That's right! We have even MORE madness to share...
Today, we're chatting with Mr. S. Patrick Pothier.
JournalJabber: Hi there!
Can you tell everyone out there a little bit about yourself?
S.
Patrick Pthier: Greetings viewers, I am S. Patrick Pothier (the S stands for
Sean) and I am pleased to be here. I am
pleased to be anywhere... I like shiny and fuzzy things. I write as a hobby and I work in a machine
shop to pay the bills. I am also an
amateur artist, working mostly digitally on my iPad or computer and I love
making things out of metal. I like
things that combine sweet and salty, and the sound of people whispering makes
me tingle. I am also an amateur
photographer and occasionally make electronic music for fun. I have another job where I dedicate two weekends
a month to caring for disabled people in their home, a worthy and emotionally
rewarding pursuit that needs big-hearted people willing to donate their time
and energy. Let's see, what else... um,
I recently had my appendix taken out. I
do not care for Skrillex.
JJ: You are currently working on a few things (zombie
lovers read on!). Can you give us a
taste on what you have in store for people?
SP:
Seeing as how the holidays are coming to a close, I can get back to working on
a few projects. First and foremost is a
full-length novel based on "The Road to Comfort" from the first
edition of Christmas Lites. I'm about
twenty thousand words into the first book of a planned trilogy. The series will provide more background into
the start of the end of the world, it will see Yannika grow from the girl she
was in the original story into an adult fighting to survive in a world where
the dead are so numerous they are practically a force of nature and most of the
surviving people have either gone mad or given up while the power-hungry have rebuilt
society to reflect their twisted and selfish needs. The series will be large in scale, focusing
on human conflict and the politics of apocalypse, but full of plenty gory,
grabby, bitey Draugrs to satisfy the most hardened Zed Head.
Another
project would be to neatly wrap up some started novels and turn them into
novellas for a themed anthology, zombies of course, but not your undead
ones. It would consists of three long
tales. In one, college kids at a rave fight to survive when a biological weapon
turns people into stronger and faster monsters hell-bent on consuming
flesh. In another, a parasite infects a
city after a hard rain, those afflicted wake up after a short coma with an
uncontrollable urge to commit terrible acts of violence, bringing the city to
chaos and giving the few unaffected a bloody battle for survival. In the third, a genetic virus has decimated
humanity: the infected are physically incapable of processing food and millions
die of starvation before it is discovered that the only food they can eat is
human flesh. Those immune to the virus
live in fear of being prey to an enemy that cannot only think like them, but
can organize into a nation and declare war, subjugating the healthy into cattle
bred for meat.
I'm
hoping to write some more short stories, too.
I'd love to do a short-story collection.
Also in
the works is a YA sci-fi tome about time travel and super-powered people
dealing with their blooming hormones.
 |
| Don't you just want to squish them???? :-) |
JJ: Okay, just because I MUST talk about this. Can you tell everyone out there about our
Journal Jabber mascots, Mammoth and Lenny?
SP: Mammoth
and Lenny are my pet rabbits—adorable little blobs of fur
that bring light to my days. Mammoth is
a spayed female, a dwarf breed called a "Mini-Rex," a white, brown,
and black piebald lump of personality and spunk. Lenny is a neutered male, a mix of Mini-Rex
and a breed called Harlequin. He is a wuss and has a constant look of
confusion, his hair is short but gets all over the place, and he has brown and
gray bands like an earth-toned tie-dye shirt.
Rabbits
are great because I live in a small apartment—think of it like a Turkish
prison cell with modular furniture and tasteful faux-hardwood flooring. Rabbits are like cats—they are smart, have a mind of their own, and can be
trained to use a litter box. Some
breeds, like my dwarfs, grow to only about 3-5 lbs; there are breeds that can
grow to 25 lbs and are the size of some dogs.
