Unread Interview: Graham Park

Please welcome Graham Park for this week's Unread Interview! Graham is promoting his latest book No Hope for Gomez and he was already featured on a guest post here on the Brazilian Bookworm.
You can read an excerpt of No Hope For Gomez here (right click, download pdf).

Unread Interview is a series where I feature authors whose books I couldn't accept for review because of time or logistics issues.

From Amazon: 

We've seen it all before, many times, but this time it's different. If only slightly. When Gomez Porter becomes a test subject in an experimental drug trial, he is asked to keep track of any strange experiences through a blog. What Gomez isn't ready for, is so many of his experiences suddenly seeming strange; the antiques dealer trying to buy his old tax papers, his neighbor boiling salamanders on his balcony at midnight, the super sexy lab assistant who falls for him but is unable to express herself in terms outside the realm of science. But when one of the trial participants turns up dead and another goes missing, Gomez begins to fear for his life. No longer sure who he can trust and which of his experiences are real and which merely drug induced illusions, he decides it's time to go underground and work out a devious plan.

Tell us a bit about your book.

It's the age-old tale: Boy meets girl. Boy stalks girl. Girl already has a stalker. Boy becomes her stalker-stalker.

When Gomez Porter becomes a test subject in an experimental drug trial, he is asked to keep track of any strange experiences through a blog. What Gomez isn't ready for, is so many of his experiences suddenly seeming strange; the antiques dealer trying to buy his old tax papers, the phone-sex salesman who hounds him day and night, the super sexy research assistant who falls for him but is unable to express herself in terms outside the realm of science. But when one of the trial participants turns up dead and another goes missing, Gomez begins to fear for his life.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? When did you start writing "seriously"?

I think I started to pen down little stories from the moment I learned to write. Most children develop a healthy immunity to needing to put their ideas to paper, I suppose, understanding inherently that nothing good is likely to come of it and more productive pursuits can be found. But I never did. I never quite figured out how _not_ to write.

Do you read much? What kind of books do you usually read?

I read just about every night. I’m not a very fast reader, though, so it takes me a while to finish a book. Usually longer than it takes me to find another one. So right now I’m reading about 8 books, ranging from fiction to non-fiction.

What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write?

I usually don’t start on a scene until I have some good ideas for it, things I want to try out or bits of information I want to develop. This also means that I’m looking forward to seeing how a scene will turn out. Scenes that I never develop much enthusiasm for might end up being cut from the story. Which is reasonable, I think; if there is nothing exciting I feel like doing with the scene, then there’s a good chance the story doesn’t actually need it.

Do you relate more to any of your characters? Why?

All of the characters are pretty dear to me. Some because they think just like me, most because they are so different. They force me to go places I haven’t been before, think in ways that are not my own. You can find some real mental ‘gems’ that way.

What inspires you? And how's your writing environment - music, place, etc.?

I prefer to have things nice and quiet when I write. As far as inspiration goes, I try to have that before I start writing. When I sit down, I don’t want to have to go looking for ideas. Instead, I start working out an idea that occurred to me earlier. This way writing stays fun and there’s not much pressure.

What would you say about the book - your words, no blurbs! - to convince someone to read it?

“No Hope for Gomez!” is a very special book. For one thing, it has an excellent width-to-height ratio, which is very important. It also has an odd number of pages and its weight is just perfect. Apart from this, the story is nice too, so that’s bonus right there.

What are your plans for the future, writing-wise? New books, sequels, publishing deals, etc.

There are some short stories floating around based in the Gomez universe, and there are some spin-offs on the way.


Thank you Graham for your time, you are welcome to come back anytime!