AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Pippa Jay

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I didn't decide exactly - I've always been writing, for as long as I can remember, in the same way that people might doodle or play with their hair. It was only in 2009 that I finally decided maybe I should try and get something published. I've always loved writing stories, but I suddenly felt the urge to share them with the rest of the world.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

I loved a lot of what are considered the iconic SF authors like Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov, or fantasy by Terry Brooks and J.R.R. Tolkien. But as a teen I discovered Anne McCaffrey and Ursula Le Guin and devoured their books. Today, I'm a devoted fan of Jaine Fenn and Neal Asher--both SF authors who tend toward lots of spaceships and explosions.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Restless In Peaceville?

Warm Bodies, initially. I loved that film, and the book by Isaac Marion. But they got me wondering why so many films depicted zombies as brain-eating, groaning monsters when I'd come across very different zombies in books by Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony. So I looked into the whole mythology, found out the brain-eating was a Hollywood convention, and decided I wanted to do something different. Then someone on Facebook mentioned Louisiana voodoo and that was kind of it. I made myself a zombie story soundtrack on youtube, did some research and got writing.

4. Will we ever see any of these characters again in the future?

I have a file of notes and a handful of scenes written for a sequel, featuring all three main characters. But other things have taken priority and my publisher has recently changed their submission guidelines too, so I'm not likely to be getting to it any time soon. Not unless I suddenly sell lots of Restless so that my publisher wants a sequel. *a so very unsubtle hint* :P

5. What was it about the afterlife and suicide that brought on this novel?

Oddly enough, I don't personally believe in an afterlife. I've seen death close up, and it convinced me we don't go on to somewhere else. Despite that, I still find the idea fascinating in a morbid kind of way. I've done various depictions of what might come next, from the queue to infinity in Restless In Peaceville to an underground society of demons and the damned in a futuristic angel story. Maybe it's my way of denying it with my mind but secretly hoping there IS something else. As for suicide--one of my classmate's in secondary school walked in front of a train one night. I was quite miserable as a teen and obsessed a lot over killing myself, but his death really shook me out of that. I just realized what a waste it was, and I saw how much it hurt the people left behind. I don't condemn suicide in any way - it's terrible that a person can get that low that they feel there's no alternative, and I wish more could be done to help them. But it got me wondering how it would affect someone if they were forced to stick around afterward their own suicide and have to see the consequences. So that's what happens to Luke.  

6. Were any of the characters' personalities or emotions taken from real life?

Well, Luke being miserable about his life was how I felt as a teen. Also, I have a very strong sense of justice - I hate it when people break the rules, and when they get away with it too - so that was Annabelle's motivation. I suppose some might see her mission more as just revenge rather than justice, but it does define her purpose in the sequel (as far as I've got with it).

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

Hmm, I've already done several under the speculative fiction umbrella. I'd like to write some really hard SF - so far what I've written is probably more in the sci-fantasy category, along the lines of Star Wars. I'd love to be able to write comedy, but apparently my sense of humour only appeals to me.

8. What would you do if you woke up as a zombie?

Actually, I pretty much feel like one until I've had my first coffee. Lol! I think I'd probably be a lot like Marvin the Paranoid Android, with his completely cynical outlook on the universe. Just mooch around being miserable, and probably enjoying it. 

9. Was there any intended symbolism behind the way the dead were thrust out of the afterlife and why?

I wanted to give the impression that those being thrown out were considered undesirables simply being shown the exit, like one of those celebrity events where if your name isn't on the list, you aren't coming in. Because the Catholic faith is a big part of the story - Luke is an atheist, but even after being murdered Annabelle still has her faith - and suicide is considered the biggest sin you can possibly commit, I wanted to have that feel to the whole experience Luke went through. It's not nice, but it was the wake up call Luke needed to try and put things right. It was also a test for those leaving, to see if they were willing to risk something horrible rather than just hang around where they weren't welcome.

10. Would you like to see Restless In Peaceville as a film or TV show? Who do you want to see play your characters?

Oh, I would love to see it as either! I partially based Luke on a young actor who played a modern day teen werewolf in a BBC series called Wolfblood--Bobby Lockwood--so I'd love to see him play the part since he influenced it. And one of his co-actors was Aimee Kelly, who'd make a pretty good Annabelle. Sean Bean or Sean Pertwee might do for the Peacemaker. It needs to be a kind of Clint Eastwood type of actor.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I'd like to be making a comfortable living from my books, with a happy fan base and a lengthy backlist. It would be awesome to see something of mine end up on the screen, whether TV or film, but I'm realistic about the odds of that ever happening. I can dream!

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

I'd go back to working in a laboratory. I was an analytical chemist for 12 years before becoming a stay-at-home mum, and I loved the work. I wouldn't necessarily go back to the same job, but give me some test tubes and some chemicals and I'd be a happy little mad scientist...I mean lab technician!

