Jim writes horror and dark mysteries that have endings you won’t see coming, and favours stories packed with wit. He has written twenty novels and well over a dozen short-stories spanning many genres.
Jim has a very strange sense of humour and is often considered a little odd. When not writing he will be found playing the drums, watching football and eating chocolate. He lives with his long-suffering wife, three beautiful children and two indignant cats in Swindon, Wiltshire UK.
FaceBook Amazon UK: hyperurl.co/JimOdyAuthor Email Twitter: Jim_Ody_Author
Instagram: jimodyauthor Amazon US
Not everyone had been happy to see them together. A woman from their past refused to accept it. Her actions over the previous year had ended in tragedy, and had almost broken the happy couple apart.
Now, away from it all in a picturesque log cabin, Paul and Debbie look forward to time spent alone together... But she has found out where they are, and she will stop at nothing to make sure that the marriage is over… forever.
But Huntswood Cove isn’t just a beautiful Devonshire fishing town, it has its own secret. Recently, people have begun to disappear, only to turn up dead in suspicious circumstances. The locals begin to question what is going on. Soon everything strange points to the abandoned house in the woods. The house that nobody wants to talk about.
The Tough Questions
• Where is your favorite place to write? Read? My favourite place to write would be at my desk. It’s next to the window looking over my garden. Whilst there might be a million better places, I am easily distracted! To read is probably on holiday by the pool. Or on holiday when the rest of the family are asleep!
• What did you want to be when you grew up? I was a huge fan of the movie Convoy, so for a long time I had dreams of emulating Kris Kristofferson and driving around in a huge truck! Years later, I’d then decide I wanted to be a stuntman after Lee Majors in The Fall Guy, but I also harbored a desire to be an author too.
• What is one thing you need when you sit down to write? Quiet and time. I cannot be rushed or bothered. I get in the zone and am taken off into my own little world.
• What is one tip you would like to share with an aspiring author? Read as much as you can on your chosen genre, and write for yourself and not for others.
• Are you a pantser or plotter? I lean more towards being a pantser, but over time (and books) I’ve learnt to have a rough outline of where the story is going. I will often have certain questions of conflict I want to address, and I’m mindful of moving a story along whilst trying to fool the reader.
From BOH reader Heather L.
• Chili – beans or no beans? I don’t care for any type of spice. I have sensitive taste buds and have been known to not be able to finish a ginger cookie.
• Who’s your favorite superhero and why? Tough one. I like Batman as he doesn’t necessarily have superpowers but a load of gadgets, but the background of incredible wealth is slightly off putting. I like man-next-door vigilantes. In fact, the Bruce Willis character in M Night Shyamalan’s ‘Unbreakable’ would be more like it.
• DC or Marvel and why is it Marvel? Ha ha! DC for me as they are more dark and adult.
• You need to hide a body - who do you call to help you? I have a character in a couple of my books called Mr Chen who’s job is to make bodies disappear – however, that being said, without doubt I would just do it myself. Whenever you introduce another person you double the chance of being caught. I suffer with anxiety, so I’d have to be in complete control and the only way to do that would be to hide the body myself. I’m a problem solver as a full-time job, and a huge fan of true-crime, so I’m quite confident I could do it without too much trouble!
• Favorite song to belt out in the shower? I love so much music that it’s literally whatever I last listened to. More than likely, it would be some sort of rock ballad perhaps Motley Crue ‘Home Sweet Home’ or Faster Pussycat ‘’House of Pain’.
• What animal would you be and why? A monkey in the wild. They just look like they have so much fun!
• If you were stranded on a deserted island with all your human needs taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you? An acoustic guitar (I don’t really play but I love music and it would entertain me), and a camp-bed.
• Next project (what are you currently working on)? It a currently-untitled Horror surrounding a guy whose wife leaves him and his two children, and unable to afford the house payments is forced to move back to the small town he grew up in. And escaped from. The story unravels about the secret that he ran away from, but that had ultimately pulled him back. Now, he cannot just leave as he has two children to look after. And you can’t watch teenagers all day and all night!
• Scary movies - complete darkness or all the lights on? Complete darkness
• Cats or dogs? Both. I’ve had both and each have followed me around and became my shadow
• Who would you stalk? I’m not sure I’d stalk anyone as for me there has to be a purpose, and just following someone around seems like a lot of work for little reward!
• What inspired you to start writing? An active imagination. I grew up on a farm miles away from anyone else so it was second nature to create worlds where I was no longer alone.
• How old were you when you wrote your first story? About 6 or 7. It was a haunted house tale with hidden corridors and booby traps! 22 years later, my first published book featured a large house with hidden corridors and booby traps!
• What is your favorite book/story you wrote? That is much too hard a question to answer. I can name most of my books as my favourite, with each one having a different reason why.
• Who is your current favorite author? This is again a tough one. My favourites at the moment are Grady Hendrix, Caroline Kepnes, Gillian Flynn, & CJ Skuse – My mate ML Rayner is pretty good too!
• What is your favorite genre? Horror – I love stories of friends on an adventure, or small town struggles.
• Favorite horror movie? I love Friday the 13th (specifically part 3 & 4), Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Paranormal Activity, Saw… and many, many more!
