Saturday Author Spotlight: Sean Kerr #Interview #Giveaway

It's Saturday and Author Spotlight time once again. This week we have a newish author who's made a memorable splash with his books. Sean Kerr is the author of the Dead Camp Series and today we'll take a look at those books. We also have a wonderful interview and of course a giveaway. So, grab a beverage and read on.

Eli is an ancient vampire with an ego the size of a planet and a sex drive to match, but his tumultuous past left him broken, so he hides from humanity and cowers from love, left to endure the crushing guilt that haunts his every waking moment. Even his best friend, Malachi, a ghost who is hopelessly in love with Eli, remains unaware of all that transpired in London. Malachi can never know the truth.

When the Angel Daniyyel pays an unwelcome visit, Eli must face his secrets, secrets that he has tried so long to hide. To make matters worse, a chance encounter with the most beautiful man he has ever seen shatters his beloved isolation, pushing him into the world of the living once more. Something about this strange man seems so familiar, but Eli can’t even remember who he was before he became a vampire, never mind explain the unwanted emotions the enigmatic stranger ignites in his dead heart. So Eli has a choice – return to the world that ruined him, or continue his self-imposed exile with no hope of salvation.

The world is at war, a war determined to involve Eli, whether he likes it or not. Hitler, his dark army of feral vampires, and even the Devil himself, all conspire against Eli, leaving him no choice but to fight back, risking Malachi’s soul in the process.
Eli is determined to find Ethan’s father, no matter the cost to himself or Malachi, and in a place filled with death and unending cruelty, Eli realizes that some truths should remain buried, and some truths are just too terrible to bear. When the old enemy, demons from Eli’s dark past, find him once more, they reveal a secret so impossible, so terrible, that it pushes Eli to the very edge of his endurance. They took his boyfriend from him once, and the secrets that they reveal about the man he once loved threaten to strip Eli of everything that he holds dear, pushing him to the edge of his sanity.
Eli thought that he had nothing left to lose, but at Welwelsburg Concentration Camp, he realizes that he was very wrong.

Interview

Thank you, Sean, for being on my blog today. I swear it won’t be too painful lol. My hope is to get to know you better, learn from you, and let your readers see the man behind the laptop. So, let’s get started.

Tell us three interesting facts about you?

I have looked after myself since I was 17, and so to pay my way through College, I worked on a building site as a laborer. Now considering the way I am now, the thought of me lugging bricks up ladders and mixing concrete is really quite funny, I am, after all, a screaming queen. Having said that, do you know how many builders bums I saw? Really, it was a revelation! However, no matter how desperate I get again, I will never do that again, even though all that manual labor gave me rather nice arms and a flat stomach….long since vanished to the mists of time!

Many years ago, while me and my husband were still going through those first years of ‘can’t keep your hands off each other’ phase, we were…well, you know, at it, and he was a little kinky back then, and well, let’s just say that he was testing a theory as to how many finger he could fit in…somewhere. Suddenly, he stopped. ‘What’s wrong’ I panted, after all, I was having a good time. He said that he had lost his ring…in me. Now, my husband is a nurse. So, without further ado, he administered an enema…I always knew that turkey baster would come in handy. I spent the next hour and a half in the loo, where the whole world fell out of my ass….and to make matters worse, all I could think of was that I would have to look for the ring when my body finally decided to stop emptying. As I sat there, over an hour into the…evacuation…there was a tap on the door, whereby my husband said, ‘I’ve found the ring, it was on the bedside cabinet.’

