Title: No One Gets Out Alive

Author: Adam Nevill

Release date: October 23rd, 2014

Over the last five years or so, Adam Nevill has been a constant in my reading world. Now, I know that’s odd – me being a massive horror reader and such – but after joining Kendall Reviews, Gavin was telling me almost daily that I needed to reach Nevill. At first I was hesitant. What if I didn’t like his work? I wouldn’t want to sadden Gavin. And oddly, I had watched and loved ‘The Ritual’ movie. And yes, blah blah, I know the movie and the book were different blah blah. I loved the movie, LOVED the book (yes, even the ending good grief), but I just hadn’t dove into his work. So, slowly, I began to fix that and I have to say, Nevill is absolutely the closest thing to my favorite author not named Andrew Pyper.

‘No One Gets Out Alive’ was released back in 2014, but was recently adapted into a feature Netflix movie. I haven’t watched that yet, I will at some point, but the reality of my life is, I have far more time to read than I do to watch scary movies with a young kid. He can’t see what I’m reading on my Kindle, which makes it far more kid-friendly when he’s around.

I’d have to take a look, but this is for sure my third Nevill read in 2022, having previously read Lost Girl (phenomenal) and The Vessel (good, and I’ll get to why I found it good not great in a minute – sorry Adam!) and now this one. I might’ve read another novel, but I can’t recall off the top of my head, and immediately after finishing this one, I searched my Kindle to see what I had left of his to read that I haven’t read yet and decided to start ‘Hasty for the Dark.’

With ‘No One Gets Out Alive’ I knew I was in for a roller coaster. I knew this would be a haunted house book like no other and having had the bejesus scared out of me with his descriptions in Last Days in an abandoned apartment complex, I was slightly nervous going in.

What I liked: The story begins simple enough. Stephanie has recently fled her abusive and alcoholic step-mom. She’s broken up with her boyfriend, Ryan, and now has rented a room in a decrepit house so that she can start work with a temp agency in the hopes of getting her life on track. But from the get-go, we can see the house isn’t right, the ‘owner,’ Knacker isn’t right and with the opening chapter we get a supernatural presence introducing itself and letting its weight settle on the end of her bed in the dark.

I can’t accurately and efficiently describe how dark and grimy this book is. I tweeted about it – saying that at the half way point 90% of the book was creating a palpable dread that leaked from my Kindle and pulled the shadows in the corner of the room closer. No matter how hard Stephanie tries to get out and flee this house, she’s unable. Either due to finances, Knacker’s manipulation or the very real fact that whatever is holding this house hostage now has its hooks into her as well.

Nevill never lets up, which is a mind-boggling thing to process when you consider this book is almost 650 pages long. But much like how Stephen King commands the reader to follow through his door stoppers, Nevill does the same and at no point was I wondering when this book would be over or wishing that things would pick up. There’s not a single moment of ‘slowness’ in here and I think part of that is the fact that all but I think three chapters were quick and snappy. The book rampages along and with so many gasp-creating chapter ending cliff hangers, you are compelled to flip the page and continue on.

Now, I will say, Nevill is a crafty SOB (I can say that here because I’m still banned from reviewing on Amazon so this won’t get flagged lol!) in that he has a during and after portion. It’s frankly a genius move. Far too often the book ends where the main aspect ends and we don’t get to see the after. Not so here. Nevill continues the story, focusing now on how Stephanie is coping and dealing with the very real events of her being imprisoned and abused, as well as the potentially ‘not-real’ events that occurred. Did they actually happen? Did she have an emotion and mental breakdown over the atrocities she experienced?

It’s a fantastic aspect and it works really well, especially when we see the true horrors of this entity and learn about it in the classic Nevill-folklore manner.

What I didn’t like: I think some people may be put off by the length. I get it. The novella and short novel has really exploded in popularity over the last few years (and I’m no better, look at my own body of work to see I’m sat firmly in those two page count worlds), but after having recently read Nevill’s ‘The Vessel,’ the thing that kept me from considering that one great and only good (again, sorry Adam!) was that it felt a bit like there was so much more that could’ve been added in or filled in. It was like a black and white photo missing the color. So, when comparing The Vessel to No One Gets Out Alive, I see now what I love whole-heartedly about Nevill’s long novels. They say the devil’s in the details and Adam demonstrates that in spades here. So, don’t let the length stop you from diving in.

