Author Interview: Vincent Zandri, author of The Ashes & Giveaway!
Winner
of the 2015 PWA Shamus Award and the 2015 ITW Thriller Award for Best Original
Paperback Novel, Vincent Zandri is the NEW YORK TIMES, USA
TODAY, and AMAZON KINDLE No.1 bestselling author of more than 25 novels
including THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT WEEPS, EVERYTHING BURNS, and ORCHARD GROVE. He
is also the author of numerous Amazon bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL,
TRUE STORIES and MOONLIGHT MAFIA among them. Harlan Coben has described THE
INNOCENT (formerly As Catch Can) as "...gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting,"
while the New York Post called it
"Sensational...Masterful...Brilliant!" Zandri's list of domestic
publishers include Delacorte, Dell, Down & Out Books, Thomas & Mercer
and Polis Books, while his foreign publisher is Meme Publishers of Milan and
Paris. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont
College, Zandri's work is
translated in the Dutch, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese. Recently,
Zandri was the subject of a major feature by the New York Times. He has also
made appearances on Bloomberg TV and FOX news. In December 2014, Suspense
Magazine named Zandri's, THE SHROUD KEY, as one of the "Best Books of
2014." Recently, Suspense Magazine selected WHEN SHADOWS COME as one of
the "Best Books of 2016". A freelance photo-journalist and the author
of the popular "lit blog," The Vincent Zandri Vox, Zandri has written
for Living Ready Magazine, RT, New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, The
Times Union (Albany), Game & Fish Magazine, and many more. He lives in New
York and Florence, Italy.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
Inside the Book:
It’s been eight years since artist and single mom, Rebecca
Underhill, was abducted and left to
die in an old broken down house located in the middle of the dark woods. But
even if her abductor, Joseph
William Whalen, has since been killed, another,
more insidious evil is once more out to get her in the form of the Skinner. The
son of an abusive butcher, Skinner intends on finishing the job Whalen started
but failed at.
How is he going to get to Rebecca?
He’s going to do it through her children, by luring them
into the cornfield behind the old farmhouse they live in.
HORROR IN THE DEPTHS
Now, armed with the knowledge that the Skinner has escaped
incarceration at a downstate facility for the criminally insane, Rebecca must
face the most horrifying challenge of her adult life: Rescuing the children not
from a house in the woods, but from the abandoned tunnels that run underneath
her property.
But the Skinner is watching Rebecca’s every move.
Horrifying question is, will she live long enough to save
the children?
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Amazon
Q: Welcome to The Writer's
Life! Now that your book has been
published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the
beginning? Where did you come up with
the idea to write your book?
After The Remains hit the overall
No. 1 spot on the Amazon charts, a ton of reviews were pouring in and readers
began to ask me if I had any plans to write a sequel to the story. Because
after all, a lot of the main characters were still alive and kicking,
especially the protagonist, artist and single mom, Rebecca
Underhill. I delved further into
the story and discovered that the antagonist of The Remains, Joseph William
Whalen, did indeed share his cell in Green Haven Maximum Security Prison with a
psychopath who refers to himself as The Skinner, due to his propensity for
skinning his victims alive. When The Skinner manages to escape a prison for the
criminally insane in upstate New York,
he makes the decision not only to finish the crime Whalen started but failed
at, but he also wants to go after Rebecca’s child.
Q: How hard was it to write a book
like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the
journey easier for other writers?
Sequels are difficult in general
because you don’t want to fall into that trap of explaining the events of the
first book in the second book. But of course, you can’t possibly avoid some
mention of the past and how your characters got to where they are today. On the
other hand…and this is the truly tricky part…you want to write the book in such
a way that it works as a stand-alone. Plenty of readers are going to read The
Ashes before they pick up The Remains, so you want it to be independent even if
it is technically Part II in a trilogy or a series.
Q: Who is your publisher and how
did you find them or did you self-publish?
