The Nightcrawler: Author Mick Ridgewell talks to Kendall Reviews.

Mick Ridgewell grew up watching Dark Shadows, The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits. These interests were not quite understood by his mechanic/athlete father and homemaker mother, but neither were they discouraged.

More recently Mick’s downtime has been filled with the likes of Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Richard Matheson. With idle hours spent in this company it should be easy to see how he came to be a horror writer.

When not at his day job, or spending time with his family, Mick can be found reading or writing something that is intended to make the readers skin crawl.

KR: Coffee?

KR: Could you tell me a little about yourself please?

I am a computer programmer with a small steel company by day. My wife and I have raised a son and daughter in southern Ontario, Canada. I did not always want to be a writer. In fact, when my kids were very young, I pretty much gave up reading. There was no time for it and when there was time, I was too tired. When they got a little older, Anne Rice and Stephen King rekindled my love of books. Then I found a copy of SK’s On Writing:,A Memoir of the Craft and decided to give writing a try. The Nightcrawler was the result of that try.

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KR: What do you like to do when not writing?

My wife and I have always enjoyed going to see movies. I like to go for walks in the evenings, and since adopting a German Shepherd from the Humane Society, I always have company. Binge watching TV shows on Netflix has become my newest form of entertainment. And I always have a book to read in the house and an audio book on the go in the car.

KR: What is your favourite childhood book?

The first thing that came to mind was a Dark Shadows comic I had when I was 9 or 10. I do have many favorite books from the children’s childhood. Reading to them was one of my favorite activities. Harry Potter is still a favorite in our house.

KR: What is your favourite album, and does music play any role in your writing?

Without question, The Beatles, Abbey Road. I don’t listen to music while writing, but I have referred to pop and rock artists in my writing. The Nightcrawler had several lyrics in the original draft, but I didn’t have permission to use them, so they were all removed.

KR: Do you have a favourite horror movie/director? 

My favorite horror movie is often the one I am watching at any given time. If I had to choose, I would probably pick an assortment of old ‘B’ movies, Lugosi, Karloff, Chaney Jr. and of course Vincent Price.

KR: What are you reading now?

In the house I am reading Little Heaven by Nick Cutter, and in my car on audio I am listening to Nos4a2 by Joe Hill.

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KR: Who were the authors that inspired you to write?

My biggest influence is Stephen King. As mentioned earlier, if I had not stumbled onto his book, On Writing I may never have started. Anne Rice reestablished my love of books and I would never have written a word without that.

KR: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?

I always start with some kind of “What if’, idea. For The Nightcrawler it was, ‘What if a man is driving cross country and sees the same person everywhere he goes.’ I started there and shortly after the end became clear to me. From that point I just forged ahead.

KR: What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

I don’t do any research before I start. As I am writing, if something comes up, I just Google as I go. I try to keep things as accurate as I feel they need to be, for instance, if a story takes place in mid-summer, don’t have a person blinded by oncoming headlights at 9 o’clock, since it isn’t dark at yet. But it’s fiction, so if it happens to be a full moon in the story, don’t go online to find out it there really was a full moon on that day. Does anybody really care?

KR: Describe your usual writing day?

Since I do have a day job, my writing is always done some time after dinner. When I am on a roll I try to avoid rereading previous sections. It doesn’t matter how many times I go over it, I will always come up with something I want to change. So I just drive on and worry about whether it’s any good when I begin revisions.

KR: Do you have a favourite story/short that you’ve written (published or not)?

The Nightcrawler will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my first completed work, and I spent more time on it than any other project. That said, my current favorite is a literary fiction novel called Sum of the Whole, I am currently editing. I wrote it for my wife, who is not a horror fan. I hope to be sending it out in the coming weeks. If it works the way I hope, it will make readers laugh and cry, and fall in love with the characters on the page the way I did writing them.

KR: Do you read your book reviews?

I do. I try to be thick skinned. I have only seen one bad review, and when I saw that the reviewer rated my book the same as SK’s Dr. Sleep I was okay with it.

KR: Any advice for a fledgling author?

I still consider myself a fledgling author, but if I was going to give any advice it would be, never give up. The Nightcrawler took me 2 years to write, and 6 years to find a publisher.

KR: What scares you?

I don’t remember ever being scared by a book or movie. I have been startled but jump-outs in movies but my mind has never been so drawn in that I forgot it was just a movie. What really scared the crap out of me recently was, 13 Reasons Why. I was so glad my kids were finished high-school before watching that series.

KR: E-Book, Paperback or Hardback?

E-readers are great travel buddies. You can take a whole library with you on a plane. I still prefer paper books. Hardcover or paperback, but if you are a collector, hardcover is best.

KR: Can you tell me about your latest release please?

I have 2 titles being rereleased this year. Evil Never Dies is available now in ebook and paperback. I wanted to make vampires monsters again. My hope with this book was to get a feel somewhere between ’30 Days of Night’ and Bram Stokers, Dracula.

KR: What are you working on now?

As mentioned earlier, I am working on Sum of the Whole, a literary fiction novel. It is a story of old friends spending a weekend together to celebrate the life of a recently deceased friend.

KR: You find yourself on a desert island, which three people would you wish to be deserted with you and why?

You can choose…

1. One fictional character from your writing.

For this one I will choose Mary Sullivan from Sum of the Whole. She is always fun to be around, has a great attitude and if you are going to be stranded with 3 people at least one should be pleasing to the eye.

2. One fictional character from any other book.

Albus Dumbledore, because damn if he can’t magic a feast right out of thin air.

3. One real life person that is not a family member or friend.

And this would have to be Bear Grylls. If I am going to be stranded I want somebody with me who knows how to survive.

KR: Thank you very much Mick.

You can follow Mick on Twitter @mickridgewell

Mick’s author page can be found here

Wherever you run…he’s waiting for you! Scott Randall is a corporate VP on top of the world. To celebrate a massive new deal, he’s going to drive from Detroit to LA. But before he leaves, he makes a bad mistake. He cruelly dismisses a homeless panhandler on the street. Along the road, he swears he sees the panhandler again. Then again. And again. Soon he sees the man—who calls himself the Nightcrawler—even in his dreams. No matter how frantically he tries, Scott can’t escape his relentless pursuer. He thought he was going to LA. But the Nightcrawler has a very different destination in mind.

You can buy The Nightcrawler from Amazon US & Amazon UK

In the Spring of 1912, evil came to the small town of Kings Shore. A creature with a voracious appetite for blood took up residence within the town’s shadows. 

Network newsman Roland Millhouse arrived in town to interview Patricia Owens on the occasion of her 120th birthday. He envisioned a feeble old woman in a wheelchair. The woman he met was anything but. She possessed more energy than most people a half-century younger. And her life was far from boring. 

Roland expected to leave Kings Shore with a fluff piece full of garden parties and church socials. What he got was a terrifying tale of death and monsters. A tale that would change his life forever.

You can buy Evil Never Dies from Amazon US & Amazon UK