A Visit with Demon Slayer Cynthia Vespia

Demon Hunter is a horror fiction by Cynthia VespiaTonight, I’d like to chat with author Cynthia Vespia. Her project Demon Hunter has evolved into a trilogy, the kind of fiction that will compel you to sleep with your lights on. Demon Hunter: the Chosen One has attracted many readers, and Part II, Demon Hunter: Seek and Destroy will be out in print November 27, 2009. Cynthia has been a freelance journalist since high school, and has penned several other novels before joining Aspen Mountain Press. Stop by her website, www.CynthiaVespia.com; her trailers are awesome to see. She brings all her writing experience to the printed page. So let’s hear what Cynthia has to say about her Demon Hunter project.

BARBARA: Could you tell your readers a little about Demon Hunter? Would you summarize the theme by saying, “Be careful what you wish for?”

CYNTHIA: Absolutely. We can all find ourselves secretly wishing for a certain aspect of our lives to change but sometimes you get your wish and it winds up not being worth it, or not what you thought it would be. And sometimes it IS what you were looking for…but things don’t always come easily or run smoothly.

Demon Hunter really plays on changes. Life changes, changes of the soul, changes of who you thought you once were or where you were going. Costa Calabrese has just uncovered the truth about his past. Some truths should never be revealed. When you learn you’re the son of the world’s foremost and feared hunter of demons, life’s rules inevitably change. As his lineage is uncovered he must stay one step ahead of the demons who are intent on the destruction of his famed family. With the aide of companions he meets along the way, Costa will travel the great expanse of the land walking in his famed father’s footsteps and taking up the role his blood line now demands of him…whether he wants to or not.

Exploring the classic theme of good versus evil, Demon Hunter blends the highly popular elements of dark fantasy with the proven concept of high-adventure novels where believable, down-to-earth characters take the reader on a journey. It is the story about a nobody who becomes a somebody in the bloodiest of ways.

BARBARA: I was impressed with your book trailers especially DH on YouTube.  How do they work for you? How did you set up YouTube?

CYNTHIA: Thank you, I make most of my own trailers. I believe that even readers are very visual by nature. Let’s face it, these days everyone has a touch of ADD! We want info now and we want it fast. Not everyone has the time to read a blurb; but if you can encapsulate your story in a compelling 2 minute trailer and hook them with the imagery, they are far more likely to seek out your novel for the big read. YouTube is a great place to host your trailers. It gets millions upon millions of hits per day. I essentially started my YouTube to showcase my fitness videos and the video editing projects I’ve done work on in the past. From there I segued into using it as another vehicle for my writing by displaying the trailers.

BARBARA: I see you’ve been a freelance journalist since high school. Could you describe a typical writing day for you?

CYNTHIA: Really no two days are alike…it’s chaos. I juggle a lot of different things (way too much right now) and I’m a terrible procrastinator. But if I have a deadline in front of me, watch me fly. Right now as I work on the third and final installment of the Demon Hunter trilogy I find I get drawn to it at odd hours. If my Muse is awake and wanting to play, I don’t dare deny her, I just go with it. It has honestly been a long while since something kept me up late or woke me up early to work on it so that tells me that DH3 is going to be something very special.

BARBARA: Demon Hunter and your other works have enjoyed great reviews, I notice. Do you have any forthcoming signings or writing events? Where?

CYNTHIA: As of this writing I’m making the rounds on the interview circuit to promote the release of Demon Hunter: Seek & Destroy. It’s the second installment in the DH trilogy. You can catch me on Reader’s Entertainment Radio on 9/13 at 8:30 est. and on Sin City Sessions on 9/25 at 9pm. And as always stay up to date on my official website www.CynthiaVespia.com where you can find the latest news and developments.

BARBARA: Do you think e-books will eventually outsell paperbacks? Why or why not?

CYNTHIA: I don’t necessarily think they will outsell paperbacks. Readers are always going to want to have the feel of a book in their hands. But I do think e-books have found their niche and they are here to stay.  It is the era of technology and you have to be ready to embrace every possible angle. My trilogy of terror Demon Hunter is a proud component of the e-book agenda. You will see a lot more e-books and e-book readers in the future but there is no fear that bookstores will go out of business…people enjoy it as a social gathering, and most bookstores have great coffee too!

BARBARA: What is the once piece of advice you’d give a writer trying to promote their work?

CYNTHIA: Marketing and promoting your work is as important as writing the novel in the first place. You can write the Great American Novel but if nobody knows it exists then you’re going to have a hard time. You have to be a marketing machine. No one is going to be behind your work as much as you are. Even the biggest publishing houses can only delegate so much time and money to new authors. The rest is up to you. And my best advice would be to think outside the box. If you’re doing what everybody else is doing, someone is always doing it better…you need to do something different so you stand out from the pack and get noticed.

BARBARA: I notice that you’re a fan of Dean Koontz. How do you feel the up and coming dark fantasy writers compare with greats like Koontz and King?

CYNTHIA: Oh yes, Koontz got me started on my career as a writer! There will only ever be one Koontz and one King, but some of the new writers coming up have some really unique story ideas. Not everything is black and white in this world and I like when an author mixes shades of gray. There are so many really great authors out there getting lost in the shuffle of the mediocre writers due to the simple fact that they just don’t get enough exposure. I’d like to invite readers to step outside their comfort zone next time they’re picking out a book and try on a different author. You may find a new favorite. An easy way to do that is to get an e-book. They are convenient and not very costly. Demon Hunter: The Chosen One is running for $6.00 per download.

BARBARA: I hear you’re working on a new novel, a dark fantasy, but the rest is a military secret. Can you give us a few hints?

CYNTHIA: I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you! Heh, heh…no, I’ll let my stories slay you instead. The secret is out…Demon Hunter was always meant to be a trilogy. The second installment titled Demon Hunter: Seek & Destroy will be out on Nov 27, 2009. The main players are back from The Chosen One and this time they find their adventures take them out to sea, to the land of the dragons, and straight down into the pit of Hell. There is also a love triangle of sorts added to the mix with some very surprising outcomes. I am currently writing the third and final chapter to the series…I can’t give away too much here, but I will say the opening chapter alone will take you by surprise!

BARBARA: Can you tell us a little about the Fiction Writer’s Guild and how they help authors?

CYNTHIA: Anytime you’re part of a group of authors, you can always benefit from exchanging ideas, critiques, and the latest news events. Just be choosy in whose advice you seek.

BARBARA: Where may people order copies of Demon Hunter?

CYNTHIA: Demon Hunter is available online via:

http://www.amazon.com/Demon-Hunter-The-Chosen-ebook/dp/B007SRTYBE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369421649&sr=8-2&keywords=cynthia+vespia
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/demon-hunter-cynthia-vespia/1111388411?ean=2940014120616
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/151759

Cynthia Vespia
Author of Thrillers and Fantasy Novels
www.CynthiaVespia.com
www.myspace.com/demonhunternovel

Interview with Vampire Aficionado Rod Marsden

RodMarsden

Tonight, I would like to chat with author Rod Marsden about his recent release Disco Evil: Dead Man’s Stand. Rod and I first met years ago when I used to write for his magazines Prohibited Matter and Masque Noir. His magazines have since retired, and now Rod is devoting his writing time to vampires and the nightmares they create.

BARBARA: Did your writing begin with your magazines Masque Noir and Prohibited Matter? What made you interested in writing?

ROD: My interest in writing began with my family trips up north to a fishing village called Iluka. These yearly trips in May, the beginning of the Australian Autumn, were a joyous time. They were a time of exploration. There was bushwalking and swimming. There was fishing and there was reading. I bought my first comic book while on one of these trips and the same is true about the first paperback I read for enjoyment. My dad made an effort to keep us away from television during this time so that we could experience nature and become more of a family. He worked long hours and it was these trips up north that gave us all a chance to reconnect. My parents when they retired moved to Iluka.

I began writing in college for the magazines and newspapers there. Masque Noir and Prohibited Matter were an outlet for the itch. They came around when I had two of the three degrees I would end up with and fewer ways of seeing my writing through to publication. There were other horror titles around I managed to get a piece or two in back in those days. Everyone was struggling.
 
Writing came naturally. The rewriting did not. High School was not a place to show any real interest in that sort of thing. Even today the way well known novels are gone over in the classroom seems wrong. Just how many people have been turned off reading for enjoyment by high school? Now I think maybe we can count the I-pods and mobile phones in use on the train, every train for a clue.
 
Anyway, my early heroes were guys like Stan Lee and Gene Colan. Then came Asimov and Silverberg. I was determined either to become a writer or an artist. I toyed for a short period with becoming an actor.
 
