing numerous novels and novella’s and collaborations with Stuart Keane, Andrew Lennon, and Matt Shaw including his first solo collection of short stories – Sinister Scribblings.

 

*Not to be confused with this place. (Sorry, Matt. It’s lame, but I couldn’t resist.)

 

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One Book Interview #38 – Paul Flewitt (Author)

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A former steelworker turned author who keeps beta-reading demons alongside his kids.

Intrigued?

You should be.

A huge thanks to Author 38 for his thorough answers to my questions.

(And The Stitcher-in-Chief crops up again in this interview. That’s three times: 20, 36 & now 38. Is there such a thing as stalking-by-proxy?)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Sheffield, in the UK – Paul Flewitt

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Well, I’m a horror (ish) author, so I guess I should start with horror right? So, my pick for this question is Stephen King’s The Bachman books.

I’m not really a big fan of Stephen King’s later work, but his early stuff is awesome. From Carrie, The Stand and It to The Talisman and The Shining, he really established and pushed the horror genre into the scene that we know today. The Bachman Books are a glimpse at some oddities, originally published under the Richard Bachman pseudonym. Roadwork, Rage, The Long Walk and The Running Man. The first story is nice, showing King’s ability to write a character that you can love and loathe in equal measure. The Running Man is the story that inspired the movie of the same name. As opening and closing stories in a short story collection, they do their job well, but these aren’t the reason for me picking this collection. No. The real meat of this collection is in Rage and The Long Walk. I consider these to be two of the very best Stephen King stories. There’s no bloat or unnecessary excess which usually typifies King’s work. These are straight to the point and hit you right where it hurts. The characters here are truly affecting, the stories more thought-provoking and challenging than almost anything else that King has written. Rage, in particular handles a very difficult theme (school shootings) with sweep, sympathy and I don’t feel that he glamourizes or sensationalizes the subject matter, as some other critics have done. The Long Walk is a tour de force of a story; a very prescient comment on reality TV shows and where they could end up. Sadly, King saw fit to withdraw Rage from the collection a few years ago, but if you can track down an older copy then you will not regret it.

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

I reckon that if you were marooned then you’re going to be waiting a while for rescue, so any book that you want with you would have to be pretty long. I reckon it would also have to be a book that you can read, read and read again without getting bored by it.

Before embarking on the journey that is answering these questions, I read a couple that have been done before. I didn’t really want to repeat something that someone else had said, because that’d be pretty damned boring. However, after reading Mark Cassell’s interview I couldn’t help but agree with him, and so I’m going to second his pick here.

Clive Barker is the best writer I have ever read, his imagination and grasp of language is second to none, without ever coming across as unnecessarily clever or hyper-intellectual. There, we’ve got that out of the way early and so I can just carry on gushing, right?

Imajica is a 1000 page + book which demands repeated reading. There’s a hell of a lot in here, from the history of the Godolphin family to the origins of our tortured and damaged hero, Gentle. It’s a story of love, obsession, sex, horror, greed and divinity. It’s a journey through our own world, into other plains and then flying off into the heavenly pantheon. He creates monsters the likes of which only Barker could conceive of, but he also creates beautiful creatures with the same abandon (Pie-oh-Pah, the Mystif.) He holds our hand through all of this journeying, whispering the tale into our ears as if he was sitting in the room with you. It’s a quality that I have very rarely experienced with any writer, and this is the book in which Clive Barker achieved a kind of perfection in his literary art.

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

It’s not often that I buy a book by a writer I’ve never heard of. Usually I have to have them recommended to me, or read a review about them. I took a chance on Alex Laybourne’s Diaries of the Damned because the style of the work was different and interesting. In its original form, The Diaries were a series of short works which centered on one particular character caught up in a zombie apocalypse. Nothing too new there, it’s a trope that is often used these days. The thing is that Laybourne’s DID do something a little different. He pushed the limits of what some might find acceptable, created a group of characters that you can immediately identify with, love, hate and sympathise with. Laybourne proved here that he understands human nature, people’s motivations and how to pull on the heartstrings. Laybourne was really writing dispatches here, reporting from the front line. A job very, very well done.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

There are two that I’m particularly proud of, so I’m going to cheat and mention them both. Both are short stories, since I’ve spent the last few years writing for anthologies in an effort to hone my craft. Climbing Out appears in the Demonology collection, and is a story that I’d wanted to write for a little while. It centers on a demon, climbing from the depths of Hell. On the climb, the demon reflects on what brought him so low. It’s a journey through ancient times and tells the story of misunderstanding, human error and the consequences of them… and redemption.

The second choice is The Silent Invader. I wrote this for an independent TV show named Fragments of Fear, which was being optioned at the time and can still be viewed on YouTube. I finished this one in 12 hours, it really just flowed out of me. It is a monologue from a possessing spirit, recounting its favourite atrocities in a very intimate manner. I really enjoyed the narrator’s telling of the tale, truly embodying the character and making the experience extra creepy. The resolve at the end is engaging, and just a little bit terrifying.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

I don’t read true-drama books too often, but a title that kept on being mentioned to me was A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer. It’s the story of his childhood and is a painfully frank account of the life of an abused child. It really upset me and affected me deeply. One of those books that make you want to embrace your own kids and keep them safe, to be a better parent because you are aware that there are children in pain all over the world. These are the real horrors.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

This is going to be a repeat, I’m afraid. It’s Imajica again.

I learn from everything that I read, and I’ve learned more from this book than any other. From characterization to world-building, it’s a tour de force of dark fantasy. This is the book that made me realise that my eyes had been closed, that there were more possibilities in the realms of horror/fantasy than I had imagined. This is where I understood what it was to let your imagination of the leash, to fly off into your own creation. I became a different kind of writer when I read that book, and it’s stood me in good stead. Essentially, to quote Barker himself; “I just had to trust my own madness.”

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

Probably the easiest thing to find would be my debut novella; Poor Jeffrey. You can find it across the Amazons (currently available in paperback only, but will return to ebook soon.) and it really showcases my style well. It’s one of the first things I wrote that was readily accepted by a press, and I still love it. I think I captured the characters very well, particularly the main ones. It also got me my first favourable reviews, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

You can find Paul here.

Paul Flewitt lives in Sheffield, UK with his partner and their two children. He is a writer of horror and dark fiction with CHBB/Vamptasy press.  Paul is the author of “Smoke” a flash fiction which appeared in OzHorrorCon’s Book of Tribes anthology, “Paradise Park” from JEA’s All That Remains anthology and the stand alone novella “Poor Jeffrey” through CHBB/Vamptasy press. In 2014, Poor Jeffrey was nominated in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll for Best Horror Novel, placing 5th overall. He continues to work on further pieces…

 

 

 

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One Book Interview #36 – Pippa Bailey (Author)

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One of the common themes I’m finding in these interviews, is that writers of horror and dark fiction seem to be uncommonly nice. Possibly unexpected given some of the toe-curling, skin-clawing fiction they write.

(It also makes me wonder if authors of happily-ever-after, ‘blue-rinse’ romance novels are secretly horrible and twisted?)

This weeks horror author is the exception to the rule.

I’m joking!

She’s lovely.

(And she’s a musician, so she gets bonus points.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Shropshire, England – Pippa Bailey

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

The book I would recommend would be the first adult horror book I was ever given. Cabal by Clive Barker. The copy I had was handed down from my dad. I’d spent years as a kid staring at the covers of his sci-fi, and horror books on his shelves, and it was one I was desperate to read. I wasn’t disappointed. It opened my eyes to a world of possibilities, which was a lot for a seven-year-old girl. It forced me to face concepts, that at the time, I was too young to comprehend. It was certainly my first introduction to anything of a sexual nature. A far more enthralling idea of a love beyond death, than that which most young girls are exposed to, Romeo and Juliet. Cabal kept me completely enthralled with Barkers use of skillful prose, and writing, at a level of which I had not yet been exposed to.

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

Don’t laugh, but I’d take Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. If I was to be marooned on Mars I would be looking for comfort. Azkaban is a book that helped me survive a childhood of bullying. I would often escape into my own imagination in my early teens with the Harry Potter series. Although, I know not everyone is a fan, and it is a drastic departure from my regular theme of horror books. Rowling has a way of taking you away from the pain and angst of your real life. She smothers you in a world of fantasy and adventure, with a group of ramshackle characters that leave you feeling loved while you read. I could never feel alone with a Harry Potter book.

