Lauren Smith:  Tell us about your latest book, Dead Souls. 

Dead Souls

Dead Souls is inspired through my somewhat vague fear of the church. As a child, I was made to go to church against my will, probably because it bored me to tears. But as I came to understand what was going on, it scared me a bit. People were worshipping a story of a man who rose from the dead. A zombie. So, I took that 'concept' if you will, and turned it into a horror story.

Michael Laimo: As a writer, yes. All my life, I'd always sought some form of creative release. Through my early twenties, I'd played guitar in a rock band, and had pretty much burned out from that scene by the time I turned 27. I have always been a big horror fan, both of movies and literature, and decided it might be fun to write some scary stories of my own. So, I sold my guitar and bought a laptop. Through a few years of trial and error, I eventually learned the basics of how to write good horror fiction, and started publishing some short stories. Soon thereafter, I wrote my first novel ATMOSPHERE, which I eventually sold to Leisure Books after attending a pitch session with editor Don D'Auria at a convention. Since then I've sold five more novels, and over 100 short stories.

Lauren Smith: You have quite a few books out there, several of them have done extremely well. To what do you credit your success? 

Michael Laimo: Patience, and determination. When I was first starting out, I was told by someone that one must enjoy the process of writing itself, more so than the end result of 'having written' something. I realized this in a sense that after a piece is done, and it goes into the waiting process of acceptance/rejection, or publication, a writer must move on to another project. That's determination, and the love for writing. I never go a day without writing something, even if there's no deadlines or work to be done. I also credit a lot of my success through social networking, both at conventions, and through the web, as on myspace.com. Meeting an editor face-to-face can do wonders for your determination to deliver your best possible work to him or her. 

Lauren Smith: What surprises you most about this process? 

Michael Laimo: You know, the fact that after 15 years of writing, and reaching a moderate level of success, that I still am unable to do this full time. I'd love to do this full time someday, but I cannot afford to do so yet. One movie deal, or a nice publishing contract, and I'll be able to write two novels a year instead of one. That would be nice! But for now I have to settle for the level of output I am able to reach right now.

Lauren Smith: How tough is it to come up with fresh material? Where do your ideas and inspiration come from? 

Michael Laimo: Not tough at all--I have an original voice inside my head that's just screaming ideas. And then sometimes my mind takes old ideas and attempts to breathe new life into them. The other day I was looking for an idea for a short story I wanted to write, and asked myself, "Has anyone written a serious horror flick about a man who becomes a chicken?" Really, it sounds corny, but it evolved into a dark, eerie story.

Writer's block for me is not finding fresh ideas, but coming up with a correct and entertaining way to tell them. Honestly, I wish I had more time to explore every idea that's popped into my head.

Lauren Smith:  What's next on the horizon for you? 

Michael Laimo: My next novel, FIRES RISING, will be out in the Spring of 08. I'm currently writing the sequel to DEEP IN THE DARKNESS, entitled RETURN TO DARKNESS, and hope to see that in print by the end of 08, or in early 09. I'm also working on getting my SF/Suspense SLEEPWALKER out into the mass market. This was previously published in a limited edition hardcover, with a run of only 250 now sold-out copies. There are a number of short stories due to be published. As well, the feature film based on my short story ANXIETY, and filmed by Burning Grounds Independent Media, should be out this fall. I'm also in talks with other movie folk about taking more of my work to the silver screen.