I woke super hard to have this 3Q’s space as inclusive as possible and featuring authors from all levels of success and experiences. The goal is to try and introduce YOU the reader to as many fantastic writers as I can. Today’s guest is a great writer and a fellow Canuck and someone I hope you all discover.

Please welcome Eva Roslin!

Welcome, Eva!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Eva: My writing time varies a lot – I have tried to be more methodical with the approximate time of mornings before the administrative stuff of the day has made my brain hurt LOL I do try to write at approximately the same time. There was a time when I was better at joining write-ins and sprints, but I wasn’t able to keep up so I curled up into a ball of shame. In the past, I definitely had word count goals I attempted to hit or especially when I participated in NaNoWriMo, but these days I try to focus more on the completion of writing sessions rather than attaching word count or pages to it.

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

Eva: There are so many cool things from which to choose! I think I would like the Anita Blake vampire hunter series because I loved reading it years ago and the first five or so books in the series set my world on fire in a good way. I would probably most love to do work on the world of a video game series, Legacy of Kain, because Kain and Raziel are two of the most interesting and nuanced vampires I’ve ever encountered, and their storytelling arcs are so rich.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Eva: My newest release is a short story called “The Sparrow’s Promise” in the anthology Kaleidoscope A Queer Anthology 2022, and I think folks should read not only my story but the others as well because they’re great explorations of relationship dynamics that resist harmful tropes in queer stories that have been pervasive for a long time in genre fiction and elsewhere.

Steve: Bonus Question! Do you have a cherished book?

Eva: I have several! One of my most cherished is a used copy of the National Geographic Traveler’s Guide to New Orleans, Second Edition that I picked up a few years ago. It captures the history of Louisiana, the complex meanings of things that are exceptional about New Orleans like food, music, architecture, and more. It also includes these amazing, in-depth maps and diagrams of the most granular details of what makes New Orleans so unique!

Oh wow! That is very, very cool!

Thank you so much, Eva!

To follow along with Eva, follow the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvaRoslin

Website: https://roslineva.wordpress.com/

Hugely excited for today’s special/bonus 3Q’s! (Not gonna lie, I’m excited for every single guest!) BUT – today’s guest has me excited because Daniel Kraus is an award-winning, best-selling author who has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, while also churning out his own phenomenal work! With his next release dropping in a few days, he kindly stopped by!

Please, do welcome Daniel!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Daniel: I run my operation like a factory, where I’m the foreman as well as the one who operates all the machines. And it’s been 64 days since our last accident! Seriously, though, that’s pretty much how I work: jump out of bed, shower, and eat breakfast in front of the computer as I’m getting started. I usually lunch break for an hour max, then work again. I get in about a full eight hours a day. Sometimes, I must divide my days between art in the morning (writing) and business in the afternoon (press stuff, editorial stuff, and on and on). If I’m in a period where I must write on two things at once, I’ll usually have an A project that I work on Mon-Thurs, and a B project for Fri-Sat. It’s all pretty repetitive but that’s what works for me. I want no surprises in my writing life so the writing itself can be full of them.

Steve: You end up at an estate sale and discover an unpublished manuscript from an author you love. Do you keep it just for yourself or do you share it with the world?

Daniel: Who would ever say keep it for themselves? What kind of maniacs do you have answering this thing? I’d probably make a photocopy so that there were at least two copies in existence, then, yeah, I’d route it to whoever it belonged to.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Daniel: That’d be WRATH, cowritten with geneticist Shäron Moalem. We’re hoping to fill that Michael Crichton-sized hole in the publishing world. It’s about a technology that’s not even near-future – it’s HERE, albeit so far only in countries with different laws on genetic editing. It’s about a company called EditedPets that is creating Sammy, an adorable, brilliant pet rat edited with human brain genes. The prototype Sammy finds itself able to communicate with a child with cochlear implants, who busts it out. The issue scientifically-speaking (and apocalypse-speaking) is that the scientists haven’t figured out how to turn off the brain growth. So, Sammy’s getting smarter as its brain gets bigger – but the brain can only get so big before it shoves up against the skull. That puts us into the Flowers for Algernon territory, where Sammy begins to go insane. And if Sammy sexually matures and multiplies? We’re talking full-on rat apocalypse, with brilliant armies of coordinated super-rats chasing all humans from cities within five years. Not good!

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your superpower?

Daniel: I’m not a superhero fan. So I’d say it’d be the power to get me out of the comic book ASAP!