Why you should buy this: This book is a modern classic. From start to finish, you know you’re in the capable hands of a master and the fact that Nevill has no problem writing beautiful passages before creating some of the bleakest, most brutal moments should be enough to entice every horror reader. The fact that we get new releases from him on an almost annual schedule now means that he’s found his working stride and we should all be grinning from ear to ear because of that.

‘No One Gets Out Alive’ should be the standard that all haunted house novels have to hold themselves up to in comparison. Truly, it’s just that good. This novel is almost 650 pages of gut-churning, anxiety-creating, turn-the-lights-on-now horror and it showcases just why Nevill is considered one of the best horror authors of all time, living or deceased.

I can’t recommend this one enough and I wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to read it.

5/5

Laugh all you want at my Andrew Pyper fandom – but the number of authors my love of his work has connected me with is incredibly impressive. Case in point – today’s 3Q’s Special Guest. Andrew F. Sullivan and I connected recently, but it was his friendship with Andrew that drew him to reach out to me regarding his next release. 

Andrew is a super nice guy, with a phenomenal novel coming soon (and one with Nick Cutter on the way as well!) and I’m super happy to have him drop by today!

Welcome Andrew!

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?

AS: I work full time at my day job, so writing often happens on weekends or in the evenings. Long weekends also provide big opportunities. It’s mainly possible because I don’t have kids and my wife is also a writer, so she understands what it means to be deep in a draft and needing to push through at the end, even if that requires staying inside on a beautiful Sunday. It only gets really bleak when we’re both in editing mode, and the dog is the one who gets us out of the house.

If I’m on a big project like a novel, it’s usually five days a week, shooting for about 1000 words a day, but if I don’t hit that, it’s not the end of the world. 500 might be the minimum for it to not be a waste of time. There’s also fallow periods between edits, where I’m not working on anything, but reading, watching, and listening. Absorbing new information and taking time to think about what I want to do next. Then its back to the grind. Giving yourself days off is important, if only to reaffirm that there are days when you need to be on the job again, hitting the keys and making more books happen.

 

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?

AS: You share it or you burn it. Maybe burn it if it’s terrible. Some of my favourite writers have awful books out there, and I miss that possibility. I think traditional publishing used to be a lot more forgiving of its midlist authors, letting them fail a couple of times at least before they got the axe. Now its entirely feast or famine, but maybe that was a just brief window of time when writing still had some esteem attached to it. Its irrational to assume every writer is going to write a classic every time. Failure is part of the process, integral to the whole operation. And I am burning it if it’s unsalvageable.

 

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

AS: My new novel The Marigold will be out in April 2023. It’s a story about a city decaying from within, feeding off itself, crushed by am unquenchable thirst for growth and the tech corporations desperate to control its bubbling streets. There is a sentient mold in your walls, telling you to join it. It’s hard to say no. If you’re a fan of J.G. Ballard and David Cronenberg, you’ll probably get something out of it.

 

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

AS: By the wise and kind benevolence of Mike Mignola, I awake as Hellboy without the trimmed horns but clad in his dilapidated trench coat and armed with the Good Samaritan, a revolver cast from a church bell. I am a being of the pit, one with a right hand of doom and cloven feet who strides the earth unbothered. My powers are only limited by the planes of existence, my hand the key to unlocking the end of the world. That all sounds very fun to me.

Fantastic choice!

Thanks so much for doing this, Andrew!

To find more of his work – check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Andrew-F.-Sullivan/author/B00EOFR1KE

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AFSulli

Website: https://www.andrewfsullivan.com/

I always love when horror veterans agree to do 3Q’s. It’s not so much that people don’t know about their work, but it’s interesting to see who their influences are and how they go about crafting their stories.

Today’s guest is a tried and true horror vet.

