Tell us, if you don’t mind, a little about yourself.
Sure. I’m a London-based author: born and raised in the nation’s capital and proud of. This is one of the major cities on the planet for food, scenery, entertainment, etc. So even though I write horror and dark fiction – some of which is set in other countries – most of what I write is set right here in London. So no matter how small, I try to capture some spirit of London in my work.
Could you give us some background on how you began writing, and in particular, what drew you to writing horror?
You can blame my oldest brother for that one! I’m the youngest of three sons, no sisters. So by the time I was around eight years old or so, the three of us were watching videos of classic horror films. Rabid. Scanners. The Evil Dead. The Kindred. Salem’s Lot. The Thing. Etc. But as we got older, I couldn’t watch those films anymore, they truly scared the shit out of me(!), and they still do.
The *good* thing about it is that the damage was done, and by then, I already had an appreciation for a dark story. It’s not like some romance tale where the outcome is Happy Ever After, or at least Happy For Now. No. With a dark tale, there’s a chance that not everyone will get out alive, so to speak. I grew up reading those horror books as well: The Omen, The Amityville Horror, Flesh & Blood, Alien, etc. Years later, by the time I did my first NaNoWriMo challenge in 2009 and beat it, I figured I might be on to something. So yeah, I’ve been rolling with it ever since.
Can you tell us a bit about your story that appears in Turn to Ash, Vol. 1?
There’s a seduction involved. Possibly a seduction a lot of people can identify with, but taken to an insidious level. To tell more would probably give too much away…
Do you have any recent and/or upcoming work that you’d like to share?
Currently, I’m working on my next novel/la, the working title is “Downwind, Alice”. No word count I’m aiming for, I’m just looking to tell a good story. I’m currently at about 15,000 words, so there’s still a long way to go. More than anything right now, I just want to wrap the draft ASAP. One, because I don’t want to labour over something for so long that I get disenchanted with it. And two, because the muse is still outrunning me. I won’t lie: it’s a nice position to be in to not run out of ideas. So I try and stay humble and grateful about it.
I’ve got a fair back catalogue of short fiction that I still shop around, but I try to stay away from writing that stuff – at least in the short term. Don’t get me wrong, a good story is still a good story. But personally, for the stuff that I read and the stuff that I write, I’m looking for that long-player fiction. The type where you can ease yourself into it and lose yourself in the narrative as it starts to unfold and develop around you. Think the difference between a quick shower and a candle-lit bubble bath, or between a snack and a feast.
Where, if anywhere, can we find you on the Internet?
My site is www.ccadams.com – but you can hit me up on Facebook (CC Adams) or Twitter (MrAdamsWrites). For readers, authors and publishers who want to talk stories and/or the craft: I’m in. It’s just cool to engage with those people and hear what moves them.
Anything else you’d like to share about your work or anything else going on in this universe (or any other)?
To paraphrase Redman – writing’s like the NBA: I love this game.
Turn to Ash 