March 24, 2025 • 45 mins
Derek Muk is a social worker and writer from California. His short stories have appeared in various online and print magazines. He has three chapbooks published: "Three Parts," "The Sacrifice and Other Stories," and "Sin after Sin." Also, look for his book, "Being Followed," which we discuss at length on this podcast.
Find Derek Muk online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derek.muk.7
Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FDerekMuk Website: https://theoccultfilesofalberttaylor.wordpress.com
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Find Derek Muk online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derek.muk.7
Twitter: https://x.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FDerekMuk Website: https://theoccultfilesofalberttaylor.wordpress.com
Support Weird Reads:
Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/jason_white
Join the Patreon for ad-free episodes!
Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/weirdreader
Email me: weirdreadspodcast@gmail.com
Find Jason elsewhere:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jasonsweirdreadsFind
Join the Weird Reads book club: https://fable.co/club/jasons-weird-reads-book-club-with-jwhite-418694065870?club_type=free#books
Join the discord: https://discord.gg/RTvcHvWuXa
Twitter:
@Jason_White74
@WeirdReadsPod
Intro music created by DudeAwesome from Freesound.
[Freesound - “Scary Haunting Cinematic Style Mix Sound Effects.flac” by DudeAwesome](https://freesound.org/people/DudeAwesome/sounds/490055/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to the Weird Reader podcast, an extension of
Jason's Weird Reads found on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome, hello everyone, today, I have a brand new guest
to the show. I read his book. Actually, he was
supposed to be on the show much earlier than this,
and I read his book about I think two months
(00:39):
ago now, and that was being followed. We're going to
be discussing that book today, plus maybe a couple of others.
I want to welcome Derek Muck to the show. Welcome Derek.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Hey, Hi Jason, how are you doing. Thank you for
thank you for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, no problem, and thank you for your patience. Because
there was some SkELL enjoying issues all on my end,
so I apologize. I had some work stuff pop up,
unexpected work stuff pop up, and then there is also
a situation where I overbooked, and so so here we
are today. Finally, can you give you can you give
(01:18):
us a brief introduction to yourself and your work?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Sure? So. My names Derek, and I'm an indie author
who writes mostly in the horror, mystery, science fiction, and
young adult genres. I've been writing off and on since
high school and more seriously. I have been writing more
(01:46):
seriously since college. I've been published in different small press,
indie magazines and anthologies. I've had some novellas published. And Yeah,
I just enjoy writing create, I enjoy creative writing, and
I love reading. I'm a avid reader of different genres,
(02:07):
mostly in the specuator of fiction genres.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
H what is it about writing that you that you
like a lot? Like Stephen King he calls it his drug?
Is that? Is it something similar to that? Does it
like completely take you away?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It does. There's something about creative writing, particularly fiction writing,
that yeah, takes me away. It's like an escape from
our ordinary, kind of mundane lives. I use it as
an outlet, like a creative outlet, to express my emotions,
feelings on different topics, and just to get away from
(02:46):
the the especially now during this day and age, to
escape from the kind of the dreariness, the strangeness of
the times that we're living in. Yeah. So it's a
It's a fun thing to do, and once you start writing,
it could be Yeah, it could be sort of addictive,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yea, and very cathartic too, sort of like you mentioned. Yes, Yeah,
so I asked this almost of everyone who's new, because
this is something that interests me. I always love hearing
about how people got into reading horror. So what what's
your origin story for reading horror or even watching movies?
(03:24):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So I discovered horror, I guess when I was like
in high school or maybe even earlier, like junior high.
And of course, like a lot of people, I discovered
and loved Stephen King's work and also the writing of
other writers. And I was also a fan of the
(03:48):
horror film genre, science fiction mysteries, and it was just
you know what it was. Jason was just an outlet
to escape again, gave into imaginary worlds and escape from
you know, reality for a while and just and a
lot of good fiction as well as movies and TV
(04:09):
shows do that. Sometimes it's just an outlet to get
away from everyday life. And I guess that's my ordin story.
I I'm a I love going to like bookstores, and
that's how I got started reading specutt of fiction, was
going to like use bookstores and discovering writers like Ray Bradbury,
(04:33):
Arlan Ellison, Joyce, Cara Oates, Shirley Jackson, and you know
Conless other writers like that.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Were those your first who? Who? Who did you first
start reading? Like, was it Steve Oh? You mentioned Stephen
King too?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah? He was he and like I guess, Ray Bradbury
were among some of the first few ris that I
started reading.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, is there any book or author that you can
think of that that you read and you just do
remember that moment when when you were like, damn, I
want to do this, this is what I want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I can't remember instances where I was like odd and
just astonished by someone's you know, talent and great work.
But I never thought, at least I didn't think back
then that I would be writing now. I was just enjoying.
I was just enjoying their work, their fiction, And at
the time, I wasn't really thinking about writing like for myself.
(05:40):
I was just enjoying, Like with any good book, I
just like to sit back and enjoy it. And I
guess that's how I was feeling back then. I wasn't
thinking of it as like a bobby or like as
a day job.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You've written, You've written quite a not maybe not quite
a few, but you have written. You do have a
backlog of books. How many books have you written and published?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I think I've written like maybe four or five Nobellas
and I've but most of what I've written and have
gotten published or like short stories and small press magazines.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Nice. How how long ago did you start writing? Like? What?
What a tree? Or you don't have to many your age,
but how many years ago did you? Was it when
you started writing? Like when you decided to sit down
and you know, I'm going to start writing Nobella's or
novels and start putting them out. When when was that?
How long ago? Well?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I first started writing. I belonged to like a fiction
writers group in high school, and that's when I started
writing short stories just for fun basically. And it wasn't
until it wasn't until i'd say I finished college, maybe
like or even like in the mid to late nineties
(07:02):
that I got more serious into writing. And then later
in the two thousands, early to mid two thousands, I
started having some successful getting novella's accepted and published.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So, yeah, I notice you're in a lot of anthologies.
Like when I went to your good Reads profile page,
it said you were in like a lot of books
like that you it was like over thirty I think
and I thought those are thirty books at first, until
I started looking like the first six or seven where
just your novellas and whatnot, and then it was all
(07:38):
the anthologies that you're in. So is that something you
still do? Do you write stories and try to submit
to anthologies a lot?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah? I still do that, although not as much. I
don't write short stories as much as before because I'm
currently concentrating on writing longer works like novel lettes and
novellas to write longer fiction, but I still on occasion
do write short stories.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Nice how uh? As I was going through your books,
there was a couple that really drew my attention because
of their names and their covers, like, these are pretty
awesome covers. The first one is The Demon Seeds. Can
you tell us what that one's about? So?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
The Demon Seeds follows two paranormal investigators, Albert Taylor and
his teaching assistant Brad, student Jan and Jan's friend Carol
is missing and they go down to La to look
into her disappearance, and they come across what you know.
(08:48):
They find out that she's been abducted by some kind
of like satanic cult and that they're gonna you know
it's that they're trying to like doctrinate andrwash her friend
into the cult for like really nefarious purposes. So yeah,
that was kind of fun to write. I remember there
(09:09):
was a really kind of strong supernatural presence in that
in that book, but yeah, that was I had fun
writing that nice.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I like the idea of that. Also, it sounds like,
because of the premise, that could become a series. Have
you ever considered turning something like that into a series.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I have, and I've kind of like, actually, those two characters,
the two paranormal investigators, they are part of a series.
