Featured Interview With JZ Murdock
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Tacoma, WA and spent some summers with our extended family on the east coast. So I grew up bi-coastal which put me always a step aside from others. We also moved a lot and wherever we lived there was no one my age until about fifth grade. I got used to playing alone a lot. I also got “grounded” a lot so I learned to love sci fi and horror and music. I now live on a couple of forested acres in the back of Suquamish, WA where Chief “Seattle” is buried. I have lived here with my German Shepherd for several years since my two kids moved out to seek their lives as adults. Both very creative individuals, my daughter is in a band and teaching art in a private school, as well as teaching kayaking. My son has been pursuing high tech and is now reinventing himself outside of the corporate life in the area of art and physics.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As I said, I read a lot as a kid because I had a lot of time on my hands stuck in my room. I discovered a sci fi series for young boys by some of the masters of sci fi. Then I discovered Poe and Horror films and The Hobbit. After that I would cycle through sci fi, horror, fantasy, science, over and around again and again. I wrote my first short story after reading Dune in tenth grade. It wasn’t under my senior year at my university that I wrote another full short story toward a creative writing minor that included a year of script and screenwriting.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read a lot of non-fiction but I spend most of my time writing. I was a Sr. Tech Writer in the 90s and I’ve been trying to get back to my first love, sci fi. I was published on PerihslionSF.com with my story, Expedition of the Arcturus (available as ebook and audiobook). I always loved horror and fantasy. Clive Barker inspired me a lot back in the 80s and because of him I finally purused getting published with my first sale of a story titled, “In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear” which was actually a tribute of sorts to Isaac Asimov (who was the reason I became a Tech Writer, read his autobio, “In Memory, Yet Green” to see why that is). Before Clive, I read some Stephen King but I can’t say I was a fan, just a reader. I jumped around a lot in my reading, looking for what is new to me and felt fresh. I still love the old masters of horror like Edgar Allen Poe, Lovecraft, etc. I am partial to reading books that give me that roller coaster experience, so horror and some sci fi.
Friend and fellow author, Kurt Giambastiani’s Fallen Cloud series of revisionist history will always be one of my favorite series of books.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Death of Heaven is my latest horror book and covers a massive amount of time from before the Earth is created to present day and spans the Universe. Though it mostly takes place on earth in the present day. It is about two guys who have been friends since childhood when they went through a horrific experience together. What they go through in the book changes everything they have ever known about life and the Universe and alter’s humankind forever. It has gotten some good reviews as you can see at deathofheaven.com. Written in a kind of portmanteau style, Death of Heaven covers a whole spectrum of horror with a little of something for just about everyone.
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