What’s your background, what compelled you to start writing?

My background is pretty normal, I’d say. Northern English of Irish origin, working-class lad, second child, kinda nerdy.

Growing up in the 80s was fun, as much as it was probably hard, too. It’s funny to see the nostalgia for that time in things like Stranger Things and the latest IT films.

Being the last decade pre-Internet, it meant we kids actively used libraries, so reading books was always a passion from a very early age. I remember starting with Arthurian legends, Robin Hood, and a local writer named Alan Garner before moving onto The Hobbit at age seven. I know I was that old, as I still have the copy (I used to write my name, age and address in everything. Probably the by-product of having an older brother and hand-me-downs.)

I was lucky to have a really good teacher at school who recommended new books for me from the library, and it sparked my imagination. I always wanted to write, as I love fiction, but didn’t start in earnest until 2019.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Stop doubting yourself and just try. Seriously, I found a notebook in my attic that I didn’t realise I’d kept. It’s twenty-years old and has scribbles and ramblings detailing many ideas I’ve actually used since without knowing. Some of these concepts had lived in my head for decades, but I never thought I could do it, so I never tried. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been suited when I was younger, but the Gods love a trier, right?

How many hours a day do you write?

I write every day of the week, except Fridays, but then I still write for an hour then. I think I’m addicted. Normally, I’ll write for around five hours. I sprint write—I’ll hide my phone and close down all Internet browsers and write solidly for an hour, then reward myself with ten minutes connectivity, then back to it. I’m weird.

Have you ever Googled yourself? What did you find out that you didn’t already know?

I have not. I’m not particularly interested in myself! I did come across a David Green imposter on Amazon, recently. He claimed one of my books! I looked at his profile, and he didn’t have any of his own, so I felt quite flattered, but in the words of Conor McCloud: “There can be only one.”

In relation to your latest book;

What sparked the idea for this book?

I have a soft-spot for hard-boiled detectives, and noir. Not so much as a reading genre, but in film. Love `em. I thought it would be fun to combine that with urban fantasy. I was aware of Dresden (and have since I began reading them) and wanted to make this in the same wheelhouse, but its own thing. So Nick Holleran isn’t magical, he’s just a normal person who sees the truth of the world. It’s no spoiler to say in the universe of Dead Man Walking, Earth is Hell. I thought that would be a fun spin—all these fairy  tales, monsters, demons and so on we hear about? It’s all true. We live alongside them all, but we’re just not aware of them.

What challenges did you encounter to finish it?

The biggest challenge was introducing the world in an organic way, without doing massive exposition dumps. It’s a short-read, so I wanted to keep the pace fast and entertaining, while giving the reader enough understanding of the universe.

So I figured I’d set this story a few years after Nick Holleran’s awakening. John Wick inspired me in this regard – as a watcher, we’re planted into this breathing world where characters already have relationships with each other. They can reference past events that colour in the background, and I think it works. The readers can be the judge!

What’s your favourite scene?

My actual favourite is a massive spoiler, so read on and find out. Other than that, there’s a few I enjoyed writing and think they work well. I like the whole section where Nick arrives at The Styx—a bar frequented by the creatures of Hell, run by an awesome woman named Ruby. I plan to explore her and Nick’s relationship more in future installments.

And, lastly;

What’s brewing? What projects are you working on?

I have five different Nick Holleran stories in mind and jotted out in note form. The sequel is pretty much ready to write—if you read this one, you’ll know where the follow-up is heading.

There’s also a secret Black Hare Press project I can’t talk about, that may well tie-in with Nick Holleran…

Outside of all things Black Hare Press and Nick Holleran, I have my debut novel, The Santa Monica Man, out in March, 2021. It isn’t speculative-fiction, but a hard-boiled crime-thriller set in 1940s California. Beyond that, I have another big project due out mid-2021 but I can’t talk about it, or I’d have to kill EVERYONE!