Urban Reviews: Tell us about Poison Ivy.
Travis Fox: Poison Ivy is a tale about a woman that is on an ever lasting search for love. Like most people, male and female, this search is not an easy one, and after growing tired of not finding the love that she has been looking for, she decides to look for love in all of the wrong places.  This book has been called a modern day The Color Purple and a modern day The Bluest Eye because of the characters similar quest for love, acceptance, and belonging. What separates Poison Ivy from other books of this era and eras past is the fact that it is written from all sides of the literary spectrum of genres. Readers of street lit will love this book just as much as readers of horror, or erotic literature. Look at it this way. I am not going to give you the standard, “this book is a literary rollercoaster” line. That’s corny and contrite; I will spare you of that. I will tell you this though. When I sat down to write this book, I wanted the reader to experience every different emotion that they possibly could experience. This book has been likened to a runaway train of emotion traveling 600mph ramming into a one hundred ton mountain of reality. Yes, it is that deep.

Urban Reviews: Poison Ivy features some interesting supernatural elements. What inspired you to create such a unique storyline for this novel?
Travis Fox: When first setting out to write this novel, I said to myself that this story had to be as unique and as different as any other African American novel out there. I read a lot of novels, and noticed that a lot of the stories had a very common theme. I did not want my book to follow along any of those lines. I knew that it had to be different. Some of the books that I read had supernatural elements, but they were written as the vampire, or the demon type stories. I feel that the vampire and demon stories have been done to death. So I decided to play to my strength, and that is my deeply psychological and philosophical way of thinking. I also wanted to create a supernatural element in this novel that was terrifying yet believable, an element that some have experienced, but most wish that they never ever do.

Urban Reviews: You are currently signed to Q-Boro Books. Tell us how you got started on your literary journey.
Travis Fox: In May of 2005, a lot of things were going wrong in my life. I was fired from my job as a teacher unjustly, and things started falling apart from there. My relationship with my fiancé was fading fast, because of the miscarriage of my son, and because of stupidity on both of our parts. I was falling into a state of internal depression, and I needed a way out. So I started to write, and write, and write. I went online, and started to research all of the large and small publishers that I could find. I ventured onto the Triple Crown Publishing website, and joined their message board. It was there that I met the person that would get the ball rolling on this wonderful career that I have. Kia Smith (may God rest her soul), directed me to a message board called Coast 2 Coast Readers. She told me all about the board, and gave me the encouragement and the strength to do what it is that I do. I let her read some of my work, and she gave me the pseudonym the Grim Reaper because she said that once my work gets out there, I am going to kill the game. And she was right. I love you Kia. After completing my first three chapters of Poison Ivy, I submitted them into Q-Boro books. I was expecting a rejection letter because I did not think that a publisher would accept a story like mine. I was wrong. After about two weeks, I got an email and a call, and now as the old cliché goes, the rest is his-story.

Urban Reviews: Have you faced any challenges being a debut novelist? Was the book industry all that you hoped it would be?
Travis Fox: CHALLENGES, wow, I have face more challenges than I have faced triumphs. And the funny thing is that I have not faced the challenges that most authors go through, meaning negative responses and criticisms about my work. My book, from the readers, has received nothing but great reviews. I have faced challenges from the other facets of the game. Hate and jealously are the main challenges that I have faced. I have heard it all from, that n**ga Poe ain’t you know what, to this dude is good, but he will never become an author. Also going from being asked to be in anthologies, to all of a sudden not having enough room for my story. I have heard it all to be honest with you. Not to mention that Black Pearl Books threatened to sue me because of a friendly freestyle battle that I was having with one of their former authors. So I have taken my lumps. I am a true student of literature. I mean, man, the New Negro Movement of the 1920’s helped pave the way for all of us in the literary field. I thought that this industry was an industry that cared about the literary side of it all. I was hoping that this was an industry where literacy would be promoted positively in the African American communities. It disappoints me that I don’t see a lot of the positive things that I have hoped for happening from a lot of the publishers and popular artists that can make it happen.

Urban Reviews: Any upcoming projects in the works?
Travis Fox: I have sooooo many projects coming up. I was not going to do this, but I am planning on writing the sequel to Poison Ivy. The world needs this, so I am going to give it all that I have got in me to make it happen. I am also working on two horror novels entitled, Beyond the Mask of Sanity and He’s Here. I am also currently working on my second novel for Q-Boro entitled, I Am Not My Father. And for any potential writers out there, I have a lil project that I call Writer’s Boot camp. This is a thing that I started to help writers that are on the verge of superstardom achieve their goal of getting signed. An extremely talented author by the name of Jacki Simmons was the first writer to enter into the boot camp. She is now on the cusp of greatness with her debut novel Stripped that is being published by Melodrama Publishing. Please go out and support her. You will not be disappointed.

Urban Reviews: What authors or books inspired you to become a writer?
Travis Fox: I was always inspired by the writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Their sheer courage and determination to tell their stories always inspired me. And I never fully understood how powerful their words were until I got to college. I went to a high school where African American writers and their stories were not put on the same benchmark as the British and American authors of yesteryear. Once I got to Cheyney University, an H.B.C.U, I built up an appreciation that I did not have. The Bluest Eye and Invisible Man were two of my favorites. I wrote Poison Ivy with some of those same themes in mind. In The Bluest Eye, the little girl wanted to change her eyes to the deepest shade of blue just so she could fit in. My character Ivy would have also gone to those same lengths to be accepted and feel loved. My greatest literary influence is Edgar Allan Poe. Most only know him for the Raven, but he was one of the few literary geniuses of his day. He invented genres, and he did things his way, and could care less about what his critics and publishers thought about him. I am the exact same way. That is why I do things my way. He was true to himself and to his art. We share the same kindred spirit because my words come from my soul, and that is the only way that I will allow them to be shown. Hate me or love me, just respect and appreciate my work.

Urban Reviews: If there was anything about the book industry that you could change what would it be?
Travis Fox: I could go on and on and on with this question, but I was advised by my publicist to not go there. I will try to keep this brief and be sure to not ruffle too many feathers. I know that are a lot of sensitive artists out there. I don’t want anyone to catch feelings. If I could change one thing about the industry, I would focus on making the publishers accept responsibility for the books that many are putting into the hands of the readers and passing off as stories. I am constantly in the bookstores, large and small reading up my colleagues and the mistakes that I find in these books are mind boggling. It all goes back to editing, which goes back to the publishers. The readers deserve the very best that we can give them. They are much more than wallets and pockets with money to throw away. It is time that we start to respect them. I would also, for at least one book a year, have the African American authors write meaningful stories that show black love and unity. One can only take so much killing and drug dealing, and money grubbing. It has to stop sometime. If only for a brief moment, this industry needs to focus on some sort of positive energy to put out to those that hang on to every word that we write. I see little fourteen year old girls talking about the racy and raunchy books that they are reading, but when it comes time for them to do or say anything intelligent, they absolutely can not do it. This is our future. We must protect it now.

Urban Reviews: What do you want people to know most about you?
Travis Fox: I want people to know that I am more than just a pretty face (LOL). Seriously, I want the people reading this and the people that buy my book to know that I am a writer that will never compromise his writing style or his integrity to sell out to a publisher, film company, etc… to make a buck. You all mean so much to me that I feel like I would be letting you down if I did indeed sell out. I love you all, and I always will. It is you who have made me what I am. I truly and honestly thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am a novelist and an artist that believes that the African American reader is not stupid, and you can comprehend a work of fiction that consists of more than the words shit, piss, fuck, and bitch. While others don’t, you can always rest assured that I do.