Kevin Lucia - A Heartbreakingly Beautiful, Thought-Provoking, and Compelling Read

Kevin Lucia is the ebook and trade paperback editor at Cemetery Dance Publications. His short fiction has been published in many venues, most notably with Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, David Morell, Peter Straub, Bentley Little, and Robert McCammon. As our Author of the Day, Kevin tells us all about his book, The Night Road.

Please give us a short introduction to what The Night Road is about.

The Night Road is small-town, folk horror taking place in my fictional town of Clifton Heights, in the Adirondacks of New York. A young woman beset by guilt, grief, and betrayal discovers an ancient power in the woods near her town, one which has the power to make things right - but at great, personal cost.

What inspired you to write about someone who was running away from pain, anger, and guilt?

The running concept actually came from an episode of "Nightfall," an old CBC Radio Drama. It was called "The Jogger," about an old athlete getting back into shape, and when he's out running, he keeps seeing a jogger ahead of him, a jogger he can't ever catch, no matter how fast he runs. Soon he becomes obsessed with catching up to this jogger, which, of course, leads to disastrous, supernatural consequences. I wanted to take what was admittedly a pulpy, schlocky story, and do something a bit more substantial with it.

Tell us more about Grace Donaldson. What makes her tick?

She lost her parents at an early age, and she found her identity through running both Cross Country and Track and Field. and excelling at it. Unfortunately, something has turned that identity sour, and even though she can't stop running, she no longer finds pleasure in it, nor does she find escape. It's like she's endlessly running on a treadmill, and can't stop.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

Ha! Not sure if they're "secret" or how skillful they are, but I love to build models. That's how I decompress between writing projects. Monster models (Universal Monsters, and new ones like Michael Myers and Ghostface), and also car models - but specifically, car models from horror/genre movies/books/series. The Plymouth Fury from Christine, the Winchesters' Chevy Impala from Supernatural, the ghost car from Sometimes They Come Back, Reggie's black Cuda from the Phantasm movies, and Ecto 1, to name a few. I recently finished a Buick Super 8 - From A Buick 8, of course.

Interesting cover. Please tell us more about how it came to be.

Ben Baldwin has done all the covers for my books, and he's amazing. He reads every book and gets a feel for the story, and he's always able to nail the tone of each book with his covers. The paperback version of The Night Road also features 28 black and white illustrations, also by Ben.

Readers say this is a thought-provoking read. Was this intentional? Does this story contain an underlying message?

I guess when I write, I'm always looking to ask the hard questions I have about the world around me. Questions about death, abuse, grief, failure, our internal demons, why we fail so often, despite our best intentions. That's usually a process of discovery for me, however. I think you could probably say the story - and all my stories - have underlying messages, but they're developed as I get to know my characters and what drives them. Also, I would hope that different readers will get different messages from what I write, which are unique to them.

Do any of your characters ever take off on their own tangent, refusing to do what you had planned for them?

Very often! Minor characters insist on having more impact in a story, characters I intended to be two-dimensional start revealing more about themselves, and characters I'd planned on killing off decide that, no, they're going to live to fight another day. That's what's so exciting about the writing and editing process!

What was your greatest challenge when writing The Night Road?

There's a very vivid, visceral, intense...maybe even graphic scene near the end, a repressed memory Grace finally unearths. I debated putting it in there, wondering if I should just hint at it, and let the implications carry the weight. However, according to writer Akira Kurosawa: “The role of the artist is to not look away.” So I chose to not look away from that key scene.

You also work as an editor. What advice would you give to an aspiring novelist?

My advice would be to read as much fiction and nonfiction as you can, and read as many different styles as you can, but also read what you love, too. It shouldn't be like homework! Reading what you love will help you write what you love. Also, develop a writing schedule and stick to it - whatever works for you. And find ways to get honest feedback. You can't improve as a writer unless someone honestly points out the areas in which you need improvement.

What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

Pretty much the above, and: submit. Submit, submit, submit. When a story you believe in is rejected, turn right around and submit it somewhere else quickly, before your self-doubt can set in.

In your mind, what happens to the characters after you write their final chapters? Do they continue to "live on" in your imagination?

I always wonder, and that's probably why I've spent so much time the last few years setting my work in the same fictional town. Some characters do have an end, but a lot of them don't, and it's fun to use main characters from past stories as side characters or easter eggs in future stories.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I write all my rough drafts longhand first, and line edit everything by hand. I keep all my finished drafts in a huge trunk. I don't know why; just do.

I get up every morning around 3:00 AM and write for an hour or an hour an half, then I go back down for a quick nap before work (I teach high school English). That is pretty much a schedule I stick to without fail, unless I'm really sick or something. I'll try to fit writing in whenever else I can, of course, and over the summers (because I have them off) then I can really jam and write all morning until about noon, Monday through Friday.

What are you working on right now?

A Halloween creature feature with more blood and guts than I've ever featured, called The Horror at Pleasant Brook. Hopefully will see at least a limited edition hardcover release October 2022.

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kblucia/, Twitter: twitter.com/KevinBLucia, or Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1030571.Kevin_Lucia. Links to my work are posted here: https://kevinlucia.blogspot.com/