My guest this week is someone that I have been dying to interview for over a year. Back when I won an ARC copy of his first book I wasn't doing author interviews and then when things here started taking off I really wanted to wait for his second book to come out before inviting him here as a guest.So finally the second book is finally out this month! So please welcome, after a long wait, Mr Mark Henry! Zombie extrodinaire!
I hope you all enjoy the interview as much as I did and keep reading down to the end and enter the contest!
------------
Amber - Welcome to Amberkatze's Book Blog! It is a pleasure to finally have you here as a guest and I hope you will start things off by telling us a little about your cool zombie series?
Mark - I'm definitely glad to be here and you've totally hit on one of my favorite topics, oddly enough. Amanda Feral is not what you'd call nice, or pleasant even. In fact, most people think she's a beast, and they're more right than they know. Amanda's a zombie, a flesh-eating ghoul with a preserved consciousness and an appetite for fine dining, foul humor and haute couture. Along with her best friends, Wendy (another zombie with an eye for the forbidden fruit: chocolate) and Gil (a fashionable vamp with an eye for the gents), Amanda gets into all sorts of undead trouble in a Seattle that's more supernaturally grim than you expect.
Amber - The second book in the series 'Road Trip of the Living Dead' is due out now. What can readers expect in this new installment?
Mark - A whole lot more of the same craziness. With her mother dying, Amanda is trying to avoid the inevitable reunion, but when Gil's luxury vamping business produces one pissed-off and ravenous customer they've got to get out of town...and quick. There destination seems predetermined, Ethel's hospice center in decidedly unfashionable Rapid City, South Dakota. Along the way they meet up with dust devils, elder gods, an unusual hood ornament and a transient named Fishhook. There's gruesome murders, zombie outbreaks and the requisite shocking humor. Without that it wouldn't be an Amanda book.
Amber - How did you come up with the idea for your zombie books? Why did you choose a female lead?
Mark - The initial idea was a response to the glut of chick lit coming out about 3 years ago, that, and I found Sex and the City was a decent show, irreverent and funny. Pair that with a love of Douglas Winter's skewering of Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney in his short stories, Less than Zombie and Bright Lights Big Zombie, and I had a recipe for a parody. The idea needed a framework, though. Urban fantasy was the closest fit, so that's what I did.
Amber - Is it hard writing from the perspective of a female? Do you get any help with that? or are you secretly a woman?
Mark - No. It's not hard at all. But I'm lucky to be able to draw not only from the women in my family and circle of friends but upwards of 800 female clients that shared their innermost thoughts and desires. It's quite the advantage.Amber - Female hygiene products aside. Did you have to do much research for your books so far?
Mark - I did do quite a bit of research into the fashion (stacks of Vogue, Elle and Glamour do cause some odd looks at the cash register) and we tested out the drink recipes, that was fun.
Amber - Amanda is a fascinating character and seems like alot of fun to have around. Is she your ideal woman? Dead or undead?
Mark - Close. I love strong irreverent women, that's for sure. My wife is one. Amanda is probably an amalgam of all the characteristics I look for and love crammed inside this beautiful woman, who just happens to be dead and deadly.
Amber - Did you always want to be a writer? Did you pick the paranormal genre or did it pick you?
Mark - I didn't start writing until three years ago. Prior to that I was a psychotherapist for about 12 years and thought that would be my career for the rest of my life. Only, as it turns out, it's not such a fun job. The clients were the best and I loved helping each and every one. The broken social service system made helping nearly impossible and ultimately burnt me the f**k out. As for how I came to write paranormal, I'm pretty sure it chose me. I love reading literary fiction and memoir, but when I sit down to write, only the weird comes out so...Paranormal it is!Amber - What have been the good and bad times of being an author? Any advice to anyone out there working on their first novel?
Mark - Well the good times are anytime there's a sale. Not that I've had many, but the times I did, are fantastic, and crazy-making. Their haven't really been any bad times, compared to my past career as a psychotherapist, the writing gig has been a breeze. As far as advice, I'd just let aspiring writers know that there's room for just about any story. Look at mine. Who'd have thought you could sell a predominantly villainous heroine that eats street kids and is bored by the idea of saving her own friends?
Amber - Have you always been into zombies? Do you like any other paranormal creatures? Are you one yourself? Know any?
Mark - Always. Well, maybe not always. I was watching Night of the Living Dead and the Italian zombie flicks before I was even out of elementary school. My mother was and is a fan of horror films and introduced me to the genre at a pretty young age (today, it'd be seen as neglectful, but I wouldn't have it any other way, in fact, I'm happy to (and do) infect my own Godchildren with the zombie fan virus). I'm a fan of anything that's not "normal" from vampires to schizophrenics to yeti drag queens with air-brushed claws.
Amber - If you google Mark Henry there seems to be some other Mark Henry's out there who are a tad more famous than you. However you are extremely well known in the paranormal genre...your website, the reluctant adults, helping other paranormal author friends, book signings etc. It seems like alot of work. How do you find the time for it all and how do you relax?Mark - I'm not going to lie, it's definitely a lot to juggle and I'm afraid it's often the writing time that suffers, but it's not always like that. The work is cyclical. I'm in the middle of a big promotional push now for Road Trip of the Living Dead, so I'm not writing as much, but it'll pass and things will even out. My biggest recent distraction was the relaunch of the League of Reluctant Adults site and new forum. Now that it's off and running, I'm able to breathe.
Amber - What is next? Another Amanda book? Any other projects you are working on?