Though I
bought Mammoth first from a pet store, Lenny was adopted from a shelter, and I
would advise anyone looking to get a pet rabbit to do their research and please
adopt. Rabbits are similar in
maintenance to a dog or cat and do best inside with plenty of room in a safe
environment free of cords and hazards.
They are healthier when fixed (all rabbits from shelters are fixed) and
need lots of love and attention. They do
best in bonded pairs; that's when you get to see all their fun behaviors. They are a great addition to a family and, if
taken good care of, can give you 12 or more years of love.
JJ: How long have you wanted to be a writer?
SP: I've
told stories as long as I could talk. My
mind is such that I've always been fascinated with figuring things out, which
led to a great love for reading. I
mostly read non-fiction when I was a child, maxing out my check-out limit from
the school library in the "reference" section. A love of reading invariably leads to a zest
for writing. I've been writing stories ever since grade school. I never seriously gave thought to trying to publish
anything until I was in high school and some teachers told me I had
talent. I won some contests then, had
work published in textbooks, and wrote a couple of stories for some short-lived
online zines.
JJ: This is the second year you have participated in Christmas Lites. What made you come
back?
SP: I had
a blast the first time around. It's such
a worthy cause; the NCADV is a great organization that needs all the support it
can get. Plus, on top of that I was
given the permission to write Christmas ZOMBIE STORIES. I mean, who gets to do
that? Add to that the honor of being
published alongside really talented and dedicated people—it's like several dreams stacked up on each other... I keep
wanting to spin a top to see if it's real.
JJ: Tell us something about yourself that no one would
expect?
SP: I am
actually a twelve-year old Asian girl—kidding, I wish. Though I can sometimes write very graphic
sequences in my work, I am HORRENDOUSLY Plasmaphobic (afraid of blood). I can't stand other people's or my own. On more than one occasion I have thrown up
and passed out at the sight of blood.
Though, I did recently almost get over this after a work injury nearly
severed the tip of my finger—I treated the whole thing as a
meditation on overcoming fear and appreciating the pure fragility of these
meat-bags we call bodies. I also took
lots of pictures and grossed people out with them for months. My finger did heal quite nicely (the saw
blade missed the nerve, so I did not lose feeling or movement) and now no one
can tell.
JJ: What did you want to be when you grew up?
SP: For
the longest time I wanted to be a robotics engineer, to combine my love for
science with the ever-growing realities of science-fiction. Then I wanted to be an architect. Then an artist. I actually went to school and studied to be a
graphic designer, but I'm so scatter-brained I couldn't see that through to the
end. Though I just turned thirty, I'm
still in that mindset of "when I grow up;" this farce of
"adulthood" is just that. Give
me a cardboard box and some markers and I'll turn it into a castle or a rocket
ship... or a castle ship. I have a
bumblebee costume that I sometimes put on to go out and check my mail.
JJ: Who are your favorite authors?
SP: My
favorite of all time is Stephen King. I've read him since fourth grade. Next would be Michael Chrichton, a great
literary and scientific mind that we lost way too soon. Throw into that Isaac Asimov who sparked my love
of sci-fi. And, as of late, I've really
gotten into Chuck Palahniuk. Some more
authors I've enjoyed watching their success grow are fantasy author China
Mieville as well as Dave Eggars, who seems to be leading a wave of new fiction
writers and whose memoir A Heartbreaking
Work of Staggering Genius is as profound as it is funny.
JJ: Any authors who have been particularly influential on
you?
SP: I
would definitely count King and Chrichton as influences. King’s Dark Tower series had such incredible scope and versatility that I
think it can inspire writers of any genre, especially the first three
books.
JJ: Where can people find and follow you?
SP: They
can find me on Twitter and Facebook. If
they want to see pictures of Mammoth and Lenny, they can follow me on
Instagram. I am working on getting a
domain name and creating a blog, news of which will be on Twitter and
Facebook.
Facebook:
S. Patrick Pothier
Twitter:
vapid_waste
Instagram:
merglap
Post a Comment