Alternative Wasteland was released in 2018, and I couldn’t have asked for a better response from readers. The books have been selling at a steady rate, and have inspired me to immediately start work on a new novel.

Alternative Wasteland dealt with many subjects within the genre of the suspense/psychological thriller (with horror elements incorporated along the way). Now, as a result of a couple of people inquiring why I choose this genre to dictate the chaos of my imaginative thoughts, I’ve decided to write a quick response.

I’ve always been intrigued with the darker elements this world has to offer. Now, I don’t mean I relish evil and destruction and chaos, but I do find the nature of these subject matters intriguing to explore from a psychological standpoint.

My stories may be dark in a superficial sort of way but I use the genre as a means to study the nature of the mind and to delve further into the thematic heart of a story (usually through the thoughts and actions of my flawed characters). In a lot of ways, my “thriller” stories are merely metaphors used to analyze deeper issues that concern and affect me. There is always more than meets the eye when it comes to my tales (well, I hope the reader can see that).

When my stories study the nature of fear, I am using it to both entertain and to explore the nature of what frightens us on a day-to-day basis. Many of the thoughts and fears from the characters within the stories are my own thoughts and fears. My daily anxieties about life and what it may hold for me. In other words, my stories don’t set out to be fear-inducing purposely…it just happens to be the genre that  allows me to express myself in the most straightforward sort of way.

The nature of one’s fight against the corrupting forces of this world is something every individual can relate to. (Good vs. Evil has been an element struggled with since the beginning of time.)

I’ve always been interested in the way the mind works. The way if can lift us up and the way it can pull us down…the power of it and, as I have said on numerous occasions, sometimes our greatest enemy. If one looks into many of my stories in Alternative Wasteland, I’m hoping they will be able to comprehend what I am truly trying to convey.

I also leave a few questions unanswered in my writing. I don’t do this to confound the reader but rather to let them explore the possibilities of certain outcomes themselves. Life isn’t always about receiving definitive answers. Things go unsolved, things go unanswered. Secrets and mysteries exist all around us. I believe in the power of the imagination, and I enjoy when others use it to its fullest capabilities.

Novels by Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Nick Cutter (just to name a few) have influenced my writing in a profound way, and have been better teachers of the writing craft than anything I ever learned in school (I hate to admit that and I apologize to all of my English teachers). Because in this modern-day, the rules of writing seem slippery, at best. Heck, Cormac McCarthy hates using punctuation because he believes it dirties the page (this even includes quotation marks for dialogue passages).

But I’ve also been influenced by The Hardy Boy books I read countless times as a child (in fact, one of the story titles in Alternative Wasteland is a flat-out homage to a Hardy Boy book), and movies and television shows viewed throughout my life. It’s amazing what stays with you as you get older, and somehow 20 years later comes to make an appearance in one of my stories.

I write the way I want to write because it makes me happy doing so. I understand that I won’t please everyone, but if I tried to do that then I would never write anything at all. Everyone will have their opinions, and I’m fine with that.

But in the end, it’s what I was put on this planet to do, and I will continue to do it until I can’t…or  if the story of Jack Torrance inspires me just…a…little…too…much…

Thank you to everyone for their support throughout the years, and I hope I can continue to entertain you for years to come!

 

The mind of a writer is a fascinating and frightening place to travel to, at times. I enjoy it, immensely.