WORKER PRINCE by BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT, Author - Interview

I’ve interviewed author-editor-TwitterChatMeister Bryan Thomas Schmidt before, and we recently posted a Dialogue Between Writers. Bryan’s visiting us again as part of his month-long blog tour promoting the release of his novel THE WORKER PRINCE, the first installment of the Davi Rhii Saga.

The Worker Prince

ANTHONY: Welcome back, Bryan! This time around we’re going to concentrate more on your upcoming novel release, which I was honored to receive an ARC of. So first let me say how much I enjoyed it. I’ve been talking it up to friends who like good solid SF.

BRYAN: Thanks, I appreciate that.

A: You started the story as an intentional reworking of the Moses story set among the stars. Davi Rhii is sent off by his natural, slave-born, parents and inadvertently adopted by the sister of the High Lord Councilor of the ruling society. As an adult, he learns of his background and has some hard decisions to make. One of the things that interested me is how your main characters map onto the Biblical originals in terms of their story function but also their personalities. Can you talk about your decision-making process as to when you opted to stick close to the originals and when to move a character in a different direction?

B: Well, I think a lot of that was sub-consciously done, to be honest. Obviously, between the Charlton Heston film, the Dreamworks film, and the oft-told Biblical story, some of those things are iconic, so they kind of just become tendencies when telling the story, you know? For example, the High Lord Councilor (aka Pharaoh) character, Xalivar, is obviously going to be strong willed and “an evil dictator” type. In this case, I decided to show his genuine love for Davi (aka Moses) and how his emotions tear at him a bit. It makes him more well-rounded and human and far more interesting that he’s conflicted. I’ve had readers tell me they really didn’t know whether to like or hate him, which is good. The Davi character (Moses) is also complex in similar ways with less obvious evil tendencies, although he’s imperfect. I did avoid things like the siblings Aaron and Miriam, but used Miri as Davi’s mother’s name in tribute to Miriam. I also skipped the whole father-in-law with beautiful daughters desert escape sequence. Davi’s love interest, Tela, has no father figure around really. And they meet in a more conventional way. Part of that is done because departing from the familiar is the only way to keep such an oft-told story fresh. And part of it because, frankly, it was more interesting for me than rehashing what’s been done before. But making Tela a strong-willed, independent fellow pilot, for example, also allowed for some relationship dynamics which are far more interesting. And it allowed for another strong female character. I have four strong major female roles: Miri, Davi’s mother and Xalivar’s sister; Tela, his love interest, trainee and fellow pilot; Lura, his birth mother (a supporting role) and Kray, a member of the Council of Lords (supporting). There are other women characters, but those are the ones who portray the kind of anti-damsel-in-distress women I grew up with in my family and which often don’t appear much in space opera. Also, because I was not writing a religious book but just a book with religion as part of its worldbuilding and because it was more science fiction rather than fantasy, I stayed away from the plagues, signs from God, etc. aspects of the story. They are important and great parts of the biblical story but hard to make work in a believable way in the context of what I am doing. Since these people are descendants of Earthlings, anyway, that’s actually part of their past history anyway, from a Biblical perspective.

A: Orson Scott Card tells the entire life story of Moses in STONE TABLES, embellishing some parts of Scripture and condensing others to fit the whole story into one book. Your story is intended to be a trilogy. How have you handled parceling out the Biblical story over the course of three novels?

B: Well, originally it was conceived as a giant TV mini-series or one long book. But once I got into it and started “playing” around with the story and departing a bit, it became obvious the story I had would go in some different directions. I wrote it as if it could stand alone, and I think “The Worker Prince” really could if need be (I hope there’s no need though). When I started considering how to write the rest of the story, I then realized there were two more books, one which deals with the aftermath of the fight for freedom and developing culture clashes as the workers/slaves are being mainstreamed as citizens against the desires of some others, and the other which deals with the exodus itself.

A: Authors often talk about characters “taking them by surprise.” Supporting characters suddenly come to the forefront because they can provide something to the narrative the main character can’t, etc. While your characters do map onto Biblical equivalents, as we’ve discussed, you’re also telling a large story with lots of supporting characters. Have any of these characters’ paths taken you by surprise either in Book One or as you’re writing and plotting Book Two and Book Three?

B: Oh definitely. And part of that is my trying to keep the cast from getting too big by finding ways to work the supporting characters I’ve already introduced back into new parts of the story. But in Book 2, I wound up killing some characters I never would have anticipated. It serves the story and character development very well, but they would not have been the ones I expected to “knock off,” originally. Also, some of the characters took divergent and interesting twists and turns in their journeys which surprised me. Farien’s journey, in particular, is really interesting in Book 1 but especially over the course of the three books. Some of the supporting characters who are minor in Book 1 take on interesting, larger roles in Book 2. Manaen, Xalivar’s majordomo, a couple of the Boralian military leaders, Bordox’s father Obed—several examples.

A: Another thing that intrigues me about THE WORKER PRINCE is the cultural history. Even though this is taking place in a far-away solar system and far in the future, there are references to “old earth,” and to the colonization of this distant system. The history of, and the animosity between, the races now known as the Borallians and the Vertullians clearly stems from our own time and place in the universe. That history is largely in the background of this first book, but can you tell us anything about how these planets came to be colonized and how one came to be enslaved by the other?

B: The Boralians are a group of colonists formed from mainstream Christian churches, Muslims, Hindus, new agers, and other Earth groups. The Vertullians are Evangelicals. Both groups fled Earth after years of conflict between them to start over. Unfortunately, the Vertullians’ ship broke down and crash landed on Vertullis before they even realized who their neighbors were. The Boralians had already settled the next planet over. When the two discovered it, the Vertullians tried to make peace but the Boralians enslaved them instead. That’s basically what I tell in Book 1. The other history is an animosity toward Evangelicals developed in society because of their conservative views and a gradual domination of more liberal ideologies on Earth. As such, the Evangelicals became marginalized and persecuted. Outcasts in their own society, they find themselves more and more maligned, which leads to their decision to flee Earth. The Boralians who also fled were a portion of those on Earth who just grew tired of the fighting and wanted a peaceful fresh start, or so they thought. Obviously they don’t end up living that out. There are a series of post-colonial incidents, like the Delta V slave revolt, which are referred to as well but not really explained. I actually plan to do a short story on that one. And I have plans for a YA early life series about Davi and his friends now as well. If the books are well received enough anyone is interested, that is.

A: The last time we talked, you gave a little bit of background on how you came to write THE WORKER PRINCE 25 years after having the initial idea in your teens, and how the current cultural climate (try saying that ten times fast!) regarding religion influenced the way you’ve told the story. I’d like to step back from the plot, characters and cultural influences for a moment to ask a more general question I didn’t ask you last time: which writers have influenced you the most, both in your writing overall and for the Saga of Davi Rhii particularly?

B: For world building, my hero is Robert Silverberg. Majipoor has always been one of my favorite series, starting with “Lord Valentine’s Castle” which remains one of my all-time favorite books. Silverberg built that world in amazing depth I couldn’t even begin to aspire too, but, at the same time, he also taught me a lot about the necessity to think through details I never would have imagined. I admire Lewis and Tolkein too, of course, and others as well, but Majipoor is the world I have the most passion for that I’ve read and know in most detail because of just loving spending time there so much. Losing myself. For action, Timothy Zahn especially but also Kevin J. Anderson were big influences on me. Kevin even gave some suggestions and answered questions as I went through revisions. I kept Zahn’s original Thrawn Trilogy handy as I wrote action sequences for pacing and just ideas and inspiration. I later did a blog entry on how to write action based on all I’ve learned. http://bryanthomasschmidt.net/2011/07/17/10-tips-for-writing-good-action-scenes/ I also used Nicholas Sparks, whose love stories move me deeply, in writing the subplot of Davi and Tela as well as Sol and Lura. Those two are the great love stories in this novel and I wanted sections of real passion and emotion captured in words which no one does like Sparks can. For thriller pacing, John Grisham and WEB Griffin are inspirations. They know how to keep books moving. Griffin also is great with political twists and turns which I threw a lot of into the books to keep the readers guessing (and myself as I wrote, actually).

A: How soon can we expect to see Book Two of the Saga of Davi Rhii, and can you give any hints about it without spoiling the end of Book One?

B: Book 2, “The Returning,” is almost done and scheduled for publication next spring. In Book 2, the workers are free and full citizens but protest movements and hardliner sections amongst the Boralians are protesting it, accusing the workers of getting governmental favoritism, stealing all the good jobs, etc. In the meantime, Davi and Tela’s romance has hit some road bumps. Then someone is killing off workers and Davi, Farien and Yao get involved investigating. Meanwhile, old enemies are seeking revenge. Does that whet the appetite a bit?

A: Since I’ve already asked you the usual “what’s your favorite book” question and I doubt your answer has changed in the past month, let’s vary it up a little: what’s currently on your reading table, and what upcoming releases are you most looking forward to?

B: “Spellbound” by Blake Charlton, “City of Ruins” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Silverberg’s Majipoor anthology—I have two of them, waiting for the third. They are authors I admire, two of whom are friends, and whose series I loved before. So I can’t wait to know what happens next. Much of my reading time is consumed by SFFWRTCHT reading– a book a week, and I have some huge epic fantasy authors booked this fall and their books are as big as their names. Then I have the magazines I subscribe to, especially Locus, Asimov’s, and Analog. I am perpetually behind reading them. And then I am still learning craft whenever I can so I read that stuff too. So I am looking forward to the next good read, obviously, but perpetually drowning in options and reading at the pace required to manage what I need to with chat and reviews first, everything else second.

Thanks for stopping by again, Bryan! Good luck with the rest of the tour!

