But anyone who knows me well knows I love scary and anything vampire- by the time I was ten I had devoured every Dean Koontz, John Saul and Stephen King novel I could get my hands on.
So today I have an interview with a horror author, Richard Rhys Jones, Reggie to his friends, - and his books should be on the must read list of any horror fan.
Horror and vampires. You know you want to read it.
Please share a little about yourself,
your genres, any other pen names you use.
Well, I'm in
my mid forties and originally come from Colwyn Bay, a seaside town that sits
between Rhyl and Llandudno on the north Wales coast. I left there aged 16 to
join the army and sort of never went back. I now live in Lower Saxony, Germany
with my wife, two kids and cat, Carlos.
My genre of
choice is horror and my book, "The Division of the Damned" is out now
on Amazon under my real name, Richard Rhys Jones.
Are you a parent?
We have two kids, a boy and a girl both
aged fifteen, (a very difficult age, apparently).
If yes do you find it hard to juggle
writing and parenting?
Yes. Very.
My wife works as well and because we
live in a small village miles away from anywhere, we're constantly playing taxi
driver for our two. I work shifts in a steel works, earlies, lates and nights
on a seven days on, two days off rotation and the only time I really have to
write is after late shift.
My routine is I come home from lates,
around 2230, eat something and then when all are in bed, I write. I generally
have nine days a month to write, which isn't a lot but will have to do until
the kids leave home.
Have you ever based your book or
characters on actual events or people from your own life?
The characters in my book are all named
after my workmates. I still haven't told them yet either.
My book deals with vampires working for
the Third Reich and the "heroes" are nearly all German. I was
struggling with finding German names that didn't sound like they were straight
out of a corny war stories compilation, and then I was blessed with a Eureka
moment. I decided to simply use the names of my workmates and the German side
of my family. I mixed the names up, there are no one-for-one copies, but
they're still the names used by the men in my family and place of work.
When you’re not writing what do you do?
Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?
I play the drums. Once a week I drive to
our practice room and punish my drums in a Hardcore band. It's nothing serious,
we're all shift working dads who simply haven't grown up and refuse to move on
to playing the Blues.
I actually did play in a Blues band for nearly
ten years, but there's no challenge there for a drummer. So when my workmate asked
me to have a go at playing Hardcore I jumped at the chance.
It's all very garage level, we make no
money with it, but I love playing it.
Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to
write that you haven’t tackled yet?
Yes, Fantasy.
Actually, it's a lie to say that I
haven't tried writing it, I have. On holiday in Spain a couple of years ago I
managed to put down 23,000 words. However, I sort of lost steam and it's now
sitting in the cellar of my hard drive, collecting cyberdust.
Of all the characters you’ve ever
written, who is your favorite and why?
I think if I
have a favourite character, it's one called Rohleder. A survivor of a flame
thrower attack, he's horribly scarred and very cynical. However, his mutilated
outer shell conceals a very compassionate core and a comically dry outlook on
life.
I had Rohleder
fall in love, which was very hard for me to write as I generally stay away from
such goings on when I read. The woman of his affections, a refugee who had
witnessed the horror of the Eastern front herself, sees past the disfigurement
and falls for the man inside. I'm quite proud of what I did there and I really
feel that, regardless of how cheesy it may sound, I struck the right balance in
their relationship. I won't put down what happens though.
What book are you reading now?
"The SS. A new history" by Adrian Weale.
Very well written, very factual and for a Third Reich buff like myself, a must
read.
What is in your to read pile?
Zinnman by Robert Craven and "SHARC" by
Paul Rudd. They're both friends of mine so it's a must that I read their work
A.S.A.P.
Thank you very much for having me here.
September 10 Interview
Fang-tastic Books
September 12 Interview
Roxanne’s Realm
September 13 Guest blog
Beauty in Ruins –
September 13 Promo
The Book Tart
September 14 Promo and review
Stuffed Shelves
September 14 Guest blog and review
Darkeva's Dark Delights,
September 15 Guest blog and review
Leah Gonzalez
September 17 Interview
The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
September 18 Interview
Storm Goddess Book Reviews
September 24 Guest blog
By Richard Rhys Jones
Genre:Horror
Publisher: Taylor Street Publishing
Date of Publication: April 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475155433
ASIN: B007RS1YUI
Number of pages:298
Word Count: 90.000
Cover Artist: Chris Salmen
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/V7j4QcC0gvQ
Blurb/Book Description:
It was a brilliant plan to win the war.
What if the Third Reich could own the night?
What if they had a Division of Vampires?
And if those Vampires didn't stop?
If they had plans to conquer the whole world?
What if the Third Reich could own the night?
What if they had a Division of Vampires?
And if those Vampires didn't stop?
If they had plans to conquer the whole world?
Even Heinrich Himmler hadn't thought of that. But in Transylvania someone had. And on the Winter Solstice of 1944, the world would be at their mercy.
Find the Author at:
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1 comment:
Hi Wenona and thank you for having me on your Blog.
It's great that you're so open about what genres you present here, respect!
Reggie :-)
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