Saturday 24 May 2014

An Interview with Kevin Outlaw

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. When I started this blog, I thought I would have plenty of interesting things to say. Turns out, being a writer is actually a bit boring. I'm pretty sure nobody is that interested to hear how many words I wrote this week, or how long I struggled over whether to have tea or coffee for breakfast.

That said, I have vowed to try harder to put some interesting content on this blog. Let's start with a little interview:

So, The Legend Riders trilogy is over. Is that the end of Nimbus's adventures?

Hopefully not. As I was writing the original trilogy, I had already planned a second trilogy set significantly further in the future, when the Legend Riders are a well-established fighting force rather than a group of kids muddling through. So, there is that. However, that story is a little darker, and I started to think that there needed to be some kind of transition between now and then. Long story short, the full saga is nine volumes, plus some shorts. When I will ever find the time to write all those stories is another matter entirely.

You aren't working on those at the moment, then?

No. Not yet. I love Nimbus and the guys, and I really want to keep that adventure rolling, but there are some other worlds I want to explore first.

You're working on a book called "Roots" at the moment. Can you tell us more about that?

It's different to The Legend Riders. It's actually a high school romance story.

Sounds boring.

Well, it's more than that. It's actually a superhero origin story too.

Great. The world needs more superhero stories. I'm being sarcastic. Just in case that wasn't obvious.

Well, it's more than that. I was thinking about superhero origin stories, and I realised that if you strip away all the super powers and fancy costumes they are all basically horror stories. Spiderman gets bitten by a spider and mutates into a monster, and then the people he loves the most - his uncle, his girlfriend - are killed. Bruce Banner gets blasted by gamma rays and turns into a giant green monster, which is true Jekyll and Hyde stuff. Daredevil's dad is murdered, and then he gets blinded in an accident. So on, so on. They are all stories about death and loss. I guess, what I'm basically saying is that "Roots" is a horror story.

A romantic horror superhero origin story?

It's a psychological thriller and a mystery too.

A high school romance psychological horror thriller mystery superhero origin story?

Yeah.

Next you'll be saying there are zombies in it.

Er... So anyway... I don't really want to say much about the story. The less you know the better, I think. But there's a lot going on in there. It's about pain in a lot of ways, and the ways people can get hurt: Disease, bullying, gun crime, abusive parents. It all gets swirled into the mix. Oh, and it involves trees.

Sounds miserable.

It's about hope too. And it's funny... I think. And there is some cool action stuff. And a troll. And a giant earthworm.

Okay, let's move on. Tell me, when can people get this book?

I'm aiming to roll it out through Amazon late Autumn. I'm still tweaking it right now, and I'm not prepared to make it available until I am completely happy.

I guess that means we can wrap up. Just one more question though: you do know you are talking to yourself, don't you?

Uh... Sure.

That's okay then.

Would you like an autograph?

Um... Yeah. Okay.



The Legend Riders trilogy is available now for Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.
Roots is due for publication later in the year.