What one thing did you give up to be a writer?

I completely stopped writing music. I thought I’d do both, but finally, writing took up all my free time. It’s been about three years now that I haven’t touched my piano to compose anything.

What inspires you?

Just about anything inspires me. Sometimes it’s a single word that I like, or a name. Other times, it’s a series I’m watching, a movie, or a book I’m reading. Stories of hopelessness, of solitude and grief are what inspires me most. And Nature is a great part of almost all my stories too. I like to describe landscape, and how my MCs see them and react to them. They are often part of the story in a way or the other.

Besides hard work and talent, what other traits have led to your success?

I don’t know about talent, but hard work, for sure. But the most important thing is to not give up and work your art. It’s the only way to get where you want to go.

What is a little-known fact about you?

I am someone who is very anxious, which is one of the reasons I try to stay away from social media as much as possible.

Were you an avid reader while you were growing up?

Not that much. I liked to read, though preferred to listen to music and work on musical composition. I started to read more intensively about five years ago, when I started to get tired of music and the whole world and business around which it gravitates.

In relation to your latest book;

What sparked the idea for this book?

The idea of Mount Terror first came when I was reading and studying the history of South Pole expeditions. From James Clark Ross’ scientific expedition and discovery of the Ross Ice Shelf, to Robert Falcon Scott’s deadly trip to the Geographic South Pole, and the Search Party that followed Scott’s death, I was fascinated by the stories of endurance, of survival and the passion that animated these great explorers. It’s Scott’s adventure, as well as Lovecraft’s At The Mountain Of Madness, which I was reading at the same period, that inspired me the idea of my story Mount Terror. I wanted to create a story of exploration, of survival in this land of desolation, and, of course, of Lovecraftian disaster. The least I can say is that I enjoyed every seconds writing the story and that I’m not done with South Pole and other exploration’s stories in the most remote and wild places on Earth.

What challenges did you encounter to finish it?

Not necessarily to finish it but to be consequent about the history of south pole expeditions, which I relate in the story, as well as putting in place the world around the mysterious, unnamed book and the whole Elder God thing. Lovecraft had his Necronomicon and this whole legend he created around it. I wanted to set such a world, such a legend, too. Something I could play around in many other stories, directly or loosely connected to Mount Terror. To make it original and not have it sound like it’s a rip off of Lovecraft’s works I think was the greatest challenge.

Why did you choose Antarctica as the setting of this book?

Because of its conditions, the loneliness and the desolation inhabiting this land. Such are some of the recurrent themes in my stories. And what remotest and most desolate place than Antarctica?

Is there a particular message that you hope readers will take from the book?

Don’t go to Antarctica? Do not attempt at finding a cavern at the foot of Mount Terror? No, seriously, it’s a horror story, and like all my stories, it doesn’t end well for the MC. I’d like to say it’s a story of courage and determination, but it’s more about madness and how insignificant human is facing nature and forces we cannot control. Human is great at thinking he’s the king, the greatest species to have ever lived, that he’s unbreakable, invincible. I am great at facing him with the most impossible Natural forces and supernatural ones, and I have such a fun time proving how weak we are.

What’s your favourite scene?

The scene with when the dogs circle the camp and Alpert finally appears, blind and speaking in an odd, guttural language before a sudden gust of wind kill the entire pack of dogs and Alpert.

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

I’ve heard that BHP has a new call for submissions, something about dystopian, which is right up my alley. I’m currently finishing the edits of my third novel, the last instalment of my Birdman Project trilogy. After that, I will start working on a new novella idea that’s been brewing in my head for some times now.