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

That would be a sci-fi horror book called Nascent Decay, by Charles Hash. We met through a review company I run called the Ghoul Guides. I was sent a copy of his debut novel for review. It was the first full novel I read on my e-reader, as I much prefer paperback. I was completely swept away by his world building. The concept for his first book, and subsequent titles in the series is utterly brilliant. It almost feels like it belongs in the Star Wars universe. There are a great number of twists, where you feel you can predict the direction of the story, and then he completely shocks you with a new level of horror. One of my favourite reads of 2017.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My favourite of my own stories is a supernatural horror called In for A Shock and has just been released. It was written for a charity anthology called Sparks: An Electric Anthology. I’m incredibly excited about this story, and the electrical concepts. IFAS tells the story of Hannah, a woman in her early 20’s who lives alone, and like most people she abuses electricity. Eventually electricity wants to take back the power she has wasted. It gets electrifying and a little gory along the way.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Strangely, my biggest influence would be the musician David Bowie. Other than being an author, I’m a classically trained composer and vocalist. Around the time I discovered my love of horror, I was introduced to Bowie via a terrible TV show called Stars in Their Eyes, where a member of the public impersonates a singer and they compete to be the best. So there I was, 7 years old, watching Saturday night TV featuring a Bowie impersonator singing Star Man, and I fell in love. Possibly my first love. I spent the best part of my childhood sat on my bedroom floor surrounded by Goosebumps and Shivers books, listening to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Let’s Dance on tape. There was something about Bowie that brought out my imaginative side. He inspired me personally, and my future degree in music. I was an awkward teenager who didn’t really fit in too well at school. I was out-there regarding abstract thought, and not interested in most things other teenagers were. I’d put on my Walkman and my tapes (and eventually cds), and I’d feel a bit more complete. I think being influenced by such an extreme character at a young age helped me to become the person I am today, and to be more accepting of people being their own crazy selves. I was devastated when he died in 2016. I’d put off writing him a letter for about 10 years. I wanted to thank him for being that spark of inspiration for me in childhood, one that hasn’t faded. I never did write that letter.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

As a writer, my biggest professional influence and support has been fellow author Mark Cassell. I have been lucky enough to have been mentored by him over the last few months. Learning from someone who has spent years studying the craft has been an eye opener. It gave me the confidence to be honest with myself about the areas of writing that I do struggle with. I have been introduced to a plethora of writing support books, and courses. Which, without Mark pushing me in the right direction to learn more, I may never have encountered. I would say my writing has dramatically improved as I have taken the time to learn. I think too many people are unwilling to take a step back and assess their writing skills, scared that it’s a step away from where they want to be on their career path. Without Mark’s support, I wouldn’t be where I am today, nor would I have the confidence to continue on my writer’s journey.

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

You can find my short stories in several books released in 2016 and 2017 from Gruesome Grotesques, to The Reverend Burdizzo’s Hymn Book, which can be found on Amazon. The one to keep an eye out for is my debut novel LUX which will be released in summer 2018.

You can find Pippa on her FB page.

Pippa Bailey lives in rural Shropshire, England. Principally a horror writer, independent reviewer, and YouTube personality, her supernatural, and sci-fi stories have featured in several anthologies, and zines. Her debut novel LUX is due for release summer 2018

 

 

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One Book Interview #35 – Kevin Kennedy (Author)

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Interview #35 holds the record for the quickest turn around to date.

Within 12 hours of the author kindly agreeing to be featured on the One Book Interview, I had the answers back. I thought it only right to put out the interview within another 12 hours.

You should read it, it’s a good one.

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Scotland in the UK (well, it is at the moment…) – Kevin Kennedy.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland by Carlton Mellick III. I have probably read thirty or more books by Mellick. This was one of the first and the main reason I started to appreciate the Bizarro sub genre. There are so many great ideas in this book and Mellick’s style is a pleasure to read. It’s almost like having a bedtime story read to you when you were little, except the stories are absolutely mental, and often look at real issues in a very interesting way. I really enjoyed this one and while I could spend all day listing books like Swan Song and other fan faves, I feel this book deserves more credit than it gets.

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

Okay, so I said in the last post I wasn’t going to mention books like Swan Song. I lied. If you only had one book, which if we are honest, isn’t a plausible way to exist, it would need to be a pretty big book. Especially if you were going to re-read it, which is something I very rarely do. I think Swan Song and The Stand uncut version are the two longest books I’ve read. Although a lot of people may disagree, for me Swan Song was a far superior story and had a lot more going on in it. Post-apocalyptic fiction is one of my favourite sub-genres so there is a good chance I’d go with this one. It is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. It could be an idea to take something I haven’t read but if it turned out to be crap or written in a style I didn’t enjoy I’d be raging lol.

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

City Infernal by Edward Lee. I started reading adult horror books when I was fifteen. I fell in love with Richard Laymons work and I read my way through everything he had written. When I finished all his books I tried another few authors and wasn’t impressed and just stopped reading. A few years later I found the old Richard Laymon message board and was recommended another few books and authors. The first four I bought were City Infernal by Ed Lee, Offseason by Jack Ketchum, Live Girls by Ray Garton and The Rising by Brian Keene. The suggestions were excellent. I loved them all but the world that Ed Lee builds in City Infernal was something else. It was entirely different from the type of horror Laymon wrote, and while I loved his style I also enjoyed Ed Lee’s style. I think it’s a book everyone should read. A lot of people talk about Edward Lee’s extreme horror and I love that too but this book is a tremendous story and not as hardcore as a lot of his other stuff.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