Speaking of which, Bryan’s next Blog Tour Appearance is on SFSIGNAL tomorrow, October 3rd Oct. 3, discussing 15 Science Fiction Classics With Religious Themes

LAWRENCE BLOCK, Author - Interview

This week I get to interview one of my heroes. What can I say about Lawrence Block that hasn’t already been said elsewhere?

In his own words: “Lawrence Block’s novels range from the urban noir of Matthew Scudder (A Drop of the Hard Stuff) to the urbane effervescence of Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar on the Prowl), while other characters include the globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner (Tanner on Ice) and the introspective assassin Keller (Hit and Run). He has published articles and short fiction in American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times, and 84 of his short stories have been collected in Enough Rope. In 2004, he became executive story editor for the TV series TILT. Several of his novels have been filmed, though not terribly well. His newest bestsellers are Hit Parade, his third Keller novel (July 2006 in hardcover), and All the Flowers are Dying (April 2006 in paperback), the sixteenth Matthew Scudder novel. Larry is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of both MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and, most recently, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Spain, and, as if that were not enough, was presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. Larry and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers.”

Lawrence Block

ANTHONY: I have to admit I’ve been dragging my heels on this interview because I’ve been a bit daunted. Everyone has those folks they’re just star-struck around. I’d be equally as tongue-tied if I had the chance to interview John Glover (even after having met him twice), or Neil Gaiman, or Michael Emerson. So that got me to wondering: who gets Lawrence Block star-struck?

LAWRENCE: Hmmm. There must be someone, but I can’t come up with anyone offhand. I think age is a factor here, along with life experience. You reach a point where you don’t have heroes anymore, and no longer get star-struck. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but it happens.

ANTHONY: Part of my problem was in trying to come up with questions you’ve never been asked before. And then I realized with a career like yours there probably aren’t any questions you’ve never been asked. I don’t have to be original, I just have to be interesting! Is there any single interview question you just dread hearing? And am I about to ask that question in this interview?

LAWRENCE: I don’t like hypothetical questions about my characters. “What would Bernie do if he met a werewolf?” That kind of crap. I also don’t like to be asked what I’m going to write next, because I don’t know.

ANTHONY: You’ve covered a lot of genres in your career: the light, comedic mysteries of Bernie Rhodenbarr, the more noir-ish Scudder books, Jill Emerson’s lesbian erotica and literary novels. I’d even go so far as to categorize Killing Castro as alternate history. Is there any genre you haven’t tried yet that you’d like to take a crack at?

LAWRENCE: No, I’m not really looking for new worlds to conquer—or to be conquered by.

ANTHONY: In Afterthoughts, you talk extensively about the reasons for using pen names and how your career has really moved beyond that now. Last month, you brought the “Jill Emerson” name back for Getting Off. Any chance that your other pseudonyms will make similar comebacks?

LAWRENCE: I wouldn’t think so. The others were just names of convenience. Jill has been something rather more than that, though I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. (And if this were one of those LB/JE dialogues, she wouldn’t let that last line pass without a comment.)

ANTHONY: Do you think there’s more of your early pseudonymous work still out there “undiscovered?”

LAWRENCE: Well, not undiscovered. In fact, people are forever discovering books that weren’t mine at all, convinced they’ve unearthed a previously unacknowledged pen name. Lots of luck.

But there’s old work I haven’t brought back yet, and probably will sooner or later, avarice and ego being such powerful motivators. In fact, two old books of mine, 69 Barrow Street (as Sheldon Lord) and Strange Embrace (as Ben Christopher) will be Hard Case Crime’s #69 sometime next year, produced in hard cover by Subterranean Press as a double volume, bound back to back or belly to belly, as you prefer.

ANTHONY: Getting Off is the first hardcover book from Charles Ardai’s Hard Case Crime imprint, and along with new work by Christa Faust and Max Allan Collins the book is the face of the HCC relaunch. Was there any extra pressure associated with that?

LAWRENCE: No, hardly that. Charles really got Getting Off, and his unqualified enthusiasm was a key factor in my decision to do the book with Hard Case. If there was pressure, it was temporal; I had to hurry it in order to be done in time for his fall list.

ANTHONY: What is it like working with Charles? How does the relationship differ when you’re re-issuing an old title versus publishing something completely new?

LAWRENCE: It’s a pure pleasure. I’ve had good luck with editors over the years, esp. in that the right editors have often been linked to just the right books. Joe Pittman edited the Burglar books at Dutton, and had such a feel for them that I wasn’t surprised when he went on to write London Frog. Many fine folks have edited the Scudder novels, and John Schoenfelder was a joy to work with on A Drop of the Hard Stuff. I worked particularly closely with Charles, and showed him work as I went along, which is something I never do; it would seem to indicate a high level of trust, and it was in this instance justified.

ANTHONY: Okay, last HCC question, I promise: If Charles ever decides to bring Gabriel Hunt back for another set of books, would you consider writing one? I’d enjoy seeing your take on Gabe’s womanizing, globe-trotting, modern Indiana Jones ways.

LAWRENCE: No, I don’t think so. I like the books but I don’t want to write one.

ANTHONY: You make it clear in Afterwords that you’re not really a fan of going back and rereading your early work to prepare it for re-issue. Between HCC and the e-books, there’s a lot of older material available again, but certainly not everything. Has there been, or will there be, any kind of organized “roll-out” of older titles? You’ve come close to refusing re-issues for a few titles, I know — are there any that are on the “absolutely not” list?

LAWRENCE: The only books I know I don’t want reissued are ones I didn’t write in the first place, books that were ghostwritten under a pen name of mine. With that exception, my feeling is a paraphrase of an old T-shirt: “Publish ’em all and let the readers sort ’em out.”

ANTHONY: Okay, time for some questions about craft. (Maybe I can learn a thing or two?) You’ve said that you rarely know what you’re going to write next, hence not being able to predict when a new Rhodenbarr or Scudder or Keller book is going to come out. Does that mean you’re also a “seat of your pants” writer once you’re into a project, or do you outline heavily before beginning?

LAWRENCE: Haven’t outlined in years. How much I know about a book before I begin is variable. Sometimes quite a bit, sometimes next to nothing. And I’ve always liked a maxim I’ve heard attributed to Theodore Sturgeon: “If the writer doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, he needn’t fear that the reader will know what’s going to happen next.”

ANTHONY: Have your writing habits changed over the years, other than changing writing locales?

LAWRENCE: Oh, probably, but I’m not sure how. Very early on I’d put on a stack of records, jazz or classical, and have music playing while I wrote. Now I cannot imagine why anyone would do something like that.

ANTHONY: Do you approach the creation of a short story differently than that of a novel?

LAWRENCE: I don’t think so.

ANTHONY: What’s your self-editing procedure? Do you edit as you write, or do you put out a full draft and then go back and tear it apart?

LAWRENCE: Well, I try to get it right the first time. And when I type THE END, I mean it.

ANTHONY: Okay, this one’s a little morbid, but I have to ask. Mickey Spillane left instructions for Max Allan Collins to complete his unfinished manuscripts. You once put the finishing touches on an incomplete Cornell Woolrich mystery. How do you feel about other authors completing any work you leave behind?

LAWRENCE: Well, if I keeled over fifteen words from the end of something, I wouldn’t mind if someone supplied the fifteen words. But I would hope that any old crap lurking in the corner of my office or some back room on my hard drive will be allowed to decompose.

And I certainly hope no one comes along and writes about any of my series characters. Just because readers would like to have another book about this one or that one is no reason to pander to them. Fuck ’em, I say.

I’m quite certain Bob Parker would find a continuation of his series by other hands perfectly appalling, but the man’s dead, and the living can almost always find ways to rationalize acts that bring them money.

OTOH, who cares what the dead want? Being dead means it’s no longer any of your business. Personally, if there’s no afterlife, what do I care? And if there is, am I really going to spend it giving a rat’s ass what happens to some moldering old books down here on this godforsaken planet? What kind of an afterlife would that be?

ANTHONY: Getting Off is out in hardcover. The Matt Scudder short story collection is available. What releases do we have to look forward to in the near future?

LAWRENCE: There’ll be a new novel from Mulholland sometime next year if I ever finish the damn thing. I told you about HCC #69. I’ve got 20+ sex-fact books by John Warren Wells waiting in the wings, and might bring them out as eBooks. I’ve got two years worth of my monthly column for Linns Stamp News, enough material for a book if I think anybody might want to read it. What else? Beats me.

ANTHONY: And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

LAWRENCE: I don’t know that I have a favorite. For many years I’ve acknowledged John O’Hara as my favorite author—so many years in fact, that I have to wonder if the statement’s still true. But all I’d suggest to anyone is that they pick up one of the books and read a few pages. Either they’ll like it or they won’t—which, come to think of it, is true of just about anything, isn’t it?

ANTHONY: Thanks again, sir!

LAWRENCE: You’re welcome!

You can find more of Lawrence Block’s discussions of his writing on his website, his blog, his facebook and his goodreads discussion group. You can also follow him on Twitter as @LawrenceBlock.

ALLAN WOOD, Webcomics - Interview

This week, we catch up with webcomics creator Allan Wood.

Allan Wood

Allan Wood writes and draws webcomics. He’s also a college student, a musician and an all-around nice guy I’ve had the pleasure of knowing through social media for quite a few years now.

ANTHONY: Allan, thanks for joining us this week.

ALLAN: Nice place you’ve got, here, Anthony!

ANTHONY: You started out in the webcomics world with an autobiographical eponymous daily comic on Drunk Duck, when you were in your mid-teens. What inspired you to start chronicling your daily life?

ALLAN: It was probably The Office. When I think back on it, now, I was drawing quite a few parallels between the Jim and Pam relationship, which lead me to want to write about my own life. Couple that with some research and I realized that the Journal Comic was way underdone (at least in my opinion). To me, reading about peoples’ lives in detail is fascinating (both for the included and the excluded information), and I made Allan as a means of exploring that fascination.

