Scott Nicholson is author of more than 30 horror, post-apocalyptic, and psychological thrillers. His first novel The Red Church was a Stoker Award finalist. He’s sold more than a million books and been published in ten different languages. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
KR: Coffee?
KR: Could you tell me a little about yourself please?
I’m just your run-of-the-mill idol dreamer, always escaping into imagination because reality looks rather grim and solid.
KR: What do you like to do when not writing?
I fish a lot, watch movies, and tend an organic garden.
KR: What is your favourite childhood book?
“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss. As an older kid, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
KR: What is your favourite album, and does music play any role in your writing?
“Disintegration” by The Cure. I almost always listen to music when I’m writing, as long as it’s music I am familiar with so I don’t spend too much energy listening.
KR: Do you have a favourite horror movie/director?
George Romero, but Mike Flanagan is always good, too.
KR: What are you reading now?
Ghost Story by Peter Straub.
KR: Who were the authors that inspired you to write?
Dr. Seuss, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Brautigan, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, William Goldman.
KR: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
I hardly ever outline, although I do have a general idea of where things are going. I still get surprised, though. That’s half the fun.
KR: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
I usually research a little before, and then as needed during a project, and I consult with an expert if something’s tricky. I try to be just dumb enough to be dangerous.
KR: Describe your usual writing day?
It depends. I don’t write every day, although I am always working on some aspect of the business. If I am working on a novel, I try to do it in big chunks, because I think faster writing is more subconscious and less egotistical.
KR: Do you have a favourite story/short that you’ve written (published or not)?
“The Vampire Shortstop,” which was inspired by a dream. It won the Writers of the Future contest and has been republished several times, including currently as an illustrated South Korean novel.
KR: Do you read your book reviews?
I did when I was starting out, and then realized I didn’t want to know—I prefer to respect the opinions of others by not having one myself.
KR: Any advice for a fledgling author?
Write with passion, write where it hurts, marry the craft for life.
KR: What scares you?
Anything happening to my children.
KR: E-Book, Paperback or Hardback?
I’m fine with all three. Depends on where I am at and how I got the book. I still have hundreds of paperbacks in the attic I bought in the good old days, but my Kindle is on the bedside table along with a stack of paperbacks.
KR: Can you tell me about your latest release please?
Resurrection, the first book in the Arize series, is a post-apocalyptic zombie thriller in which the survivors must battle the Antichrist along with the living dead.
KR: What are you working on now?
The second book in the series, Revelation. The bastards are coming up from the graves just like the prophecies foretold.
KR: You find yourself on a desert island, which three people would you wish to be deserted with you and why?
Sheriff Frank Littlefield from the Red Church series, because he’s seen things; Ben Mears from Salem’s Lot because he knows how to get the job done; and David Bowie, because I doubt he’d ever leave me bored.
KR: Thank you very much Scott.
You can find out more about Scott by visiting his official website www.authorscottnicholson.com
Follow Scott on Twitter @eScottNicholson
Scott’s author page can be found here
ARIZE #2: REVELATION
In the midst of a zombie outbreak, Dr. Meg Perriman and a group of survivors head for the BioGenix research lab to work on a cure.
But the journey won’t be easy. The military has fallen under the spell of the enigmatic Rev. Cameron Ingram, who sees the outbreak as a sign of the Biblical apocalypse. Storms, earthquakes, and devastating floods appear to support the preacher’s doomsday message. Worse, the dead are rising from their graves, and Meg isn’t sure science has an explanation for these sinister mysteries.
But before she can help solve the puzzle, she and the others must fend off a growing army of the living dead. And her own husband and daughter are among the infected.
You can buy Arize: Revelation from Amazon US & Amazon UK
RESURRECTION (ARIZE #1)
It begins with a long-dormant virus released from an archaeological dig in Northern Alaska.
A researcher studying the virus suffers a fever and launches into a bloody killing spree that ends with two police officers dead. A second researcher, Dr. Meg Perriman, has just flown home for the Easter holiday with her family in North Carolina, unknowingly carrying the virus. Within days, the infection spreads across the planet, sparking martial law, chaos, and widespread slaughter as many of the infected turn into flesh-eating zombies.
Meg and a few others appear to be immune, however, and the survivors gather in a megachurch called Promiseland that the U.S. government has established as an emergency shelter. The Rev. Cameron Ingram, a charismatic televangelist the president has appointed as the “zombie czar,” believes the catastrophe is a sign of the Biblical apocalypse. When a rash of natural disasters accompany the outbreak and civilization breaks down, people turn to Ingram for salvation in the face of fear and despair.
But Meg and her group of friends soon discover Ingram is not what he appears, and they are caught between the devil and the living dead.
You can buy Arize: Resurrection from Amazon US & Amazon UK
For 13-year-old Ronnie Day, life is full of problems: Mom and Dad have separated, his brother Tim is a constant pest, Melanie Ward either loves him or hates him, and Jesus Christ won’t stay in his heart. Plus he has to walk past the red church every day, where the Bell Monster hides with its wings and claws and livers for eyes. But the biggest problem is that Archer McFall is the new preacher at the church, and Mom wants Ronnie to attend midnight services with her.
Sheriff Frank Littlefield hates the red church for a different reason. His little brother died in a freak accident at the church twenty years ago, and now Frank is starting to see his brother’s ghost. And the ghost keeps demanding, “Free me.” People are dying in Whispering Pines, and the murders coincide with McFall’s return.
The Days, the Littlefields, and the McFalls are descendants of the original families that settled the rural Appalachian community. Those old families share a secret of betrayal and guilt, and McFall wants his congregation to prove its faith. Because he believes he is the Second Son of God, and that the cleansing of sin must be done in blood.
“Sacrifice is the currency of God,” McFall preaches, and unless Frank and Ronnie stop him, everybody pays.
You can buy The Red Church from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Thanks for the interview. I love to get a peek into an author’s mind. I’ve been reading Scott’s books for years. Always prowling the shelves for ones I don’t already have.