Like it's not like a fully blown out, like official series,
but I've written about the two characters like off and
on through short stories and some of the novellas, and
(09:53):
I want to take it to a more serious plane.
But as you know, you know, a lot of some
of the small presses that I've submitted to have closed
or folded. So it's kind of disheartening a lot. It's
kind of true of a lot of the side of
the times that a lot of presses have closed because
(10:14):
you know, they can't keep it going. But I want
to like sort of if I can, I like to
have the series progress, so I'm kind of like kind
of currently working on shopping around some other presses. I'm
shopping around some other novelle's now that feature these two characters.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh, very good. I definitely don't have to read that
because that's hound's interesting. I just love the whole satanic
cult thing too, you know, like that. I remember watching
when I was younger. There would always be these satanic
cult movies that would come on from the seventies nineteen seventies,
where the satanic cults always won in the end, and
I was just like what they almost always ended with
(10:53):
the cult members and black hoods and black robes peering
off the naked woman into the woods the end, and
you're like, they won. This isn't conventional.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, you know, I was a fan of those movies
growing up. You know, they would show these, like you said,
these kinda like low budget horror movies back in the day,
like on the Sunday or Saturday afternoon movie. And that's
how I got, like, I became a fan of those
movies and of the genre of that in fiction. And
(11:25):
it's funny you mentioned that the satanic coult movies from
the seventies because that was that's been a big inspiration
on The Demon Seeds and some of my other writings.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So very good. Yeah. Also I noticed The Hangman that
had a really cool cover or sorry, the Hanging Man cover.
Can you tell us anthing about that?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Sure? So The Hangman was a more recent book. It
was published in twenty twenty three by Gloomhouse Publishing. By
the way, Gloomhouse Publishing is a great publisher. James and
his staff are really great in producing great books. That
actually Jason that book. Also, The Hanging Man also featured
(12:08):
Albert Taylor and his assistant Jan in that one. So
if you're curious about The Demon Seeds, Hanging Man also
features those two same characters. So I tried to carry that.
I tried to carry the series along with that with
Hanging Man. And so they were going to publish another
(12:30):
Albert Taylor story, but again, sadly Lumhouse Publishing clothes or
it's on hiatus. So the book that was going to
be published, I guess this year they had to shelvet
because the press is currently on hiatus.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
M that's too bad. Yeah, there's too many you know,
you bring up a great point and there's so many
indie publishers who come and go. It's it's like every
every year there's a list, and that that's kind of
does that like scare you away from from trying them out,
or because there's like a strong chance eighty percent chance
(13:10):
that the small press are submitting to is just gonna,
you know, disappear one day.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, you know it makes me think. I don't. I
don't know if it necessarily scares me way, but because
I've learned to be patient and calm and you know,
understanding of the sign of the time with inde publishing,
and you know, it's just part of reality that small
presses closed and flowed up. But actually, if anything, it
(13:37):
kind of makes me more wanted like investigate and search
out other publishers to see who might be interested in
publishing my work. I did. I think as as an
indie writer, you just have to keep going. You have
to keep going forward and see if anyone else is
interested in your writings.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, do you have a preference, because I've noticed you
have some self published stuff too. Do you like self
or do you like I'm pretty sure I saw something
like self published. I could be wrong. It's just the
way Goodread's words thing sometimes.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You know, I did have one book published self published.
It's called The Occult Files of Albert Taylor. And yeah,
that was self published back in two thousand and nine,
and I think that was the only title I had
that was self published. And how that originated, Jason was?
(14:31):
I just so The ac Cult Files of Albert Taylor
is a collection of short stories featuring paranormal investigator Albert Taylor.
And a friend of mine helped me compile all the stories.
He did all the layout in the design of the book.
He even like rendered the cover so and so he
(14:51):
helped me put it out on Amazon. Actually was Create Space.
Do you remember Create Space? That was the publishing Yeah,
the publishing arm of AMA and then that closed and
so that book is still available on Amazon, but unfortunately
it's not available as an e book. It's only available
as a paperback book.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So yeah, now I want to go back to covers
a little bit because I really enjoyed the cover for
being followed that that cover is like wow, it's uh,
it looks like a political poster you might have seen
in the nineties. I was thinking, so this, how did that?
(15:32):
The question I'm trying to get to here is do
you have much control over your covers because they have
a really good sort of aesthetic to them, and this
one especially well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So I do have some input into what the covers
will be. What usually happens is the small press will
have like a cover artist or an artist in house artist,
and they the publisher will ask me my thoughts about
(16:04):
what the cover should look like and then or how
like what could be in it on it, and so
I'll give some I'll give some feedback to them, and
then they'll try to create something like based on what
I described. And so that's what happened with Being Followed,
by the way. The cover design for that was done
(16:26):
by a guy named Adrian Baldwin and he's with Domain
Publishing d E. M. A I. N Publishing is the
publisher that published Being Followed, and many kudos and thanks
to Dean Drinkil and Adrian. They're the brains behind the
main publishing and they're the ones that published the book,
(16:48):
and I'm really thankful and really appreciate them for publishing
the now the novella, and I thought Adrian did a
great job, like you said, capturing that late eighties ninety
area of the political scene. You know, I was really
taken by it too.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, oh read reading being followed. I couldn't help I
asked this almost for everyone too, because some people don't
like that, like the word you get your ideas question from.
But I like knowing where a book started in a
writer's mind. So where what was the genesis of for
(17:26):
you to write being followed? Because you know, there's there's
some specific points on this book too that make me
want to ask this question even more.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Well, you know, so that book was inspired I guess
by the last several years, ten years worth of like
as you could, you know, And I was gonna say,
I'm not normally a political person. I don't usually express
my political views very often, so but I think this
(17:56):
is one of the few political thrillers that I've written,
and it was inspired again by the political strangeness and
craziness of the past decade, you know, you know, like
a LGBT movement, of feminist movement, you know, racial tensions,
the Charlottesville, Virginia rally in twenty seventeen, of course, in
(18:19):
the Trump presidency, and murder of George Floyd. So all
this stuff kind of made me, you know, kind of
like maybe want to say something and express my feelings
and all these on these wide range of topics. And
that's how that's how that book came about, was because
based on that and it was just my way, like
(18:40):
you said earlier, you know, it was a really cathartic
experience kind of expressing my feelings emotions about all these
different topics on paper. And yeah, so that's what it
was big how how it came without.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, I could see that. I mean, that's that's pretty
much in every page of the book. You just get
that feeling that this is maybe this is one of
the things that piss you off, and you just needed
to you just needed to, you know, talk about it.
And how cathartic was it for you to write this book?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It was pretty cathartic and satisfying, you know, just to
express some views about all these really you know, strong,
controversial and kind of you know of topics. And again,
like I said, I don't really discuss politics, religion, or
(19:40):
sports very much because they're kind of like divisive issues.
And absolutely, you know, Jason, I'm totally not a confrontational person.
I'm kind of if you get to know me, I'm
kind of low key and quiet, even shy when you
first meet me, but once you get to know me
over time, I you know, I could be kind of
talkative about certain things and interested in certain topics and
(20:03):
but yeah, so it was it was. It was a
good book to write, and it did have that really,
you know, as I was writing it, it had that therapy.
That's what I love about writing, is it's very therapeutic,
and especially like you you know with this book too.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, can you share with us a little bit of
your writing process for this book, Like was there much
research that went into it or did you just like
sort of gather all the knowledge over the years and
then spit it out. And you know, what's your writing schedule, like,
like do you how often do you write?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I try to write every day if possible. Sometimes that's
not realistic because I do have a day job. My
day job is that of being a social worker, so
writing is more like on the side, and I try
to write every day if I can. If not every day,
maybe a few times a week. And I usually write
like in the evenings after work or definitely on the weekends.
(21:03):
And then to get back to your other question about
the book, it was based on years of research, like
you know, practically living through these crazy, strange times and
also reading books. I picked up some books on like
feminist rights, you know, feminist you know, female feminist activism,
(21:25):
and so I checked out a whole bunch of books
from the library about that, about LGBT rights, you know,
all that kind of stuff. And I did a lot
a lot of reading about you know, political activism and
social justice online. So that was sort of like my
research and homework into writing Being Followed.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
How did you develop the main characters, especially the husband
and the life. I'm sorry, but their names escape me
right now, it's been two months.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
That's okay. There and Albert were the main characters. So
the way that came about was the Albert in Being
Followed is actually the Albert Taylor from the Demon Seeds,
from The Investigator, the paranormal investigative duel. So so in
Being Followed, I basically fleshed out his character a little
(22:20):
bit and I created like his a character and Claire
as his ex wife slash girlfriend. So I basically expanded
on that and gave but I gave her clear like
a larger role. It's it's basically so Being Followed is
basically her book. She has Archer presence in the book,
(22:43):
but Albert is more like, uh, I mean he has
a significant role too, but it's more like he's the
supporting character. And so that's how that's how those two
characters came about.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, before I asked the next question, and I do
apologize is going to be a political question. But before
I get to that question, can you give us a short,
extent synopsis of what the story is about.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Sure? So basically, well, let me have a book right
here by the way. Yes, Yeah, So the book is
about their their Goldman and she's a college professor at
San Francisco State. When she writes this book, Uh, it's
(23:33):
kind of it's like an expos on the white nationalist
or supremacist movement, and it doesn't sit well with several
groups like that, and she starts receiving like threatening letters
about it, how they disapprove of it, and when when
she doesn't heed their advice or listen to them, the
(23:57):
threats kind of escalate to like more physical and violent situations,
like the white nationalist groups breaking to her apartment and
following her around. And then that's when she turns to
her college sweetheart ex husband Albert for help and advice.
(24:19):
So he he helps her and protects her along the
journey in finding it, trying to find out who's sending
these letters, and then the book kind of follows them
as they confront who is behind the threatening letters, and
you know, later clearer in the book is kidnapped. So
(24:42):
that that's how I don't want to review too much
or any spoilers, but that's how it kind of gets going.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, Now, quite the political question here is I loved
the anti fascist message in this book, but at the
same time it angered me because of everything that's going
on right now. It was like, you know, like I
can't escape it anywhere, you know what I mean. But
(25:10):
I was wondering, like, well, writing this, did you ever
fear that you might piss off the wrong people? And
to add on to that, have you received any backlash
from the far right about this book at all?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
That's a great question, and thank you for bringing it up.
I guess I was in a way afraid of the
reception of this book, like what it would get. It
kind of made me feel a little It made me
feel a little nervous how people would take it and
how they would receive it. But no, I mean I
(25:45):
haven't gotten any negative backlash yet about it. But in fact,
some of the most of the reviews for the book
that I've gotten have been positive, So thankful for that. Yeah,
but you get a really good yeah, yeah, thank you.
(26:07):
That's why I feel like I don't That's why I
haven't written very many political thrillers. It kind of it's
it's a very delicate, controversial topic and I feel like,
you know, it's I kind of want to maybe limit
what I do in that genre because I do I'm
kind of sensitive to other people and their feelings, so
(26:29):
I don't want to like, you know, you know, upset
or you know, piss out, to piss off too many people.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So, yeah, do you think this will be your last
political thriller or do you think there's more in you?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Uh, it may be the last one for a while.
I mean, I I might write something that's kind of
like more not as strongly political in the future. That
might you know, kind of like approach it more more delicately.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah. How I was wondering about themes because that was
like a huge theme in the book, but other themes
in the book. Do you find yourself writing or are
there any other themes in any of your other books
that you've explored in this book as well?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well, let's see. I always try to explore like the
humanity of the characters, about the interpersonal relationships between the
characters in each book I write, and I think, so,
I think I've done that too of this book. Yeah,
(27:43):
that's what I really try to do is develop the
characters and have me hopefully have them impact the reader
in some way.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, how do you develop characters? This is sort of
a not a repeat question because I did ask like
how came up with characters? But I'm curious how you
come up with characters? Are they are they from? Like
do you think they're from real life? Or or do
you do they just appear to you and start nattering
(28:14):
in your head? You know, as I've heard some writers say,
is it? What's it? What is it for you?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It's sort of a combination of those. It's I feel
like they are living in my mind like voices or
what have you talking to me? And they're also kind
of like a mix of people I've met in real life,
whether it was in college, in previous jobs. And sometimes
(28:42):
they're even based on of all things. I know, this
sounds kind of strange. They're based on like celebrities, like
movie stars that I that I like or admire. And
it's interesting sometimes as I'm writing about or creating a character,
I kind of base sometimes not all the time. I
(29:03):
kind of based them on how they look and act
and behave, based on movie stars that I like in
certain movies. And yeah, I mean sometimes it's easy for
a writer to imagine or picture a character that way.
Some For me, that's how I sometimes base it.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
M hmm. Yeah, I've heard of that before and I've
tried it myself. It does a good It's I like
doing that because it gives you a face, right, it
gives you a body type and everything. And and if
you typically pick the characters in a similar role from
a similar role because they they embody that sort of
characteristic right.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, So we mentioned the reception the book has gotten.
I was perusing through Amazon and good Reads and you've
got like quite a few five stars for this book.
So there's been a good reception here.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yes, yes, been a pretty good reception, and I'm grateful
and thankful for that. But getting back to what you said,
it's like I can understand how some people may not
take this book well because they you know, you read
about you read the description of it, and it's like
another kind of book about what's going on now. It's
(30:25):
like you're trying, I know, how some people want to
escape our current crazy times. You know, they probably had
enough of it watching the news and reading about Trump
and about his administration, and to see a book like
written about that, they probably just want to get away
from it because it's like we're living it right now.
And I can totally understand that how some people may
(30:47):
not be interested in it, and that's totally fine. It's
not for everyone, so but yeah, so it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Can be cathartic for some people too, because it's the
lines are clearly drawn, who who the bad guys are
and who the good guys are. And I'm not going
to spoil anything, but you know, things happen in the
book that might leave hope in the reader's mind.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yes, yes, And I guess that's the message I'm trying
to come across. I'm trying to convey to the reader
is that there, you know, there may be a glimmer
of hope, and you know, you know, good versus evil?