Brian Moreland has been creating dark fiction for decades and continues to push his readers with each and every release!

Please, do welcome Brian!

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?
Brian: My writing schedule varies depending on how busy I am with working on client projects or when my family life gets busy. I’m not a full-time novelist yet. I do my best to write a few hours every morning. I’m most creative after I’ve just woken up, especially at 5:00 or 6:00 am. I love drinking coffee and getting into a writing groove. On days when I can focus solely on my novel or short story, I’ll write from six to eight hours. I used to measure daily word count and found that to be a great motivator to write new fiction. When I’m revising chapters over multiple drafts, I bounce around different parts of the book, so I don’t track word count.

Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?
Brian: I would invite the authors who influenced me most and whom I’d love to meet and learn from in person: Stephen King, Clive Barker and Robert McCammon. All three are master storytellers.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Brian: I most recently re-released a collection called BLOOD SACRFICES: Three Horror Novellas. There’s a lot of horror fun and mayhem packed into this book. It kicks off with a bonus short story “The Girl from the Blood Coven.” This sets up a haunted house novella called The Witching House. Urban explorers search an old house in Texas where a coven of witches had been massacred back in the 1970s. Next is The Seekers, a modern Lovecraftian tale set in Boston. A journalist finds himself in a nightmare, when he discovers a strange cult of homeless people living in the subways and city ruins, worshipping a strange form of gods. The last novella, Darkness Rising, is a blend of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, Lovecraft and my love of slasher movies. When often-bullied poet Marty Weaver crosses paths with three serial killers who produce snuff films, a violent encounter unleashes Marty’s dark side and a twisted story that’s a roller-coaster thrill-ride.

Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?

Brian: I’d choose Dracula. He’s cultured and centuries old. The conversation would be much more interesting. I’d love to explore Dracula’s castle. I love vampires and their stories. Dinner with Dracula would be entertaining, although the risk of surviving such a night would be much higher than hanging out with Frankenstein.

Excellent choice!

Thank you so much, Brian!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Moreland/e/B002BM3020

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianMoreland

Website: http://www.brianmoreland.com/

Title: A Bleak Remedy (Savage Panacea #1)

Author: D.S. LaLonde

Release date: November 17th, 2022

Recently, D.S. LaLonde reached out to me to see if I’d be keen to check out their debut novel.

I gotta admit – I was super intrigued about this one, BUT, that page count was daunting. I don’t mind chonky books. Those 500+ page door stops. You know you’ll either be getting a thoroughly told story that takes its time to unfold and review its secrets, or you’ll be getting a story filled to the brim with action, plot and tons of characters.

Knowing that I was near the end of the year and had a ‘break’ between pending release date ARC’s, I popped this to the top of my Kindle and got reading. Funny enough, I had also started Adam Nevill’s ‘No One Gets Out Alive,’ which is over 600 pages as well. This is probably the first time in at least five years that I’ve had multiple 600+ page books on the go at the same time.

What I liked: This one opens with an incredibly fantastic prologue that grabs the reader right away and sets up the rest of the novel. We are introduced to a rich older man, on vacation in remote South America, when his wife is attacked by a crazy creature. LaLonde has given us the arrival of the creature previously, which humanizes it to a degree, but it’s not until the after effects of the prologue do we both have to deal with the ethical considerations of what this creatures offers.

LaLonde then switches gears and brings us to a research facility. We get more characters, more ‘what’s’ going on surrounding this vampire-like creature and more depth regarding its possibilities. Once again, we switch gears and leave the facility and begin to learn more about these creatures but also head to a wooded location.

It’s a great shift, because there is only so much space to play within a facility setting.

The character depth definitely adds to this one, as with a larger page count they’re able to fully develop and become family to the reader.

The ending is dark, chaotic, but as this is book one in the series, it also gives us a suggestion of where the series would be going next.

What I didn’t like: I can see the page count on this being a potential detriment or a discouragement to readers. I’d say, push that away. There’s a lot of story in here and LaLonde does a great job of controlling it and keeping all of the stories ducks in a row.

Why you should buy this: This is a really well done, fully imagined take on the vampire lore. It gives us a unique opening that works well to push away from a lot of the common trope pitfalls vampire fiction can have. We get engaged characters, room for the story to breathe and vicious, brutal moments that will keep your feet tucked in and the lights on.

5/5

Here’s a new one – when I contacted today’s guest to do a 3Q’s, it was initially delayed as he was preparing to deal with whatever Hurricane Ian was bringing to the table! Ben replied a few days after that all was well and sent the answers along! Few!

I’m so glad to have Ben today! He is one of the nicest guys out there, passionate, and continues to deliver some dark slabs of fiction for his fans!

Please, do welcome Ben!

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?
BE: My mojo is strongest in the afternoon or evening. The mornings are when I apply any edits. I don’t shoot for a word count. But I do shoot for the completion of one or two scenes in a day. I try not to burn myself out. Ha! I sometimes I’ll take a day or two off if I’m lost or blocked. But that rarely happens.

Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?
BE: Wow! That one is so hard to answer but I’ll try. I can’t just pick three. Ha! Living and deceased: Stephen King, Shirley Jackson, Poe, Joe Hill, Neil Gaiman, Mary Shelley, Ray Bradbury, Jack Ketchum, and Mercedes M. Yardley.

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

BE: My latest release is a horror novella, out from the good folks at Crystal Lake Publishing. Here’s the 411: An aberration known as The Architect has finished his masterpiece: A god which slumbers beneath the hollow, determined to change the world into its own image. With the neighborhood on lockdown, and the residents turned into shambling horrors, Harold and his former lover, Mary, begin their harrowing journey into the world within the hollow.

I think fans of horror would love it because It’s a heart-stopping horror thriller about tragedy, fellowship, forgiveness, and redemption. The reader is forced to look at themselves in the mirror, and the fantastical elements will stretch their imaginations. I always want to take readers to a place they’ve never been before.

Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?
BE: That’s a tough one. I would have to go with Victor. Why? Well, here’s my strategy: Act like I’m asleep, so when he and Igor come in to kill me and use my organs, I’ve got the drop on them. Boom! They’re both dead, and now I have an awesome castle to live in! Ha!

Always an excellent choice!

Thank you so much Ben!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ben-Eads/e/B00B2T26P0

Title: The Turtle Boy (Timmy Quinn #1)

Author: Kealan Patrick Burke

Release date: January 1st, 2004

Full disclosure here for this one – I’m reading the collected omnibus called ‘Stage Whispers’ which has all of the Timmy Quinn stories packaged together. I decided to do a review of each of the novellas within, as well, I’ll do an overall review of ‘Stage Whispers’ based on how it works collected together.

I knew I had this collection, but for some reason it completely stumped me about what it was called to start it. So, on a recent Tik Tok video Kealan had posted, I asked him what it was called, he kindly replied and I dove in later that day! I’ve read a BUNCH of Kealan’s work, and I always know I’m in for a few things each and every time – the first is an emotional journey. The second is a darkness that doesn’t necessarily define itself immediately. And the third is phenomenal prose by a master of the written word.

You’ll find all three aspects entrenched in ‘The Turtle Boy.’

What I liked: The story (which won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction when it was released) follows young Timmy, who is trying to make the most of his free time with his friends. When him and another friend go out to the local pond, one having a lore passed from older kids to younger kids, they spot something and a chain of events begins.

When it comes to coming-of-age novellas, this one is pristine and filled with that magical sense of youth pushing the imagination in several directions. Did they actually see what they saw? Was the boy they met a real boy or something more malevolent?

Ultimately, Kealan forces the reader into a corner where we have to decide what we believe, which he then follows up with a really dark, bleak ending that fits the story – and – in the context of ‘Stage Whispers,’ sets up for further discovery in the sequel.

What I didn’t like: Now, this may be premature, because this was novella one, but I personally wished we would’ve learned a little bit more about the lore. Kealan does give us a ton of information and revelation with the ending, but there was still this aspect that I wanted to know more about.

Why you should buy this: If you’ve not read anything from Kealan before, this is a fantastic place to begin. A quick, emotional story that introduces us to both a great character but also a very intriguing ‘folklore’ tale that will lead you down a rabbit hole. As an individual novella, I highly recommend it – and as an opening chapter in this omnibus – a very interesting starting point.

5/5

The Turtle Boy;

Stage Whispers;

What a great one we have today! R.L. Boyle burst out of the starting blocks with her phenomenal debut, ‘The Book of the Baku.’ This one had me racing through it. I simply had to pester R.L. and ask her how she creates her dark fiction!

So, I am so happy to welcome R.L. as today’s 3Q’s Special Guest!

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?

RB: I don’t have a word count, as many days I delete more than I write, or I’m researching something and so the word count doesn’t go up at all. But I do try and make sure I put about 20 hours of writing in a week, or around 3-4 hours a day and I try and take Sundays off, if I can.

It doesn’t always work out, and it’s much easier to hit those hours when I’m editing rather than drafting – I find drafting much more of a slog. I love editing, because I’m so full of self-doubt when I draft, and it’s such a relief when everything starts to come together.  

Steve: You decide to host a writer’s retreat. One weekend in a luxury house on an island. What three other authors do you invite to come along?

RB: I’d invite Stephen King (of course), Elena Ferrante (because I want to be in on the secret and I adore her writing) and Guillermo del Toro, so we can talk about monsters and all the weird stuff.

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

RB: My debut, The Book of the Baku, came out last year with Titan Books. It’s a YA/horror crossover. I wanted to write a horror story that was terrifying as well as heartbreaking. Some people have said it scared them, others that it made them cry, and so that makes me happy. Hopefully, for some it managed both! It was shortlisted for a Bram Stoker, too, which was very cool.

Steve: Bonus Question! You receive an invitation in the mail from one of these two people. The invitation invites you to have dinner and spend the night in their home. Do you accept the invitation from Victor Frankenstein or Dracula and why?

RB: DRACULA! In a heartbeat. He has the gravity, charisma, wisdom, magnetism! And he’s been around so long, imagine the stories he would tell. Also, who wouldn’t want to visit Dracula’s castle?!

So yeah, Dracula. As long as I can drape myself in garlic beforehand, I’m good to go.

Great choice! And I can’t wait to see what you have coming next! Thank you for doing this!

To keep up to date with R.L.’s work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/R-L-Boyle/e/B08V9JDH7N/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rlboyley

Website: https://rlboyle.co.uk/

Really awesome one today with amazing editor and writer Eric J. Guignard! Eric has always been super supportive and kind and continues to put out new and exciting stories and books!

Please welcome Eric!

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?
Eric: I try to write every day, even if it’s only a dozen words. My personal goal is 1,000 words a day (though most writers I know strive for more, between 1,500 – 2,000). Sometimes I just can’t get to it. I don’t beat myself up about it, as such is life. I try to write in the morning after I wake up, the earlier the better. I also, oddly, have a time of greatest focus/ productivity in late afternoon. Our bodies cycle to rhythmic clocks and mine is set to pound out work at about 4:00 p.m. Of course, all that also depends on other life obligations; I have to balance family and young children, and day jobs, volunteer work, and I coach and referee AYSO Soccer, and I’m Assistant Scoutmaster of my son’s Boy Scouts troop. It’s a lot. I’m tired all the time!

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?
Eric: I’d read it first, and then absolutely share it with the world!

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Eric: Through my press, Dark Moon Books, I’m publishing the a series of author primers created to champion modern masters of the dark and macabre, titled: Exploring Dark Short Fiction (Vol. 1: Steve Rasnic Tem; Vol. II: Kaaron Warren; Vol. III: Nisi Shawl; Vol. IV: Jeffrey Ford; Vol. V: Han Song; Vol. VI: Ramsey Campbell, etc.).
Ramsey Campbell is my latest volume, and people should read any of the titles as an opportunity to learn more about the dark fiction genre, and those authors who successfully push its boundaries.

And I’m continuing editing and publishing the afore-mentioned series, +HORROR LIBRARY+, which promotes un-themed horror short stories. Readers should dive into those volumes to explore some of the sharpest and progressive new horror fiction short stories.

