CHURCHILL:

It's my pleasure. Thank you for reaching out.

CHURCHILL:

Well, I still have my 2nd grade report card where the teacher notes that I've started writing little stories...so it's been for just about as long as I can remember, but it's been the past few years where I've gotten serious about developing my style and skill. When I was growing up I used to write a series of Star Trek-like stories featuring my friends as characters. I've always been a sci-fi fan but my heart belongs to old-school horror like Texas Chainsaw or Halloween and dark fiction entertainment like Fight Club or Requiem for a Dream or Batman.

CHURCHILL:

Well, neither of my parents really supported or encouraged me to become a writer. I think they both thought it was just a hobby of mine more than a life or career choice. Now, my mom was a major influence because she shared her love of horror and those old black & white thriller with me at a young age, but the motivation to write and become a professional writer came from within because I really believe I'm supposed to be a writer. I think reading Stephen King's Carrie and then his other early work was a major jolt for me and my dreams. Until then I'm not sure I understood someone could become that rich and famous making up scary stories...*chuckling* And then it was Clive Barker's Books of Blood series that opened my eyes to the relationship of horror and sex, and that sparked my views of the kind of stories I wanted to write.

Writing can be hard, but I think the joy far outweighs the labor. And I don't think writing can ever be thankless unless someone writes something and hides it in a drawer and then moans and groans about wanting to be a writer, you know? Writing is a process, just like life. As far as I know, there is no skipping actually doing the work, submitting your work & mostly getting your work rejected months later. I'm really only beginning to enjoy and appreciate the thankless trek part.*laughing* Was it just me, or did you hear the theme from Star Trek?

CHURCHILL:

Ideas pop into my head all the time. Sometimes I dream stuff that's strong enough to remember. I keep a scrapbook of newspaper articles and let me tell you, the old saying is true: truth is stranger than fiction. But like every writer, some of my ideas are crap, some have granules of possibility and every once in a while the bell rings and I get the big stuffed elephant of ideas. I also keep everything I've jotted down and sometimes a couple of those bits of odd ideas combine into something worthwhile. I'm just glad they keep coming.

CHURCHILL:

Thank you for the compliment. The Blackest Heart was a blast to write despite the really dark material. I've grown up watching some great action thrillers, and some of my favorites revolved around revenge like The Crow, High Plains Drifter, Mad Max and the recent Korean thriller Old Boy. Revenge cuts across all genres and even though The Blackest Heart was going to be set in outer space, I was well into it before I really realized how many genres had gotten dumped into the stew. I didn't set out to write a sci-fi / western / horror / revenge novel. I really thought I was just writing my ode to the movies I mentioned, and my love for all these other genres sort of seeped into the story. It's just sort of the way the book evolved, but I'm very happy with the result..

CHURCHILL:

My third book is a sequel to The Blackest Heart called Pandora. That name will be familiar to readers of both my prior books as the base of cybernetic villain Yardon Wrath and the dumping ground for Star Corp biological experiments. Pandora is much more a "monster" book than a revenge novel. There's still the western motif and the sci-fi thing, but the bad guys this time out are odd, nasty mutant creatures not meant to be sharing the same environment with humans. On Pandora, humans aren't even close to the top of the food chain, dig? I think it's a fun fast read. And yeah, along with the action it has some hot sex scenes like in The Blackest Heart...ha ha ha. Now, as for when the world might see it...that I don't have as much control over. I'm in the midst of trying to change publishers for The Blackest Heart, so my hope is the new publisher will also want Pandora, but that remains to be seen. I don't have any plans to self-publish anymore, so I can only hope the time table isn't too too far into the future.

CHURCHILL:

Well, I really had to grow up and get past digging the sound of hearing myself say I was a writer without actually putting in the work. And then I had to learn the discipline necessary to start and actually finish a 200-300 page project. And I think most writers , including myself, have to learn to absorb the mental bitch slapping rejection gives you, along with learning to really believe in yourself and the talent you're trying to cultivate. I really do believe I'm a writer now, but convincing myself was a rocky road. I think the majority of creative people aren't prepared to succeed. We expect to fail and then fall to the wayside without understanding that the failures are really part of the process we all have to work through in order to be successful. But there's no one out there to explain that to us, to make us understand. Most of us get our ass kicked and then just quit. I'm lucky to have survived to this point. But I can see the mountain now and I'm just gonna keep writing and trying to get better with each project. I know my time is coming if I continue to work hard, apply constructive criticism, and polish my style.

CHURCHILL:

The highlight so far...hmmmmmmm. I need to think about this for a minute. Really, I've had a lot of nice things happen in the past 2-3 years, but the truth has just been to see some of my work in print and have strangers reach out to me and let me know they enjoy what I'm doing and look forward to reading more.

CHURCHILL:

I'm not exactly an authority or anything, but I would say there's no replacing hard work and that if you want to be a writer, you HAVE TO WRITE and complete the entire process of polishing your work, submitting to places, accepting the rejections like candy to trick-or-treaters and keep writing what you enjoy.

CHURCHILL:

Well, it's been an odd year but it looks like it's going to finish off pretty well. I'm set to have short stories in three anthologies set for publication by the end of the year or early 2006. Two are zombie anthologies, The Undead and Aim for the Head. I'm particularly fond of the short story I did for Aim for the Head called "Warmth." I finally got to combine zombies and sex. The third anthology, the tentatively titled Harvest Moon Project, gave me a chance to do a ghost story, which was fun. I've been tinkering with a zombie novel and an end-of-the-world / love story / road novel. I'm also shopping my 1st horror script around Hollyweird and looking to write more horror movie scripts in the near future. I've also been racking my brain for an idea to throw my name into the ring for an upcoming installment for a prominent horror / erotic anthology. I think that's about it for the moment. Geez, I need to get cracking!

CHURCHILL:

Thank you for the opportunity and I'll hold you to that offer for a review.

And for those who are interested in keeping up with my work, I'd love for them to visit my new website: www.vincechurchill.com. It's a work in progress but I'm going to try to keep things interesting...smile.