An Interview with Author, Gary William Murning...

Mid-way through April, we spend time with author, Gary William Murning...


Could you tell uswhat work you currently have available?I currently have three novels available—If I Never (Legend Press, 2009), Children of the Resolution (2011) and The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts (GWM Publications, 2012)
Tell us about yourlatest release.The Realm of theHungry Ghosts is very much about the driving need that we as individualshave to constantly strive for more. The driving force, I guess, behind culturaldevelopment, the building of civilisations and so on—but also, when given freerein, the possible architect of dissatisfaction and despair.Hungry Ghosts are taken from The Tibetan Book of the Dead.They have huge cavernous stomachs and are constantly hungry. They also have,however, very small mouths (or thin necks, in some versions), so they can neverconsume enough, quickly enough, to satisfy their appetites.Although I don’t use these specific ghosts inany literal sense, I liked that image.And so I started playing with it, settling on a fairlysuburban setting—a very ordinary family, a group of friends who, like saidfamily, have problems of their own, and the discovery of an old diary buried inthe back garden, a diary that belonged to a rather hedonistic occupant of theasylum that used to stand where the housing estate in the novel now stands.It’s a pretty full on, disturbing novel. Lots going on, lotsto think about, and it’s probably my most complete novel to date. To use thevernacular, they go on quite a “journey”.
For someoneunfamiliar with your work, how would you describe your writing?Eclectic. I don't like writing the same novel over and overagain. I tend to borrow genre motifs and play with them in ways that appeal tome—exploring the themes that such motifs can suggest and (I suppose this istrue of all my work, the one common element) making character central. Myoverriding instinct as a writer is that as long as I can make my readersbelieve in my characters wholeheartedly they'll pretty much follow themanywhere.
What else do you havein the pipeline?I've been playing around with a few ideas over the pastcouple of months. I have another couple of novels ready to go so there hasn'tbeen any real pressure to rush. I think I have finally settled on oneparticular idea, however. A novel called JuniperFaraday—about a journalist researching/interviewing a woman who hasmurdered her husband for very unusual reasons.
What writers have hadthe most influence on your own writing?Many writers have influenced me in many ways. In the earlydays, writers like Stephen King, Clive Barker, William Peter Blatty and PeterStraub made me want to be a writer. Ilearned from them, as well, of course, principally by, to begin with, trying toemulate them. I soon learned, however, that there were other literarydirections I wanted to go in. I discovered writers like John Irving, JosephHeller, Ken Kesey and a whole host of others and started trying other things. Iloved horror (and still do) but quickly realised I couldn't write it in thegenre exclusively. There were other stories I had/have to tell.
What was the lastthing you read?To the End of the Landby the Israeli writer David Grossman.
Anythingelse you’d like to tell us about?To those who've alreadybought my work, thank you. To those who might buy my work in the future, thankyou and I hope you enjoy it. To those who say they will never buy my work…… are you absolutely sure?
http://www.gwmpublications.com/