Interview with author Connie Corcoran Wilson

ABOUT CONNIE CORCORAN WILSON

Connie (Corcoran) Wilson (www.ConnieCWilson.com) graduated from the University of Iowa and Western Illinois University, with additional study at Northern Illinois, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. She taught writing at 6 IA/IL colleges and has written for 5 newspapers and 7 blogs, including, currently, as a Featured Contributor to Yahoo. (2008 Content Producer of the Year). Her stories and interviews with writers such as David Morrell, Joe Hill, Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, William F. Nolan, r. Barri Flowers, Eric Bogosian and Anne Perry have appeared online and in numerous journals. Her work has won prizes from “Whim’s Place Flash Fiction,” “Writer’s Digest” (Screenplay), as well as numerous E-Lit Gold medals, Silver Feather awards (from IWPA/NWPA, Illinois & National Women’s Press Association) and NABE Pinnacle awards. She was the film and book critic for the Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) for 15 years and was named David R. Collins Midwest Writing Center Writer of the Year (March 20, 2010) and IWPA Silver Feather winner (June 6, 2012), as well as winning an ALMA (American Literary Merit Award) for a short story within “Hellfire & Damnation.” She was recently a presenter at the Spellbinders’ Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii (Labor Day, 2012).
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To find out more, please visit http://www.ConnieCWilson.com

To purchase The Color of Evil, click here.

To purchase Hellfire and Damnation II, click here.

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life, Connie.  Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?

A: I am a University of Iowa graduate with a Master's + 30 who has taught writing at 6 colleges and has been writing for pay for 57 years.

Q: Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?

A: I wrote THE COLOR OF EVIL based on my long teaching career at levels from age 12 on up. It is a classic story of good vs. evil, with a youth with paranormal abilities. "Carrie" meets "The Fury" meets television's "The Medium."

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it?

A: Making myself sit down and work to write "long" (80,000 words), since I usually write for newspapers and blogs.

Q: Do you have a press kit and what do you include in it?  Does this press kit appear online and, if so, can you provide a link to where we can see it?

A: I have an online presence at www.ConnieCWilson.com and a blog at www.WeeklyWilson.com and many of my books have dedicated websites, such as www.TheColorOfEvil.com, www.HellfireAndDamnationTheBook.com, www.ItCamefromTheSeventies.com and www.GhostlyTalesofRoute66.com. I also do mailings of various informational pieces by request or during promotional periods.

Q: Have you either spoken to groups of people about your book or appeared on radio or TV?  What are your upcoming plans for doing so?

A: I have spoken about my books on television and radio (most recently Cyrus A. Webb's radio show) and I was asked to share my experiences writing GHOSTLY TALES OF ROUTE 66 at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge gatherings on three occasions.

Q: Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/is is?  If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?

A: I do have an agent who is in Chicago. I would rather not share who she is. She has been my agent since 2003.

Q: Did you, your agent or publisher prepare a media blitz before the book came out and would you like to tell us about it?

A: I have done most of my own promotion of my recent books. At Halloween, when HELLFIRE & DAMNATION II (short stories) came out, the media blitz created enough interest to raise the book to #8 in genre downloads (and #232 overall) at 1 p.m. on October 28th.

Q: Do you plan subsequent books?

A: THE COLOR OF EVIL is a series of novels that currently is planned for at least 4 books. HELLFIRE & DAMNATION, the short story series, will continue, using Dante's "Inferno" as the framing device. I am at work on Book #3 ow.

  

Q: Thank you for your interview, Connie (Corcoran) Wilson.  Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?

A: You can find me on the web at www.ConnieCWilson.com and my books are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and from many of the dedicated websites.

ABOUT THE COLOR OF EVIL

Tad McGreevy has a power that he has never revealed, not even to his life-long best friend, Stevie Scranton. When Tad looks at others, he sees colors. Thee auras tell Tad whether a person is good or evil. At night, Tad dreams about the evil-doers, reliving their crimes in horrifyingly vivid detail.

But Tad doesn’t know if the evil acts he witnesses in his nightmares are happening now, are already over, or are going to occur in the future. All Tad knows is that he wants to protect those he loves. And he wants the bad dreams to stop.

This is a terrifying, intense story of the dark people and places that lurk just beneath the surface of seemingly normal small-town life.

ABOUT HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II

Hellfire & Damnation II is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante’s Inferno. It picks up where the first collection of short stories (2011) left off and gives us a remarkable collection of somber, nourish, flat-out scary and altogether satisfying stories that seek to find peace in a dark world that defies it. Her subtle irony and penchant for finding terror in the least expected places will generate comparisons to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, with just a hint of Philip K. Dick thrown in. But don’t be fooled: Wilson has a wondrous voice in her own right and her tight, twisty tales establish her as a force to be reckoned with.