I hear this question from people at work and other places all the time. It will come up when they tell me they liked the book, but it was messed up, and they couldn’t believe I wrote something like the book they read. So, on occasion, I will answer the question. What do I answer?

Everywhere. Everything around me is fair game for my fiction. The people in a small town I visit? That is a fair question; ask White Creek. The dark streets of a foreign land? Game on. The past and my life experiences? Oh yeah, where do we start?

All life experience is a notebook a writer can recall for their art. This is why some authors speak of writing as bleeding on the page. I will figuratively cut into my veins and let the blood seep out on the work, forming the dark fiction I enjoy writing. For example, the opening story in Graveside Lullabies, “To Live and Die,” is based on something I experienced driving to work one winter morning. Once I sat down and the story seed formed in my head, I mined the memories of that morning to get the ball rolling. The end result blew me away, and it is one of my favorite stories from my backlist.

The skeleton I’m sitting with is in Mexico. One day, I may mine the memories from my Mexico trips to form a tale about a weary traveler and the skeleton of his friend who questions why he’s still alive while the friend is dead. This may or may not be a started story. Or when I saw a hitchhiker and formed an idea about a hitchhiker and serial killers. The hook has been very well received, and I hope you all like the resulting story.

When you read your favorite author’s next book, think about how much is truth, how much is half-truth, and what is straight-up bullshit. How much of what I’ve told you today is bullshit? I’m not telling, but I’ll let you read the work and decide for yourself. How much of Bone Box, To Live and Die, or The Story Started With Chainsaws and Hookers is true? I’m still not telling…

Okay, I need to get back to Twelve Souls. I hope to finish it up and release it in the summer of 2025. After a couple of releases in 2024, 2025 will probably be a much less active year. The convention trail will also be fewer than this year. I’m feeling out how I want to go forth for cons, and I haven’t picked a path yet.

Go stay warm and enjoy the holidays my friends,

Brent