What is your book all about?
At its heart, A Midnight Train to Everywhere is about dealing with the loss of people you love and recognizing grief as a part of that love. It is a paranormal adventure that asks questions about what happens when people we love pass away and how we as humans respond.
Brandon the main character is tasked with helping lost souls board the Midnight Train to Everywhere. It is a task that requires him to listen to and understand the lives of the ghosts that he meets. By hearing their stories and allowing them to tell their tales he can help them board the train and move to a world beyond our own.
One of the most difficult tasks for Brandon to manage during the book is the fact that he is living two lives. One is where he is a guardian of lost souls managing a train depot for ghosts, and another is where he is a middle-aged, middle-class married man with two children.
I have always been a fan of horror stories and fantasy novel writers because of their abilities to get me out of the real world and allow my imagination to go wild. My story contains aspects from both genres. The main character must confront lost souls, ancient Gods from the Greek pantheon, and a coven of witches to protect lost souls on his adventure through the dream world.
I drew a lot of inspiration from Greek mythology in crafting the main villain and hope that readers enjoy her story as much as that of the main character.
What inspired you to write the book?
I have always loved fantasy and horror stories and authors’ ability to write entertaining and meaningful stories. When the pandemic hit in 2019 and 2020, I needed an outlet for the loss of life I was seeing and the isolation I was feeling, and decided to write my novel to help me get through a tough period in my life.
I enjoyed the writing process so much that I continued writing. My next book will release sometime in October of 2023. The first draft is complete and I am currently in the middle of rewriting and editing.
What is your target audience for the book?
I think if you drew a Zen diagram of people that like horror stories, comic books, and fantasy novels my audience would consist of people that like 1 or more of those subjects and my biggest fans would love all three. I know the main character is a middle-aged man, but I think teenagers and adults alike can find aspects of my book enjoyable.
One of the interesting things about writing a novel is that when I was writing A Midnight Train to Everywhere I wasn’t that concerned about who would eventually read the book. I was surprised at how much that changed after I finished. Here’s this story that I created, and all of a sudden, I want everyone to read it. I have never felt that same desire after finishing a painting or writing a song. Writing and publishing A Midnight Train to Everywhere was incredible fun. Trying to sell books, get reviews, and find readers has been a much harder less enjoyable task. I think a lot of authors understand how difficult it is and how hard it is to grab a reader’s attention with so many good writers in the world. It remains hard for me to pinpoint exactly who the target audience is after spending so much time in my head creating a story. I am happy that it is currently selling on Amazon and at other online bookstores, but must admit I am not very good at marketing.
What do you hope readers could get out from your book?
1st and foremost I hope that readers enjoy the story and just have fun with it. There are a lot of serious elements in the book but I honestly tried to have those serious elements packaged in a way that allows people to have fun. There are opportunities to dig deeper into topics about life, love, and death for those inclined to dig deeper. However, at the end of the day, it is a book written to entertain. I hope readers enjoy the adventure my characters are on.
What are your future goals/plans for the book?
I plan on making an audiobook soon. I know that is how a lot of folks consume their books these days. I have a vampire novel I plan to release in October that is currently being rewritten and edited, and I plan to release a sequel to A Midnight Train to Everywhere sometime in 2024 or 2025. I think releasing a book every year for the foreseeable future is a real possibility.
A Midnight Train to Everywhere was written as a stand-alone book, but I have several good ideas and adventures that I want to see the characters from the first book manage. I imagine that I am not alone among authors that enjoy putting their characters into weird and horrific situations just to see how they will respond.
And something more about yourself.
I am a graduate of Pomona College class of 99. I live in San Diego County with a loving wife, two amazing kids, two dogs, and two cats. I write and paint when I have free time and hope to one day retire from my day job to write and create art full-time. You can follow me on Twitter @RyanDMims or Instagram @ryanroomims if you are interested in tracking my writing and art career or would just like to say hi you can reach out to me through my social media accounts. Book Website