ANTHONY: Yours was one of the first comics, web or print, I’ve encountered where the panels run vertically instead of horizontal. The only other comic I can think of that used that format consistently was the classic “Little Nemo in Slumberland” over 50 years ago. Why did you choose that format, and have you ever considered switching Allan to a more traditional form?

ALLAN: Little pieces to my comics, such as layout, composition, writing styles, etc., are usually products of my own preferences and experimentation. Personally, I prefer scrolling to read things. Not sure why—it’s possible that it’s in the same vein as newspaper articles reading “faster” when they are wrapped into tight confines.

As for changing the layout, I have considered it. In fact, I’ve made some unpublished Allan strips recently that have branched out of my vertical layout.

ANTHONY: Being a chronicle of your life, Allan isn’t always “work-safe” but it is always truthful. You’ve opened up about relationship problems, losing your virginity, even the car vs. bike accident you had. Is there anything you regret making public? Or anything you’ve left out or glossed over that you wish you had taken the time to draw and include?

ALLAN: I don’t regret a single thing I’ve drawn. I’ve tried to make it all as accurate and honest as I could. Do I regret letting some of it happen?—sure, but creating a timeline that in 20 years I can look back on and laugh at how stupid I was is surely nothing to apologize for!

ANTHONY: Allan isn’t a daily comic anymore … adulthood has brought more constraints on your time, but you’ve also branched out a bit with other webcomics projects. Before we talk about those projects, one last Allan question. Do you foresee a time when you’ll discontinue Allan in favor of other creative endeavors?

ALLAN: Allan’s always been my “time-killer” comic. If I have an idea, I can draw a strip in under an hour. Because of this, Allan’s toughed out all the slumps I’ve come across with my other comic endeavors. It’s easy to pick up, accessible, and just plain ol’ fun (from an artist’s perspective). Having said that, I could see Allan “ending” around Day 1000. I’m not saying I’ll ever stop drawing journal comics, but with trends in comics I’ve noticed lately, the Formatted Comic isn’t necessary for success. Expanding on that, people seem less interested in comics and more interested in the people who create comics they read. It’s an interesting phenomenon, but creating a bond between your readers and yourself is probably one of the best things any webcomic artist can do, and having that bond with my readers, I couldn’t just see myself leaving them without any kind of continuation, regardless as to whether it’s on a site called Allan or not.

ANTHONY: Your other currently-running webcomic is Blue Circus. Definitely NSFW! Tell us what it’s about, who the target audience is, and where it can be found.

ALLAN: I grew up drawing a lot of men. Dragon Ball Z was a big influence when I young. Akira Toriyama’s understanding of the male physique sprouted my own appreciation for the muscles that make up our bodies. However, I never really “got into” drawing girls. They’ve always been a difficult enigma for me to craft accurately, stylistically, and femininely.

Blue Circus began as just an art project. I wanted to draw girls. The problem was, I was having a hard time thinking up girls to draw and at the moment I had no reference photos or anything like that (I was home for a weekend visiting family). As I struggled to draw the female figure in different positions I realized that I wasn’t attached to these drawings. So I began thinking up a backstory, and as I did, I found myself becoming more and more attached to this girl I was drawing. Her name was Amy (Amy is now one of the main protagonists in Blue Circus).

So once I decided on one character, the rest kind of all fell into place. It’s definitely not a comic I expect commercial success with or anything, so I never planned on an audience. Rather, it’s a means for me to stretch my artistic wings when it comes to cartoony females and to practice my story plots on the side.

ANTHONY: You’ve never been shy about sexual topics, but you’re a bit more …. detailed, shall we say, in BC than you’ve been in any other project. So what made you decide to really “work blue,” as the Vegas comedians used to call it?

ALLAN: Blue, indeed. I think it’s a well-established fact that I like sex. A lot of people do. I can understand why, too. Sex is fun, funny, and fascinating. It’s intricate and detailed, and it reveals a lot about people. Consider the explicity of it to be an experimental character device (you can learn a lot about a character through their dreams). Blue Circus is not about sex, but rather the people who do sex, and I’m working trying to find a good balance. It should be noted that the nudity in Blue Circus is not gratuitous. I draw boobs and penises for reasons. I don’t just shove them into the panels so people can beat off to them.

ANTHONY: I definitely wouldn’t describe BC as “pornography.” Now, let’s talk creative process for a minute. There are plenty of differences between Allan and BC: real life vs. fiction, vertical vs. horizontal page layouts, etc. For BC, how do you decide the composition of each page, the length of each story arc, etc.?

ALLAN: Blue Circus story arcs begin with an idea. How well-thought out that idea is varies, but that’s its beginning point. Earlier in production, I would think up the dialogue in my head, draw the characters, and try to match the events together. Now, I kind of create one strip at a time, writing the dialogue (which usually has changed by the time I’m done drawing) to strips and then drawing them. It seems to be working better.

Other comics I’ve done, such as Red Future, I’ve written in their entirety. The problem was, the comics themselves took too long to make and I got bored with it, trying to rush to the “good parts.” Personally, I find myself more entertained with my works when I surprise myself with each update.

ANTHONY: Since we’re both LOST fans, you know I have to ask: Does BC have an intended end point, or are you just making it up as you go along?

ALLAN: Right now, the latter. The final moment hasn’t been decided upon. The girls are all in college, so the easy end would be graduation. However, that’s boring, and personally, I’d want to go out with more of a bang.

ANTHONY: One more blue question: Whatever happened to the Blue Squire?

ALLAN: That’s like asking Star Trek what happened with Tribbles. The Blue Squire was an in-joke pertaining to a Medieval Times experience I had when I was younger. Later he became a bit of a mascot for Allan, and at one point I was in the process of creating a storyline for The Squire, himself. Things fell through, though, and time got away from me. I don’t know if you’ve figured this out, yet, but I stop a lot of projects before fully completing them!

ANTHONY: See what I did there? And since I mentioned the Squire, you know I’m going to bring up two other unfinished projects of yours: whatever happened to DandE and Red Planet? Any thoughts about going back to either one?

ALLAN: DandE was a comic I created in the midst of making The 600. I drew it at school during math classes because apparently I didn’t already have enough comic projects going on (even though I very much did). I stopped it early after publishing it online because of time restraints. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel attached to the project enough to pick it back up. I still may include some of those old strips in an Allan anthology or something, but for now, it’s done.

As for Red Future, I became bored with its process. Personally, I do more than just draw. I have to write, produce, create, and once I had finished writing RF, all I was doing was copying down the info.

ANTHONY: Are your comics hand-drawn and then scanned, or done completely on the computer? In either case, what are the tools you prefer to use to create the art?

ALLAN: Usually my strips are hand-drawn with some kind of fancy pen (no pencil sketching) then scanned into the computer and cleaned up just a tidbit. Occasionally I will make a digital strip (that is, a strip drawn into my computer through the means of my Intuous 3 Wacom Tablet), but this is usually for convenience (or lack of materials). An Allan page looks best to me when it visually represents a journal comic, and you just don’t get the same feel with digital processes that you get with pen on paper.

ANTHONY: And for my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

ALLAN: I’m not much of a book person. I should be, because I like learning, thinking, and imagining, but currently I find investing the time impossible (I like getting things done fast). However, Fahrenheit 451 is my favorite book. The world Bradbury weaves of his own volition frighteningly predicts what the world could become (and even stranger—what it already has),

ANTHONY: Thanks again for agreeing to be interviewed, Allan!

ALLAN: Thanks for having me! And thanks for being so patient.

You can follow Allan Wood on Twitter, find his page on Facebook, and read Allan and Blue Circus on the web.

ANDREW P. MAYER, Author - Interview

This week my guest is Andrew P. Mayer, author of the steampunk-meets-superheroics trilogy THE SOCIETY OF STEAM.

Andrew P. Mayer

Andrew Mayer was born on the tiny island of Manhattan, and is still fascinated by their strange customs and simple ways. When he’s not writing new stories he works as a videogame designer and digital entertainment consultant. Over the years he has has created numerous concepts, characters, and worlds including the original Dogz and Catz digital pets. These days he resides in Oakland, CA where he spends too much time on the internet, and not enough time playing his ukulele. (from the author’s website)

ANTHONY:  Andrew, thanks for taking the time to chat with me.

ANDREW:  Thanks for having me!

ANTHONY: With The Falling Machine, the first book in The Society of Steam trilogy, you were described as basically the closest thing we’ve got to “What if the Silver Age of Comics happened in the 1800s?”  Did praise like that (Clay and Susan Griffiths even compared you to Stan Lee) put any pressure on you during the writing of the second book?

ANDREW:  Writing on the second book had been completed by the time the first one came out. Between January and May it seemed like everything was happening almost at the same time, with copy edits, and whatnot. It was all a blur to me, especially since I’d never published a novel before.

But the pressure on the third has been huge. I definitely read my reviews, and as a game developer I’m always trying to figure out how I can respond to my audience.

A lot of writers say you should ignore all that, but it’s interesting when you find someone has a criticism of your work that you find yourself agreeing with, and it makes me want to respond.

Ultimately though, it’s all about finishing.

Hearts of Smoke and Steam (Society of Steam, Book 2)

ANTHONY:  Hearts of Smoke and Steam, the second book, is now available. Where does the action pick up in relation to the end of the first book?

ANDREW:  It starts out a few months after the events of Book One, with Sarah Stanton trying to pull together her life and figuring out how to rebuild the Automaton after she’s run away. Unfortunately for her the consequences of looking to find someone who could rebuild Tom have left her more vulnerable than she realizes.

