I am reviving my 6Ws series to give fellow authors and their books a bit of promotion. It’s been a while, but Henry Corrigan is the next author to feature. (With a nod to my former life as a journalist, I opted for the 6Ws of the business: who, what, when, where, why and how, which counts as it ends in W.) I had the opportunity to read Henry’s latest, Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light before its May 15 release. As an LGBTQ haunted house novella, the book puts an interesting and original spin on the horror genre. Certainly, I was hooked from the start: “Before Michael came to me, I thought I would be alone forever.”
I will let Henry take over.
Who is the author Henry Corrigan?
I’m a bi horror, sci-fi, and fantasy author, poet, and playwright who writes under a name it took me a whole day to think up. I love horror, comics, movies and music. I love my wife and daughter who I wouldn’t still be here without. And I love writing stories. All kinds of stories. I figure out who I am each day through my family and my writing.
What is your latest book?
Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light is an LGBTQ haunted house novella about an artist and his husband who move their family to an abandoned house in upstate NY.
Eric Tillman is looking for a way out. Born into a poor family, the once starving artist has spent his life dreaming of a home where his kids could escape screaming landlords and the sting of poverty. So, when his husband Mike, a house-flipper with a jeweler’s eye for abandoned places, discovers a strange, but exciting old house in upstate New York, it feels like the perfect answer to all their prayers.
But once the family moves in, it isn’t long before Eric learns that some chances are too costly to take. For this house has standards it lives by, expectations which must be met. And on the long, relentless road between perfection and salvation … some doors lead only to ruin.
Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light is a unique take on the haunted house genre, because the story moves back and forth between Eric’s perspective and that of the house. You get to hear, see, and feel what the house is thinking. And you get to know what it has in store for the poor people who decided to move in.
When did you begin writing?
I started writing in grammar school, I don’t remember what age. All I remember is falling in love with poetry. It hooked me then and I still return to it to this day. I’ve been lucky enough to have my horror poetry included in a charity mental health anthology, Shards, from Ravens Quoth Press, and I’m hoping to see another in a different anthology later this summer.
How do you write?
I guess you could say that I’m neither a plotter nor a pantser. I tell everybody the same thing. I always know how a story begins and ends. And it’s always somewhere in the middle where I lose my way. The details of stories trip me up, but honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes me think harder about each work. It helps me make my stories better.
Where do you write?
I write pretty much anywhere I can. I have an office at home but I’m rarely there these days. I super commute for my day job now, so when it comes to writing I rely on dictation or the notes app on my phone. Hopefully I can put all this super commuting nonsense aside because it’s killing me. I miss having time with my family and it leaves me with no time to edit. I can draft a story but I can’t polish it. It’s terrible.
Why do you write?
Because I can’t not. Writing has been part of who I am for as long as I can remember. I write because I want it to be part of the legacy I leave behind. I know there are writers out there who say they will be happy if they only end up with a handful of readers. I applaud them for it, but that’s not me. I want to make a success of this, I want it to be what I do full-time because it will provide me with family time, and peace of mind. My stories help me, and I hope they will help other people someday.
Links to books and social media:
Somewhere Quiet, Full of Light: https://books2read.com/u/bPklY7
A Man In Pieces: https://a.co/d/gkhxBWQ
Shards: https://a.co/d/d09LFes
Blog: https://henrycorrigan.blogspot.com/
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/henry.corrigan.35