All up, I was a Star Trek fan. When the show and its spin-offs weren’t around I’d gobble up the novels. I would enjoy them on trips up north to see my parents. In my late twenties and early thirties I would head up north with enough Star Trek stuff to choke a horse and whatever else to do with either science fiction or horror I could lay my hands on. Then after consuming other people’s fiction I would sit down and write my own stories. I was also keen on superhero tales and continue to be.
The Buffy series came along and inspired me in a number of ways. I could enjoy the television series with my nieces and nephew. I could give them a Buffy comic book or novel every once in a while as a treat. Buffy took the vampire out of the 19th – early 20th Century mold. This was healthy for the horror genre. I found myself writing vampire stories because of this. All of a sudden vampires became cool again. Twilight might do the same for the present generation of teenagers and uncles. I hope so.
 
If you are not a writer, it is hard to say what makes one want to write. If you are a writer, no explanation is required. There’s a muse at times. Where she comes from and where she goes I cannot say. All that is clear is that she’s around when I do my best work. God’s influence? Who can say for sure? Being in contact with other writers can stimulate you to write.
 
BARBARA: Masque Noir and Prohibited Matter enjoyed good reviews during their run. Any thoughts of revisiting magazine publishing?
 
ROD: No thoughts at all of revisiting the world of magazine publishing. I learnt a lot through my involvement in those magazines and made a lot of friends but I have moved on. Mind you I have kept the friendships. Don Boyd worked with me on the magazines. If he had lived longer we might be reading Don Boyd novels or watching Don Boyd scripted science fiction or horror films.
 
BARBARA: A lot of your tales revolve around sailing. Does your fishing and other interests provide grist for tales?

ROD: I am keen on travel. I would love to visit the USA again and see more of it. I would love to visit England and the rest of Europe for the first time. Right now I use my mind and my pen to travel. What does this have to do with fishing? Well, when you are fishing you spend a lot of time either at sea or looking out to sea. You can’t help wondering what is over the horizon for you and, of course, the horizon after that. Marco Polo grew up where he could look out to sea and I am betting it was true for Chrisopher Columbus. I sometimes travel up and down the mighty Clarence River in northern New South Wales but in a small boat. The boat is too small to challenge the sea which is beyond the mouth of the river. I am not a sailor. If you are looking for an old salt then Diane Carey who writes the occasional Star Trek novel is your person. I write the very occasional tale of adventure at sea but I am not in her league. Right now I have a niece in London and hope to get some great e-mails from her about her adventures there. It will help me to imagine what it would be like to be in modern London. Someday I hope to be there for real.

BARBARA: A lot of writers take the leap from short story writer to novelist. What prompted your interest in vampires?

ROD: Yes, a lot of writers do start off with the short story and work their way to the novel. The short story is a great place to start and also to go back to. It is where you learn your discipline. My interest in vampires began with both the old Universal monster movies and the British Hammer series of horror flicks. Then horror seemed to lose its grip on the public. American authors like Stephen King, who first made a name for himself in a British short story horror series, came to the fore. The zombie movies made out of Hollywood in the late ’60s to the mid-’70s also helped. Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead did a lot to perk up interest.

I have always had an interest in vampires but after a while I really didn’t want to deal with the sort that dresses for the opera and would stand out like a sore thumb just about anywhere in modern society.
Romero was one director who broke with this trend. Steven King with Salem’s Lot also made a break.
 
Then along came the Buffy television series. In this show vampires could come from all walks of life and the same could be said for demons. It opened my eyes to the possibilities as it did other writers.
All up, vampires are very human monsters and I would say that is what really makes them scary. If the writer is good, we see our reflections in their glistening fangs. What we see we may not always like. Writing about very human monsters is a way I can comment about the society I grew up in and the society I am living in now. I do this in my book of short vampire stories and in my novel Disco Evil: Dead Man’s Stand.
 
BARBARA: What are the most challenging parts of the creative process?

ROD: The most challenging part of the writing process is the blank page or, for you writers who are wed to your computers, the blank screen. You have plenty to say but where to begin? The best answer is to make a start. If this start doesn’t look to you like a good beginning it might become chapter two or it might end up in the trash. Either way you have to start and keep going until you find your feet. Having a plot in mind or on paper helps. Don’t expect the ending to be the one you originally came up with. As your characters develop so will the plot and so will the ending.

The second most challenging part of the writing process is the character that won’t do what you need him or her to do in order for the plot to work. You have a nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you that this character is out of place or you want them to do something they are never, ever likely to do and if you don’t come up with a good reason for them doing it then you better find some other character to say the words or do the deed. Oh, and it is a good sign when you do have one of your fictional characters so strong in character they will kick up a stink if you treat them bad.
The third most challenging part of the writing process is often finding the time for both the writing and the re-writing. There are teachers who only tackle the novel once they have retired from teaching.
The next most challenging part of the wrting process is finding a good editor. Writers always need good editors.
The last most challenging part of the writing process is finding someone interested in you as a writer and interested in your latest effort. They have to be interested enough to put your stuff out there. They will be taking a chance, sure, even if you look good, even if you are good, even if you are great.
 
