 Tell us something about yourself.
I am a writer living outside of Houston, not far from the Galveston Bay. I've been there for almost a decade now, but before that I lived in DeKalb, Illinois, and Austin, and of course, Lubbock. I am married to an awesome wife, have two beautiful children, and work in the NASA community, as well as write.
If you like weird westerns, space westerns, or general fantasy adventure and monster stories, try one of my stories. Of course, I also work with human remains dogs. I have been training HRDs for 4 or 5 years now. Who are your favorite authors?
I've always been into Stephen King. I haven't read all his stories or know all the details, but I do love reading his books. Lately I also find myself going back to classic pulps and turn-of-the-century fiction. Conan, Cthulhu, Tarzan, and Dracula keep getting into my hands. Through my wife and daughter I have read Wilson Rawles and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and shocker that it is, they have really influenced me. I have them to thank for my inspiration to write space westerns. So why do you write?
Man, I couldn't stop if I tried. And I have tried. I remember the experience well. It was like my mind was a clogged-up drain pipe. Nothing could get in or out. I've learned my lesson, though. Now I just keep writing. If you could be anyone's gut, who's gut would you be and why?
I hate these kind of questions. I remember being asked the same thing when I applied for some environmental salesman job. I was a freshman, and I was sitting with all these older, cooler people who had long hair and beards and wool ponchos. So I said "I'd want to be the gut of Dave Mustaine, the guy from Megadeth, cause he drinks a lot of beer and that would be cool." What a stupid answer. I wouldn't want to be Dave Mustaine's gut or anybody else's. (I'm not even into beer that much.) I guess I would be maybe a great chef or food critic, since they should be eating great food, but I still don't like the idea of being a vat of stomach acid. So besides writing, do you do anything else?
Besides writing, I also work on a canine search and rescue team, Sarquest. I had two human remains dogs, one that had just started its training and another that was pretty close to mission-ready, at least in my opinion. In May 2009 the younger one, Princess, died of bloat. I still work with Mojo, though. I love working with the animals, and I get such a high watching a dog hit the corners of a scent cone as it tracks down scent. It's an awesome feeling and a very fulfilling experience, though it is a lot of work. Did you say "Human Remains?"
No self-respecting horror writer wouldn't do human remains, right? It is one of the hardest things I have ever done, working in search and rescue. Human remains work, especially, requires a lot of certifications and a lot of working with your dog. On my blog, I keep a chronicle of how life in SAR work is going, and the techniques I use to train a cadaver dog. None of this is endorsed by the National Association of Search and Rescue or my team, but if you are interested in learning more about human remains work, take a read through my blog. Also, if you ever need to contact SarQuest, or would like to donate/help out, you can contact them here. Thanks for the info. Any last words?
That's it for now, but if you have any questions or something you want to know, drop me a line at doug@douggoodman.net, and maybe I'll post it here. | |
