Meet P.M. Prior, Author of The Basement, The Lake Car, and The House
BBB: Tell us about yourself.
PMP: I am a former research academic who somehow managed to escape after 10 years locked in the ivory tower. My degrees are in criminal justice and I've worked with various police forces and criminal justice agencies around the world. I've taught as some very good, world-class schools, as well as some not so good, local ones. To make the long story short, I never really wanted to be an academic and, like most people, found writing for academic purposes (in this case, scholarly journals) exceptionally boring (especially since nobody but other academics seem to read them). So I jumped at the opportunity to become a suspense, thriller and crime fiction writer. I think this is better use of my education and experience.
PMP: I am a former research academic who somehow managed to escape after 10 years locked in the ivory tower. My degrees are in criminal justice and I've worked with various police forces and criminal justice agencies around the world. I've taught as some very good, world-class schools, as well as some not so good, local ones. To make the long story short, I never really wanted to be an academic and, like most people, found writing for academic purposes (in this case, scholarly journals) exceptionally boring (especially since nobody but other academics seem to read them). So I jumped at the opportunity to become a suspense, thriller and crime fiction writer. I think this is better use of my education and experience.
BBB: What inspired your books?
PMP: My first book, The Basement, was meant as the introductory chapter to my protagonist, Special Agent Lenore Chapel, for my full-length novel, The Lake Car. My editor thought it was so good that I should publish it as a stand-alone short story. While The Lake Car is still underway, The Basement has done incredibly well as a debut publication. My main influence for this short is Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs. I will also be releasing a novella, The House, in the next few weeks (January 2016). Although this has crime and supernatural elements, it centers on the mental trauma and illness of the protagonist, Dr. Prue Bridgewater, after a series of particularly harrowing experiences. Unlike The Basement, The House is a psychological thriller with a big dose of horror sprinkled in. It is inspired, oddly enough, on environmental theories of crime. In other words, bad places attract bad things...
PMP: My first book, The Basement, was meant as the introductory chapter to my protagonist, Special Agent Lenore Chapel, for my full-length novel, The Lake Car. My editor thought it was so good that I should publish it as a stand-alone short story. While The Lake Car is still underway, The Basement has done incredibly well as a debut publication. My main influence for this short is Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs. I will also be releasing a novella, The House, in the next few weeks (January 2016). Although this has crime and supernatural elements, it centers on the mental trauma and illness of the protagonist, Dr. Prue Bridgewater, after a series of particularly harrowing experiences. Unlike The Basement, The House is a psychological thriller with a big dose of horror sprinkled in. It is inspired, oddly enough, on environmental theories of crime. In other words, bad places attract bad things...
BBB: Tell us about your main character.
PMP: When the story unfolds, Agent Chapel is a real go-getter. She's a strong, career-oriented woman. She's sarcastic and no-nonsense. The events of The Basement change her life irrevocably, in both obvious and subtle ways. Chapel will never be the same. This is explored in much greater depth in The Lake Car which is a crime fiction mystery. Professor Prue Bridgewater, on the other hand, is quite fragile and teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She's been through a lot and has been pushed to the brink. When Prue and her husband move to an late 19th century fixer-upper in the country, the isolation and strange discoveries on the property take the terror to a whole new level.
PMP: When the story unfolds, Agent Chapel is a real go-getter. She's a strong, career-oriented woman. She's sarcastic and no-nonsense. The events of The Basement change her life irrevocably, in both obvious and subtle ways. Chapel will never be the same. This is explored in much greater depth in The Lake Car which is a crime fiction mystery. Professor Prue Bridgewater, on the other hand, is quite fragile and teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She's been through a lot and has been pushed to the brink. When Prue and her husband move to an late 19th century fixer-upper in the country, the isolation and strange discoveries on the property take the terror to a whole new level.
BBB: What are you currently working on?
PMP: Apart from continuing work on The Lake Car, I'm also working on a new project called Cyber Bully. This story deals with a particularly nasty character who enjoys using the anonymity of the internet to bully, harass and intimidate unsuspecting victims. However, when one of them bites back harder than anyone would ever expect, the tables are turned and the hunter learns what it feels like to be the hunted...
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
PMP: They can follow my work on my blog at http://pmpriorcrimefiction.blogspot.com/ , on Twitter @PMPriorAuthor and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PM-Prior-182994075368533/
PMP: Apart from continuing work on The Lake Car, I'm also working on a new project called Cyber Bully. This story deals with a particularly nasty character who enjoys using the anonymity of the internet to bully, harass and intimidate unsuspecting victims. However, when one of them bites back harder than anyone would ever expect, the tables are turned and the hunter learns what it feels like to be the hunted...
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
PMP: They can follow my work on my blog at http://pmpriorcrimefiction.blogspot.com/ , on Twitter @PMPriorAuthor and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PM-Prior-182994075368533/
