I have great pleasure in sharing my interview with Dexter Channing, author of the New Normal Trilogy. Dexter talks about being elusive, a perfectionist, and writing faction.
Dexter C Channing is something of a mystery to the literary world – and indeed, the team at Just Jane Publishing has never actually met this author, having been introduced through another writer during the Covid 19 Lockdown.
The elusive author prefers to remain an enigma to everyone, simply stating a love of city life as opposed to the country because “it’s easier to disappear in a big city where nobody knows your real self”. That real self is “single, not available” and prefers being alone to the “ruinous pathway of a love affair”.
Fact, fantasy and science all combine in this author’s often dark writing style, which takes you through conspiracy theories to conclusions you’d rather not reach in the real world. Or maybe, as Dexter says, you’re already there.
Is Dexter C Channing an American? There’s a possibility, but then anything is possible, if you believe what goes on in Channing’s imagination, often taking us to places we’d rather not go. It’s clear at some point that Channing did live in America, and still has some links to Miami and Deerfield Beach.
More of late, Channing has been residing in England and has actually allowed the team at Just Jane Publishing access to a list of favourite places which include Chesterfield in Derbyshire, Liverpool, and a surprising one, given the penchant for city living – a tiny village called Kettlewell, in Yorkshire.
What does a mysterious author who nobody really knows do when they’re not writing? Channing watches. Things. Events. People. Then they get written about. Is Channing a one trick pony? Far from it. There are links with law, property, and a love of music, which is always in the background when Channing is writing.
“Virus” was the first of Dexter C Channing’s world-changing trilogy of novellas. “Resistance” is the second in the series, and the final, concluding book, “Resurrection” will be published by Just Jane Publishing around Easter, 2021.
Tell us a little about yourself. (How did you get started writing? What do you do when you’re not writing?)
I very rarely tell anybody anything about me. The fun is in the fnding out, don’t you think? I’m a little elusive, I guess. I’ve been called eccentric. I call it thorough.
Is this your first book? How many books have you written prior (if any?)
New Normal: Resistance is my second book. It’s the second in the New Normal Trilogy. The first is Virus.
What genre is it, and what is it about?
It’s hard to categorise the book, I suppose it’s called Faction. It’s based on the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. It, and the first book Virus, explore what could happen, how it may have started. The truth is rarely what we are being told.
What or who inspired you to write this book?
I’d say that with everything I write, there is a trigger event. Covid-19 was this trigger.
What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?
I rarely listen to advice, so I suspect I shouldn’t give it, but if anybody wants to write, first they have to listen, and watch. Then what they have to say, will come.
What do you enjoy most about writing and why?
I like facts, and I like fiction. My writing is always a blend of the two. I want my writing to make people think. That’s why I write.
List three interesting facts about yourself
I’m laughing as I answer this one! Interesting facts about me? I’m not sure I’m interesting. I’m elusive, I’m an enigma, and people either think I’m crazy or the new messiah, not that I purport to be either, by the way. Is that three? Will that do?
What is your least favourite part of the publishing/writing process?
I just write, I don’t care about anything else. I ain’t bothered about the publishing process as such. I think when I get a mistake pointed out to me, I don’t like it. I self edit. The manuscript I send to my editor is pretty damn near good to go, but my editor, she’s good, real good and when she spots a mistake, it means I’ve not picked it up and that annoys me. I guess I’m a perfectionist. Maybe that’s one of my interesting things, I dunno.
What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?
Question everything you are told. Then question it some more. Oh and buy the next book, naturally.
What is your next project?
I got asked this quite recently, only my publisher asked me who was my next victim. I have a little investigation going on with carbon emissions. Let’s just say, it’s gotten interesting.
Book Blurb:
A deadly pandemic is sweeping across the globe. Country after country is disintegrating into a lawless, terrified confusion as it soon becomes apparent that there is a fate worse than death.
Violence and discord stalk the streets; Governments are beginning to introduce martial law and curfews in a futile attempt to regain control of a world thrown into disarray by a silent, unseen killer.
Jolyon Jones, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, knows that it is a race against time to find a vaccine for this highly infectious virus before the consequences wipe out humanity. He also knows that the virus is not the only killer. Small pockets of resistance are slowly emerging; survivors ready to fight not only against the virus, but against each other.
In the midst of the battle for survival, the faithful know that their wait for the Second Coming is nearly over. They know that He is here again.
But who is He and will He be able to stop the virus before science reaches an apocalyptic solution?
Resistance is the second in Dexter C Channing’s New Normal Trilogy.
Huge thanks to Dexter for joining me on my blog to talk about the writing and publishing journey.
Find out more about Dexter Channing and the New Normal Series here:
Twitter: @DexterChanning
Facebook: Dexter C. Channing
BUY your copy of New Normal: Resistance from Amazon UK or Amazon US
Shelley Wilson Author 