ANTHONY:  From the way The Falling Machine ended, it was pretty clear that Society of Steam is a fully intentional trilogy, rather than what Jay Lake recently described as an accidental one (where a book does so well, the publisher says, “let’s give the public a couple more”). Was your publisher on board from the beginning for a first book that ended with a cliffhanger, or was there any discussion of making it work as a stand-alone just in case sales weren’t good enough to support a sequel?

ANDREW:  It’s funny but I get a lot of people complaining about the cliffhanger. For me it seems thematically clean—Sarah has made a journey. But I can see why some folks are upset that it ended the way it did…

The series was originally intended as two novels. Honestly I had never completed one before I started, so there was some hubris in thinking I’d even be able to write two. But then, near the end of 2010 I called Lou and asked if we could do a third one, as I’d written four fifths of the novel, and had only just reached the big battle at the end. He was all for it, and lo, a trilogy was born!

ANTHONY:  Did you take any kind of break between writing books one and two? And if so, did you work on anything else in between?

ANDREW:  I took a sort of break. I had fully intended to work on some other things during that time, but my life as I knew it was sort of collapsing, so that ended up taking a lot of my time. I did manage to start putting a plan together for what I wanted to do next, and I’m hoping to start working on those things the moment book three is wrapped up!

The Falling Machine (Society of Steam, Book 1)

ANTHONY:  I’ve described The Falling Machine to friends as a mystery with two detectives: Sarah Stanton has the more straightforward search for Dennis Darby’s killer, and then there’s the Sleuth’s back-alley attempt to pull the bigger picture together. Does Hearts of Smoke and Stone have a similar structure?

ANDREW:  Hearts trades in the detective mystery for more of an action/romance plot. In the first book Sarah was looking for trouble, and in the second book she’s found it!

But there are some similarities. I’d say that Anubis picks up the baton that the Sleuth drops in book one, and he gives us some insights into the Children of Eschaton.

ANTHONY:  Speaking of The Sleuth, I absolutely adored the little glimpses we got of the relationship between him and Dennis Darby.  Is there any chance we’ll see their history developed throughout the second and third books?

ANDREW:  You’re not the only one who has told me that he wants to see more of them. We do get some more glimpses into their past, but not to the same degree. It really becomes the tale of the next generation going forwards.

That said, I’m not done with Darby and Wickham yet. With a little luck, I’ll be putting out more of their adventures before the end of 2012.

 ANTHONY:  How long do you anticipate it will take to complete the final chapter? And will that be it for these characters and this fun world you’ve created? Or is there the possibility of more stories beyond the trilogy?

ANDREW:  Forever? No, wait… Two or three months.
I’m writing furiously, but the story has been wanting to grow even as I’m heading towards the finish line, so I’ve needed to replot a little bit to get it to where I want it.

The goal now is to get a draft down as soon as possible and have the manuscript in the my editor’s hands sometime in March.

As for more: yes, definitely.

ANTHONY:  That makes this reader very happy.  In general, what is your writing process like? And how, if at all, has it changed over the course of the books?

ANDREW:  Outline, write-write-write, revise outline, write-write-write, revise outline, etc until done. That worked really well for the first two books, but I experimented with some different tools and methods when I started book 3, mostly because I wanted to see if I could improve things a bit. After a few months I realized that it wasn’t working out for me, and I went back to my previous process.

I also think that getting a good ending demands that I replot. I always want to be expanding, and at some point to get to the end you need to start drilling down. It’s been an interesting challenge.

ANTHONY:  It seems you’re rising to that challenge, though! Now for my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has never read it to convince them that they should?

ANDREW:  One book I absolutely love is Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange.” It takes you into a believable near-future and at the same time casts a burning light onto our own culture. That’s something I think that all great sci-fi should do.

It’s not an easy story to read because the protagonist is basically a monster. But understanding why such a terrible creature can be sympathetic is one of the joys of the book.

I also adore the way Burgess unapologetically played with language and idiom, and I always tried to put a little of that into my work. In the society of steam I think it’s there with the accents, and the cadence that I use with the Automaton.

ANTHONY: “Clockwork” has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while now. I’ll have to get to it and see if I recognize any of Burgess’ influence on you. Thanks again for agreeing to be interviewed, Andrew!

You can read more about Andrew Mayer and the Society of Steam (including an excerpt from THE FALLING MACHINE) on www.andrewpmayer.com. You can also follow Andrew on Twitter as @AndrewMayer, and he has an author page on Facebookas well. In fact, The Society of Steam has a page of their own on Facebook!

DON DELILLO's MAO II - Book Review

Don Delillo is one of those writers I feel like I should have read long before now. Somehow, he did not come up in any of my Lit courses in college, and I have not sought him out since then. Two years ago the owner of my local independent bookstore recommended MAO II.  Dave’s recommendations have always been spot-on before and as is my habit when recommendations are made while I’m in a bookstore, I immediately purchased the book, put it on a shelf at home, and promptly forgot about it.   But lately I’ve been on a “clean out the bookshelves” binge, and this was one of the books I decided I wanted to read before trading in at the used bookstore.

Plot-wise, the back cover tells us MAO II is the story of reclusive author Bill Gray who, stuck for years now on a failed novel, is inspired to leave his reclusive life and become involved in a group’s attempts to get a French poet released from hostage captivity in Beirut.  Bill’s sudden change in attitude is brought on by an encounter with a world-renowned photographer, and his actions leave his obsessive-compulsive assistant Scott and Scott’s girlfriend Karen at a loss for what to do while waiting for Bill’s return to what they consider normalcy.

That’s the plot, but the book is “about” something larger. It took me a few days after reading the book to figure out exactly what that larger thing is. Ultimately, I think, the book is about the Cult of Personality. DeLillo litters the book with references to Andy Warhol, to Chairman Mao, to the Ayatollah Khomeini. Anyone who fails to draw at least a surface connection between Bill Gray and J.D. Salinger just isn’t paying attention. Scott is concerned that Bill’s reputation and reprint rights are based on what people think he is up to in his seclusion, and that if he publishes this latest novel (failed or not, we never really get to see the contents) people will no longer be intrigued. The French poet is held hostage by a Communist terrorist building a following in Beirut, whose followers give up their own identities to be a part of his. Even the photographer, Brita, builds her career around a sort of cult: she travels the world photographing writers almost exclusively.

The opening section of the book, which focuses on Karen and takes place at the Mass Wedding lead by the Rev. Moon at Yankees Stadium, almost lost me. DeLillo bounces between at least three (that I could count) distinct points of view, sometimes in mid-paragraph, and the feeling I had by the end of the section was that this work was going to be too pretentious, too arty for me. Had the rest of the book continued in that vein, I might not have been able to finish it.  Happily (for me), the remainder of the book is written a bit more traditionally. Actually, it becomes a bit heavy on the dialogue side for a while — characters jumping on various soap-boxes and rambling, dissembling, reminiscing, pontificating. At first, the penchant for characters to spout non-sequiturs bothered me, but ultimately that’s what real conversations are like, aren’t they?  So DeLillo does capture that aspect of real life, even if some of his diatribes go on a bit long. He also does a nice job of allowing we, the readers, to see where all of the characters ultimately end up even if the characters themselves have lost track of each other.

I can’t say that MAO II has inspired me to rush out and start reading everything Don DeLillo has ever written, but I am glad I made the effort to read the book.

CHAD HELDER, Author - Interview

This week, we sit down with horror author Chad Helder.

Chad Helder

Chad Helder creates dynamic and innovative dark poems and scary stories that spring from the dark crevices of the horror genre. He is a Stoker Award winner (“Superior Achievement in an Anthology” for UNSPEAKABLE HORROR, which he co-edited with Vince Liaguno) He is the author of THE POP-UP BOOK OF DEATH and THE VAMPIRE BRIDEGROOM and his comics work has appeared in Bluewater Productions’ VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS and BARTHOLOMEW OF THE SCISSORS.

The Vampire Bridegroom, Chad Helder

ANTHONY: Hi, Chad! Thanks for joining us.

CHAD: Thank you so much for your interest in my book and giving me the chance to share my ideas about it.

A: Your collection THE VAMPIRE BRIDEGROOM: POEMS AND TALES came out in July. Tell us a little about how the book came together.

C: I’ve been blogging about the horror genre and “gay horror” since 2006 (and I’ve been writing poetry since 1994), and for years I’ve been dreaming about writing my own personal “ultimate” response to the horror genre through poems–so it started out with a big ambitious goal. Ever since I first started writing poetry, my poems have been filled with images and metaphors from the horror genre–it does feel like horror chose me. The book is a big horror collage with a variety of poems (almost all of the poems contain stories), and it weaves together a lot of personal themes of gay identity with the tropes and motifs of the horror genre. It is my desire that even horror fans who don’t like poetry will find a lot of satisfying content. I have to say, for better or for worse, I really held nothing back when I wrote this book–it is the best book I could write.

A: Jay Lake often talks about an author’s “span of control,” in other words the length of work the author feels most comfortable in. Most of the stories in VAMPIRE BRIDEGROOM are less than 5 pages long. Do you make a conscious effort to only work in very short form? Have you written anything longer than what appears in VAMPIRE BRIDEGROOM?

C: Over the years, I have also really enjoyed drafting some novels, but I’ve never reached a feeling of creative control or artistic control with the novel form. For The Vampire Bridegroom, I decided that I wanted psychologically intense poems and monologues with lots of poetic devices. My first love in the horror genre was Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” monologue–a work with lots of richness and also lots of mystery in a very confined space. In lots of ways, I am always trying to write my own “Tell-Tale Heart.” The shortness of the individual pieces in Vampire Bridegroom also helps create a collage-like feeling, I think. I didn’t want any one thing to dominate the book. That being said, some of the poems feel very large to me, especially The Gory Boy, even though they just cover a few pages. For some of the poems that have a flash fiction feel, I actually fashioned the storytelling after movie trailers–lots of quick cuts and fragmentary images.

