Nick Younker has spent nearly twenty years working in local and national media. After transitioning from television to online journalism, he honed in on his lifelong love of horror and blended it with his unique skills as a scribe.
With the exception of his debut novel, Nick focuses his writing on short stories and novellas written in Grunge Narrative style. His biggest influences in literature are novelists like Vonnegut, Blatty, Blackwood, Bukowski and Ketchum. Lyrical influences include Cobain, Vedder, Springsteen, Jett, Hetfield, Hendrix, Morrison and Roky Erickson.
You can catch up with him on Twitter (@NYounker) where he publishes over 20 smart-ass tweets and horror images every day.
The kettle has boiled…
KR: Could you tell me a little about yourself please?
I’m a father of two with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. I’ve spent nearly twenty years working in the media, including three years in Atlanta with Turner. I’ve written ten novels, novellas and short stories that have achieved a moderate amount of success. I primarily write in the horror and dark fantasy genre. I have been developing a technology-driven story lately based in the future.
KR: What do you like to do when not writing?
Look at walls, examine the contents of cereal and some light reading.
KR: What is your favourite childhood book?
I didn’t read as a child. But I loved looking at the pictures in Fangoria magazines at the supermarket when my mother wasn’t watching.
KR: What are you reading now?
Cold Storage, Alaska.
KR: What is your favourite album, and does music play any role in your writing?
Favorite is a hard adjective to nail down. I have several that are tied for number one, which include Master of Puppets, Nevermind, Ten, Roky Erickson, Hendrix, Billion Dollar Babies, …And Justice For All, Antichrist Superstar, Hidden Treasures, In Utero, and Rust In Peace. I don’t listen to music when I write, though.
KR: Who were the authors that inspired you to write?
Algernon Blackwood, William Peter Blatty, George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut.
KR: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
I memorize an outline and try to stay as close to the original blueprint as possible. If parts were forgotten, they weren’t worth inclusion to start with.
KR: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
Research is minimal and only used to stay current on certain things I reference to in the story. Basically, I do just enough to confirm my suspicions on specific topics.
KR: Describe your usual writing day?
There is no standard. I just scribble when the time is right. I don’t plan on doing it, I just feel it out when the thoughts run through my head.
KR: Do you have a favourite story/short that you’ve written (published or not)?
Don’t Bury Me is perhaps my best work to date. I liked every part of that story and most of my readers have agreed thus far.
Evan, an activist hell-bent on exposing corruption within the pharmaceutical industry, accepts an invitation to go on a daring mission to Croatia in search of an ancient corpse that fell victim to a 14th century plague. The mission becomes a stunning success with the discovery of a femur bone, but it comes with a price when he takes it to Indiana University in Bloomington for independent research.
After it reanimates, the outbreak takes a supernatural turn and the government responds by quarantining five states in the Midwest. The terminal virus, also known as the Rip Tide, forces people to self-cannibalize near the end. Evan, who seems to be immune to the Rip Tide, travels up and down the deserted roads of Southern Indiana to help people die peacefully.
Aided by both FEMA and the CDC with a satellite phone and airdrops, Evan encounters a young girl who was abandoned by her parents. To make matters worse, a 14th Century witch appears to him as an apparition, taking the form of a dead Goth-Rock Star he admires to manipulate him into spreading her lethal spores. But Evan has other plans and he starts to break through her supernatural code, finding unique ways to keep the young girl alive.
KR: Do you read your book reviews?
I read my book reviews about as often as I read how many calories are in a cheeseburger, which is only after a hospital visit.
KR: Any advice for a fledgling author?
Learn to love poverty as much as I do… ‘cause you’re about to live in it. Also, there’s no such thing as an effective writing class. Reading is the only way to learn.
KR: What scares you?
Politicians.
KR: E-Book, Paperback or Hardback?
After I got my e-reader, I never looked back. I’ll never read any other way.
KR: Can you tell me about your latest release please?
The Grunge Narratives: A Rare Horror Collection is all my short stories and novellas from 2017, compiled in a single collection for a more digestible flow of reads.
A RARE HORROR COLLECTION features a truly distinctive vision of unnerving terror, presented in a bold multiverse of ten short stories and novellas. Frightening creatures and unsavory characters, eerily fleshed out to reflect modern and 20th century realities, populate this collection of original horror.
KR: What are you working on now?
A story about a nine-year-old girl who commits suicide inside her mother’s mausoleum. It’s set in 2043 and features an investigator, a forensics expert and a digital forensics expert that have to develop technology that will recreate the last moments of her life and help them understand why she wanted to die.
KR: Thank you very much Nick.
You can follow Nick on Twitter @NYounker
Please visit Nick’s author page here
The suicide of a nine-year-old girl leads a medical examiner and a digital forensics expert to a series of unsettling events. In this quasi-oligarchic future, billions in legacy assets and tangible cash are at stake. The young girl’s death causes systemic unrest in the small Southern Indiana county of Percy, with people torn between bureaucratic loyalty and moral obligation.
To exacerbate the situation, a rare hacktivist known as “Rabies” has targeted the medical-industrial complex, leading the FBI to Percy County for an unrelated investigation. Eventually, worlds collide.
What started as a tragic loss in the community ends up shocking the nation.
“Darkness is a cold virus best kept in the grave…”
You can buy Shadow Of The Day from Amazon US & Amazon UK
A RARE HORROR COLLECTION features a truly distinctive vision of unnerving terror, presented in a bold multiverse of ten short stories and novellas. Frightening creatures and unsavory characters, eerily fleshed out to reflect modern and 20th century realities, populate this collection of original horror.
You can buy The Grunge Narratives from Amazon US & Amazon UK
Evan, an activist hell-bent on exposing corruption within the pharmaceutical industry, accepts an invitation to go on a daring mission to Croatia in search of an ancient corpse that fell victim to a 14th century plague. The mission becomes a stunning success with the discovery of a femur bone, but it comes with a price when he takes it to Indiana University in Bloomington for independent research.
After it reanimates, the outbreak takes a supernatural turn and the government responds by quarantining five states in the Midwest. The terminal virus, also known as the Rip Tide, forces people to self-cannibalize near the end. Evan, who seems to be immune to the Rip Tide, travels up and down the deserted roads of Southern Indiana to help people die peacefully.
Aided by both FEMA and the CDC with a satellite phone and airdrops, Evan encounters a young girl who was abandoned by her parents. To make matters worse, a 14th Century witch appears to him as an apparition, taking the form of a dead Goth-Rock Star he admires to manipulate him into spreading her lethal spores. But Evan has other plans and he starts to break through her supernatural code, finding unique ways to keep the young girl alive.
You can buy Don’t Bury Me from Amazon US & Amazon US
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