• Favorite book of all time? Jaws, Laymon’s ‘Funland’ and ‘Darkness, Tell Us’, Bentley Little ‘The Store’, Koontz ‘The Taking’, ‘By The Light of The Moon’, ‘Intensity’ and ‘Life Expectancy’ and many more!
• Cake - vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate
• Pizza - pineapple or definitely never on a pizza? Yep, I love a Hawaiian.
From BOH reader Derek T.
• Is there a particular author that inspired you to write horror? Shaun Hutson, Joe R Lansdale, Dean Koontz & Richard Laymon
• Are there any things required when you write?, i.e., listening to certain music? an adult beverage? complete silence? stuff like that. Complete silence and bags of time.
• Skittles or Starburst? Starburst, but much prefer chocolate
• Do you read or write anything that's not horror? Yes, I read all kinds of genres. I write Dark/Mystery, and YA.
• Rhode Island is neither a road nor an island, please discuss. I’m afraid as a Brit I know more about genital warts than Rhode Island…
• How do you feel about pants? Trousers? Their okay. I do favour cargo shorts though.
• Dogs, cats or ferrets? Dogs and cats but not ferrets. As a rule I stay clear of animals who like to dive down your trousers.
• Mountains or beach? I love both, but probably beach but that has nice mountainous walks surrounding it too.
• Does pineapple belong on pizza? It does indeed, although I prefer barbeque with chicken and bacon.
• What's your favorite taco? Too spicy for me. My kids like Taco Bell and there is nothing on the menu I like.
• Would you go to space? Good question. I’ve been fascinated with space since a kid, and my son is now just as obsessed (he owns many NASA T-shirts), but I’m also a little scared too…
• Do you eat supper or dinner? Tea. Breakfast in the morning, dinner at midday, and Tea at night.
• Favorite ice cream? Ben and Jerrys Phish Food
• Were you a good student? I was good at English, Maths and PE but also loved being the class clown.
• Who was your childhood crush? I never really had crushes. Sure I thought people were attractive but not enough to get obsessed with. At school I was drawn to the quiet, clever girls. The ones with the classic ‘taming of the shrew’ vibe. Cute, but downplayed it.
• Your favorite thing on French fries? Vinegar and ketchup
From BOH reader Shannon E.
• What’s something you want to learn/ get better at? I’ve been playing the drums for 30 years but purely self-taught. I’ve just started having lessons to polish up my skills.
• Why did you decide you wanted to be an author? I enjoy the escapism from life. I’ve always been a big reader but often felt frustrated that I couldn’t find unique books that I really enjoyed. I’m basically saying I write the books for myself!
• Is there anything you don't eat? Spice and garlic that covers a multitude of dishes.
• If you could have 3 wishes, what would they be? Happiness, mindfulness and contentment. I know that sounds really vague, but individual things like money, holidays or possessions would only give you pleasure short-term. Would it not be better to feel satisfied with what we already have?
• If you could have 1 hour to sit down with anyone and talk who would it be and what would you talk about? A very tough one. In all honesty it would probably someone like a rock star who was open and honest about the highs and lows of what they’ve experienced. I find the whole lifestyle fascinating and falsely euphoric, as I know there is a huge attraction to it, but I really wouldn’t want, or enjoy it.
• What makes you unique? I think we’re all unique. Billions of people all different in this world. I’m no more unique than the next person.
• What's something about you that no one else knows? Stories from my teens (wink wink!)
• What’s Something you want to learn or wish you were better at? Enjoying life
• What do you do if you see a spaceman? Park in it, man!
• What’s something that bugs you? Inequality. We are surrounded by it. Whereas years ago it was plainly obvious but accepted, now we preach about highlighting it and yet the subtle inequalities will always remain.
• What’s the most embarrassing thing you can remember that’s happened to you? I’m not sure I have too many embarrassing stories, although suffering from Anxiety I think is similar to going through embarrassing situations daily.
• What’s your favorite place on earth? On the beach or in a forest are special places to me. I enjoyed Hawaii both times I’ve been there. I like chilled out places where you can mix adventure with tranquility.
• Who are the special people in your life? My family, my friends and the voices in my head.
• What’s something you’re proud of? My kids. All three are wonderful little humans.
• If your life were a movie who would play you? God knows. A recovering addict Z-lister who was talked into the role on a 3am-drunken -booty call. He hopes this could be is big break, whilst his agent knows it’s his last shot and more than likely will end up on the cutting room floor and forgotten, and him back in rehab.
• If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be? The Head of a big publisher where I’d sign me up as the next big thing!
• If you could have a superpower what would it be? Either an invisible cloak, or the ability to stop time. I’d love to say I’d put it to good use, but I wouldn’t. I would indulge in various acts of Tomfoolery purely for my own entertainment.
• What would you do if there was zombie apocalypse right now? Move to the coast, and go onto an island. Zombies can’t swim, can they?
• What were you like as a child? I was a hyperactive dreamer. I was either larking around, or lost in my own world.
FaceBook Amazon UK: hyperurl.co/JimOdyAuthor Email Twitter: Jim_Ody_Author
Instagram: jimodyauthor Amazon US The Place That Never Existed
Thank you Jim for stopping by my blog!
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