Featured Interview With Kerry Alan Denney
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born a poor … no, wait; that’s a famous old movie quote from the immortal Steve Martin. I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean, moved to Atlanta, Georgia when I was thirteen, and have been living in my dream home in Stone Mountain, Georgia for thirty wonderful years.
My study-slash-workstation where I write what the voices in my head compel me to has a big picture window that looks out on an acre of dense woods that leads down to a creek, an inspiring view full of nature in all its untamed glory—including a hawk’s nest in a big oak tree a hundred feet or so away. Sometimes when I stare out that window and daydream and invent characters and worlds in my fertile imagination, I hop in one of those hawks and soar with them as they hunt. It teaches me humility at the same time as it fills me with confidence, and it’s a magical and unparalleled form of freedom that I never expected to achieve in just one lifetime.
Pets? Absolutely, but I never thought of any of my dogs that way. They’re all family members, constant companions and confidants, and the best little writing assistants I could ever hope or ask for. My current furever friend is Gypsy Dancer, a three-year-old rescue dog. Her dame was a golden retriever and her sire was a black Labrador retriever, so she has all the sweetness of a golden blended with the hyper-spaz playfulness typical of Labradors. I love her so much. We have the greatest adventures together.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books and stories began before I could even walk or talk properly. My mother and father were big-time book lovers, and read to me constantly since I was an infant. Once I started recognizing the written words as they spoke them (true real-life magic!), and the words became stories with characters that took on a life of their own, I became a book addict—no, a book junkie. I was irretrievably hooked, and wouldn’t have it any other way in a hundred lifetimes. Make that a thousand. Ten thousand. I blame Dr. Seuss and “Green Eggs and Ham” for providing that literary “gateway drug.” And thank him for it, too.
I started writing in middle school, creating my own stories as a homage to all my favorite stories, novels, and writers. In the eighth grade, I entered a short story contest for the school’s newspaper. When—lo and behold, stop the presses, and knock me over with a feather—I won, I was as happy as a herd of elephants frolicking in a muddy river . . . and as hooked on writing as the caveman who first discovered fire was on burning nearly everything in sight. I still have the winner’s plaque hanging on my Wall of Awards. It is small but infinitely powerful, the symbol of making a lifelong dream come true.
I still remember—and treasure—my mother’s beautiful and priceless smile when I came home from school that day. Yeah, she already knew I was the winner. The best mothers—like mine was—always seem to know things like that. I will cherish and carry that smile with me to the end of my days on this watery spinning rock.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
As a child and pre-teen, I devoured anything and everything by Edgar Rice Burroughs and reread them until they fell apart, along with the fabulous “Doc Savage” series by Kenneth Robeson and all of “The Shadow” books by Maxwell Grant, including many others too numerous to list here.
As an adult, I got gloriously hooked on Dean Koontz’s “Watchers” and quickly started reading everything he wrote. The works of F. Paul Wilson, Robert R. McCammon, James Rollins, Charles de Lint, Stephen King, and Robert Charles Wilson soon followed, among many other favorites. One of my all-time favorite novels is “The Anubis Gates” by Tim Powers.
Thrillers are my favorite genre, especially those with a crossover blend of horror, sci-fi, real-world and urban fantasy, and the supernatural and paranormal—all done masterfully by the above-mentioned authors and many others. A tasteful fringe of the fantastic spices up any good thriller to supremely delicious status for me.
My inspiration comes from numerous diverse literary sources both great and terrible. I learn just as much from poor writing as I do from the giants and world shakers, and apply that knowledge to continuously improve my own writing skills while refining my style and voice. But the writers who make the words disappear and transport me completely into their story’s world are the ones who spark my creative imagination best of all.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Gideon Cain is the pseudonym for my main protagonist, Brendan Callahan-McCallum, a bestselling author who writes psychological thrillers about femme fatales with deadly vendettas. Each of those killer women suffer from an unforgivable betrayal, and spend all of their energy and efforts in a reckless pursuit of vigilante justice. With blockbuster movies made of each thriller, the sexy villainesses from his novels become wildly popular with legions of hardcore fans, and vault Brendan into unexpected success, fame, and riches. And Brendan doesn’t know how to handle that because he’s living a lie—and hiding a shameful secret from the world and everyone he knows and loves.
Nine years after the tragic death of his pregnant wife, Brendan still hasn’t fully recovered from his loss. With too much money and not enough maturity at forty, he pretends to live a carefree playboy lifestyle in an effort to prove to the world that he’s unbreakable. But that effort is futile. Haunted by the ghosts of his past and confounded by the mystery surrounding his wife’s unexplained disappearance and subsequent death, Brendan starts losing touch with reality. Is he really being visited by the spirit of his dead wife, or is he experiencing delusional psychotic episodes?
Then the villainesses from his thrillers seem to come to life and begin accosting him. Real or fantasy, they’re trying to kill him. When a forgotten nemesis from his past begins stalking him with a weapon so deadly it can kill with the touch of a button, Brendan realizes he must solve the mystery before he ends up dead.
During his desperate race to discover the truth about his past, Brendan meets three indomitable women—including two badass sisters with an underground network that fights for the underdogs of the world—who team up with him to help find those answers before his enemy kills him. Then he meets an enigmatic woman from his past who reveals a secret that changes everything he thought he knew about his life.
Come join him on his adventure, and discover the dark secrets for yourself.
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