Featured Interview With Alan Draven
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m very tall, lanky, and I was a bear in a past life. English is my second language, French is my first. I live in beautiful Québec City, Canada, but I spent a good 98% of my life living in Montreal, having been born and raised there. I’ve been writing with the goal of publishing some books for nearly twenty years, mainly in the horror genre. My latest book, AMOK THE POWERFUL, which saw the light of day on November 26th, is my first foray into the Sword & Sorcery genre.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was mostly fascinated with comic books at a young age, probably as early as 5 or 6. That’s how I discovered the craft of storytelling. I got into books big time in my teens, around age 13. I started writing outside of school for pleasure around the age of 16. It was comic book type stuff, adventure stories, a little bit of sci-fi. Eventually I got into horror and began writing more seriously, novel-length stories, in my thirties.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Novelists: Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, David Morrell, Stephen King, Robert Bloch, Richard Laymon, Philip K. Dick, Dean Koontz, and Donald E. Westlake.
Comic book writers: Stan Lee, Chris Claremont, Roy Thomas, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Peter David, and Michael Fleisher.
I love reading in the horror, thriller, sci-fi, and sword & sorcery genres.
H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Bloch were huge influences for me when I used to write horror and Robert E. Howard’s Conan is my main influence writing in the Sword & Sorcery genre.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
AMOK THE POWERFUL is a throwback to the Sword & Sorcery tales of the ’70s & ’80s. It’s both a novel and a short story collection as it features eight interconnected episodes that as a whole form Amok’s quest as he seeks answers about his forgotten past. He’s a young barbarian heading west toward the province of Atlantia with his friend Goyiir, a sorceress, as they make their way through a plethora of obstacles like ninjas, specters, giant spiders, and even aliens. It spans a full year in his life and it’s set against a backdrop of the cycle of seasons. Will Amok and his friends survive the many perils to face the nearly-indomitable evil of Atlantia’s tyrannical ruler, the Harbinger of Doom?
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