Next month authors and readers will come together in Peterborough (UK) to celebrate the Darker Side of Fiction. This week I’ll be posting about a few of the authors who will be joining me at the event, signing and selling books and meeting readers.
If you want to join us on October 7th check out the Darker Side of Fiction website.
Max lives in the Scottish Borders with his wife, family, two cats and two dogs.
In 2008 he rediscovered a pile of notebooks in a box in a cupboard. They were full of poems, drawings, short stories and other scribbles that he had written as a child and during his teens.
He decided it was time to pick up where he had left off in his teens and in 2009, compiled his first poetry collection, ‘Soul Whispers’, as a Christmas present for his wife Lilibeth.
In 2010 he started working on his first novel, picking up some ideas from the old notebooks. Over the next three years he fleshed out the story lines for a trilogy and in 2013, published the first part, ‘Angels Bleed’. ‘Her Moons Denouement’ was published in 2014 and the final part of the trilogy, ‘Murder Path’ was published in 2015. He has also published a further two poetry collections, ‘My Dark Disease’ in 2012 and ‘The Alchemy Of Swaying Hips’ in 2014. His next projects are a new poetry collection entitled ‘Catching Reflections’ and a new DCI Jeremiah Strange psychological thriller entitled ‘Voodoo Blood’.
I recently interviewed Max Hardy about his books and the upcoming signing.
Carmilla Voiez (CV): Tell me about the genre(s) and subjects of the books you write and will be showcasing at the Darker event next month.
Max Hardy (MH): I will be showcasing the Fallen Angels trilogy, Angels Bleed, Her Moons Denouement and Murder Path. They are very dark, gritty and graphic psychological crime thrillers that leave nothing to the imagination and deliberately set out to challenge your morality.
CV: What got you into writing darker fiction?
MH: As a child, my mum used to let me stay up and watch the old black and white horror movies, the original Dracula, Wolf Man and Frankenstein's. My love for the darker side of things started there and as I moved into my teens I started reading the horror stories of Graham Masterton, James Herbert, Shaun Hutson and Stephen King. that stirred my interest in writing and I fleshed out a few horror stories of my own at the time. Life got in the way and it took a good few years before I put pen to paper again and released the Fallen Angels trilogy.
CV: Do you consider yourself morbid?
MH: I think like most people, I have a darker side, but I don't consider myself morbid. In fact, I am probably more of an incurable romantic. As well as novels I write a lot of poetry and at least half of the poems have a romantic slant. Mind you, the other half are extremely dark.
CV: What is your absolute favourite quote from one of your books?
MH: The very last line of 'Murder Path' the last part of the Fallen Angels trilogy. While it is the last line in the book, it was the first line I wrote when I started the trilogy:
'They put pennies on my eyes the last time I died, to keep the evil spirits out. It didn’t work.’
CV: What do you do when you aren’t writing?
MH: I work full time for a social housing company which keeps me busy. In between that and writing, time is spent with my gorgeous wife Lilibeth, our four children, two granddaughters, two dogs and three cats. We love getting out and walking, visiting places we've never been, where I will always try and find if they have a literary link.
CV: Heroes or villains?
MH: Can I say heroes who are really villains. My favourite in recent years has been John Luther. He is just badass.
CV: If you had to choose one favourite book from all the books you have read, which would it be and why?
MH: My favourite book ever is 'Bare Faced Messiah' the story of L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. It's fascinating to see how one charismatic megalomaniac can influence enough people into a belief which is now considered a religion. Makes you think about how solid the foundations of our other religions are. It's one of the key themes I explore in the Fallen Angels trilogy.
CV: Thank you, Max, for taking time to appear on my blog and website. I look forward to meeting you on October 7th.
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