1. Please tell the readers a bit more about you.
Hi, my name is Martin Tracey
and I am a native of Birmingham
in the UK.
I am married with two daughters. I am an animal lover and the Tracey family own
two cats named Garfield and Guinness respectively and we also own a rescued
Jack Russell dog named Ringo – his name highlighting my love of The Beatles.
My first taste of literary
success was as a six year old when my school entered my story into a national
story writing competition – the theme being road safety, and my story won first
prize resulting in an early rendezvous with the Birmingham press. A couple of years later the
school entered a second story into a separate national competition, this time
the story needed to reflect the dangers of children playing on building sites.
My story scooped top prize again.
Being proud of my working-class Birmingham roots and
never wanting to forget where I have come from, I have always had aspirations
to be a commercial success. My first love was music and I had a relatively
successful career in music where my writing presented itself in the form of
song writing before I eventually decided to knuckle down and devote time to the
mighty task of creating novels. I have played in various bands on the Birmingham music scene achieving
high points such as a live TV appearance and a string of radio interviews. I am the songwriter and co-performer of Raging
Bull which can be found on the album Old Gold Anthems – the
songs of Wolves (available on Amazon and i Tunes) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Gold-Anthems-Songs-Wolves/dp/B00004YVJ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328378975&sr=8-1
thus demonstrating my love for the football
club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Another song Saturn
Rising won a competition on BBC Radio resulting in the pop duo I was in at
the time supporting the 80s’ outfit of the Fine Young Cannibals at Birmingham’s Alexander
Theatre.
Due to my daughter’s acting activities I have inadvertently secured a part as a
Zombie in a Zombie film – many kind
friends commenting on how I am a natural for the part with not much stage
make-up being required! The film comes out later this year.
2. What types of books do you write?
I am
inspired primarily by three things -music, football and the supernatural and I
try and weave or feature all three elements in my writing. I
also tend to set my books in and around my home city or other English settings.
I believe that my writing style possesses a certain edginess and honesty and
although primarily writing about the paranormal I try to make my novels appear
believable and aim for the reader to be able to connect with the horror that
unfolds. Although I specialize
predominantly in tales of chilling suspense, I feel that I am a versatile
writer and would not necessarily wish to be restricted to one specific genre in
the long term. I keep an open mind about tackling almost any subject providing
there is a good tale to tell and I am comfortable writing about it.
3. Who's your main audience?
My books are suitable for an audience who are
comfortable reading about mature themes for example Beneath the Floodlights is a realistic account of modern day
footballers so swearing and scenes of a sexual nature are par for the course if
the novel is to be a true reflection. I also want my novels to be scary.
4. When it comes to writing- what are your strong points? What are your
weaknesses?
My strong points are my approach to making my
story a page turner where the reader is so hooked that they don’t wish to put
the book down. I aim to achieve this by writing primarily short chapters with
each chapter ending on a cliff hanger as often as possible. I always want to
try and portray interesting characters: in Beneath
the Floodlights I have included
an 80s loving footballer, a Chinese Kung Fu expert footballer, a vampire
slaying football fan and a Transylvanian Football Manager/Master Vampire who is
a Professor in both Football and Genetics. I also like to apply layers of
subplots as I want to keep the reader interested. My weakness is my over
critical nature of myself where I have perhaps an unnecessary tendency to
constantly question my writing.
5. What do you think of this term- Writer's Block? How do you overcome
it?
If I find myself in a pretty uninspiring zone
I simply don’t write. I find if I try and force the writing it will undoubtedly
lose its impact. My imagination is always at its most active of a morning so
the majority of my writing is done on weekend mornings and the content is much
more productive at this time of day.
6. How many books have you written?
I’m on my third book and I have umpteen ideas
for more.
7. How many are published?
Just the one at the moment, a vampire/football
(soccer) novel called Beneath the
Floodlights. It tells the story of a Birmingham
football team being taken over by a nest of vampires. The book can be purchased
by contacting me directly via my website www.martintracey.co.uk (I can issue a
PayPal invoice to overseas customers), from my publisher AuthorHouse http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/BookSearchResults.aspx?Search=beneath%20the%20floodlights or from Amazon including the Kindle version http://www.amazon.co.uk/BENEATH-THE-FLOODLIGHTS-ebook/dp/B005FQK84M/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=A3TVV12T0I6NSM&qid=1314734241&sr=8-1#_.
My first submission of a short story, a condensed version of my novel Divine Inspiration, was successful in
being printed in Words magazine.
8. Are you self published or traditionally published?
At present I am self-published.
9. What's the hardest part of the writing process for you?
Without doubt finding the time to write. I
need to juggle writing with my day job as a Performance and Analysis Manager as
well as being a husband, a parent and enjoying some quality leisure time which
I believe is necessary for the soul. And it has to be said that the self-marketing
that I put in to promoting Beneath the
Floodlights ironically prevents me from devoting time to simply writing.
I’m sure all authors can identify with this.
10. What type of books do you enjoy reading?
I enjoy horror novels in the main but I also
enjoy reading Biographies particularly if they feature The Beatles or John
Lennon.
11. Who's your favorite Author?
There are so many good authors to choose from
and just as I can listen and enjoy many different types of music I am also able
to read and enjoy books from many different genres. However, to attempt to
answer your question I would have to include Peter James and if I think about
the type of authors who inspired me to write I have to mention the traditional
horror writers like James Herbert, Stephen King and of course the very fine
Richard Laymon. As a child Enid Blyton was a huge inspiration and encouraged me
to become an early avid reader.
12. What's your all
time favorite book?
Again very difficult to answer but I’ll go for either Richard Laymon’s The Traveling Vampire Show or Peter
James’ Looking Good Dead. Of the many
Beatles books that I own I would choose John
by Cynthia Lennon.
Martin Tracey
Barnes & Noble
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