This special interview is with Glenn Bullion, the author of Dead Living, and many other books. I read Dead Living a bit ago, and I really enjoyed it.
When I decided to do author interviews, Glenn was one of the first people I thought of to interview and I'm so happy that he agreed to let me do this and answered all my crazy questions.
He is so fun to talk to and completely down to earth. And I loved reading his responses.
So without further ado, Mister Glenn Bullion.
First let's get to know a little bit about what makes you, you...
Where are you from?
I was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but now reside in Glen Burnie (suburb outside Baltimore). Been in Maryland all my life. Sales tax isn’t fun, but the crabs are awesome.
Is your name a pen name? If so what inspired you to pick that name?
No, my real name is Glenn. I’ve always wondered if I had to start writing all over again if I’d go with a pen name. I thought using my real name would cause issues of some sort down the road, but it never has.
3 facts about yourself?
I juggle.
I am an introvert, which turns out to be pretty cool for writing, but not so good for marketing.
Am left handed, and have a weird talent for spotting other left-handed people.
What are some of your favorite things in general? (Food, shows, movies, anything you want to share with us)
Favorite things….
Food is scattered all over the place. Mushrooms, crabs, shrimp, chocolate milk.
I don’t watch as much TV as I used to. I was a big fan of The Walking Dead, but haven’t watched a lot of it lately. I love horror movies, science fiction. The old slasher movies, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street. All awesome.
Now let's talk about you as an author...
When did you start writing and what was the first thing you ever wrote?
Ah, the early bad stuff. :) My first attempt, for lack of a better word, was when I was twelve. I don’t have a copy anymore, but I remember it being horrible. Written on a Commodore 64. So, I’ve been writing for a while, with breaks here and there. My issue in the past was always starting a story, but never finishing. I have a bunch of half-written novels from years ago.
What inspired you to start writing?
Never really thought about that before. The horror movies I mentioned above I think helped a lot. The thing I love about horror movies is the imagination that goes into them. Even if the movies are “poorly made”, you usually can’t deny that someone was in a mighty strange place when they thought of them.
What is your writing process? Do you make a timeline first? Or just write what comes to your mind?
Typically, I write “off the cuff”. I’ll make a general outline in some cases, usually a chapter at a time. But that’s only after starting something and then just trying to map things out. I find that in the middle of writing a chapter, the rest of the story slowly reveals itself. So, I don’t “plan” a whole lot. If I did that, those plans would always change too much anyway.
Do you do a lot of research?
I do research, probably not as much as other writers. I try to write what I know and do enough research for what’s necessary for the novel. I won’t study something front and back for something that will get like two paragraphs in the novel.
What are some of your favorite authors/favorite reads?
I used to read a ton, but it’s not always easy to read a work and write at the same time. But when I do read, it’s pretty much all horror.
Brian Keene, Richard Laymon, Robert McCammon, Edward Lee, are the big ones. I’ll also read anything zombie related I can get my hands on.
What do you have planned for the future? Any other book or series ideas?
Oh, always have ideas. :) Right now, I’m working on the next novel in the Damned and Cursed series. That’s the “bread and butter”, the series readers seem to love. The nice thing about that series is the cast of characters. It’s grown enough now that I can pick and choose a “cast”, and the stories can range from big “we must save the world” type stuff, all the way to down to “solving one particular simple case.”
I read Dead Living, and I really enjoyed it. I love anything zombie and this was such an interesting take on the whole idea of the zombie apocalypse.
Where did you get the idea for Dead Living?
Most of my work involves a “special” person in some way. Whether they’re psychic, a vampire, etc etc. I wanted to tackle a zombie story in which the person was special in the simple fact that zombies “accepted” him. They didn’t attack him, didn’t try to hurt him.
A lot of my ideas in Dead Living are plucked right from Romero’s work. I’d like to think my world in Dead Living could line up with his. The idea of zombies “evolving” is something he did. I wanted to take zombies in a similar direction, but not stray too far off course. I’ve read zombie novels where they’d taken human brains out and moved them to a zombie. I didn’t want to go that far.
Would there ever be a sequel to Dead Living?
This gets asked a lot. I want to do a sequel, but nothing has come to mind yet. I’ve had some “sparks” of ideas that would either continue to follow Aaron and Sam in the world they’re carving out for themselves or maybe even following the young cast that was introduced as well.
Which book was your favorite to write?
That’s a tough one. My problem and I imagine other writers go through this, too, is that they’ll re-read an earlier work and cringe. They see mistakes they should have corrected, phrases they could have substituted instead. So any favorite work at one time becomes “Man, I could have written that better.”
I think Shapeless is still a solid novel. I re-read that one weekend and didn’t cringe. :)
I think my most “defining” novel so far has been Jack Kursed. That’s the novel where the Damned and Cursed series really began. There were novels before it, but Jack Kursed is the one where the series started to take off.
Do you have any favorite characters?
Another toughie.
Jack Kursed is a challenge to write, and so much fun as well. For those who don’t know him, he is as close to a “bad guy” as you can get. Cursed by a witch (hence his name) he’s unable to die or sleep, and that’s twisted his mind over two hundred years. He doesn’t care about anyone, but you truly do root for him in the challenges he faces.
I like Aaron and Sam from Dead Living. I love the idea of a regular guy, basically untouched by the apocalypse. Living with zombies in a city fears people more than the undead. And it’s a “cold” survivor that pulls him out of his shell. Despite what I’m sure has a ton of things I’d change, Dead Living still has appeal.
Is there any chance that this book would become a movie? Or a tv series?
There is an option out now, a screenplay is being written. Now, whether anything happens after that, or if the screenplay ever sees the light of day, is anyone’s guess. I’d love for that to happen, though. I could see it being a fun little entry on Amazon Prime.
Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Glenn-Bullion/e/B004ETIH4Y
Facebook: www.facebook.com/glennbullionbooks
About Glenn Bullion from his website:
Anyway, I like to read and write, obviously. Horror, paranormal, supernatural, sci-fi type stuff, if you couldn’t tell. I’m a game and movie nerd. I’m really big into tech. I work as an IT guy during the day. Because of that, you’d think I’d be better at social media.
Okay, enough about me. You’ve got the Damned and Cursed series to check out, with some very fun characters. A man who can talk to demons and ghosts, a witch, a vampire, a man who doesn’t sleep, with the anger issues to show for it. People seem to enjoy them, hopefully, you will too.
Don’t forget the standalone novels, some fun reads there as well. Zombies, souls, shapeshifters. What’s not to like?
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