Guest blogger - Jason Kahn
Dec. 8th, 2009 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomi_jayMy guest today is Jason Kahn, author of The Dark InSpectre, a supernatural crime series that is currently running courtest of Abandoned Towers Magazine. His short story, The Killer Within, was also just released as an e-book by Damnation Books. So, without further ado, my interview with Jason!
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Naomi: What was your inspiration for The Dark InSpectre?
Jason: The inspiration for the series came from a dream I had, which turned into the first scene of the story. It involved the psychic ghost of a dead girl leading the main character, a telepathic cop (me in my dream), into a room with four prisoners (brothers) encased in blocks of semi-translucent material. Yes, I know, very strange dream. But more important than the actual scene was the mood. It was futuristic and very dark and brooding. I mulled over my dream for about a month as I wound a story around it. I saw it as a cross between L.A. Confidential and the psi-core of Babylon 5. And at heart it was a hardboiled crime thriller.
Naomi: What was your inspiration for The Killer Within?
Jason: I was sitting in a cab in midtown Manhattan, listening to the news on the radio. There was a report about some random killing, and I thought to myself: What if the killer didn’t have a choice? What if he was compelled somehow, by some outside force, maybe hypnosis? Maybe a drug? The drug idea stuck with me, and then the idea followed about how the police would possibly try and combat something like that. I liked the idea of no one knowing who the next killer would be, and the nervous tension that could create. Overall it was another hard-boiled crime thriller.
Naomi: Your serial and The Killer Within are heavily focused on crime fiction. Is that your main interest or is there another subject you'd like to explore with fiction writing?
Jason: Honestly, I write whatever story idea pops into my head and appeals to me. I've also written dark humor and hard sci-fi. I would say my most comfortable area is probably fantasy, since I spent most of my adolescence and early adulthood reading books of that genre.
Naomi: Who are your favorite authors?
Jason: Oh boy, it’s a long list. Raymond Feist, JRR Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne Bishop, Patricia McKillip, Steven Brust, Katherine Kurtz, Sheri Tepper, Fritz Leiber, David Eddings, Stephen Donaldson, Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman, and James Ellroy to name a few.
Naomi: Who influenced you most?
Jason: Early on, I would say Feist and Eddings as I tried to write fantasy-adventures, but lately, much more Ellroy as I’ve been writing more noir crime fiction. I read several detective fiction authors as I worked on The Dark InSpectre. Raymond Chandler, Peter Lovesey, and then I read James Ellroy. The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential, and many more. I wasn’t prepared, my mind exploded. I could not put them down.
Naomi: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Jason: I was headed toward a journalism degree my second or third year in college, so I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. But it wasn’t until the summer after my senior year that I discovered I wanted to be a WRITER. I’d been reading scifi-fantasy books since I was a kid, and during my senior year, my then-girlfriend/now-wife, said to me, “hey, why don’t you write one of those?” Incredible as it may seem, the thought had never occurred to me before. That summer I started writing, and haven’t stopped since.
Naomi: What is the toughest part about being a writer and how do you get past it?
Jason: I’d say the hardest part is finding the time. Both to write and to just think about a story, to work it out in my head. I’m a news editor by day, and my job is extremely busy. I’m also a husband and father of two boys in elementary school. I’ll write whenever I can, but long stretches can go by during which I’m not writing. It can be very frustrating. I recently got a lot of writing done on both legs of a business trip where I flew from New York to San Francisco and back. That was a good flight!
Sometimes the writing itself can be hard. Not the “big scenes,” those are usually pretty well thought out. It’s the little scenes, the transitions, the mundane stuff. That can be extremely hard for me to write.
Naomi: What other work do you have coming out?
Jason: In addition to all the stories of mine that have been submitted, I have a fantasy short story, Cold Comfort, coming out in the print version of Abandoned Towers Magazine in May 2010. It’s about a witch and her apprentice, the nature of “true love,” and how a terrible act from the past has shattering consequences for both of them.
Naomi: Where can we find you online?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naomi: What was your inspiration for The Dark InSpectre?
