Good evening Followers!
I am very happy to announce that friend and AMAZING author Kerry Alan Denney let me interview him not just for my blog, but for Horror Geeks Magazine. We are thrilled to have him and so happy to be here to talk about not just him as a person, but as a writer. His work is not only some of the best I have ever had the pleasure to lay eyes on, but his kick ass covers speak for themselves. Now, without further ado, let's begin with learning a little bit about Kerry.
Kerry,
can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well, I can, but then I’d have to... nah, I’m feeling
generous and benevolent today, so I won’t kill anybody.
I’m basically a happy, easy-going man who loves to have fun
and loves a great laugh. Life is too short to spend time contemplating misery
and drudgery. I don’t deny their existence, but I damn sure don’t let them
affect me. When life gives me a swift kick in the gut and knocks me down, I get
right back up, brush myself off, and jump back in the game grinning with the
defiant will to conquer any demons that dare get in my way. I measure success
by how much we touch the lives of others, and bring happiness and joy into
their lives. If I meet a stranger and leave them with a smile on their face and
feeling positive about themselves when we part, I’ve done my job well.
I love words. I love the billions of ways different words
can be combined to paint vivid pictures in your mind: the way they can create a
fond rush of nostalgia, the way they can inspire hope for a better future, the
way they can touch your soul so deeply that they change your perspective and
even your life, the way they can influence you to improve your life and the
lives of others, and every other little magical thing they accomplish. In some
instances, the pen is not mightier than the sword, but words have great power
when properly used. I’m on a never-ending quest to master the composition of words
so that words become my legacy and my gift to the world, my “thank you” for the
precious gift of my life.
And oh, yes, I do love music, almost all kinds! I don’t care
much for rap, techno, disco, and opera, and like to keep country to a minimum,
but pretty much everything else is game for my listening list. I was a
professional performing musician (guitarist) for 30 years before I happily
returned to the written word in 2004, and I even wrote, recorded, engineered,
performed on, and produced four independently released CDs with various
talented guest musicians and vocalists, which are available on my
www.kerrydenney.com website in the “Music” page of the drop-down menu under the
“more...” tab.
As for writing, when people ask me “Why do you write?”, my
answer is easy, and always the same: I write because I can’t not write. I have
a very vivid imagination, and always have, and the only way to feed it is to
write. The countless stories swimming around in my mind must be told, otherwise
my head would explode. And that would make a hell of a big mess.
What was your first published novel, and can you tell us
about it?
Thanks for asking! My paranormal thriller SOULSNATCHER was
published in April 2014 by Lazy Day Publishing. It’s a novel in which children
with extraordinary psychic powers are being used as pawns in a deadly
supernatural war... and the souls of all the children are the ultimate prize. I
encourage all Horror Geeks to check it out on Amazon and Goodreads: It’s
getting lots of 5-star ratings and rave reviews, and received a rave editorial
testimonial from New York Times bestselling author James Rollins. You can read
a FREE Sneak Preview of the first three chapters in the “Look Inside” feature
on Amazon here.
I’ve also had several short stories and some poems
published, links to which can all be found at my author’s website in the
Published Short Stories page in the drop-down menu under the “Books” tab. Most
can be read online free! One has been published three times now, two were
published to critical acclaim with lots of positive comments, and In the Night
She Comes won First Place in the Atlanta Writers Club Fall 2013 short story
contest. My short story Something in the Air was awarded Honorable Mention in
the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future 2nd quarter 2013 contest.
Here is some more information about SOULSNATCHER
Children with extraordinary psychic powers are being used as
pawns in a deadly supernatural war. Jasmine “Jazz” Tandy and her nine-year-old
son Chaz, who can heal people with his touch, are fleeing from a ruthless
organization that kidnaps these children. Children such as Kaylee Daley, who
can control and manipulate plant life, and Mara Fleming, who can see into the
future. Their only hope for salvation is a covert group called the Guardians,
who protect these children from the organization’s merciless hunters.
Dr. Larssen Sössnacher, the organization’s leader—called
“Soulsnatcher” by the remarkable children he abducts and exploits—believes Chaz
is the miraculous prodigy who will grant him the immortality he craves... and
he’ll stop at nothing to get Chaz.
Cody Jackson, a Guardian and martial arts and weapons
expert, rescues Jazz and Chaz from Soulsnatcher’s hunters and takes them to
Homestead, a safe haven where the children learn to use their powers to help
others. But Soulsnatcher’s hunters raid Homestead and battle the Guardians in a
surreal deadly showdown—with the souls of all the children as the ultimate
prize.
I
have been hearing a lot of buzz about your recent release “Jagannath.” Can you
tell us about it?
Gladly. JAGANNATH is about an amorphous creature—basically
cohesive slime—that formerly resided in the depths of our oceans and fed off of
marine life by absorbing fish and saltwater mammals. When it consumes its prey,
it also absorbs its prey’s intelligence, and assimilates that intelligence—and
it grows the more it feeds. Eventually it depletes that resource, moves ashore,
and quickly develops a ravenous appetite for human flesh and blood. But more
than our bodies, it loves our minds. The more humans it consumes, the smarter
it becomes, because it accumulates our knowledge. And it’s a conscienceless
creature: the things it loves most is the pictures in our minds of demons and
monsters dredged up by our deepest fears, and because it’s a shape-shifting
creature that’s able to transform into anything it gleans from our
imaginations, it loves metamorphosing into amalgamations of creatures out of
our darkest nightmares. And it loves tormenting its victims.
Soon it’s going on a global rampage, a creature with the
growing intellect of a hive mind that can separate portions of itself and
deploy strategically across the planet. In sixteen years, it has nearly wiped
out modern civilization. The only things that can stop it are fire—it’s highly
flammable—extreme heat or cold, and a liquid gel compound developed by
scientists that causes its slimy flesh to crystallize and explode. Most surviving
humans flee to the coldest spots on the planet to evade it, but many remain in
creature-infested territories and build Enclaves surrounded by manufactured ice
moats to protect them from invasion by the creature, where they fight to
destroy it and preserve the human race.
Enter our heroes: Corporal Kimi Jayden and her fellow
soldiers in her unit from the North Georgia Renegade Enclave discover a
thirteen-year-old refugee girl named Lily who is immune to creature absorption
wandering the deserted streets of Savannah, Georgia alone. When the creature
tries to absorb Lily, it turns to sulfuric steam and vaporizes. Kimi and the
members of her Enclave believe Lily’s DNA holds the key to humanity’s survival,
and rescuing Lily and bringing her back to their Enclave becomes their primary
mission, so they can learn how to use Lily’s immunity to destroy the creature.
But the creature covets the mysterious girl it can’t absorb,
and tries to hide her from the Renegade soldiers. Kimi, who feels her maternal
instincts kick in from the moment she meets Lily, has to battle a horde of
ghastly creature incarnations to rescue Lily from the most deadly monster the
universe has ever spawned. Lily is humanity’s last hope against extinction. And
Kimi has only days to rescue the girl she’s already fallen in love with, the
daughter she couldn’t have, before the creature discovers a way to destroy the
miraculous girl it can’t absorb.
There, hot damn, I just wrote an entirely new synopsis,
huzzah!
More importantly than anything else, Jagannath is about the
strength, resilience, and defiant survival instincts of the human spirit. It’s
about learning the true meaning of courage in the face of the most
indestructible enemy and overwhelming terror. The ultimate triumph and
redemption of my characters and those whom they love is paramount in all my
writing. Although I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because some of them
might die, lol... :)
Jagannath is already getting rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
You can read a FREE Sneak Preview of the first 4 chapters in the “Look Inside”
feature on Amazon HERE.
And here is the totally kick ass cover for JAGANNATH courtesy of Dean Samed of Conzpiracy Digital Arts and Permuted Press
What
was your inspiration for “Jagannath?”
So many things! I love creepy, freakish monster stories;
always have, always will. Sitting in the dark with nothing but the TV’s glow
flickering around me, feeling the looming shadows surround me, blending in with
the story of a killer creature feature... ahh, bliss!
More than anything else, I wanted to create the most
fearsome monster not only that humanity had ever conceived, but also that the
universe could ever spew out. And then pit it against the last desperate
surviving members of the human race, those who won’t give in until their final
breath gasps out of their failing bodies.
I did a lot of in-depth research: I’ve always been
fascinated with words, always will be, and one of my favorite words is
juggernaut. It means a relentlessly destructive, crushing, and pitiless force.
And guess what the origin of juggernaut is? That’s right: Jagannath, pronounced
almost exactly the same, júggə naát. It’s a Hindu deity, literal translation
“lord and master of the world and universe.” The word and the religious deity
fit my monster in Jagannath perfectly. A virtually indestructible creature and
a merciless, unstoppable force.
Plus, I love freaking the hell out of people, and making
them go to bed with the lights still on because they can’t stand the thought of
something beyond this world creeping up on them while they sleep. Sweet dreams,
everybody!
As
a writer myself, I know it can be hard to keep going. What tricks do you use to
keep yourself inspired?
Sometimes I like to wear party hats, and sometimes I like to
wear rad, dark, mirrored shades in dimly lit rooms. Often I’m tempted to strap
on wings or wear a cape and try to fly, then common sense usually prevails. But
beer helps a lot. I often wish I had invented beer, because every time I went
out in public, people would point and say, “Hey, it’s that guy! Dude, you’re
awesome! You invented beer. We’re not worthy!”
Sometimes I’ll wear two or even three pair of high-powered
reading glasses at a time to find out if they let me see into another
dimension. Hasn’t worked yet, but I remain ever hopeful. I’ve also occasionally
tried to push through into the other side of the mirror, but never when anyone
is watching. They said I can’t let it be known yet that I’ve succeeded, so
don’t tell anyone. We’re waiting until the right moment to reveal the truth.
Seriously though, a variety of different things inspire me.
I love to cook, and people have raved about some of the excellent recipes I’ve
created through years of trial and error. I’m even offering three of my best
recipes on Facebook during my ongoing “JAGANNATH 2015 Virtual Book Blog Tour
Extravaganza” from February 9th through March 9th.
I also love being amid unspoiled nature, especially with my
Golden retriever Holly Jolly the professional Therapy Dog. Hikes in the
mountains, playtime in a park, or running along the beach (Holly learned how to
body-surf in the ocean waves all by herself!), all these moments are blissful
inspiration to me. Stories come alive in my head in my best semi-alone
circumstances. Creative juices flow faster with the rush of adrenaline, and
worlds are born peopled with lively and very real characters in those precious
instances.
Music and reading is also inspirational to me. I love
letting my mind travel wherever enchanting stories and compelling melodies take
it. I’m actually seldom without story and novel ideas: If I could accurately
clone myself ten or more times, we still couldn’t write all the stories in our
heads.
As
writers it is important to keep reading. What genres do you read? Which author
is your favorite?
What is this “spare time” of which you speak? I would like
to learn more about it. Perhaps it is something I can take classes for, or
purchase it in a store or on a website.
Seriously. “Spare time” sounds like an oxymoron. Are you
just yanking my chain?
As writers it is important to keep reading. What genres do
you read? Which author is your favorite?
Mostly my own genre(s): supernatural, paranormal, sci-fi,
fantasy (modern world-based, not sword & sorcery), and horror (the kind
where the good guys win!). But I love the written word, whatever form it takes.
If it’s good, I dig it, fiction or non-fiction. Proper construction of words
into sentences into paragraphs into stories that intrigue readers and compel
them to keep reading is not bound by genre, style, realism, or classification.
Favorite authors? So many! From youth to present: anything
by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, the Pellucidar series,
Carson of Venus, to name a few), Kenneth Robeson (Doc Savage, The Avenger),
Maxwell Grant (The Shadow!), Franklin Dixon (Hardy Boys!), H. Rider Haggard,
H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin (The Lathe of Heaven, wow!), Patricia McKillip
(The Riddlemaster of Hed was life-changing), then moving along to later years,
Dean Koontz (love love love!), F. Paul Wilson (Repairman Jack is one of the
greatest fictional characters ever, and the rest of his work is fabulous as
well), Robert R. McCammon (Stinger and Swan Song, whoa!), Charles de Lint,
James Rollins, Ray Garton, Vernor Vinge (A Deepness in the Sky: best sci-fi
novel ever), Justin Cronin (The Passage, damn!), and I could go on forever.
