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3Q’s – Double the trouble with Samantha Kolesnik and Bryan Smith!

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Today’s 3Q’s edition is a double blast-o-rama from two fantastic writers! When I reached out to Samantha to see if she’d be up to do a 3Q’s, she suggested that her and Bryan (who’re currently collaborating on Beleth Station, two paired horror novellas set in the same deranged Pennsylvania town and set to be released first by Thunderstorm Books as a limited hardcover and then a wider release in ebook and paperback) take part in a dual one. I said – ABSOLUTELY!

So, please do welcome Samantha and Bryan!

Steve: What does your writing time look like? Do you try to write at the same time each day? Do you have a word count you attempt to hit?
Samantha: My writing time varies from day to day. I don’t have a routine and I don’t care about a daily word count quota. My excitement and interest in what I’m writing dictates how much and when I do it. I guess the story calls the shots.
Bryan: I tend to write in the late hours, the wee hours of the early morning, when the outside world is still and quiet and distractions are at a minimum. I can write at other times and sometimes do, but I always default to those late hours. If I’m working full bore on a project that’s going well, I always hope to hit at least 1,000 words a day.

Steve: If you could write a story for another author’s fictional world/series, which would it be and why?
Samantha: This is an odd hypothetical for me to consider as I’m singularly focused on writing my own stories. If I had to pick something off the top of my head, it would probably be intriguing to write something in the world of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
Bryan: I’m not too interested in working in the fictional universes of other prose writers. About the closest comparable thing is that I think it would be fun to do tie-in work related to certain media properties. For instance, I’d love to write an original Friday The 13th novel, only with the freedom to go absolutely wild with it in ways the franchise never approaches with the movies. I actually wrote a couple of Friday The 13th novels when I was very young, which I later destroyed. They were what I suppose would be described as fan fiction now, but it would be cool to do it for real.

Steve: Tell me about your newest release (novel/story/poem/novella) and why someone should read it!
Samantha: My latest release is Waif, a novella from Grindhouse Press, which came out in December 2021. Library catalogs list it as being about bisexual women, gangs, pornography, plastic surgery, and rich people. It’s not uncommon for people to say they read it in one sitting, and that they’ve never read anything quite like it. If you like fast reads, disturbing themes, complex characters, and enjoy a lot of frank sexual philosophizing—grab a copy and go for the ride.

Bryan: My latest release is Burning Down The Night, a novel from Grindhouse Press. It’s a Gen X comedic crime thriller set in 1994. I wanted to write about an era that’s kind of lost to time now, but once was a massive focus of media punditry. The days of grunge rock, the slacker ethos, heroin chic, when not giving a fuck about anything and lack of ambition was considered strangely cool. It’s a mindset that feels so alien in 2022, but I remember it so well and lived a lot of it. So this book is my fictional meditation on that. But it’s also fast-paced, entertaining, and hilarious, so everyone should definitely buy it right now.

Steve: Bonus Question! Do you have a cherished book?
Samantha: Yes. There have been many books throughout my life which have had a tremendous impact on me. Usually, the level of impact is contextual—specific to the time and experience of my life at the point I discovered the book. I’ve kept these books over the years and as life goes on, it’s the memory of that first discovery—almost like a recollection of falling in love—that tends to spur me to revisit them. One that I’ve revisited lately is an old copy of The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe. The introspective, lonely (and often romantic) musings of the narrator deeply spoke to me. It was a kind of impenetrable melancholia that made me feel seen at the time. Upon rereading the text recently, I was able to see all of my old annotations in the margins… and in a way, reconnect with my younger self.

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Bryan: The Stand by Stephen King and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. I’ve read both countless times, especially the latter, if only because it’s much shorter than the former. I prefer the originally published somewhat “shorter” version of The Stand to this day. It may not be King’s preferred version, but I feel the flow of it is just better than the unexpurgated edition.

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