Questions Anyone?

[Ronald Kelly]

If you've got questions for Ol' Ron, you can post 'em here and I'll be happy to oblige. Maybe questions about my writing process, future projects, what influences me, what color drawers I have on today... anything. Feel free to ask.

[bsaenz24]

I knew Ron would tell me what color drawers he would have on, but my wife said nnnnnooooooooo!!!!! Now I'll see if I can come up with other questions!! By the way, how cool is this?!?!? I don't know many authors who would make themselves so available to fans. Yet another reason we love Ron!

[Ronald Kelly]

Hanes. Jet black with a gray waistband. My youngest daughter, Chigger, calls them "Blackie-Whackies", as opposed to "Tighty-Whities". Not sure if that sounds quite right...

[Ben Staad]

Hanes. Jet black with a gray waistband. My youngest daughter, Chigger, calls them "Blackie-Whackies", as opposed to "Tighty-Whities". Not sure if that sounds quite right...

LOL!!! No that doesn't sound right at all.

[Ronald Kelly]

Sounds better than "Reddie Headies" or "Bluey-Hughies". Or "Yeller Fellers".

[Ben Staad]

Sounds better than "Reddie Headies" or "Bluey-Hughies". Or "Yeller Fellers".

Yep your right. All of those sound like some type of issue that can only be solved with penicillin.

[Ben Staad]

BTW...Thanks for the opportunity to ask you some questions. I had a few questions about Hell Hollow but I wanted to get the book out again before I ask them.

[Tito_Villa]

I'm always interested to hear of writers inspirations, as I have been writing on and off for the last year. Thanks Tom

[Ronald Kelly]

I'm always interested to hear of writers inspirations, as I have been writing on and off for the last year. Thanks Tom

My interest in writing started around the time I was thirteen or fourteen, Tom. I was reading alot of Poe, Bierce, and Bradbury. I was also rabidly consuming Doc Savage and The Avenger reprints at an alarming rate. By the time I was writing short stories in my senior year of high school, I was starting to read early King, Matheson, and Manly Wade Wellman.

I didn't go to college (I came from a poor blue-collar family), so I wrote in my spare time while working in the factories. I jumped from one genre to another -- science fiction, adventure, western -- until I returned to my first love, horror, around the mid-80's. It was at that time that I was greatly influenced by writers like Joe Lansdale and Robert McCammon. Their unashamed way of writing about the South and its dark side showed me that you could write about what you truly know and be successful. Almost immediately I started selling to the small press magazines (Cemetery Dance, Deathrealm, Grue, etc.) and sold my first novel by 1989.

Even now, during this second career, I have positive influences among my peers. Brian Keene, Brian Smith, John R. Little, James Newman... just to name a few. Honestly, despite forecasts of gloom and doom, I think this is a great time to be a horror author.

[srboone]

So, Ron, are you writing full-time or are working to pay the bills while writing?

[Ronald Kelly]

So, Ron, are you writing full-time or are working to pay the bills while writing?

Unfortunately, Squire, I'm still punching the time clock. I have three kids -- ages 3, 7, and 13 -- and my job security is health and dental insurance for them. I did write professionally for eight years way back in the 90s, when it was just me and my wife, but I'd hate to live that way again... rushing to the mailbox every day, praying for an advance or royalty check to arrive just to make the house payment or buy groceries. If things go well, I can see myself writing full-time in a year or two. But right now, I'm right where I need to be.

[Tito_Villa]

Thanks for the answer Ronald!

[srboone]

Thanks, Ron. I'm getting ready to embark on Slocum and the Gold Slaves & Slocum and the Nightriders. Where do these fit into the timeline of your writing? Are the published texts heavily modified? And how do you look upon them today?

[Ronald Kelly]

Thanks, Ron. I'm getting ready to embark on Slocum and the Gold Slaves & Slocum and the Nightriders. Where do these fit into the timeline of your writing? Are the published texts heavily modified? And how do you look upon them today?

The two Slocum books I wrote came in 1993-94; around the time of Father's Little Helper & The Possession. My agent at the time came to me, wanting to know if I wanted to fill a spot caused by a previous ghost-writer's death. I agreed and wrote Nightriders & Gold Slaves. Berkley provided a "Slocum Bible" detailing the main character's history and, unlike some of the other writers in the series, I implimented alot of John Slocum's background into my storylines. And, of course, there was the two or three sex scenes that necessary for the adult theme of the books.

These books were easy to write. I could crank out one in a week and a half and it was an easy $5000 in my pocket. As far as I know, neither book was heavily edited and were pretty much the way I wrote them. But right when I was getting started and hoping for a lucrative side job in addition to my Zebra novels, Berkley shut down the Slocum line for a period of time. When they started back up, someone else had filled my spot and that was that. Honestly, I think these little western novels hold up well, particularly [I]Gold Slaves[I], which took place in the frozen wilderness of Alaska.

Incidently, I put a character named Kelly somewhere in the two books, to sort of leave my mark and let insiders know who penned them.

[srboone]

Outstanding Ron!!! Can't wait to get to them; I'm in the final stretch of Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, then onto them. Slocum--rather suggestive name.