What do we need to know about your new book?
Towers is the first installment of The World Between series. It follows Heath Fallows, a corporate thief and sometimes drug dealer as his already shaky world turns upside down. After a run through the Mengko district, one of the twelve major corporations that make up human civilization, he unwittingly uncovers more than he bargained for with the appearance of an ancient.

The ancients are a race of supernatural beings that live outside the districts and independent zones, often thought to be little more than a myth to keep people from wandering outside district borders and keep them on the right side of the law to avoid dismissal from the cities.

With his life on the line, Heath digs for information and resources amongst society’s outcasts, freaks, and underworld, making dangerous deals to figure out what he’s gotten himself into and why the blueprints of a new district tower are so important.

What genre is it?
Towers is a Dark Urban Fantasy Thriller.

Funny how it gets harder and harder to lump a book into one category these days, but the great thing is that so many books written these days hold elements from across multiple genres, finding something to appeal to wider audiences.

Heath Fallows. How on earth did you come up with that name?
Ha!  The name was originally a joke used in a role-playing campaign back in college.  Everybody kept mispronouncing it as ‘Follows’ and it became a running gag of “Heath follows what?”

Erm, okay. What kind of readers will Towers appeal to?
Fans of thrillers, urban fantasy, and cyberpunk will get a kick out of this book. Heath isn’t the traditional protagonist, not even much of an anti-hero. His moral flexibility leaves him with lots of room for improvement and sharp wit adds a fair bit of humor into the mixture of action and horror.

How long did it take to write?
Towers took about a year to write. Most of the world and characters had already been established in a book I’d been writing for four years before I decided I flat out hated the premise and scrapped it. In that book, Heath only played a minor role, but was one of the more memorable characters in the story (even more so than the protagonist).

Maybe that explains why the world is so fully realised with its Ancients, Junkers. But how do you find the balance between giving wings to your imagination and reining it in so things don’t get too complicated for the reader?
I spend a lot of time researching different cultures.  The Ancients came about from reading WAY too many fairy tales and then warping them into something much darker, but with their own curious agendas.  The Junkers came about studying the punk scene with some additional insights from a couple of BDSM enthusiasts.  I wanted a world filled with believable characters, so I came up with different archetypes and belief structures, then gave each individual their own little back story (not included in my writing) to give them reasons for following the culture and their own agendas.

All that research, does being a writer ruin reading for you? Do you find that instead of reading for pleasure you end up studying every book?
Yes and no.  I’ve become much pickier in my reading than I was when I was a kid, cringing at cliches and, as a former English teacher, cringing at poor grammar and weak language.  But it rarely takes away from the overall enjoyment of the story.  Lately I’ve been reading through the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan and enjoyed getting lost in somebody else’s world for a little bit before I go diving back into my own.

What was the most challenging part of your creative process?
I think the hardest part was establishing the junkers – a group of people who live outside the district at a landfill, having created a ‘pleasure palace’ constructed entirely of discarded items. I wanted something disturbing, showing the extremities of giving yourself over to carnal desire and the evils that spawn from it.

You say you are a former English teacher. Tell us a bit more about yourself.
Lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since I was six, but still manage to be all over the place. I’ve worked warehouses, food service, tech support, 3D animation, and taught English at a juvenile detention center for three years. My middle daughter was diagnosed with autism a year ago and, when she turned three and was enrolled in the local elementary school program, I left my job to be a stay at home dad. It’s been a big change and my biggest struggle has been feeling like I lost all control over my life outside of my family.

Towers finished, I was disheartened at the idea of waiting 12 to 18 months for somebody to pick it up and put it on the shelves and decided to take matters into my own hands. Not exactly where I expected my life to head, but I think most people dream of being self-employed and it’s been a huge learning experience. Between looking after my three daughters, taking care of housework, and tutoring part-time in the evenings, I try to squeeze whatever time I can find to hang out with my wife, work on marketing, and try find to continue writing.

Talking about marketing, is that something you use social media for?
A bit.  I’m pretty active on twitter – @MattBryantDFW – but I usually just joke around with people.  I don’t care much for frequent spammers, so I might drop a tweet about a guest blog or review of another author’s work every few days to bring traffic to my site.  If you like my humor, chances are you’ll enjoy my book.

What is your site’s address?
My regular blog is online at http://matthewbryant.blogspot.com. I also have a writer site up at http://matthewbryant.webs.com, but it’s just barely up and needs a lot of work.

Nearly forgot to say, Towers has a wonderful cover.
Thanks!  The cover took a lot of thought before I found something that I liked… and then a bit of tweaking before I had the image just the way I wanted.

Where can we buy Towers?
Towers is available on kindle or paperback at Amazon.com: Kindle –  Paperback.

What’s next?
Currently I’m working on some urban fairy tales, modernizing one of my favorite traditions. And of course the sequel to Towers, Impulse, which I hope to have finished and available late spring 2013.

***
Enjoyed this interview? Then check out our conversation with Aaron Overfield.