Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Larry Kerr

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 Larry,  Welcome to Writerly Wednesday!

Bio

Larry was born and grew up in western Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lock Haven University and attended graduate school at Penn State. He worked various jobs before beginning his newspaper career.

Larry was a reporter/photographer at two small newspapers in western Pennsylvania prior to taking a position as a copy editor at a newspaper in south central Pennsylvania. He held that job for nearly ten years until moving into web programming. He now works for an agency that serves the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Always interested in fiction, Larry began writing in earnest in 2004. His first novel, By the Light of the Moon, was published in March 2011. His second novel, which is historical fiction and set in the Civil War, is due out in September or October.

In addition to his first novel, several of Larry’s short stories have been published and he won honorable mentions in two local short story contests.

Excerpt from By the Light of the Moon. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Damnation Books and other booksellers.

He was going full bore, concentrating totally on the ball, when his right foot slipped on something wet. He didn’t go down on that step, but when his left foot struck the ground and slid, he was a goner. Tommie threw out his arms in front of him in an effort to break his fall, but they went out from under him and he slammed into the ground in a spray of red sending him skidding along on his belly.

What had he fallen into? Whatever it was, it stunk. Cow shit? No, it didn’t smell like that. He didn’t have a reference for how this smelled. When he stopped sliding,

Tommie opened his eyes and saw that he was covered in red.

“What is this?” he asked as he pushed himself up.

He stopped when he saw it.

“No! It can’t be!”

He blinked his eyes, wiped his glasses and looked again. It was still there.

Tommie tried to shout, but his voice failed him at first, then he screamed. He leaped up from the ground as if it were electrified and ran back toward the field,       screaming the high-pitched screams of a boy who has not yet reached puberty.

Blurb

Small town America. A baseball game on a warm July morning. A boy is running through the outfield. Suddenly, he slips and falls in a cascade of red. After he slides to a stop in a pool of blood and gore, he finds himself looking at a human head. He screams. The terror in tiny Blacksville, Pennsylvania, has begun.

Can newspaper reporter John Reynolds discover who, or what, is killing the people of Blacksville? Will he be able to overcome the effects of his nervous breakdown? Can he trust those around him? Will they trust him? Has he found love in the little town? Will the killer take her? What Reynolds finds in reality is more terrifying than anything he imagined in his darkest moments. Will he survive?

Interview

 In three days, all power will go off, everywhere for a very long time.  What will you include in your author survival kit?

The question does say author survival kit and not survival kit, so I assume it is means continuing to write without (gasp!) a computer.

I would say pencils and paper. Pens run out of ink and if pen-written words get wet, they smear.

A manual typewriter is a possibility, though the ribbon will wear out eventually and I am a terrible typist.

A source of light, so I can write or read in the dark. Ideally, something that doesn’t require batteries. Those things will be in much demand and will likely be assigned to higher priority uses.

Books to read for inspiration.

Where did the idea for the work you are promoting arise?

I was writing another book, which will be published in the next couple of months, when the idea started percolating in my head.

Generally, however, the horror novel came from my background. I watched horror movies and was interested in spooky stuff when I was a kid.

I’m also a big fan of Stephen King’s early horror books, so I think this was a natural progression for me.

What do you like to read?

I mentioned Stephen King. I like several of the popular authors, Dean Koontz, John Grisham and others. Although I do have to say some of their recent works have been disappointing.

Perhaps becoming more discriminating about books is part of the price we pay as authors.

Dennis Lehane’s short detective series was good. I also like Michael Robotham.

Tell us about the most exciting place you have ever visited?

I’m not much of a traveler, although if I could eliminate the actual travel process, that is driving or flying, and just transport somewhere I’m sure I would go more often.

I would guess it would be the beach, though nothing particularly exciting happened there.

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What is the most mundane, day to day, thing you can share about yourself?

I think the question is the answer. Life can be awfully mundane. While people may think the life of a writer is exciting (and it is for some), it is often routine.

If you are going to produce books, at some point you have to sit down and day after day you must crank out the words.

Some devise a routine and while we may rebel against routine at times, when it comes down to it you’ve got find some way to get it done.

What scares you the most?

Entrapment in a confined space or even just plain old trapped in a cave.

Can you imagine being buried alive in a coffin and stuck in a cave-in?

Just knowing there was no way out. Then the creepy crawlers start to creep and crawl.

Eww.

Tell us anything but keep it G rated.

I appreciate the opportunities being a published author has given me.

The chances to go places and meet people that most folks don’t get.

Even a minor league writer gets some of those chances and he should enjoy the perks.