BooksChatter: ℚ♫ Derrick: The Gavin Nolan Biography [2]

Today we have the pleasure of meeting up with author Russell to talk about Derrick (27 November 2018, Russell, 493 pages), an LGBT Mystery Horror, book two in the The Gavin Nolan Biography series.

"Well written, the book is dark and scary and realistic. Characters lend credibility to the story. The ending is explosive!"--Review from Goodreads

“A suspense filled thriller that takes you through the darkest of deranged journeys…” --5 Star Review

“The story line...leaves you like a voyeur; you don’t want to look but you can’t turn away...” — Another 5 Star Review

|| Synopsis || Teaser: KCR Preview || The Series || Author Q&A || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

A very warm welcome to Russell; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter!

"Thank you for letting me on your blog spot! Your incredible generosity in sharing my new book, ‘DERRICK’, to your followers is outstanding.

First and foremost, my book, ‘DERRICK’, won in the 2018 New Apple Literary Awards as Official Selection in Psychological Suspense. I was completely surprised and just found out couple of weeks ago! On a side note, ‘GAVIN’ (Book 1 in the trilogy) won the 2017 New Apple Literary Summer E-Book Award as Official Selection in Horror. Truly, I am humbled."

Congratulations! :-D

To get us started, here at BooksChatter we love music; do you have a music playlist that you used in Derrick , or which inspired you whilst you were writing it?

"I always have playlists for my books. I usually quote song lyrics in my books.

In the ‘Old Man Fischer’, the vibe was late sixties music.

In ‘GAVIN’, the blistering sounds of hard alternative bands set the tone. For ‘DERRICK’, I think you’ll get where I’m going…"

What was the inspiration for Derrick?

"When I began writing GAVIN, I realized that the story would evolve. Although I did put my main antagonist, Gavin Nolan, through a lot of torture, his friendship with Derrick Williamson blossomed as the story progressed.

Even as I wrote the subsequent drafts of Book 1, I knew Gavin’s partner, Derrick, had a story to tell. Thus, DERRICK was born.

Being stated, Derrick’s enigmatic military past needed to come to life. One subtle footnote, I highly encourage you to read ‘GAVIN’ before you tackle ‘DERRICK’, because you would understand the continuation of the overall story."

The first thing that draws me to a book is its cover. Can you tell us about your cover for Derrick - why you chose that concept and who the artist is.

"A cover should invoke an overall feeling or emotion of the story, enticing the reader immediately. Like my other books (‘The Tale of Old Man Fischer’ and ‘GAVIN’), I encapsulate a central character’s raw emotions.

For DERRICK, a building on fire reveals an ominous sense of dread and destruction. I truly ‘zenned’ my antagonist because he—yes a ‘he’—wants to destroy everything without remorse.

Interestingly, my book designer, Tim, is a fantastic book designer and brought out the vision."

What do you like to write and read about? Do you stick to a particular genre or do you like to explore different ones?

"I really enjoy writing horror books. I build them with suspense and intense story. However, I’m not going to label myself into one particular box. I enjoy science fiction, fantasy and even romance—the latter has to be by an exceptional writer."

What is your writing process?

"Writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Yet, I never took it seriously. When I was younger, I would write—yes, handwritten—here and there (i.e. short stories, beginnings of books that came to be, short descriptions).

When I completed my first ever novel (in my mid-twenties), I realized I could do it again. I never told anyone, not even my wife, I was writing, when I did it, or what it was about. Soon, I created ‘The Tale of Old Man Fischer’. It took me a considerable amount of time to produce, since I never really shared my passion for writing with anyone. Soon, I finished it, and began the painful editing process.

After a life changing moment, I attended Graduate School. At that point, I began writing GAVIN as a study break between the heavy dry reading, continuous papers and grinding out my thesis. When I released Old Man Fischer a few years ago, I surprised my family completely! And I learned a great deal about publishing.

Where am I going with this? I begin a new writing project with the blank screen. I don’t have outlines, I draw up character descriptions and I don’t even do research! Seriously nothing…I just begin writing.

Strange as it may sound, I can visualize the beginning of the book in my head and a character’s name comes to my mind. Then my fingers do the rest. As the story progresses, I allow the characters point me in the direction. In fact, I really don’t known the outcome until about mid-way through writing. Then it becomes really exciting how it all winds up…

In a nutshell, my writing process is truly organic. Really, all the voices in my head gets to be overwhelming…😀"

What is in store next?

"Currently, I’m on the next draft of QUINN which is the final part of the Gavin Nolan Trilogy. While the process can be time consuming, I have to comb through GAVIN and DERRICK in order to answer all the outlining questions…or will they all be answered?

Hmmm…QUINN will be out Spring 2020. In meantime, I had written something completely different, a standalone piece, titled ‘The Eradication Initiative’. Here’s the premise: A group of seemingly random strangers are being hunted down and captured. They are brought to an underground facility. And the experiments begin.

I am hoping to have it out late 2020. Currently while editing QUINN, I’ve been plugging away at another piece that is untitled. While I’m about a third into it, the story is a ghost story located somewhere in Up State New York. Seriously, I’ve been scaring myself even when the full daylight is out…yeesh!

What’s after that? I’ve been toying with another trilogy. I’ve been always intrigued about the concept of immortality. No, it’s not another overdone vampire series. Let’s just say I’ve been intrigued with Druid history."

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?

"Alright, you got me on quirky.

So I am big cat person, and currently have 5 of the furry little beasts right now. I must tell you about one of my cats. Her name is Phyllis. My wife accepted her because the owner no longer wanted to take of care of her.

Here’s the thing: Phyllis is about 16 years old. Poor thing! However, in her life, she had been attacked by a dog, so she’s scared on the back of her neck, part of one of her ears were torn off and she lost her teeth.

When I saw her for the first time, I called her the Pet Cemetery Cat. She’s not pretty, but she wants to be loved on her own terms. In fact, if you pet her too long, even purring, she’ll gum you to stop.

I hope Phyllis lasts a good three to four more years with us."

Awe, I would have loved to have seen Phyllis; lots of love and cuddles to her from all of us at BooksChatter (we have 18 little monsters, one of them, LouLou, is paraplegic and double incontinent and she has been going strong for the last four years 😊)

Thank you for sharing Phyllis' story with us.