Interview with Josh Hickman, Author of The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex and Cheese & $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

We're happy to have Josh Hickman here with us today! Josh is the author of The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex and Cheese and he's giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card (enter at end of post)! Good luck!

Equally fascinated with horror movies, comedians, and true crime since early childhood, Josh Hickman spent equal time wading in the heady waters of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the Three Stooges comedy shorts, and Helter Skelter while growing up in various parts of Texas. When he became a writer, Hickman incorporated his comedic sensibility and lifelong love of the horror and true crime genres into his satiric writings. His past comic novels also include the fictional comedy bio THROUGH TICK & TINN: THE TRUE STORY OF THE GREATEST UNKNOWN COMEDY TEAM EVER KNOWN and the illustrated surreal, cautionary high-seas treasure-hunt saga AMBERGRIS. Hickman lives and works in Hollywood.

His latest book is the satirical fantasy, The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex and Cheese.

Visit his website at http://www.joshhickmanbooks.com.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

A: For years I’ve been interested in cults—the cult impulse. I’ve been fascinated with religious delusions and the urge people have to self-deceive in return for psychological comfort, a sense of belonging, and perhaps some sort of salvation. I find the subject tragic and humorous, both hallmarks of my satire. The fact that cults—religious, self-help, economic—still exist today as they did thousands of years ago is endlessly interesting.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

A: This was perhaps the most difficult to write of my four published novels. I did a lot of research. It was at times tough to cover all the bases, to include all the human tragedy and still work in funny pathos and some light-hearted, self-reflexive humor. At certain points, I felt I was walking a fine line, but I erred on the side of frankness and honesty. I didn’t want to offend, but I also didn’t want to lie to readers or sugar coat things too much. The most important thing I can impart to other writers who are working on a book of this sort is do your homework. Know your subject and write from the gut as well as the heart.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

A: All four of my published novels have been published by a small Los Angeles imprint, Polyester Press. I have been lucky enough to have had a very good relationship with them from the start. They appreciate and respect my work, and we have had very few disagreements. I’ve never had the problem of over-editing or censorship of anything I’ve done, thankfully.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

A: No.

Q: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

A: I am working on my fifth comic novel which is a historical biography of a late-19^th century/early 20^th century British occultist who was dubbed The World’s Naughtiest Man, Beardsley Bancroft Luney. It should come out next year.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

A: That I take such a dark subject and make it funny. I myself have never been religious or been in any cult of any kind (some people have guessed that I have). But I have great feeling and compassion for anyone who has been deceived or has deceived themselves. Life can be full of treacherous deception, of that I am well aware. I guess exposing lies with humor is really at the heart of what I write. This book probably does that to a more extreme degree than any I have yet written.

Q: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

A: I think what I’m trying to remind people that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. In this internet world where the truth seems to be more elastic and elusive than perhaps it ever has been, we have to decide what is truth and what is lies for ourselves—increasingly difficult as that can be. I’m trying to remind people through laughter, be honest with yourself. It takes thought, it’s tough, but it’s worth it.

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

A: I’d just like to urge people to read. Read, learn, and think for yourselves. It’s a process that should never end. And laugh more. It’s good for you.

About the Book:

Hollywood Author Josh Hickman will release his latest brand of satirical, humorous books in mid-November. In the author’s new book, THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE he explores the maddening world of cults. Mr. Hickman’s new novel follows his last satirical fantasy book, FIVE SLICES OF FEAR, that has received much critical praise from book reviewers.

Hollywood writer Mr. Hickman releases his new book as the fourth in a fantasy book series he has created and published. In THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE he chronicles the rise and fall of a “seductive, fanatical cult” led by the enigmatic Dillman “Papa Dilly” Bradford.

With THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE once again fact meets fiction in the funny fantasy worlds author Josh Hickman creates. This time his fascination with cults has produced a fresh, yet familiar cast of charlatans, rubes, losers, and lucky fools, finding laughs in the cult impulse, religious fervor, and the common pathos of the average person who will do anything to find solace and belonging. Once more, author Hickman focuses his gaze on tragic comedy that is human existence--with all its fears, pitfalls, trials, and triumphs--and again he speaks hilarious truth to power in his latest entry THE KINFOLK: CULT OF SEX AND CHEESE.

“For as long as I’ve read books I’ve always been a huge fan of comedic novels,” Hickman asserted. “It was time I decided to start expressing my own comedic side of creative writing.”