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I'm writing two more YA zombie shorts to follow on from the first that I have releasing in April (Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened), editing my debut scifi romance novel Keir for re-release in May and releasing the rest of the series, and I have plans to write a sequel to a superhero novella--When Dark Falls--that was released back in November last year.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

I don't know that I'd aspire to collaboration, but if I could have had Anne McCaffrey mentor me, or maybe even just have given me feedback on a story, that would have been awesome.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

My nickname as a teen was Dormouse. I didn't have my first tattoo until I was 40. My first crush was Luke Skywalker. 

Find Pippa online via:

Website

Adventures in Scifi

Spacefreighters Lounge

Romancing the Genres

SFR Brigade

Twitter

Goodreads

Facebook

Pinterest

Google+

Wattpad

Amazon page

BOOK REVIEW: "The Hungry #6: The Rule of Three" by Harry Shannon & Steven W. Booth

The zombies must be stopped… 
Sheriff Penny Miller has come too far and lost too many friends to quit now. She and her companions have made it safely to Mountain Home, Idaho, the operation center of the three-person Enhanced Bioweapons Select Committee that controls the nation’s response to the zombie outbreak. Miller knows they are still funding the research that started the zombie apocalypse. 
And Miller didn’t come to the home of the zombies to attend a church social. 
When Sheriff Miller stumbles across a homegrown militia whose leader shares her hatred of the Select Committee, she sees the opportunity she’s been waiting for. Together with Major McDivitt and his team, Sheriff Miller sets out to destroy the three committee members who have the most to gain from the spread of the zombie virus. One last mission should finish the job. 
…Unless they know she’s coming.

Talk about a whirlwind! The Hungry series has taken us across America while zombies kill everything that moves, and one woman has stood tall against them and their makers, Penny Miller. Unconcerned with her hair and focused on killing the undead, she's the ideal woman and best lead out there.
Of course, Scratch, the biker, is still by her side, somehow having survived the journey along with his paramour, when so many others have died.
This is their last stand, and you know it when you open this book, because the sense of urgency is palpable. You're rushing along with them to save whatever remains of mankind and take down the ones who created the zombies.
You won't want to tear your eyes from the pages. If you're reading this on an ereader, make sure your batteries are charged. The zombies wait for no man or power source!

5/5--a nearly perfect ending!

Purchase The Hungry 6 via:

Amazon

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Harry Shannon

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I've been a fanatical reader all my life, and like many folks my dream was to write my own novel someday. I remember drawing my own comic books as a child, and writing my first short story in middle school, something about a basketball game. Music and acting distracted me, though I wrote a directed two school plays, so the itch was still there. I started my first novel Night of the Beast at around 20 years old, but didn't finish the book and sell it until I was 50. It's been a long, strange journey, with many different day jobs and distractions along the way. Now I've done fifteen novels, dozens of short stories and hundred of song lyrics.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

John D. MacDonald, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Robert Heinlein, Saki, Ambrose Bierce, Hemingway, John Steinbeck were all favorites as a child and adolescent. I was precocious. Later, Stephen King of course, plus Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Robert Crais, and my writing Gods are James Lee Burke and Cormac McCarthy.

3. What was the inspiration behind your series The Hungry?

Joe McKinney approached me about making a contribution to a charity anthology about zombies. Steven W. Booth had expressed an interest in writing, and his wife suggested we do it together. It was a solid story, but when I impulsively changed the main character from male to female, something magic happened. Then Steven stuck poor Penny in her old wedding dress and magic happened. We liked the story so much we uploaded it as a free book on Amazon. Tens of thousands of people downloaded it, which launched the first full novel version. Sales motivated us to continue, and now there are six books in the series.

4. Why choose zombies as your main paranormal focus?

As I said, it started with a charity anthology. I’d written about zombies before of course, in PAIN and a number of short stories. Perhaps my best early take on them was in Daemon, a ghoul novel that touched on the zombie craze. Zombies are wonderful stand-ins for social anxieties such as terrorism, Ebola, and economic uncertainty. The real stars are the characters, not the zombies. It’s all about the human beings and how they react to the existential crisis. There is something thrilling about the constant threat of a nasty surprise, and no need for the long build up of most monster stories. You can hit the grounds running.
 

5. Was there any intended symbolism behind it and how the zombies were created in your book?

Steven would give you a different answer, but as far as I am concerned, Joe McKinney nailed it when he wrote the introduction to The Hungry series. The country was reeling from the economic collapse of 2008 and still at war in two countries, plus scarred by a terrorist attack on our own soil. We were not aiming to be so high-brow but Penny Miller is an American icon, the reluctant western hero, the Sheriff who’s got her duty. Her character anchors the series. She is hope and courage and humanity in a nutshell, and uniquely American.

6. You had a career in the music industry and your daughter is following in your footsteps. How important or inspirational has music been to you?

We all remember the music of our teens and twenties for the rest of our lives. I grew up on Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell and the Eagles and good country songs. Being a musician and a songwriter shaped my personality. It seems to be the same thing for my daughter, and she plans on working in the entertainment industry as an executive if not a performer. It’s in our blood and we come by it honestly. Her mom plays guitar and writes as sing as well, she just didn’t do it for a living. Music is a constant in our house, we have ten guitars and a keyboard and a dulcimer and a mandolin and a banjo and….you get the idea.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I enjoy a great western. I’ve done a few short stories, and may do a novel someday as well.

