Interview with Author Kealan Patrick Burke
When did you start writing?
I’ve been writing stories since I was old enough to hold a pen.
What was your journey towards becoming an author like?
By age eight, I was scratching out rudimentary stories and taking it more seriously than made sense at the time. By 14, I was submitting them to Irish publishers, and by age 18, I was published. But it wasn’t until I moved to the states in 2001 that I began to work toward making a full-time career out of it. When, in 2004, a novella of mine won the Bram Stoker Award, it only fueled my determination to do this for a living, something I achieved four years later.
3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)
My latest release is a novella entitled GUESTS, inspired by my very first job as a waiter in a seafront hotel in the south coast of Ireland. My boss was an absolute nightmare: a real bully. Initially, I was going to make him an antagonist in the book, but weirdly in the process of writing about him, he become someone to be pitied rather than hated. Of course, the story is about a lot more than just working for a toxic boss. In the midst of a snowstorm, something unspeakable visits the hotel, an event which forces the staff to fight for their lives.
4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?
Primarily word of mouth and social media. I got burned out a long time ago paying for ads that never yielded a return, so now I mostly rely on advance review copies. As a result, I’m greatly indebted to the reviewers who ensure my books get seen by interested readers.
5. Where do you get your ideas for stories?
Quite literally anything can be the spark for a story. Snatches of overhead conversation, the way the light looks when filtered through the trees, events in my own life, old traumas and bad dreams…
6. What are you working on right now?
I was recently hired to write a screenplay, so I’m deep into that now, and after that, I need to put the finishing touches on my novel, MR. STITCH.
7. Any advice for other authors?
Don’t get discouraged. Every single writer you know—myself included—had no idea what they were doing in the early days. We faced rejection (often for years!) and fought against self-doubt (which never goes away.) Stick with it. Tell the story you want to tell, be authentic, and be proud of your work.
ABOUT KEALAN:
Hailed by Booklist as “one of the most clever and original talents in contemporary horror,” Kealan Patrick Burke was born and raised in Ireland and emigrated to the United States a few weeks before 9/11. Since then, he has written five novels, among them the popular southern gothic slasher Kin, and over two hundred short stories and novellas, including Blanky and The House on Abigail Lane, both of which are currently in development for film and TV.
A five-time Bram Stoker Award-nominee, Burke won the award in 2005 for his coming-of-age novella The Turtle Boy, the first book in the acclaimed Timmy Quinn series.
As editor, he helmed the anthologies Night Visions 12, Taverns of the Dead, and Quietly Now, a tribute anthology to one of Burke’s influences, the late Charles L. Grant.
Most recently, he completed a new novel, Mr. Stitch, a collection of novellas entitled Guests for Suntup Editions, and adapted Sour Candy as a graphic novel for John Carpenter's Night Terrors.
Kealan is represented by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House and Kassie Evashevski at Anonymous Content.
He lives in an unhaunted house in Ohio with a Scooby Doo lookalike rescue named Red.