So, I guess you’d be like, Transporting Man? HA! Thanks so much for doing this Daniel!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Kraus/e/B002O1RDT4/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielDKraus

Website: http://www.danielkraus.com/

3Q’s today is with the fantastic Austrian Spencer! Austrian is an avid reader, reviewer and is about to re-release his heralded The Sadeiest, as well as the follow ups to that tome.

Please welcome Austrian!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try and write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Austrian: I have a terrible, awful, chaotic schedule. I write only when I know it’s the right time to write. I know – right? When I’m ready, I can write between 3000-17,000 words. There’s no limit, when I feel like it’s a good time to stop, that I’ve achieved what needed to be done, then I stop.

It is madness, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Chaotic neutral, baby!

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?

Austrian: If I could write in anyone’s fictional world, I’d want to write in Iain M. Banks’ Culture – I know it’s not horror, but that’s the point, imagine an artificial intelligence ship that was chaotic, a dark book in his world. It would be phenomenal. His “Use of weapons” was the nearest, and it’s one of the only books I’ve read where the twist surprised me, and changed the entire book. Yeah. Horror in the culture would be awesome.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Austrian: I’m about to release The Sadeiest again (my re-imagined Death (the grim reaper) novel) at the end of August/early September, I’m parting ways with Darkstroke after my contract runs out in August, and after that “The Dawn Chorus” is looking like a late November release – It’s a Creature Feature Apocolypse novella, about invisible creatures that phase into our multiverse, that have always been on earth but have previously only hunted smaller woodland creatures. After Covid, and all of the vaccines we used that contain Pangolin DNA (or after repeated contamination from Covid), humans finally become visible to them, and their diet changes rapidly and catastrophically (for humans). We join the story two years after the first wave of takings, and the earth has become an abattoir, yet genetics also play a part in our survival, and certain traits in the survivors become apparent for the survival genes they really are

I’m hoping to release The Masocheist, the sequel to the Sadeiest, in early February next year, and I’m thrilled that Daniela Sera is on board doing the covers on all three novels (Sadeiest, Dawn Chorus, Masocheist). You should read it because invisible predatory creatures that make humans fodder are awesome, frankly.

Steve: Bonus question, do I have a cherished book?

Austrian: Yes, The Player Of Games, also from Iain M.Banks – It’s so cool. I love everything about it, and it’s such a fantastic springboard into his sci-fi novels. It killed me that he died so young, but I have his last novel, waiting for me unread so that I will always know there is more of his writing waiting for me to discover.

Thanks for having me, Steve, and to all of the authors out there, I hope to read you soon, and review your work!

Awesome! Best of luck with the re-launch and the follow ups!

To follow along and find more work from Austrian, click the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Austrian-Spencer/e/B08J1D7ZWG/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpencerAustrian

Website: https://www.austrianspencer.com/

Title: The Last Sentinel

Author: S.T. Lane

Release date: September 27, 2022

I don’t typically start out my reviews how this one is, but I’m going to in the hopes this helps S.T. Lane. I’m not sure when we started following each other on Twitter, but it’s been a little bit and I was excited to see her debut novella – ‘The Last Sentinel’ – would be arriving. I somehow missed her release date post, but saw a tweet from her yesterday where she said she’d only sold one copy, and while she should be sad, she was still happy that someone would be reading a good story. I went to take a look on Goodreads at the synopsis and couldn’t find it, so I went to Amazon. I snagged a copy, knowing I could read this in a single sitting easily and get a review up for it, in the hopes of getting some more eyes on it!

The cover is intriguing when coupled with the synopsis, and while I’m not sure if this is part of a longer tale to be revealed going forward, this would make for an excellent jumping off spot for a sequel.

What I liked: The story follows Stanley, a coward who turned to alcohol when aliens invaded earth. Now, with his son and wife gone, he needs to muster the courage to try and find them, even if it means he dies while doing so.

The story is fast-paced with a lot packed into it, in a good way. We get a really solid grounding and understanding of Stanley and why he is how he is and how he’s struggling with alcohol withdrawal in the face of the invasion.

I personally am always a fan of ‘when they arrive’ stories and love seeing how each author makes them their own. Lane does a great job of giving us unique extra-terrestrials and the action scenes that take place near the end were a lot of fun to fly through.

As I mentioned, the ending makes it so that this could be a singular stand alone story or leaves the door open to continue you and let us see more of what happens and where they came from.

What I didn’t like: I did find it odd that humanity crumbled and the world’s leaders had no way of figuring out how to stop them, but Stanley knows and goes straight to where it all takes place. Of course, in Sci-Fi/Horror, you always need to suspend your belief in the hard and fast concrete world and let the story play out, but it did still strike me as odd.