A: Some of the pieces in TVB are in true short story form and some are pure poems, but most of them toy with format and fall somewhere in-between. How do you decide how “poetic” a piece is going to be? Have you ever started something as a poem and realized it really needed to be a short story, or vice-versa?

C: I really love to play with the gray area between poems and stories. I called the book “Poems and Tales,” not because the pieces are either/or, but rather because everything falls somewhere on the spectrum between poems and tales. I thought it would be cool to have a wide variety of styles to add to the collage feeling. I start out writing most things in poetic lines. I like how a single line needs to have something substantial–a disturbing image or a startling metaphor or a vital piece of information. If a line is empty, it’s easy to cut it out, so writing with line breaks helps me keep off the fat. Sometimes, the lines get unruly and they become little paragraphs, and I try to just let that happen if it happens. I still try to keep it tight and concise, but to answer your question, sometimes poems do become prose stories. Similarly, sometimes I have huge back stories behind a poem, and the whole thing just gets crystallized into a short poem (like with Sweet Midnight).

A: Tell us a bit about the mythos of The Gory Boy and Queen Bloody Mary. They pop up several times in the collection, either obviously or obliquely. Where did the concept come from, and are you developing it further?

C: That poem/fairy tale came from a variety of places–it is a pastiche of various elements. Most prominently, the Gory Boy is like an evil Peter Pan figure–the archetype of the eternal boy. Also, I had a traumatic experience with Bloody Mary as a little kid (which I write about in one of the poems), and ever since I’ve been fascinated with the concept of a mirror realm, or the place where Bloody Mary lives–she is the ruling central figure in this alternate dimension, but she is only referenced in the story. In addition to that, I love the Grimm’s fairy tale called “The Juniper Tree,” the grisliest of Grimm fairy tales from which my story borrows a lot of elements. I wanted to create a fairy tale-like back story for the Gory Boy character, so I used “Juniper Tree” as the starting point. To sum up, I wanted to create this shadowy Peter Pan figure, give him a fairy tale origin, and then move him into the contemporary world of urban legends where Bloody Mary lives. I think it is my favorite story in the book.

A: I got the Peter Pan sense from Gory Boy. I haven’t read “The Juniper Tree,” so now I have some homework to do! Thanks! You’ve also written the Pop-Up Book of Death and edited Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet. Tell us a little about those works, please.

C: Pop-Up Book of Death is like a companion to The Vampire Bridegroom, although Pop-Up is a lot more poetic, and Vampire Bridegroom is even more focused on the horror genre. Both books are dark and surreal and involve my quest to weave together my personal obsessions with a lot of deep, nightmarish stuff. A lot of the Pop-Up poems are based specifically on my actual dreams, so in that sense Pop-Up is more personal, but both have shaggy dogs, scary apes, neanderthals, and my obsession with vampires and beasts.

I co-edited Unspeakable Horror with Vince Liaguno. It’s a collection of gay horror–short stories that feature gay characters and use the horror genre as way to confront the anxieties of gay life. This book most prominently deals with the theme of coming out and all of the anxiety and danger that entails. We were very honored that the anthology won the Bram Stoker Award. Gay horror works well because the anxieties of gay life really translate well into horror metaphors. I think telling horror stories is a healthy way to confront those anxieties–not everyone agrees. We are now reading stories for the sequel.

A: So what’s next for Chad Helder?

C: I am working on some horror fairy tales, but I’ve felt pretty lost all summer–trying out a bunch of different things and experimenting in my notebook. But confusion can be a good thing–there are always lots of possible paths that can emerge.

A: Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

C: My favorite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. I would only recommend it to readers who are interested in works of literary obsession–most people I encounter don’t seem to be, or they had negative experiences with the book at some point because they weren’t ready for it. The book is as huge as a religion and as deep as the human psyche. It’s that big.

A: Thanks for chatting with me, Chad!

C: Thank you so much for the interview–I really appreciate the opportunity to tell readers about my book.

* * * * *

Chad Helder can be found lurking on his personal website, on the website for The Vampire Bridegroom, and also occasionally on Twitter.

BRYAN THOMAS SCHMIDT, Author - Interview

Earlier today I posted my second interview with author Bryan Thomas Schmidt, as the second stop on his Blog Tour advertising the publication of THE WORKER PRINCE, the first installment of the Davi Rhii Saga. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to leave off the wonderful excerpt Bryan sent me. So I present it to you now: one of many exciting scenes from The Worker Prince!

The Worker Prince front cover

* * * * * * * *

Davi and Tela followed Dru, Brie and Nila, as they weaved along a trail through the trees. The wind whistled past Davi, russling his hair. The air was fresh and clean. He enjoyed the sensation, the blur of the trees as they passed, and their spicy smell.

Dru and Nila delighted in swapping places on either side of Brie—one zipping in front of her, the other behind. Sometimes, they cut it a little close, startling Brie, who cried out.

“Hey! Watch it!” She would shoot them scolding looks as they slid back alongside her, and then all three would break into giggles.

Ah, to be young, Davi thought. He exchanged a look with Tela, who chuckled and shook her head.

“Try not to damage the Skitters, okay?” Davi called after them. This just led to more laughter as Nila and Dru swapped places yet again.

“I don’t think they’re listening,” Tela said, her blue eyes glistening with amusement.

“You got that idea, did you?” Davi said as she chuckled. “So much for military discipline!”

Tela laughed. “We have kept things pretty loose. We’d better start tighten-ing things up.”

The comms on the Skitters beeped as a red light on the comm panel began flashing. They exchanged a look.

“The warning beacons,” Davi said.

Tela nodded. “Better call in and see what they’ve got.”

The brush behind them rustled and they heard a noise, turning back to see four LSP soldiers slip behind them on armed Skitters. Davi and Tela exchanged looks of alarm, accelerating toward the trainees as the LSP men fired their lasers and the cedars exploded around them.

“So much for our early warning system,” Tela groaned as they sped up to catch their trainees.

Hearing the explosions, Brie, Dru and Nila turned around to look as Tela and Davi pulled alongside.

“Don’t slow down! Go as fast as you can. Follow me!” Tela warned them. She pulled in front and they sped up to follow her.

Davi hung back to protect the rear, dodging fire from the LSP soldiers. All around, he heard laser blasts and explosions as LSP soldiers engaged the other trainees. The smell of burning wood and leaves thickened the air as Davi flicked on his comm-channel.

“Attention trainees: do not go back to base. Lose them, and then hide until we can rendezvous.”

His private channel beeped and he switched over, steering sharply to dodge another laser blast.

Tela’s voice came over the headphones. “Right about now, I’m wishing we had armed Skitters, too.”

Davi reached down to the side pocket and pulled out his blaster. “I’m going to try and lay down some counter fire, but my blaster won’t do much against their Skitter guns.”

“Can you keep them occupied while I go help the others?” Tela asked, drawing her own blaster from the side pocket of her Skitter.

Without answering, Davi turned and started firing back toward the LSP soldiers, who zigzagged to avoid his blasts. Davi slammed on the brakes, and the LSP soldiers zipped right past him, their faces registering surprise. He slipped back in behind them and began firing at their flanks.

Tela fired two blasts from her blaster, then she and the trainees sped away, as the soldiers dodged more bolts from Davi’s blaster.

Davi managed to land a couple of hits on one of the Skitters, sending sparks flying, but causing more fear in the rider than damage to the machine. As the rider and his companions leaned back to inspect his Skitter, Davi ducked off onto a side trail.

In a few moments, the LSP soldiers slid back onto his tail again. Davi accelerated to full speed, zigzagging in and out between trees, jumping over rocks, diving under overhangs—keeping his target profile as small as possible. The wind buffeted him every time he emerged from the trees, forcing him to work harder to stay on the Skitter. Then he rounded a bend to find more LSP soldiers who joined the chase.

Great! Are they all after me? He hoped Tela was helping the other trainees. He was too busy to help them himself.

Around another bend, Bordox and his aide joined the chase. Bordox. No wonder they’re all after me. Davi smiled, waving, as he dodged their fire. Outgunned, he searched his mind for a new tactic.

Bordox sped to the front of the LSP soldiers, close on Davi’s tail. Davi, looked back over his shoulder as Bordox growled: “In the name of the High Lord Councilor, I order you to stop! You’re under arrest!”

Davi braked and Bordox’s aide wound up in front of him. Bordox remained alongside, as Davi fired several shots with his blaster at the aide, leaning close enough to Bordox to yell: “Give my uncle my regards!”

He ducked off onto another side trail as Bordox shot on past, cursing.

The other LSP soldiers followed Davi as he followed the turns of the side trail, staying just out of range of their lasers. He shifted in his seat, trying to stay comfortable but his sweaty body and uniform made that difficult.

As he shot into a clearing, he discovered Tela, Jorek, Virun, and four others waiting for them, blasters held at the ready. Davi spun his Skitter into a one hundred and eighty degree spin and slid in alongside them, aiming his blaster as the first of the LSP soldiers came into view.

Davi’s group opened fire and chaos erupted. Two LSP Skitters collided as the soldiers tried to dodge the blaster fire. Another slammed into them from behind, while yet a fourth ducked to one side and crashed into a large cedar.

Davi and Tela motioned, accelerating on their Skitters onto another trail with their trainees close behind. All continued firing blasts back at the LSP men behind them.

Tela took three trainees with her and split off onto another trail as Davi, Jorek, Virun and two others continued on the present course.

“They’re after you?” Jorek yelled, sounding surprised.

Davi nodded. “I told you before; I’m on your side.” A laser blast exploded near them and Davi keyed the comm-channel button. “Try and get around behind them.”

