Take 5 with Dark Visual Artist Andrea Dean Von Scoyac

TA: First, tell a little about yourself.

ADV: Wow...where do I start? An exciting life, filled with ups, downs, triumphs, pains, fame, fortune, celebrity, goals far exceeded and still waiting for some, ships to come in.

On a more personal note, I'm a Hereditary, natural witch (meaning I inherited the power...didn't have to “become” a witch) tracing my mother's family power as far back as I can find people in the tree.

Dad's side, was Sorcery. Had to hunt for that info. My Aunt (dad's younger sister) has the Power, but no one talks about how it came to be. I found out and proudly crow about it.

The rest of dad's family...they'd have just as soon I left that secret buried.

I'm a Thanatophile (lover of death...anything dead or involving death and spend a LOT of time on sites for real death photos and videos) and now...in my Midnight years, have found happiness through my Phobophilia Surrealist Photography.

TA: Now you used to write horror novels and had some pretty nice success with it. What story or book of yours would you say is your best work?

ADV: My favorite book was and will always be… A Man of Two Worlds. It was in and out of motion picture negotiations, many times.

Just never got there.

My fans disagreed, choosing my first novel, The Two to make best seller and crowing about Michael.

Michael is one of the books that got me FBI profiled.

I always said I never knew who was sicker and more twisted...me, or my fans. Ha ha...

TA: Over the years, you have really shifted your focus, both in your life and your career. What made you want to make that change?

ADV: Burn out. Plain and simple. My writing success was sudden, meteoric and put me on the fast track...appearances at cons, on TV and even in movies.

I was a founding member of the Self Publishing movement. I pushed for it, paid my dues for it, (including shunning by traditional authors - hate threads we're even started about me on forums...by people who didn't even know me. They just knew I bucked the establishment, so they hated me because their friends (who were robots of the establishment) said they should) and having to work extra hard to get my name out there.

I did it, too. But not without a hefty price. Within eight years, the empire I'd fought to help build, spawned all the e-publishing sites that swamp the market today.

Now...anyone who has a nightmare can publish a book. You don't need talent. You don't need work. Just upload your story to one of the popular e-reader platforms and you can call yourself an author...without having to put out any real blood.

I knew there was no way I could compete with the monster I'd helped create, the convention and book tour circuits were wearing on me, so...I retired.

Many people have asked me if I'll ever write again. The answer is simple.

NO.

TA: Tell us a little of what you are currently working on.

ADV: I'm living yet another dream. I've always wanted to be an artist of any sort, but I can't even draw stick figures.

Photography has always intrigued me and now, thanks to technology...I'm fulfilling an untapped passion I never thought I get to.

TA: And finally, where can people find you and your work? Plug away :)

ADV: The best place to find my work is on Deviant Art:

https ://www .deviantart .com /thebohemianceltdha