BARBARA: How do you feel about Stephen King and other horror authors?

ROD: Stephen King is good in a number of areas of fiction but he has specialized in horror over the years. Like Hitchcock and Stan Lee he does occasionally appear in movies based on his writing. King’s books on the art of writing are well worth reading.

Lyn McConchie, a New Zealand writer, has been an inspiration. She writes mostly in the pulp style though her Farm Daze series of humorous books on farm life are wonderful. By pulp style I mean like the writers who wrote for the pulp magazines when they were popular. Also like the Star Trek authors. Over the years she has turned her hand to every genre including horror. She is even in the process of putting out a Western novel. She is someone to be admired. And, yes, I do see myself as someone also writing in the pulp tradition.
 
I grew up on Robert E. Howard whose prose is much more colorful than my own. He is best known for creating Conan the Barbarian and also Red Sonja. He wrote some horror short stories and he did come out of the pulps.
 
Tom and Ginger Johnson mostly write adventure stories but delve into horror. They keep the ideas and the ideals of pulp alive in the USA.
Terry Pratchett is not strictly speaking a horror writer. He does, however, use the elements of horror in his Disc World novels. There are Igors, Golems, Vampires, Werewolves,and two versions of the Grim Reaper romping around. I enjoy the way he uses the tried and true elements of horror to poke fun at modern society.
 
BARBARA: How do you feel the economy will affect the book industry?

ROD: The book industry was crippled by the goods and services tax when it was introduced in Australia some time ago. Now we have a severe downturn in the economy which is worldwide. I believe there will always be books around. Whether or not they will be books worth the time and trouble of reading is another matter. Whether or not there will always be chances out there for new authors is also another matter.

BARBARA: Tell me about some of your writers’ forums.

ROD: I have been involved with writers on Facebook, YouTube and Myspace. I have had fun on Twitter. I have been involved with World Fiction Writers which can boast of having quite a few talented writers under their belt.

BARBARA: If there was one piece of advice you could give an aspiring novelist, what would that be?

ROD: Work with the short story for a while. You are more likely to have a short story published than a novel and it is a good exercise in story construction and brevity. Get to know other writers in your area and overseas. Some writers I have been corresponding with for 30 years.

BARBARA: Where may people order copies of your books?

ROD: My books may be purchased through www.amazon.com and www.bloodredshadows.com. The novel Disco Evil: Dead Man’s Stand is available as an ebook as well as a paperback.

Interview with Prolific Author Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson has published over thirty books with publishers like Filament Books, Altus Press, and now Night to Dawn Books. Characters like the Black Ghost and Masked Avenger has provided grist for his pulp fiction, and Tom has drawn on his experiences in the Army as well. Tom and his wife Ginger helped edit the Fading Shadows magazines and Tales of Mask & Mayhem. Their efforts on keeping pulp alive earned them the Lamont award in 1991, and in 2005, Johnson became among Preditors & Editors’ top ten finalists for Jur: a Story of Pre-Dawn Earth. During the past year, he has created a new science fiction series with Pangaea: Eden’s Planet, and now his sequel, Pangaea: Eden’s Children. His upcoming SF novel, Tunnel through Space, will come out later this summer.

BARBARA CUSTER: When did you first begin writing?

TOM JOHNSON: I was a Desk Sergeant for the Army MPs in France when I first started writing fiction, sometime around 1964 or ’65. On slow nights, when there wasn’t much activity going on, I got awfully bored while my units were out on patrol, and I enjoyed working out plots and creating characters, then coming up with situations to move the stories along. Unfortunately, I never pursued my interest in writing until after Vietnam. In 1970, I wrote the first two novels in the Jur series in long hand, and hired a professional typist to put the first one into manuscript form. But when the first novel didn’t sell right away, I left the second one in long hand and that’s where they stayed for thirty years.

BARBARA CUSTER: How did your experiences in Vietnam affect your writing process?

TOM JOHNSON: I think the jungles of Vietnam inspired me more than anything. The setting was perfect for an action adventure novel; and we had a few real adventures ourselves over there! Every day was a story, and for anyone as impressionable as me, I could see dinosaurs or ancient civilizations everywhere I looked. When I returned to the States, I had to put my stories on paper. Those lonely nights back in France resurfaced, and I remembered some of those plots and characters I had created, and before I knew it, the stories began unraveling as fast as my pen could move across the page.