Tela’s voice came over the radio. “Hang on, Davi, we’ve got a plan.”

A plan? Who’d had time to make a plan? Most of the LSP soldiers stayed behind Davi and his group.

“Make it hard for them to lock their weapons on us,” Davi said, as his group zigzagged in and out of the cedars in varied patterns, never leaving more than one of them on the trail at a time. Their skills impressed him. They had made a lot of progress.

Jorek and Virun slid to a stop amidst the trees, watching several LSP soldiers zoom past, then accelerated after them, firing their lasers.

Davi heard a rebel yell over the comm-channel. “You two be careful! They outnumber us!” Davi warned.

Jorek’s voice came back at him. “Best training exercise ever!”

“Don’t get cocky. This is not a game.”

“No problem, Captain. We can handle it,” Virun said.

Davi wondered if he’d heard right. None of them had ever called him Captain before.

Bordox and his aide pulled back into the lead behind Davi, firing blasts which exploded on either side of him. Too close for comfort!

Tela and her group shot out of the forest, firing at the LSP. Two more Skitters crashed and two others were damaged. The LSP soldiers slowed down and dissolved into chaos as they attempting to avoid fire from the lasers.

Another group of trainees shot out from a group of trees and surrounded them, firing.

“When did you have time to get all this organized?” Davi said into the comm-channel, as he glanced back at Tela.

“Quick thinking is a military necessity,” Tela said. “They were all issued blasters with their uniforms, so…”

Davi smiled. “You’ve never been more beautiful.”

He braked, sliding in between Bordox and his aide. As they passed him on either side, he swung a foot out and kicked at Bordox’s Skitter. Bordox struggled to regain control but flew off to one side, as Davi slipped in behind the aide and shot at his Skitter with the blaster.

Bordox pulled alongside him again, his face a fierce grimace. “You can’t escape this time, Rhii. We outnumber you,” he called out with his usual menacing grin.

“You’re losing men fast,” Davi said as Bordox reached over grabbing for his controls. Their Skitters banged into each other as Davi struggled to push him away. His sweat soaked gloves barely maintained their hold on the handlebars of the Skitter.

“I always knew you were a traitor,” Bordox said.

“I always knew you were a pompous blowhard,” Davi said, freeing his leg and kicking hard. Bordox frowned as he spun off to one side.

Tela zipped up, firing at Bordox as his aide and another LSP soldier slipped in behind Davi.

Bordox corrected his course and charged back toward Davi, dodging Tela’s blasts.

Davi slowed, sliding upward, as Bordox’s aide and the other soldier flew right underneath him. Distracted, both turned, crashing into each other as Davi dropped down to fire on them from behind.

Bordox headed straight for Davi, who rolled his Skitter, dove off and landed on his feet in the dirt. He aimed his blaster and fired at Bordox, forcing him to turn suddenly and crash his Skitter into Davi’s. The impact sent Bordox flying off into the cedars. Both Skitters sputtered and smoked, amid a field of debris.

* * * * * * *

You can see Bryan’s next Blog Tour stop on Monday, October 3rd, at SFSignal. You can also see my first interview with Bryan HERE. And you can follow him on Twitter as @BryanThomasS, where you can get updates on the entirety of his blog tour, or you can find the full list of upcoming visits on Bryan’s website.

JAY LAKE, Author - Interview

This week, I welcome author Jay Lake. In addition to loving his work, Jay is a constant source of inspiration to me as he blogs openly and honestly about his ongoing fight with cancer.

Jay Lake

Jay Lake lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. His new novel ENDURANCE is out from Tor Books on November 8th, 2011.

Endurance by Jay Lake

ANTHONY: Thanks for taking the time to join me, Jay. So, The 2011 Hugo Awards were presented in Reno, Nevada on August 20th. You were tapped as MC this year. How did that come about, and what hijinks did you have planned? Did you channel the spirit of Neil Patrick Harris and do a downscale but hysterical musical number?

JAY: I was asked by the Reno con com. Given that they are largely drawn from Pacific Northwest fandom, this isn’t too surprising — it’s folks who’ve known and worked with me for years in various capacities. As you know, Worldcon having come and gone since you asked me this question, we were sort of the Smothers Brothers on Quaaludes. Which was a lot of fun, and a heck of a lot of work. My only regret is that we didn’t have a teleprompter, as our need to rely on the script was pretty obvious from the audience. I do my best work improv, but the Hugos are far too structured for that sort of technique to be successful.

ANTHONY: As a previous Hugo nominee, give us an idea of what the awards ceremony is like, and how it feels waiting for your category to be announced.

JAY: Well, the awards ceremony is very different for the nominees that is for the rest of the audience. (Also, this just in, sun rises in east.) All those categories before yours? Time wasting piffle for the main event. All those categories after yours? What categories? One becomes very focused on trying not to look like a total prat when someone else’s name is called out from the podium. Truly, it is a very intense experience, waiting to hear. The habits of certain presenters make this experience even more questionable than otherwise, trust me.

ANTHONY: You’re one of the most prolific writers I know. It feels like every time I go to a book store, I find another anthology with one of your short stories. Where can we expect to see your short fiction in the coming months?

JAY: Not a whole lot, given my cancer adventures. My writing time has been cut by more than half for the year these past two years, and I’ve really had to focus on getting novels done and out the door. So I’ve been badly neglecting my shorter work. There is a pretty big novella coming up at SUBTERRANEAN which is a prequel to the SUNSPIN novel sequence, “The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future”. That’s probably my most significant piece of forthcoming short fiction right now.

ANTHONY: Short stories, novellas, novels of varying lengths … you’ve talked in the past about predicting a work’s appropriate length and the “span of control” a writer has. For my readers unfamiliar with the concept, can you summarize it and talk about how it affects your own work?

JAY: “Span of control” refers to how much of a story a writer can keep in their head at once. Work that falls within the span of control can be addressed organically, by following the headlights and essentially making it up as the writer goes along. Work that falls outside the span of control requires a lot more deliberate attention to craft. My personal experience is that for the most part, my work within my span of control feels much smoother and more crisp to me.

For reference, when I was first publishing at a pro level, my span of control was in the low thousands — two or three thousand words. These days I can hold an entire novel in my head, up to about 200,000 words. However, when I’m doing that, I have to work pretty continuously, day in and day out, to keep the voice and continuity intact.

ANTHONY: Do you find that your “span of control” has been influenced (positively or negatively) by your on-going surgical and chemical battle with cancer?

JAY: Yeah, it has suffered. Not so much from the surgeries, which are unpleasant but fundamentally acute events. But the chemotherapies really fry my brain, especially as they progress further along, which blunts a lot of my cognitive skills. Span of control lessens, I have to work a lot more from notes or at shorter lengths, et cetera.

ANTHONY: The work of yours that has moved me the most, as a fellow cancer patient, is the limited edition short literary novel THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF GRIEF. As your fight continues, is there any chance the book will be re-released in a broader print run so that more people can experience it?

JAY: We plan to put out a low-priced trade paperback at some point in the hopefully not too distant future, yes. I want the book to be read more widely, especially by people who don’t have cancer but may have someone in their family or social circle who is battling the disease.

ANTHONY: That’s great to hear. I’ll be looking forward to the release. In terms of novels, you seem to have become quite comfortable working in trilogies (with associated short stories): The Clockwork Earth series has run three books (MAINSPRING, ESCAPEMENT and PINION), ENDURANCE, the second book in your Green trilogy (preceded by GREEN and followed by KALIMPURA) is due out in November, 2011, and you’re currently working on a hard-sf trilogy. Are you crafting them as trilogies because that’s your current “span of control,” or because our popular culture seems obsessed with trilogies lately?

JAY: MAINSPRING was an accidental trilogy, market-driven. Likewise GREEN, which was absolutely written as a standalone. So SUNSPIN, the space opera trilogy, is the first time I’ve sat down and deliberately worked in the form from word one.

I think trilogies work for readers because they mimic the three-act structure on a larger scale. Three is a magic numbers in Indo-European cultures, pace Georges Dumezil’s work on tripartite religious structures. Beginning, middle, end. Red, yellow, blue. Father, son, Holy Ghost. Cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. GREEN, ENDURANCE, KALIMPURA. How could I not hop on a five thousand year old cultural bandwagon?

ANTHONY: Good point, and I for one am glad you did. Steampunk. Hard SF. Fantasy. Horror. Literary fiction. Is there any genre you’re not comfortable working in? Can we perhaps expect to see a cozy mystery in the future?

JAY: Probably not any cozy mysteries coming up, but I am seriously discussing squeezing a collaborative urban fantasy into the schedule of writing over the next year or so. I like to stretch. 

ANTHONY: Every writer has those “trunk stories” that will never see the light of day. With over 250 short stories and close to a dozen novels in print, I have to ask: is there anything in your trunk?

JAY: Oh, god yes. My first novel, THE JANUARY MACHINE. Any number of finished-but-trunked short stories. Quite a few novel outlines. My trunk is legion, for it is many. Heinlein notwithstanding, I don’t see how it could be otherwise.

ANTHONY: And my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who has never read it?

JAY: SHADOW OF THE TORTURER by Gene Wolfe. That’s almost my perfect book, rivalled perhaps only by Wolfe’s THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS. It is an exquisite work of language, thought and storytelling merged into a unitary whole, that drives the reader to deep consideration of the words on the page. If you’re simply reading to escape and be entertained, it’s quite likely not your cup of tea. If you’re reading to expand the borders of your mind, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thanks for the interview.

ANTHONY: Thanks again, Jay! Stop back any time!

You can follow Jay on Twitter as Jay_Lake, find him on Facebook, and read his blog on his website.

