Fantasy Focus: Sherlock Holmes: Trail of Darkness by John Pirillo

John Pirillo and his book Trail of Darkness is today’s fantasy focus. But before we learn about the book, lets learn a little bit about John first.

What inspired you to become an author?

I would have to say what inspired me was my parents. They used to read to me on their laps and they instilled a great joy in words which has never left me.

As I grew up I read pretty much every book I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter if it was science fiction, fantasy, mystery, biographies, anything!

I used to spend every moment I could reading, absorbing all those wonderful stories and ideas. Finally, when the Russians shot Sputnik into orbit, I wrote my first science fiction story. My first story ever.

I didn’t have a wonderful experience as a writer in High School, however, my English teacher was very jealous of my writing skills at the time and flunked me over and over, no matter how hard I worked on my writing. Just me!

Years later in college I met a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Molly Irwin, who encouraged me to write. I wrote poetry and plays at the time. She told me, “Write from you heart and don’t edit it. Write what you feel!”

I never thought I’d make a career of writing so even though I continued to write for years after that, it wasn’t until the last few years that I realized I was putting off something that was dear to my heart.

It’s like falling in love with someone and then pushing them away because you don’t think you’re worthy enough to be with them. (I’ve done that too unfortunately.)

So since that ignition point I’ve turned my attention to writing every free moment I have.

I hope that gives you some idea of why I became an author, though I suspect it would take hundreds of pages and experiences to understand it in depth.