8. What is your personal favorite zombie story, film or book?

I have a soft spot for the original Night of the Living Dead in black and white. My favorite story would probably be The Monkey’s Paw, if I had to choose a novel perhaps Pet Semetary. I love Jonathan Maberry, Joe McKinney, a lot of authors who work with zombies, too many to name.

9. If the zombie apocalypse actually happened, what would you do?

Gather up our 357 and speed loaders and the earthquake kits and if we couldn’t get the hell out of town and into the mountains, just batten down the hatches. I have some faith in the government to respond given enough time.

10. Would you like to see The Hungry in theaters? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters? All of then were so individualized!

I’d love to see it as a cable television series, the genre has exploded and anything goes. Penny Miller’s ribald humor wouldn’t need to be watered down, it could be violent and sexy and funny at the same time, just like the books. Our friend Gillian Shure has modled Penny Miller on our covers six times, I cannot imagine anyone else in the part. Gillian played Constable Kate Eidson in my little horror movie Dead and Gone, so we go way, way back.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

Well, I will be 76 in ten years, and hope to still be writing and enjoying being a Dad, and perhaps watching my daughter Paige in her mid-twenties having a successful personal life and music career. I’ve been a counselor for pushing thirty years and feel like I’d want to cut back on the day job long before that, but you never know. I enjoy that work too.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

I love the arts, and also the counseling work. If I stopped writing I’d perhaps playing with doing some low budget films, writing music again, acting with friends. Just staying busy.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I have been working hard on Mick Callahan #5, tentatively entitled Rough Men. The series is quite popular, people enjoy the character and his adventures, but I’d grown weary of writing alone. Now it sounds like fun again. I have a novella in Limbus 2 that I’m very proud of, and it is an honor to be in a project with the likes of Jonathan Maberry, Joe McKinney, Gary Braunbeck, and newcomer Brett Talley. I miss short fiction, and intend to get back to writing some stories over the holidays.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

I love co-writing. Ed Gorman and I have threatened to work together for years now. Same with Joe McKinney. I’d love to try something with Jonathan Maberry, I think we’d create something much darker than his usual work and perhaps more commercial than mine. There are so many good writers I admire.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Hmmm….well, I am a speed reader, though age as slowed me down, and used to read five or six books a week, so my house and office are jammed to the rafters with books, much to the annoyance of my wife. I was nominated for an Emmy in 1982, for the title song to a CBS TV movie called The Gift of Life. We have six cats, at one time I had nine, three of them feral. I love animals. Thanks for asking me to stop by.

Find Mr. Shannon online via:

Official site (has social media and Amazon links)

BOOK REVIEW/GUEST POST: "The Ghoul Archipelago" by Stephen Kozeniewski

After ravenous corpses topple society and consume most of the world’s population, freighter captain Henk Martigan is shocked to receive a distress call. Eighty survivors beg him to whisk them away to the relative safety of the South Pacific. Martigan wants to help, but to rescue anyone he must first pass through the nightmare backwater of the Curien island chain. 
A power struggle is brewing in the Curiens. On one side, the billionaire inventor of the mind-control collar seeks to squeeze all the profit he can out of the apocalypse. Opposing him is the charismatic leader of a ghoul-worshipping cargo cult. When a lunatic warlord berths an aircraft carrier off the coast and stakes his own claim on the islands, the stage is set for a bloody showdown. 
To save the remnants of humanity (and himself), Captain Martigan must defeat all three of his ruthless new foes and brave the gruesome horrors of...THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO.

In The Ghoul Archipelago, we are treated to an invariable feast for the horror enthusiast from Stephen Kozeniewski.
It's not your typical zombie apocalypse story, nor does it transcend the genre like his Braineater Jones did. It takes what we know and twists it, molds it into the author's vision of a cast of unlikely characters, all involved in the zombie apocalypse: a captain, stowaway, Christian missionary and a billionaire you'll love to hate, almost like a mix of Crowley on Supernatural and Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow.
You'll be introduced to the characters first, and then learn more about the plot and how it all fits together in the end.
It's not a slow burn, however. In the first chapter you're hit with a maggoty corpse and villagers attempting murder on emissaries from said billionaire. It's not disgusting, but it's not for the faint of heart, either. Reminiscent of 1970's Stephen King horror and the descriptive nature of Bram Stoker, you can't go wrong with this novel!
I read it quickly over two days, my eyes unable to leave the page. If you don't yet know Stephen Kozeniewski, this us the book you should read to get yourself acquainted!

5/5--excellent!

Purchase The Ghoul Archipelago via:

Amazon

GUEST POST FROM MR. KOZENIEWSKI:

Against, no doubt, her better judgment, Kelly has invited me back to her blog to talk about my sophomore novel THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO, its origin, and why I wrote it.  Its real origin, I suppose, goes back many moons.

