Name Patrick Freivald
Age Old enough to have gray in my beard
Where are you from Rural Western New York, in the middle of 6600 acres of state forest
A little about your self `ie your education Family life etc I’m the tenth of eleven children, an identical twin married to another identical twin. I have a bachelor’s degree in physics and a masters in Deaf education, and for my day job I teach physics, robotics, and American Sign Language.
Fiona: Tell us your latest news?
My novel JADE SKY was just nominated for the Bram Stoker Award®! An ass-kicking, terrifically gory horror-thriller, the sequel BLACK TIDE comes out April 17th from JournalStone.
Fiona: When and why did you begin writing?
I’ve told stories my entire life, but writing for publication was my twin brother Phil’s idea. He suggested we do it, and I went along with it. After a long and rocky road, our novel BLOOD LIST was published last year. In the meantime, while Phil has decided to concentrate on other things, I’ve published three more novels, a bunch of short stories, and a graphic novel (in Dark Discoveries magazine, with Joe McKinney).
Fiona: When did you first consider yourself a writer?
That’s an odd question. A writer is someone who writes, in the same way that a jogger is someone who jogs. I’m an erstwhile and unenthusiastic jogger, but I’ve always been a writer of some kind or another.
Fiona: What inspired you to write your first book?
BLOOD LIST, about a serial killer trying to save his father’s life, was an experiment, and not even my idea. I don’t know that inspiration is as important as nose-to-the-grindstone work. I only write when and if it’s fun, and never wait around to “feel inspired.” Inspiration is, by and large, a gimmick used as a negative, an excuse not to write.
Fiona: Do you have a specific writing style?
Quite contrary to my interview style, my prose tends toward the sparse—using as few words as possible to convey what I want to convey, and letting the reader’s imagination fill in the details. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for me.
Fiona: How did you come up with the title?
I hate titles. They’re one of the hardest things to come up with. JADE SKY was inspired by the drug, Jade, and the fact that those behind it want to rule over the world, thus blanketing the sky with their influence. It’s not obvious from the title.
My original idea for the sequel was JADE SCARS, but my publisher rejected it as too similar to the first Matt Rowley book, so I had to come up with another. My friends helped me, and I couldn’t tell you who ultimately came up with BLACK TIDE, but it works and I’m quite happy with it.
Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I like to write fiction that can be read on multiple levels. If you want a fun ride that leaves you breathless at the end, you can have that. If you want commentary on government power, drug addiction, and the price of power, you can have that, too. One of the great joys of writing is seeing what different people get out of the stories I’ve written.
Fiona: How much of the book is realistic?
The premise is that a drug turns people into Hulk-like superhumans, but aside from that conceit—and the twist about a third of the way in—I try to ground everything else in reality. As a physicist, I had great fun taking an unrealistic premise and then making sure everything around that premise remains consistent with it.
Fiona: Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? Not in the slightest. “Write what you know” is terrible advice.
Fiona: What books have most influenced your life most? a mentor?
I couldn’t say. My favorite books range from A MOTE IN GOD’S EYE to CARRION COMFORT to LUCIFER’S HAMMER to PATIENT ZERO to JOHN ADAMS to the DEAD WORLD series. Then there’s WHEN TRUE NIGHT FALLS and A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE and A CROWN OF STARS and…
Fiona: What book are you reading now?
SHORT BUS HERO by Shannon Giglio. It’s pretty epic.
Fiona: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Some of the new-to-me authors that I’ve really enjoyed include Rena Mason, Stephen Graham Jones, Mercedes Murdock Yardley, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, John F.D. Taff….
Fiona: What are your current projects?
BLACK TIDE, the sequel to JADE SKY, comes out in April, and an anthology called NEVER FEAR should be out some time later this month. I’m working on the third book in that series, due on Halloween, as well as an unrelated novel, MURMURS IN GLASS, about a violinist trying to escape the consequences of summoning a demon as a teenager. I’ve got several short stories going, a novella for a military sci-fi anthology due in July, and I’m working with Joe McKinney to adapt one of his short stories (and one of my favorite stories) to graphic novel form for Dark Discoveries Magazine.
