The next author I want to introduce to you all in this series is none other than bestselling, award-winning Qwantu Amaru. Qwantu Amaru has been writing since the age of 11. An avid reader, he has always aspired to write suspenseful page turners and socially significant literature like those of his writing influences Richard Wright, Harper Lee, Walter Mosley, Tananarive Due, Anne Rice, Wilbur Smith, Michael Connelly, Dan Brown, Brandon Massey, and Stephen King.
Qwantu draws his inspiration from his modest upbringing in small towns and cities across the US, as well as experiences living abroad in Brazil and Turkey. In addition to his first novel, ONE BLOOD, Qwantu has published five volumes of poetry and produced one Spoken Word Album. Qwantu is an active member of the outstanding, socially active poetry collective Black on Black Rhyme out of Tallahassee, FL. He is also part owner and one third of The Pantheon Collective, an independent publishing venture dedicated to bringing high quality independent books to the masses while empowering and inspiring other authors to follow their dreams. In November 2012, Qwantu launched AuthorDiscovery.com, a website and author services company with the aim of making it easier for good authors to get discovered by readers. Qwantu currently resides in Istanbul, Turkey while researching his next thriller The Uneasy Sleep of Giants.
Recently Qwantu shared with me his time, here is that conversation:
BLM: Qwantu, how long have you wanted to be a writer?
QA: I think I wanted to write as soon as I finished reading THE HOBBIT as a kid. It took me a while to put pen to
paper, but once I did, I couldn’t stop!
BLM: Why speculative fiction (Horror)?
QA: I think horror done well is a clever sort of inception (like the Leonardo Di Caprio movie). The reader must suspend their beliefs in order to enjoy a story like this, and while their belief is suspended you have the opportunity to make them really think about some things. That’s what I got out of books like Invisible Man and Beloved which I believe are horror novels in a literary package. That’s why I wanted to write horror and speculative fiction.
BLM: Horror is also under the umbrella of “suspense fiction”, what are some keys to writing successful suspense?
QA: Great question. I think the first key to writing successful suspense is to really know your characters. Begin to understand their fears and strengths and put them in situations where they cannot put their strengths to use. Throw constant challenges at your characters, force them to dig deeper and deeper to achieve their ultimate objective. The more invested the reader is in the characters the more suspenseful this becomes for them. Another basic suspense tactic is to keep key answers just out of the readers reach. The reader can’t wait for the answers and so they keep on reading. Another technique I apply in ONE BLOOD is to make you think you have all the information and then flip what you know on its head, making you question everything you thought you knew. All of these things help to build suspense.
BLM: Excellent! Now you’ve mentioned your novel ONE BLOOD, a bestseller. Can you tell us about the plot of ONE BLOOD?
QA: ONO BLOOD is a supernatural suspense novel about a curse tormenting a group of people unaware of their hidden connections. It’s a twisty Tarantino-esque thriller with well-drawn characters, multiple storylines, and plenty of surprises. On the supernatural front, we have the aforementioned curse, voodoo, and superhuman abilities. I promise, you will never see the ending coming! One Blood took me 12 years to develop, write, edit, and publish and so far the book has been downloaded by over 30,000 readers around the world. One Blood has also racked up 9 literary awards!
BLM: Wow! Congratulations! Who is your favorite character in ONE BLOOD?
QA: Thanks! Wow, this is a tough question to answer! I really enjoyed developing all the characters; however my favorite character in the book is Malcolm Wright, aka Panama X. He is the example of hatred gone very very wrong in the hands of someone very powerful.
BLM: Now, some may not know this but you are also a poet, can you tell us about your poetry?
QA: No one ever asks about my poetry, thank you! I started off my writing career as a poet. It’s where I honed my voice, sensibility, and learned the thrill of finishing a work. My poetry is very diverse. I write political poems, love poems, erotic poems, and introspective poems. Poetry allows me to get certain feelings and emotions off my chest in a relatively easy fashion. I will always write poetry.
BLM: Who are your favorite horror/speculative fiction writers?
QA: Tananarive Due, Stephen King, Brandon Massey, Poe, and Octavia Butler to name a few.
BLM: What are your top 5 horror novels of all time?
QA: IT by Stephen King, THE STAND by Stephen King, INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison, THE LIVING BLOOD and THE GOOD HOUSE by Tananarive Due.
BLM: Besides Horror, what else do you like to read?
QA: I read everything: mystery, suspense, historical fiction, non-fiction, literary. It’s important to allow different voices and styles into your life as a writer to continually expand your knowledge of how to tell a story.
BLM: Despite some who argue that Amazon is becoming a monopoly as far as digital book sales are concerned, you encourage publishing through Amazon’s KDP Select program, what do you think of the backlash Amazon has received?
QA: I think it’s natural but not necessarily rational. The established order (traditional publishing) is scrambling to regain control in the wake of the anarchy Amazon has introduced by letting anyone upload a book for sale on their site. Unfortunately, traditional publishing never established relationships with readers and now the readers are with Amazon to the tune of 90% of all e-book sales. I encourage authors to go where the market is, and Amazon is where the market is at for the moment. I truly hope that Apple and B&N get their acts together so I can take all my eggs out of the Amazon basket, but until they do, I’m sticking with the market.
BLM: What is your advice to unpublished writers who want to publish their books?
QA: Unpublished writers need to understand that the world is really their oyster at the moment. They have so many options to get their work out into the world, but that does not mean they can cut corners. Whether they decide to independently publish or go with a traditional publisher, the writing comes first. They need to invest in their craft, read everything in their chosen genre (s), and learn about their options when it comes to publishing. They should build a website and start a blog where they chronicle their writing journeys. And once they have had their work professionally content and copy edited and have invested in a high quality genre-appropriate book cover, then they should think about publishing.
BLM: Qwantu we thank you so much for your time and advice. We also wish you even more success in your writing. How can readers purchase your works & “follow” you throughout social media?
Thanks so much BLM for the interview & I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. Much success to BLM as well.
Well that’s the easy part. Here is a direct link to the One Blood Amazon buy-page.
Find out more about me and follow my author journey on my website.
Add ONE BLOOD to your Goodreads bookshelf and be my friend.
Join the One Blood fanpage on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
Friend me on Pinterest.
If you’ve missed any part of this series, please click here to start at the beginning, and stay tuned for the next speculative fiction author spotlight!
