Interview with Award Winning Author Simon Wood and New Releases

Today we have award-winning author and all around fascinating guy Simon Wood in the hot seat at Writers Gone Wild. Let’s give him a Wild Welcome. Or a DeWylde Welcome, but that could involve evil genius plotting and world domination.

One of the first things that intrigued me about you is that you don’t care for heights, but you’re a pilot when you’re not courting your keyboard. What caused you to pursue that?

There's a mix of things going on.  I like aircraft and I liked the idea of flying, so I wanted to learn.  The fear of heights is and was a problem but I didn’t it stop me and I wanted to see if it would conquer the fear.  Consider it a kill or cure approach.  It didn’t change things, but I achieved something I always wanted to do.

Of all of your titles, which one do recommend most often to new readers? Why?

If people crime fiction, I suggest either ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN or WORKING STIFFS as both books demonstrate well my sensibilities when it comes to thriller—ordinary people who get out of their depth and have to work ten times as hard to get back on the right track.  If people like horror fiction, then I suggest THE SCRUBS and ROAD RASH.  Again, they are good indicators of my sensibilities when it comes to dark fiction.  Both stories deal with character who have to face their demons to save their souls.

As an author and reader, how have you overcome the challenges of Dyslexia?

Basically, I’ve come up with a number of coping systems to get around the problem.  From a reading standpoint, large print helps.  The less information to absorb at once helps.  From a writing point of view, I work closely with my wife.  I write blind, not caring what’s on the page.  She reads everything aloud and I edit that way.  I also like my grammar checker on Word.  It doesn’t tell me what’s wrong, but when it highlights something, there’s a problem.

As a native of the UK living in the US, do you still have that charming accent? (We’re romance novelists, so forgive us if we get blushy.)

I still have my accent.  It is slightly different.  People in the US have a hard time understanding it, so my pronunciation is a little clearer.  Normally, I’m more Tim Roth, but now I’m more Hugh Grant for you tourists.  J

Tell us about your first date with your wife.

To be honest, I don’t think we had a first date per se.  we met in Costa Rica while traveling separately.  We hung out and the trip was over we stayed in touch and then we used to meet in different countries every few months to see each other.  After 18 months of that we decided we needed to go to the next level.

(That's so romance novel, it kills me. I love it!)

If your life had a soundtrack, what would it be?

It would be eclectic, something featuring every genre of music from soul to opera, punctuated with something loud from time to time.

Guilty pleasures? You can tell us. We can keep a secret. *wink*

Sky Mall magazine.  I love some of the odd, self-indulgent gifts you can buy and then a year later I like to drop by the dollar stores to find them when those products didn’t pan out.

What all have you written and where can we find it? 

ASKING FOR TROUBLE (ebook only for now. Print edition coming out in February).

WORKING STIFFS

THE SCRUBS

ROAD RASH (ebook only)

THE FALL GUY (ebook only)

ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN

PAYING THE PIPER

WE ALL FALL DOWN

TERMINATED

You can find my stuff in various place, but people’s first port of call should be Simon Wood  They can read up on the stories, the stories behind the stories, read sample chapters and where they can find them.  Some titles are on the verge of going out of print, but if people want to locate a title, let me know.  I know a guy.  J

You have a new book out. Tell us a little about it. 

Lowlifes centers on Larry Hayes, a San Francisco Police Detective.  He's lost his family to divorce and he's clinging to his career by a thread.  All this stems from a painkiller addiction he can’t kick that he picked up from an on-the-job injury.  He thinks his life has already hit rock bottom, but there's another level for Hayes to fall as he finds out when he wakes up in an alley after a bad trip with no memory of the last four hours.  He thinks this is the wakeup call he needs to turn his life around, his problems intensify when he receives a call from a homicide inspector.  Hayes' informant, a homeless man named Noble Jon, lies dead two blocks away, beaten and stabbed.  The eerie pang of guilt seeps into Hayes.  During his lost four hours, he's been in a fight.  His knuckles are bruised and there's blood under his fingernails.  Is he Jon's killer?  The mounting evidence says so.  To add insult to injury, his wife has employed a PI to dig up dirt on him to ensure she gets sole custody of their daughter.  Hayes mounts an off-the-books investigation and disappears amongst the city’s homeless community to stay one step ahead of a murder charge.

Lowlifes is a collaboration between filmmaker, Robert Pratten, and me, where we tell a story from different character points of view using various media.  The book tells the story from point of view of the protagonist, a San Francisco Police Inspector.  The short film gives the viewpoint of a PI investigating the cop.  The fictional blog catalogs the thoughts and feelings of the cop’s estranged wife.  In the print edition, there's a secret short story told from the point of a view of a street preacher which can be accessed QR codes and the story emailed to your cell phone.  The trendy term for this new kind of storytelling is transmedia.

  Buy Lowlifes

Do you have any advice for new writers?

It’s simple—write. Revise. Submit.  Repeat.  It’s the only way to succeed.

Speaking of advice, is there anything you’d tell your younger self if you had the chance?

Nothing.  I don’t think I would have listened and without the screw ups, I wouldn’t have gotten here today.

Your bio says you’ve done some exciting things and been to some cool places. Do you include those experiences in your work?

All the time.  I have a new book series starting in the fall that’s set in the motor racing world, which was something I was part of.  ROAD RASH features a Santeria ritual that I witnessed in Guatemala.  ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN features someone forced to make a crash landing in a light aircraft, which was something I had to do.  So yes, anything I’ve done or seen is up for grabs as it should be.

Who is your favorite literary villain? Why?

Mike Ballou is probably my favorite.  He’s a ruthless killer with an ethics code you can understand.  He’s a one-man slaughter machine at times, but you can’t help but love his viewpoint on life and his loyalty to his friends.  He appears lawence block’s matthe scudder series.

A quote that inspires you:

"In writing, you must kill all your darlings."
— William Faulkner

You write in both the horror and the thriller genres. What drew you to those in particular?

They say write what you know, but you have to write what you love too and growing up, I loved old monster movies and noir films.  From there, I sought out the books and I didn’t look back.  I’m horror and thriller fan so I have no choice over what I write.

Where can we get more Simon? 

People can find me all over the place.  My favorite hangouts include:

Website:www.simonwood.net

Blog: http://simonwoodwriter.blogspot.com (this is new)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/simonwoodwrites

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/simonwoodwrites

Good Reads (which I love): http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/215728.Simon_Wood

Thanks for being our vict—guest on WGW. It was fun and you've got so many interesting experiences. I hope you come back and see us again.