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Derek Vasconi

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.derekvasconi.com

Twitter

DerekVasconi

Genre

Horror, Fiction, Mystery

Influences

Haruki Murakami, Ryu Murakami, Miri Yu, Natsuo Kirino, Stephen King

Member Since

May 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/derekvasconi

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Derek Vasconi was raised in Sharon, Pennsylvania, a small town near Pittsburgh, PA. He didn't stay there for very long, as after graduating from high school, he co-founded the metal band, From A Second Story Window, and went on tour for most of his early 20's. In 2006, Derek made the decision to move on from the band and pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Human Development, which he achieved, at Penn State University. After doing this, he went to Japan to live on and off for the next five years, and life has never been the same for him since.

Derek has accomplished a myriad of things in his life, including founding a traditional, independent book publishing company, creating an iphone app (eMobo, which brought the Japanese cell phone novels, or ...more

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Hi Derek, my name is Lolah I was going through your biography and saw that you lived in Japan for 5 years how was is like, are you fluent in the language? and also you mentioned Haruki Murakami as one of your influences, what is it about his work that captured your attention?

Derek Vasconi Hi Lolah! Huge thanks for your interest in me and my work! I appreciate it so much!
So to answer your questions, I am not fluent in the Japanese langu…moreHi Lolah! Huge thanks for your interest in me and my work! I appreciate it so much!
So to answer your questions, I am not fluent in the Japanese language, but I speak enough of it and understand enough of it that if I had to go back and live in Tokyo on my own, I would be okay. I can always learn more, and I always am learning something new with the Japanese language every day. How about you? Any interest in the language or the culture?
Murakami has been in my life a long, long time. He's not so much an influence as a personal guide to all things surreal and metaphysical in my life. I can't even begin to explain why he's important to me or how he's been such a huge part of who I am, but if I had to answer that, it would also answer your question about what captured me with his work. I would have to say it's his magical realism style approach to the world, and the fact that his stories don't necessarily wrap up nicely, and that when you read his stories it's like he's sitting right there telling you all of them in person. Like a conversation. He never goes too crazy with his descriptions of things, at least in terms of piling adjectives up adjectives into describing something. And most of all, he just lives in a world so different from anyone else that when he allows me to visit it with a new story, it's like I feel incredibly privileged, blessed, and full of wonder all at once. Have you ever felt that way about an author? That's what he does to me. And for the record, 1Q84 is the greatest example of what Murakami can do with your heart and soul if you are willing to take that journey with him in his stories.
And he likes Jazz music, so being that I am also a musician, well, I really appreciate how he sneaks in something about his love of music in just about all of his works that he writes. (less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Derek Vasconi Writer's block rarely comes to me. I always know what I want to write. The problem for me is the research I need to do in order to write about things …moreWriter's block rarely comes to me. I always know what I want to write. The problem for me is the research I need to do in order to write about things I like to write about. I can spend sometimes weeks and even months researching to get things right, and I'm talk about even for one sentence in my stories I do this!
I think the thing about writer's block is that if you have a good outline and know the story you want to tell inside and out, then writer's block won't be as big of an issue as you think it would be.(less)

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Derek Vasconi’s books

Average rating: 3.97 · 119 ratings · 36 reviews · 15 distinct works

	Secondhand Memories by Takatsu (Goodreads Author), Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Rania Meng (Illustrator) 4.22 avg rating — 101 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Kai 3.63 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Joonie And The Great Harbinger Stampede by Daniel Landes, Ravi Zupa (Illustrator), Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 3.85 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shaping of an "Angry" Black Woman by Tamara Woods (Goodreads Author), Peter Santilli (Editor), Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.53 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unenviable by David G. Mirich, Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.38 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dark Horse: How Challenger Companies Rise To Prominence by Dan Mack, Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Pete Santilli (Editor) 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shaping of an "Angry" Black Woman by Tamara Woods (Goodreads Author), Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2014	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elvolution by Jason Kinnear, Mary Raudenbush (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator), Sarah B. Engdahl (Editor) 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bloodbath by Ray Rao, Anna Fong (Illustrator), Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 3.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Quiet by Hisa Eig, Derek Vasconi (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Pete Santilli (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Derek Vasconi…

Derek is Currently Reading

Derek Vasconi rated a book it was amazing

Joonie and The Great Harbinger Stampede

by Daniel Landes

bookshelves: currently-reading, joonie

read in October 2012

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Derek Vasconi said: " A great read, truly original work of art as a book. "

Nov 07, 2012 04:35PM · see review

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