Interview with Horror Author Wesley Thomas and a Unleash The Dead giveaway! @WesJThomas @SamieSands

I had the pleasure of taking a moment to talk to horror author Wesley Thomas. He's a great rising author among the horror genre and an awesome person in general so I hope you enjoy the interview and the author's past and present works.

Also The Geekdom Of Gore is hosting a giveaway via Rafflecopter. The winner will receive a digital copy of the zombie anthology "Unleash The Dead" featuring awesome shorts from a multitude of authors including myself. Feel free to enter the contest via the Rafflecopter app below and continue reading for the interview.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tell the readers a bit about yourself.

WT:  I am a British horror author, currently living in America. I also review movies and books for a horror website, I have my own business where I promote for authors, and I work for a small UK based business where I am the head of marketing. I love all things horror (movies, TV, books) love to blog, enjoy keeping fit, I love travelling, and enjoy quality time with my family and friends.

You've been busy as of late, with your promotion service, writing great books and other things. With your busy schedule how do make time to write?

WT: Well, I am very organised, that helps. I dedicate time every day to a little promotion (for me and my clients), communication, writing articles for my blog and reviews for a horror website I work for, and keep reserved a few hours to write my horror fiction. I think it's all about time management and being very self-disciplined. Which can be difficult, but the trick is to stay motivated! And drink coffee!

For me the best horror is rooted in reality. Do you get your story ideas from real events and/or life experiences?

WT: Absolutely. I can sit in a coffee shop and just people watch. I would act as a director, and try and cast these people in a horror movie. Which then helps me come up with believable characters in my own books. In terms of the antagonist/s in my fiction, I simply soak up as much horror culture as possible, and ideas always seem to come easy to me, fortunately. It is my perfectionist side that gets in the way by yelling at me. 'Has this been done before? Is it really your greatest idea for a book? Is it bringing something new to horror readers? Does it have multiple appeals?' and so on.

Out of your work which do you feel is your best?

WT: That is a hard one as I feel each of my books have a different appeal to a slightly different audience. For example my most recent horror collection 'What Goes Bump In The Night?' is great for the horror addicts who love short stories and has done very well on the bestseller chart. But for the horror/thriller readers who prefer slightly longer books, with more of a backstory, I would say 'Rose's Thorn'. In my opinion, I think the best of my work so far is 'Rose's Thorn'. As it is not just mindless horror, it has serious themes and issues, as well as a complicated backstory, and even emotional scenes.

If you had to choose your best mainstream horror author and self published horror author, who would you pick and Which work of theirs would you recommend?

WT: My favourite mainstream horror author would have to be Richard Laymon, even though he is no longer around. And I would recommend 'Island' from him. And the best self-published horror author, in my opinion, is Cindy Hernandez. She is incredibly talented and has produced some diverse horror collections, as well as full-length novels, each terrific, creepy and haunting. The book I would most recommend of Cindy's is 'A Jar Of Fingers', the first in her new series, which raises the bar for all horror authors, including myself.

As a fellow horror fiend, what do you think is missing from horror that was present in the genre in the past?

WT: That is a very good question. And there are many possible answers. But I am going to have to say the issue with modern horror, whether in books or movies, is originality. There are thousands of horror books and films, so many ideas have already been tried out. It takes a great deal of effort for authors and script writers to produce original, fresh content. Because as you well know, the horror fanbase is a very hard one to please. I think remakes are becoming silly now, especially when they literally just remake the original movie take for take, rather than bringing something new to the table. Both writers and directors need to spend more time and energy on coming up with revolutionary and never-been-done-before material, rather than wasting finances and resources on hundreds of remakes. I'll admit that some movies do benefit from remaking, to appeal to a wider audience, to keep horror movies strong, and remake the film using the modern technology that wasn't around decades ago. However, for the most part, it is all about making money.

What was the last horror movie you watched and what did you think of it?

WT: The Poltergeist remake. It was an okay movie, the effects were better than the original. But it felt rushed and lacked the magic of a horror movie. It was remade scene for scene and brought nothing new to the series. It is watchable, but don't expect anything unique and ground-breaking. But that is just my opinion.

Are you a gore-hound or do you prefer more atmospheric horror?

WT: I kind of like a bit of both. I love all sub-genres within horror. I love gory, graphic, gruesome, but equally adore chilling, haunting and mentally disturbing.

Fans and fellow authors can guest post on your blog. Do you mind talking about that a bit?

WT: Sure! Basically, I want to help new authors promote their writing and work. Without the help I had in my early self-publishing days, I wouldn't be an author today. So I want to give something back to the horror/publishing community. I will feature their short horror stories, horror articles, reviews of their work, anything horror-related or that gets their work out there to my readers/website viewers.

What projects are you working on at the moment and future projects that your fans should know about?

WT: I have four upcoming books that I have been working very hard on, with my talented proofreaders/editors. I have a mystery/horror novel that will be sent to traditional publishers very soon, I have the next two books in the Frightful Tales series, one is almost ready, the other will be a later release in 2015, possibly early 2016. But the next book I will be releasing will be another horror collection due out in July 2015!

Would like to thank Author Wesley Thomas for taking time out of his busy schedule to allow me the interview and I'd like to thank Samie Sands for providing the giveaway prize!

Author Wesley Thomas Bio: Published 2 novellas, 1 novel, 2 short horror story collections, Amazon bestseller in five categories, 1 short story published in a horror anthology, 1 short story featured in Horror Zine's latest magazine (print and digital) several radio interviews and national/local paper interviews, Twitter interview live from NYC, Novel featured in Scream (British horror magazine), contributor for horror website horrornovelreviews.com, and several published blogs.
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