During a Holiday to the Canary Islands with a group of friends, we settled ourselves at a table, but me and my friend Christian were busting, so we went to the loo. He stood at the urinal, and I went to a cubicle. Now, it was hot, very hot, so my shirt was undone. Flat stomach back then, remember? Anyway, there I was, man thing in hand having a pee…when I was something out of the corner of my eye crawling down the wall of the cubicle. It was a cockroach. All that went through my mind was finish peeing, get out, finish peeking, get out. No one told me the crawly bastards could fly. The damn thing lept off the wall, hit my chest, and fell down into my pants where it proceeded to tickle my…things. I screamed. I screamed so loud, that Christian ran out of the toilet as though his ass were on fire, because, as it turned out later, he thought I was being murdered. Yes, I hear you say, some friend! Anyway, I carried on screaming, and jumping up and down, until that alien thing fell out from amongst my manly things, slide down my leg, and onto the floor. Needless to say that I vanquished the demon beneath my foot. With that horrifying trauma over, I left the toilet and re-entered the bar, whereby the packed crowd got to their feet and applauded. Really, how very dare they!

We often hear, “What type of writer are you?” Yes, this is an actual question many readers ask. So, Sean, what type of writer are you?

Slow, LOL. I’m a newbie, so that is a very difficult one to answer as I’m still finding my feet. I guess I am a plotter, if that makes sense. I love all things conspiratorial, supernatural, and I love to mess with history. So I guess I’m a bit of a dark, twisted writer. I love to build complex plots and relationships, and I like to mess with things that you think you know, and characters you think you know. When I’m writing, I often have very strong images in my head, and that drives me. Much of Dead Camp came from images that I imagined. I can’t say that I am a particular genre writer, even though my work is M/M so far. I have discovered that I like my writing to feel quite raw, and visceral, and I most certainly am not afraid of the bad language lol. I also like to make the reader feel something too, I want the reader to experience the full gamut of emotions, and if I can reduce you to tears then all the better, be they sad or happy tears. Above all, I’m all about the satisfaction lol. It may take until the last book, but I feel it’s of the utmost importance to give a satisfactory conclusion…the best climax possible. As is so true in most of life. I don’t want my readers left in any doubt. I like to tie things up, maybe not with neat bows because life isn’t neat, but at least bring everything to a proper conclusion.

So yeah, I don’t know lol.

If your Dead Camp books were to hit the big screen, Who would you cast for Eli and Malachi?

Oh wow, and how many have thought this about our work in our wildest dreams?

Ok, here goes.

Malachi, please let it be Michael Fassbender. That man just oozes charm and sexiness, and I think I may be in love with him just a bit! Malachi is very camp, and I think Fassbender could pull that off superbly, but Malachi is also very vulnerable, and sad. But in the course of events, he becomes something else, and I think Fassbender could bring him to life beautifully.

Eli…boy have I been torn over Eli. Sassy, down right rude, arrogant, yet supremely sexy. And fit, oh so bloody fit. But there is another side to Eli, one that develops through the story, his pain, his loneliness, his vulnerability, his absolute need to love and to be loved. So, I have decided, that it could only be Chris Hemsworth…with or without the hammer, I don’t care.

What are five songs that best describe your life?

The man that got away   -   Judy Garland

Say Hello Wave Goodbye   -   Soft Cell

The Performance of my Life – Shirley Bassey

With One Look   -   Sunset Boulevard

Love Never Dies -  Love Never Dies

Can you tell us what you are currently working on?

I am just finishing up on the first draft of Dead Camp 3. This book has been a bitch to write. The first two were so well received, but both of them were written before I got a publisher, so now, the prospect of writing a book, and putting it out there now that the first two are in the public domain, terrifies me.

Book 3 is a tough one. Book 3 breaks the whole damn thing open, and you will learn things that will shock you. I nearly chickened out, and I nearly changed it, because the subject matter frightened me, and I know its contentious, and I know that there will be eyebrows hitting the tops of heads everywhere. I considered long and hard whether to continue on the path I set out originally in all my copious notes, and no matter how I looked at it, no matter how I tried to change it, nothing worked anywhere near as well as that original premise, the idea that was there from the very beginning. So I went for it. This book will give you answers, great big fat answers, and it sets the path for the last two books, a path that will send you hurtling through darkness. But light cannot exist without the dark, and to understand the present, you must first understand the past. I’m scared of book 3, I’m scared what I have done, but it had to be, for the books to make sense, it had to be. I just hope that it has the ‘Oh you Fucker’ impact that I aimed for. We shall see.

