About F. Paul Wilson (FPW)
FPW Author Bio
Paul was born and raised in New Jersey where he misspent
his youth playing with matches, poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics,
reading Lovecraft, Matheson, Bradbury, and Heinlein, listening to Chuck
Berry and Alan Freed on the radio, and watching Soupy Sales and Shock
Theatre with Zacherley.
He is the author of more than thirty books: six science fiction novels (HEALER, WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS, AN ENEMY OF THE STATE, DYDEETOWN WORLD, THE TERY, SIMS), nine horror thrillers (THE KEEP, THE TOMB, THE TOUCH, REBORN, REPRISAL, NIGHTWORLD, BLACK WIND, SIBS, MIDNIGHT MASS), three contemporary thrillers (THE SELECT, IMPLANT, DEEP AS THE MARROW) and a number of collaborations. In 1998 he resurrected his popular antihero, Repairman Jack, and has chronicled his adventures in LEGACIES, CONSPIRACIES, ALL THE RAGE, HOSTS, THE HAUNTED AIR, GATEWAYS, CRISSCROSS, and HARBINGERS.
Short stories from his first 20 years as a writer are collected in SOFT & OTHERS (1989) and THE BARRENS & OTHERS (1998). A third collection is in the works. He has edited two anthologies: FREAK SHOW (1992) and DIAGNOSIS: TERMINAL (1996).
THE KEEP and THE TOMB both appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers List. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS won the first Prometheus Award in 1979; THE TOMB received the 1984 Porgie Award from The West Coast Review of Books. His novelette “Aftershock” won the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for short fiction. DYDEETOWN WORLD was on the young adult recommended reading lists of the American Library Association and the New York Public Library, among others. He is listed in the 50th anniversary edition of Who's Who in America.
His novel THE KEEP was made into a visually striking but otherwise incomprehensible movie (screenplay and direction by Michael Mann) by Paramount in 1983. THE TOMB is in development as “Repairman Jack” by Beacon Films and hopefully will not suffer a similar fate. His original teleplay "Glim-Glim" aired on Monsters in 1989 and is currently in reruns on the Sci-Fi Channel. An adaptation of his short story "Menage a Trois" was part of the pilot for The Hunger series that debuted on Showtime in July 1997. He has written for stage, screen, and interactive media as well.
Where i'll be 2008
Conferences
July 10-13, 2008
Thrillerfest
NYC
July 17-20, 2008
NECON
Bristol, RI
(I am this year's "Legend")
October 9-12, 2008
Bouchercon
Baltimore, MD
October 17-19, 2008
Arcana 38
St. Paul, MN
my so-called life
...or at least the last 6 months or so of it - and only the bits that have to do with writing. Don't worry, I won't annoy you with news of my children's birthdays or pictures of my cat. (Wait...I don't have a cat.)
4/30 - started the new RJ novel today - number 13. The first chapters are always tough for me, but seem especially so this go-round. I think I’m going to have to approach these last 3 books as one big novel divided into three parts. I know where I’m going but am still vague on how I’m going to do all that needs doing before I get there. The only way to go is start rolling and firm up the itinerary as I go along. Wish me luck.
4/28 - an intelligent and brilliantly insightful (i.e., very positive) review of JACK: SECRET HISTORIES in the latest Kirkus. (FYI: Kirkus Reviews is an industry organ that can get pretty snarky at times.)
4/27 - one of RJ website veterans was searching YouTube and found the episode I scripted for =Monsters= back around the time of the Permian Extinction. For those of you who haven’t seen "Glim-Glim" and have 21 minutes with nothing better to do, you can find the link here: http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8551. But first go to the 4th post in the thread for the story behind the teleplay. (NB: the show is divided into 2 parts on YouTube.)
4/26 - a friend came across the alternate ending of =The Keep= movie on YouTube. This is probably the way Mann's original cut ended. It was also the ending shown on ABC's =Movie of the Week=. It’s more in line with the novel’s ending (though painfully drawn out). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoHldOn-i9E&feature=related
4/21 - the 2009 World Horror Convention has invited me as its toastmaster. I accept.
4/16-20 - the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. How to describe
it? I had a GREAT time. What a wonderful bunch of people. Ya gotta
love these women. So enthusiastic and accepting. They're there to have
a good time and they do. They cut loose, get dressed funny, dance,
drink, and don't have to worry about people judging them. They even
made the elevator rides fun. Heather Graham's play was a blast, even
if the sound system crapped out on us. (Here I am as the creepy butler:
http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/showthread.php?p=150617#post150617)
I'm definitely going back next year. Barry Eisler and I got together and decided to keep RT a secret from the other thriller writers we know. We figure this year's female-male ratio of 100 to 1 is just about right.
4/15 - tax day. Ugh. But on the bright side I receive an email from Papa NECon, Bob Booth, offering $$ to reprint "Demonsong" in THE BIG BOOK OF NECON. It won't offset the check I have to send the government, but it eases the pain a smidge.
4/14 - Joseph Mallozzi, an executive producer/showrunner of =Stargate
Atlantis=, runs a reading group through his blog. THE KEEP was chosen
this month and he asked if I'd answer some questions from the readers
about the book. Most of you old timers here will find little new,
but you newer folks might.
***Make sure you've already read the book because the Q&A contains
tons of ruinous SPOILERS***
http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/april-19-2008-qa-with-author-f-paul-wilson/
4/13 - Veronika Levine interviewed me for the latest Florida Romance Writers newsletter. I must have fooled them into thinking I know something because they want to fly me down to speak to them this fall. We agreed on Saturday, November 8. Should be fun.
4/12 - I agreed a while back to write the introduction to the next =Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre= collection. The issues arrove today. Looking forward to reading them. If you haven't seen these comics, check them out. They're fun and =very= clever. And no guys in tights.
4/11 - invitation to be a "Featured Guest" at the Love is Murder convention in Chicago in 2010. (Now that's planning ahead.) Of course I'll go. I had a ball the last time I was there.
4/10 - received the schedule for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. Maybe it's the way the grid is laid out, but there seems to be an =awful= lot going on. No excuse for boredom at this affair. My new friends from the Houma conference, Kathy Love and Erin McCarthy, seem to be major players here - their names are everywhere.
4/8 - Heather Graham emailed me the script for her show at Romantic Times. Some very funny lines.
4/8 - the Gauntlet Press ARCs for BY THE SWORD arrove today and the cover is amazing. Harry Morris is a brilliant artist.
4/6 - back from the Jambalaya Jubilee Writers' Conference in Houma. What a great time. Talk about Southern hospitality. All that superb food and drink - if I lived there I'd look like another Paul . . . K. Paul Prudhomme. I'd do it again in a heartbeat (although not as keynote speaker - already gave that my best shot). Tina Callais and Molly Bolden and Amy Whipple and everyone else associated with the conference did a superb job.
4/2 - revised the 1st draft of JACK: SECRET CIRCLES and sent it off to Susan Chang. That’s 4 novels in 15 months. (And I worried that the heart surgery would slow me down. Ha!)
4/1 - I just checked the activity at www.repairmanjack.com and we logged 1,860,268 hits during March. That’s up a bit from Feb but not quite to the January level when we flirted with 2 million. Traffic has skyrocketed since my fall tour. I’ve always wondered whether tours were worth the trouble. I guess they are.