My dear bookish friends!
This post marks the start of a fun new feature on my blog: author interviews and guest posts! A few months ago I put a tweet out on Twitter/X and got a huge number of replies from authors who were interested in being featured – at first I couldn’t believe it! It has taken me a while to set this project up now but I’m so excited to have content WITH authors to share now too, rather than ‘just’ ABOUT them when I review their books!
I was lucky enough to interview a few authors for blog tours before, but these will be a little different, because I myself have not read their books (yet), but after these interviews I sure want to! So, let’s start with the first one: Robert Howell and his novel Blood Mansion, and let’s get straight to the Q&A!
Author Interview
Is there a book you would like to see as a movie? Which one and why?
The obvious answer would be mine. I think Blood Mansion would make an awesome haunted house story. Now talking about other authors there are two. The Amber series by Roger Zelazny for fantasy, and Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series for sci-fi.
Are you a reader as well as a writer?
I am an avid reader. I read on average a book a week, and have for most of my life (yes, that’s a lot of books). I love archeological adventures, as well as fantasy, sci-fi, straight adventures and will occasionally read a book outside my usual genres. Recently one of the best books I read was by an Indie author. Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave by Jo Boyle. Another out of genre book I enjoyed was Just One Night by Heather Wickers (another indie book).
Do you have a day job apart from writing? If so, how do you manage to do both?
I work with a real estate holding company doing acquisitions and property management. I had my hours cut two years ago and it worked out well. My pay is enough to pay the bills, but it gives me more time to write. In that time I have completed two novels I had started and written three others.
Were you a child that enjoyed reading? Did you have a favourite children‘s book growing up?
I have loved reading for all my life. My favorite as a child would have to have been Jack London’s Call of the Wild. I think I read that book over and over when I was young. Always thought if I had a dog I would name him Buck, but alas it never happened. I never got to name a dog. As a child it was my parents that picked the names of the dogs we had. As an adult, I had kids and let them name our dogs. Now I live in a condo building that does not allow dogs so I guess that dream will die.
Is there a specific time of day that you dedicate solely to writing, or do you write whenever you can?
Although I tend to write later at night when it is quiet it is more about having the time to write without disturbance, and of course the inspiration of a story idea. Sometimes I get so carried away in the project I am working on and midnight has come and gone without me realizing it.
Do your dreams ever find a way into your writing?
More like the other way around. Twice while writing Blood Mansion I had nightmares that I was trapped in that house and could not get out. It is possible though that the fear from the dream translated into the writing.
Do you prefer writing down ideas by hand, or do you use your phone or computer?
I prefer to keep notes on a computer for easy access. Unfortunately, I have a hard time reading my own writing.
Do you write every day?
I don’t make a schedule or anything like that to write every day, and sometimes I will go days without writing, though that doesn’t happen often. Of course, when an idea is flowing I just can’t stop myself from writing every day.
As an editor I’m curious about this one: Is the editing process something you dread or enjoy? Why?
The editing process is just a natural step for me. I tend to edit heavily as I write. Once I finish a chapter I will go back and read it two or three times before starting the next chapter. When I start again the next day I will read two or three chapters before writing. Once I have finished seven or eight chapters I will go and read the entire book to that point editing along the way. Once a novel is finished I will read and edit again before sending it to my beta readers. Once that is completed, if self-publishing I will send it to an independent editor, and if going through a publisher, like with Blood Mansion, I will work with the editor to make it the best it can be.
Did you ever cut down entire chapters or rewrite large chunks of your book during the editing process? What does that feel like?
I have never had to do that, probably because I edit so much along the way.
What was your inspiration behind this book?
When it came to Blood Mansion it was inspired by my job. Part of my job was to visit properties our company had title to, especially if they were unoccupied. There is one such property I had to visit weekly, about an hour away from where I live. Each time I went the place gave me the creeps. It was an estate with three structures, a house, a garage/office, and a third smaller building. Each time after the visit that I returned to my office I would say I should write a book about this. When someone said why don’t I, the idea was struck. Now the mansion in Blood Mansion is nothing like the property I visited, but the secondary building (garage/offices) is identical.
