An Interview with Author Russell James

Author Russell James has a brand-new book out today entitled Demon Dagger, and we here at NTG were lucky enough to sit down with Russell to discuss his new book and the craft of creative writing.
 
Nerds That Geek: You are a very established horror author (and reader). How did you get into writing this particular genre?
 
Russell James: Growing up, I watched a lot of TV horror, like Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and all the old Universal horror movies that played in reruns. Kolchak: The Night Stalker was a big favorite.
 
Then sometime in high school I read Stephen King’s The Stand and was blown away. I’d sit down to read, look up, and hours had passed by in what seemed like moments. I’d never been that captivated by fiction before. That led me straight to more of his books. I am certain that that early example of what splendid horror fiction was capable of influenced my desire to head down that path in my writing.
 
NTG: What inspired your new release DEMON DAGGER?
 
Russell James: I was visiting one of the local Florida theme parks and started thinking about the costumed characters the kids line up to see, the ones in the bright outfits and giant heads with the frozen smiles. You never know if it’s a man or a woman inside. For that matter you don’t know what kind of person is inside. You assume the smiling head covers a smiling face, but does it?
 
Then the horror writer brain went to work. What if it was a demon inside that outfit, ready to prey on people at their weakest moment, when they had let their guard down in the perceived safety of a happy theme park? And why would that demon be there? Well, obviously to get close to the son of a demon hunter, what else?
 
Unlike most story ideas I have, this wasn’t the beginning or the end, it was the middle. So from there I had to discover the demon hunter’s origin story at one end, and the demons’ revenge quest at the other end.
 
NTG: What are you most excited for readers to discover in this novel?
 
Russell James: There are a lot of good, gripping horror scenes throughout, but I’m really proud of the Marvin character the reader meets mid-story. I enjoyed creating all the tortured nuance in his character. I also think that the family dynamic between Drew, his wife, and his son should ring very true for many people reading the novel.
 
NTG: We noticed you’re a military veteran and also do auto restoration. Does your experience in both of these areas inform your writing and/or show up in DEMON DAGGER?
 
Russell James: My military experience was put to good use in DARK VENGENANCE’s helicopter scenes and helped inform the para-military characters that crop up in adventure books like CLAWS and MONSTERS IN THE CLOUDS. It didn’t work its way into DEMON DAGGER, but the automotive skills sure did.
 
As Lincoln trains young Drew for his destiny as a demon hunter, he uses the on-going repairs of a 1970 Chevelle named Gabriella as analogies for Drew about how things work in the demon world. This way Drew also has a good cover story in case his mother asks what he did with Lincoln all afternoon. All the automotive repair explanations are accurate, so readers may accidentally learn something about their own cars between chapters of mayhem. I have my own 1970 Chevelle in the garage, but her name is Valerie.
 
NTG: You’ve been making the rounds in the con and festival circuit this year!
Do you have a favorite experience or story from your appearances so far this year?
 
Russell James: Cons are wonderful experiences. The floor is charged with positive energy, the people are wonderful, and a busy day flies by.  One of the two great experiences is when someone comes up and says they’ve already read one of my books and they enjoyed it. In Dallas this year, a woman came up, said she’d read Q ISLAND, and then commented on several plot points she’d liked. Then she told me she bought it at a Los Angeles show almost five years ago. I don’t remember what I had for breakfast and she remembered all that? Wow.
 
Another great experience was when a man and his young son came to the table and he told me I was his son’s favorite author. His middle-school kid had read one of the Grant Coleman adventure stories. First, I was blown away that I was anyone’s favorite author. Second, though I’d purposely written those adventures without sex scenes or language to enjoy a broader appeal for the B-movie genre audience, I hadn’t adjusted the writing for younger readers. I never considered kids reading it. The father bought more books from the series and the next week he shared pictures of his son doing a school book report on one of my books.
 
The other rewarding interaction is being able to encourage potential writers to go give it a try. Some come up looking for advice, some just need a little encouragement. Either way I try to send them away with the engine started to begin traveling that long road to getting published. Thank God most of them are setting out much younger than I was when I began my own journey. They’ll have much more time to develop an amazing skill set.
 
NTG: What’s a unique story or genre that you haven’t tackled yet, that you’d
love to write?
 
Russell James: I am a real history buff. I wrote some historical horror set during the Civil War called BLOOD RED ROSES that won an international competition for gothic horror. I’d love to write more historical fiction, maybe without any horror elements in it. It’s tough to get a new following in a different genre, though. We’ll see if I ever have the courage to give that a shot.
 
NTG: What’s next for you in late 2022 / 2023 as far as writing, or a personal hobby goes?
 
Russell James: Lots of works in the pipeline. DEMON DAGGER is due in August from Flame Tree Press. TEMPLE OF THE QUEEN will be out soon and is the first in a new series about 1930s antiques dealers Rick and Rose Sinclair, who travel the world looking for lost treasures and end up finding supernatural entities and giant monsters. ATOLL X is the newest Grant Coleman adventure. He will be discovering dangerous ichthyosaurs in the South Pacific and if he’s true to his usual sarcastic form, he will not be happy about it. That book will also debut later in the year.
 
On the automotive front, there is always a backlog of projects out in the garage.
 
NTG: Anything else you’d like to share?
 
Russell James: I have a pretty extensive convention signing schedule and I love to meet readers and authors on the road. Check out my tour schedule at www.russellrjames.com. While you are there, there’s a link on the landing page to sign up for my monthly newsletter that will keep you up to date on all the latest happenings, including those garage projects.

---

Author Russell James