Meghan: Hey, John! Welcome back to the Halloween Extravaganza. It’s been awhile since we sat down together. What’s been going on since we last spoke?
John Wayne Comunale: I’ve been staying pretty busy on the road doing conventions. I’m usually somewhere different every two weeks.
Meghan: Who are you outside of writing?
John Wayne Comunale: An awesome dude 4 life.
Meghan: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?
John Wayne Comunale: I’m all for it. The more readers the better. I could give a shit what anyone thinks of me, especially people I’m related to.
Meghan: Is being a writer a gift or a curse?
John Wayne Comunale: Being a writer is who I am, and writing is what I do. It’s neither of these things, nor have I ever considered it to be.
Meghan: How has your environment and upbringing colored your writing?
John Wayne Comunale: I’m sure it’s had some affect and influence in a periphery sense, but I don’t think either of these are significant to me.
Meghan: What’s the strangest thing you have ever had to research for your books?
John Wayne Comunale: I’ve researched witchcraft and demonology to add realism to certain parts, but I don’t think that’s very strange.
Meghan: Which do you think is the hardest to write: the beginning, the middle, or the end?
John Wayne Comunale: I don’t think about things like this. When you do I believe you’re just manifesting unnecessary resistance against what you’re trying to do. If you think you’re hung up on something, and then say how hard it is for you whenever it comes up, it always will be.
Meghan: Do you outline? Do you start with characters or plot? Do you just sit down and start writing? What works best for you?
John Wayne Comunale: I start with a general idea and just go. I don’t outline or do character bios or any of that. I don’t like to be forced to walk a line even from myself.
Meghan: What do you do to motivate yourself to sit down and write?
John Wayne Comunale: I’ve committed myself to doing it, and meeting goals on a daily basis.
Meghan: Are you an avid reader?
John Wayne Comunale: Yes.
Meghan: What kind of books do you absolutely love to read?
John Wayne Comunale: Anything that bends reality.
Meghan: How do you feel about movies based on books?
John Wayne Comunale: Whatever.
Meghan: Have you ever killed a main character?
John Wayne Comunale: Of course.
Meghan: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?
John Wayne Comunale: I’m not garnering a type of enjoyment from making a character do anything. I get enjoyment out of writing regardless.
Meghan: What can we expect from you in the future?
John Wayne Comunale: To be on the road eternally. My next book, The Cycle, comes out on January 4th, 2020 from Grindhouse Press.
Meghan: Where can we find you?
John Wayne Comunale: Website ** Twitter ** Instagram
John Wayne Comunale lives in Houston Texas to prepare himself for the heat in Hell. He is the author of books such as Death Pacts & Left-Hand Paths, Scummer, As Seen on TV, and Sinkhole, and also hosts the weekly storytelling podcast John Wayne Lied to You. He fronts the punk rock disaster, johnwayneisdead, and travels around the country giving truly unique performances of the written word.
John Wayne was an American actor who died in 1979.
Everyone is looking for shortcuts in life, but rarely do they find the kind they’re looking for, and when they do it never turns out like they thought. But what if you were to accidentally fall into cahoots with an other-worldly creature who could provide those shortcuts and so much more? Of course, there’s always a price attached to such favors, but killing gets easier the more you do it, and everything is great as long as the rewards outweigh the risk. That is until you find out this was never true and you’ve inadvertently set into motion something so horrible you lack the capacity to understand or accept it.
A filthy barfly haunts the bar down the road. He lives off the leftover dregs of the patrons’ beers and spent cigarettes he finds on the ground. He may be living in the trunk of someone’s car. His name is Scummer. He’s mysterious and elusive. He’s unbound by inhibitions and you want to be just like him.
Artie is a serial killer obsessed with As Seen On T.V. products. Collecting and modifying these items is his only passion outside of killing, which he’s been doing a long time. Far longer than most of his peers, but Artie always took special care to make sure he remained free. Now a strange, small man has moved next door to him, and the smell of popcorn hangs thick in the air. After a few odd interactions with him, Artie starts to wonder if there’s something other than himself that’s kept him from being caught.
After the hurricane, Reggie and Betsy discover a portion of their backyard has begun to sink. Fearing the ground will open up and swallow their house sooner rather than later Reggie calls the city to come fix it, but pushback from the local Sheriff slows the process down by a day. Come nightfall the power goes out, the sinkhole opens, and a busload of ghoulish children crawl to the surface for their first meal in fifty-two years.
Meghan's House of Books 