Lucky 13 Interview With D.L Marshall

1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?

Anthrax Island is an ‘impossible crime’ style mystery meets action thriller, set on Gruinard Island. It’s a real place just off north western Scotland, which was used for bio-weapons testing in the Second World War, leaving it lethally contaminated with Anthrax. The premise of the book is a team of scientists have set up a temporary base on the island, when their technician dies and their decontamination chamber fails.

Enter our hero Tyler, a replacement technician who quickly discovers sabotage and that his predecessor was murdered. When a second team member is brutally murdered inside a sealed room in the base and the killer vanishes into thin air seconds later, Tyler realises there’s far more to worry about than anthrax…

2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?

I’m more of a pantser, but the mechanics of impossible crime does require a pretty high degree of planning! Any planning and plotting I do is all in my head though – no spreadsheets or sticky notes here!

3 – Savoury or sweet?

SWEET!

4 – Three books to a desert Island. Go!

There are so many fantastic books by current authors that I don’t want to miss out, so I’m going to pick three classics. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I read at least once a year!

5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?

I love both but I’m going Star Wars, as the original trilogy was the backdrop to my childhood.

6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

I always enjoyed ‘Out of This World’ if you remember that – I’ll pause time!

7 – Music or Silence when writing?

I actually like to put films on while I’m writing – only those I’ve seen loads of times before so they’re not distracting, just a comforting soundtrack.

8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?

I’d miss Yorkshire if I moved, but I’d consider northern California / Oregon. Bigfoot country, where the redwoods meet the sea.

9 - Your favourite karaoke song?

Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, though I need my mate with me!

10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?

Be wary of advice. Listen to it all, but don’t necessarily follow it. That probably includes this.

11 – You win £1 million, but you must give half to charity. Which charity do you chose, and what do you do with the rest of the money?

At the moment it’d be Little Village, a charity which provides baby clothes and gear, nappies, sanitary products, etc. It’s hard enough to provide for babies at the best of times, but obviously there are many more people struggling at the moment.

The rest would pay off my mortgage and (nerd alert) pay for a supercharger for my car.

12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?

Yes but really only classics – I’m not a fan of more recent jump-scare based films. I love Sixties and Seventies Hammer films, Romero’s zombie films, Eighties slashers, and almost any creature feature!

My favourite horror is probably Scream or The Thing.

13 - What are you currently working on?

Finalising the sequel to Anthrax Island, which should be out towards the end of the year, and a pretty dark standalone set on Dartmoor involving a heist and serial killers.