Mark Henry: Happy Hour of the Damned

 

Title: Happy Hour of the Damned (Amazon | B&N)
Author: Mark Henry (http://markhenry.us/)
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 9780758225221

1. First off, congratulations on the big novel sale! Give us the elevator pitch. What’s your book about?

In my debut urban fantasy/comedy, Happy Hour of the Damned, Amanda, an advertising executive turned flesh-eating zombie, searches for a missing friend, the perfect cocktail and people to ridicule. Along the way, she finds a world populated with demonic bowlers, day-glo ghosts, 12-step groups for the recently deceased and a plot to spark the last
great zombie apocalypse.

2. Most new novelists have an interesting story to tell about their journey to publication. What’s yours? Did you use an agent? Make sure to tell us about the day you found out you’d sold a book.

Aspiring writers hate my story–for good reason–it’s not supposed to happen. In March 2006, I decided to give writing a shot. Hadn’t written as story since creative writing in college, nearly twenty years prior. I started attending a writing group, took some time off work and went to the Willamette Writer’s Conference in Portland. I’d been tinkering around with an idea about zombies that popped up in the scifi/fantasy aisle of a local Borders (the idea, not the zombies), as a result of seeing a whole lot of werewolves and vampires, but none of my favorite undead, as far as I could tell.

I signed up for a group pitch with an editor, with the intention of simply listening, but when pressed, I told her I had a “zombie with a great skin-care regimen” and that it was “Sex and the City meets Dawn of the Dead.” She asked for a partial. I hadn’t written a word and told her so, but she was willing to wait. When I got home, I locked myself in my office and tore through the first 50 pages without an outline. Just getting ideas out there, but funny–I thought. I gave it a quick edit and sent it off, certain nothing would come of it.

A month later, I get an email from the editor, asking about my progress on the rest. Mind you, I hadn’t written a word on it, since sinding the partial. I told her to give me a couple of months. Again, I made it my primary focus and finished the draft in about six weeks and
submitted it pretty rough. A month later and another email. The manuscript was moving up to the senior editor. I got some advice to use this as leverage to acquire an agent and e-queried about 15 in my genre. That was a Tuesday. Jim McCarthy at Dystel and Goderich was the first to respond with a full request (Wednesday). He read it over the next day and offered representation on Friday. By Monday, he was hawking the book all over the place we were contemplating offers by Wednesday. We had a three book deal on Thursday. Eight days from agent query to sale. It’s craziness. Ask anyone.

3. Do you have another book in the pipeline? What are you working on now?

I just delivered the second book in the Amanda Feral series, Road Trip of the Living Dead, currently slated for a March 09 release, but I’m told that could change depending on the popularity of Happy Hour). While I’m waiting to hear word on revisions for that one, I’m working on a new UF comedy called The Dark Rites of Joe Barkley. This one’s about an incubus with an erectile dysfunction, a hooker with a limp, and a slew of bizarre murders at a secluded sex therapy clinic.

4. What’s your writing process like? Morning writer, night writer, or something in between?

In between. I wake up early because of our dogs, but spend most of the morning returning emails, responding to interview questions, blogging, reading blogs, checking my amazon rank like a fiend and self googling like it’s not going to cause hair to grow on my palms. By afternoon, I’m burnt out on my e-addiction and can finally get some work done. Then, I write in chunks, jumping ahead in the outline, dropping back, filling in the blanks, that kind of thing.

5. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of writers who own cats. Here at the The First Book, we’re doing a study to find out if there’s a direct relationship between writing success and cat ownership. Do you own a cat? If so, tell us about him or her. If not, tell us what you have against cats.

No cats. Three dogs, one of which is a new puppy. Another huge distraction. They’re cute and soft, and all, but cats can fend for themselves. How, I ask, can I maintain the level of diversion I’ve grown accustomed to, when I’m not needed every five minutes? It just
doesn’t work for me.