Sean Leibling is a Former US Marine Corps who served twice overseas. He demonstrates this by writing ‘punch in your gut’ action horror, most notably the Blood Brains and Bullets series. He lives in Newaygo, Michigan with his family and is a licensed firearms instructor and business man.
What first attracted you to horror writing?
I suppose it would be the rush and excitement of a horror novel. Learning great characters and then not knowing from one moment to the next if they would survive or not. You see, even with my own characters, many of them write themselves. I start them on their journey and honestly I’m constantly surprised at what they do as their character unfolds and interacts.
What is your most notable work?
Probably Legacy of the Living which is the second novel in the Blood, Brains and Bullets universe. It’s really a great book. Lots of dying, sacrificing, saving innocents, not all of course. But it has a really great culmination of hope for the future of the human race.
What are you working on now?
I am finishing my second The Reaper novel. This one is called Avenging Wraith. The Reaper is arguably the most popular character in that universe I moulded. I received over 700 requests to start a series with just this guy and so I did. What is special about him is that he’s a cold hard killer, former USMC sniper and is just death in the flesh if you’re a bad guy preying on survivors in the apocalypse.
Who do you admire in the horror world?
Many in fact. Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koontz, Timothy Long, Paul Mannering, Stephen North, Jacqueline Druga and Shawn Chesser, to name but a few.
Do you prefer all out gore or psychological chills?
By far I prefer the psychological chills. I’m not saying I couldn’t write steaming entrails being ripped from the body, and indeed I do write a bit of that, but it’s not my forte’.
Why should people read your work?
First, I think it’s entertaining. Secondly, I write in a different style than most other horror authors. I write hope in my books. I heavily research locations, people, materials and tactics in order to make it quite real in my novels, yet in a manner that will allow them to survive. Some do and many don’t. I also add something to each novel. For instance in Legacy of the Living I worked with the disabled for over two months in order to figure out how I could actually turn them into a kick ass fighting force against both zombies and bad guys in general.
Recommend a book.
Demise of the Living by Iain McKinnon. I thought it was fantastic, but it is book three in his The Dead series, so perhaps people should start with Domain of the Dead.
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