Biography

J.F. LEWIS lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his patient wife, two adorable sons, and an ornery Akita. He decided that he wanted to be a writer when a supposed creative writing teacher questioned his sanity and suggested therapy. STAKED is his first novel. The author spent eight wonderful years working in comic and game stores and is currently employed by AT&T.

An avid reader, J also enjoys sushi, popcorn, and old black and white movies. His two favorite activities are singing lullabies to his kids and bedtime and typing into the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately, like the protagonist of STAKED, the author takes very little sleep. The sequel to STAKED will be published in 2009 by Pocket Books. In the meantime, J is still working on his Epic Fantasy series as well as a few other projects.

J is a member of the SFWA, where he volunteers as editor for their Pressbook pages.

And for the record, the “J” stands for Jeremy and the “F” stands for something else.

Interview

1. What makes you think you can write?

I still think that everyone is just humoring me because my mom asked them nicely. Talking the folks over at Pocket Books into going along with it was a bit a of stretch, though. I’m still not sure how Mom did that.

2. Clearly you need some sort of creative outlet to keep you out of trouble. If it weren’t writing what would it be?

Alligator wrestling or competitive streaking. Seriously.

3. Who or what influences your work?

Music. I find it incredibly hard to write fight scenes with “It’s Small World” playing the background, but remarkably easy while listening to cuts from the 300 soundtrack. Literarily speaking? Roger Zelazny. Corwin of Amber is my idea of a perfect literary protagonist/narrator. And to be honest, pretty much anything and everything that happens around me.

4. Do you remember a favorite ghost story or scary urban legend from childhood? Well, spill it.

I don’t remember any fictitious ghost stories, so I’ll give you a spooky experience that actually happened, one that I keep meaning to use in a book. When I was little, the family on my Dad’s side owned around 160 acres of adjoining land. My Paw-Paw’s farm was out there on “the land” and my Uncle David lived out there too, so when we went out, my cousins and I could basically wander freely around the property without the fear that anyone would bother us. Well, one day when I was eight or nine years old, my cousin and I were out walking through the woods and we found an iron gate. Trees had grown up around the walls on either side of the gate, completely obscuring and in some sections bursting right through the low stone walls of the enclosure. There was a chain on the gate, but the padlock had rusted through and it literally fell to the ground when we touched it.

My cousin and I walked through the gates and froze. It was a cemetery. Other than a thick layer of leaves covering the ground, the grave markers themselves were in remarkably good condition. We walked through the small cemetery looking at the headstones. On some, the names had worn away completely leaving nothing but the date legible. Others were completely eroded beyond recognition. The newest grave we found had been there for close to a hundred years… except for a single grave all the way at the back. Instead of a headstone, it had a small white cross and the area around that plot was the only spot where the leaves had been cleared away. There was a teddy bear sitting at the base of the cross and a bouquet of pink flowers. I don’t remember them clearly enough to say what kind.

We’d felt fine, safe, the entire time, but when my cousin reached down to touch the teddy bear, we both felt two sensations: a sudden chill so strong that it caused our teeth to chatter, and the feeling of eyes, not far away, not in the trees, but right behind us.

I remember mumbling, “Sorry. We won’t touch anything,” and then I remember running like hell. The best part of the story? When we took my Paw-Paw back to look for the graveyard… we couldn’t find it again. Which may have been a darn good thing, because I just know Paw-Paw would have picked up that teddy bear.

5. Name one thing we might not know about you and would be surprised to find out (keep it clean too, you dirty bird this is a family blog).

Did you know that Lyme disease can change the shape of one’s eyes? When I was a kid, I wore thick glasses. My vision was terrible. Then when I was in my senior year in High School, I got Lyme Disease and among other, less pleasant, side effects, it altered the shape of my then still-growing eyes and corrected my vision. I may need glasses again one day, but so far I’ve been able to function without corrective eyewear for the better part of twenty years. Talk about silver linings! J Also, no one ever asks me to give blood.

6. I tell people that if they like _________, then they’ll love me.

Die Hard, Denis Leary, extreme honesty, Vampires, or just plain fun.

7. Since you make stuff up all the time, I assume you were a great liar as a child. Tell us one.

George Lucas doesn’t know it, but really... I’m Luke’s father.