My progress, beginning at about age 7, was: comic books, nonfiction about World War II (the show “Combat” was popular at the time, and sparked my interest), followed by “books for boys,” especially the “Rick Brant Science Adventures,” then Sherlock Holmes, The Saint, then Bond, James Bond. This takes me up to about age 14, and after that I was off to the (literary) races.

Tell us a bit about your latest book.

Black Magic Woman is an urban fantasy about a family living under a curse that dates back to the Salem witch trials. The curse appears life-threatening, so the family seeks the help of Quincey Morris, occult investigator. Quincey is a direct descendant of the Texan by the same name who appeared in [Bram] Stoker’s Dracula, and gave his life in pursuit of the Count’s destruction.

Quincey realizes he’s in over his head and calls in Libby Chastain, a “consultant” who is a practitioner of “white” witchcraft. The two of them cross the country on the trail of the “black” witch responsible for the curse. But then she learns of their pursuit, and uses all the evil power at her command in an effort to destroy them.

At the same time, the FBI is investigating a series of child abductions and murders with strong occult overtones. The Bureau sends for an expert from South Africa, who knows more than a little about occult murder. Detective Sergeant Garth Van Dreenan is a member of the country’s Occult Crime Bureau (which really exists, by the way). Van Dreenan is partnered with African-American Special Agent Fenton, and the two of them attempt to overcome their cultural differences long enough to discover who is behind the murders, in which the children’s bodily organs are removed while they are still alive.

The two cases appear unrelated. They are not. Both eventually come together – with a vengeance, you might say.

How would you describe your creative process while writing this book? Was it stream-of-consciousness writing, or did you first write an outline?

For the first book, The Hades Project, I started with an idea and a character, and kept writing because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. The same is true, pretty much, for Black Magic Woman. However, for the third book, Evil Ways (a sequel to BMW and the second “Quincey Morris Supernatural Adventure”) I had to compose an outline in order to secure my contract from the publisher. I’m writing the book now, and frankly, finding the outline rather confining – because this is the structure of the book that I have, more or less, committed to write, so I can’t change it drastically.