Trent: Well, I’m new to the world of fiction but from 1996 to 2008 I spent my time as an active duty Marine, working as a combat correspondent. I had some family issues that came up and so I left the Marine Corps’ active ranks and became a civilian contractor. I am now the web content manager for the same Marine Corps unit I began my active career with.
Cate: Tell us about 10:15 and where it's available.
Trent: Well, my latest story on the shelf is 10:15 and is about three students and one teacher who become trapped in one second of time. Before they can figure out why they’re trapped, they find out there is something living between time…Something horrific!
Cate: I love that premise! Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Trent: As he walked around the back of the gym and passed the front entrance, Mark could see the little fat kid he loved to mess with running for his life. He wanted to laugh because George was nude as the day he was born and his fat body was gyrating and jiggling all over the place. Before he could muster the air for a laugh, his eyes pulled in the image of what was chasing him. The only thing Mark could think was, “This is the fear those people in the movies must feel when they piss themselves.” He was glad he had relieved himself earlier. His attention caught movement to his right. On instinct he turned and raised his fists, ready to fight, only to see one of the hottest girls in school run the other way. He didn’t blame her. He wanted to run away at the sight of the thing chasing George, too.
Two options crossed his mind: run and help the gyrating blob, or protect the hottie. Being the man of strong morals he was, he chased after the girl.
Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Trent: I’ve always been a fan of horror and have so many ideas for stories of my own. When I wrote 10:15, I was deployed with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and had just finished the rough draft of the novel I’m currently working on. I wanted something to do to take my mind off of ripping the novel to shreds so I decided on writing a short story. If you’ve ever spent time on ship (USS Bataan for me) time can feel like it’s not moving at all and on good days it reminds you of Groundhog Day. So I decided to write about time stopping and before I knew it the story took off with my imagination in tow.
Cate: Any specific inspiration for your characters (an actor/actress or personal hero)?
Trent: Well Mark is actually a persona of mine when I work out. Though his back story is nothing like mine, there is parts of him and his personality loosely based on me and my addiction to weight lifting.
George is the same in a way. I was the overweight kid in junior high school (not as much as George) and there was that part of me that needed to change my appearance. I was able to accomplish that, but George…George is the me that didn’t make it through the hardships of that time in life.
Jamie and Kathryn were originally created because I needed something to offset the theory I had of being stopped in time. One theory I had was that you wouldn’t be able to hear anything when stuck in time because the air wouldn’t be moving like it would when time flows normally…How do you communicate in an environment where you can’t hear? How ‘bout bringing in a hearing impaired character that lives her life like that every day. And, I learned in Chemistry (many moons ago) about absolute zero, a temperature that when reached everything stops—even electrons in atoms. How messed up would it be to be in that situation? Well who would know more about that than a Chemistry teacher? That was the birth of Kathryn.
Cate: How do you pick the character’s names?
Trent: Here’s where my life gets strange. I love to tell people that I’m not an author, but a journalist of alternate realities. In this case, that’s kind of how it happened. I can tell you all sorts of stories where I just look a the face in my mind and then a name matches and in other cases the name is there as if my character has been alive and I just met him or her.
Cate: Do you feel as if the characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?
Trent: Oh do they! I’m writing about events and people I see as clearly as if I were talking to you face-to-face. There is a guy in one of my stories whose daughter dies of cancer. I cried with him as he fought the medical staff to wait for him to finish reading her favorite story before letting them take her body away. I have a woman in another who’s heart raced slightly faster than mine as she finally takes control of her life from an abusive husband…Or should I say ex-husband. It scares me sometimes how I’m in these people’s personal lives. Who’s to say our lives aren’t being written the exact same way?
Cate: Ha ha, my thought exactly. So what's next for you?
Trent: Well in January my short story Who’s to Blame will be coming out in Ebook from Moongypsy Press and I am always working with them on my next novelette, The Book of Absolute Truths. Both stories are deeply character driven and will keep you up late at night wondering what would happen if you were in their shoes. In between that, my day job with the Marine Corps and now working as the Military Fiction Acquisition Editor for Moongypsy Press, I am steadfast on finishing the revision of my first novel, The Devil’s Oak. And there is no words for how excited I am about having that work released as soon as possible.Cate: Great titles, especially the Book of Absolute Truths. Very intriguing.
At what age did you discover writing and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.
Trent: I actually started my first novel when I was in the sixth grade, though it never made it more than two pages of hand-written work and only God knows what happened to that. My next discovery of writing occurred during my first deployment (Kuwait and Afghanistan) in 2002 when the idea of writing my own works of horror struck me again. I haven’t stopped since then and don’t think I might ever be able to. 10:15 is my first publication other than military journalism, though it is not my first story written.
Cate: You started young! Describe your writing in three words.
Trent: Suspenseful, Dark, Twisted
Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Trent: I’m too busy to have a routine! Truth be told, I get up at 4:30 a.m., go to the gym to work out, leave there for work, work as a contractor while writing in my spare moments, leave at around 3 p.m. and go home. That’s when life gets real exciting. I have two children with autism spectrum disorders and I am the living toy. So needless to say most of my evening time is spent being daddy. I do find time and sometimes I have to steal it from other places in life.
Cate: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Trent: The most challenging aspect is staying focused. Facebook has been killing me lately, but I’m overcoming my addiction to it. Then again, I’ve met so many wonderful people and have so many writing contacts I couldn’t have made it this far without! The most rewarding is the friendships I’ve found in other writers and businesspersons involved in publishing works of fiction. I have so many friends who are just as equally creative and demented as I am and I love it! The other thing is my kids will one day know their father did two things very few people in this world could do: Be a Marine and write fiction that gets published.
Cate: Congrats on both! What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Trent: The one I loved the most was a review about 10:15 where the reader told me it reminded him of Ray Bradbury! I reminded someone of one of the greats in horror and suspense. Now I just need someone to tell me I remind them of Alfred Hitchcock and I can die a happy man. Well maybe a Poe comment in there too would help.
Cate: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Author: There are so many! My absolute favorite (please indies don’t beat me too bad) is Clive Barker. I will never get over his work, Imajica. It still spurs so many emotions in me thinking of it. Right now I’ve been reading some of my friends’ works and some of the authors I’ve met now that I’ve been published. Some of the stories I’ve finished lately include: The Zombie Cookbook (Damnation Books), Bite Me (Eternal Press) and The Greywalker series (Kat Richardson). And I have ten other Ebooks on my computer, taunting me each time my mind wanders.
Cate: What impact do electronic readers create on the bottom line for authors? Or in people/the environment in general?
Trent: That’s not that easy of an answer. There are ups and downs to each advancement in technology. The Ebook and E-readers bring such immediate impact to the publishing world. Books are released faster and available upon purchase. Readers can read their books on phones or Ereaders and can take an entire library with them in the palm of their hand. Environmentally it makes perfect sense because…Well think about the trees needed to produce the paper to make a print…But on the other hand…Where is the electricity coming from that makes the ereader readable?
Cate: Where can you be found on the web?
Trent: The best place to find out what’s going on with me is at my web page: www.trentkinsey.com and if you want to see more of my crazy side, go to the “World Wide Woods” link in the banner and find me at Facebook or the other networks I haunt…We have so much fun on the web.
Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Trent: What creature hides beneath your bed at night, whispering in your ear? What does it tell you to do?
Cate: Readers, Trent is giving away a signed print and signed Ebook of 10:15 to two random guests... so start commenting. He'll pick the winners on Dec. 8 around 7 pm EST.
