Sunday, February 14, 2016

Welcome to our last day in our week long Valentine's massacre

Today we heading back down to Florida . Going to his favorite karoke bar to find our last featured author .
Books to curl up with . Hey Eric thank you for agreeing to meet with me.
Eric Shelanan. Thanks for having me


1 Tell us all a little bit about yourself.

I'm a human being (some would argue that point) and I am married to another of my species named Linda.   This year is our 30th wedding anniversary, which is pretty cool, because I didn't mess it up!   I was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, which privileges me to wear boots and cowboy hats.  I do this often when appropriate - and in Florida, that's pretty much at a rodeo.   Boots and hats can look ... off ... when you're wearing  shorts.

2 What inspired you to write your first novel?   -
the short story market was tough and drying up, so in the late 90s, I decided to begin my first novel - then I canned it and wrote Out of the Darkness: The Story of Mary Ellen Wilson, which is a true story of the 1874 rescue of an abused little girl in New York City.   She was rescued by the ASPCA.     My first novel was A Reason To Kill, which is a bit of serial killer fare.   My inspiration?  My heroes, of course!   King, Koontz, Cussler and Follett. 

3 Who or what inspired you to start writing and in what way?  
Well, I've always dug a well-spun tale, and the authors listed above were my inspiration.  I've written since I was old enough to spell, but when I was a punk, it was mostly poetry.  I wrote a lot of poetry as a young man, both pre-adolescent and post-adolescent.  Every time I fell in love, I'd write a joyous poem about my happiness - and when it all fell apart, I wrote a bitter poem about what a ____ she was.

4 Do you have a specific writing style?
  I'd say my style is "conversational."  I don't spend hours on a sentence, and I don't typically jump to a thesaurus to find alternate words.  If I don't use it in my everyday conversation, it ain't gonna be in my books.   I don't "structure prose," rather, I write stories. 

5  Tell us about your current project.  
I'm currently working on the sequel to Scabs:The Gemini Exception.   It's called, Scabs II: The Quantum Connection.  It's a bit of alien fare with an apocalyptic twist.  There is a unique bent to the story in that only identical twins survived the initial onslaught by the invading creatures.

6 What made you decide to write about vampires and zombies?  
 They are part of horror - and both are pretty horrible.   But you must check your source, because I never wrote about vampires.   :-)    I have considered it, but it seemed that after Twilight and True Blood, it was all a bit overdone.  I might do one - getting back to vampire roots - sometime! 

7 What scares you the most?
  I have to say the creepers, like serial killers and the like.  They are REAL, and they are OUT THERE.   They all seem to be sadistic in one way or another, and I could not imagine being under their control until my demise.  THAT is frightening to me. 

8 How do you feel about the boom in horror / zombie genre. Has the graphic novel helped or hurt this genre?  
  I love the boom ... I'm not so sure about how easy it is to publish a novel, though.   I realize that I am not Stephen King, nor am I Dean Koontz.  I could not write (at this point in my career) an epic tale like Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, but I do know how to structure a sentence - which many of the new authors do not.     I would urge them to polish, polish, polish, then let Beta readers read it before releasing.   Then I would urge the beta readers to be deadly honest with the author.   THEN I would urge the author to heed their advice.   Ignoring it is to the writer's own detriment.


Now for some fun questions 

 If your book was to be made into a movie , who would like to see play the leads?  
  I see Mark Wahlberg as a possible Flex Sheridan.  I like Naya Rivera as Gem Cardoza.   Hemp Chatsworth could be played by Charlie Hunnam, and Charlie Sanders could be played by Yvonne Strahovski, who played Hannah in the last season of Dexter. 

10. When was the last time you were really scared.
  Recently, I was in a boat when it hit a huge wake.  I flew up and landed on my ass, and felt all sorts of stuff go "CRUNCH!"   I got multiple disc herniations, two compression fractures, and an annular tear.   I was really worried I would never be the same again.    I'm too old for that shit, but I'm doing okay now.  Still some back pain now and then, but doing much better, less than two months out. 

11 Who is your favorite author and why.  I have to say it's either Clive Cussler or Ken Follett.  Mainly for their ability to write a sweeping tale encompassing many years, with so much historical detail or otherwise.   They inspire me to be a much better writer than I am. 

12 Your favorite place to write.
 Wherever I can.  Anywhere I can.   I'm in my own world when I write, so it really doesn't matter.    

Last but not least where can we find you and stalk you?  
 Cape Coral, Florida!    Send up a signal flare ... I'll find you.

thank you for you time... YOU'RE WELCOME!  Thank you!
 




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