1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I grew up as a military kid, so we lived all over in places like Alaska, Hawaii, and Pakistan. My parents finally settled in North Carolina, which is where I consider myself to be from. I got my BFA in Filmmaking from UNCSA. Then I did what all film students do and moved out to sunny Los Angeles. Spent the next ten years there working on film sets, running a theatre company, and doing copywriting work in the ad industry. I was always writing something to varying degrees of success, whether it was screenplays, plays, short stories, whatever.
Over the last few years, I dedicated myself to the novel. Before Swing of the Axe, I cut my teeth ghostwriting adventure novels, including a book about a megalodon that one Goodreads reviewer called, "ok." Under my own name, I've had two other books published, Rock City and Deep Dark.
Nowadays, I live in New Jersey with my wife and work as a creative director in advertising.
2. When did you first discover you wanted to be a writer?
For as far back as I can remember. I loved telling stories to entertain classmates in early elementary school, and I just kept it going. It's been a lifelong pursuit.
As for being a horror writer, that started back in fourth grade when I saw Halloween II on TV at a friend's house and got in trouble for adapting it into a crayoned comic book in school. My teacher was quite concerned when she found it.
3. What made you decide to submit your pitch as a Terrorcore Rewind book?
I just loved the concept of the Rewind line. The philosophy behind it made me feel like I could pay homage to the books that inspired me, while bringing myself to the table as well. That's an incredibly unique opportunity.
4. Where did the idea of Swing of the Axe come from?
It was a real mix of things. First, I love slasher movies and books. They're like a Big Mac, you kind of always know what you're gonna get, but when you need it, nothing else will do.
I wanted to really be true to what worked in those Point Horror books, so I reread a few of my old favorites while I was putting together the idea. I pulled some of the things that I thought worked well, things that excited me, and left some other things behind. The goal was to tell a story that was familiar, but fresh.
Finally, I pulled from my own experience and loves. I'm a big music fan, and I love alt-rock, art-rock, punk, metal, all the subgenres in between. I spent a lot of my time in high school making music and putting on weird little shows. The fact that this takes place in the 90s gave me the perfect excuse to dive into grunge and bring that scene to life in the way that I lived it - in a small, conservative southern town.
All these elements came together to make a story about a tight-knit group of teenage musicians being stalked by a mysterious killer, and the conspiracy behind it.
5. Swing of the Axe is a fast-paced story about a band called Crying Lilacs who are stalked by a masked assailant. Despite the terror, the heart of the story revolves around the relationships between the bandmates. Did you draw from real-life inspiration when writing the band members?
Oh yeah, absolutely. I wanted the members of Crying Lilacs to feel like real teenagers, people you root for despite their shortcomings or youthful mistakes. Underdogs you want to see make good.
I was in bands all through high school, though none of us were as dedicated or musically gifted as Crying Lilacs. A lot of my friends and bandmates at the time served as inspiration for the characters in Swing of the Axe. Honestly, those high school years are so formative that my real friends from that time make some kind of appearance in almost everything I write. The high school I went to, Northern Nash High, was tiny, so there weren't so many finely delineated cliques as you see in the movies. All the weirdos kind of ended up together, whether you were a punk, a drama kid, a metalhead, a photography nerd, whatever. That sense of camaraderie without judgment was so important back then, and I strove to bring that to life in the book.
6. Tell us a bit about Red Elm, North Carolina, the fictional town Swing of the Axe takes place.
Red Elm is based on the town where I went to high school in, Nashville, NC. It's a very small town of, at the time, about 5,000 people. Now that I'm older, I have a lot of affection for the place. I don't live there anymore, and I miss it. At the time, though, I wanted nothing but to leave. It's a very conservative, Baptist community that left me feeling frustrated and jealous of kids living in big cities. Those feelings are reflected in the kids in Swing of the Axe. That sort of early rebellion really forges who you are as a person, and I like to think that the kids who made it out of the book alive will go on to carve their own unique paths in life.
7. What’s your favorite Point Horror, R.L. Stine, or Christopher Pike book?
I was always more of an R.L. Stine kid, and especially loved his Babysitter series for Point Horror. From Fear Street, I remember Double Date being a favorite. The main character is such a perfectly drawn jerk, and it's great to see his comeuppance. My only critique is that his band plays like Bo Diddley covers, which feels a bit culturally out of touch for Mr. Stine. The Crying Lilacs would not share a stage with them.
8. What’s next? Any new books on the horizon?
Always! I'm currently working on a novel inspired by the "little creatures kill people" movies of Full Moon and the haunted doll tales of Ruby Jean Jensen. I've also got a book coming out sometime this year entitled Working Man. It's about a guy who gets fired from a factory job and kidnaps a company executive that he believes is secretly a reptilian. If that sounds familiar, I swear I wrote it two years before Bugonia came out.
