John Gregory Hancock, a tall human

1) What is your Author name; use your Pen name if you have one.

John Gregory Hancock (my actual real name. I wish I’d used a pen name because no one believes it)

2) What is your genre and what drew you to it?

Science Fiction, Fantasy (epic), and Horror. And that is where I can pin down a genre. I sometimes write stories that comprise different genres, put them in a mixer and see what comes up. To me, the story that I need to tell can be insistent that it wants to be.

3) What inspired you to become a writer?

I love to read. As a kid, I would ride my bike to the library and check out the maximum number of books allowed ( which was ten or 12) and then read them breathless in my bed with a flashlight until I was ordered to go to sleep.

I’m 64, so books available to me were the golden age of Science Fiction; Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon, Bradbury. I read classic tales like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Odyssey, Aladdin, and The Time Machine. Reading was my escape and my adventure.

4) What is the best time of day for you to write?

Mornings, or Evenings if the muse moves me. I have gotten up and 2 am and writing all night. BUT instead of writing every day, or even very often, I have to be compelled by the story to actually craft it.

5) What is your favorite way to connect with readers? (Social media, newsletters or something else)

I love connecting to readers through Facebook or TikTok, and much less so Twitter. I would also be thrilled to interact with readers in any way that they are comfortable. I don’t mount campaigns or toil away and marketing, and some would say that I should. But I find self-promotion embarrassing a bit.

6) What is the hardest challenge in being a writer?

Honestly, the editing. I mean, I enjoy editing while I’m doing it but it can be a little fatiguing.

7) What gives you the most satisfaction in the writing process?

When the characters or the story takes over and my fingers are just the interface as the creativity flows. I love it when I try to make a character say something, and they kind of say, nope, I wouldn’t say that or I wouldn’t say it that way. When the dialogue choices are actually realistic and genuine.

8) Pick five books that are must-reads in your mind.

Hard to narrow it to five, so I’ll just say these are what I’m forced to choose with a gun to my head: Clive Barker’s Imajica, Frank Herbert’s Dune, Michael Swanwick’s The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, Robin Hobb’s Shaman’s Crossing, and Tad William’s The Dragonbone Chair. On a non-fiction list, I would have to include Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning

9) Do you read books in your genre, or do you prefer reading other genres?

I’m a omnivorous reader. I love all types of fiction.

10) What is you preferred method of reading a book? (Audio, paperback, hardcover, or eBook)

Since most of reading is done at night in bed next to sleeping wife, a kindle Is less obnoxious. I used to read physical books (hardcover, paperback) with a book light but the amount of illumination to read can keep my wife awake. With an ebook, I can better control how bright it is. So it’s simply preserving marital harmony. Lol.

11) Name one of your favorite authors.

Susan Kaye Quinn.

12) If you could live in any “book world” what would that be? I already live in the book world of the book I’m reading. In my heart. But if I had to choose, I think it would be in the world of the Lord of the Rings.

13) What is the name of your book/series? Tell me a little bit about them.

I don’t have a normal series yet, though I am planning sequels to a couple. Most of my books are standalone. My book Crawlspace will be followed by a book called Banyan’s Law. Jack Banyan is a psychic whose story becomes entangled in the living and mostly dead characters from Crawlspace.

14) Do you have a website? If so, what is it? I do, but I need to update it.

Its www.johngregoryhancock.com

15) Where can we find and follow you? (Name your social media platforms.)

I’m on TikTok for the most part, where my handle is johnhancock1958 I have a facebook author page under the name John Gregory Hancock. @johnhancock_art is my twitter handle.

16) If there anything important that you would want my readers to know about you?

Several of my books will exist in archival form, along with many other writers, artists and musicians, on a lunar lander module. www.writersonthtemoon.com has information on the mission scheduled for launch May 4, 2023.