Sean McDevitt is the author of THE WIZARD MURDERS. He is a native Californian, now living in the Midwest. He refuses to be characterized as a writer for any particular genre, since “there would be nothing more boring than essentially writing the same sort of story over and over.”
In the author’s words, “THE WIZARD MURDERS takes us back to 1981, a time before there was an Internet and cell phones, and an aging detective finds himself trying to chase down a killer so sophisticated that he doesn't leave a fingerprint behind and in fact forces the detective into reading things like star charts for clues. The detective would rather be doing anything else, he's been thinking seriously about retiring, but he's made a commitment to this little town in California so he proceeds to nearly wipe himself out trying to solve this.”
McDevitt tries to write about things that interest him; “it may seem a strange formula, but it's usually a title and a ‘what if?’ that drops into my head.” McDevitt relies upon “using his head” again, obtaining ideas in this way: “Every once in a great while, I'll get hit over the head -almost literally- by an idea and if the questions and possibilities surrounding it are still bothering me a few weeks after the initial shock wears off, I'll start writing.”
McDevitt had a creative method for getting the right design for the cover of THE WIZARD MURDERS. “A good friend of mine, Kate Kersten, happens to be a professional design artist. I initially held a little ‘design my book cover’ contest on Facebook, and when it was time for everyone to vote on the choices, she won hands down.”
McDevitt has strong feelings about beginning a new book. “It's like torture. Once it's up and running I can cruise through the rest of it and come to the ending I'd always envisioned, but believe me, getting started is just agonizing.”
He is a huge fan of Ray Bradbury. “The man had a passion for writing unlike anyone I've ever known. And I never thought of him as a science fiction author -to me, he was just always the simply the best of any genre, period.”
Several new authors, particularly his fellow indies, have greatly influenced McDevitt. “I must say that Rebecca Hamilton, author of THE FOREVER GIRL, and Richard Stephenson, who has a book called COLLAPSE coming out this summer, are two independents that have really got an excellent grasp of how to keep themselves intrinsically involved with their work- it's as if the books and the person are much the same thing, and I believe that a serious author really must fully invest themselves in whatever it is they're writing.” As far as established authors, “anyone who tells you that they don't keep a eye on what Stephen King is up to is lying. Actually, one of my favorite authors is Jon Krakauer, who's non-fiction. If pressed, I'd have to tell you that strangely enough, even though I'm a writer of fiction, I far prefer to read non-fiction.”
Parting words to his readers: “With anything I've written -whether it's something that's already been published or something down the road, all I ask is that you come along with an open heart and mind.”
McDevitt promotes on Twitter and Facebook.
You can buy The Wizard Murders on Amazon:
As well as THE VELVET SOFA, a short story.
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