I have read my share of interesting books but nothing like Ghost Hampton. When I first picked the book up I was unsure what to expect. As I began to read it though I quickly became interested in all of the characters, especially Lyle Hall. Ghost Hampton is definitely not your average book and maybe that is why I liked it so much. I was able to talk to Ken McGorry a few weeks back and learned a lot about this amazing author and where he plans on taking this series next.
Here is a short bio on KenMcGorry:
Ken McGorry’s fiction features surprising comic relief amid often tense dramatic scenes, as readers of his novels Smashed and Ghost Hampton know. Ken’s novels unfold in the here-and-now present tense; their cinematic point of view owes a lot to his years toiling at script writing. Readers praise Ghost Hampton’s energy level, realism and its balance of action and paranormal suspense. They enjoy Ghost Hampton’s characters, their believability and humanity and how they interact.
Ken is also known for his 20-plus years as an editor of the professional film-and-TV-production monthly Post. While he loves the many real characters he got to know in that industry, Ken got hooked on creating his own a few years ago. Television production comes to the fore in Ghost Hampton in a climactic scene Ken calls “a Jerry Springer event.”
Ken lives with his wife and dogs on Long Island. They have two strapping sons. And they have a little summer place in Westhampton Beach. It’s not far from an old house rumored to have been a brothel long ago, and haunted today.
How many books have you written so far?
Ken McGorry: Two and a half plus the beginnings of the sequels. So that sort of counts. The first one is Smashed, it is referred to on the cover. Smashed was finished and edited once or twice, edited twice. But my adviser who is actually a big executive at a big publishing company who didn’t pick up my books, who is a good friend said “Get Ghost Hampton out first”. As far as something people would get into a little more easily. Smashed is men and some women in a drug and alcohol rehab 3 years after 9/11. So they all have issues and stuff. But it is kind of fun though. So you can sort of feel in a way as Ghost Hampton where serious things are happening but people have fun typically at someone elses expense.
So when does Smashed come out?
Ken McGorry: Well it hasn’t been released yet. It just went to friendly readers for the most part and some literary agents. That was in the 2010 time frame. Then in 2011 I started on Ghost Hampton and just didn’t do anything but that for the next 4-5 years.
How did you come up with the idea for Ghost Hampton?
Ken McGorry: My wife and I were in West Hampton in 2010 driving down a nice street. West Hampton is the westerly most Hampton and also kind of the Un Hampton. I was talking to someone in East Hampton last week and I referred it as the Un Hampton and he did not argue that with me. Apparently the real Hamptons are further East. So we are in West Hampton and we are going down a nice street and my wife who is in real estate said “I did the mortgage on that house, see back there.” When I looked at it, a nicely restored colonial and she said “The guy who bought it told me it is haunted.” So I said ” Oh really?” And she said “Yeah, and apparently way back when it used to be a brothel.” So I said “Really, out here huh?” So then the wheels started turning and as a magazine editor which I had been up to 2011, kind of a headline maker upper. so right away I came up with this thought of Ghost Hampton as opposed to East Hampton. Then I started cooking that up.
How did you come up with the characters?
Ken McGorry: Well it is a town, it is a village right of about 3 thousand people from the middle of October on as opposed to 30 thousand in the summer. I felt we needed various types and we do have a lot of them. So I thought we needed a police chief, a newspaper reporter, a first responder fireman, the old grandma and of course our central character. So I kind of populated the town with these people who are more or less set up to interact negatively with our hero who is a guy with a lot of issues.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Ken McGorry: The most difficult was two things. The most difficult I think was piecing together the plots when there was an interaction that became kind of like a puzzle. Like a puzzle you could step back and look at and finally made sense in the end. So that was some work but individual chapters were so fun to write. And then part two is getting beaten up the editors and to some extent literary agents. The problem there was they didn’t like the central character Lyle. So if they didn’t know me as a novelist so they would be taking a chance on me and taking a chance on a seemingly negative, issue laden central character who had a negative background. But he is trying to rewrite the book and turn over a new leaf and everything.
So when you wrote this book did you always plan on there being a second one or did you realize as you wrote it that it needed a volume 2?