For my own writing, I’m hoping to have my second collection in publication next year. I’m in process of writing three novels, of which I’m jumping back and forth between! One is a paranormal detective series, one a literary historical horror, and one a cosmic slipstream time-travel. Of course those can’t be read yet, since they’re not yet in publication, but be on the lookout! My latest published stories this year that can be read are in Not One of Us magazine, 34 Orchard, and anthologies, Voices in the Dark; Negative Space 2; and What Remains. Read any of them to support indie venues!

Steve: Bonus Question! You wake up in a comic book. What is your comic book character and what is your super power?
Eric: My kids love super hero cartoons and movies, and we fantasize about super powers together all the time. The funny thing is that we never have consistent answers. One day I might want to have the power of the universe, and another day it’s just that I could summon coffee at any time. My daughter wants the power to turn into other people, and my son wants to be able to speak with animals. Me, I’d want either illimitable wisdom or else the power to go back in time (while still knowing what I know now)… or else I’d settle for that coffee-summoning ability. That’d be cool, too.

That is awesome! It’s so funny how many people have these convos with their kids!

Thank you again, Eric!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-J-Guignard/e/B004QJ1YTC

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericjguignard

Website: http://www.ericjguignard.com/

Apologies to Patrick, but that headline writes itself!

Excited to welcome today’s guest to the 3Q realm. For many, Patrick is known for his dark fiction. For others, he’s known for keeping the peace over on the HWA Facebook page! Either way, Patrick has his hands deep in the horror world and I was excited that he agreed to do a 3Q’s!

Please welcome Patrick!

 

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?
PF: Neither. I write if/when I feel like it. A lot of my writing goes like this: “Think about a story for days or months, without really writing it down, just letting it tumble around in your idea space. Run to laptop and write the whole thing in an afternoon (if a short story) or a month (if a novel).”
I go weeks and sometimes months without actually putting anything on paper. As the coach of a FIRST Robotics team, during build season I don’t get anything writing-related done (and barely see my wife or pets, either). When “in the zone”, I might write from when I get home from work until ten or midnight several weeks in a row.

Steve: You’re riding an elevator and BAM! It gets stuck. What two authors (one living and one dead) would you happen to find yourself stuck with?
PF: I’d probably end up stuck with Nicholas Sparks and the rotting corpse of Leo Tolstoy because that’s my luck, but I’d rather get stuck with Stephen Graham Jones and the rotting-but-talkative corpse of Elmore Leonard. You’ll never find two authors so different and yet so incredibly gifted at making incredible stories and characters that populate them.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
PF: My newest novel is actually a mid-grade story (billed as YA) that I wrote on spec to kick off the re-boot of David Brin’s OUT OF TIME series. THE ARCHIMEDES GAMBIT is about a trio of teenagers who have been ripped from the history books into the 24th century to deal with an artificial intelligence that has gone murderously rogue. Any kid and no few adults will fall in love with these kids and how they tackle a problem that only they can handle.

Steve: Bonus Question! If you were transported back in time, which Pop Band/Hit Band would you hope to find yourself a member of?
PF: I would prefer to stay in this time and be a member of Taylor Swift’s band, because she’s incredible, but if there must be time travel, there must be time travel, so in that case I’m going to have to go with The Barenaked Ladies, for fun music and funny, often darkly ironic lyrics. I’m not Canadian, but they’re not ladies and perform with their clothes on, so we’ll call it even; let’s do some gigs.

Great choice, classic Canadian band. 

Thank you so much for doing this, Patrick!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Patrick-Freivald/e/B006N2B4YK

Website: https://patrick.freivald.com/

Super fun one today and our guest offers a great insight into how they construct their stories!
John C. Foster continues to churn out riveting and tension-filled tomes. Add that to the fantastic photos he shares of his pup and I’m always excited to see what he has on the go! I was actually considering messaging him back to see if he could send a photo of him and his dog, but alas, I didn’t want to bother him again!

Please, do welcome John!

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?

