Interview by Harris Hiller

HH: Describe your new release, Accidents Happen, in a couple of sentences.

AM: It’s a story about one man’s struggles after a car accident. But it’s not exactly what you think. This story has plane crashes and guns and the supernatural.

HH: What was the inspiration for the book?

AM: Accidents Happen was a happy accident. For the second half of 2009, I was actually working on another book.

What happened was that my friends and I were sitting around the kitchen table in our house last October, talking about writing and publishing. Someone issued a challenge: a fifty page story, a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. It would have supernatural elements, the aura of heroic epic, and the possibility of a sequel or sequels. The catch: finish it in three weeks.

I was like, “I can do that!”

HH: How long did it take?

AM: The first draft was finished in four weeks.

HH: What happened to the other book you were writing?

AM: Because of its length, I considered publishing Accidents Happen together with the other story. The stories were totally unrelated and it just wasn’t a successful merging. So I scrapped that plan.

HH: Will your readers be confused by going from What Do You Say to the DJ? – a “real life” book – to Accidents Happen?

AM: I like the fact that the story is grounded in the reality we know. Yes, there are supernatural things going on, but the main character lives in the same world that you and I do. So to answer your question, I don’t think so. The big difference is one story is a memoir and the other is entirely fictional.

Thematically, both stories touch on how hard it is to just live your life. Not that I feel like I need to justify my transition to fiction writing.

HH: Why the back up story? What is a back up story?

A back up story is basically a short story that relates to the primary story. In this case, the story introduces you to a few characters who will have major roles in the sequel.

Tabitha Worthington, who drew art for What Do You Say to the DJ?, sent me three sketches for new art. I used them as inspiration for the short story called Bare Bones. A girl, a boy and a chicken who will all have their own tales to tell eventually. The art was included in the book because it was gorgeous and I couldn’t keep it to myself.

HH: What are you working on now?

AM: The follow up to Accidents Happen. Every character you meet will be back for an appearance in the sequel. I’m also compiling Smart ReMarx articles for an annotated release. If you need a fix of my non-fiction writing, it’s slated for release this summer.

HH: Talk briefly about the publishing process.

AM: It’s intense. I write and edit the book from start to finish, work on all the promotional materials and put together a rough idea for the cover.

HH: You don’t design the cover yourself?

AM: No, I have it professionally done. It’s such an important element that it is worth it to let someone else do it and then I always have the option to tweak it here and there. But I do have ultimate approval over what it looks like.

HH: What is the cover image for Accidents Happen?

AM: It’s a good luck charm. Even though the title might suggest negativity, I wanted to counteract that notion with something suggesting the opposite vibe.

HH: On that note, good luck!