You see, back in dickety aught-uno (ed. - he means 2001) I caught the last half hour of “Night of the Living Dead” on super-late night TV and it haunted me the way only the first viewing of that movie can.  (Wow, now that I actually write that out, it sounds like the exact perfect way to become a zombie fan in every sense, doesn’t it?  Like, almost a Platonic ideal?)  So as soon as I got back to college I ordered “Dawn of the Dead” on VHS and the rest is history.  And by “history” I mean I started writing about zombies.

My first novel, BRAINEATER JONES, which Kelly has been kind enough to review here on the site already, was a bit of an anomaly. The dead in BJ can walk, talk, think, and crack wise.  Which they do.  A lot.  I’m glad I got to write something fun and different, and by most accounts everyone’s been enjoying it, but for my second foray into the world of the undead, I wanted to do something more horrifying.  More unsettling.  More…classic.

In THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO, my eponymous ghouls are a very simple and straightforward folk, a Romero-fearing people.  In fact, they don’t like to stray very much from the rules as laid down in the Gospel according to George.  (However, you may notice if you look very closely that their eyes tend to tinge green for some odd reason…)

The book begins at the first moment that the dead rise.  Our heroes are then (SPOILER ALERT!) shipwrecked for about six weeks.  During those missing six weeks the dead inherit the earth and only a few very nasty outposts of human society survive.  So when our heroes finally escape the island they are sort of like Rip van Winkle sailing into a weird and frightening new future.

And who, precisely, are “our heroes?”  The intrepid captain of the good ship Rey Gould is an Afrikaner who goes by the name of Henk Martigan (although everybody just calls him “Howling Mad.”)  The third mate is a stiff, humorless European of unclear extraction called Kurtz.  The chief mechanic is an American who hails from Hannibal, MO, so everyone just calls him that.  (Rumors of a stowaway on board have been consistently denied as false by the ship’s officers…)

I suppose it’s reasonable to wonder what the future holds for our intrepid crew.  In fact, some disrespectful local wags might even suggest that THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.  But before we can resolve that Gordian knot, we must first meet our friends, 2LT Ojeda and the other mainland survivors that Captain Martigan are trying to save. 

I’m about 50,000 words into the adventure of the mainlanders, tentatively titled NOTES FROM THE UNDEAD.  I’m hoping to have it in the hands of the good people at Severed Press before the end of the year, so audiences will probably be able to get ahold of it sometime in 2015.  And this series will certainly be a trilogy at least.  (After all, you can’t stop a love story the moment the two main characters meet!)  I’m not sure if it will go past the third book but hope, like gore, springs eternal.

BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "Bad Blood" by Nicky Peacock

Synopsis:

“I am Britannia. I am your protector. I will fend off the hungry hordes of undead hands that reach toward you. I am your steadfast defender. I will stand between you and the zombie masses as they try to taste your flesh. I am strong, unyielding, and dedicated to your survival. All I ask from you… is your blood.” 
A five-hundred-year-old bloody game of vengeance will need to be put on hold if vampires are to survive the zombie uprising. Britannia and Nicholas, bitter enemies and the only two surviving vampires left in London, have to work together to save un-infected humans and deliver them safely to a vampire stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. Unable to drink the zombie ‘bad blood’, the remaining vampires need the humans to stay alive. But will the vampires tell the survivors who they are and what they want from them? Will Britannia be able to hold back her vengeance for the greater good? Is survivor Josh the reincarnation of Britannia’s murdered true love? And can she bring herself to deliver him to the ‘safe’ hold? Survival instincts run deep, but bad blood can run deeper.

Buy Links:

Amazon UK       Amazon US      Evernight Teen

About the Author:

I guess I’ve always been a storyteller, not in a ‘liar liar pants on fire’ kind of way, although I do work in advertising! When I was little, kids would crowd around me in the playground and I’d tell them tales of blood soaked horror filled with vampires, werewolves, ghosts and more. Yes, most would consider me a disturbed child, but my playmates couldn’t help themselves, they’d huddle around me every break time like an ancient tribe feeding off the fear; and that’s how I learned that horror stories hold a certain power, no matter what some might say, everyone is addicted to a good scare, especially if it is somewhat rooted safely in unrealistic beings… or are they unrealistic?
Writing was really a natural progression. Right now I’m obsessed with writing: a YA Urban Fantasy novel, a Paranormal Romance novella series, and several short horror stories! So I’m currently living in a functional fiction coma – and loving it!
I’ve so far been published in 5 countries: USA, UK, Australia, Ireland and Canada and had short stories included in 40 anthologies with over 17 publishers.

