Mark Carver : The Age of Apollyon

INTERVIEW WITH MARK CARVER, AUTHOR OF
THE AGE OF APOLLYON  

 A chilling supernatural thriller.

BIO:  Mark Carver lives in China with his wife and son. For the past several years, he has taught English speaking and writing courses at Chinese universities.  His hobbies include art, reading, going to the beach, and triangles.  No, seriously.

 LINKS:

| BLOG | SMASHWORDS | LULU | FB |

∆   Tell us what inspired you to start writing ...
  
I’ve been writing for fun since I was six years old. I would write short stories and even illustrate them, then proudly show them off to my mother. She was very encouraging and always gave useful suggestions and advice. As I grew older, my reading appetite grew as well, which fueled my hunger for writing. I expanded to poetry and early attempts at novels.

∆  Who are your literary influences? 

 

I’ve always been a “classics” guy, though I’ve enjoyed everything from John Grisham to Alex Garland. Nine times out of ten, though, you’ll find me reading a book that’s at least 100 years old. I enjoy dark, psychologically intense literature, and I like a liberally sprinkling of action and adventure as well. Anything grand and epic is right up my alley. Dante’s Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost are two of my favorite works, and I’m a huge fan of E.A Poe, Bram Stoker, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ray Bradbury. I enjoy the “important” writers as well, such as Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Joyce, Hugo, etc., but I like my literature visceral, brisk, and dramatic. I’m a fan of any writer with dramatic flair and grand visuals.

∆  Can you give us a brief synopsis of your novel?

 

The Age of Apollyon is set in a world twelve years after the physical manifestation of Satan on earth. Satanism is now a mainstream world religion, and since God, as well as any other deities, have remained silent, these belief systems are pushed to the fringes.

The plot revolves around two estranged half-brothers, Patric and Tourec. Patric is a hedonistic Satanist who isn’t really into “devil worship” and all of that- he just wants to party and live it up, despite the fact that he is going to become a husband and father soon. Unbeknownst to Patric, his half-brother Tourec has become a “terrorist for Jesus” and is leading a group of assassins who are waltzing into Satanic temples and executing members of the clergy in an attempt to awaken the timid Christian church. The two brothers find their paths cross as each tries to reach their own separate goals, but as they pursue what they believe to be right, the misery and suffering continues to multiply.

It’s a very atmospheric book with lots of dark imagery and symbolism, but more importantly, it’s a story about the two brothers wrestling with their personal issues, with each other and with their beliefs. I didn’t want to write a story that focuses too heavily on setting the stage and not enough on the characters, which is an unfortunate trend today. The setting in The Age of Apollyon is epic, but the story itself is very intimate.

∆  Do you plan on writing more books in the future?

 

Black Sun, the sequel to The Age of Apollyon will be available next year. I haven’t written anything substantial for almost a decade so I have quite a backlog of ideas bouncing around in my brain that are waiting to be regurgitated. I’ve set a goal for myself that I will write one book a year for as long as I can. The Age of Apollyon took me less than six months to complete so I think I can keep my resolution.

∆  Why did you choose LuLu publishing, and how would you describe your experience with this venue?

 

I had heard that LuLu was a reputable and extensive resource for independent authors, and since I’m not releasing The Age of Apollyon through an actual publisher, I figured this would be a good avenue to bring this story to the world. The book is also available on Smashwords.com and will soon be available on Amazon.com and Google’s eBookstore.

∆  If your book were made into a movie, who would be your ideal cast and/or producer?

 

Hmm, I hadn’t really thought of that. Patric’s character is a bit emo/goth-ish and Tourec is a blonde-haired jock, so I think a number of Hollywood hunks could fill those shoes. Since the story is set in Europe and features a lot of cathedrals, rain, and overall creepiness, the director/producers would need to have a bit more finesse than, say, Michael Bay and his wrecking crew. It’s not a bright, colorful story so the movie would have to have a similar tone. The color palette I saw in my mind when I was writing it was along the lines of The Crow or Underworld.

 ∆  Any advice for would-be writers?

 

I’m not a pro by any standards but I suppose I would say to just write the kind of story that you would want to read. Try to work on it every day, even if just for a few minutes, and don’t worry about editing or re-writing until you’ve made it through the rough draft. Just as a sculptor chisels out the rough shape first and then goes in for the details- get everything out of your mind, then step back and look at it very, very critically, then go in and refine and shape it. There’s no method or set of rules- just write the way you feel comfortable with. But keep at it, and don’t let a dry spell last too long. Just get something on the page and then tweak it later.

... Thanks, Mark! 

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∆  LINKS:

http://theageofapollyon.blogspot.com

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/154401

http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-carver/the-age-of-apollyon/ebook/product-20078403.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Age-of-Apollyon/205771869521077