Tails of the Pack Final Interview: The Brass

The cover's back! Did you miss it? Remember to purchase the anthology here or here.

Today is the final interview in my Tails of the Pack series. I am talking to Steven Wedel, who not only wrote a story for the collection, but also wrote the introduction and edited it. Busy guy!

Heeeeere's Steven!

1. Tell us about yourself. What do you write? What do you do besides write?

I write almost exclusively supernatural fiction for adults and young adults. I can't seem to write anything that doesn't have a slavering monster in it somewhere. My best known works are After Obsession, co-authored with Carrie Jones, and my Werewolf Saga books. What takes up most of my time, at least nine months of the year, is teaching high school English. Or, as I call it, slamming my head against walls of laziness and willful ignorance.

1. What's your writing/editing routine?

Pray for summer. Write like crazy. Repeat. haha I get a lot more done during the summer, but the rest of the time I write in the evenings when I don't have too much to grade. I pretty much never edit until I have a first draft done, then I'll edit, turn it over to my critique group, then edit again with their comments in mind.

1. Who or what are your influences?

The usual suspects for anyone who grew up in the 1970s-80s ... Stephen King, Peter Straub, William Peter Blatty, Ramsey Campbell, etc., along with the classics, from Charles Dickens to Robert E. Howard, John Steinbeck to H.P. Lovecraft.

1. What's on your bookshelf (or shelves!)?

Books. Duh. There's a pretty wide range. A lot of horror, of course. A lot of classics and fantasy, a healthy dose of Westerns, and a ton on non-fiction on ghosts, witches and witch trials, werewolves, vampires, etc. I also have several books on mythology, general and specific cycles.

1. Do you have any advice for other writers and editors?

Journey said, "Don't Stop Believin'" and Triumph said, "Never Surrender." Just keep at it. Never overlook a chance to improve or to submit. Too often it's about being in the right place at the right time.

1. What's your favorite thing about writing?

I don't go to jail for killing people. Writing really is my therapy. And my escape from reality without drugs.

1. How did you become the editor of Tails of the Pack?

Maggie Bonham, owner of Sky Warrior Books, knows about my Werewolf Saga. We were at a convention in Oklahoma or Texas and she mentioned wanting to do a werewolf anthology, if only she could find the right editor ... And her eyes rolled my way. I agreed, and there we are.

1. Did you have to do any research for your story?

A little. It was geographical. At this point, after five published books in my Werewolf Saga, my twist on the werewolf mythos is pretty established, so I just needed to know a little about the landscape where it happens.

1. Give us a blurb for your story.

Ha! What happens when the author of a popular series of werewolf novels gets asked, "Can you turn me into a werewolf?" too many times?

1. What other projects or publications are you working on that we should know about?

Carrie and I recently sold our second collaboration to TOR Books for a 2014 release. Graveside Tales released a new edition of Murdered by Human Wolves in October, and I'll be re-releasing the rest of my Werewolf Saga, including the brand new book Nadia's Children, this spring and early summer.

Thanks Steven! And thanks everyone for reading my interview series. Don't forget to buy a copy of Tails of the Pack and enjoy the excellent work by all these authors!