CAROLYN GRAY, Author - Interview

This week I welcome my friend, the enigmatic Carolyn Gray, to Ramble On with me about her books. Okay, she’s not quite as enigmatic as Lemony Snicket was when he made his debut — but she is just as camera-shy, which is why no author photo accompanies this interview! I’d normally run an author bio here at the start, but Carolyn shares a lot of details of her life as it influenced her writing and vice-versa in our conversation. So without further ado:

ANTHONY: Let’s start with a couple of questions about your novel A RED-TAINTED SILENCE. What originally led you to write a gay thriller/romance?

CAROLYN: Thanks Anthony for having me as your guest. Writing Red, or ARTS as it is known by fans, was inspired by a Savage Garden fan video made by a person named aussieray. I didn’t know much about Savage Garden at the time, but I did own their second (and last) album. I was actually looking for a representative face for a fantasy character and had the cd sitting on my desk at work – Darren Hayes was quite unique looking back then (dramatic blue eyes, black-dyed hair) and I thought “Oh, perfect face! Which one is he?” See, not a fan. Then. So I looked the band up on the internet and stumbled across a fan group for the band. Curious, as I was very bored that day at work apparently, I poked around some more and saw one of the active people was named Linda, and on a whim emailed her. We became friends and she introduced me to the band’s music and their story (they’d recently broken up and quite dramatically) and sent me the link to that video. By then I knew that people were actually writing stories about these guys. (I was such an innocent but no more lol).

The video really touched me, and I thought oh it might be fun to write a story too! Like a lot of authors do, I found inspiration in real life people, but the story I created was completely my own. The only detail I took from their actual lives other than their appearances and talents was how they met (via a newspaper advertisement). I’d dabbled in writing – actually had a mystery published by then – but Real Life (yes, with capital letters) was rearing its head in a bad way, and that story soon became my solace. My husband was diagnosed with a very serious heart condition, and suddenly everything that was sure in life no longer was. But, with two young kids, and a scary diagnosis, I had to be strong, could not let go. Except, thankfully, through my writing. This is why the characters cry too much (as some readers complain and yes, that makes me grin, as I don’t disagree! They do!). Writing ARTS became my therapy, my lifeline, my escape. This is why the original manuscript was almost 300k words long.

ANTHONY: What was the timeline like from initially conceiving the story to publication by Loose-ID?

CAROLYN: I never meant to sell this book. Ever. This was very personal, shared with just a few friends, but after my husband died, I decided to take the kids to Seattle to a writer’s workshop. Jim Butcher was the guest of honor. On a whim, I decided that I would enter the first chapter into their contest – an all-genre contest. By then I’d had the story completed for about a year – so three years from when I started it, I tossed it into the fray.

To my shock and delight I came in second overall! ME? WHOA. At the award’s dinner, I happened to sit at the same table – with my kids who were 13 and 16 by then – as the Loose-Id people. They were a hoot and were so good to my kids! My son really liked them lots (me too). I had already pitched the story to Ellora’s Cave that morning, but a card traveled down the table to me from one of the editors. I kept that card, just simply on cloud 9. The first really good thing to happen to me in a long time!

When Ellora’s Cave passed on the story as not right for them, I emailed Loose-Id and got a fast reply back. “We’ve been waiting!” I felt such love and so much right at that moment. I sent in my manuscript, they requested changes to the back part, I did that and sent it back and sold ARTS. That was five years ago, and the story is still selling well for me to this day. I am so grateful I got that first rejection from EC, as my home is Loose-Id.

Long Way Home, Carolyn Gray

ANTHONY: Who would you cast as Brandon and Nicholas in the movie version of ARTS?

CAROLYN: Well… Unknown actors, but I would want them to look like I always envisioned them (not the hunky guy on my cover lol). Nicholas would be dark haired, vivid blue eyes, cherubic in appearance. Not an athletic body, but one sizzling and crackling with energy. Brandon would be taller, a runner’s body, blond and hazel-eyed and yes, to this day I see them as they are on the cover of the Affirmation CD cover.

ANTHONY:Knowing of your love of fan-fiction, I have to ask: has there been any ARTS fan-fiction that you know of?

CAROLYN: Oh would that just be the ultimate or what? To me, having fans who want to write about your characters would be the most incredible thing. I know many, many authors disagree with that, but I would be flattered down to my socks. The answer is no, though . Unless there are things going on out there I don’t know about. I am such a hermit!

ANTHONY: Your new book, LONG WAY HOME, is out from Loose-ID October 18th. While it shares a character with ARTS, band-mate and best friend Lee, can it really be called a sequel?

CAROLYN: Thank you for asking this question. I have found to my minor dismay that it is being touted as a sequel. Spinoff? Yes, as I wanted to write about Lee. Sequel? No, though Nicholas and some of the other band members are in the first part of the book. But the setting and story have nothing to do with the first book. I have found, to my surprise, that I prefer writing stand-alones. It is Very tough to write continuations like this – all the details to remember, plus in this case, completely different story and style. But it looks like you are asking about that in the next question.

ANTHONY: Is LONG WAY HOME a thriller-romance like ARTS, or is it a different kind of book?

CAROLYN: It is a mystery-romance. I love a good mystery, in fact not sure how to write a story without one. But it is very different from ARTS in other ways too – first, the POV is third, instead of first person. I struggled with this, as I love writing in first person so very much, and plan to again for another story I will be starting soon. But I wanted to tell both of their stories and for this plot, I needed third. It is also not deeply angsty like ARTS is, and I know many readers have expressed sadness about this, but there was a reason ARTS was so deeply angsty and sad – because I was. I am happy now, and hope never to have a time like that in my life again.

ANTHONY: Do Brandon and Nicholas play a large role in Lee’s story?

CAROLYN: Nick and Brandon are good friends of Lee’s, needless to say. So they – especially Nicholas – are interested in what is going on in Lee’s life. I chose only to have Nick actually in the story, and only to serve the purpose of prodding Lee to get started. Once Lee set out on his journey though, Nick belonged back in Colorado with his own man. Also, as a character Nicholas is very dynamic and frankly, a diva – he could easily take over any story I would choose to write.

ANTHONY: You’ve said before that LONG WAY HOME is the book you didn’t expect to write. What finally inspired you to pick up Lee’s story?

CAROLYN: I had quit writing. Life after my husband died took an unexpected turn – I met someone who changed my life, and encouraged me to do things I had never done before, and put myself first for a change. I was too busy living that life, and being a solo parent to my kids, working at a job I loved, and being happy simply encouraging others to write. I was also so wrung out over writing ARTS! And, it was the story of my heart – still is – and I wasn’t sure I could write another story worth anything again. So, I didn’t try.

But then, Nanowrimo came around a couple of years ago, and I met my friends Cid Tyer and Suzan Butler. Cid especially dragged me kicking and screaming back into writing, but even then, I just poked around it for a while. I wrote the first part of LWH with a bad attitude, just bumbling through it, set it aside for months, picked it back up, not really devoting myself to anything. Another Nano rolled around! By then I had come to know Cid and Suzan and the other two members of our crit group, Alice (who now lives in Japan) and Linda. We had been meeting regularly at McAllister’s on Thursday nights, and so I had no choice (literally, they told me I had no choice) but to take a stab at Nano again. I decided to drag LWH out and finish it. And then I did. And then I sent a tentative email to my editor, and thankfully they still wanted to see my work.

ANTHONY: You know I’m always interested in a writer’s process, so what was your process like for LWH, and how did it differ from ARTS?

CAROLYN: Writing ARTS was a dream. Every night after the kids fell asleep, and my husband did too (early, due to his heart condition), I would go upstairs to the cranky old internet-less computer and put on my headphones and pound out words. ARTS flowed, it poured from my fingers, had no plan, no real anything to it. Again, I was not writing it for anyone but me and about ten readers. It was very personal, and I had such freedom to do whatever I wanted! At that pace I wrote about a chapter a week. 300k (or more) words later, I finished it…and was so sad! I still miss writing that book. Seriously do.

LWH was written in fits and starts. I struggled, and fought for everything. I chose to write it in third, but missed first so much, it was hard to connect to the characters. I persevered though, and am better for it. It taught me a lot about what works for me best, and what doesn’t, and also I learned that I had let myself go stale with my writing. Thankfully, my editor Raven worked hard with me to bring the story up to publishable standards. I am very lucky to have an editor who cares so much, and understands why this was hard for me, and how difficult transitioning from writing a story like ARTS – the old me – was to finding new writing legs – the new me – was. I am happy with the way the story turned out, but always know it could be better. But! After finishing LWH, I sat down and wrote a new story – new setting, new characters, very different situation – and it flowed! Writing the last parts of LWH I finally found my sea legs again, and now am working on the rewrite of the new one and I am very happy with it. I hope to turn it in within the next couple of weeks.

ANTHONY: Are you typically a “detailed outliner” or more of a “seat-of-your pantser” when you’re preparing to work on a new project?

CAROLYN: While ARTS was completely pantser, I’ve since come to realize what works best for me is to figure out the skeleton of the story. Very basically what will happen – the main points. The characters are the most important though – I am mulling over the next story for Loose-Id and most of the mulling focuses on who the characters are, their backgrounds, and what kind of story would work best for them. For my other big project, which is a fantasy, I am using Scrivener, and fully outlining it as there are several POV’s, and Scrivener is helping me see their stories separately and how they weave together. I also use OneNote for other details (setting information, character sketches, world building, research notes.)

ANTHONY: Now that LONG WAY HOME has made its way into the world, what’s next from Carolyn Gray? I hear rumors of a historical drama…

CAROLYN: I will get to that story eventually! I have the characters, the basic idea, but need more plot. In the meantime, I am working on the fantasy mentioned above. However, the fantasies will not be Carolyn Gray books. I will revert back to the name I wrote my mystery under, Carolyn Rogers. Or maybe C.E. Rogers to be all clever… I will be targeting a different publisher for these books. I am rather smitten with Lou Anders of Pyr Books since being in a workshop with him this summer. But the fantasies are not fast writes.