Mark - I'm working on two projects at once (which isn't good for me), the third Amanda book, Battle of the Network Zombies, and the first in a new series about an incubus with an erectile dysfunction, which had better be good (I've been working on it long enough). After those are off to my agent and editor, I'm going to try my hand at a YA book (actually a mash up of a middle grade idea about life in Purgatory and my goth Nancy Drew, Velvet. The ideas are percolating.
Amber - What music, TV series or films do you like and do they influence your work?
Mark - I'm loving 80s throwbacks like The Presets and Cut Copy, anything electro. I also dig some of the neo-soul coming out of London and my old stand by is old-school goth and punk. Obviously the music flavors the work as some of the scenes have their own soundtracks, but oddly enough, I don't write well with music playing. I love movies, pretty much any genre except for the standard hollywood comedies. They grate on my nerves like nothing else.
Give me a dark comedy any day, over Mall Cop or the latest Scary Movie sequel. God they're the opposite of funny. John Waters has been a huge inspiration, particularly the early stuff (Female Trouble, Pink Flamingos--watch Mink Stole's performances and tell me you don't hear Amanda a bit). My favorite show just got cancelled, Pushing Daisies. I loved the magical realism. Now I'm back on the reality shows like a crackhead.Amber - If zombies are out there and you get infected. Should we shoot you in the head and put you out of your misery or are you happy to go around eating brains?
Mark - Absolutely let me loose to chew through some humanity, I can spot an asshole from a mile away. Won't we all be happier with less of those around?
Amber - You are stuck on a desert island. What 5 things do you hope to have with you?
Mark - Hmm. Five things. My wife, my dogs, a breezy bungalow, a personal chef (if we run out of food, I'll just eat the chef) and a loaded eBook reader (I don't have one now, but I figure it'd be as good a time as any to make the change).
Amber - Thank you for the interview Mark! Keep up the great work!
Check out my reviews of Mark's books -
Happy Hour of the Damned
Road Trip of the Living Dead
----------------
Contest Time!
So Mark says to me -
And let's do a giveaway. Get people started on the series with a signed Happy Hour of the Damned, eh?
I am sure you are all happy with that offer??
To enter the giveaway all you have to do is comment here telling us about your favourite zombies. It could be a film, book or comic but let us know what you think about the undead who love to eat brains!
No Zombies = no entry!
Earn another entry for each place you link this contest on the net. Make sure you add links here for me to confirm your entries!
The contest will stay open until Sunday March 8th 2009 4pm CET and the winner will be picked by a randomizer. Entrants should check back to see if they have won. I do not hunt down winners and will pick new winners for any prizes not claimed within 7 days.
If you are claiming a prize, have emailed me and have not heard back before the 7 day limit is up then post a comment here on the blog. Your email may get sucked into my spam filter.
Enjoy!
Labels: Author Interviews, Contests, Mark Henry
At 2 March 2009 at 05:38, 
alanajoli
I actually had only feelings of distaste toward zombies until Amanda and Wendy showed up on the scene. So Supernatural Seattle wins my vote. :)
I also mentioned the contest here at my blog.
At 2 March 2009 at 07:33, Chris J.
Hi Amber & Mark!
I loved the interview and the series sounds like a Must Read!!
As to fave Zombie movie, that would have to be: SHAUN of the DEAD! I had to buy it even and the kids loved it! :)
Do you watch FearNet on cable? Well this past staurday we watched it and there was this episode called "NEW YEARS DAY" done by the director of Saw movies and it was a Zombie flick. It was pretty good!
Also have seen all the Night of the Living Dead and so on ones.
Thanks for the interview, the fun question and all the info on your books!
Here's what I've done to try and win:
(1) Commented and said what my fave Zombie movie is.
(2)Posted the contest and all on my myspace blog here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll
(3) Emailed my friends on Yahoo with all the info as well and cc you with it.
Thanks Amber for the Contest and all the cool stuff you do for us readers!
At 2 March 2009 at 10:44, Unknown
LOL w/Caitlin
Whenever I'd play, I'd inevitably growl "I hate guard dogs!" ... but you're right, they really rock.
Yeah, I'm 100% a Resident Evil (video game) zombie fan. Err... right up 'til #4.
If Milla Jovovich's character, Alice, in the movies is a T-Virus carrier, does that make her a zombie, too? 'cause, yeah. That'd make her my favourite, all right ;-)
Amber, I put this on my blog, too: http://gategypsy.livejournal.com/73271.html
Raine <3 Zombies and Seattle! I can't wait to read this book ('cause if I don't win it, I'm totally still gunna buy it!)
At 2 March 2009 at 12:27, Michelle Olsen Sasak
The zombies from the movie 28 Days Later were awesome because they could run super fast and tear people up, which was a lot more exciting than the lumbering slow zombies in most movies.
Bookwise, the zombies in Brian Keene's The Rising and City of the Dead. Not only are there zombie animals (like zombie birds pecking eyes out, zombie dogs and cats attacking their owners), but the human zombies can drive cars, fire rockets, and plan traps. It's very cool.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I always had an appreciation for the superpowers of the zombies in the Lucio Fulci movies. Their mere presence in an isolated area could cause beautiful Italian women to wander around barely dressed. Or perhaps the women were trying to minimize air drag while fleeing; alas, we shall never know...because they were eaten.
galeogirl at comcast dot net
My favorite would have to be from an old Night Gallery TV show about a man who falls in love with a woman he men in Hati but her father objected and said she could never leave the island so they tried to run away and then they found out she was really a zombie but she did not know it. It was very sad.
Debby
cleo@hbeark.com
by Kelley Armstrong
My favorite zombie...hmm would be from the movie 28 days later (talk about scary)
within a matter of seconds you're infected and turned into a walking meat eating zombie...