Edgar Swamp’s stories have appeared in Death Head Grin, Macabre Cadaver and Alienskin. The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World is his first published novel. He lives and works in San Diego, California. The book is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.com.UK and holiday priced to move at his website www.edgarswamp.com
Do you plan everything or just let the story flow?
I knew the beginning and the end; I had no idea what the middle was going to be. I let the characters carry it and just waited to see what happened to them.
Do your characters ever want to take over the story?
All the time! The trick is not letting them have control.
What is your favourite food?
Chicago style deep-dish pizza.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
An early morning person. My job demands I get up early every day, so I learned how to get up earlier than that so I can write.
Where do you dream of travelling to and why?
I have never been to Europe or Australia, so those are two places I really want to go. Being an American, I have a very skewed view of the world. I’d love to see what it looks like from another country. We probably look ridiculous!
Do distant places feature in your books?
In my debut novel, The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World, the setting is a thousand miles off the California coast, hundreds of miles north of Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific ocean. I guess that is somewhat distant.
Do you listen to music while writing?
Never. I need total silence. A neighbor of mine used to crank religious music while I wrote so I had to use earplugs and put on headphones, setting the radio to static so I could concentrate.
Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World is a horror/satire novel. It is meant to be a fun read, engaging, witty, scary, insightful. I intend to make a statement regarding the apathetic nature of humankind's environmental priorities, but mostly it's just entertainment, blood, guts and all.
What have you learned about writing and publishing since you first started?
I’ve learned that it is very hard to promote and sell a self-published novel in a market saturated with other self-published and traditionally published books. Getting people’s attention is very difficult and you have to have a dedicated promotion plan, utilizing everything at your disposal.
Is there anything you would do differently?
No, this is my first attempt so it has all been a learning experience. Everything I’ve done has only increased my knowledge of the industry.
Who, or what, if anything has influenced your writing?
Writers such as Stephen King, Chuck Palahniuk and Kurt Vonnegut have been highly influential.
Anything you would say to those just starting out in the craft?
Writing is the easy part, compared to marketing and promotion, so enjoy the mechanics of creativity!
What are three words that describe you?
Impatient, narcissistic and talented.
What's your favourite book or who is your favourite writer?
Very hard to pinpoint! But I guess it would be a tie between Stephen King’s The Shining and Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted.
Blurb of your latest release or coming soon book
In 2018 an oceanic research vessel disappears at the site of the world’s largest floating landfill in the north Pacific gyre, leaving behind no trace of the highly prized scientific minds sent to investigate and potentially eradicate this ecological catastrophe of monstrous proportions. To recoup their losses an overly taxed (and much maligned) U.S. government resorts to plan ‘b’: they arrange a second voyage on a shoestring budget and recruit a team of disposable douchebags. Their mission? Recover the lost ship, find the scientists and figure out how to eliminate this problem once and for all.
Sure to be an instant classic, The Gyre Mission is a contemporary disasterpiece of horror and humor, probing humanity’s questionable morality and moribund environmental priorities. Edgar Swamp combines acerbic, satiric wit with chilling brutality and surrealistic imagery, creating a world so utterly foul you can almost smell it waft from the pages like the fetid stench of a city sewer, populated by characters you’d swear you’ve met before…in a police line-up.
Any websites/places readers can find you on the web. www.edgarswamp.com & www.edgarswamp.wordpress.com (my blog)
Thank you, Edgar and good luck with your books :)
The novel sounds interesting, and reviews are good on Amazon.com. Maybe I found something to buy my cousin for Christmas!
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