Fantasy (Humorous)
Date Published: 23 April 2019
Publisher: Black Spot Books
It’s Dark in the Old Country.
Where do goblins come from? Why do they only turn up in the Old Country, and why do they like swearing so much? In the second book of Terribly Serious Darkness, Sloot Peril—a “hero” who’s staunchly averse to heroics—goes searching for answers. Much to his chagrin, he finds them.
Everything changed after the Fall of Salzstadt, but try telling that to the people of the city, whose capacity for denial is unmatched. They have yet to acknowledge that Vlad the Invader cut a bloody swath through their city, that the dead are walking the streets, or that the Domnitor—long may he reign—has fled to wherever despots go on very long vacations while goblin infestations take care of themselves.
The worst of villains holds all of the power, unspeakable dark forces are on the rise, and everyone wants to kidnap the Domnitor—long may he reign—for their own nefarious ends. If all of that weren’t bad enough, Sloot’s got the fate of his own soul to worry about.
Can his girlfriend help him save the Old Country from annihilation? Is Myrtle really his girlfriend? If all goes well for Sloot—which it never does—he might just sort it all out before the Dark swallows them all up.
Interview with Author Sam Hooker
As a writer,
what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
Without question, the noble potoo.
It's got the look of someone very interested in what strangers have to say, but
it's probably not listening. It's always good to seem interested in strangers
despite one's crippling introversion.
How
many hours a day do you put into your writing?
One, on average, and I surround it
with several others spent staring at walls and thinking "okay, now
what?"
Do you read
your book reviews? If yes, do they affect what you write in the future?
I aspire to aloofness, but I do
occasionally read my reviews. I do my best to ignore the unnecessarily critical
ones that say things like "I haven't read it, but I can tell by the number
of pages that I won't like it. One star."
I'll seriously consider any
meaningful critiques if the reader enjoyed the book overall. If they didn't,
chances are we're simply not a match. Any writer who tries to please everyone
will fail them all, and probably themselves as well. I'd never rule out making
changes to the way I write, but thus far my readers seem to like what I'm
doing.
Do you
leave hidden messages in your books that only a few people will find?
If you string together the first
letter of every sentence in Peril in the
Old Country, you'll end up with nothing meaningful at all. Or at least I
hope that's the case. If not, I'm probably being controlled by some sinister
government agency that will redirect my thoughts toward German food if I start
catching on. Is anyone else craving bratwurst?
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Soul Remains?
They're not bad people, except for
the ones who are. Most of them are merely ridiculous, the sorts of ninnies who
would have a hard time functioning in the real world. They barely manage it in
the fictional one.
The protagonist, Sloot Peril, is
an accountant who has never taken a risk in his life. The best thing you can do
for a person like that is to deliver them unto danger. I'd have sent him a box
of vipers by now, only the scaly bastards won't stop slithering long enough for
me to put the postage stamps on.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have
planned for the future?
I'm currently working on the third
and final book of Terribly Serious
Darkness, which does not yet have a title. That's the hardest part about
writing novels: the titles. Can't be taken lightly. That's how you end up with
books called "Ode to Something or Other," or "I'm Too Hungry to
Deal With This Right Now," or "The Notebook."
After this series is done, I'm
going to cry myself to sleep, wake up a month later, eat a big breakfast, and
decide what's next. I've got a notebook full of ideas. It's just a matter of
combining the unlikely few that shouldn't work well together, but do.
Do you allow yourself a certain number of hours to write or do you
write as long as the words come?
Like all writers of the male
persuasion, I'm a fan of Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway compared a writer's
inspiration to water in a well, saying "it is better to take a regular
amount out than to pump the well dry and wait for it to refill." Some days
I write for an hour, others for several; but when I find myself reaching for
something to say, I know I'm done for the day. I find that the well refills
most quickly if I binge on Monty Python
reruns for the rest of the evening, and possibly the following day.
Do you have a certain number of words or pages you write per day?
Every writer has a target, except
for the ones who lie about it. During a first draft, I aim for 5,000 words per
week. It's a manageable goal that I can almost always hit and usually exceed.
If I don't hit my goal in a given week, I don't worry about it. Quality is what's
important, not quantity.
What inspires you to write?
I'm inspired by things that don't
quite fit into their spaces but are content to inhabit them nonetheless. Also
by people who can't laugh at themselves, because they're the easiest to laugh
at. Also, people who are pretty sure they know irony when they see it, but not
so sure that they're willing to put money on it.
Would you rather
Read fiction or
non-fiction?
Fiction.
Read series or
stand-alone?
Series.
Read Science fiction
or horror?
Science fiction,
if I have to choose.
Read Stephen King or Dean
Koontz
Stephen
King, but that’s a tough one.
Read the book or
watch the movie?
Read
the book.
Read an ebook or
paperback?
Paperback.
Be trapped alone for
one month in a library with no computer or a room with a computer and Wi-Fi
only?
I’ll
take the computer and WiFi. I don’t mind screen reading, and how else will I
update Goodreads?
Do a cross-country
book store tour or blog tour online?
I’ll
take my laptop on the road and do both. I know that’s cheating, but I’m
comfortable with being an awful person. It means I have tons of room for
growth.
About the Author
Sam Hooker writes darkly humorous fantasy. He is an entirely serious person, regardless of what you may have heard. Originally from Texas, he now resides in southern California with his wife, son, and dog.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
Giveaway
0 comments:
Post a Comment