Aurelio Rico Lopez III - Thirdy at the Blog Mansion

Aurelio Rico Lopez III
"Thirdy"

Aurelio Rico Lopez III had a reservation for the Blog Mansion months ago but got bumped by the Shriners, then the Shower Curtain People, Cinco de Mayo and that unfortunate addiction addicts intervention. (You’ll be happy to know that Marge is recovering well and is still working her steps.)

Aurelio Rico Lopez III’s friends call him Thirdy, by the way. I’m going to try it.

Johnny: Sorry it took you so long to get in, Thirdy. You know how it is.

Thirdy: How is it?

J: I’m lazy.

T: That would explain why you’re talking to me in your underwear.

J: And I had to dig these out of the hamper before I opened the door.

T: You mean while you opened the door.

J: Yeah. More eye bleach?

T: Nah, I‘m good.

J: You write scary stories. I’m sure you’ve seen worse than me in my underwear.

T: Not much worse.

J: What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever written?

T: That’s a tough one. Probably my short story Black Coffee. I don’t know what it was about that tale, but writing it gave me goosebumps.

J: For me it was the confession that I answer the door in my underwear.

T: I can see that.

J: Sorry. I’ll adjust. More bleach?

T: Maybe just a touch.

J: So you’re doing werewolves. Tell me about Cry Wolf.

T: Cry Wolf was a novella I wrote for Crowded Quarantine Press. It’s a werewolf apocalypse tale set in Iloilo City, Philippines. In my novella, the world is overrun with werewolves. Only a few men who call themselves hunters, stalk and kill the beasts, but it’s a battle that mankind is losing.

J: It’s a short book. Do you always write short books?

T: I have found that my comfort zone falls between ten thousand to fifteen thousand words. Perhaps someday, I will write a piece that’s longer.

J: Madness Inherent is a little longer. What’s it about?

T: Madness Inherent was published by JWK Publishing early this year.  The book is actually two novelettes: Wretched, which is about a demon slayer, and Easier Dead Than Done, a story about a vampire.  Don’t you worry.  My vampires don’t sparkle.

J: Food for the Crows. Zombies. Zombies are cool. Tell me about your zombies. Are they fast or slow, brains or muscle diet?

T: My zombies move depending on the amount of decay and damage their bodies have sustained.  Personally, I prefer fast zombies to the ones that are reduced to shuffling around.  As far as diet goes, the zombies in Food for the Crows will eat just about anything with a pulse.

J: How long do you think underwear should last? I think you wear them until they disintegrate on their own, others say longer. What’s your opinion?

T: I think once the flies start buzzin’, it’s time for a changin’.

J: Well who asked you?

T: You did.

J: Touché. Tell me, do you set your books in the Philippines?

T: So far, all of my novellas and novelettes have been set in the Philippines, but most of my short stories haven’t. Once, I had to set a story in the Wild West for an anthology.  I’ve never met a real cowboy, never worn a pair of boots, and never fired a gun before. I spent an entire week watching cowboy films for research. Thankfully, I pulled it off, and my story was included in the anthology.

J: Boxers or briefs?

T: Boxers.

J: Interesting.

T: Really? Umm... Do you have a robe or something?

J: Are you cold?

T: I was thinking of one for you.

J: Oh. Nope. Speaking of horror. What attracts you to write it?

T: The first novel I remember reading was The Vision by Dean Koontz. After that, I was hooked. Horror is like a trip to a funhouse. You scare yourself senseless, but you keep coming back.

J: Have you tried any other genres? Middle grade picture books perhaps when not fighting zombies and werewolves and such?

T: Back in college, I wrote a couple of children’s stories for local magazine. It didn’t last though.

J: I always ask. Tell me about your journey from writer to author.

T: My mother was an English teacher, so growing up with her was like being in a classroom 24/7.  All the mid-sentence corrections were a pain, but my mom is the reason I got into reading and writing. I joined the school paper (in high school and again in college). Many of my friends enjoyed hanging out and doing the silly things kids do. I did a lot of that too, but a large portion of my time was spent reading and writing.

When I finally had access to the Internet, I sent some of my stories to online zines and print publications.

The rest, I guess, is history.

J: How’d you hook up with Crowded Quarantine Publications? How are they to work with?

T: I think I first discovered them on Ralan.com.  I sent Adam Millard a query, telling him I’d recently finished writing a zombie novella (Food for the Crows).  He emailed me a few days later, saying he’d love to see it, so I sent it along.  A month or so later, I got another email from Mr. Millard.  He said he’d love to publish my novella. I was ecstatic! This was the first time I’d ever sold a book. I was smiling for days.

J: What are you working on now? What’s your next book?

T: My latest book is a collection of short stories called Nothing’s Fine (JWK Publishing).  Currently, I’m working on a new novella entitled Crawlers.  I can’t tell you what that’s about yet.  Hehehe.

J: Where on the vast and powerful, soon to be extinct because of greedy corporate monsters and the NSA, internet can peeps find out more about you?

T: I’m on Facebook, so if anyone wants to talk about horror movies, books, music, coffee, tarantulas, anime, etc., just send me an invite.  I also have an author’s page on Amazon.com.

J: Hey I just noticed, there’s a hole in my underwear.

T:  Yeah, about that... I’m gonna need more eye bleach.