You Only Get One Shot: A Horror Novella that I co-wrote with J.C. Michael. It’s the longest piece I’ve written by quite a bit and it’s also the most time I’ve invested in the one piece of work. We changed things several times along the way and it’s good to have someone to bounce ideas off of. I think we both found it pretty easy to work together which helped and by the end up I think we have a pretty great story. The feedback has been excellent from readers and authors alike. J.C. also wrote a short prequel to the novella in Collected Halloween Horror Shorts.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Darkness Tell Us by Richard Laymon. It’s the book that started me reading adult fiction. I read Point Horror books when I was young and then fell away from it. I hadn’t read in years, then we got told we had to write an essay for English class when I was fifteen. I left it to last minute and then grabbed this book for 10p at a jumble-sale just because it had a Ouija board on the cover. I then realized the book was about six hundred pages and I think I had three days to read it and write the paper. It should have been an almost impossible task but I think I read about three hundred pages the first night. It was absolutely riveting. The story totally sucked me in and I only put the book down because I needed to get a few hours sleep. After this I read Island and continued on from there.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Probably Funland by Laymon. I don’t want to make it all about Laymon but sometimes when I’m thinking of new ideas and I think about the type of story that I enjoy reading, I think of Funland, as I really like stuff involving carnivals, boardwalks or piers with rides and stalls and circus stuff. Something about the whole carnie vibe works well with horror. Funland was among my favourite Laymon books, and ever since reading it, I’ve always looked for stories in that vein. The most recent story I have written, Halloweenland, featured in my new Halloween antho, is about a special kind of traveling carnival that sets up on a pier, funnily enough. It is completely different from Funland in every way but I think it definitely influenced my taste in horror and that translates into the stories I write.

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

You Only Get One Shot: A Horror Novella, is the only work I have out that isn’t part of an anthology but I do put together the Collected Horror Shorts series, which has received some amazing praise. I have stories in each of the anthos and we have a fantastic mix of upcoming indie authors and some of horror genres top sellers. You can now pick up Christmas, Easter and Halloween editions.

 

You can find Kevin at: www.kevinjkennedy.co.uk

Kevin J Kennedy is the co-author of You Only Get One Shot, and the man behind the best-selling Collected Christmas Horror Shorts & Collected Easter Horror Shorts anthologies. His short stories have featured in many other notable anthologies in the horror genre.

Kevin lives in a small town in Scotland with his wife, step daughter and two strange little cats.

Keep up to date with new releases or contact Kevin through his website: www.kevinjkennedy.co.uk

One Book Interview #34 – Brea Behn (Author)

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Interview #34 is short and sweet.

So is this introduction. 🙂

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Wisconsin in the USA – Brea Behn.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

The Secret by Rhona Byrne, because it will change the way you look at the world (even if you don’t 100% believe in it).

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

The Bible, because I would need comfort all alone on a terrifying planet, yikes!

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

Dark Fever by Karen Marie Moning. I had never heard of it or her, but wow was I hooked. I’ve read the entire series and several others by her.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

Not published (yet), but my middle grade book, The Colors of a Mind, is my favorite. It is about a young man with non-verbal Autism. To the outside world, he is very one note, but in his head, he goes on great adventures. It has great lessons on being unique, bullying and acceptance. My agent is working on publishing it, so I’m hoping for a yes, any day now… Follow my website or sign up for my newsletter at www.breasbooks.com to find out when it will be coming out.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

The Shack by William P. Young. This book put into words how I have always felt about a higher power. That how we talk to “him” or how we choose to bring “him” into our lives, isn’t what really matters. What it’s really about is love.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I learned a ton about writing in the first few sentences! He doesn’t waste a single word. Amazingly written book.

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

Oh man this is a tough one, because I write very different things. If you are into memoir type books, then I’d say, Death Sucks, Life Doesn’t Have To. If you like gritty dark Dystopian, then my Wolves Series, starting with Wolves in the Woods. Finally, if you want a more PG dystopian, then Vaxxers. I have joked that I would love to write at least one book in every genre before I die.

You can find Brea at: www.Breasbooks.com

 

Brea Behn started writing at the age of fifteen, when she wrote a memoir for her twin brother. Currently, she writes dystopian, children’s fiction, nonfiction, and is building her career as an author and public speaker. Brea speaks on topics ranging from social medial, being a hybrid author, and on the more personal topic of grieving as a teen. Brea is represented by the Purcell Agency. When Brea is not writing, she is reading, crocheting, canning or watching movies. Brea lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their two children. You can follow Brea’s journey at www.Breasbooks.com.