Why you should buy this: Currently, it looks like this is ebook only, so hopefully for the physical fans a paperback is on the way soon. For those who read digitally, this book hums along and really reminded me a lot of the TV show ‘Falling Skies’ that aired from 2011-2015.

A quick, snappy, alien-infused read, which I really had fun with!

4/5

Title: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock

Author: Paul Tremblay

Release date: June 21, 2016

I just want to start off by saying – reading this book and posting this review was in no way done with the hopes of me “cashing in” on the random influx of new folks following this site and my reviews! For those who missed it – two years ago I read and reviewed Paul’s fantastic ‘The Cabin At the end of the World.’ Then, on Sept 22, 2022, M. Night Shyamalan dropped the trailer for ‘Knock at the Cabin,’ his adaption of Paul’s book. For some unknown reason – my review skyrocketed in views. We’re talking 20,000 on that day. My review was the 5th result on any Google searches for Paul’s book or the movie. As of writing this, the review is just about to cross over the 40,000 page visits mark. My second highest visited page – my review for ‘COWS’ at 3500.

So, my point – A – thanks again Paul for a sprinkling of your mojo and B – I had already started this bad boy before that review even dropped! So, there! HA!

Anyways – if you’ve followed my Pyper fandom, you’ll know my buddy George is equally a massive fan of Tremblay. We share two difference – 1 – I’ve read more Tremblay books than George has read Pyper (hitch up those britches and get reading!) and 2 – George literally bought a cabin in the woods…

I have had ‘Disappearance at Devil’s Rock’ for a bit now, and when it finally popped to the top of my TBR, I dove in. I will say, I went in almost completely blank. I might’ve read the synopsis at one point, but that had long since slithered out of my brain.

What I liked: The story follows a group of boys living in a small town. One night, they sneak out, one of them taking some of their dad’s beer, and head to a massive rock they frequent in the woods. While there, something happens and one of the boys takes off, disappearing in the woods.

From there, Tremblay takes his time in unravelling the chaos that occurred and the horrifying ripples young Tommy’s disappearance creates with his family and with his friends.

The book is filled with moments of despair, heartbreak but also chills and unnerving moments. Tremblay does a phenomenal job of keeping his cards close to his chest and when the reality of what happens is revealed, it is done with a verbal vomiting that will shatter the reader.

I also really loved how well done the kids were in this story. How they acted and reacted like real world kids. You could feel the fear of consequences coming off the page each and every time something new was shared and they had to fess up.

The ending was just so beautiful and sad. This reader cried. I’m never ashamed to admit when a book moves me to tears. But the way Paul closed this one out was just so perfect and so achingly well done.

What I didn’t like: I did find the book took its time to really grab me and hold me. There was a lot of extra details and descriptions (which do carry throughout) that bogged it down a bit, but once things picked up they really raced through.

Additionally, and this is maybe my fault a bit, but this book is similar to Matt Wesolowski’s ‘Six Stories’ series in that it offers up the potential of horrific other world possibilities but never fully goes there and worked to simply tease the reader. Re-reading the synopsis, I could see that would’ve been something I would’ve known beforehand, but it still always bums me out when a book gets tantalizingly close to going full creature and then keeps them in the shadows.

Why you should buy this: If you’re a fan of Tremblay, you’ve probably already read this or own this. If you’re new to his work, this is definitely a solid point to start with, showing his phenomenal ability to craft characters and the way he delicately pieces together the plot-puzzle, always making sure to keep one piece hidden under his palm.

4/5

Today’s guest is one who writes nightmares while also narrating them. Chris Sorensen is one of the nicest guys out there and I’m so happy to have him answer the 3Q’s!!

Welcome, Chris!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

CS: Thanks for asking, Steve! To be honest, my writing schedule is as scattered as the rest of my life (at least currently). We’re in the midst of a 6-month house renovation that’s moving into its third year, so I tend to find writing time where I can. When I have more control over my time, I like to start work around 7 or 8 pm and work until the wee hours. My best work/ideas come when the house is still, the sky is dark, and my preferred soundtrack of the moment is on loop. I don’t find word counts helpful, but I LOVE a good deadline. I’m working on a play right now that’s already been cast and goes into production in November. I find that particular kind of terror perfect for getting the words flowing.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

CS: Hmm, that’s a tough one. I could rattle off some authors whose work I’m jazzed about, but to have one of them take over a series? Laurel Hightower is writing some terrific stuff, stories, and characters that I really relate to, but I wouldn’t want to burden her with my scribblings. She has more than enough to say on her own. I guess I’d have to go with Nick Sullivan. I’ve known him for years, first as an actor and then as a fellow indie author and audiobook narrator. We laugh at the same things, are both sticklers for structure, and he tends to finish what he starts. I’d be happy with either of them writing Barnyard Cannibals, Books 7, 8 & 9.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

CS: If anyone happens to be in Colorado this holiday season, they can check out my newest play, The Wizard of Oz, Colorado. It’s a wild west retelling of the classic story by L. Frank Baum. Thin Air Theatre Company is mounting it at the historic Butte Theater in Cripple Creek. Beyond that, I have 5 novels and 3 novellas in various states of construction.

