Here we go again with our "behind the scenes" segment. Every so often, we'll invite one of our authors to answer the hard questions about their latest work, such as their inspirations, their feelings when writing it, what they liked most and what they felt was most challenging while writing. Today we've got Antonio Simon, Jr. He's written six books and has published over thirty short works in several genres. He's also Darkwater's Head of Business Development and General Counsel. Today, he'll be discussing his collection of short stories, Tarot of Hate, which is a collection of eight stories of murder and revenge. Along with Ramiro Perez de Pereda, he's a regular contributor to our award-winning Shadows And Teeth horror series.
| Antonio's Thoughts On: Tarot Of Hate This new book is a collection of the darkest stories I've ever written: murder, vengeance, even rape. I wanted to push the limits of decency, particularly with the lead story, Dogfaced Eve. I won't give away its secrets, but I'll bet it's one of the most horrific things you've ever read. It's pure body horror with a Marquis de Sade twist, designed to make you feel extremely uncomfortable. If you cringe in disgust, then I'll consider my goal accomplished. As for inspiration, pardon my French but I was extremely pissed off when I wrote these stories. This shows most strongly in Dogfaced Eve and Hunter, Hunted, the latter story about revenge against a TV production crew. The show in the story is based on "To Catch A Predator," that program where suspected sexual predators are led to a house and are then interrogated on camera. Again, I was aiming for the cringe aesthetic. Rounding out the mix, I've got stories about a presidential assassination and brothers killing brothers, along with several other surprises. After all, what else can you expect but such darkness when you're dealing from the tarot of hate? Throughout all this, what I found most challenging was that it's not in my nature to write horror. I started off writing light-hearted stuff — like The Gullwing Odyssey for instance, which is a fantasy comedy. To write horror, I really need to be in a sour mood in order to tap into... well, whatever it is I tap into when I write the nasty stuff. Go check out Tarot Of Hate, and I hope you enjoy it. Just remember that I warned you it'd be hardcore. I didn't hold anything back. About The Author Antonio Simon, Jr. is an award-winning author of six books and over thirty short stories published to date. His debut novel, The Gullwing Odyssey, is a fantasy-comedy that became an Amazon Kindle Top 5 Bestseller in 2014. He has won the prestigious International Book Award; the Royal Palm Literary Award; the Pacific Book Award; Indie Book of the Day; and the Reader’s Favorite Five-Star seal. Mr. Simon holds a law degree from Saint Thomas University School of Law and two undergraduate degrees (Political Science and History) from the University of Miami. He lives in Miami, Florida. Visit him at www.GullwingOdyssey.com. |  Antonio Simon, Jr.  Tarot Of Hate  The Gullwing Odyssey |