The Father of Inspiration

How the NJ Horror Scene Helped Get My Second Book Done

It took almost 10 years to get it done, but in 2024, I self-published my first book, “Brush Fire: A Bow & Arrow Mystery.”

It’s a work of fiction, what I consider to be the most fun writing, and what I write when I’m not writing about combat sports or the fight business. So, of course, since last year, I have been working on the latest Bow & Mystery, and I’m happy to announce that it’s out, up, and live on Kindle and Amazon for your reading pleasure.

The Father of Evil: A Bow & Arrow Mystery

You may recognize the face on the cover.

Photo: Ed Carbajal

That’s Father Evil, whom I have known since I was a kid. You can navigate this site to see that I’m a fan of Horror and have attended (and continue to attend) the NJ Horror-Con. Father Evil is an always-present and prominent figure at many Horror conventions, and every time I left one, I’d think, “I gotta write another story.”

After a while, I wrote an outline and thought about how I could use the Jersey Horror icon in my story set in Jersey, where my protagonists have most of their adventures. 

The funny thing about writing fiction is that once the characters come alive, and you start typing, the stories write themselves. This story wrote itself as I spoke with Father Evil about using the imagery of his character; he even helped me with the ending by having me include a place we played around a lot when we were kids.

This book is longer and was written in less time. A little over a year from “Brush Fire” came “The Father of Evil.” 

This post isn’t so much of a “how to write a second book.” 

It’s more about telling you to get that first book out of you, so you can write the second one. Like anything in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

It’s still not easy, but it sure was fun to write.

Check out both books here.