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The year author Howard Hopkins entered this world we saw triumphs and tragedy.
Thousands fled East Germany before it was too late as the Berlin Wall went up; JFK advised prudent families to build a bomb shelter; Major Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin flew 188 miles into the air, becoming the first cosmonaut in space; Ernest Hemingway died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; and Betty and Barney Hill were abducted by aliens while on their way home from vacationing in Canada.
But it was also the year yo-yos became a national craze; Ray Kroc bought out the
McDonald brothers for 2.7 million dollars and created one of the most successful fast food restaurants in history; Wagon Train, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide were favorite TV shows; Holly Golightly ate breakfast while window shopping at Tiffany’s; two youngsters, Maria and Tony, from rival New York City gangs fell in love in one of the most popular musicals of all time; and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinback were new book releases.
Despite the crazy world around him, Howard Hopkins spent his childhood in Maine quietly playing with his toys and getting lost in strange new worlds between the pages of comic books and novels. Later he became involved in music and learned how to sing, play the mandolin, guitar, piano, and saxophone.
Mr. Hopkins collects comic books, all things Doc Savage, The Avenger, and to a lesser degree, The Shadow-all 1930’s pulp characters. He also collects superhero action figures who he proclaims "are NOT dollies, dangit!" And those tiny people who sneak about in your house when you shut down the lights for the night. "They’re tough to catch," he says, "but I have found small glasses of whiskey and tacky paper work pretty well."
Sounds like he has a terrific imagination, and his novels certainly live up to it. Howard Hopkins wrote one of my all-time favorite horror e-books, The Dark Riders. Imagine a band of bloodthirsty, horseback-riding vampires in the Wild West. Hey, vampires have been around for centuries, did you really think they’d skip the cowboy years? But the story goes much deeper than horror, for how much can a man suffer before his soul dies? Much more than a mind can comprehend. For in suffering, we’re truly at our strongest. (Margaret Marr AAS Reviews)
On Writing in Howard Hopkins’ own words
What or who inspires you to write?
Usually music. I tend to get ideas listening to songs, or pieces of lyric.
Why did you begin writing?
Fixing photocopiers was noooo fun. And of course there’s that passion thing...
What author inspires you?
Lester Dent, writer of the Doc Savage series. His imagination and story telling ability amazed me.
What do you find most rewarding about writing?
Getting a letter from a reader every once in a while telling me how much they enjoyed the book or story. Beyond money, writers write to be read and hopefully enjoyed. To take people away from their troubles and worries for at least a few hours. There’s no better feeling than to succeed in doing that.
Have you experienced writer’s block? And if so, how did you cure it?
Not really. I have had little bumps where I got stuck on a plot point or something but never really complete writer’s block. Usually when I sit down and stare at a blank screen something crawls its way to the surface and dribbles out my fingertips...
Not only does Howard Hopkins write great horror e-books, he also writes great westerns under the penname, Lance Howard.
Nightmare Pass
A newspaper article, sent anonymously, telling the graphic death of an old friend’s wife, brings Jim Hannigan to Hollow Pass. His first thought is that the past has risen up and come back to haunt Galen Trimble, except all those ghosts are supposedly dead.
Galen is anything but happy to see Jim and orders him to keep his nose out of it. Jim won’t let it go and soon he and his partner, Tootie del Pelado, discovers that Galen did a lot more than embellish his stories for the pulp publishers. He outright lied. Who is the dark rider seeking revenge for a band of cutthroat outlaws? Who lived to witness what really happened the night Galen took down the Crigger Gang? The truth could be fatal for Jim and Tootie.
I’m not usually much of a western fan, but I can’t seem to get enough of Lance Howard’s novels. His characters are engaging, the plot spooky and dangerous, and enough action scattered in to keep your fingers wrapped around the book or your gaze riveted to the computer screen. I started Nightmare Pass after finishing up a previous novel and couldn’t stop reading until sleep gave me no choice. That’s what it’s all about, folks, pulling me in and keeping me hooked. Howard Hopkins/Lance Howard is one of the few authors who can do that so well.
Coming to a bookstore near you
After his December 2006 release, Nightmare Pass (under his penname Lance Howard), he has one due in April 2007 called Hell Pass, the fifth in the Pass series. It involves one of the lead character’s search for her long lost brother and a band of evil circus folk who kidnap and sell children on the Mexican black market in the old west.
To find more novels by Howard Hopkins/Lance Howard, visit his Web site at
http://www.howardhopkins.com, and then hop over to his publishers Atlantic Bridge: http://www.atlanticbridge.net and Black Horse Westerns:
http://www.blackhorsewesterns.com and start your collection now!
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