BARBARA CUSTER: You enjoyed a great run on Echoes, Detective Mystery Stories, and your other magazines. Do you have any back copies available?

TOM JOHNSON: Yes, Echoes ran from 1982 until we retired in 2004; 100 issues in magazine form, then another 57 issues as a newsletter. In 1995, we started a string of fiction magazines, which included Detective Mystery Stories and others. I think we published over 300 issues of the fiction magazines, and probably had a hundred writers and a dozen artists contributing to the titles. We started a trend that is still going today, although the quality of the publications has improved greatly since the advent of POD (publish on demand) technology. When we retired, we stored a lot of back issues, and occasionally still sell copies.

BARBARA CUSTER: How did you come up with the idea for your Pangaea tales?

TOM JOHNSON: In the Jur novels, there is an ancient civilization called the Gen-sis, or First Ones, that existed with the dinosaurs. However, with Jur, the stories centered around people from the twenty-first century accidentally falling through time portals and finding themselves in the Jurassic Period. But I never really explained who this ancient civilization was, or where they come from. Pangaea begins sixty million years before the Jurassic Period, and tells the story of the First Ones. So, though Pangaea and Jur are connected in that respect, they are two different series; one following the First Ones, the other following people from our own time who encounter the Gen-sis.

BARBARA CUSTER: What do you find most difficult about your work-in-progress?

TOM JOHNSON: That’s easy. Wordage. When I studied in school, we were taught to use all the little helpers available to a writer: adverbs, adjectives, and a lot of passive voice. Today, publishers and editors want shorter sentences, tighter, and less little helpers. Absolutely no passive voice. So, for someone coming from a period when it was all right to use them, to a period in which they are avoided like the plague, I’ve got to add more story in shorter sentences. Sometimes, it is completely alien to me.

BARBARA CUSTER: What do you enjoy most about the creative process?

TOM JOHNSON: Creating characters and plots. I won’t start a story until I have the plot, and I must be happy with my characters in order for the story to work. I want them to be real, not just names on paper. They become someone I know, someone I can connect to. Basically, they are my friends. No matter how flowery the language of the story, if your characters don’t feel real, you won’t pull the reader into the adventure.

BARBARA CUSTER: Your “soul stealer” short stories have gone well for NTD and now for your anthology Blood Moons and Nightscapes. Where did you get your idea for these tales?

TOM JOHNSON: As an accident investigator in law enforcement, as well as a soldier in Vietnam, I saw violent death. A car slams head on into a tree, and what’s left of the driver and passengers can be scrapped off the windshield. Maybe there was a baby, or young child in the front seat. Or a bullet bows a soldier’s face half off or worse. Death can come when we don’t expect it, and it may be very violent. I would like to think that there are angels or soul stealers out there, who could help those victims meet that sudden, violent death and cross over. That’s why I created the soul stealer stories, I think.

BARBARA CUSTER: Tell the readers about your latest release.

TOM JOHNSON: Pangaea: Eden’s Children is the sequel to last year’s Pangaea: Eden’s Planet. In Eden’s Planet, a rocket ship from 2023 crashes back to Earth after going through a time warp in space. But the planet they land on is Earth 250 million years in the past, known as the Permian Period, sixty million years before the dinosaurs. However, there are terrible reptiles and other denizens in this period just as awesome as T-Rex. Plus, the crew is aware of a coming catastrophe that will wipe out all living creatures in this period. The story is about their survival. Then, in Eden’s Children, I had to fast forward the scene sixty million years, when the descendants of that rocket ship have resettled the Earth, and the problems they are facing. Pangaea, by the way, refers to the super continent, before it broke apart to form the continents that we are familiar with today. Imagine a world with one continent and one ocean. That was Pangaea, the world as it was then.

BARBARA CUSTER: What advice would you give to a person trying to get their short story / novel published?

TOM JOHNSON: Never give up. It was 32 years from the time I wrote my first novel in 1970 to when it was finally published in 2002. Since then, I’ve written seven fiction novels and numerous anthologies of short stories, as well as nonfiction books. All published. So if your heart is really into writing, then stick with it. The greatest reward is not in the money you make, but the pleasure of creating something others will enjoy. Write every day, as the experience will improve your abilities. And read the current genre of books you prefer, so you will know what the publishers are looking for. But above all, unless your aim is that of becoming a writer-for-hire, don’t compromise your goals just for the sake of being published. Write what YOU are interested in, not what someone else wants you to write.

 

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