ANTHONY: And my usual final question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to convince someone who hasn’t read it that they should read it?

CAROLYN: Whenever I am asked this question, the first book that pops into my mind is probably one that people would not expect me to say. But, this book had an unusual impact on me, and forever will stay on my keeper shelf. The book is Joe Lansdale’s THE BOTTOMS. Say what? Why?

This is a bit Amazon’s fairly decent description: A thriller with echoes of William Faulkner and Harper Lee, The Bottoms is classic American storytelling in its truest, darkest, and more affecting form.

The book is thrilling, deeply thought-provoking, racism is its central core and while I was brought up by parents who believed in equality, I learned from this book that I still had beliefs that needed to change. The characters moved me, and stayed with me – haunted me even. Joe Lansdale’s voice is like a warm comfortable coat insulating against the harshness, but not preventing access to it. Rather, encouraging it, forcing the reader to open their eyes to brutalities that were commonplace.

I absolutely love Joe Lansdale. Have heard him speak at cons many times. He is a storyteller of the best kind, a weaver of humor, truth, harshness and joy, all wrapped up in a lovely Texas accent that is warm and inviting. I have reread this book so many times and in fact think I will take it off my bookshelf right now and read it again.

ANTHONY: I definitely need to read more Lansdale! Thanks again, Carolyn!

CAROLYN: And thank you for having me and my wordy self!

You can find A RED-TAINTED SILENCE and LONG WAY HOME on the Loose-ID website.

EJ FLYNN, Author - Interview

This week, we’re Rambling On with author EJ Flynn.

EJ Flynn

EJ Flynn is a mom and a wife first, then an author and business owner. She spends most of her time trying to improve her and her family’s life, always striving for more and better. She loves spending time with her daughter Abigail, hanging with her husband John, playing poker, playing rock band (expert guitar!) and of course writing. She’s a singer, actress, dancer and pianist although she doesn’t get to do much of that anymore.
Her company is In Like Flynn Marketing (www.inlikeflynnmarketing.com), geared towards helping people and businesses find success through strong comprehensive marketing campaigns. She also offers the Be Dynamic Intensive which is designed to help empower women to know that they CAN have it all and give them the tools they need to achieve it.

Perspectives of the Heart, EJ Flynn

EJ’s new novel is PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART, which focuses on teacher Alex Forrester and the various men in her life. “When Alex decides to post a flyer on a public bulletin board one rainy San Francisco morning saying that she has a room for rent, everything changes. She runs into Casey Morelli, gorgeous soccer player and cousin of the ex-boyfriend that she had feared all those years ago. The two fall for each other quickly, but when Alex’s new roommate, handsome lawyer Garson Reed, admits his feelings for her, her life becomes even more complicated than when she was alone. And when a string of devastating events take place that rock her life to the core, Alex discovers that happiness doesn’t come from the hand you’ve been dealt or how lucky you are, it all depends on how you look at things.”

Anthony: Welcome to Rambling On, EJ! Let’s start with where the book came from. What inspired it, what made you decide now was the time to take a shot at publishing it? How long have you been working on it?

EJ: I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been working on this book for most of my life. I actually started the book when I was fifteen because I wanted to imagine what mine and my best friends, Nikki and Tricia’s, lives would be like if we were grown up. I do realize I’m going to need to turn books around a lot faster than that.
I didn’t actually write non stop since I was fifteen. I dropped it and picked it up over the years which I think lends to Alex’s growth really well. She grew up with me. I never really intended to get it published because I thought that was so far fetched of an idea. I picked it up for the last time in 2008 when I took part in a Writer’s Intensive Weekend with Laura Banks, author of Embracing Your Big Fat Ass and Breaking the Rules (both co-written with author Janette Barber), and decided that it was time to get serious. It was tough to get through it and stay focused with life happening. With the help of people close to me I was able to stay motivated. And then this past December I learned about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest which had a deadline of February 6th and decided to make that my completion goal. I didn’t actually get to enter the contest, entries filled up before the deadline. I did, however, make my deadline. Then I figured, hey it’s done, let’s publish it. I wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it when a friend of mine, Adam Weissman also a self published author, told me about CreateSpace.com. Shortly after that, I attended a “how to get published” webinar where I learned that the romance genre is the most downloaded genre for ebooks on Kindle and Nook. I used to have a bit of a chip on my shoulder saying that PERSPECTIVES was “literary fiction” not a romance novel but when I heard that about Kindle and Nook, I quickly dropped the chip and embraced the romance genre.

A: You’re a wife, a mother, and you hold down a steady job. Tell us a bit about your writing process. How do you fit the time in?

EJ: Once I committed to finishing it, most of my writing was done in bed, on my dell mini, late at night after my little one was asleep, and it still does. My husband works nights and doesn’t usually get home until after 1AM so I have a lot of uninterrupted time at night. I also started a writer’s circle which we fondly called a writer’s rhombus because there were only four of us. That was essential in gaining motivation and confidence and we always had fun. It’s now shrunk to a “writer’s line”, just two of us, myself and an amazing writer Patricia Faulkner. We motivate each other and encourage each other. Set goals and hold each other accountable. It’s really essential in my process to have someone pushing me and to have someone to read my stuff and tell me if it sucks or not.

A: Writers groups of any size are vital, I think. I’m involved in a couple. Back to PERSPECTIVES: the story centers on Alexandra, but shifts frequently to the internal thoughts of other major characters. It’s a bit of an unusual structure in that these shifts happen mid-scene rather than at chapter breaks. Was this a structure you decided on before you started, or something you noticed happening once you’d begun writing and then decided to keep doing?

The book was actually written in first person when I first started it. Then I realized that it handcuffed me to only Alex’s thoughts and feelings. When I changed it to third person it enabled me to delve into the other characters’ minds and feelings to give the story more depth and roundness. The structure then just happened organically. I didn’t plan to do it a certain way, I just went with what made sense to me and didn’t really think about it. When I tested it I did ask the readers if they found it at all confusing and not a single one said it did so, I kept it.

A: I have to admit, I’m not a modern romance/tragedy fan. I’ve never read anything by Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult, authors this type of story seem to be connected to. So what seemed to be “heaping one problem after another on the main character” to me might be the conventions of the genre. I felt like poor Alexandra couldn’t catch a break — one disaster after another befalls her and her loved ones. Did you ever feel, as you were writing the next horrible thing to happen to her, that perhaps you were throwing too much on Alexandra and wanted to cut her a break? Or was the intent always to prove how resilient she is by hitting her with one punch after another?

AJ: I have to confess, the book is somewhat autobiographical so I never thought I was giving her too much. I didn’t give her everything that has happened to me because I was afraid it wouldn’t be believable and one major tragedy that happens to her didn’t happen to me but I felt it important to where I wanted the story to start. There is much happiness in between the tragedies for her and it was meant to show that no matter what life threw at her, as long as she kept the right perspective on things, she could get through it just like I have.

A: Speaking of other authors: we all draw from the authors we love, intentionally or not. When I spoke to Evelyn LaFont a few weeks back about her paranormal romance book, she said that it was a genre she loved and also a genre she wanted to poke fun at because of its popularity. What authors do you see PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART sitting alongside of on the bookshelves? Who influenced you as you wrote?

EJ: That’s an easy one. Danielle Steel. I have read most of her books. The first book I remember reading in its entirety, that wasn’t for school, was Danielle Steel’s Daddy (later made into a movie starring Patrick Duffy, Linda Carter and a very young Ben Affleck!) Anytime anyone asks me what kind of a book Perspectives is, I always say it’s a very Danielle Steel-esque type novel.

A: Without giving too much of the plot away, I think I can safely say: everyone in this book falls in love at first sight, and most of those relationships aren’t very successful. Was that an intentional theme of the book, the idea that rushing in doesn’t often lead to solid long-term relationships?

No that was not intended at all, the intention was more to follow your heart despite the risk, enjoy things to the fullest while they last and you’ll have no regrets.

A: PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART is obviously a labor of love. What would you say to someone who doesn’t normally read this type of book (like me!) to convince them to give it a shot?

EJ: I would tell them that it’s not just chick-lit, it’s a story that most people can relate to on some level. It will hopefully evoke emotions good and bad and maybe change the way you look at things by the time you finish it.

A: So, what’s next for EJ Flynn in the writing realm? Working on anything currently?

I just started the actual writing of my next book. It’s a complete departure from PERSPECTIVES. I said earlier that the first book I ever read in its entirety was Daddy by Danielle Steel. The second book was Pet Sematary by Stephen King. Other than those two, my favorite authors to read are John Saul, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and John Grisham. I can’t imagine only writing romance when there’s so much beauty in other genres too. My next book is a much darker, intense psychological thriller called TWELVE DAYS. I’ve also got a nonfiction in the works that’s called THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER, UNTIL YOU HAVE tO CUT IT YOURSELF, a real and funny look at relationships and dating, marriage and divorce.

A: Looking forward to both of those! Now for my usual last question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to recommend it to someone who hasn’t read it yet?

This is such a tough question. If I could pick by genre it would be easier. The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It’s a very intense, very intelligent, science driven, supernatural story with amazing characters that you will admire and root for. I think though that for many people and definitely for myself, what’s happening around you when you’re reading a book affects the impact of that book on you. I read Cabinet of Curiosities while on a girls’ weekend in New Orleans for my 30th birthday. So really awesome memories surround it. When I reread it I think of that awesome time.

A: Thanks, EJ, for agreeing to be interviewed!

EJ: Thanks Anthony!! This was fun!!!

You can find PERSPECTIVES OF THE HEART in both print and ebook formats on Amazon. You can also find her on her own website.