Authors Supporting Authors #8. Already?!?

Yes, folks, I have a double whammy of wicked awesome authors for you this week.

Tis the new year, and my goal is to provide as much fresh content as possible so you can
​curate your own to-read list for 2018!

Today, I introduce C. J. Wright, author of "A Dead Man's Shoes: And Other Strange Tales". I recommend this to anyone who likes to read a good horror story, or thirteen. As a collection of short stories, a reader can sample C.J. Wright's works and maybe pick up something they like.
But wouldn't it be more interesting to hear from him?

J: Hi there! Please introduce yourself to the world!
I'm C J Wright, and I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I met my first author when I was eight when she came to visit my school. I was captivated with the idea that books didn’t just appear out of nowhere, but there was someone behind them...and I wanted to be one of those people.
Since childhood, horror has been a fascination to me, and seems to be the genre that all my stories fall into. I’ve always loved to write things that scare people. Being disabled, (I have suffered from Elhers-Danlos Syndrome Type 3 and Fibromyalgia all my life), I find that the main thing that keeps me going is my writing. It gives me something to get out of bed for, especially when I’m feeling down and have no motivation. Though sometimes it gets too much and I have to rest, I still keep my mind active with thoughts of what I am going to write next, what horrors are going to lurk in the pages of my next project.

[Julian's comment: Wow, that's incredible motivation. Those conditions can be challenging, but I feel that it really only makes your writing stronger. Great inspiration story that I hope people can take away from!]
 
J: Speaking of inspiration, what was the spark behind "A Dead Man's Shoes"?
"A Dead Man’s Shoes" is the first story in the collection, though it wasn’t the first story I thought of, or even wrote. The idea came from the phrase about walking in another’s shoes and my wife’s habit of frequenting the local charity shops. Putting them together created the question “What if someone bought a pair of shoes from a charity shop that turned out to be haunted by the previous owner?”, and the story grew from there.
[Julian's comment: *note to self* don't buy used clothing.....]
Pretty much all my story ideas come from the twisting of a mundane idea into something horrifying, and the thirteen stories in this collection all have that similar seed that they grew from.

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Like what you see?

Twitter: @CJWrightBooks
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Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3394275.C_J_Wright

J: What was the most fun part of writing this?
I haven't written many short stories before. I find that I prefer to take an idea and expand it into a novel. However, I noticed that many ideas I had come up with would be perfect for the shorter medium, and so decided to see if I could write enough short stories to fill a collection. The whole experience of writing the collection I found utterly enjoyable.
 
J: So, it's a collection of spooky shorts. Any chance we will see another "volume"?
Well, never say never. I’m going to concentrate on my novels for now. I have plenty of ideas for novel length works and I want to get them out first before I think of creating another short story collection. I hope to, but only time will tell.
 
J: And speaking of which, what is your next project?
I’m working on the final novel in my Vampire Hunter Trilogy, Wampyre’s Gate. I first published the first novel in the series, Ritual of Blood, back in 2003, so the completion of this trilogy has been a long time coming. I’m almost finished with the first draft, and I hope to have the book out by the end of 2018/beginning of 2019.

kindle (US)

kindle (UK)

iTunes

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