Interview by the website Books Gone Social:
What kind of books do you write?
First and foremost, I write the kind of books I’d be interested in reading, mostly thrillers, horror and science-fiction. As a writer, I put ordinary characters in extraordinary situations. I grew up on Stephen King novels, Marvel comics, and the films of Spielberg and John Hughes. Their work can’t help but bleed into the worlds of my characters.
What inspired you to write?
I grew up reading and drawing my own versions of comic books. Eventually, I graduated to reading mainstream fiction and gravitated to King, Bradbury and Asimov. It seemed only natural that I start telling my own tales.
Coming from an Acadian heritage (dat’s Cajun, Sha), the storytelling bug infected me early on. All you need to do is listen to some Cajun music to know the truth of that statement. (For the uninitiated who may be interested in a gateway drug, try some of the new generation, Steve Riley and Pine Leaf Boys. Then try the bayou-masters like Nathan Abshire and Lawrence Walker.)
What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?
Once again, my childhood revolved around the works of Stephen King and Isaac Asimov. (My first novel THE MALL, a story about a fully automated shopping complex that goes dark during an EMP, trapping a single mother and her two children, is an homage to them both.) Together, the pair is the yin and yang of my literary universe. King is all gut, while Asimov is all head. Therein lay each writer’s greatest strength and weakness. I try to inject all of my work with a balance of both logic and emotion and satisfy both parts of the reader’s nature. In addition, I love testing the boundaries of genres, until I get something like a haunted shopping mall overrun with killer robots.
What is the hardest part of writing for you?
With a seven-year-old son and a wife with health issues, time is my greatest enemy. But with any passion worth pursuing, writing is a compulsion for me and I take every opportunity to create new worlds.
Where do you like to write - what is your routine?
I write anywhere and everywhere from Metrolink trains to the waiting rooms of doctor’s offices. I happen to prefer to write either early in the morning or late at night. My muse seems to speak to me all the more clearly during this twilight zone.
What do you do when you are not writing - do you have a day job?
Yes. Unless you’re the aforementioned King or Asimov, we all have to put food on the table. And remember, both King and Asimov were college professors until they hit it big.
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During research into a series of local murders, two teens discover a thirty-five year-old connection to the serial killer and an ancient evil that threatens their very lives.
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A compulsive gambler comes to the aid of a clairvoyant woman, who believes she’s foreseen her own death, as she flees two mysterious men in black.
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A single mother must find her lost son and escape from a state of the art fully automated shopping complex that has been locked down during a catastrophic power outage.
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