Blog: http://nickypeacockauthor.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickyp_author

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NickyPeacockYaBooks

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Nicky-Peacock/e/B007UH2ACW/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_4

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4958833.Nicky_Peacock

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nickypauthor/

Tumblr: http://nickypeacock.tumblr.com/

Excerpt:

We ran to the hospital. On the way, we encountered hardly anyone, alive or dead. Where were they all? When we arrived at the hospital car park, I understood. Zombies were pack animals. A massive crowd of them were crammed in and around the main building like they were waiting for a concert to start, all barely paying attention to their surroundings and seemingly swaying against the force of gravity. The other thing was the smell. When watching horror films filled with shuffling zombies, the horror came from their ghastly looks—the reminder that death has a tight grip on us all, well, most of us. But what the filmmakers should focus on—if they could—was the acidic rank odor zombies gave off. They had been dead barely twenty-four hours. It took a normal human body at least thirty-six hours to really start to smell, and that was with a vampire’s heightened senses. These guys smelled like they’d been out in the sun for three weeks covered in rubbish and besieged by wily maggots. They were mostly intact, though. Maybe this hospital had been Zombie Ground Zero. Most had turned so quickly their comrades hadn’t had time to feed.

“Maybe we should try a less populated target.” Nicholas twitched his nose and turned away from me to dry retch.

“Maybe you should grow a pair.”

“Maybe you should act like a lady.” He now had his hands on his hips, squaring up for yet another argument.

“Acting like a lady isn’t going to help now, is it? What do you want me to do? Drop my handkerchief in front of the zombies and watch them fight one another to scoop it up for me? Moron!”

“Always to the ‘nth degree with you, isn’t it?”

“Shut up. Look, the doors are holding, and they’re outside, not inside, which means there must be some people left in there alive to have barricaded this place so tight.”

“Or maybe there are just more zombies in there.”

“Well, there’s definitely a blood bank in there, and that’ll help matters no end!”

Nicholas looked thoughtful then nodded. He of course didn’t want to actually say aloud that I’d had a good idea. “So, how do we get past them?”

I assumed it was a rhetorical question, so I started down to the car park entrance, where most of the zombies were mobbing. I opened the outer door as quietly as possible.

“Ladies first,” Nicholas whispered in my ear.

“I thought we’d agreed I wasn’t a lady.” And with that, I shoved him as hard as I could into the throbbing throng of zombies.

Published by Evernight Teen

REVIEW:

For my Halloween special post this year, I was sent Bad Blood, an upper YA novel by Nicky Peacock, about vampires saving humans during the zombie apocalypse.
It might sound strange, and it is, but in the best way!

Britannia is a 450 year old vampire, turned without permission by Nicholas, a pompous vampire who fell in love with her and wanted to keep her with him for eternity. He even killed her fiancé.
She spent centuries hunting down his vampiric children, but now they must work together, because the vampire Elders need as many humans saved from the zombies as possible, or else vampires will starve.
But when the spitting image of her lost fiancé shows up, things get even stranger...

Young adult vampire novels are often cheesy. Young adult zombie novels are often pure violence and no story. Bad Blood is neither of those things. Think, Darren Shan and Poppy Z. Brite had a lovechild.
The story is a very quick read, very violent and very emotional. You get love, hate and every little thing in between. There are twists, but nothing too complex.
Britannia is a wonderful lead, with snark and depth. Nicholas is the perfect antagonist, and the supporting characters will imprint themselves in your memory.
My only problem here is, will we get another book about them? You won't want this story to end and you will ask yourself, "Why isn't this a movie?" Ms. Peacock has so much untapped potential here. I'm excited to read more from her!

5/5--wonderful!

INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I'd always wanted to be a writer. My mum got me into writing at an early age and I've always been an avid reader. But it has only been in the last couple of years that I've been published. 

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Growing up I read a lot of Anne Rice and Kelley Armstrong. I then moved on to Charlaine Harris and Laurell K Hamilton books. I still read all these authors to this day. I've recently been introduced to Karen Marie Moning books (which are great) and, for my horror addiction, I've been reading all the lovely gems coming out of Dark Fuse Publications. 

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Bad Blood?

I really loved zombie and vampire books and wondered what would happen if they were thrown in together. But when I looked around i couldn't really see anything like that available - so I decided to write it myself!

4. Will we ever see these characters again?

Yes, the Battle of the Undead series is planned to at least a trilogy. I'm currently beavering away on the 2nd book entitled, Bad Timing.

5. How would you act if you were in Britannia's position about being turned without permission?

Good question! I always try to inject a piece of myself in all my protagonists, but Britannia really only had my sense of humor. I'm not as angry as she is or as impatience. I'd probably be pissed about it for a few hours, until I realized that I was going to be young and beautiful for ever, I'd then get over it pretty quickly (yes, I am that shallow! LOL)  

6. Why vampires vs zombies?

I think it's because they are both technically 'undead' but are so different in terms of what they are, what they do and how they kill. Vampires are usually portrayed as pretty ruthless and with them having so long to live, they are intelligent and scheming. Zombies are just shuffling, pack animal killing machines - I've always said that 'at least you know where you are with a zombie' they're not going to deceive you or pretend to be something they're not.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I write horror, urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I'd like to give steampunk a proper go - I think its a very under-estimated genre with a lot of potential.

