Today it is my pleasure to introduce to you all an incredibly talented horror writer, and a man with such great taste, he chose the very same name as me for one of his books.
This post is just one stop on an entire Summer of Zombie tour schedule, that sees a group of writers travelling the World Wide Web sharing their passion for writing and um… the undead
Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I had my blog over Mr. Armand Rosamilia.
From one horror writer to another, I simply must ask….
What is your favorite scary movie.
As a kid, Halloween scared the crap out of me. Between the music and the danger lurking around every corner, it was the perfect movie.
If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?
Tough question. Probably Harry Keogh from Brian Lumley’s Necroscope series… at least in the beginning of the stories, anyway. He was such a great character to me.
What is your favorite color
Green. I’ll say no more.
Now for something completely different.
What is your favorite word?
Fuck. I use it in every sentence. I’m an Italian from New Jersey, so it is usually the first fucking word they teach you in school.
When I was younger I got kicked out of my English class for using this classic excuse. The only thing was for me it was true.
Has the dog ever eaten your manuscript?
Never. Only because I’m not an animal person and only have cats and dogs under protest. That being said, I did have a dog not too long ago that chewed on the corner of my Thieves World omnibus edition. I hate animals even more now.
What do you consider your biggest failure?
My battle with my weight. I was 180 pounds in high school and at 42 I’m pushing 300 and feel very unhealthy. For writing it is definitely all the years I didn’t write and all the story ideas I had that I never bothered with or even writing them down. Too much time wasted eating M&M’s.
Do you laugh at your own jokes?
I will watch TV in the house alone and crack jokes constantly and smirk. There is something wrong with me. I have a very dry sense of humor and I’m quick with my wit, so I am constantly pissing everyone off in the house because I can never be serious. I also love saying the most inappropriate thing in a tense situation to make a joke, which gets me in trouble.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Believe it or not, always a writer. Even as a kid, reading mom’s Dean Koontz books, I wanted to do this. While friends wanted to be cops and firemen or football players, I wanted to write books.
How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?
I find a picture of the reviewer on Facebook, add it to the face of the voodoo doll and grab their right arm while holding a match… nothing. What can you do? A review is a review, and it’s only an opinion. I always hope, even a crappy 1-star review at least tells me what they hated, and let’s other potential customers know what the book is about. With my Dying Days series, the zombies don’t want to just eat you, they want to rape you. Some reviewers complained there aren’t actual rape scenes while others complained the idea was even in the story. You can’t please everyone. Back to the voodoo doll…
Let’s change it up a little bit
What’s your favorite fruit?
I hate fruit. That’s why I’m pushing 300 pounds, but if I had to choose it would be pears. And pretty much stop there.
What’s the most blatant lie you’ve ever told?
Hell, I’ve told hundreds over the years. Some are still floating out there. I once told a boss my grandfather had died so I could get out of working Memorial Day weekend, and then my brother and I drove up to Boston and saw the Yankees play the Red Sox in Fenway Park. My Red Sox lost all three games that year.
What is the biggest sacrifice you have made for your writing?
Relationships. I’m happily divorced twice, but those breakups were their fault (I swear). I’ve lost many good girlfriends over the years because of my obsession with my writing. I can literally hole up in a room, and type for fifteen hours (or surf for ‘research’ on the internet) and not bother with stuff like housework, cooking or talking to other actual people.
What inspired you to write your first book?
Dean Koontz books as a kid. I was bad and would be punished for long stretches, and my parents would separate my brother and I (since we fought all the time), and I was stuck in their room with my mom’s huge piles of horror paperbacks. I’d spend the day reading and imagining my own stories, and it never stopped.
You certainly seem to have a thing with Zombies, what is the most creative way you have come up with to kill one?
In one of my short stories I have a guy who has no weapons and uses arms and legs of dead people to fight with against zombies, and the entire story he fights with them. It’s actually not published yet but might be included in the next Dying Days book, Still Dying: Select Scenes From Dying Days.
Now that is just awesome!!
Do you see yourself branching out into other avenues of Horror writing?
Definitely. I have several non-zombie horror short stories out, including my Skulls and Bones. Death. Cenote short story collections, my Death Metal thriller novella, and more to come.
We have both written a novel called Highway to Hell, but have you ever opened a novel and seen the name of one of your characters in its pages?
Not yet. I imagine if you write enough stories you’ll eventually run into one. I almost used the same name from years ago in a story and knew it sounded familiar. I looked through my own stories and found it, which was funny. I notice book titles with the same names, like our Highway To Hell one, and Nathan Squiers and I both have one called Death Metal. I also put our Heavy Metal Horror anthology out in 2009 and see a new call for an anthology with the same title out now. My next books, The Holy Bible and To Kill A Mockingbird better not get stolen.
I am a huge Stephen King fan. Who is your favorite Author and what one of their stories sticks in your mind the most?
HP Lovecraft was the first author I read that wasn’t mainstream-sounding to me like King and Koontz. This guy had some seriously weird and old sounding stories and as a teen it was scary stuff, making you think beyond your window about the universe. I can still pick up one of his books and read it, knowing the story well, but needing to read it again. I love reading all the Cthulhu mythos stories from other authors as well.
I am rather ashamed to say that I have not read enough of Lovecraft’s work. However, the things I have read, blew my mind. I can certainly say I will always remember my first Lovecraft experience. I read two shorts one night. The Alchemist and The Beast in the Cave
What books have most influenced your life most?
The Rising by Brian Keene influenced my zombie writing. Before this book I’d never read zombie fiction or even thought too much about it. I didn’t think it would translate well to books, only movies. I was wrong, and started reading everything zombie I could find.
Was there ever a time in your life when you were truly scared?
Yes. One time, as an operative, I had amnesia and had to figure out who was trying to kill me… no, wait, that was Jason Bourne. Nah, I’ve lived a pretty cushy life, although I fought way too much in my late teens and early twenties and had a bad temper. I don’t anymore, so SHUT UP!!
Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he is completely unprepared for the coming zombie apocalypse. And it is coming. He hopes to be one of the first killed during it so he doesn’t have to worry. His fiction is mostly zombie, including the Stellar Ultima Outstanding Zombie Award (he just made that up on the spot) for his Dying Days series. He will keep writing zombie stories as long as people keep buying them. He is in love with Twitter at the moment, so find him at @ArmandAuthor before he grows bored with it. http://armandrosamilia.com
All six of us – Todd Brown, Mark Tufo, Ian Woodhead, Armand Rosamilia, John O’Brien and Dave Jeffery – hope you’ll keep following us on the Summer of Zombie blog tour, and comment as we go along.
And… one lucky commenter for each blog will receive a Free eBook or Print book from one of the authors! Simply leave a comment with your e-mail address and we’ll pick a random winner each day! Simple as that!
Official Site of Alex Laybourne - Author 