John: My writing style includes getting up and down frequently, pacing and roaming the kitchen for snacks, taking a shower and walking the dog. During a first draft when I’m on a hot streak, I wander a lot, start doing other things while my subconscious is churning and then stop mid task to run back to my office and hammer the key board. I write like I exercise, in explosive bursts. It’s a ridiculous way to do things. Sometimes it takes me over an hour to finish a shower because as soon as I step into the spray an idea-bomb goes off. If it’s small, a firecracker, I can write it down on the waterproof pad I keep in the shower, but if it’s an entire dialogue exchange I jump out, grab a towel and dash to my desk.

Like I said, it’s a ridiculous process at times.

I never set a word count goal because it feels restrictive. I try to finish whatever scene I’m working on in a single day so as to maintain the kinetic flow. As for schedule, I loosely break up my day into three sessions. The first starts around nine or ten, although when I’m REALLY hot I’m at my desk before seven after walking my dog Coraline. The sessions last anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours, pulling the trigger until the hammer hits empty chambers. Then I take a break to let my brain catch up with the story. The first is typically the most intensely raw and creative. The second blends that with tightening and revision and fleshing out, making sure I’m telling the story through more than just the visual sense, etc. The third is often about going back and cleaning up the mess I’ve made. I work with great intensity but I’m a shite typist and routinely commit horrible crimes against the language.

An exception to the above is as I’m hitting the last chapter or so. If memory serves I finished one book with an all day single session of around 20,000 words. It was insane and my brain felt like it had been squeezed dry, but I felt as giddy as I did tired. (The clean up effort in following days was enormous – shite typist and all that)

During draft revisions the process is a bit less frenetic, more workmanlike, though I still follow the two or three session a day plan. If the creativity just isn’t happening, there’s still work to be done. Pitching. Querying. Researching story calls and reading books I feel I need to read as a writer…though this last bleeds straight over into fun.

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?

John: I’d definitely bring it home, but I think the first thing I’d try to do is determine what the author wanted to happen with the work.
Did they think it was worthy of publishing or had they buried it in a trunk? I think back to Harper Lee’s unpublished follow-up to To Kill a Mockingbird and how it was published to benefit a seemingly duplicitous person after Lee’s death – I wanted no part of it, so I have not read it even though I think To Kill a Mockingbird may be the finest novel ever written by an American.

So there’s a good chance I would not share the manuscript widely in an abundance of caution to respect the wishes of an artist not present to represent themselves. That being said, I may be exposing some hypocrisy here, because I’d sure as hell read it myself.

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

John: My latest novel LEECH, published by Ghoulish Books, debuted at the first annual Ghoulish Book Festival in San Antonio and has generated more personal/direct messages to me from readers than anything I’ve written to date. A mosaic novel, it tells the story of psychologically unbalanced secret agent, a southern gent who is part 007, part Fox Mulder, who can “see through the veil.” Told in a series of stand alone stories that tell a larger narrative when read in order, LEECH takes readers on a tour of crumbling realities, dark scientific experiments, prehistoric super beings and demonic forces locked in arctic installations. The binding current running through each story is his reliance on his wife Karen, also psychologically unbalanced…but as unstable as these two may be, they are each other’s rock and take turns pulling each other back from the brink. At the end of the book, Leech is quite willing to destroy the world for her.

The book came about because I wrote a couple stories about Archibald Leech in his white linen suit and my crit group wished there were more. Who knows, there may even be more stories about Archibald Leech down the road? (Hint, there are more Leech stories in the works).

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

John: The Wolf. Strong, endless endurance, inescapable. Hovering in between hero and criminal. Definitely a killer. I’d much rather be a sorcerer or be able to throw lighting and fire—no flying though because I’m a afraid of heights—but if my inner self affected the mutation, I’d come out as some kind of canine predator for sure. Also wolves like to eat a lot and so do I, so I’m halfway there.

Excellent choice! Thank you so much, John!

To find more of his work, check the links!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnfosterfic

Website: https://www.johnfosterfiction.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/John-C-Foster/e/B0125PBYFC