Jason: The inspiration for the series came from a dream I had, which turned into the first scene of the story. It involved the psychic ghost of a dead girl leading the main character, a telepathic cop (me in my dream), into a room with four prisoners (brothers) encased in blocks of semi-translucent material. Yes, I know, very strange dream. But more important than the actual scene was the mood. It was futuristic and very dark and brooding. I mulled over my dream for about a month as I wound a story around it. I saw it as a cross between L.A. Confidential and the psi-core of Babylon 5. And at heart it was a hardboiled crime thriller.
Naomi: What was your inspiration for The Killer Within?
Jason: I was sitting in a cab in midtown Manhattan, listening to the news on the radio. There was a report about some random killing, and I thought to myself: What if the killer didn’t have a choice? What if he was compelled somehow, by some outside force, maybe hypnosis? Maybe a drug? The drug idea stuck with me, and then the idea followed about how the police would possibly try and combat something like that. I liked the idea of no one knowing who the next killer would be, and the nervous tension that could create. Overall it was another hard-boiled crime thriller.
Naomi: Your serial and The Killer Within are heavily focused on crime fiction. Is that your main interest or is there another subject you'd like to explore with fiction writing?
Jason: Honestly, I write whatever story idea pops into my head and appeals to me. I've also written dark humor and hard sci-fi. I would say my most comfortable area is probably fantasy, since I spent most of my adolescence and early adulthood reading books of that genre.
Naomi: Who are your favorite authors?
Jason: Oh boy, it’s a long list. Raymond Feist, JRR Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne Bishop, Patricia McKillip, Steven Brust, Katherine Kurtz, Sheri Tepper, Fritz Leiber, David Eddings, Stephen Donaldson, Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman, and James Ellroy to name a few.
Naomi: Who influenced you most?
Jason: Early on, I would say Feist and Eddings as I tried to write fantasy-adventures, but lately, much more Ellroy as I’ve been writing more noir crime fiction. I read several detective fiction authors as I worked on The Dark InSpectre. Raymond Chandler, Peter Lovesey, and then I read James Ellroy. The Black Dahlia, L.A. Confidential, and many more. I wasn’t prepared, my mind exploded. I could not put them down.
Naomi: When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
Jason: I was headed toward a journalism degree my second or third year in college, so I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. But it wasn’t until the summer after my senior year that I discovered I wanted to be a WRITER. I’d been reading scifi-fantasy books since I was a kid, and during my senior year, my then-girlfriend/now-wife, said to me, “hey, why don’t you write one of those?” Incredible as it may seem, the thought had never occurred to me before. That summer I started writing, and haven’t stopped since.
Naomi: What is the toughest part about being a writer and how do you get past it?
Jason: I’d say the hardest part is finding the time. Both to write and to just think about a story, to work it out in my head. I’m a news editor by day, and my job is extremely busy. I’m also a husband and father of two boys in elementary school. I’ll write whenever I can, but long stretches can go by during which I’m not writing. It can be very frustrating. I recently got a lot of writing done on both legs of a business trip where I flew from New York to San Francisco and back. That was a good flight!
Sometimes the writing itself can be hard. Not the “big scenes,” those are usually pretty well thought out. It’s the little scenes, the transitions, the mundane stuff. That can be extremely hard for me to write.
Naomi: What other work do you have coming out?
Jason: In addition to all the stories of mine that have been submitted, I have a fantasy short story, Cold Comfort, coming out in the print version of Abandoned Towers Magazine in May 2010. It’s about a witch and her apprentice, the nature of “true love,” and how a terrible act from the past has shattering consequences for both of them.
Naomi: Where can we find you online?
Jason: I have a web site: www.jrkahn.com, and a blog: http://jasonkahn.blogspot.com/. My latest fiction, The Dark InSpectre, is currently online at: http://darkinspec.blogspot.com/, and The Killer Within is available at Damnation Books: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615720033. Abandoned Towers Magazine is at: http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers/
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no subject
on 2009-12-09 09:32 pm (UTC)