Welcome Author
Dylan J. Morgan
to the Blog today!
Tell us a bit about
yourself:
Do you work another
job when you are not writing?
Yes, I do. I am the manager of a warehouse not too far from
where I live. We sell everything from plug sockets to garden furniture, kitchen
appliances to Christmas decorations. It’s quite a varied range of stock.
What is your favorite
thing to do when you aren’t writing?
What is your favorite
color? Why?
Red is my favorite color, and I like black, too. Why? Being
a horror writer I could say I like red because it’s the color of blood, and
black because it’s dark and horrific, but to be honest I don’t know why I like
those colors. I just do.
What is your favorite
season? Why?
The summer is by far my most favorite season. I love the
sunshine, warmth, the chance to go to the beach and relax, vacations in Spain
where all you do for two weeks is lounge around in the sun, swim a bit, and eat
unhealthy food and drink beer. Summer is a time of life and fun. Fall is second
best, I’d say: the month of October and the build up to Halloween is an
exciting time.
If you could live
anyplace on earth, where would it be? Why?
I’m happy living where I am, but I have always wanted to
travel to Canada. Coming from New Zealand I am very much into scenic views and
the wilderness, and Canada (from what I’ve seen) is blessed with the great
outdoors. I would like to move back to the UK and live there again, but just
not yet.
If you could have any
car, what would it be?
Ha, I’ve always wanted a Lamborghini. Some dreams, hey . . .
Tell us about your
writing:
How long have your
been writing? Was it a dream, a goal or is it just a hobby?
I have been writing seriously for about the last 10 years.
I’ve always looked at it as a hobby, even now. I don’t earn enough from it to
consider it being my job and maybe that’ll always be the case, but if I do
start making some serious coin from this gig I hope it still feels like a
hobby.
How many hours a day
do you devote to writing? Do you have a set routine or do you write when the
mood strikes?
I don’t have a set time limit, or time period, for how long
I write, I usually just write until the flow and emotion is exhausted. As for a
routine: I usually get into the office at home between 8 and 9 pm and go
through edits before starting to write on my fiction. I continue with that
until the flow is gone, then it’ll be onto other things connected with writing,
like further edits, or answering emails, scheduling tweets, etc.
Is there some place
special you like to be when you write?
My office at home. I have a desk with a monitor, a laptop,
drawer next to me with my Kingston memory sticks containing my stories, a space
for my drinks, a heater in the winter, some training equipment, and my guitar.
It has everything in there I need for developing the disturbing worlds I
create. It’s a bit of a mess in there, but it’s my mess.
Do you listen to
music or do you need a quiet place to write?
I used to prefer quiet when I wrote but not anymore. I can’t
deal with the sounds of everyday life from within the household though (TV
noise, kids talking, etc.) so I always listen to music on my iPod. I have an
extensive collect of hard rock and heavy metal songs, so I just select shuffle
and let the songs keep me company. They become background noise, drowning out
the distractions in my house while I delve into my fictional world.
Tell us about your
book:
What is the name of
it and is it part of a series or a stand alone novel?
My latest novel is entitled Blood War. It’s a standalone novel,
although I do have a tie-in chapbook available called Bloodlines, which
introduces characters from the novel.
The idea originally came from a vision I had of a young girl
arriving home with her family during a violent thunderstorm. As they’re driving
through town to their house, the girl is looking out of the car window at dark
shadows loping through the streets, trailing the car towards its destination.
This was going to be a short story and the dark, threatening creatures were to
be some form of bogeymen. The bogeymen became vampires, and then morphed into
something else entirely, and the short story became a chapter in the novel. The
young girl, Deanna, became a grown woman and also one of the key characters in
Blood War.
How long did it take
to write?
From the introduction of that above vision in my mind to the
completion of the book, probably a year and a half. But, the time it took to
actually write the novel itself took about eight months to a year. The novel
spans a long time period, beginning in the year 1287 AD until the present day,
and is set in cities like London, Paris and Rome, so I needed to do a lot of
research which protracted the time it took to complete the book.
What is it about?
Blood War tells the story of a six hundred year old war
between vampires and werewolves. Four hundred years ago, the bloodlines were
crossed in unholy unions between vampire and werewolf, and hybrids were created
– a vicious mixture of the two supernatural species. A cull was carried out to
try and eradicate these children, but most of the hybrid babies survived. This
new species joins the fight two hundred years later, and the novel climaxes
with the three immortal races battling each other for supremacy.
As stated above, the novel takes place on a global scale.
The book begins in Romania, moves to Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, and New
Zealand. It travels to England, Russia, Hong Kong, America and back to Italy.
The characters are detailed and varied; there are werewolves, vampires, hybrids
and even humans, all playing a part. There is violence, love, honor, betrayal,
and some unexpected twists. Any fan of monster horror should get a kick out of
this book.
Your other work:
Do you have any
upcoming projects in the works or other books that have been published?
In 2013 I plan to release two books. I aim to give out a
collection of my short stories, both published and unpublished. As most of my
published work is no longer available (due to the venues now being defunct)
this collection of published works will probably feel like all new stories for
most people. I also plan to release a novel, FLESH, sometime in the second half
of the year. This was actually the second full length novel I’ve ever written,
so I’m excited to get it out to the public and see what their reaction will be.
Currently, in addition to Blood War, I have another novel
and a novella available. Both can be purchased through Amazon on Kindle (either
a hand-held Kindle or the desktop application). Hosts is my debut novel, a
gore-fest book about a mutated form of parasite that infects a ski community
isolated by the worst snowstorm in living memory. Your typical horror scene,
really! The novella is called October Rain, and is a dark Sci-Fi book focusing
on Steele, a bounty hunter on Mars during the final era of mankind’s existence.
It’s a brooding book, emotional, with a heavy twist in its tail.
Where can readers
connect with you?
Twitter: @dylanjmorgan
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3156560.Dylan_J_Morgan
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3156560.Dylan_J_Morgan
Where can we buy your
books?
Amazon All Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Dylan-J.-Morgan/e/B008B42H5S
Great to learn more about Dylan; I recently finished reading 'Bloodlines,' which I loved, and I immediately picked up some of his other books after that short sample of his atmospheric and haunting horror writing style. He's a writer to watch!
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