"No, It's Superman!"
"Wait. . . Is that a Unicorn?
"You're BOTH wrong. It's Alex."
"No, it's not."
"LOOK. AT. THE. FUCKING. PICTURE. "
As a special treat for my Horror fans and secret superheroes. I want to welcome Mr. Alexander Nader, Author of The Burdin Series and Newly released Hero Engine. (How exciting is THAT?)
WARNING
*For the remaining of this interview, please refrain from looking under your bed*
CE : To begin with tell us a little about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? etc.
AN : I was born just north of Hell* and definitely south of Heaven. Probably much closer to Hell, but it’s cool, the company is better down this way. I was raised on a steady diet of Coca Cola and fat free gummy worms, it was the early 90s, after all. I came from the school of soft knocks. I tried a semester in the school of hard knocks, and those kids were just so damn hard. Guess all those knocks did a lot for their bone density.
*Hell in this case may or may not be a metaphor for Indiana.
CE : Between juggling work, family and writing. What do you do to unwind and relax?
AN : I like to devour the souls of my enemies. I find that guitar solos are best for devouring since all of the shredding really cuts my enemies up into manageable size pieces. Don’t worry though, my only enemies are the ones who don’t like my books. I mean, uhm, next question?
CE : As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
AN : An astronaut. Then a police officer. Then a stand up comedian. Then the next Jimi Hendrix (I’ve got the hair right and everything). Then Sub-Zero from the Mortal Kombat games. You know, the one without the mask from the third game. He was cooler. Get it? Cooler, because he’s sub…okay, yeah, you got it the first time. Finally, I settled into my current career as Captain Indecisive.
CE : You have been published several times. Which is your favorite of the books you have written? (I know it's like picking a favorite child.)
AN : I will pick a favorite child once one of them grows up, becomes rich, and supports my haggard ass. Wait, are we talking about books or children? I forgot. Is there food on this trip?
CE : We South Africans don't have Halloween (Which sucks because I want to dress up as my mother in law.) Do you have any fun Halloween experiences you can tell us about?
AN : My 6 year old has dressed up as the Grim Reaper for 3 years running now. I think his pop’s profession may have sunk in just a little too deep. But he’s just the cutest little soul snatcher you’ve ever seen.
CE : You write Horror and Urban fantasy with a dash of humor. What about the genre interests you?
AN : Nothing. I hate genres. It makes me try too hard to fit in. Then my books wind up smoking and drinking before they are of age. You know, just to be one with the cool kids. When that happens I’ve gotta pull them aside and be like, 1) You’re a book, smoking is literally the worst thing you could be doing. Fire? Duh. And 2) straighten up or I’m shipping you off to a writer boot camp. That usually straightens them up.
CE : Do you ever come up with anything so wild that you scare yourself, that leaves you wondering where that came from? (I scare myself every time I look in the mirror and I don't know where that comes from.)
AN : Anyone who has ever read my books, probably understands there is a high amount of ridiculous crap that pops out of my brain and onto the page. In Burdin’s End (The third in the trilogy, hint hint, shameless plug, shameless plug, drink Coke) I wanted to challenge myself to be even more over the top than usual, so before I started, I decided that one scene had to include an evil unicorn.
No, I’m not telling you, you just have to read the book. Nosey.
CE : I love pulling pranks and my victims always hates me for it. What is the craziest thing you have ever done that contributed towards your books.
AN : Oddly enough I have a fairly strong belief in separation of church and state, I mean, uh, separation between skate and prank. Crap. Deep breath. I don’t usually use real situations in my wordy pages. Gets to complicated when realz peeps be scared I might steel there story for my fiction.
Ah-hem, sorry. School of hard knocks just crept up on me there.
CE : What is your Favorite all time Horror movie?
AN : I don’t watch a ton of horror movies, but I’d still have to go with one of the classics, either The Exorcist or The Shining. Although I recently watched Evil Dead for the first time (it was filmed a short distance from my house) and I must say, I found its total lunacy to be quite wonderful.
CE : This next question, personally is utter Bullshit but I have to ask. The perception of the horror writer is that he/she is just a little bit weirder than most. Do you find yourself — and other horror writers — to be more idiosyncratic than the average person?
AN : Yup. I’m bat shit crazy, yo. I kid, I kid. Okay, no, I’m not kidding. I’ve got some serious mommy issues, but don’t we all? Am-I-right? Whatever, I’ll own it. Just stop looking at me like that. Weirdo.
CE : Your newest book is called Hero Engine. Tell us what inspired you to write about superheroes? (I think this is awesome because there aren't a lot of books - not counting comics - that are about Superheroes.)
AN : Lifelong love of comics. I wanted to novelize that feeling, but I wanted to do it different or at least as different as something that has been done to death for the past 60 years can be. I had this idea that super heroes would probably all be jerks in real life. I kinda built off that.
CE : When you write what do you consider your “must have” writing gear. (Quickly, hide the dead cat!)
AN : Whiskey.
And a computer, I guess, but it’s a long second to whiskey.
CE : Recently, a study predicts that people who drink black coffee tends to be psychotic and those who drink it with cream happens to be their chosen victims. So Alex, how do you drink your coffee?
AN : I go both ways, so I’m pretty sure that means I’m a highly functional psychopath. After I read that same study, I wanted to be sure. You know, get some real, scientific evidence. So I went over to Buzzfeed and took the ‘What Harry Potter character are you?’ quiz, I got Voldemort so that pretty much sealed the deal.
CE : If you could go anywhere as anything or anyone. Where would you go and what would you be?
AN: I would go to the beach, a secluded beach, a secluded beach with wi-fi. Wi-fi and whiskey. And I would go as myself, because my wife seems to find that guy attractive for some odd reason. She’s got weird taste, I know, but don’t tell her, I’ve got her fooled into thinking I’m what Calvin Klein models are trying to look like in all those fancy smancy ads.
CE : Is there anything additional you want to tell your readers?
AN: Thank you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to A Bookish Review.
For those of you wanting to sink your fangs into one of these awesome books (Which I highly recommend but what would I know I'm just a Book reviewer, pfffff.) Just follow the link below ↓
Stay Awesome Gotham!
(That sounded way to lame)
AN: Next time, try Stay octopus, Metropolis.
Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t rhyme.
Click on the picture above and see what happens!