What have you hopefully good will win and hopefully you know,
(31:32):
I hope they care about the characters because you know,
building building them up to a certain certain situation and
expectation level.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So did you struggle with that because there is a
certain amount of tension that's built up until a certain
thing happens. And what was like, what was that like writing? Like,
how do you build suspense like that?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I just yeah, it just it took took several drafts
trying to create that tension and that suspense, and I
just followed the advice of you know, like my editors
and like beta readers and just trying to incorporate things
(32:19):
that would make the book more suspenseful.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah. Cool. So I guess that's it about those about
being followed. It's a it's a really interesting book. Like
you said, some people might be uh put off by it,
you know. To be honest with you, I was a
little bit put off because I was just like, ah,
(32:45):
you know, like we see this in the news every day.
But at the same time, by the end of it,
I was happy because of that glimmer of hope. Is
there is there anything else that you hope readers can
pull from it? You mentioned characters, But is there anything else?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Well, I hope that I hope that it's Uh. I
hope they may be interested in reading the other Albert
Taylor books that I've written to get a glimpse of
that character more. And I don't know, I just for
(33:23):
I guess for any reader, hope they gain some insight
or maybe some insight and uh, I guess uh caring
more about humanity in the future, about the times we're
living in along with it.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, you got you got to wonder when kindness and
compassion have become something looked down upon, Like mm hmm,
it doesn't make sense there people are pushing for cruelty
and power, you know, like nobody respects that. In the end,
it always falls apart. Don't think they see that though?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, so true. And to me it's like mindless. To me,
it's just like what's the point of it, you know,
like trying to exert that cruelty and bigotry and violence
and trying to sway people to follow in to follow them.
(34:26):
I don't see the the logic or you know, what's
the what's the good of that? You know?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yea, you've written about Albert a few times now, is
he Is he appearing in works that you're working on
now or do you plan on writing about him again?
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Yes, I'm so, I'm shopping around. So the wh what
I mentioned earlier about Gloomhouse Publishing who published The Hanging Man,
they were gonna they had accept and we're going to
publish another Albert Taylor book, but they are that press
is now on hiatus. So I'm currently shopping around for
(35:07):
another publisher for that Albert Taylor novella. So I'm doing that,
and also by I've written another Albert Taylor and Jan
novella that I have to go back and sort of
revise a little. But yes, I plan on having him
up here in future works.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
So awesome. Do you have anything coming out soon, either
short story or novella or novel that you can share
with us?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
So I'm working My current work in progress is another
novella that's of the mystery suspense genre, and it features
all new characters. It does not follow Albert Taylor or
clear it features all new character and so that's what
I'm currently working on. And I'm currently editing that right now,
(36:05):
and you know, tweaking it and posting it up a bit.
As far as like other short stories or books. I'm
still kind of shopping around other titles to see if
there's any other places for them to find a home.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
If you like what I'm doing here and want to
support the channel without involving any money on your part,
you can do so by sharing the podcast on social media.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
You can also write a review.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
On Apple Podcasts or rate the show on Spotify. I
can't stress enough to you how much I would appreciate
that alone.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Please leave a.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Review on Apple Podcasts or rate the show on Spotify.
As I just said, each and every way you can
help out the channel and podcast grow would be great appreciated.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Thank you so much. Where would you like to see
your writing evolved into the future.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
That's a good question. I'm I'm I'm just I'm totally
happy with reader readers. I'm grateful to anybody that reads
my work and to all the editors and book reviewers
that have reviewed my works. And I feel like if
someone walks away having enjoyed any of my books and
(37:38):
if they write a review of it, I'm just grateful
for that because, as you know, it's so hard to
find an audience for your work. Yeah, and it's it's
hard finding book reviewers. Oh my god. You know, it's
been like a struggle. You're trying to find book reviews
with so many book review sites closing up or down.
(38:01):
So I just take my hat off, and I'm so
grateful to book reviewers and readers who have picked up
any of my books.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
How do you approach getting book reviewers?
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Like?
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Do you find lists of people who do blogs and
podcasts and YouTube videos?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yes? So I usually just peruse the internet and if
I come across book reviewers of the genres that I
write in, you know, I'll message them or you know,
ask them if they will be interested in reading reviewing
one of my works. Yeah, so that's that's how I
(38:46):
usually go about it.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Awesome, excuse me here. So this is a question I
ask everybody, and if I stump you with it, I
really apologize because I usually send the question ahead of time,
and I with everything going on, not just in the
world but in my real life, it's been really busy.
I forgot to send it to you. But I'm just
(39:09):
wondering if you have any authors in mind right now
or books that you feel need more attention by people.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
That's a great question. You know, there are so many
great talented writers out there, and whenever I read a
book I try to make it a point to review
it too as well, and I'll you know, I'll share
it on social media and good Reads. So I'm trying
(39:39):
to think of some of the writers. Well, you know,
one of the writers that I'm reading right now, I'm
reading a book by the author is Christa Karma. First
name c h R I s t A. Last name
c A R m e N. The book is called
The Daughters of Block Island.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I have that book on my Kendle. Yeah, that vacation.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
That's a great book. Yeah, it's it's a it's a
Gothic horrn a novel. And what I like about her
writing is she really captures all the intricacies and arts
and so many different characters in in the in the
gothic corn genre, and it's like filled with suspense and
(40:22):
keeps you guessing. There's all these twists along the way.
And the book, that book, the Daughters of Black Island,
it takes place on this uh New England, Uh, this
island off the New England coast, and it's just like
in the store in the storm, It's like the perfect
uh set drop uh setting for a gothic horror novel
and so uh that that one that author sticks out
(40:47):
in my head. And and also I've read who else
do I mention I've written? I've read I've read another
book by Gwendolyn Kristy your last name.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
I've talked to her a couple of Ye.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yes, she's great. I like her writing too. And also
have you read Mike Thorne last name.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
T h Or I've read pretty much. I think I've
read everything he's put out to date, like his collections
and the novella he released. Oh no, there is there
is one. There's like a collection of two longer short
stories that I actually have somewhere around here that I
haven't read yet. But but yeah, i had him on
(41:36):
the show once too, and I'm hoping to get him
on again. Yeah he's he's awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Yeah, yeah, so him. Also, and also there's another writer
I really like his His name is Steve Stread and
he's written like a lot of kind of like splatterpunk,
creature feature horror novels. And yeah, joy I've enjoyed his
work too.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yeah, Steve Shred is awesome. He's a guy. I want
to get it on the show at some point.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Wow, Jason, you've had some great writers on the show.
I should I want to check out your episodes with them.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, well it's if you just want to check out
the podcasts. It's Weird Reads and you can find that
any and to everyone who's listening, you can find that
anywhere you listen to your podcasts. Starting to sound like
an advertiser now, all right, So before we go, Derek,
where can people find you online?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
So they could find me on Facebook? Should I give
the Facebook like profile or how about?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, you can do that and if you can send
me a message with the link, I can act.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Okay, great, Yeah, I'll do that so I could be
found on Facebook X. And also I have a website.
It's it's the account files of Albert Taylor dot WordPress
dot com. That's my own personal writing website address again,
(43:16):
account files of Albertaylor dot WordPress dot com. And also
I'll send you the Facebook and XS links later.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Awesome. All right, Well, I want to thank you for
coming on at a great time talking with you, and
I'm looking forward to a lot more of your work.
