I’ve been running a series of interviews with authors that are releasing new books, particularly dark fiction. I hope you’ll take the time to check out their work. Today, please welcome indie author, Scott Nicholson.

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To start, can you tell me a little about yourself.

I'm just your typical lazy hack, trading words for magic beans. I simultaneously believe my stories have a deeper meaning that will save the world and that they are self-indulgent fantasies designed to amuse myself and nothing more. All in all, I'd rather be gardening.

How long have you been writing and how did you get to this point in your career?

I had the typical author trajectory–crayons and comic doodlings, weird stories to amuse my classmates, obscure high school poetry, the serious literary phase involving lots of suicide and cigarettes, a rock career, college degree, journalism, and then writing a bunch of novels. And here I am, wherever that is. It looks suspiciously like the set of "Deliverance."

You have a new book just out, The Skull Ring. Tell me what inspired you to write this?

I'd been reading about Satanic Ritual Abuse and False Recovered Memory Syndrome, and though the Satanic Panic was largely a phenomenon of the 1980s, I figured the devil never goes out of fashion. I've always been wary of shrinks or anyone who both has the desire to "help" you and a belief that they know how to do so. From there, I wanted the character of Julia Stone to take a journey of self-discovery and faith while fending off dimly understood evils.

I have a keen interest in dark fiction. Tell me how you would classify this book and what’s dark about it?

I'd say it's a dark psychological thriller with a romantic element. While there are strains of mystery and crime fiction, it's dark in the utter manipulation of Julia's mind and the motives of the antagonists. Though Satan is largely off-stage, there are points where Julia wonders if some evil entity is twisting and shaping events on a grander scale.

Sometimes we have to be ruthless in writing/editing. We cut scenes, eliminate characters or even kill them off. Tell me what was the hardest of these in this book.

Julia is a bit annoying early on, simply because she is so vulnerable and damaged that she may come off as weak. She discovers inner strength but also becomes open to faith, simply because she has so little else she can trust. Balancing Julia's weakness with a believable character capable of taking on the bad guys was a delicate process. I've read too many books where the women are "men with curves," so I wanted to make her believable.

This blog is called Random Musings, so give me a random quote from the book – something you’re particularly fond of.

After Julia researches a few Satanic Web sites, she muses, "Someone who was filled with the power of the Master of the World should at least know how to run their text through a spell check."

What other works do you have out and what can we expect from you next?

Though THE SKULL RING just came out, I am launching the supernatural thriller DRUMMER BOY on May 11. In traditional publishing, you want a big launch and a buzz because you only have a limited time on the store shelves, and your publisher drives you into a fearful froth in order to keep "good numbers." In the modern environment, though, you may as well make everything available and then seek your audience in a slow and persistent manner. Coming this summer is the psychological thriller DISINTEGRATION, a modern retelling of Jacob and Esau from the Old Testament, featuring a cast of duplicitous, unreliable characters probably modeled after the author.

Where can we find you on the internet?

If you want timely industry and writing links, tweet me up at twitter.com/hauntedcomputer. If you want my wry brand of self-indulgent humor, then Facebook is where to get that side of the Scott Nicholson experience. For more in-depth writer and industry observations, try hauntedcomputer.blogspot.com, and if you want to flex your craft muscles, then writegoodordie.blogspot.com is an interactive manual. Obviously I have far too many interests and far too few skills to address them all.

Any final comments or thoughts?

I'm an acquired taste and I have become less interested in a populist appeal as I stack up more novels. And as I've learned more about the industry, I understand why it works the way it does, and where it's broken. I also know where I'm broken. It's somewhere between my ears, and if I keep jabbing a pencil in there, maybe one day I'll root out the disease. Probably will take 40 more novels, though. Oh. And buy all my books, so I can sit at home in dirty sweat pants. People who say "Don't quit your day job" are people with lousy day jobs who don't want anyone else to have fun. I say "Quit your day job, and the sooner the better."

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Scott, these books are right up my alley!! Congratulations on the new releases and thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. You have lots to keep you busy over the coming months! Best of luck!