Q: When did you begin writing the first novel in a series, Hell Spawn?
I believe it was in 2017, somewhere in the fall. I know this mostly because there was an incident in the news that inspired a subplot in the novel.
Q: How many books have you written for the NYPD Detective Thomas Nolan series?
Twelve. Originally, it was going to be six. But the series was popular, and the character wouldn’t shut up. But I had to cap it at 12, because he was getting too old for this after a while.
Q: What themes will readers find in Hell Spawn?
There are a variety of themes, mostly that there is a time for the compassion and understanding of the weakness of others, and there times when even needs to be confronted, and even put down like a rabid dog. Also, there is always time for redemption.
Q: How would you describe your main protagonist, Thomas Nolan?
Nolan is a good person who thinks he’s barely covering the basics. So what if he works the food kitchen? He’s just being sociable. He puts up the homeless in a spare room? So what, he has the room. He stands guard over little old ladies praying on the sidewalk? He’s just doing his job. He’s not holy, he just goes to church sixty days a year, which is the bare minimum.
Over the course of the first novel, he is constantly surprised that he has access to miraculous gifts from God. However, when he’s forces to admit these gifts to other people, they nod and tell him it makes perfect sense. The nonchalant response drives him crazy.
Q: What other projects are you currently working on, if any?
At the moment, I’m working on the sequel to my Love at First Bite vampire series.
The next series is called Honeymoon from Hell.
I’m also working on my space opera White Ops, the first three books of which are already published by Tuscany Bay press.
But since my last publisher, Silver Empire, folded, I’m working on getting Love at First Bite republished, as well as my thriller series, The Pius Trilogy.
Meanwhile, I’m working on rebooting my book review site, Upstream Reviews — the original URL on WordPress was infested with malware, so I’m bringing it back on substack.
So, I’m a little busy.
Q: Does writing a book come easy to you? You have written so many books!
Oh yes. It’s a matter of practice. I’ve been writing for over half my life. By this point, if I can’t write a novel in three to six weeks, I should retire.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers in your genre?
Writing advice: If you intend to make money on it, expect a long term investment of time and energy, y year with the regulatory of a job.
Q: How has your faith played a part in creating your detective series?
It’s built the character and the secret world of the books. Hell Spawn was originally urban fantasy, but my research in real world demonology warped it into something darker. The first book is definitely horror, and the second is certainly dark. And that just came from data mining four books on the subject, three of them by priests.
It’s played a massive part.
Q: How many anthologies have you done so far?
I’ve lost track. There was Storming Area 51 and Supernatural Streets. I wrote for about five of the Planetary Anthology series. I’ve done several anthologies for Silver Empire Press and Superversive Publishing… both of which have folded.
Q: Do you prefer writing novels or anthologies?
Novels.
Q: Where can readers find you and your books online?
Almost everywhere. The URL: book2read.com/stnypd1 will give you a list of vendors.
Meet Author Declan Finn
Declan Finn is the NYC based author of books ranging from thrillers to urban fantasy to SciFi,
including the Dragon Award Nominated Novel for Best horror in 2016, Honor at Stake, and the 2017
follow-up, Live and Let Bite. He was also nominated for “Best Apocalypse” novel at the Dragons in 2017. He also won the book of the year award with his novel Hell Spawn from CLFA.
Finn is known for being annoyingly Catholic, his action sequences, and writing faster than most
readers can keep up with. In less than a decade, he has written 30 novels, and is waiting for all of
them to be published. He’s been part of multiple anthologies, and I will write for anyone.
Urban Book Reviews 