Some dark serendipity plopped a young
Patrick Greene in front of a series of ever stranger films-and experiences-in
his formative years, leading to a unique viewpoint. His odd interests have led
to pursuits in film acting, paranormal investigation, martial arts, quantum
physics, bizarre folklore and eastern philosophy. These elements flavor his
screenplays and fiction works, often leading to strange and unexpected detours
designed to keep viewers and readers on their toes.
Literary influences range from Poe to Clive
Barker to John Keel to a certain best-selling Bangorian. Suspense, irony, and
outrageously surreal circumstances test the characters who populate his work,
taking them and the reader on a grandly bizarre journey into the furthest
realms of darkness. The uneasy notion that reality itself is not only relative
but indeed elastic is the hallmark of
Greene’s writing.
Living in the rural periphery of Asheville
North Carolina with his wife, youngest son Gavin and an ever-growing army of
cats, Greene still trains in martial arts when he’s not giving birth to demons
via his pen and keyboard. Patrick’s latest book is Progeny.
Amazon Link to Book:
Questionnaire:
Thanks for letting us interrogate you! Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to
why you wanted to be an author?
I always have stories floating around in my
head, and being pretty easily impressed with myself, I figured I should share
them with the world because they are (usually) just so bad ass! I’m also an
actor and it’s rare to find roles that I really like so I started out following
Stallone’s lead and writing a screenplay to star myself. Eventually, largely
thanks to my wife’s nagging, I realized that the screenplay format can be
limiting in terms of conveying certain aspects of character and story, and also
by its potential budget, length, etcetera. Some stories need more than ninety
pages, two locations and a cast of five-to-eight college age B-list stars.
Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s
cracked up to be? I mean what are the
perks and what are the demands?
Honestly, it’s amazingly fulfilling, and
just fun. Having the opportunity to see my imaginings take a more solid and
developed form is a fantastic experience.
The perks are the therapy of course, and
also the satisfaction of creating a world and giving your characters a chance
to grow and love and learn and, yes—die. Also, I like encouraging others to
take up the pen, because I believe it’s just so good for the soul. Even if it’s
not about being published, reading and writing are powerful activities for the
mind and spirit.
Demands? I hardly view any of what I’m
required to do as a writer to be unpleasant, so it’s hard to think of them as
demands. I love every minute of it.
Which route did you take – traditional or
self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that
like?
I was very fortunate to find Hobbes End,
and at a good time. As a young publishing company, they were very open to
submissions at the time and were willing and able to give extensive advice and
input regarding how to make my work better. My first dealings with them were
the Endlands series; two (so far) volumes of short bizarre fantasy and horror
stories. Hobbes End’s president, Jairus Reddy, actually suggested I try my hand
at a novel and that was all I needed. I feel I owe those guys a lot.
Fortunately, PROGENY has garnered good sales
and reviews, so I guess it’s safe to say this is something I’m going to be
doing for a while.
My wife has collected some of my backlog of
short stories and compiled them in a collection called Dark Destinies, so I’m
beginning to get a taste of self publishing as well.
Tell us for real what your family feels about you
spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted,
published, what have you?
My wife has been tremendously supportive.
She always encouraged me to write, even above and beyond any of my other crazy
pursuits, so I’m a lucky guy. My success has renewed her interest in editing
and my oldest son has a story in The Endlands 2, so we’re becoming something of
a publishing family.
This is for pet lovers. If you don’t own a pet, skip this question,
but do your pets actually get their food on time or do they have to wait until
you type just one more word?
You know, I’m glad you asked this. We have
three cats and they show no appreciation for all my hard work and dedication.
It’s all about “when do we eat again?” and “I’d like to be brushed, so stop
what you’re doing.” My wife feeds them well, but they often try to convince me
they’ve gone hungry for several days. I’d like to see THEM do all the writing
for a while.
This is for plant lovers. If you don’t own a plant, skip this question,
but if you do, are they actually still alive?
The outside ones are; except I’m not so
sure about the catnip.
In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone
ringing, your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re
late?
I’m a night owl; not much is happening
during my prime writing time.
What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to
you in the book publishing process?
Publishing has always been pretty
smooth—but screenwriting is a different story. PROGENY began life as a
screenplay, and another “screenwriter” who was offering advice said the story
was okay, but that I should forget about the Bigfoot parts! He said no one
wants to see or read about Bigfoot. Since that time, there have been
approximately seven blue million Bigfoot movies and books, all apparently
moneymakers.
How about the social networks? Which ones do you believe help and which ones
do you wish you could avoid?
I use twitter, facebook and
darkculturesocial.com. There was one called cryptozoocial.com that died within
weeks of inception, so that was a bust. Goodreads seems to work out pretty
well. Other than that, I feel like my time is better spent actually writing.
Book sales.
Don’t you just love them (or lack of?)?
How are you making the sales happen for you?
The sales are so good right now I’m just
elated. Both Hobbes End and my wife do a great job of promoting and keeping the
book in the public eye. Interviews like this are certainly helpful. J I think the subject matter and genre are things that will always
find an audience so it’s lucky for me I like writing about them.
What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop
and scream about?
It’s just amazing to have people responding
so well to my efforts. Being able to reach an audience and tell them a good
story is a tremendous source of joy.
Okay, too much sugar for you today! Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come
on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in. Now…can you tell us what you love about being
a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all
part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?
Well I guess it’s all a cycle. Every
experience is potentially something to write about, and being an
honest-to-Godzilla author now is another of those. Of course, PROGENY’s protagonist
is a writer, so I guess I’m already recycling my experiences. I’ll always love
horror books and horror movies and horror fans, so I foresee life just getting
better and better all the time—and my writing will only become more terrifying!
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