So yeah, you're invited to come back anytime. Just send
me a message and I want to thank everyone else
for coming, people who've been listening here and now, and
(43:45):
people who will come in the future to listen. Go
check out Derek MUCKs. Where am I pronouncing that right,
Derek Derek Muck, Yes you are. Thank you for asking.
I just kind of assumed earlier, but it was one
of the questions I wanted to ask make sure that
I'm not, you know, messing your name up. So yeah,
(44:06):
thank you very much, and and we will see everyone again.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Thanks a lot, Jason. I had a blast on the show.
Thank you so much.
You're listening to the Weird Reader podcast, an extension of
Jason's Weird Reads found on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome, hello everyone, today, I have a brand new guest
to the show. I read his book. Actually, he was
supposed to be on the show much earlier than this,
and I read his book about I think two months
(00:39):
ago now, and that was being followed. We're going to
be discussing that book today, plus maybe a couple of others.
I want to welcome Derek Muck to the show. Welcome Derek.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Hey, Hi Jason, how are you doing. Thank you for
thank you for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, no problem, and thank you for your patience. Because
there was some SkELL enjoying issues all on my end,
so I apologize. I had some work stuff pop up,
unexpected work stuff pop up, and then there is also
a situation where I overbooked, and so so here we
are today. Finally, can you give you can you give
(01:18):
us a brief introduction to yourself and your work?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Sure? So. My names Derek, and I'm an indie author
who writes mostly in the horror, mystery, science fiction, and
young adult genres. I've been writing off and on since
high school and more seriously. I have been writing more
(01:46):
seriously since college. I've been published in different small press,
indie magazines and anthologies. I've had some novellas published. And Yeah,
I just enjoy writing create, I enjoy creative writing, and
I love reading. I'm a avid reader of different genres,
(02:07):
mostly in the specuator of fiction genres.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
H what is it about writing that you that you
like a lot? Like Stephen King he calls it his drug?
Is that? Is it something similar to that? Does it
like completely take you away?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
It does. There's something about creative writing, particularly fiction writing,
that yeah, takes me away. It's like an escape from
our ordinary, kind of mundane lives. I use it as
an outlet, like a creative outlet, to express my emotions,
feelings on different topics, and just to get away from
(02:46):
the the especially now during this day and age, to
escape from the kind of the dreariness, the strangeness of
the times that we're living in. Yeah. So it's a
It's a fun thing to do, and once you start writing,
it could be Yeah, it could be sort of addictive,
I guess.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yea, and very cathartic too, sort of like you mentioned. Yes, Yeah,
so I asked this almost of everyone who's new, because
this is something that interests me. I always love hearing
about how people got into reading horror. So what what's
your origin story for reading horror or even watching movies?
(03:24):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So I discovered horror, I guess when I was like
in high school or maybe even earlier, like junior high.
And of course, like a lot of people, I discovered
and loved Stephen King's work and also the writing of
other writers. And I was also a fan of the
(03:48):
horror film genre, science fiction mysteries, and it was just
you know what it was. Jason was just an outlet
to escape again, gave into imaginary worlds and escape from
you know, reality for a while and just and a
lot of good fiction as well as movies and TV
(04:09):
shows do that. Sometimes it's just an outlet to get
away from everyday life. And I guess that's my ordin story.
I I'm a I love going to like bookstores, and
that's how I got started reading specutt of fiction, was
going to like use bookstores and discovering writers like Ray Bradbury,
(04:33):
Arlan Ellison, Joyce, Cara Oates, Shirley Jackson, and you know
Conless other writers like that.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Were those your first who? Who? Who did you first
start reading? Like, was it Steve Oh? You mentioned Stephen
King too?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah? He was he and like I guess, Ray Bradbury
were among some of the first few ris that I
started reading.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, is there any book or author that you can
think of that that you read and you just do
remember that moment when when you were like, damn, I
want to do this, this is what I want to do.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I can't remember instances where I was like odd and
just astonished by someone's you know, talent and great work.
But I never thought, at least I didn't think back
then that I would be writing now. I was just enjoying.
I was just enjoying their work, their fiction, And at
the time, I wasn't really thinking about writing like for myself.
(05:40):
I was just enjoying, Like with any good book, I
just like to sit back and enjoy it. And I
guess that's how I was feeling back then. I wasn't
thinking of it as like a bobby or like as
a day job.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You've written, You've written quite a not maybe not quite
a few, but you have written. You do have a
backlog of books. How many books have you written and published?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I think I've written like maybe four or five Nobellas
and I've but most of what I've written and have
gotten published or like short stories and small press magazines.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Nice. How how long ago did you start writing? Like? What?
What a tree? Or you don't have to many your age,
but how many years ago did you? Was it when
you started writing? Like when you decided to sit down
and you know, I'm going to start writing Nobella's or
novels and start putting them out. When when was that?
How long ago? Well?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I first started writing. I belonged to like a fiction
writers group in high school, and that's when I started
writing short stories just for fun basically. And it wasn't
until it wasn't until i'd say I finished college, maybe
like or even like in the mid to late nineties
(07:02):
that I got more serious into writing. And then later
in the two thousands, early to mid two thousands, I
started having some successful getting novella's accepted and published.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
So, yeah, I notice you're in a lot of anthologies.
Like when I went to your good Reads profile page,
it said you were in like a lot of books
like that you it was like over thirty I think
and I thought those are thirty books at first, until
I started looking like the first six or seven where
just your novellas and whatnot, and then it was all
(07:38):
the anthologies that you're in. So is that something you
still do? Do you write stories and try to submit
to anthologies a lot?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah? I still do that, although not as much. I
don't write short stories as much as before because I'm
currently concentrating on writing longer works like novel lettes and
novellas to write longer fiction, but I still on occasion
do write short stories.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Nice how uh? As I was going through your books,
there was a couple that really drew my attention because
of their names and their covers, like, these are pretty
awesome covers. The first one is The Demon Seeds. Can
you tell us what that one's about? So?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
The Demon Seeds follows two paranormal investigators, Albert Taylor and
his teaching assistant Brad, student Jan and Jan's friend Carol
is missing and they go down to La to look
into her disappearance, and they come across what you know.
(08:48):
They find out that she's been abducted by some kind
of like satanic cult and that they're gonna you know
it's that they're trying to like doctrinate andrwash her friend
into the cult for like really nefarious purposes. So yeah,
that was kind of fun to write. I remember there
(09:09):
was a really kind of strong supernatural presence in that
in that book, but yeah, that was I had fun
writing that nice.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I like the idea of that. Also, it sounds like,
because of the premise, that could become a series. Have
you ever considered turning something like that into a series.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I have, and I've kind of like, actually, those two characters,
the two paranormal investigators, they are part of a series.
Like it's not like a fully blown out, like official series,
but I've written about the two characters like off and
on through short stories and some of the novellas, and
(09:53):
I want to take it to a more serious plane.
