The King of Nightmare received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author A. Rogers.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The King of Nightmare, and it came out on May 11, 2021. I like to do things of note on multiples of 11 if at all possible. It’s a lucky number.
What’s the book’s first line?
“Jason gazed at the water and wished the waves would tell him where to go.”
Someone once told me that a good book’s first line sums up the entire novel’s premise. This got me to thinking, and also checking out some of my favorites, and sure enough – many of them do just that. So this first line is locked and loaded with the theme of the book – which is everyone, gods and humans alike, trying to figure out who they are and where they belong. Particularly Jason, as it turns out.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch.”
Gods and humans must work together to remember who they are and what they can do in order to save all of existence. You know, just a light… fluffy… peaceful sort of tale. *coughs in sarcasm*
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
All of my endings. I had quite the run of them, there for a while, and after one in particular left me shattered, I wrote this book to help me put myself back together again. Just like the characters are doing.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
It will make you feel seen and understood. Or, at least, that’s what a few kind souls have told me the book did for them. Granted, these are people who liked the novel, so your mileage may vary. So, I suppose I would say read it because it’s weird and may surprise you with pleasant additional side effects.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
I consider the main character the creepy dude on the front cover – Mal’uud au Keen, the King of Nightmare. Aside from not having internal organs and being the kind of creature one would not want to meet on the side of a deserted highway at 2 a.m. – or in broad daylight in a crowded city center, either, now that I think about it – I’d say the most distinctive thing about him is his humanity, despite not being human.
As for who, or, really, what, he reminds me of, Mal’s a little bit lich king, a dash of Ryuk from Death Note, with quite a decent dose of John Wick, the utterly inhuman version. Mr. Wick’s the boogieman who just wants a nice car and his dog and thugs come in a completely mess that up for him. Mal just wants to party with his ‘mares and have a nice Undermaze war and the Horrors have to go and just ruin that for him and everyone else. Honestly. How rude.
When did you first decide to become an author?
My first word was “book” and the moment I could put pen to paper I was making up stories, so safe to say the words chose me early and I’ve been trying to live up to them ever since. I was first published locally as a kid and again as a teenager. My first book came out a few years ago, and I’ve been knocking around the world of publishing ever since.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Nope, but it is the first full length dark fantasy novel I’ve created, so I’m super stoked about that.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I read tarot cards at a local pancake house and hunt for ghosts*. Not necessarily at the same time, but you’d be surprised how much spirit activity happens under the average booth in your favorite local restaurant.
* Portions of some answers are less true than others. One could even say completely fabricated, but entirely more interesting.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
If you mean physically at the computer churning out keystrokes, a few hours across most weekends and some evenings. If you mean time spent longing to play with the dollhouse** instead of doing whatever it is I’m doing otherwise, then I’d say it’s pretty much a 24/7/365 kind of gig.
** When I was six, I had the chicken pox. Right before I got sick, my father had built me a brand new Barbie house – complete with wallpaper and enough room to fit all the furniture in the actual rooms (for the uninitiated – most doll houses had the opposite issue from the Doctor’s Tardis – it was always way, way smaller on the inside). All I wanted to do was to play with the new house and all the stories I already had unfolding – like the one where Barbie’s house is haunted and one-legged Ken (as opposed to two-legged Ken††. One-legged Ken lost the leg to a shark while swimming in Barbie’s inflatable pool. Or possibly it was in that My Little Pony war with Polly Pocket – I forget, actually) is possessed by a ghost and she had to use necklace chain to tie him to the bed while she fetched the priest to perform the Baptism (I may have been confusing some of my religious methodology, there, but to be fair, I was only six!) – but I was so sick and so itchy. All I could do was curl up in my father’s rocking recliner and stare at the house where it stood in the living room, waiting to feel better. And now when I want to go romp through other dimensions raising havoc and hell but cannot due to whatever life circumstance, I say, “I’d rather be playing with the dollhouse.”
†† Two-legged Ken is just fine and is living his best life married to a Disney princess. For some, that’s enough, but not for one-legged Ken. He really wanted to live, you know? Carpe diem, one-legged Ken. Carpe-the-f-ing-diem.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part is how much control you have over the end product. The hardest part is how much control you have over the end product.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Honestly, no advice, as I have so much I clearly need to learn from them, but I do have a plea: keep writing! The world needs all the stories it could possibly hold and then some.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
I have gone traditional, and there are definitely plenty of perks. I love working with a team, and it’s nice to have sane, reasonable opinions on things like, “Do you think six characters with names beginning with ‘R’ is too many?” or “What do you mean it’ll be difficult to sell a 2,000 page novel of the first person stream of consciousness musings of a serial killer obsessed with Mahjong?” or “Is it really distracting to have a step-by-step demon summoning tutorial in the middle of a romance novel’s sex scene? Or just, like… a mood?”
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Telling a story to the best of my ability. I just want to do whatever it is I’m doing that allows monsters to wander into my field of consciousness and tell me their stories. I do so love my monsters.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Oh, man, so many, but particularly the game changers such as Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, JK Rowling, Stephen King, JRR Tolkien, just to name a few off the top of my head. Even if what they write isn’t your speed, you have to admire anyone who can write something that completely reinvents how we interact with stories, and even what we want and don’t want and what we love and fear.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
All the ones in my head that have yet to manifest. Seriously, there are some things in here getting seriously impatient, and we all know at a certain point they start holding dreams and nightmares hostage and then things get… interesting. I’m working on creating a 36-hour day to be able to cram everything I want and need into a single rising and setting of the sun, but so far, no dice†.
† Physics, as it turns out, is a very stubborn, lawful-neutral beast, but I think if I can perfect my homemade cookie recipe, bribery is still on the table.
Speaking of, I should probably go get some words on the page. Thanks for letting me stop by and answer a few questions!
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