Tell us a bit about your latest work.
My latest book is When the Moon Shines. It’s published by Systema Paradoxa, an imprint of eSpec Books. It’s the first in a series of novellas each featuring different cryptids. Mine takes place during the Prohibition era and features two Maryland cryptids – the snallygaster and the dwayyo that are drawn into a gang war.
What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?
I had good teachers in high school who taught me to appreciate literature and exposed me to all sorts of stories including science fiction, mystery, and horror. From this I learned to appreciate Doyle, Poe, Bradbury. This carried over into college. But it wasn’t until I had been a crime scene investigator for the Baltimore Police Department for quite a few years that I came up with an idea for, what else, a crime story that I started to write. Once I had a few stories published I found I couldn’t stop.
What inspires you to write?
The fact that there are people out there who appreciate my work and buy my books. That, and the figurative voices in my head that demand I tell their stories.
What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?
It wasn’t intentional but I soon found that the principle of redemption runs through my work. A CSI turned private investigator who once did something wrong and works to make up for it (Past Sins). A BPD detective whose job it is to hunt monsters who steal souls from the Devil (Here There Be Monsters, Monsters Among Us). A gentleman adventurer who is trying to reform a demon he accidentally summoned from Hell (The Magic of Simon Tombs). It’s one thing to defeat the bad guys. It’s another thing to redeem them.
What would be your dream project?
I’d like it very much if James Patterson called me up to tell me that he feels I’d be a better choice than he to revive The Shadow or at least to collaborate with him in reviving the character.
What writers have influenced your style and technique?
Carroll John Daly, Raymond Chandler, Arthur Conan Doyle, Walter B. Gibson to start but the biggest influence was C. J. Henderson. He was a friend and mentor who read everything I wrote and would not let me get away with anything and got me into writing science fiction, fantasy, and horror. He passed away back in 2014 but his is one of the voices in my head when I sit down to write.
Where would you rank writing on the “Is it an art or is it a science continuum?” Why?
I trained as a scientist. I have a biology degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. My first job after college was working in a quality assurance lab after which I spent 40+ years in forensic science. Science has rules that must be followed. When two or more scientists work on the same thing they usually get the same result (although conclusions may vary). Science relies on the replication of results. Writing fiction is none of these. May the good sisters of Our Lady of Pompei forgive, but the rules of writing, unlike those of science, are not hard and fast but are made to be played with, expanded upon, and twisted according to the author’s whim to create good stories. (May my editors also forgive me. However, they are usually more unforgiving than the good sisters.) As far as replication of results, give ten writers the same plot and the same characters and you will get ten different stories most of which will set in different genres and eras.
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Getting my butt in the chair to start writing.
How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?
Some review my work and tell me what I did right and what I did wrong and how I can make the former better and fix the latter. Others just by being better than me and making me write better to keep up.
What does literary success look like to you?
Would I like a movie deal? Yes. Would I like a six-figure advance? Hell, yes! But to me literary success is a publisher willing to take a chance on something I wrote. It’s books with my name on the front cover. It’s the person who comes up to me at a convention and tells me how much they liked my book and asks if I have anything new.
Any upcoming projects you would like to plug?
I have a sequel to Past Sins called Mortal Sins coming out from Padwolf Publishing in the Fall. Likewise (also through Padwolf) I have two novels in Patrick Thomas’s forthcoming Agents of the Abyss series, the first of which should also be out this fall. And on the editing side, I’ve been editing cryptid novellas for Systema Paradoxa, which plans to issue four books a year. I’m also editing an anthology with Danielle Ackley-McPhail called Devilish and Devine which will be published by eSpec Books.
For more information:
No website I’m afraid. But my books are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as my books’ publishers. I’m on Facebook and my email is jfrenchfam@aol.com if anyone has any questions, comments, or offers of six-figure advances and/or movie deals.
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