RealityBypass

*hack, cough, phlegm…wheeze*  Hallo boys and girls…  Welcome to Halloween week at Reality By Pass.  Yours truly has gotten in the spirit by coming down with the cold from hell.  Brains leaking, shuffling from room to room dragging a blankie…puts me right in line with the zombie creatures of myth, book and movie…which goes right along with our kick off author interview for the week: Mark Henry author of Happy Hour of the Damned, and the forth coming Road Trip of the Living Dead.

Now there’s some special housekeeping that goes with this one so listen up or I’ll breath on you and you’ll be diseased too.  There are three contests to be aware of this week.  Yes, THREE.  The first is a today only bit.  Those who read and comment on Mark’s interview will go into a drawing for a copy of Happy Hour of the Damned and a cover flat of Road Trip of the Living Dead, one sweet package!  Then our fourth weekly give away is up for grabs, mug, candy and all for anyone that comments all this week.  And finally on Friday we’ll have our Halloween grab bag give away where in everyone who has commented all month goes into the drawing.  So stay tuned and get chatty for chances to join us in celebrating UF October and Halloween!

Moving on to Mark.

Vital Stats:
Lives: We’re not so sure about this.  Amanda may have devoured his brains already.
Website: Burlesque of the Damned
Books:  Happy Hour of the Damned, Road Trip of the Living Dead (2009)

From the mouth of the author:
Do you have a day of the week that is your most creative day?  Or do all the days just gang up and attack you all the time?
I’m not more creative on any specific day, just less lazy, less distractible.  I have to get into a groove to write well, usually the first 500 words of the day is crap and then I’ll move into something actually readable.

What is your favorite supernatural critter and why?
No joke, mine is zombies.  I still love ‘em.  I should be completely tired and burnt out on them three books into my Amanda Feral series but I’m not.  In fact, my wife and I are going to see Quarantine this weekend (the remake of the spanish horror movie [REC]).  It’s partially due to my mother who introduced me to zombie movies as a kid and partly the   whole metaphor thing.  Need to make a statement about rampant commercialism?  Use a zombie.  Want to get existential on someone’s ass?  Nothing says life is meaningless like the shambling undead.  See?

We all know it’s easy to get distracted when a project is taking its own sweet time to bubble.  What is your Achilles heel when it comes to getting distracted from writing?
Facebook IM and AIM.  I can be minding my own business with a regular distraction like Wordtwist and then all of a sudden I’m sucked into endless chatter involving porn names or celebrity gossip.  One thing leads to another an here comes the AIM chatroom.  Then all of a sudden it’s 5 o’clock and I haven’t written a thing.  I need a 12 step group.  I’m not kidding.

With the holidays coming up and October being a good kick off, what is your favorite Halloween activity?
Definitely going to the pumpkin patch.  When someone first brought it up years ago.  I was like, “why not just go to Safeway?” I had no idea that there were corn mazes (where else do you get an opportunity to scream “Malachi?”), hay rides (admittedly retarded but nonetheless fun) and hot cider (perfect for those chilly fall cider fights, just make sure it’s scalding).

I’ve heard of inspirational eating, so when you’re settled in to get things done is there a particular food that you just have to have on hand?
Not really.  Though spaghettios with meatballs and fritos make me pretty happy.  Also, fat.

What does it take to write a really good villain?  Do you ever find yourself in a mental space that scares you or makes you wonder if that really came out of YOUR head?
Really good villains need to be human, too, have some characteristics that the reader can identify with.
They’re always creepier if you kind of like them.  I feel a real affinity for the villains, I guess that’s why Amanda is an anti-heroine.  If you can fall in love with her then I’ve done my job.  Villain be damned.

Which of your characters gave you the most trouble and was the hardest to write for?
Martin.  Amanda’s therapist/boyfriend.  He was definitely tricky.  I had to write him just thin enough for the reader to let [Massive Spoiler Deleted] slide.  If he was fully fleshed out and likeable that kind of plot point would be unforgiveable.  Maybe it is anyway.  Hmm.

Stephen King says we should murder our darlings.  What is your most favorite murdered darling from any of your books?
He does say that.  So do Strunk and White, right?  I don’t know.  My stuff is so over-the-top that if I deleted the stuff that made me the happiest the book would lose something.  Though, I’m on the third book now and I almost wish I’d killed the idea of footnotes.  That shit is hard to keep up on.

What is your worst writing habit, the thing which you keep telling yourself you’re going to change and you do it anyway?
Comma vomit!  I use commas like Gossip Girls use credit cards.  They’re everywhere.  I have this suspicion that there’s a secret edict at Kensington, where the copy editor just gets to skip that part, lest they go completely insane.  They don’t skip it, of course.  I bet they hate my long dashes, though.

If you were going to interview another UF author, whose brain would you want to pick…or consume, we’re not picky.
I do interview lots of urban fantasy authors.  I’m certainly not shy about asking.  But there is one.  Christopher Moore.  I’m not sure if he’d consider himself an urban fantasy author, but I do.  I’d love to get into his mind for a bit and see how he pieces together story.  Can that be arranged?

From the mouth Amanda:
Boxers or briefs? You know I had to ask.
I don’t really have a preference, just as long as there’s no shit stain running up the back.  I won’t have a man that can’t wipe his own ass.  That goes for dribblers, too.  Pathetic.

Since no one seems to be able to stay out of gore covered trouble how do you get the blood stains out?
I have no idea what you’re talking about.  I’m a dainty eater.  And anything that can’t be dry cleaned is bound for the furnace, if you catch my drift.

It seems most UF characters get a wardrobe I’d kill for.  So what is your favorite article of clothing?
I don’t know what you mean by “character”  but, I’ve yet to meet anyone who could match my wardrobe in real life, let alone in print.  Sure.  Some try.  Sad little posers.

What did your author screw up most about you?
He’s really more of a ghost writer.  I give him the goods and he forms the pesky sentences and shit.  I can’t be bothered with the minutiae, I kind of have a social life if you haven’t noticed.

Is there true love on your horizon, or is true love only for those sappy romance books?
True love.  Hmm.  I guess anything’s possible.  Still, I’ve seen the new book and I can tell you this, I’ll definitely be getting some trim.

Thank you Mark and Amanda!

Stay tuned for more Halloween creepiness, new Creatures and Cultists and fabulous prizes!

~Jana