Briefly tell us about your book.
The Forsaken is a blockbuster thriller novel with a philosophical core. Beneath the action and the thrills, it explores how we can say yes to life in spite of its inevitable horrors. Logan Booth is a retired contract killer who spent ten years assassinating targets for what he thought was a rogue group of vigilantes, only to learn he was being manipulated by the CIA the entire time to serve U.S. government interests. The Forsaken opens with Logan deep in the grip of an existential crisis, and it’s only the murder of his best friend, investigative reporter Jorge Romero, that pulls him from the depths of his despair. As Logan works to uncover the perpetrators, he forms an unlikely connection with Alice Mason, a young woman living on the streets of Brooklyn who was a witness to the murder plot. Logan and Alice are each broken in their own ways, but over the course of the novel they help each other re-discover meaning in their lives.
If I looked at your internet history, what would it reveal about you?
I think most crime writers would look like serial killers if their internet history was scrutinised. As a writer of dark, violent thrillers, I need to know a great deal of very specific information on all kinds of illicit activities. Some of the questions I’ve put to Google would make you wince, but it’s research I’m more than willing to carry out in order to deliver the most gritty and authentic page-turners that I can!
How did you think of the title of the book?
Underneath the surface, this book is all about the principles that Logan and Alice have forsaken, and how they might manage to work their way back out of the abyss and re-establish their motivation to live well. Both characters used to have their lives together before everything fell apart for them, and as you’ll see in The Forsaken, it’s a painful journey back. This Friedrich Nietzsche quote that I include in the book sums it up best: “You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”
What’s the easiest and most difficult parts of your job as a writer?
The easiest part of being a professional writer is the fact that it’s what I would rather be doing over anything else in the world. I’ve written fiction since I was six years old, so I’ve quite literally been doing it my whole life, and I decided I wanted to make my living from writing at about the age of ten. In that sense it’s my dream job, and I’ve worked hard to make sure I can continue to support myself solely through creative writing. The discipline required to succeed as a self-published author was definitely the hardest part, but it was a cost I was more than happy to pay. Before my traditional publishing deal for The Forsaken, I wrote a full-length novel every 3-4 months, which I would self-publish. I would only write for two or three hours each day, but I’d do that seven days a week, and it was definitely a challenge to stay consistent and never make excuses not to write. But as Stephen King says, ‘If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot,’ and the fulfilment that came from improving as a writer was priceless.
Geometry Dash is a fun way to challenge yourself. I recommend it because overcoming difficult levels feels incredibly rewarding.