But as you know, you know, a lot of some
of the small presses that I've submitted to have closed
or folded. So it's kind of disheartening a lot. It's
kind of true of a lot of the side of
the times that a lot of presses have closed because
(10:14):
you know, they can't keep it going. But I want
to like sort of if I can, I like to
have the series progress, so I'm kind of like kind
of currently working on shopping around some other presses. I'm
shopping around some other novelle's now that feature these two characters.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh, very good. I definitely don't have to read that
because that's hound's interesting. I just love the whole satanic
cult thing too, you know, like that. I remember watching
when I was younger. There would always be these satanic
cult movies that would come on from the seventies nineteen seventies,
where the satanic cults always won in the end, and
I was just like what they almost always ended with
(10:53):
the cult members and black hoods and black robes peering
off the naked woman into the woods the end, and
you're like, they won. This isn't conventional.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Yeah, you know, I was a fan of those movies
growing up. You know, they would show these, like you said,
these kinda like low budget horror movies back in the day,
like on the Sunday or Saturday afternoon movie. And that's
how I got, like, I became a fan of those
movies and of the genre of that in fiction. And
(11:25):
it's funny you mentioned that the satanic coult movies from
the seventies because that was that's been a big inspiration
on The Demon Seeds and some of my other writings.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So very good. Yeah. Also I noticed The Hangman that
had a really cool cover or sorry, the Hanging Man cover.
Can you tell us anthing about that?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Sure? So The Hangman was a more recent book. It
was published in twenty twenty three by Gloomhouse Publishing. By
the way, Gloomhouse Publishing is a great publisher. James and
his staff are really great in producing great books. That
actually Jason that book. Also, The Hanging Man also featured
(12:08):
Albert Taylor and his assistant Jan in that one. So
if you're curious about The Demon Seeds, Hanging Man also
features those two same characters. So I tried to carry that.
I tried to carry the series along with that with
Hanging Man. And so they were going to publish another
(12:30):
Albert Taylor story, but again, sadly Lumhouse Publishing clothes or
it's on hiatus. So the book that was going to
be published, I guess this year they had to shelvet
because the press is currently on hiatus.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
M that's too bad. Yeah, there's too many you know,
you bring up a great point and there's so many
indie publishers who come and go. It's it's like every
every year there's a list, and that that's kind of
does that like scare you away from from trying them out,
or because there's like a strong chance eighty percent chance
(13:10):
that the small press are submitting to is just gonna,
you know, disappear one day.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Yeah, you know it makes me think. I don't. I
don't know if it necessarily scares me way, but because
I've learned to be patient and calm and you know,
understanding of the sign of the time with inde publishing,
and you know, it's just part of reality that small
presses closed and flowed up. But actually, if anything, it
(13:37):
kind of makes me more wanted like investigate and search
out other publishers to see who might be interested in
publishing my work. I did. I think as as an
indie writer, you just have to keep going. You have
to keep going forward and see if anyone else is
interested in your writings.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, do you have a preference, because I've noticed you
have some self published stuff too. Do you like self
or do you like I'm pretty sure I saw something
like self published. I could be wrong. It's just the
way Goodread's words thing sometimes.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
You know, I did have one book published self published.
It's called The Occult Files of Albert Taylor. And yeah,
that was self published back in two thousand and nine,
and I think that was the only title I had
that was self published. And how that originated, Jason was?
(14:31):
I just so The ac Cult Files of Albert Taylor
is a collection of short stories featuring paranormal investigator Albert Taylor.
And a friend of mine helped me compile all the stories.
He did all the layout in the design of the book.
He even like rendered the cover so and so he
(14:51):
helped me put it out on Amazon. Actually was Create Space.
Do you remember Create Space? That was the publishing Yeah,
the publishing arm of AMA and then that closed and
so that book is still available on Amazon, but unfortunately
it's not available as an e book. It's only available
as a paperback book.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So yeah, now I want to go back to covers
a little bit because I really enjoyed the cover for
being followed that that cover is like wow, it's uh,
it looks like a political poster you might have seen
in the nineties. I was thinking, so this, how did that?
(15:32):
The question I'm trying to get to here is do
you have much control over your covers because they have
a really good sort of aesthetic to them, and this
one especially well, thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
So I do have some input into what the covers
will be. What usually happens is the small press will
have like a cover artist or an artist in house artist,
and they the publisher will ask me my thoughts about
(16:04):
what the cover should look like and then or how
like what could be in it on it, and so
I'll give some I'll give some feedback to them, and
then they'll try to create something like based on what
I described. And so that's what happened with Being Followed,
by the way. The cover design for that was done
(16:26):
by a guy named Adrian Baldwin and he's with Domain
Publishing d E. M. A I. N Publishing is the
publisher that published Being Followed, and many kudos and thanks
to Dean Drinkil and Adrian. They're the brains behind the
main publishing and they're the ones that published the book,
(16:48):
and I'm really thankful and really appreciate them for publishing
the now the novella, and I thought Adrian did a
great job, like you said, capturing that late eighties ninety
area of the political scene. You know, I was really
taken by it too.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, oh read reading being followed. I couldn't help I
asked this almost for everyone too, because some people don't
like that, like the word you get your ideas question from.
But I like knowing where a book started in a
writer's mind. So where what was the genesis of for
(17:26):
you to write being followed? Because you know, there's there's
some specific points on this book too that make me
want to ask this question even more.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Well, you know, so that book was inspired I guess
by the last several years, ten years worth of like
as you could, you know, And I was gonna say,
I'm not normally a political person. I don't usually express
my political views very often, so but I think this
(17:56):
is one of the few political thrillers that I've written,
and it was inspired again by the political strangeness and
craziness of the past decade, you know, you know, like
a LGBT movement, of feminist movement, you know, racial tensions,
the Charlottesville, Virginia rally in twenty seventeen, of course, in
(18:19):
the Trump presidency, and murder of George Floyd. So all
this stuff kind of made me, you know, kind of
like maybe want to say something and express my feelings
and all these on these wide range of topics. And
that's how that's how that book came about, was because
based on that and it was just my way, like
(18:40):
you said earlier, you know, it was a really cathartic
experience kind of expressing my feelings emotions about all these
different topics on paper. And yeah, so that's what it
was big how how it came without.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, I could see that. I mean, that's that's pretty
much in every page of the book. You just get
that feeling that this is maybe this is one of
the things that piss you off, and you just needed
to you just needed to, you know, talk about it.
And how cathartic was it for you to write this book?
Speaker 3 (19:17):
It was pretty cathartic and satisfying, you know, just to
express some views about all these really you know, strong,
controversial and kind of you know of topics. And again,
like I said, I don't really discuss politics, religion, or
(19:40):
sports very much because they're kind of like divisive issues.
And absolutely, you know, Jason, I'm totally not a confrontational person.
I'm kind of if you get to know me, I'm
kind of low key and quiet, even shy when you
first meet me, but once you get to know me
over time, I you know, I could be kind of
talkative about certain things and interested in certain topics and
(20:03):
but yeah, so it was it was. It was a
good book to write, and it did have that really,
you know, as I was writing it, it had that therapy.
That's what I love about writing, is it's very therapeutic,
and especially like you you know with this book too.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, can you share with us a little bit of
your writing process for this book, Like was there much
research that went into it or did you just like
sort of gather all the knowledge over the years and
then spit it out. And you know, what's your writing schedule, like,
like do you how often do you write?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I try to write every day if possible. Sometimes that's
not realistic because I do have a day job. My
day job is that of being a social worker, so
writing is more like on the side, and I try
to write every day if I can. If not every day,
maybe a few times a week. And I usually write
like in the evenings after work or definitely on the weekends.
