The Devil’s Whisper - interview with author T. H. Moore
T.H. Moore is a Southwest Philadelphia native who relocated to Camden, New Jersey, at the age of ten. He’s an active member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State University. His career as an information technology consultant and real estate investor has afforded him the opportunity to travel to many countries all over the world as well as the majority of the United States. Blending experience with imagination helped formulate the basis of, and inspired him to write his first novel, The End Justifies the Means.
His second novel, The Devil’s Whisper, is uniquely creative fiction that ventures away from the inspiration of his own life experiences. In The Devil’s Whisper, he dives into a darker set of dual protagonists whose sole objective is to survive the circumstances of the world they live in. T.H. Moore is the proud father of one son, Jason, and currently resides in Virginia, where he is working on the next two installments of The Devil’s Whispertrilogy.
How did you decide on the title for your first book 'The End Justifies the Means'?
The plot and story line of "The End Justifies the Means" develops as a coming of age story for the two main characters Jalen and Kevin who are cousins but Kevin is significantly older and more of a father figure to Jalen. The story takes the reader on a journey of choices both characters make and how those choice take each of them into different directions in life, one negative and the other positive. However, they are family so ultimately they both need each other to overcome their respective trials and tribulations life presents them. Some of the actions they take to "survive" range from clever to sinister and illegal. Bare in mind that their ultimate desired outcome is for them both to prosper and become the men they can be with a greater good being the goal. So in this story the end game justifies some of the unconventional means they take to attain their goals.
What kind of book is "The Devil's Whisper"? What exactly made you write this novel?
Well, since this book is the first of a trilogy I have to answer specific to just this first book. "The Devil's Whisper" is dystopian suspense fiction. It highlights the choices two exiled criminals have to make in order to survive in a city of a million violent offenders, murders, and anarchists. After my first novel I wanted to create and publish a story completely different from it. I wanted my new story to not be similar to anything I've read or movie I'd seen. So after two months of brainstorming I decided to rewrite history so this story could create as realistically as possible a world where humans have achieved a state of world peace. However, in order to attain world peace, society had to decide to permanently exile all violent criminals to a prison city in Australia until they die of natural causes, disease, or at the hands of their fellow exiled criminals.
Why is venturing away from the inspiration of your own life experiences refreshing? What did you learn?
It's refreshing because you're not confined by your personal experiences. You finally can go free of the constraints of your own head and enter the mind and thoughts of others. It's a license to have out of body experiences. To think as someone else and contemplate life based on the story these imaginary people would create. For example in my second novel both the main characters (all my stories have two main characters so the reader has multiple story lines to follow) are murders but one is the head of a human trafficking organization so his victims are young prepubescent children. The other character, Elaina, murdered her adulterous husband and his mistress so I had to put my mind into each and imagine thinking how they would think to evolve the story despite loathing what both had done to earn exile.
How challenging is it to write your second novel?
Not to sound arrogant but it wasn't challenging at all actually. I did require much more research than my first book since this second story has a heavy historical flavor to it. I was lucky that I'm an only child so I had to entertain myself a lot growing up. As a result, I've always had an active imagination so outside of the historical research when I sat down to write any story I literally close my eyes and type out the scene playing in my head and I don't stop until the scene is over. So coming up with stories have never been difficult for me. I see them in my mind as clear as I'm watching a big movie screen.
How did you craft your characters? Which is your favorite character and why?
For my first book one of the main characters I used my own life and personal experiences as the blueprint on developing him. So for "The End Justifies the Means" Jalen would be my favorite because he reminds me so much of myself. He's initially shy, gradually finding himself and his voice in the world. Then a few key events helps him blossom into the man he eventually becomes. He realizes a strength he didn't know existed had it not been for his circumstances and choices he's made in life. For my second book, "The Devil's Whisper", I had to go to a dark place and imagine being a criminal, how they think, talk, etc. There were many uncomfortable moments writing this story but it was a necessary sacrifice to stay true to the story. In "The Devil's Whisper", Elaina is my favorite. To put it simply, she's just a bad ass! The type of woman who's both gorgeous, strong, and ferocious. She has no fear and I love that about her. When I first created her character she wasn't this strong. It was only after years of writing the story and developing her character she naturally morphed into someone who she is now. Elaina is a woman you can falling in love with and at the same time have your back in a dark alley fist fight and you would end up having to pull her off of your would be assailants for fear she would kill them. Now that's my type of woman!
