I would like to welcome Brad Zipprich, the author of The Road to Landsford, of which I reviewed (HERE). Mr Zipprich is, also, the author of the current web novel Bound Between. I would like to thank you, Brad, for taking time out of your schedule to answer some questions for us. I am sure that all Doubleshot Reviews readers are very excited to learn more about you, I know I am.

When did you start writing and is there anything/one in particular that inspired you?

I started writing way back in junior high and kept that up until I got out of high school. During that time I was writing some crappy post apocalyptic stories with a few horror stories thrown in there. In high school I wrote a story for Christmas that involved Santa turning into a werewolf who killed a few people, that was one of the stories that my father said was a waste of time to write since no one would read it but I knew better. Once I joined the Navy I just didn’t have time to write. It wasn’t until 2007 that I started writing again on a regular basis. My wife Tracy is my biggest supporter and she has helped to keep me going.

One of my biggest inspirations would have been my friend Ronnie Eck. Ronnie was an amazing artist who told me I needed to write more. While I was on deployment with he Navy he died of cancer. He was a great friend who I mention in the front of The Road to Landsford.

The Road to Landsford is a zombie novel, but it is more about the survivors than the creatures themselves. I, personally, enjoy this type of tale. What made you decide to go this route with Landsford?

The entire idea came from a short story I wrote, my first published story in fact, called ‘The Children of Landsford Towers’ which is included in the anthology Zombology: A Zombie Anthology. That story takes place 50 years after the rise up but has absolutely no zombies in it. They are briefly seen and talked about but other than that it is a story of an elder telling the tale of the times before to the children that have grown up in the tower. The elder is Jake who is a kid in The Road to Landsford. The story really stuck to me so I decided to develop it into a novel. The grand plan was to have four books that have a 25 year time gap in between them, Road being the first. I still want to do that but I have another project I am currently working on.

Were any of the characters in The Road to Landsford inspired by real life people or are they completely fictional?

Yes there are quite a few characters that are inspired by real life people. In Chapter 2 we have Chris and Viki, both friends of mine who wanted to get killed off for their wedding anniversary so I killed them. April is modeled after a real person and much about that character was created by her. There are a few other characters in the story that are based on real people by their request.

When you are in writing mode do you prefer a quite environment or some music or background noise? If you like some noise, what do you like to have playing?

Most of my writing is done on my lunch break at work so I always have something playing on the headphones. The music really depends on what I am writing at the time but I generally like to just have something ambient playing. Currently I have been listening to some piano music for my current project. It changes with each story or section though. When I was writing a rather disturbing audio short about a cannibal and rapist that is called Sparrow I was listening to Grateful Dead concert recordings.

Tell us a little about your current project Bound Between.

Bound Between is a free web novel that I just recently started. The plan is to post a new chapter every Monday, there are 6 up so far but because of I will be attending Horror Realm in Pittsburgh this upcoming week I won’t be posting another chapter until 9/25. I have Bound Between listed as a Western/Supernatural/Thriller on the site which is mostly true. The story starts in the 1870′s and follows Ezekiel Polk as he hunts down the men who killed his wife. Things don’t go so well for him though, he dies and ends up in a place called Grayton which is basically Purgatory. From here he must choose a side to fight on, there are two factions of angels involved that try to control humanity and they need foot soldiers which is where he ends up. There is a recruitment process and like any recruiter they don’t really tell people the whole truth. The angels that are in the story aren’t your biblical type either, there is a Gladiator and Mongolian Warrior in there ranks. It is a very different story that I have sketched out which I am really excited about.

The reason why I decided to make this one a web novel was to keep me on a schedule. I find that a week a chapter is perfect for me to write, rewrite, rewrite again and then post it. This is a first draft though so once I am done I wil be doing another rewrite. Another thing about posting as a web novel is getting feedback as you go from the readers plus they contribute to the story as well. Almost every name used in the story has come from the readers. When I need a name or something I ask on Twitter and go with whatever comes. There are also some characters that will be in the story that have been created by people who are reading it. One of the characters will be from England and died around 1640, the person who created this character is from England as well so the language will be spot on, same with the Australian character created by a Aussie. Wow, I can ramble on about Bound Between for awhile. Head over to http://boundbetween.com to check it out.

Is there any genre that you have not written in that you would like to attempt writing?

I like sci-fi and have plans in the future to write something possibly. I have a brief outline of that story but there are a few things on the table ahead of that.

What type of books do you enjoy reading?

SciFi/Horror/Fantasy and the service manual to my 1970 Sportster.

Is there anything in particular that you would like our readers to know about you?

Well besides writing I am a Harley owner and one of those people you see riding into work when it is 30 outside. Along with that I am one of the hosts for the Watchers of Anarchy podcast which covers the FX show Sons of Anarchy. I’m also a leather crafter.

Last question, since I am usually over-caffeinated, because I love my coffee and since my rating system for reviews is based on espresso shots…what is your favorite coffee drink? If not coffee, is there another drink that is a must during your day?

No coffee for me but there must be Diet Dr Pepper or else things will be bad.

Thank you, Brad, for spending time with us here at Doubleshot Reviews. Readers, you can learn more about Brad Zipprich by visiting his website The Land of Brad and by following him on Twitter: @Bradzb