A Conversation with Brad Munson,
Author of "Rain: a novel of disaster, survival ... and monsters"
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Featured Author Brad Munson
"Rain: a novel of disaster, survival...and monsters" |
Why did you feel you had to tell this story?
I've been carrying many of the images of these 'monsters in the storm' forever. They were going to escape one way or another. And stories about the the extraordinary feats and failures that 'ordinary' people experience under stress have always been at the center of my writing.
Where do you get your ideas?
I play a constant game of 'what if'' -- 'what if aliens landed today; what if there really were leprechauns, what if this bank got robbed while I as standing in it'? Most of the ideas flit away as quickly as they come, but a few -- a precious few -- hang on, grow roots and wings.
Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you overcome it?
I'm lucky; it's been pretty rare, even in more than forty years of writing. When it does come, I do something entirely different: fix the toilet, volunteer at a shelter, cook a huge meal for friend. Anything BUT write...and then it eventually snaks back.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers on the writing and publishing process?
The same ol' advice: write every damn day -- it doesn't matter what. Finish what you write. Regularly. Submit it for publication/distribution. When it gets rejected, send it to somebody else. And learn the skills of self-promotion, self-publication, and marketing that are part and parcel of publishing today. And finally: if you don't love the WHOLE process, from blank paper to the perils of self-marketing...find another line of work you DO love.
How do you market your work? Have you found some avenues to be more successful than others?
All advertising, at all levels, tries to duplicate the experience of a trusted friend recommending something specifically, personally, to you and you alone. So the closer you can get to that experience, the more successsful you'll be. Referral marketing through e-mail, social media, etc. is excellent. Getting friends and colleagues to endorse and recommend is vital. Targeted space ads, small events, and of course a web site and a YouTube channel, if appropriate, are all part of any good plan. And you have to be patient and consistent. It's all cliche'd, and it's all true: Plan the work, work the plan.
If your book was made into a movie, who do you picture playing each part?
Mac: John Cusack
Rose: Krysta Rodriguez
Lisa: Michelle Forbes
Jennifer: Tatiana Maslany
Lucy: Pink
Steinberg: DJ Qualls
Sheriff Peck: Michael Rooker
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Synopsis:
It never rains in the tiny desert town of Dos Hermanos, California ... never. Until today, when the sky opens up and it starts to rain ... and will not STOP. For the next 24 hours, the 3,071 residents struggle just to stay alive as the town dissolves around them. And then THINGS start to come out of the rain -- eyeless, skinless creatures, all bones and talons, with a violent hatred of every living thing and a bottomless, unquenchable thirst. An exiled programmer and his street-addict daughter, his desperately unhappy ex-wife, two scientists -- one mad and one just mean -- and a waitress/stripper with a strange power all her own will each confront the creatures and the storm itself, fighting just to live through the next three days. And meanwhile the creatures keep coming -- a thousand different shapes and sizes, some as small as a golf ball made from razors, some as large as a mountain made of claws. And they all share a single desire: the death of anything remotely human. Some will become heroes; some will go mad. And a small handful of survivors will try to stop the impossible, ongoing creation of the monsters before it breaks out of the remote village and kills the whole world. Who will live? Who will die? And who will learn the secret waiting in The Rain? Find out in a a novel of supernatural adventure and suspense -- a story of disaster and survival ... with monsters.
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About the Author:
Brad has been writing professionally since the 1970's -- everything from novels. interviews, screenplays and radio shows to behind-the-scenes books on special effects and blockbusters, newsletters on marketing and health, and web sites that cover Latinos in entertainment and pop culture at its craziest. A ghost-writer, editor, consultant, and coach. Brad has recently become fascinated with New Media, including podcasts, e-books, print on demand and this new thing the kids are calling the "inter-Tubes." He firmly believes something may actually come of it one day. But he's been wrong before.
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FOR MORE INFO:
Website: http://rain.bradmunson.com
Blog: www.bradmunson.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RainTheNovel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rain-A-novel-of-disaster-survivaland-monsters/624526077559653
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BUY THE BOOK
Amazon: http://amzn.to/16aCH8s
