Guest Author Interview: Thomas Amo

Please welcome today's guest author Thomas Amo!  Thomas is the author of An Apple for Zoe.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Thomas:   After a visit to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland when I was about 9 years old. I was so mesmerized by all of it, of course I thought it was a real house and I wanted to live there. Before we left the park, I begged my mom to buy me, the Haunted Mansion album, so I could listen to the story over and over, and then I got the idea that if I loved scary houses and ghosts so much, there must be other people like me who do also. Maybe if I write a scary story people will buy it and I can buy my mom a house. The thought process of a child.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Thomas:   The Universal Horror films from the 1930's and 40's. I couldn't get enough of ghost stories or anything related to something supernatural. I used to buy a monthly print magazine called "Famous Monster of Filmland" by the late Forrest J. Ackerman. I would spend hours reading and re-reading those magazines.
But more directly to your question, I had always wanted to write that book that would scare me. I'm not interested in gore, or grossing people out. I want to give you that feeling you get when you're home alone and you suddenly become aware, someone or something is watching you and you're really not alone. The paranormal is the one thing I've never lost an interest in. I'm really thrilled to see it's literally the number one genre in fiction right now.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Thomas:   I would have to say most likely I would choose to be able to "Read Minds" Then I would know if someone really liked my book or not. LOL.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Thomas:  An Apple For Zoë is the kind of story that makes you feel uncertain at all times. Do I take that next step, do I dare look under the bed. It deals in questions we all have about ghosts, demons, God, the devil. Is it politically incorrect now to blame things on the devil? Or is all the evil in this world simply just random acts of violence done by bad people. I think there is so much more going on, that if we knew the truth, we'd probably wish we didn't. If you like a mystery that keeps becoming more disturbing the more you look at it, then I think you will enjoy An Apple For Zoe. Which btw is a trilogy. It didn't start out that way, but when I was 50 pages from the end of book one...I knew there was so much more story to tell that I decided there would be two more books to come.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Thomas:  Oh as if I haven't been doing this since I first started writing Zoe. LOL. You know I am a HUGE fan of L O S T, what I wouldn't give to work or see actors like Michael Emmerson or Josh Holloway work on something I wrote. I've kicked around Liam Neesom for the lead, because he has that great presence about him. You know he can handle himself, yet he also possesses a vulnerability that tugs your heart strings. Funny enough I have a line in the book where the manager of the hotel confronts the main character and that character laments about how the manager looked like Alan Rickman, not Harry Potter Alan Rickman, but DieHard Alan Rickman, he only hoped his name wasn't Hans. So it would be a kick to see Alan Rickman play the hotel manager. And as far as the lead female, I'm partial to Tania Raymonde, who played Alex on L O S T. She's on my A list, I think she's got great range and is beautiful to boot!

An Apple for Zoe by Thomas Amo

The City of San Francisco is locked in a grip of fear. A series of occult murders has led, Inspector Thomas James, to a crime scene similar to a murder committed 90 years ago in the once grand Aleris Hotel. A place where power barons of the early 20th Century engaged in witchcraft. And silent film stars indulged in the most wicked of sins.

A place where no one questions the black smoke that rises from the hotel's incinerators in the middle of the night.


Thank you Thomas for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Thomas Amo and his books, please visit his website.