Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Straight From the Mouth of 'Progeny' Patrick Greene


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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