Ken McGorry: Well sort of both. Because I read book reviews and publishing news as I was going as best as I could. I kept seeing so and so signed for a trilogy. Like yeah really, a trilogy about that. And then I am writing more and I am seeing somebody else signed for a trilogy. One thing it means is that you are serious, you are in for the long haul. But also I found that there were two things I really wanted to expand upon. They are in the book and they are the two things that kind of make the book a little longer than it normally would have been if it was going to be one volum. This is set up for that and I miss my characters, I want to get back to them. They say when you are enjoying what you do the characters tell you ” I don’t like that coffee, I am going across the street for the coffee I really like” they do take on a life of their own I guess.
Besides Lyle are there any other characters you really like in this book?
Ken McGorry: Sure. Well I like Flo who is the chubby, no so attractive opposite number of the femme fatale in that TV production team. I don’t think it is a big secret she quickly against her professionalism she develops a romantic yearning for Lyle. What that does is it shows her humanity but also it puts Lyle in a position where he has met two new women. One he would do anything for even though she is too young, it is totally hopeless and it would never work. The other he doesn’t see as a romantic object in any way but she is the one who likes him. So he is caught in that triangle.
I also heard a movie of Ghost Hampton is in the works correct?
Ken McGorry: I did say that. I agreed to option the book to a start up company in LA that is run by a guy who I have known for a long time. I trust him implicitly. He would be an executive producer for a company called Greenwood Drive Entertainment, it’s new. He knows a lot of directors, so he is shopping directors right now. He’s trying to raise money and he is trying to get me to write the script which I really, really don’t want to do.
So if I am hearing you correctly the film is still in the development stages right?
Ken McGorry: Yeah, totally.
How do you think it will be distributed when it comes out?
Ken McGorry: Well he wants to have an independent film business. So it would go the independent film route and hopefully to festivals and such. But I am getting old and I say yes to pretty much everything. If they said “Well we want to show it on merry go rounds that adults ride” I would say “Yes, that’s the perfect venue”. But I do want to work with my friend in this company. He’s really got a lot going.
Is there a release date for Ghost Hampton volume 2 yet?
Ken McGorry: Well I think I could have it done a year from October and then the vetting process begins. This first Ghost Hampton was edited by three different editors. Which may be wrong I don’t know and by myself. I just sandwiched myself between their edits and that was a long and painful process full of self loathing. So I think that could be compressed into six months. Then if I am invited by someone to do the traditional publishing route then they take a really long time, to do anything like call you back. So I went the Amazon route finally and they took ten days. That was like jaw dropping, I was like “Okay”. But it is really hard to make a book. You really have to invest in it. As a cousin of mine who is a wall street guy said ” Well if you have a start up, star ups cost money in the beginning.” So that is my saving grace, it is a start up.
What are some things you think people will like most about Ghost Hampton?
Ken McGorry: Well I like the interaction of the characters. What I want to see is the characters interacting when faced with a really extraordinary occurrence. I want the extraordinary occurrence to be kind of believable on some level. It’s not aliens and dinosaurs fighting; it’s one guy who thinks he saw a ghost. And that guy is not very trustworthy pretty much as far as everyone is concerned, even his daughter. So he has to fight them and fight this fear that is growing in him that he needs to do something about this perceived problem. But then the problem doesn’t seep into others who are susceptible like the priest known as Father Xerri. He is young priest and it turns out he has a dark background and connections to demonic possession in his past. He wants a look at this house and that is how he and Lyle, the guy in the wheelchair who is the central character, wind up in an almost buddy movie the two of them. An unusual sort of young, handsome priest and this old guy in a wheelchair.
Are there any final things you would like to say to your readers?
Ken McGorry: Well yeah, just that I love the characters. You know, how they go at each other. What I have been hearing from friends is kind of the same thing. So I hope that’s what they’ll enjoy along the way to an end I can’t discuss.
If you want to learn more about Ghost Hampton check out http://www.ghosthampton.com/. You can also like Ghost Hampton on Facebook. If you want to connect with Ken McGorry you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Ghost Hampton is available now on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble. com
You can watch a trailer of Ghost Hampton here: