Featured Interview With Nick Piers
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’ve lived all over the Maritimes here in Canada: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Also lived in Toronto for a few years, which was my own time living outside of Atlantic Canada. That gave me a good feel for big-city living and a seeing wide range of people.
Now, I’m living back in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
As for pets, I have a cat – Diomedes – who I’m almost certain wants to conquer the world.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Oddly enough, I’ve been writing pretty much since I learned how to write. During the summer after Grade 2, I wrote and drew little stories in crayon. Usually, they featured Gizmo (from the film Gremlins) in various one-paragraph adventures. As I learned more writing tricks over the years, my writing improved and I eventually dumped Gizmo in favour of horror stories. I was relentlessly bullied in grade school and wound up using the names of my bullies as victims in those stories. It was strangely very cathartic.
By middle school, I’d learned the love that is comic books, superheroes, and pulp heroes.
As for reading, honestly, I didn’t spend as much reading as others. I probably spent more time watching cartoons, horror or action films, and playing video games. Comics were my big thing to read, which unquestionably influenced my writing style. In both of my novels, I actually employ comic book style sound effects. It’s gone over very well with my readership.
Though I did still read many books growing up. I fondly remember enjoying anything by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, for example. Later, it was Stephen King. And I was probably one of the few in my English class that actually enjoyed the material we were given to read.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Most of what I read is genre books. My favourite authors include Neil Gaiman, John Zakour, and especially Simon R Green. Though there are some non-genre books I’ve greatly enjoyed. Some of my favourite books include Frankenstein, To Kill a Mockingbird, What Dreams May Come, and Flowers for Algernon.
I’ve also recently discovered Mickey Spillane. It’s funny. I didn’t read any of his work until after my first novel – The City of Smoke & Mirrors – was published. Yet, the very first sentence I read of “The Big Bang,” I immediately thought to myself, “Oh my god, this is Dill!” (Dill being the main character in my own series).
My own writing’s biggest inspiration was Simon R Green’s Nightside series. I loved the mix of the fantasy and detective genres, as well as how each book was a fun, self-contained adventure. It harkened back to the old pulps like Doc Savage. Similarly, I loved John Zakour’s science fiction & detective series like The Platinum Blonde. I kept thinking, “Man, I’d love to create my own trench coat and fedora kinda guy.” And that’s when Dilbert Pinkerton was born.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
THE DAME WAS A TAD POLISH is the second Armadillo Mystery. Mixing the superhero and detective genres, I like to describe the series as “Mickey Spillane meets Ninja Turtles.” Its star, Dilbert Pinkerton (friends call him Dill) is a mutant armadillo private detective. He digs for the truth.
In DAME, Dill is hired to protect a mutant frog actress, Lily Pad. Someone wants her either dead or to confess to something she’s clammed up about. Dill has a feeling there’s more to the story than she’s willing to say, though. So he needs to dig into things before things come to a head. Or before she loses hers.
At 60,000 words, DAME took me roughly 8 months to write. My usual M.O. for writing is trying to bang out a chapter in one sitting. So with 30 chapters, that’s about 2,000 a session, which is usually my goal in a writing period. Obviously, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes I wrote more, sometimes I write less. Sometimes I finish a chapter, sometimes I don’t.
Funny enough, this wasn’t even meant to be the first sequel in the series. I’d actually been working on a different adventure for Dill. But at almost 30,000 words in, I hit a major case of writer’s block: I had no idea what to do with the villain for that adventure. Frustrated, I put the whole thing on the back burner and started fresh with this one. In the end, I’m really pleased how this one turned out.
If you’re considering reading DAME or The City of Smoke & Mirrors, I like to tell people: “Dill’s a right total bastard. You’ll love him.”
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