(** My apologies to Chris, he’d sent a photo along with his upcoming releases but my computer decided to eat it and completely pixelate it and distort it for some reason!** )

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

CS: As much as I’d like to go with Bill Hader, I gotta choose Michael Cera.

Good choice!

Thank you again, Chris!

To keep up to date with his work – check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chris-Sorensen/e/B01N020QKU

Website: https://www.casorensenwrite.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/casorensen

Title: Psychic Teenage Bloodbath

Author: Carl John Lee

Release date: October 28th, 2022

Uncle Carl returns with his 5th release and 2nd of 2022!

I don’t know how I’ve struck gold here, but for some reason Carl and I have really hit it off and it’s always pleasant to get emails from him every few weeks. Coincidentally, I’m writing this review on the one year release-aversary of my novel Incarnate, which Carl kindly did the cover art for.

A month or so back, I get an email from Carl with the subject line “Advance Copy of The Ballad of Sh1tty Pants Joe” but the 1 was an I – don’t think for one second Carl has lost his edge. I chuckled and opened and it found a digital copy of his newest attached, kindly created by his son. He gave me a brief summary and finished it by saying this – “I go places in this one even people wouldn’t like Uncle Carl would!”

Good grief was he right.

What I liked: If you’ve read any of Carl John Lee’s work, you’ll know what you’re in for – only this one goes full Spinal Tap and turns the extreme knob up to eleven. If you require Trigger Warnings, Uncle Carl has provided them, and boy are there plenty here.

The novel opens with Charlie and Susan, two teen girls secretly in love, surrounded by a town and school full of homophobic jerks. At the big dance, they sneak away, only for a horrible attack to happen and Susan ends up in a coma, totally paralyzed. But her mind still works, and after a year of struggling, she’s finally found the ability to use and a control others.

It’s with that stepping stone that Lee really begins to unleash bloody torment on all who wronged her and Charlie, even as Charlie struggles to comprehend and understand what is going on.

This will remind readers of Carrie but also of the extreme horror reads from back in the 70’s where characters were belittled, bullied and beaten for being ‘different.’ Lee does a solid job of doling out revenge, while making the main characters sympathetic and strong.

Of course, it all comes to a tremendous and stomach-churning finale. In the afterword, Lee notes that he tried at one point to present this as a film option but the budget would be astronomical due to the amount of special effects that would be required for the gore. I completely understand.

What I didn’t like: This is a weird one, because every single character that Lee creates for the reader to hate ends up getting eviscerated at some point, so while normally those characters would be a negative for some readers, it gets resolved throughout.

I will say again – there are Trigger Warnings listed and this is a novel where you would be best served to take a glance at them before diving in. Nothing is safe and some truly horrible events occur within.

Why you should buy this: Well, by this point, Carl John Lee should really have a subscription service, because if you’ve read any of his work and loved it, you know you’ll be getting this one and diving in. For new readers, I think this is a perfect spot to jump in and be introduced to Uncle Carl’s deft prose and deranged paintings. And as always, the Author’s Note/Afterword at the end is hilariously ridiculous and makes me hope some day we’ll get an autobiography from him.

5/5

I am super excited for today’s special guest!

I can’t remember how long ago I connected with V. Castro, but I have to say, since I have, it has been truly amazing and so rewarding to see how fantastic her writing is going. She continues to break new ground and pummel her long-time and new readers with each and every release!

Please, do welcome V.!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

V.: I try to write like a regular 9 to 5 especially if I have deadlines to hit. After my children are in bed I also try to write. As I get busier, doing admin, promo stuff, and social media all cut into writing time. I will only consider word count if I am on a tight deadline and I know I have to make those numbers. Otherwise, I try to be gentle with myself as it is better for my creativity.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

V.: That would definitely be Gabino Iglesias!

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

V.: On November 1st people should definitely go out and order Aliens: Vasquez!! I’m the first Latina to write for the franchise and we need more women of color leads in stories like this. I can’t tell you how many Latinx folks reach out and tell me how good it is to see representation. It means something to us. The more I sell the higher the chances I can do more and I loved every second creating this world. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

V: I think Salma Hayek. For sure!

Excellent choice! And V., thank YOU for all of your support as well!

To find more of her fantastic work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/V-Castro/e/B07N5JG767/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vlatinalondon

Website: https://vcastrostories.com/

It’s always interesting to me that we still mostly think of women as those who create poetry. Many people even forget that I, myself, have two poetry collections out (well, 1.5 as the is a mix of poems and drabbles but whatever, splitting hairs!). Ronald J. Murray is doing his best to get people to think of the male dark poetry writers as well and I’m super excited to have him join me today!

Welcome, Ronald!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

Ronald: When it comes to writing fiction, my process looks a lot different than when I’ve talked about it in previous features and interviews now that I am a father to an infant. Where I used to sit at my laptop for a few hours per day, aiming to get at least two-thousand words on the page, I now take advantage of nap-time. Occasionally, I will sacrifice sleep. These days, I’m satisfied with whatever amount of words I can get written when I can.

Downloading and familiarizing myself with Scrivener has been a huge help. The useful organization tools in that app allow me to jump around with my ideas, and the sync feature makes it easy to pick up where I left off on my phone when I go outside to smoke.

My writing process has remained the same with poetry. Writing poetry pours out of me wherever I am. It comes in bursts. And I just pop open my notepad app and get it out of me so I can edit them when I have the time.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

Ronald: I’d like to answer this question with Neil Gaiman. He is my favorite writer. However, I’d have to choose somebody that I could trust would treat my projects with care and dedication. So, I’d have to say the choice is between my three closest friends in this field, Gwendolyn Kiste, Sara Tantlinger, and Nelson W. Pyles. They’re all exceptionally talented and driven writers whose passion bleeds from their words.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

Ronald: My latest release is Lost Letters to a Lover’s Carcass. It’s a poetry collection essentially narrating my grieving process after the explosive end of a rather tumultuous, decade-long romantic relationship through metaphor and dramatics. It may or may not help someone else that is or has experienced abuse in various forms and the pain of losing someone they were trauma-bonded to.

Shortly, I’ll be releasing a new poetry collection titled In All the Ways, a Drowning from which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the ACLU. The collection illustrates the experience of intense emotions triggered by many things in life: events of the past, present, and potential future, love, perspective shifts through self-transformation, and more.

Lastly, if things go right, I’ll have a short fiction collection out in the future. It’ll include some stories that have been previously published and further revised for this collection, as well as some new work.

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

Ronald: Johnny Depp, who has been my favorite actor for decades, is too old to play me in a movie. I can’t think of anyone else that could capture my personality so flawlessly.

Great acting choice! I could definitely see him playing you!

Thank you again, Ronald!

To discover more of his work – follow the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonaldJMurray

Website: https://www.ronaldjmurray.com/

Man, I’m so excited for you all to meet today’s guest! HP Newquist is an award-winning author of both non-fiction and fiction. He’s the founder of the National Guitar Museum and has written some truly phenomenal books!

Please, do welcome HP!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?

HP: I always write at night, typically after 11 PM. Almost no one else I know is awake or around at that hour, so I can dive in without distractions—other than refilling my glass of wine. I usually write until about 2:30 AM. I write fairly quickly, so I’m not concerned with word count; it’s more about completing part of the storyline or until I find a good stopping point—like the end of a chapter.

Steve: If you started a series and for some reason had to have another author finish it, who would you choose?

HP: I can’t really see myself doing a series, since I like to have end points in my stories. That said, I’ve frequently been asked to do a sequel to my novel “BEHEMOTH.” If I were to depart the planet before completing that, it would be nice to have Edgar Allan Poe work on it, although I don’t believe he’s currently available.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!

HP: I’ve got one book currently being shopped, called “The School Of Infinite Pain,” which is a short story collection. My most recent release is my novella “Ten Years Gone,” published by Relayer Books. It’s a psychological thriller that has undercurrents of horror. It’s fast paced and a very fast read. To make it even more appealing, readers can get it for free at https://tinyurl.com/2p8cv8wh.

Steve: Bonus Question! If they made a movie about your life, what actor or actress would you suggest they get to play you?

HP: For some reason, 1980s-era Heather Locklear seems like a good choice, but I’d have to go with Christian Bale.

Thank you so much for doing this, HP!
To find more work from him, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/HP-Newquist/e/B003XLMPWY

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HPNewquist

Website: http://www.newquistbooks.com/