The Next Big Thing

OK, my friend Lyndon Perry tagged me for this meme called The Next Big Thing.  Here's my addition to it, although I regret that I really don't have anyone to tag myself.  But here goes:

1) What is the title of your next book/work? Rural Legend

2) Where did the idea come from for the book/work? I'm a big fan of the old Incredible Hulk TV series, the one that starred Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.  I was watching the show on Netflix and came across an episode entitled "The Antowuk Horror" that revolved around this dying resort town faking their own "Hulk" creature in an attempt to revitalize tourism.  That was the spark, and things just kind of rolled from there.

3) What genre does your book/work fall under? I prefer the term "thriller" to "horror," since there's a lot of stuff out there that has given horror the reputation of being all about blood and gore.  Rural Legend falls somewhere into the category of a "speculative fiction thriller," or a "clean horror" story, whichever term you prefer.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? I honestly haven't gotten that far yet!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? A town tries to draw tourism from a legend of a local monster, only to find that there is more truth to the legends than they realized.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published, probably, but you never know....

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? Still working on it

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I kind of feel a little awkward/presumptuous here, but there are some elements of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at work here (or at least inspired by that! lol).  Some readers may also (hopefully) detect some similarities to Frank Peretti's The Oath (one of my all-time favorites).

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? The aforementioned Incredible Hulk episode, and also Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? It's not a direct sequel to anything I've ever written, but some background characters and places from my previously published short stories may have cameo appearances here as well.  For instance, several of my stories reference an ethically shady research facility called Talbot Labs, and as of the current draft, that facility will figure into Rural Legend as well.  But, if you've read my blog, the whole idea of my stories loosely sharing the same continuity may not comes as that big of a surprise to you.