Interview with Matthew Quinn Martin
*Where did you get the inspiration for Nightlight?
I'm not totally positive where the idea came from. I do remember that it hit me as I was walking through Grand Central Terminal towards a job that I hated so much it made me want to melt into the floor tiles. I suppose that feeling must have had some kind of impact on the final product. I do know that when I started I'd expected to end up with a snarky and irreverent take on some familiar themes in horror/fantasy. That all went right out the window once I got "down to the nitty gritty" (as Jerome Aniton once said in what might be the greatest introduction to a song in the history of music). I do think that some of that irreverence pokes through in sections, but that might just be me.
* Is this a series, if so any hints for what is in store next?
I'm always a bit coy when it comes to talking about the future, but the Nightlife story will have at least one more installment. All I can safely tell you is the title, Nightlife: As the Worm Turns (and I only really feel OK about that because it says so right on the last page). The title is a riff on a quote from Shakespeare––"The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on"––as well as a nod to an old Chuck Mosley-fronted Faith No More song. Right now the book is shaping up to be darker and a little more epic. My hope for it is that readers who enjoyed Nightlife will also like it, but at the same time won't feel like they've hopped back on the same carnival ride.
*If your books were to be made into a movie, who would be your top picks for the cast?
Actually I think Nightlife would translate better as a television show––but still. As for casting…I think there are a lot of talented actors out there who could do a fantastic job nailing Jack's icy detachment, physical prowess and guilt-ravaged inner turmoil––Bradley Cooper, Jon Hamm, Michael Fassbender would all be great. I bet either Lee Pace or Sharto Copley could absolutely knock it out of the park. Beth for me is much harder to imagine…I'm not sure why. Jessica Szohr could probably pull it off, or maybe Juno Temple (just saw Killer Joe…not for everybody, but boy was she something to watch), and I've always been a big fan of Amanda Seyfried. However, there are a lot (and I mean more than anybody could possibly imagine) of fantastically talented actors out there that no one has ever heard of. Fingers crossed for a future twitter war over this.
*Could you tell us a little about the ups and downs you have experienced in publishing?
I'm very fond of saying that "I've been up. I've been down. I'll be both again." But in reality, up or down is relative to where you were just before…and right now the publishing world is in a spot where it might be impossible to even tell if you are headed up or down (or both, or sideways, or into another dimension). It's a very exciting time to be a writer of fiction, however. Perhaps the most exciting time since the introduction of the mass market paperback.
*What are some of your favorite books in the paranormal genre?
There are literally too many to list and I know the minute I finish this interview my absolute favorite will pop into my head and smack me around for forgetting…but here are a few: Strange Wine by Harlan Ellison (the story "Croatoan" still gives me nightmares), Desperation by Stephen King (there are a lot of King's books that should be on this this, but this is my pick for his leanest and meanest), Dune by Frank Herbert (maybe not everyone will agree that it's paranormal…but it is and I've read it at least once a year since I was in middle school and I always find something new there), The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (although both Relic and The Book of the Dead run close seconds for P&C), The Pack by Jason Starr (the first and best "paranormal bro-mance"), Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (got to have a little comedy in here and I really do hope those two write another one together some day), House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (a triply post-modern haunted house story that pretty much defies description), Watchers by Dean Koontz (which I just reread recently and it still holds up), Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books (Peake's world building is unparalleled), The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (a book I picked up at a library book sale when I was a youngster for a whopping five cents…which totally changed my reading habits from then on), pretty much anything by Michael Moorcock (who ought to be declared a literary treasure)…and many many many more.
*If you could tell readers one thing about yourself or your books, what would that be?
That I wish I could come up with something pithy and/or profound to answer that question…but, alas, I cannot.
*What is the craziest or at least most interesting thing you have ever done?
I plead the fifth on most of those…but I did once bring pizza to Duran Duran. I was working at a brewpub/danceclub/pizza parlor (I know) and some people called and asked if we delivered. We said "no" (because we did not). Then they asked if we'd deliver to Duran Duran (they were on tour supporting Pop Trash)…luckily both the manager and I were huge fans so we said "sure, we'll deliver…in exchange for tickets to the show." They said, "deal" and even threw in backstage passes. (I'm a lot younger in that pic, btw...but so are Duran Duran)
*Finish this statement: "You'll like Nightlife if...
…you know what's good for you!
Thanks Matthewl!
Author Info:
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For centuries an ancient evil has slept beneath the streets of New Harbor. This Halloween, it wakes up. An action-packed debut horror novel from talented new writer Matthew Quinn Martin, Nightlife pits a feisty bartender and a mysterious loner against bloodthirsty terrors as alluring as they are deadly.
Nightclub bartender and serial heartbreaker Beth Becker might be a cynic. But when her best friend goes missing Halloween night, Beth knows it's up to her to find out what happened.
Her quest will take her on an odyssey through the crumbling city of New Harbor, Connecticut. Along the way she meets a homeless prophet warning of something he calls the "Night Angel"-a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on the forgotten. And she will form an unlikely bond with a hunted stranger who knows all too well what stalks the streets at night.
