Interview & Giveaway with John Hundley, author of The Dragon of Doughton Park

Sorry this post isn't as fabulous as usual. I lost power from the storm so this post is entirely from my iPhone. Below is the blurb along with an interview. To enter the giveaway, simply comment and a winner will be chosen to win a bookmark. I don't know if I could attach the pic but I'll try.

Clifford Crane has led a tough life – failed marriages, bankruptcy, drug addiction, and a mind-numbing dead-end job. But he’s made it through, and now he’s a few short years from retirement. He’s looking forward to his golden years, until he meets an ancient Uwharrie Indian shaman, who turns him into a werewolf. She believes Clifford is the red wolf foretold in prophecy, the one who will unite the wolf packs and lead them to victory over the vampires for once and all time. Too bad she doesn’t tell him that before she dies. Now, rescuing beautiful young women from the clutches of the undead has its rewards, but will it pay the rent for the next thousand years?
Everyone has accepted the Prophecy of the Red Wolf except the Red Wolf himself. Clifford would like to reclaim some semblance of a normal life, but there are three beautiful reasons he cannot cut his ties to the pack of werewolves of which he has become a part. There’s Heather, the sister of the Uwharrie Pack alpha, whom the pack has chosen as Clifford’s mate. There’s Nicole, the talented young Omega wolf, a seeming reincarnation of Clifford’s once and greatest love, who shares a strange and disturbing bond with him. And there’s Danielle, the gorgeous young vampire who currently shares his bed in a forbidden affair.
Clifford faces a difficult choice indeed, but it may not be his to make. Powerful forces are afoot in the world, and to protect the ones he loves, Clifford must seek the help of the powerful Fae who foretold the prophecy in the first place, the one who might do anything to make sure the prophecy comes true, the mysterious Dragon of Doughton Park.
The Dragon of Doughton Park is the second in a series of Red Wolf novels, depicting a world where vampires are mere generations away from realizing mankind’s destruction, the ultimate goal of the undead and the mysterious beings that created them.

Tell us a bit about yourself

Ah, my least favorite question. Well, I live in Charlotte, NC. I am 62 years old, about the same age as dirt, and I just embarked on a second career as a substance abuse counselor after losing my IT job of 30-some years when the economy went south in 2009. I have two ex-wives and one 13 year old son.

When did you begin writing?

I started writing creatively shortly after I learned to read. I have left a trail of finished and unfinished short stories, essays, poems, song lyrics, and journal entries that stretches back over fifty years. Strangely enough, it wasn’t until I returned to college in 2010 that I found the motivation to begin to write on a consistent enough basis to complete a novel.

Have you ever been discouraged in regard to your writing ability and if so, how did you get past it and move forward?

To be honest, I’ve been discouraged most of my life. I started novels so many times and gave up when I was younger. In fact, I gave up on writing entirely at some point during my first marriage. I don’t know why I decided to start writing again, or why I had no trouble sticking with it this time, but I’m glad I did.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

I love getting into the heads of the characters and losing myself there. They often surprise me by reacting unexpectedly to a plot twist and thereby twisting it even more or totally changing the direction of the story.

What is something you've written that will never see the light of day?

I have bits and pieces of a sci-fi novel lying around with the working title of Fedtlove. It is too ambitious a project to complete, although elements of it survive in the Red Wolf novels and some of the characters will appear in future works I have planned.

What is your writer food?

Coffee. Especially white chocolate mochas.

What's the hardest thing about writing for you?

Finding the time and place on a regular basis.

What inspires you to write?

The pure joy of watching some of the characters develop. The incredible feeling I get when a reader responds with interest or wants to know when the next book will be ready.

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?

Dragon is only my second novel. It’s my current favorite because I think it’s better than the first. Anyone who read the first draft of The Draculata Nest would agree I’ve improved as a writer over the last two years simply from daily practice.

What are some of your favorite books?

The Stand by Stephen King. Isaac Asimov’s The Foundation Trilogy. Richelle Mead’s adult Succubus series and YA Vampire Academy series. Most of Charlaine Harris’s Dead books with the Sookie Stackhouse character. I really like the werewolves in several of Patricia Briggs’ series.

What authors do you like to read?

Well, I just rattled off some in the previous question. I might have to add Dean Koontz, Frank Herbert, Harlan Ellison to the list. Oh, god, there are so many. I really enjoyed Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, although that first person, present tense style grates on my nerves some.

What inspired you to write The Draculata Nest?

Like I said before, I’d given up on the dream of writing. I was bored with an assignment in one of my college courses one day, and I had this ‘what if’ scenario in my head. I’d overheard a group of young coeds talking about some hunky vampire from I-can’t-remember-which TV/movie, and my sympathies went out to all the Jacob-in-the-Twilight-series-type characters. You know, the nice guys, the werewolves that never get the girl. I started writing a journal entry of a werewolf who resented all the press the vampires were getting. After about thirty pages, I realized I had the makings of a pretty good series and I never looked back.

If you could choose a dream cast for The Red Wolf novels, who would you pick?

I’ve already cast Amanda Seyfried as Danielle, Natalie Portman as Nicole, and Russell Crowe as Clifford Crane. But everyone I tell that to disagrees with each selection.

Would you say you relate to any of your characters? If so, which one and why?

There’s a good bit of me in both Clifford Crane and Nicole Deerfoot Black, mainly in the way they interact with each other, one-on-one. Unfortunately, Clifford Crane’s demographic so closely parallels mine that most people who know me think it is me. One of my editing team calls me Cliff now instead of John. And there is an aspect or two about the theme of the whole saga that fits me, although I’ve taken that theme to great extremes with Clifford. Clifford Crane is a character who has changed for the love of another who is taken from him, after which he can’t go back to being the person he was. Sigh. Haven’t we all done that to some extent?


About the Author
John Hundley lives, works, and writes in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(I know that’s not much and kind of lame. I’ve struggled with the author bio stuff and haven’t come up with anything better than the above so far.)
My blog: http://redwolfofprophecy.blogspot.com/

The Draculata Nest
Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Draculata-Nest-Wolf-Novel-ebook/dp/B006DOTBCU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326044014&sr=1-1
Amazon paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Draculata-Nest-Red-Wolf-Novel/dp/1468066617/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326044014&sr=1-2
Barnes& Noble Nook book: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-draculata-nest-john-hundley/1108017536?ean=2940013851382
createspace estore
https://www.createspace.com/3746080

Dragon of Doughton Park
for kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Doughton-Park-Novels-ebook/dp/B009WEYT02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351215671&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dragon+of+doughton+park

Up for grabs: This wonderful bookmark!! All you have to do is comment on this blog post to be entered.