Do you plan on writing other books after this one? If so, is there anything specifically planned?
If you are asking if I plan to write a sequel to Blood Mansion, I already have. Blood Castle continues the supernatural adventures of the survivors of Blood Mansion. It is currently in the hands of my beta readers and then will go on to my publisher who has already expressed an interest in it.
As for other books in this genre, I am currently writing one now. Some similarities but much different from Blood Mansion and completely different characters. I have tentatively titled it Evil Essences.
Do you like happy endings? Do you think good books need them?
I prefer happy endings, but not all endings can be completely happy. In Blood Mansion I did kill off a couple of characters I had grown fond of, but overall had an ending that my readers have enjoyed. One review even said the ending was perfection.
How did you pick your character’s names? Do they have a deeper meaning, are they names of people you know, or did you just pick them because you liked the sound of them?
Some of the names just came to me, some I searched out. One of the characters I named after a nearby street.
As for main character – there is no one main character. There were two teams that entered the house and those that survived left as one team, with the characters sharing equal billing.
In the case of a zombie apocalypse, which of your characters would you like to be your bodyguard and why?
It would probably be Ron. Big burly cop who is very protective. Of course I would want to have Jane, the woman he comes to love and marry there as she is a powerful psychic and her and Ron work well together.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I would love to have the ability to read and speak every and all languages including and especially ancient languages that no one has ever deciphered. Imagine coming across a long lost tomb from the city of Atlantis and being the only one capable of reading it.
If money wasn’t a problem, what would you do with your life? What would change, and what would stay the same?
I would ‘retire’ from my regular job and spend the time traveling and writing. I would love to visit places like the pyramids in Egypt, Machu Picchu, and so on to get more story inspirations.
Thank you for your time, Robert!
About the Book
Peter Vanderbilt had a very special house built to his exact specifications. Unknown to almost everyone, the materials he used were ‘special.’ He searched the world, looking for parts of other haunted houses and places where acts of evil had taken place to build his final retreat. He then incorporated them into the very structure of his mansion. Why would someone intentionally build a haunted house? Was he a madman or the most brilliant mind of his generation?
Shortly after its completion, the owner offers the house to a young couple for their wedding. After the event, sixty-six guests, including the bride and groom, retired to their rooms. Their bodies are discovered the next day, except for the bride and groom. While rushing home to deal with this catastrophe, the homeowner’s plane disappears over the Atlantic Ocean. The property is transferred to a Foundation and rented out to various families over the next twenty years; however, every seven years, more people die or go missing.
Two paranormal teams are called in to investigate when the property is inexplicably sold for unpaid taxes. By this time, the total of dead and missing has reached over one hundred.
When the two teams arrive, one is a legitimate paranormal research team from a respected university, and the other is from a hit reality tv show. They quickly learn that they will have to work together to survive the investigation.
About the Author
Robert Howell has a range of skills and experiences, having studied Business Administration in college while taking courses in literature, poetry, cartography, and supernatural studies.
After completing college, he joined the military to satisfy his urge to travel across Canada and various parts of Europe. Following his military service, he spent 40 years in real estate, starting as an agent and later working in acquisitions for an investment company, focusing on locations such as Florida and Texas.
Despite having a successful career in real estate, his true passion was writing. To develop a profound set of writing skills, he took a writing course through the Long Ridge Writers Group, affiliated with the University of Connecticut.
After completing his writing course, he did different types of writing, newsletter, articles, web content, and short stories, and found love in writing fictional novels. He has written the successful Charm series, a great urban fantasy teen trilogy. With this novel, he has turned his imagination to adult gothic horror.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he has raised four children as a single dad and has two grandchildren.
You can find out more on his website or his publisher’s website!
Twitter/X handle: @storywriter_ca
Are you interested in reading Blood Mansion now? I sure am! Thank you so much for following The Artsy Reader and let me know if you picked this up!
xoxo