You’ve said you’re fairly new to the publication world. What are positives and negatives that you’ve seen or encountered in this genre?

The negatives of writing in general, is how difficult it is to get a publisher. At first, I tried over 200 agents, so there was a great big fat pile of ‘no’s.’ Then, just as I was about to give up, I approached six publishing houses directly, and within two weeks I had three offers of contract. Extasy Books, my publishers, are absolutely wonderful, and I love them. That is a huge, huge positive, to have someone like that behind you, kind, supportive, and generous.

As far as negatives about the genre are concerned? I once had a comment, form a fellow author, in a pubic post on Facebook that bemoaned the fact that it was ‘yet another Vampire book.’ The comment was said with no knowledge of my work, and without reading the material. That annoyed me. I also had a reviewer degrade my review from 5 stars to 4 because she didn’t like the fact that there was a brief MF scene in the books. The scene in question involves a female Demon and a male Human, and was absolutely vital to the plot. It frustrated me, because I cannot write according to any perceived formula, it just doesn’t work like that. I have to write what I believe the story needs, and in accordance with my concept. I can’t see that I will ever fall into a given category, and I know I will not be writing to satisfy a given expectation. If a book requires MF interaction, then that is what will happen.

I have experienced very little like that. What I have experienced is an overwhelming and totally unexpected amount of incredible support and kindness. I have met so many wonderful people because of my books, and I am honored to call so many of them my friends. And they are so generous in their help, and their support. So much kindness out there, there really is. This entire experience has reaffirmed my faith in the human race, and if it wasn’t for the M/M community, I would never have met so many fabulous people. I always say that without those people, without those kind readers who part with their money and give my books a go, I would not be an author and my books would be just words on paper. Readers make us authors, not publication.

A special thank you must go to Tracy Willoughby who has become a very dear friend, and also helps me so much with spreading the word about my books. Other special mentions must go to Margie, Ronnica and Patricia, my Campers, and I love them all so much. They have done more for me, and my books, than I could ever thank them for. And to the wonderful Nicholas Bella, a friend and fellow author, who brought me into this wonderful world to begin with!

Will you be attending any conferences or conventions in 2016 or 2017?

Sadly, I have a business in Cardiff, which means that my time is very limited. Also, most conventions take place in the US, so it is very unlikely that I will be able to get to one of them any time soon. However, I have learnt that some conventions take place in the UK, and I believe one will be taking place in Cardiff this September, so I am trying to find out details in the hope that I may attend.

How can your readers follow your career: Facebook, Twitter, website?

I have posted all my social media addresses below, and I would love to meet some new friends, so please look me up and join me!

Face book   https://www.facebook.com/sean.kerr.146

Face book Author page      https://www.facebook.com/Dead-Camp-blog-402721546519007/?notif_t=page_fan

Twitter   https://twitter.com/sgk69

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6207037.Sean_Kerr

Dead Camp web site   http://seankerr5.wix.com/deadcamp

Okay it’s Fast Fire Question Time….

Murder mystery or thriller horror? 

Horror

Liam Hemsworth or Chris Hemsworth?

Chris Hemsworth………..Liam for dessert!

Comic books or novels?

Novels

Beer or wine?

Wine

Day or night?

Night

Coffee or tea?

Coffee

Flowers or chocolates?

Chocolates

Thank you, Sean, again for doing all this. I look forward to all your books and wish you all the luck in the world.

Giveaway

To win a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card from Sean simply fill out the rafflecopter below!

Contest will end on May 6th! Winner will be contacted via email! 

Thank you to , Sean for being here today and for sharing his work with us all.

a Rafflecopter giveaway