Jay Faulkner resides in Northern Ireland with his wife, Carole, and their boys, Mackenzie and Nathaniel. While he’s a writer, martial-artist, sketcher, and dreamer he says he’s mostly just a husband and father. His work’s been published widely and was short-listed in the 2010 Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition. www.jayfaulkner.com
Bleeding Ink Tale: Scratch
Ink Babes: Hey Jay! Welcome to the Author Spotlight! Thrilled you’re joining us today. The Ink Babes had a blast on your radio show yesterday – what a delicious pleasure to be turning the tables on such a cool guy!
JF: It was great having on Following the Nerd. You know if your blog followers missed the live show, they can catch the podcast at our website. www.followingthenerd.com
Ink Babes: That’s great! Thanks! We’re going to check it out, too. Say, why don’t we begin the interview with you telling us a little bit about yourself?
JF: Sure. I live in Northern Ireland with my wife, Carole, and our two boys, Mackenzie and Nathaniel. I.T. pays the bills but I’m also a writer, martial artist, and sketcher.
I founded ‘With Painted Words’ – www.withpaintedwords.com – a creative writing site with inspiration from monthly image prompts, and ‘The WiFiles’ – www.thewifiles.com – an online speculative fiction magazine, published weekly a few years ago and have just launched Four Parts Press – www.fourpartspress.com – an independent publisher.
Ink Babes: That’s impressive! With all that creativity surrounding you, what was it that sparked the idea for your Bleeding Ink tale?
JF: A painting of an old man propped up against a bar. In my head, it couldn’t simply be an old man having a drink, there HAD to be more to it. The story kind wrote itself; first came the end – where the demon was revealed, then what he was doing, then, finally, who he was doing it to. The title had a two-fold meaning – seven-year itch, and the Devil’s nickname.
Ink Babes: Haha! Love it!! Image prompts inspire some mighty fine and frightful stories. I hope you don’t mind, but we love to peek inside the heads of our authors by asking: Do you have a fear of anything…unusual?
JF: Completely, totally and utterly terrified of spiders. That may not sound unusual, as arachnophobia is one of the most common ones around, so I’m told, but I’ve jumped out of a moving car because a spider was inside and just seeing one – even on TV – can lead to violent nightmares where I sleep walk and sleep fight. It isn’t irrational, though – spiders ARE evil incarnate and trying to kill me!
Ink Babes: Wow! We’ve never heard of anyone going to that extreme to escape those eight-legged nasties! Unusual, indeed! As a martial-artist, you probably sprung right up and landed on your feet!
So, what do you do when you’re not writing, hosting radio talk shows, and jumping out of moving cars?
JF: I’m an IT Services Manager with a specialism in information security. I teach two classes of Kung-Fu a week. I run two online magazines and I’ve just started a publishing company. I work with the Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership, and run their social-media stuff, and involved with the Arts & Disability Forum Ireland, as I suffer from genetic mutations (without the superpowers). I’m a school Governor. I’m a full-time husband and father. Occasionally I sleep.
Ink Babes: In our corner of the world, we call that SUPERDAD! What a role model for Mackenzie and Nathaniel. You’re wife must be proud.
What is your favourite theme/genre to write about?
JF: Anything non-mundane. The broad genre is definitely speculative fiction and I do like to stay close to reality while taking a little detour in the fantastical. I have a pure fantasy novella published, and some short stories that are sci-fi and horror, including a zombie romance. The novel is supernatural/horror too. So, yeah, spec-fic. In terms of themes I tend to enjoy emotive, twisting, character-based stories but don’t restrict further than that.
Ink Babes: And what are you working on now?
JF: Four Parts Press with two collections at the formatting stage and about to do an open call for submissions for a charity anthology. I’m also focusing on my first novel – which, in a nutshell, features an American Muslim tattoo artist fighting the cops, Iranian organised crime and a creature from her nightmares all because evil is sometimes only skin deep. Research with tattoo artist and a theologian ongoing, plus outlining. Actual writing starts August.
Sounds like you’re going to have an action-packed summer, Jay! Thanks for taking center stage today. The spotlight suits you!
And thank you, our loyal blog followers, for stopping by. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Bleeding Ink – A Collection of Dark Tales.
Ever yours,
The Ink Babes
Originally published here:
https://bleedinginkanthology.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/bleeding-ink-author-spotlight-jay-faulkner/