Interview with mystery author John Feldman

Author John Feldman is in the hot seat today. We’re chatting a little bit about his new mystery-suspense, Out of Hiding.

During his virtual book tour, John will be awarding at $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card (winner’s choice), to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:

John Feldman was born and raised in southern New Jersey, but has since moved to Florida at the request (demand) of his beautiful wife. He has written several short stories and novels, including his newest release, Out of Hiding. He writes a lot, thinks a lot more, and is currently wondering why he’s writing this in the third person.

Welcome, John. Please share a little bit about your current release.

First, Lisa, I’d like to thank you for having me. These characters have been stuck in my head for years and to be able to talk about them now is an amazing feeling.

The book centers around Emily Geiser, a young woman who’s been dealt a bad hand. When she was a teenager, her mother left her stepfather for her best friend…yes, Emily’s best friend. But the worst part? Her mother blamed her. So when she finally finds love almost ten years later, she feels as though she’s finally escaped the horrible life she’s been glued to. But what she doesn’t know is that the man she loves has a wild past of his own, and the family and friends that surround him are a merciless band of killers…and she’s their next target.

What inspired you to write this book?

It was actually my wife who created Emily. She also created the idea of Emily falling for an older, wealthier man, so I’m not too sure if I should be worried, since I’m neither old nor wealthy. But I was having severe creativity block a few years ago and I asked her to give me a name, any name, and she gave me Emily’s. And from there, we worked on a story. She spent about an hour giving me some details and I spent the next three-plus years making a story of it. I’d say we’re even.


Excerpt from Out of Hiding:

He can feel her still looking over at him and the gas cannot pump fast enough. He’s made it two states away and he’ll be damned if this one woman is the end of him. He’ll kill her right here if he has to. Right here in this parking lot. Let her nosey ass get a little closer and then slit her throat. Dump some gasoline on her smug body and watch her squirm until the life drains out of her. That’ll teach her to look over here.

She starts to walk toward him.

It’s not full yet, the tank, but he’s not taking any chances. He removes the nozzle, replaces the gas cap and heads for his car door.

Don’t do it, Lady, he thinks as he yanks back on the door handle. But she does it.

“Excuse me,” she says.

Herb stops, shuts his eyes. Breathe. He looks at her and smiles, but receives no smile in return. Instead he gets the look of curiosity, only magnified. She is within mere feet of him now and those squinted eyes show crow’s feet attached. Her mouth is open, lower jaw just hanging there lazily as she thinks.

“Are you…?” she begins, but then stops. And right at that very moment, Herb can feel the cold steel of the switchblade in his pocket. Hey, it’s saying to him. Come and get me.

What exciting story are you working on next?
A novel about a frustrated writer who kills people to make his work authentic. His name is Brian Hart and he’s been writing for nearly fifteen years (I’ve been writing for nearly fifteen years) and has yet to be traditionally published (I, also, have yet to be traditionally published) and is sick of the consistent rejection letters (as am I) and decides the only way to make his writing authentic is if he kills people so he can make the killings as convincing as possible. …No similarity with me and the character here; I’m too out of shape to be hunting people down. I’ll stick with Googling my descriptions.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I’ve been writing since I was 20 years old, but could never muster up the courage to call myself a writer. Whenever someone asked what I do for a living, I’d always tell them what I do full-time (for now), embarrassed to say that I’m a writer because I’d never been published. But a few years ago—not many—I read a quote from JK Rowling that was something along the lines of her saying that once she stopped kidding herself and admitted she was a writer and nothing else, her work began to flourish. Since then, I’ve told everyone I’m a writer. You’d be surprised at how many people respond with “Really? And you make a living off of that?” I lie and tell them I do.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write full-time, it’s just after my other full-time job. I easily put in 40 hours a week worth of writing and marketing. But that comes after my forty hours of working my pays-the-bills job. My “other job” (just a placeholder until I’m dethroning James Patterson) is in the IT field and has me occupied during the day. But I wake up early in the morning around 4 AM. I write for a few hours until it’s time to get the kiddies ready for school and then I do my work thing. At night, I work on trying to market and advertise and be my own publicist–for any aspiring writers out there, marketing is as important, if not more important, than writing itself. Especially in an agent’s eyes.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Most interesting writing quirk? Maybe that I don’t have one, as odd as that sounds. Some people need to write in one certain place, or during certain points of the day, or even need to hit a specific word count to feel they’ve done enough. There’s nothing wrong with any of these quirks, I just don’t typically abide by any of them. I write what I can, when I can, and as often as I can.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was a typical boy, playing all the major sports. Ice hockey was my true love and although I was never any good, I always envisioned pulling a Philadelphia Flyers sweater over my shoulders. Funny, I turned out choosing a path that has me stationary and out of shape. Life throws some curve balls, doesn’t it?

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Thank you. Thank you to you, Lisa, for hosting me and to anyone taking the time to read this interview or any of my writing. It’s redundant to say that it’s an honor to have people even consider reading my book when there are so many great ones out there, but it really is just that: an honor. It’s humbling to know that someone will read over the work I spent over three years writing and (fingers crossed here) find it entertaining.

Links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads page | Amazon Author

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