Favorite modern author: Dean Koontz, almost tied by James
Rollins. They know how to make you love their good guys, and how to make them
prevail triumphantly in the finales.
Still best novel ever written, in my mind: The Anubis Gates
by Tim Powers.
Are
there any upcoming authors whose work you are interested in?
Not a lot, just the new works from authors listed above,
among a select few others. However... I’m damn excited that Robert R. McCammon
has apparently returned to his original genre of horror, at least for one novel
(and hopefully more), in his upcoming The Border. I have reserved a hardback
copy of that one. Shazam.
I met Mr. McCammon at a signing mega years ago, and asked
him about publishing. He gave me the best writing advice I’ve ever received:
keep writing, keep submitting material, keep improving. Persist. Thank you, Mr.
McCammon. Done and done, and I’m just getting started.
Are
there any projects you have planned for the future that you’d like to share
with us?
When my secret master project is complete, I will be the
undisputed ruler of the universe. But it’s a lot of work, believe me. There’s
always some additional task that must be planned and completed, and the whole
thing could derail like a supersonic freight train careening around a sharp
curve without brakes if you don’t lay the tracks properly. Plus the Evil Intergalactic
Emperor Ming is always trying to foil my plans, damn him.
I’d also like to finally get my Time Machine, Teleporter,
Cloak of Invisibility, and Crystal Ball out of the repair shop and functioning
properly again. This will go hand in hand with completing the above project to
rule the universe.
On the physical/ real world plane we all share together,
yes: I’m currently writing two novels, both incorporating my unique Reality
Bender blend of supernatural, paranormal, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and thriller,
and rewriting my first novel to get rid of all the amateur mistakes.
You’ll know when they’re published. The blaring trumpets
will burst your eardrums.
Yes, thank you for asking! I have
several gigs lined up.
1. Come join me
online for the “JAGANNATH
2015 Virtual Book Blog Tour Extravaganza!” You can also join me online at
the JAGANNATH Blog Tour Facebook event HERE and share your
thoughts and comments.
I’m visiting 20+ blogger and
reviewer sites, one each day for 20 days. The tour started Monday February 9
and ends Monday March 9. I’ll be posting several articles about JAGANNATH and
my writing, including faux “interviews” with 4 of my protagonists from the
novel and even one interview with The Reaper, the monster from the novel. I’ll
be answering questions from and chatting with readers and participants, and
participate in some interviews with the bloggers. We also have several
giveaways: 5 e-book copies of my paranormal thriller SOULSNATCHER, 1 copy each
of Deborah D. Moore’s THE
JOURNAL: CRACKED EARTH and THE
JOURNAL: ASH FALL, and five $10 Amazon Gift Cards. Stop by and visit for
the fun and giveaways. The link to the Book Blog Tour Schedule is HERE, and the link to enter the giveaway
contest is HERE.
Contest ends May 9!
2. I’m the guest author being
interviewed on the Authors-First
Show on Tuesday February 24 from 8 to 9 p.m. EST. Be sure to tune in and
listen to me discuss my unique madness!
3. For Georgia residents (and
anyone willing to make the drive!), I’ll be an author/ vendor at The Dahlonega Literary
Festival on Saturday March 28 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. where I’ll be
selling and signing paperback copies of JAGANNATH and SOULSNATCHER. Great
festival, lots of authors and books galore!
Thanks so much to Kindra Sowder for letting me participate in this fun interview, and
happy reading to all!
For those who would love to know more about Kerry aka The Reality Bender and his work or upcoming his links are posted below:
Author website “Kerry Alan Denney
is The Reality Bender”: http://www.kerrydenney.com
Facebook Fan Page “Kerry Alan
Denney aka The Reality Bender”: https://www.facebook.com/KerryAlanDenneyTheRealityBender
Twitter (@KerryDenney): https://twitter.com/KerryDenney
JAGANNATH on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1EPK5aA E-book and paperback available!
SOULSNATCHER on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GyXQd5
