vampire

I Was a Teenage Weredeer by C.T. Phipps and M. Suttkus

June 26, 2018 by andygraham Leave a Comment

I haven’t posted any reviews for a while. I keep meaning to do it but my good intentions are constantly being battered by my to-do-list. Today, however, I’ll make an exception with I Was a Teenage Weredeer.

Before we get to the book, what’s it about?

Jane Doe is a weredeer, the least-threatening shapechanger species in the world. Blessed with the ability to turn furry at will and psychically read objects, Jane has done her best to live a normal life working as a waitress at the Deerlightful Diner. She has big dreams of escaping life in the supernatural-filled town of Bright Falls, Michigan, and her eighteenth birthday promises the beginning of her teenage dreams coming true.

Unfortunately, her birthday is ruined by the sudden murder of her best friend’s sister in an apparent occult killing. Oh, and her brother is the primary suspect. Allying with an eccentric FBI agent, the local crime lord, and a snarky werecrow, Jane has her work cut out for her in turning her big day around.

Thankfully, she’s game.

My thoughts?

I Was a Teenage Weredeer is a fun read – snarky and sarcastic with a (vaguely) serious undercurrent.

The basic premise is of vampires, shape shifters and other supernatural beings now living in the open along side normal humans. They, as we do, have their own factions, prejudices, hierarchies, infighting and quarrels.

This story is told from the perspective of a young woman/ deer (Check out the title of the book if that confuses you.) as she struggles to resolve one bloody bout of vengeance.

The world within a world is not a new idea but it’s well done here and the authors do a nice job of were-dovetailing them into our world.

(See what I did there? You did. Right. I’ll get my coat…)

The text is chock full of references to popular culture. These occasionally felt forced but should resonate with a broad church of readers. As well as some of those references, I’d have preferred to lose some of the banter and tighten up a few of the scenes. (There were some events that seemed to stretch reality too far, even for a book which is about doing just that.) A smaller cast of characters would also have suited me better as I occasionally found it hard to keep track of who was who. A list of characters at the back would be another option. I have a feeling that if that was done, the descriptions would be ‘creative’, to say the least.

There was one scene (By a lake. With a water spirit.) where the silliness was put on hold for a few pages. That scene was compelling reading and I think the book would have benefitted from more writing like that for the added depth, balance, and darkness.

If you’re looking for a light-hearted read with plenty of cheek, you can’t go wrong. And if you appreciate puns, especially puns about deer, you won’t find many other books on the market that grab that particular genre by the antlers like this one does.

On that appalling dad joke. I’m out.

My rating?

Four stars.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

One Book Interview #44 – JR Rice (Author)

December 22, 2017 by andygraham Leave a Comment

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 #38 – Paul Flewitt (Author)

November 2, 2017 by andygraham Leave a Comment

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 #37 – CM Saunders (Author)

October 26, 2017 by andygraham 1 Comment

The Welshman’s here.

Living in exile.

Fueled by ghosts from his country’s past.

With a writing career that stretches from China all the way back to the Somme. (Via a few lad mags.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of London, UK – Chris Saunders.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

This might a left field choice for a horror buff, but I’m going to nominate The Dice Man by Luke Rhineheart. If you aren’t familiar with the plot, it’s about a psychologist who begins to question his life, and starts making decisions based on the throw of a dice. He uses the dice to determine everything from what to have for breakfast to what to do when faced with huge, life-changing decisions with far-reaching consequences. There are a lot of things you can read into it (forgive the pun) but to me, using the dice in this manner means you remove all responsibility for your actions and put all your faith and confidence into something else. Luck? Destiny? God? Some other higher power? Who knows. It’s the ultimate freedom. Try the dice life for a while and see where it takes you. It’s liberating.

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

That’s a good question. If I could only take one book, it would have to be something weighty, complex and fitting, as well as entertaining and somehow relevant. Based on those criteria, there’s only one I can choose, and that’s The Stand by Stephen King. The complete and unabridged version because at over 1100 pages, it’s bound to keep me occupied for a while. It’s not my favourite book of his, but I can’t think of anything better to help herald the birth of a brave new world.

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

I’m one of those cheap fuckers who are always browsing Amazon for bargains. Earlier this year, I picked up a couple of books by a writer I hadn’t heard of before called Amy Cross. One was called The Cabin, and I think the other was Battlefield. Both blew me away. Since then I have been reading as many of her books as I can, but it’s difficult as she seems to write faster than I can read. It’s disconcerting.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

Sker House, my paranormal mystery novel. The reason it is so important to me is because much of it is based on fact. The location is real, as is much of the history and even some of the stories I allude to in the book. I also managed to weave in some local folk and ghostlore for good measure. To say the area is rich in source material would be an understatement. The story wrote itself, all I had to do was invent some characters, insert them in the existing framework, and give them something to do. The house is situated on the Welsh coast near Bridgend, and I used to visit a lot when I was a child. I wrote the first draft of the book six or seven years ago when I lived in China, then I put it through another edit and finally released it last year. Funnily enough, it’s also my biggest seller.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

This is too hard. I’m going to have to choose an entire series of books, and can only hope that’s within the rules. That series is Alfred Hitchcock & the Three Investigators. These were the first books I remember reading after the obligatory Enid Blyton period (or was that just me?). More than that, they were the first books I remember actively seeking out, in the way of scouring book shops and library shelves. Apart from being exciting boys adventure stories, the books also helped instill morals and a code of ethics. The truth was always revealed, and good always triumphed over evil. Things are rarely so cut and dried in real life, of course, but when you’re young you believe that’s how the world will (or at least should) be, and for that reason they probably had a profound effect on my formative years. I only realized a few years ago that Hitchcock didn’t actually write any of them. A man called Robert Arthur Jnr did, and just used Hitchcock’s name to attract attention.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

This might not be the most original choice, but I’m going to have to choose Stephen King’s On Writing. I read it when it first came out in 2000 when I was just starting out on my writing career. I’d had a few short stories published in the small press and a couple of anthologies, but that book is a gold mine of solid, workable information and practical advice. Just by reading it my writing improved by a considerable amount. More than anything, it instilled a kind of belief in me and threw open the door to a new world. On Writing breaks down ‘the craft’ and makes it appear simple, giving the reader a deeper, more profound understanding of even the most complex aspects.

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

My latest release – Human Waste would probably be a good starting point. It’s the story of a prepper who wakes up one morning to find the world overrun with bloodthirsty zombies. But all might not be what it seems. A couple of reviewers have said that my writing often contains a sardonic twist of humour. It can be quite hard to identify, but it’s nearly always there. With Human Waste I wanted to push that aspect a little further. I usually stay away from the more extreme brand of horror. Too much of it comes across as unsophisticated and tacky. But I wrote a story for DOA 3 earlier this year (a series of anthologies on Bloodbound Books which cater toward the more visceral end of the spectrum) and really enjoyed it so that was something else I wanted to explore further.

You can find Chris at www.cmsaunders.wordpress.com

C.M. Saunders is a UK-based freelance journalist and editor. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in over 60 magazines, ezines and anthologies, including Loaded, Record Collector, Fantastic Horror, Trigger Warning, Liquid imagination, and the Literary Hatchet. His books have been both traditionally and independently published, the most recent being Apartment 14F: An Oriental Ghost Story (Uncut), and Human Waste, both of which are available now on Deviant Dolls Publications. He is represented by Media Bitch literary agency.

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One Book Interview #36 – Pippa Bailey (Author)

October 19, 2017 by andygraham Leave a Comment

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)

October 12, 2017 by andygraham Leave a Comment

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

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