Yeah, um, deadlines. I’ve got those!
Fiona: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
The Horror Writers Association (www.horror.org) is one of the most supportive, awesome organizations in the world. Just an amazing group of people, and terrifically helpful in every aspect of my career.
Fiona: Do you see writing as a career?
Yes. Writing is fun, but a lot of what goes along with getting and being published I would not do were I not making a run for the big time.
Fiona: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Nope. I wouldn’t have submitted it were BLACK TIDE not how I wanted it. Now ask me that again in a year or two….
Fiona: Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
I’ve always been an avid reader and writer, but I got into writing for publication because my twin brother Phil said we should write a novel. So we did, and now I’ve written four more!
Fiona: Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Here’s a snippet from my short story FORWARD BASE FOURTEEN, which will be out in NEVER FEAR.
A warning blip chimed, and a green dot turned red in Sarah DeSouza’s vision.
Droplets streaked her visor, fogged opaque in the New Phoenix humidity so that only her HUD gave any useful information—temperature, vitals, team position, the seventeen rounds left in her magazine, and an endless stream of data from the trackdrones stationed around Forward Base 14. Sweat matted her hair under the helmet, the pungent tang of wet dog and body odor an unwelcome reminder that their last supply drop came too long ago, and with too little.
“DeSouza, status?” Sergeant Brett Jackson’s voice in her ear carried a razor’s edge buried under gravel, both harder and more fragile than months past.
“Track nine went offline.” She punched directions into the keyboard and fine-tuned them through the neural link. “I’m shifting eight and ten to cover the sweep.”
“Battery?”
“Likely. It’s been leaking H-gel since the last attack.” Their most vital and scarcest resource, hydrogen stabilized in a fire-retardant gel ran the microfusion reactors that powered everything from their rail guns to the trackdrones to the AC units and refrigerators, to the massive terraformers that loomed in skies a thousand miles to the south.
Not that they had any AC or refrigerators, or more than a dozen trackdrones left.
She licked her lips. “When do you think they’ll hit us, Sergeant?”
“Server’s offline, private. Predictive models—”
“When do you think, Sergeant?”
Jackson sighed. “Any time. They’re wearing us down before the headshot.” He paused, then, “And we’re about as worn down as we can get.”
Her heart skipped. “You think we have a chance?”
He said nothing for far too long. “No. Do your duty, private. It’s all that’s left.”
Fiona: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
I have to put a lot of energy into keeping my details straight, because I’m not a naturally organized person.
Fiona: Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
Them’s fighting words! In all seriousness, I like far too many authors to try to pick a favorite.
Fiona: Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?
Every year I go to as many cons as I can, including World Horror Convention, Scare-a-Con, and New York Comic Con, as well as Book Expo America in New York City. I try to squeeze in library and school appearances, too.
Fiona: Who designed the covers?
That depends on the covers! In every case it’s someone who the publisher chose (and paid)—by and large I’m quite happy with them.
Fiona: Do you have any advice for other writers? Learn the rules, so that when you break them you’re doing it on purpose. Read a lot, both inside and outside your genre. Don’t take too much advice from other writers.
Fiona: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Have fun!
Fiona: Do you remember the first book you read?
I don’t.
Fiona: What makes you laugh/cry?
People.
Fiona: Is there one person pass or present you would meet and why?
Richard Feynman, because he was a brilliant physicist, an amazing speaker, and seemed a darn fun guy.
Fiona: What do you want written on your head stone and why?
I do hope nobody wastes money on getting me a headstone. Plant a tree or something!
Fiona: Other than writing do you have any hobbies?
I’m a teacher, I run a competition robotics team, I’m a beekeeper, and a play a lot of Warhammer 40K.
Fiona: What TV shows/films do you enjoy watching?
Mostly sci-fi and the like, though to be honest I don’t watch a whole lot of either.
Fiona: Favorite foods / Colors/ Music
Chicken wings, purple, progressive rock.
Fiona: If you were not a writer what else would you like to have done?
I’m doing it!
Fiona: Do you have a blog/website? If so what is it?
Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/Patrick-Freivald/e/B006N2B4YK/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1
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