Featured Interview With Calvin Dean
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew-up in a small town in Mississippi about thirty miles south of Memphis, TN. Everyone knew everyone. No one had secrets even if you thought you did. If you acted-up in school, your mom knew about it before you got home. I remember a time when everyone took safety for granted. We never locked our doors. You could leave your car keys in the ignition over night. It was a different time and place compared to today.
Over the years, I’ve lived in Baton Rouge, LA; Jackson, MS; and Memphis, TN. For the past twenty or so, my wife and two kids have lived in a burb of Memphis. We have two cats: Sebastian and Getto. Why Getto? My daughter found her under the hood of her car. Get it? The hood? Ghetto?
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Well, Dr. Seuss,of course. I think I had all of his books including the dictionary. I started writing as a high school freshman. For homework, the teacher made us write a short story. Mine was inspired by The Twilight Zone: a teen … a broken down car on a lonely stretch of road at night … a light in the distance. My teacher accused me of plagiarism though she never cited a source because there was no source other than the musings of my mind. My mother had to go to the school and straighten her out. That story stuck with me and eventually became the backdrop for my first novel, The Epitaph of Jonas Barloff.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have several favorite authors. I’ll name them in no particular order. Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Author Conan Doyle. I love the unexplained … mysteries … the paranormal … but I also like to laugh, so I guess one of my favorite characters is Odd Thomas created by Koontz. I guess he rubbed off on me because a few bloggers have said my writing style reminds them of Koontz and Doyle. That’s a good thing, right?
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Curses, is about Martin,a bumbling bachelor, who buys an old house and confronts a family of ghosts living there. Agnes is the young, sexy, but psychotic ghost who tries to derail Martin’s blossoming relationship with Hannah, a widow in the neighborhood.
My intention was to write a good old-fashioned ghost story, but by the sixth or seventh chapter, I realized that Martin had taken control of my keyboard and injected a humorous streak into the story-line–totally unintentional on my part. But I liked it.
Of course, Martin fears that Hannah will reject him if he complains of spooks … she’d think he has bats in the belfry and jettison him like a used rocket booster. So, poor Martin has to solve his ghost problem without Hannah knowing anything about this sexy busybody of a ghost. But with Agnes hanging around, it becomes more and more difficult to conceal her presence.
Curses has its moments of horror too. Many of the things Agnes does to Martin are quite horrific. So if you like horror, the paranormal, solving mysteries, and a good laugh, you’ll love Curses.
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles