Predators by Michaelbrent Collings

By George Ebey

Michaelbrent Collings sends chills our way in his latest horror novel, PREDATORS.

Evie Childs hoped the all-expense-paid trip to Africa would give her a chance at adventure. Maybe it would even let her forget a past that haunts her, and find safety from a husband who abuses her. But when a group of “freedom fighters” kidnaps her safari tour group, intent on holding them for ransom, the adventure turns to nightmare.

Now, Evie and the rest of the survivors must travel across miles of the harshest, most dangerous environment on Earth. No food. No water. No communications. And they’re being hunted.

A pack of Africa’s top predators have smelled the blood of the survivors, and will not stop until they have fed. Because in this place, you can be either one of the prey, or one of the… PREDATORS.

The Big Thrill recently checked in with Collings to learn more about his terrifying new tale.

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

I hope that readers will, first and foremost, enjoy the experience. I hope it challenges them a bit, too, to look at the ways they have interacted with others and determine whether or not those interactions have been to help or harm. In a day and age where we are coming to understand more and more about interpersonal power inequities, we must all look first at ourselves to make the changes the world needs.

How does this book make a contribution to the genre?

It’s a terrifying horror novel that could actually happen—a hunt by Africa’s least-understood (and most terrifying) predators. More than that, though, the eponymous predators aren’t just the four-legged kind. The people in this book are studies in predatory behavior, and in the effects of the behavior. In a #MeToo world, there are far too few examples of horror that talk seriously about what it means to be a predator, and how the women of the world can break out of the molds that have kept them constrained for too long.

Was there anything new you discovered, or that surprised you, as you wrote this book?

Hyenas are fricken’ terrifying.

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?

It’s a horror novel, it’s an adventure—but it’s also a story about women, their power, their fears and hopes, and the superheroes they have it in them to be.

What authors or books have influenced your career as a writer, and why?

My father was my biggest influence. He was Creative Writing Director at a major university for many years, and through him I was introduced to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Orson Scott Card, and many others who influenced the writer I became. I enjoy all these people’s work, because they all know how to make a story come to life—and they all know how to make that story matter, and to make changes in the lives of the readers.

*****

Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally-bestselling indie author, multiple Bram Stoker Award Finalist, produced screenwriter and WGA member, and one of the most successful indie horror authors in the United States.

To learn more about Michaelbrent, please visit his website.