8. Do you believe in magic?

I'd like to say I do. I did growing up. But unfortunately, the older you get the more you realize that magic is a belief rather than a reality - man, that sound so depressing :( I actually had a recent experience watching that mermaid documentary on Animal Planet. It was shown in the UK a couple of months ago and I didn't realize that it was a fake. For a brief twenty minutes I was actually convinced there were real mermaids and out there! Magic was real! Of course I discovered later that the whole show was a lie, but I still remember that feeling of thinking that anything was possible. I called Animal Planet a lot of nasty names that day! 

9. Where did you get the idea for the vampires' backstory?

In all honesty, to make Bad Blood work, the vampires really had to hate one another, other wise there would be no tension. So I deliberately created Britannia with a stubborn streak a mile wide and Nicholas with a kind of old world 'I know better attitude' and their back stories pretty much wrote themselves. 

10. Would you like to see Bad Blood in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

It would lend itself to either a movie or TV (there's too many locations for it to work on the stage) For the actors - For Britannia, it would have to be Emma Watson, I think she would rock the attitude Brit has and she definitely has the right look. For Nicholas, he was a little tougher, but I'd go with Andrew Garfield, more for his earlier performances than his current Spiderman hi-jinx. For Philippe It has to be Tom Hiddleston - he could work both angels of this complex character. Jack would be a Nicholas Hoult, Tate would be Daniel Kaluuya (I just loved him as Tea Leaf in Psychoville - UK program) and Josh would be Liam Hemsworth. Lyle isn't in this book as much, but he features a lot in the next two so I'll pre-cast him as Eddie Redmayne. 

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

10 years goes by quicker than you think! I'd hope to still be writing books I love to write, and with the readers still enjoying them. I'd like to say that, at that point, I could give up my day job and write for a living, but I'm not that naive. Probably only the top 10% of authors get to live that sort of lifestyle, so I would have to be very fortunate indeed to achieve that.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

My day job is advertising sales and marketing, so I'd be doing that. I'd probably be reading twice as much to fill the gap - so living in a semi-functional literary coma!

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I'm working on Bad Timing (2nd in the Battle of the Undead series) and also an adult retelling of a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale - I've turned it into a historical urban fantasy. 

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

A few years ago I worked on a project called the 48 hour Book for the UK's World Book Day. It was basically 20 authors writing a book in 2 days. Although we managed it, it was probably the hardest thing I had to write as most authors are very stubborn,  and everyone had a specific vision of where they wanted to go with the story - so I'd politely decline doing anything like that again with any author. But, I'd love to meet Richard Laymon and talk to him about the horror genre.   

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Okay.
1) I have no sense of direction.
2) I'm a bit of a shopaholic when it comes to clothes and nail polish.
3) I'm always honest in interviews.
*Thank you for the interview Kelly! Happy Halloween everybody!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Darren Shan

1. You never wrote unless it was for homework until you purchased your first typewriter at fourteen years of age. What changed to make you want to start writing fiction?

I had always wanted to be a writer, and had actually started writing stories in my spare time the year or two preceding my purchase of the typewriter. But having a typewriter spurred me on to work even harder. I found I could write more quickly when typing, and also it felt more “legitimate” – I now had the possibility of submitting my work to publishers, since it was typed, whereas I knew I could not send in handwritten work.

 
2. You completed your first novel when you were seventeen, but it was never published. Do you think that your fans will ever get to see some form of that novel for sale one day?

Possibly. I’ve written lots of unpublished novels, especially early in my career. I plan to return to many, maybe even all of the books, and re-write and edit the, then publish them for readers to read, even if only in an eBook format. But I can’t guarantee that I will return to them all. I will only publish them if I think they are strong enough to justify publication, and I suspect some of them might not be.

 
3. You started writing adult horror (I  myself particularly enjoyed The City Trilogy's Hell's Horizon) but transitioned to children's and young adult novels with your Cirque du Freak series. What made you make that transition?

I liked children’s books, even in my late teens and early twenties. (Indeed, I still do.) I had planned to try writing a book for children at some point, purely because I thought it would be fun. Then I had the idea for Cirque Du Freak. I didn’t see it as a career-changer at the time, but I really enjoyed writing it, and after I’d finished it I had more ideas for books for young adults, and it all just grew from there.

 
4. What made you decide to write a four book spin-off of Cirque; The Saga Of Larten Crepsely?

I hadn’t planned to write about Mr Crepsley’s early life. But after I’d finished the Cirque Du Freak series I kept thinking about him and wondering what his life was like before he met Darren, and what had happened to him over the space of two hundred years. My interest in his story grew, even though I wasn’t actively pursuing it, and eventually I felt compelled to sit down and start writing.

 
5. I must ask, why vampires? While in recent years the monsters have become popular in modern fiction worldwide, you took them on when fewer people were interested, which i give you a lot of credit for!

They’ve always been my favourite monsters, ever since I was five or six years old. I never think about the market when I’m writing. I just go with stories that I feel interested in.

 
6. What made you decide to adapt Cirque du Freak into manga? Are you, personally, a fan of Japanese entertainment?

I love Japan, its movies and manga and anime, but my Japanese publishers were the ones who instigated the manga adaptation. My books were hugely popular out there (they regularly topped the overall bestseller charts) and they thought the story would work well in manga form. I chose the artist, but after that I had nothing to do with it until it was later translated into English for its release in the USA and UK. When that happened, I went through the translation and made some tweaks to the text where I felt it was appropriate.

 
7. What was it like seeing Darren, Larten and everyone else come to life in The Vampire's Assistant movie?

I always like seeing how people interpret my characters and the world I create, whether that’s as fan art, a manda, or a movie. Nobody ever captures all of the characters exactly the way I picture them, but that’s what’s so special about books – every reader creates a unique visual world inside their own head. I enjoyed the movie. It wasn’t very faithful to the books, but on its own terms I thought it was a quircky, fun little film that served as a neat introduction to the world of my books for those who had now read them.

8. Though you often travel to London for inspiration to "get the juices flowing", you normally only write when you're at home in Limerick, Ireland. Why do you choose to do that instead of write on the fly?

I’m a creature of habit, and I prefer to write when I’m “in the zone.” Of course a writer can write anywhere, at virtually any time, but I like to lock myself away at home and do most of my writing there. I find it focuses me – “This iswork time!”

 
9. You're a self-professed film buff. Would you like to see any of your other novels portrayed on the silver screen in the future? If yes, which ones?

I’d love to see ALL of them filmed!  I’m always open to TV or movie adaptations, as it’s a great way to reach new readers and entice more people to give the books a try.

 
10. What made you love horror and things that go bump in the night so much?

It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed, ever since I was a young child. The darkness – not just physical darkness, but the darkness of the human mind and soul – has always fascinated me.

 
11. Each of your YA stories, from Cirque to The Demonata and even Zom-B are so different from each other, yet all are so frighteningly wonderful. Aside from trips to London, where do you get your inspiration?

From all over the place – books, comics, movies, music, travel.

 
12. If you had to choose, would you write children's books or adult horror for the rest of your career?

If I had to choose only one, I would choose children’s books. But thankfully I am able to work in both fields, and I plan to continue juggling them as I go forward, although I will probably start relasing my adult books under a different name from this point forward, as I’ve never felt overly comfortable writing for adults and children under the same name. Expect an announcement about that to be forthcoming on my web site in the very near future...

 
13. What would you be doing if you were not a hugely successful horror writer?

I would be trying to be a hugely successful horror writer!

 
14. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

Hopefully I’ll continue chugging along nicely on the children’s front – it will be another couple of years before the last Zom-B book is released, and I have had some ideas for a new series after that. I also want to release more adult books and get things moving on that front – I’ve written lots of books for adults which I never published because I didn’t have the time to go back and work them up into final shape. Now I’m making that time, so I hope to release a lot of those over the next few years, and then continue onwards with new material.

 
15. Thank you again so much for agreeing to do the interview, Mr. Shan! Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I love Disney and Pixar movies. I love karaoke, even though I’m a terrible singer. And even though my books have been translated into more than thirty different languages, I only speak English – I was always terrible at languages in school!

Find Darren Shan online via:

Official site (has links to all of his social media and purchase links)

BOOK REVIEW/AUTHOR INTERVIEW: "Braineater Jones" by Stephen Kozeniewski

REVIEW:

Imagine, you wake up underwater, looking up at three stone angels whom you at first think are real. Once you float to the surface, you realize you're naked. You then realize that you don't know your own name. Finally, you notice the gaping hole in your chest and figure out that you're not breathing.
What would you do?
Well, for the man who begins calling himself Braineater Jones, he resolves to get to the bottom of it all, by being an undead private investigator, with some unlikely allies and even more unlikely enemies.

Braineater Jones is one unique novel! Stephen Kozeniewski didn't need excessive violence, gore or explicit sex to create a modern day masterpiece. Set in the 30's, after Prohibition has ended, he tells the tale of a typical man in a very atypical situation!
The introduction states that he did extensive research to make the story authentic, and you can really tell that he did. You'll feel transported to that time, when women were disrespected even more than they are now and class differences are even deeper. Don't take offense, just enjoy the fact that the author did all this research just for you, the reader!
The characters run the gamut of normal to what the eff (you'll see what I mean!) and the story will truly entertain you. Don't like zombies, don't worry! I can give you a 99.999% guarantee that you will love this!

5/5--great work!

INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

When I was a very young (and, let's just admit it, precocious) lad, I had the unique opportunity to meet Charles Dickens.  It was at a book signing at a local Barnes and Noble, and Dickens was sitting there eating fish and chips out of a garbage bag.  When my Uncle Rutger and I reached the head of the line I gave the old gasbag the death stare.  He looked down at me and said, "Yes, young fellow, and what can I do for you?"  So I just looked him straight in the eye and said, "Well, which was it, a-hole?  The best of times or the worst of times?"  Dickens chuckled and leaned back in his chair.  One meaty index finger, crusted with grease and fish oil, pointed heavenward.  "But, that, my boy, is for YOU to decide."  And so I did.  

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

People are probably getting tired of hearing this, but Brian Keene inspired me to become a horror author.  Today it kind of doesn't matter what books I enjoy reading because I spend most of my time reading novels by friends, peers, and authors I owe personal favors.  One of the hazards of having a great community supporting you, I guess.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Braineater Jones?

More interesting is perhaps what I was NOT inspired by.  Most people who have read the novel assume I'm some kind of noir savant who spent a childhood reading Elmore Leonard and can instantly recall trivia about Humphrey Bogart, like that he always wore swimming trunks under his clothes.  I actually have no idea what Bogey's stance on undergarments was, and, in fact, I never read a mystery novel until last year.  Every facet of the noir milieu in BRAINEATER JONES came to me through cultural osmosis, primarily watching cartoons, sketch shows, and similar parodies.  In fact, I only just learned the difference between "hardboiled" and "noir" a few months ago.  Pretty good job for a total faker, though, huh?

4. Why choose zombies as your main paranormal focus?

There's a saying in the army about second lieutenants: their symbol is a gold bar because gold is valuable, but malleable.  I think the same way about zombies, and not just because of all the dead-eyed stares I've gotten from second louies over the years.  Zombies are eminently whatever you want them to be.  Want them to be a symbol of crass consumerism?  Done.  Want them to be a force of nature?  Done.  Want them to be intelligent, fast, or silly?  Done.  You can do pretty much anything with a walking corpse.  They don't have all the rules that tie the hands of, say, a vampire or a werewolf author.  

5. Was there any intended symbolism behind it and how the zombies behaved in your book?

Well, yes.  I worked as a secretary at a substance abuse clinic for a few years and I was pretty fascinated by the phenomenon called "cross-addiction."  This is a super-dumbed-down layman's explanation, but basically some folks will trade their addiction to something hazardous, like alcohol or cocaine, and become "addicted" to something healthier, like church or even sometimes AA.  In my book the zombies are cross-addicted from human flesh to alcohol, which I thought opened up some interesting questions about what "healthy" really is.  But I wouldn't read too much into it.

6. Will we ever see "Braineater" again in the future, or a story similar to this?

Indeed!  I'm working with the narrator of the audiobook, Steve Rimpici, and a very great animator named Zee Risek to put together a pitch for a BRAINEATER JONES animated series.  Zee is planning to pitch to some of the major television networks at the Ottawa International Animation Festival in September.  So, fingers crossed!

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I've already done some work on science fiction and vampire novels.  Someday I'd really like to do some fantasy or steampunk.  They definitely have a different feel than what I usually work on.

8. If you woke up like "Braineater", what would you do?

The novel is basically my answer to that.  Braineater and I think very much alike.  I think the way he muddles through amnesia and undead wackiness is about the apex of what I could expect from myself.  More likely I'd probably be a great big complacent dummy and die in a gutter from lack of alcohol.

9. If zombies were real and you were a "breather", would you leave them alone or do something about it?

Hmmm, me right now?  I'd probably live and let live.  It would be kind of exciting to think that I might end up alive after death, and I wouldn't want anyone hassling me.  Now, if I had been raised in the '30s I'm pretty confident I'd feel differently.

10. Would you like to see Braineater Jones in theaters? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

I never have a good answer to this question.  One reviewer said that Bruce Campbell would make a great Braineater, and I find it hard to argue with that.  I've always liked H, Jon Benjamin (the voice of Archer and Bob from Bob's Burger's) so I think he would be great for the voice of the Old Man.  The others I'm not so sure about.  Scarlett Johansson might make a good Kumaree.  I liked her in Eight Legged Freaks.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

God willing, not working a day job anymore.  

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

Drinking.  Oh, you mean in like an existential way?  Like, if I had never taken up writing what would I be doing to fritter away the hours?  Most likely black tar heroin.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

Oh I alluded to this before but I'm working on a vampire novel tentatively titled HUNTER OF THE DEAD which has been contracted with Permuted Press.  That probably won't be released until 2016, though, I think.  The next thing you'll see come out that I worked on will most likely be the AT HELL'S GATES anthology edited by Devan Sagliani.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

Well, I have no idea if I'd be any good at a collaboration but I know that's not the point of this question.  In a perfect world I'd love to work with Jonathan Maberry, Brian Keene, or David Wong.  Meanwhile, back in the realm of reality, I think I might actually be able to set up a collaboration with Ian McClellan, Shana Festa, or possibly Bill Braddock.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

Thanks for having me!  As for three surprising thing: hmmm...
1) I am an unabashed fan of Avril Lavigne (yes, STILL!)
2) I am an Eagle Scout.
3) I once asked Robb Armstrong, the creator of Jump Start, to draw me a picture of Calvin and Hobbes instead of his characters.    

Find Stephen Kozeniewski online via:

Purchase link: http://www.amazon.com/Braineater-Jones-Stephen-Kozeniewski-ebook/dp/B00FRT4CD0/

Amazon: amazon.com/author/kozeniewski

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KozAuthor 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/outfortune 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7183355.Stephen_Kozeniewski 

Blog: http://manuscriptsburn.blogspot.com 

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