I’m a hybrid author, meaning I
publish both traditionally and independently. I do this because I’m prolific,
and I’m a full-timer, and my traditional publishers could never keep up with my
yearly output, nor would they want to. Thomas & Mercer, Amazon Publishing’s
crime imprint and publisher of The Remains, felt as though The Ashes, in terms
of a sequel, was coming way too late in the publishing process, despite my
having sold literally hundreds of thousands of copies of “Remains.” We had
other offers to publish “Ashes” traditionally, but seeing as I’m contracted
with Polis Books for hard-cover releases in January ’17, January ’18, and
January ’19, I decided to put the book out under my own Bear Media label. A
good thing too because thus far anyway, the novel has proven my absolute
bestseller next to The Remains and The Shroud Key.
Q: Is there anything that
surprised you about getting your first book published?
Looking back on my first major
publishing experience in 1998, when The Innocent was acquired in a $250,000
deal, is how that kind of money can easily kill a career if you don’t earn out.
Not a good thing if you’re a very young writer just starting out like I was. It
took me a while to nab another contract after that initial publishing success.
My family and I went through some pretty hard times. But I never gave up on the
writing, knowing full well that publishing at best is a shyster business. It’s
all about the money and the stupidest decisions are made based on algorithms or
a marketing board that might perceive a book to be non-politically correct, for
instance, or maybe they just don’t like the author. It’s all a big gamble.
Essentially, publishers have no clue what’s going to sell and what won’t. It’s
still a game of toss something at the wall, then stand around to see if it
sticks. If it doesn’t, it’s the author’s fault, if it does, the publisher will
gladly take a bow. My advice to all authors is become hybrid, take control of
your product, and don’t become a slave to the market. Because that’s what most
writers are…slaves to the old system. I’ve been around long enough to see so
many editors and marketing people come and go. Most will never be heard from
again. But I’m still here, because I persevere. I’m a survivor.
Q: What other books (if any) are
you working on and when will they be published?
I’m working on several new books
and short stories. The Corruptions, based on the Hollywood
style prison escape by two psychopathic cons last June at Dannemora Prison, has
just been released in hard-cover as well as eBook and audio. Chase Baker and
the Dutch Diamonds, the newest in my Chase Baker action/adventure series, comes
out in March. Chase Baker and the Spear of Destiny will arrive in the early
fall. Moonlight Weeps won the ITW Thriller Award and the PWA Shamus Award last
year, so there will be another Moonlight novel coming in the very near future.
In the meantime, I’m working on the pilot novels in two new series. Plus some
new short stories for the magazines and one anthology at Down & Out Books.
In the meantime, my agent has been working some Hollywood
action. More on that at a later date.
Q: What’s one fact about your
book that would surprise people?
That it’s possible to
successfully marry several different genres in a single novel. It’s possible to
categorize The Ashes as horror, romantic suspense, and psychological thriller.
Yet there’s a literary component there also. A man and woman who love one
another, despite the ghosts of the past that keep reappearing. And a
non-traditional family who love and support one another at all costs. The Ashes
is entertainment to be sure, but it’s also a deep, thoughtful novel. Or, that’s
what I was going for anyway. The third and final book in the series will arrive
at some point before 2020. It will be hard to walk away from these characters
when the saga is finally completed.
Q: Finally, what message (if any)
are you trying to get across with your book?
Protect your children no matter
what.
Oh…
…and don’t go down into the
cellar all alone.
Q: Thank you again for this
interview! Do you have any final words?
Thank you for having me. As for final words, for you newbie
writers out there, listen up. Take control of your work and your rights, early
on. Don’t get suckered into bad publishing deals just for the sake of a deal.
Maintain control of every aspect of your career and work as hard as you
possibly can. Eventually, if you have the talent, you will make a nice living.
If anyone would like to know more about me and my books, or you’d like to drop
me a line, please go to WWW.VINCENTZANDRI.COM
or contact my agent, Chip MacGregor at chip@macgregorliterary.com
Giveaway Details:
Vincent is giving away ten Kindle e-copies of THE ASHES!
Terms & Conditions:
- By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
- Ten winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter.
- This giveaway ends midnight May 31.
Good luck everyone!
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