(21:03):
And then to get back to your other question about
the book, it was based on years of research, like
you know, practically living through these crazy, strange times and
also reading books. I picked up some books on like
feminist rights, you know, feminist you know, female feminist activism,
(21:25):
and so I checked out a whole bunch of books
from the library about that, about LGBT rights, you know,
all that kind of stuff. And I did a lot
a lot of reading about you know, political activism and
social justice online. So that was sort of like my
research and homework into writing Being Followed.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
How did you develop the main characters, especially the husband
and the life. I'm sorry, but their names escape me
right now, it's been two months.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
That's okay. There and Albert were the main characters. So
the way that came about was the Albert in Being
Followed is actually the Albert Taylor from the Demon Seeds,
from The Investigator, the paranormal investigative duel. So so in
Being Followed, I basically fleshed out his character a little
(22:20):
bit and I created like his a character and Claire
as his ex wife slash girlfriend. So I basically expanded
on that and gave but I gave her clear like
a larger role. It's it's basically so Being Followed is
basically her book. She has Archer presence in the book,
(22:43):
but Albert is more like, uh, I mean he has
a significant role too, but it's more like he's the
supporting character. And so that's how that's how those two
characters came about.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah, before I asked the next question, and I do
apologize is going to be a political question. But before
I get to that question, can you give us a short,
extent synopsis of what the story is about.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Sure? So basically, well, let me have a book right
here by the way. Yes, Yeah, So the book is
about their their Goldman and she's a college professor at
San Francisco State. When she writes this book, Uh, it's
(23:33):
kind of it's like an expos on the white nationalist
or supremacist movement, and it doesn't sit well with several
groups like that, and she starts receiving like threatening letters
about it, how they disapprove of it, and when when
she doesn't heed their advice or listen to them, the
(23:57):
threats kind of escalate to like more physical and violent situations,
like the white nationalist groups breaking to her apartment and
following her around. And then that's when she turns to
her college sweetheart ex husband Albert for help and advice.
(24:19):
So he he helps her and protects her along the
journey in finding it, trying to find out who's sending
these letters, and then the book kind of follows them
as they confront who is behind the threatening letters, and
you know, later clearer in the book is kidnapped. So
(24:42):
that that's how I don't want to review too much
or any spoilers, but that's how it kind of gets going.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Yeah, Now, quite the political question here is I loved
the anti fascist message in this book, but at the
same time it angered me because of everything that's going
on right now. It was like, you know, like I
can't escape it anywhere, you know what I mean. But
(25:10):
I was wondering, like, well, writing this, did you ever
fear that you might piss off the wrong people? And
to add on to that, have you received any backlash
from the far right about this book at all?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
That's a great question, and thank you for bringing it up.
I guess I was in a way afraid of the
reception of this book, like what it would get. It
kind of made me feel a little It made me
feel a little nervous how people would take it and
how they would receive it. But no, I mean I
(25:45):
haven't gotten any negative backlash yet about it. But in fact,
some of the most of the reviews for the book
that I've gotten have been positive, So thankful for that. Yeah,
but you get a really good yeah, yeah, thank you.
(26:07):
That's why I feel like I don't That's why I
haven't written very many political thrillers. It kind of it's
it's a very delicate, controversial topic and I feel like,
you know, it's I kind of want to maybe limit
what I do in that genre because I do I'm
kind of sensitive to other people and their feelings, so
(26:29):
I don't want to like, you know, you know, upset
or you know, piss out, to piss off too many people.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So, yeah, do you think this will be your last
political thriller or do you think there's more in you?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Uh, it may be the last one for a while.
I mean, I I might write something that's kind of
like more not as strongly political in the future. That
might you know, kind of like approach it more more delicately.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Yeah. How I was wondering about themes because that was
like a huge theme in the book, but other themes
in the book. Do you find yourself writing or are
there any other themes in any of your other books
that you've explored in this book as well?
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well, let's see. I always try to explore like the
humanity of the characters, about the interpersonal relationships between the
characters in each book I write, and I think, so,
I think I've done that too of this book. Yeah,
(27:43):
that's what I really try to do is develop the
characters and have me hopefully have them impact the reader
in some way.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, how do you develop characters? This is sort of
a not a repeat question because I did ask like
how came up with characters? But I'm curious how you
come up with characters? Are they are they from? Like
do you think they're from real life? Or or do
you do they just appear to you and start nattering
(28:14):
in your head? You know, as I've heard some writers say,
is it? What's it? What is it for you?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It's sort of a combination of those. It's I feel
like they are living in my mind like voices or
what have you talking to me? And they're also kind
of like a mix of people I've met in real life,
whether it was in college, in previous jobs. And sometimes
(28:42):
they're even based on of all things. I know, this
sounds kind of strange. They're based on like celebrities, like
movie stars that I that I like or admire. And
it's interesting sometimes as I'm writing about or creating a character,
I kind of base sometimes not all the time. I
(29:03):
kind of based them on how they look and act
and behave, based on movie stars that I like in
certain movies. And yeah, I mean sometimes it's easy for
a writer to imagine or picture a character that way.
Some For me, that's how I sometimes base it.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
M hmm. Yeah, I've heard of that before and I've
tried it myself. It does a good It's I like
doing that because it gives you a face, right, it
gives you a body type and everything. And and if
you typically pick the characters in a similar role from
a similar role because they they embody that sort of
characteristic right.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, So we mentioned the reception the book has gotten.
I was perusing through Amazon and good Reads and you've
got like quite a few five stars for this book.
So there's been a good reception here.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yes, yes, been a pretty good reception, and I'm grateful
and thankful for that. But getting back to what you said,
it's like I can understand how some people may not
take this book well because they you know, you read
about you read the description of it, and it's like
another kind of book about what's going on now. It's
(30:25):
like you're trying, I know, how some people want to
escape our current crazy times. You know, they probably had
enough of it watching the news and reading about Trump
and about his administration, and to see a book like
written about that, they probably just want to get away
from it because it's like we're living it right now.
And I can totally understand that how some people may
(30:47):
not be interested in it, and that's totally fine. It's
not for everyone, so but yeah, so it.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Can be cathartic for some people too, because it's the
lines are clearly drawn, who who the bad guys are
and who the good guys are. And I'm not going
to spoil anything, but you know, things happen in the
book that might leave hope in the reader's mind.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yes, yes, And I guess that's the message I'm trying
to come across. I'm trying to convey to the reader
is that there, you know, there may be a glimmer
of hope, and you know, you know, good versus evil?
What have you hopefully good will win and hopefully you know,
(31:32):
I hope they care about the characters because you know,
building building them up to a certain certain situation and
expectation level.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
So did you struggle with that because there is a
certain amount of tension that's built up until a certain
thing happens. And what was like, what was that like writing? Like,
how do you build suspense like that?
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I just yeah, it just it took took several drafts
trying to create that tension and that suspense, and I
just followed the advice of you know, like my editors
and like beta readers and just trying to incorporate things
(32:19):
that would make the book more suspenseful.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah. Cool. So I guess that's it about those about
being followed. It's a it's a really interesting book. Like
you said, some people might be uh put off by it,
you know. To be honest with you, I was a
little bit put off because I was just like, ah,
(32:45):
you know, like we see this in the news every day.
But at the same time, by the end of it,
I was happy because of that glimmer of hope. Is
there is there anything else that you hope readers can
pull from it? You mentioned characters, But is there anything else?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Well, I hope that I hope that it's Uh. I
hope they may be interested in reading the other Albert
Taylor books that I've written to get a glimpse of
that character more. And I don't know, I just for
(33:23):
I guess for any reader, hope they gain some insight
or maybe some insight and uh, I guess uh caring
more about humanity in the future, about the times we're
living in along with it.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Yeah, you got you got to wonder when kindness and
compassion have become something looked down upon, Like mm hmm,
it doesn't make sense there people are pushing for cruelty
and power, you know, like nobody respects that. In the end,
it always falls apart. Don't think they see that though?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, so true. And to me it's like mindless. To me,
it's just like what's the point of it, you know,
like trying to exert that cruelty and bigotry and violence
and trying to sway people to follow in to follow them.
(34:26):
I don't see the the logic or you know, what's
the what's the good of that? You know?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yea, you've written about Albert a few times now, is
he Is he appearing in works that you're working on
now or do you plan on writing about him again?
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Yes, I'm so, I'm shopping around. So the wh what
I mentioned earlier about Gloomhouse Publishing who published The Hanging Man,
they were gonna they had accept and we're going to
publish another Albert Taylor book, but they are that press
is now on hiatus. So I'm currently shopping around for
(35:07):
another publisher for that Albert Taylor novella. So I'm doing that,
and also by I've written another Albert Taylor and Jan
novella that I have to go back and sort of
revise a little. But yes, I plan on having him
up here in future works.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
So awesome. Do you have anything coming out soon, either
short story or novella or novel that you can share
with us?
Speaker 3 (35:41):
So I'm working My current work in progress is another
novella that's of the mystery suspense genre, and it features
all new characters. It does not follow Albert Taylor or
clear it features all new character and so that's what
I'm currently working on. And I'm currently editing that right now,
(36:05):
and you know, tweaking it and posting it up a bit.
As far as like other short stories or books. I'm
still kind of shopping around other titles to see if
there's any other places for them to find a home.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
If you like what I'm doing here and want to
support the channel without involving any money on your part,
you can do so by sharing the podcast on social media.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
You can also write a review.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
On Apple Podcasts or rate the show on Spotify. I
can't stress enough to you how much I would appreciate
that alone.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Please leave a.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Review on Apple Podcasts or rate the show on Spotify.
As I just said, each and every way you can
help out the channel and podcast grow would be great appreciated.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Thank you so much. Where would you like to see
your writing evolved into the future.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
That's a good question. I'm I'm I'm just I'm totally
happy with reader readers. I'm grateful to anybody that reads
my work and to all the editors and book reviewers
that have reviewed my works. And I feel like if
someone walks away having enjoyed any of my books and
(37:38):
if they write a review of it, I'm just grateful
for that because, as you know, it's so hard to
find an audience for your work. Yeah, and it's it's
hard finding book reviewers. Oh my god. You know, it's
been like a struggle. You're trying to find book reviews
with so many book review sites closing up or down.
(38:01):
So I just take my hat off, and I'm so
grateful to book reviewers and readers who have picked up
any of my books.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
How do you approach getting book reviewers?
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Like?
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Do you find lists of people who do blogs and
podcasts and YouTube videos?
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yes? So I usually just peruse the internet and if
I come across book reviewers of the genres that I
write in, you know, I'll message them or you know,
ask them if they will be interested in reading reviewing
one of my works. Yeah, so that's that's how I
(38:46):
usually go about it.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Awesome, excuse me here. So this is a question I
ask everybody, and if I stump you with it, I
really apologize because I usually send the question ahead of time,
and I with everything going on, not just in the
world but in my real life, it's been really busy.
I forgot to send it to you. But I'm just
(39:09):
wondering if you have any authors in mind right now
or books that you feel need more attention by people.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
That's a great question. You know, there are so many
great talented writers out there, and whenever I read a
book I try to make it a point to review
it too as well, and I'll you know, I'll share
it on social media and good Reads. So I'm trying
(39:39):
to think of some of the writers. Well, you know,
one of the writers that I'm reading right now, I'm
reading a book by the author is Christa Karma. First
name c h R I s t A. Last name
c A R m e N. The book is called
The Daughters of Block Island.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I have that book on my Kendle. Yeah, that vacation.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
That's a great book. Yeah, it's it's a it's a
Gothic horrn a novel. And what I like about her
writing is she really captures all the intricacies and arts
and so many different characters in in the in the
gothic corn genre, and it's like filled with suspense and
(40:22):
keeps you guessing. There's all these twists along the way.
And the book, that book, the Daughters of Black Island,
it takes place on this uh New England, Uh, this
island off the New England coast, and it's just like
in the store in the storm, It's like the perfect
uh set drop uh setting for a gothic horror novel
and so uh that that one that author sticks out
(40:47):
in my head. And and also I've read who else
do I mention I've written? I've read I've read another
book by Gwendolyn Kristy your last name.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
I've talked to her a couple of Ye.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yes, she's great. I like her writing too. And also
have you read Mike Thorne last name.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
T h Or I've read pretty much. I think I've
read everything he's put out to date, like his collections
and the novella he released. Oh no, there is there
is one. There's like a collection of two longer short
stories that I actually have somewhere around here that I
haven't read yet. But but yeah, i had him on
(41:36):
the show once too, and I'm hoping to get him
on again. Yeah he's he's awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Yeah, yeah, so him. Also, and also there's another writer
I really like his His name is Steve Stread and
he's written like a lot of kind of like splatterpunk,
creature feature horror novels. And yeah, joy I've enjoyed his
work too.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Yeah, Steve Shred is awesome. He's a guy. I want
to get it on the show at some point.
Speaker 3 (42:05):
Wow, Jason, you've had some great writers on the show.
I should I want to check out your episodes with them.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, well it's if you just want to check out
the podcasts. It's Weird Reads and you can find that
any and to everyone who's listening, you can find that
anywhere you listen to your podcasts. Starting to sound like
an advertiser now, all right, So before we go, Derek,
where can people find you online?
Speaker 3 (42:34):
So they could find me on Facebook? Should I give
the Facebook like profile or how about?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Yeah, you can do that and if you can send
me a message with the link, I can act.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Okay, great, Yeah, I'll do that so I could be
found on Facebook X. And also I have a website.
It's it's the account files of Albert Taylor dot WordPress
dot com. That's my own personal writing website address again,
(43:16):
account files of Albertaylor dot WordPress dot com. And also
I'll send you the Facebook and XS links later.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Awesome. All right, Well, I want to thank you for
coming on at a great time talking with you, and
I'm looking forward to a lot more of your work.
So yeah, you're invited to come back anytime. Just send
me a message and I want to thank everyone else
for coming, people who've been listening here and now, and
(43:45):
people who will come in the future to listen. Go
check out Derek MUCKs. Where am I pronouncing that right,
Derek Derek Muck, Yes you are. Thank you for asking.
I just kind of assumed earlier, but it was one
of the questions I wanted to ask make sure that
I'm not, you know, messing your name up. So yeah,
(44:06):
thank you very much, and and we will see everyone again.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Thanks a lot, Jason. I had a blast on the show.
Thank you so much.
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