Featured Interview With Dr. Melissa Caudle
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am an American Author best known for my series, “The Keystroke Killer.” I wrote my first novel in the seventh grade as an English assignment. What began as a short story, turned out to be a book. I haven’t stop writing with more than a dozen books to my credit, both fiction and non-fiction. I also have a series of adult coloring books called Abstract Faces Vols. 1-6.
I grew up a very small town called Emory, Texas and earned an Associates Degree from Kilgore Junior College, my B.S. Degree in education from the University of Texas at Tyler, my Master of Education degree from Stephen F. Austin and my PhD from New Orleans University.
I live in New Orleans, LA with my wonderful husband and two cats, Meow Mix and Simone. We have three daughters who blessed us with eight grandchildren.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I wrote my first novel in the seventh grade and never looked back. I started reading at the age of three and loved to read ever since. I was more than a bookworm. I’ll never forget those book clubs in elementary school where you could order your first chapter books, you know the ones that looked like your mom’s and dad’s novels because they had chapters in them. The first thing I always did when they were delivered to the classroom and handed to me was to hug it, then I had to open the pages and smell them. Don’t ask me why, but I love the smell of a new book. I guess that is why I fought for so long not to have any of my books in E-Book form, but I did give in.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, James Patterson and John Grisham. As a kid, I loved to read Ray Bradbury and Orson Welles. THE TIME TRAVELOR and WAR OF THE WORLDS have to be my favorite.
As for my genre, to me, it goes back to why I wanted to be a writer in the first place. When you read, you’re not trapped in the here and now, or your hometown. You can experience the world from someone else’s perspective.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
THE KEYSTROKE KILLER: TRANSCENDENCE is a masterpiece of twisted deception as Matthew Raymond, a private detective is locked into a maze of deceit after the disturbing 2053 murder of his sister, Livia. Rage filled Matthew igniting a search for her killer and to find answers to the mysterious questions that lurked around her death. Matthew discovers himself immersed in a city where the wealthy and corrupt politicians rule and a serial killer on the loose. Our hero plunges himself in a cunning game of cat-and-mouse when he stumbles across the Keystroke Killer exposing a secret device that makes the serial killer capable of sending people to the fourth dimension without a trace.
I wrote “The Keystroke Killer: Transcendence” first as a television pilot series with 67 episodes. After funding for the project fell through, I didn’t give up and spent the next several years developing the character driven plot and subplots. I lived and breathed with these characters. I know them very well. Some scare the daylights out of me. And, yes, there is more than one serial killer.”
My passion for science, science fiction and psychological thrillers leaps from the pages with every sound, every breath, every heartbeat and every death. This novel isn’t for the faint of heart. It is dark and twisted. It makes Silence of the Lambs look PG.
I tapped into Stephen Hawking’s M-Theory and his theory of multiple dimensions when designing how the antagonist, the Keystroke Killer, who uses his weapon as a serial killer. I believe in the possibilities that Hawking presented. Science is a beautiful thing. Scientists have already completed experiments showing the reality of the fourth dimension. And, we have the GPS satellite targeting systems. What better way to showcase real science than to make it science fiction? Oh, wait, I think STAR TREK the original series did that. Just think about it, they had hand held devices to communicate, we call them cell phones. They could communicate by seeing each other on a screen. Wait, we have Facetime and Skype. Need I say more, so don’t discount my theories in THE KEYSTROKE KILLER. Afterall, I had the pleasure of speaking with Stephen Hawking when I developed the screenplay and he clued me in on his thinking of multiple dimensions.
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