StanleyWheeler

                                     An Interview with David J. West 
                                    AKA James Alderdice Author of:

                                                      The Brutal Saga
                                                The Dark Trails Saga
                                                In My Time of Dying
                                                   And Many More

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

I usually have at least three or four things I am working on at any given time. I’m currently working on a follow up to my Gaslamp fantasy MEMENTO MORI, the sixth book in my Brutal Saga- WRATH, a sequel in another fantasy series THE SERPENT CITY and playing around with a weird paranormal thriller WINE DARK SEA. I’d probably get farther if I focused better, but it’s hard to do.

Where do you get your inspiration for these books?

I’ve always been a fan of sword and sorcery, and I like the hero who fights the monster/wizard and gets the girl. With Serpent City it’s fun to play around with expectations and just who the monster is.

Do you write in more than one genre?

Always. I can’t stick to one thing.

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

I think the only way we are unique is because it is all coming through our own filter, my life and experiences, along with my influences etc. We could all read the exact same books and listen to the same music, but our life experiences make it unique. SO I accept that I work with standard tropes, but the way I tell the story is unique to me and hopefully the reader can be entertained by my own take.

But remember we are never gonna please everyone, that just not possible, so please yourself.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

I’d like to think I have lived a full life and drawing on all the adventures I did in my teens and twenties comes in handy for characters who are now doing wild and crazy things in the books. I have camped in every kind of weather, so that comes in real handy writing weird westerns. I have traveled a lot so again that comes into play for getting the smell/feel/nuance of a place right and adding in some small piece of authenticity that you might not be able to garner from just a Wikipedia perusal. Fistfights and martial arts are also a good plus for someone who writes about fights as much as I have. I know what getting kicked in the face feels like.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

I love my characters and my stories. I get excited going on the journey with them and sometimes I’m surprised at what happens to them as I’m writing. I hope that surprise is transferred and shared with the reader.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

I’m a huge fan of Robert E. Howard –(Conan the Barbarian etc) but I wish more people were aware of Karl Edward Wagner and his stories of Kane. It is savage and mystic, but the language is so lush and visceral, I can’t recommend it enough, IF you like the kind of things I write about = swords and sorcery, cursed cities and creeping dooms.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

That’s a tough one, but for now I suppose I would say BRUTAL, because it is the most successful.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

That’s hard to nail down too, but I suppose I would say, the first time I won a writing contest back in 2009. I won first prize for best first chapter in general fiction for Dance the Ghost With Me and that moment when I got feedback from 4 out of five judges on how much they loved it and wanted more gave me a lot of confidence to keep going. It also gave me the taste of one judge who absolutely hated it and thought everything I did was derivative and a rip off.  (I called the character's horse Hoss – in a western - and they thought I was ripping off Bonanza???)

It gave me balance to that success and the hard lesson that not everyone will like what you do and that’s fine. Life goes on.

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

Where can I buy a signed copy?

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

I don’t think I do, but I like to be funny on social media and engage with people there and only then after I have made them laugh a few times, then I share a book link. So be likeable, but be you.

1. You use more than one pen name, don't you? What is the purpose behind that? Are you trying to associate JA with Grimdark and DW with other genres? 

I only have the one at the moment though I have plans for more with different genre’s. I like to read a little bit of everything, BUT most people read their favorite and stick with it, so when I David J. West write historical’s, horror, fantasy, science fiction and anything else I choose too, Amazon skews their algorithms and readers toward the person that buys all of those (that’s a small pool) so to coax the algorithms in my favor, I manipulate it by starting over. I came to this conclusion when I decided that I wanted to be read more than just known for name – yes it was an ego thing. So now, I’m having David West stick mostly to weird westerns – though there are still a few things out there beyond that with my name attached. I have been slowly but surely moving all my fantasy to James Alderdice (my dad’s name and maternal grandmothers name).

2. Why do you think Brutal has done so well?

I think t did well, because I had already built up a fan base with my own name and told everyone that JA was me – but I was also able to take all I had learned of marketing and start fresh with the pen name. The pen name outsells my name by a mile. Because of starting over as it were but also its just a bigger genre that weird western.

3. Has writing become your full-time gig or do you still hold down a day job?

 I’ve still got a day job, but am hoping to make the shift to writing only in the relatively near future.

4. I understand that you go to many Cons. What keeps you going back? Does the financial return match the enjoyment rating?

I go because most of friends that hang with regularly are other writers and it  just a fun gathering to be with them. I also get to sign books and interact with fans and that always brightens your day. You never know when you will meet someone that your work will just resonate with. I sold a book of my short stories at this last con to a guy who started reading the first one and while he was still there, he came back and bought two more novels after that. That made my day. The financial return never matches the enjoyment rating. I would not recommend cons for the sake of making money, its just a nice byproduct of doing something you enjoy.

5. Do you have an author web page or even an Amazon Author page address you would like to share?

I have my blog and a webpage but the most useful thing I can think to direct people too are the author pages themselves

David J. West Amazon Author Page

James Alderdice Amazon Author Page

6. Is there anything you would tell your younger self, from say 10 or 20 years ago, if you could send that message now?

I sincerely wish I had started doing what I love sooner, instead of thinking I’ll do it when I’m older. I should have started in earnest sooner and then I would be farther along than I am now. So now I try to talk to my kids and get them focused on what matters to them earlier. And so my son Mathias (who is 14) is finally doing art for me as his breakin to the industry. He did the chapter heading illustrations for the print copies of IN MY TIME OF DYING.

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There's another interview with a world famous author completed. If you are, or know someone who is, or who would like to be a world famous author with time to answer a few questions, send them my way. Literally dozens of people frequent this blog so it's really the kind of publicity that you just can't buy -- at least no has offered to buy it so far.

If you like swords and sorcery, and have not yet read Brutal, pick it up. I enjoyed it.

If you would like to read something a little less grimdark, a completely different kind of fantasy, but beyond faeries and elves, with fierce dragons and mysterious powers set in the re-imagined new world, check out my own Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series. Go to the top of the page and click on the top two books to find them on Amazon where you can read a sample.