AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Steven W. Booth

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I started writing seriously in 2006 or 2007 at the advice of a friend (Harry Shannon, my co-author on The Hungry books). I kept trying to convince him that I wasn’t a creative person, and he wasn’t buying into it. So I started writing a novel that didn’t go anywhere, but which I have come back to after 8 years and I am now reworking into a viable project. And it turns out that Harry was right, I can be creative when I choose to be, which is a nice feeling.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

David Gerrold (still my favorite author). Patrick O’Brien, Steven Saylor, Steven Brust, Isaac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Gregory McDonald. Those are the ones I can remember. I wasn’t much of a reader until I was about 15 years old. Then my older sister (who was and still is a voracious reader) handed me a couple of series, Xanth by Piers Anthony and The War Against the Cthorr by David Gerrold. I was off and running.
Today I like cross-genre mysteries and detective stories, though they are hard to find. I’m actually putting together an anthology of exactly these kinds of stories, anchored by David Gerrold (I have my very own ORIGINAL David Gerrold story. Wow!), and I’ve asked Steven Saylor and Steven Brust to participate as well. It should be an amazing project.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel The Hungry?

The inspiration was, Harry Shannon and I were given the opportunity to contribute a short story to a charity anthology edited by Joe McKinney and Michelle McCrary titled Dead Set. We wanted to do a story about a small town sheriff who gets overrun on the first night of the zombie apocalypse. Somewhere along the line, instead of John Miller, we decided the sheriff would be Penny Miller, which put her in conflict (with a small amount of sexual tension) with one of her prisoners, a biker named Scratch. In the first draft, no one survived the onslaught, but Harry doesn’t believe in killing the main character of his stories, so Sheriff Miller survived. Then we asked the question, what happens next? The answer is The Hungry and all the books in that series.

4. Why choose zombies as your main paranormal focus?

That was mostly chance. Again, we were being opportunists in taking advantage of Joe McKinney’s generous offer to include us. Zombies are scary and fun at the same time, so we went with it. And you can’t exactly switch in the middle of a zombie apocalypse story to start worrying about werewolves or other supernatural creatures. Besides, our zombies are not supernatural—they don’t claw their way out of graves, for example. They were living humans before they became the undead. They do make a marvelous back backdrop for putting your characters in danger and watching them respond. Our books are mostly character driven, so the zombies, while “real” in the context of the novels, are not what we are talking about. Instead, they are stories about how people respond to extreme circumstances. I often wonder how I would respond to an apocalypse—but I expect I would be the first to go in that kind of situation. I’m too tied to our modern infrastructure to survive the complete loss of it.

5. Was there any intended symbolism behind it and how the zombies were created in your book?

If you ask Harry, yes. He postulates that zombies represent our fear of death and the unknown, and also an unstoppable relentless force of death and destruction. For me, not so much. I wanted the zombies to be believable within the context of the story—our internal logic had to hold up to scrutiny—and I wanted them to be scary. But do I believe that they represent corporate America and its dominance over our lives, crushing our very souls under its undead weight? No, that would be my father.

6. Will we ever see Penny Miller again in the future? (Describe the series, and latest developments please.)

Penny Miller still has some life in her. The series goes beyond The Hungry to four more episodes (soon to be five for a total of 6 books). In The Hungry 2: The Wrath of God, Penny and her companions meet a team of mercenaries who must go back into zombie central to retrieve critical data that can stop the spread of the zombies. Naturally it doesn’t go that way. In The Hungry 3: At the End of the World, Penny and her companions try to escape to the Colorado Rockies for the winter and get away from the zombies at least for a little while. That goes badly almost from the beginning. The Hungry 4: The Rise of the Triad has Penny captured and put into government sponsored “rehab” for her belief in the zombies, but really it’s just a front to find the secret to making zombie bites harmless. And in The Hungry 5: All Hell Breaks Loose, Penny decides to take the fight to the government jerks who started the zombie research, and who are perpetuating the problem by continuing to look for the key to creating supersoldiers. The Hungry 6: The Rule of Three finishes the story arc and puts Penny directly at odds with the very people who want to see most of North America become the slobbering undead.
After that, who knows?

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I currently have a science-fiction story in the works, but it is evolving pretty quickly, so all I can tell you is that I don’t destroy the world until the end of the first act, and the lead is also a woman, though nothing like Penny Miller.
Ultimately, I would like to try my hand at mystery and private eye stories with a cross-genre twist like the anthology I’m putting together. Think Asimov’s Caves of Steel, Steven Brust’s Jhereg/Vlad Taltos stories, and Steven Saylor’s Roma sub Rosa/Gordianus the Finder books. That’s the stuff I like to read, and I’d like to try writing in that vein as well.

8. What is your personal favorite zombie story, film or book?

It’s a tossup between Night of the Living Dead and World War Z. I like Night of the Living Dead because I think Romero got the feel of how helpless and out of control the characters feel when trying to survive the first night of the apocalypse. And World War Z has unquestionably the scariest zombies I’ve encountered. There might be worse ones out there, but I haven’t found them. And Max Brooks’s zombies are at least a couple of orders of magnitude scarier than anything I’ve come up with.

9. If the zombie apocalypse actually happened, what would you do?

Probably die. I’m weapons-trained, but I don’t own any (other than archery equipment which wouldn’t last very long). I have health concerns that require periodic access to a pharmacy, and even if I could find what I’m looking for in an abandoned store, how long would that last me? And I don’t have a secret armored fortress, Navy SEAL friends, or a supercar with rocket launchers. So, I’d probably be an extra in someone else’s story if the apocalypse actually came to be. Sucks to be me.

10. Would you like to see The Hungry in theaters? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters? All of them were so individualized!

Yes, I would love to see The Hungry on the screen, big or small. Gillian Shure has been our model for Penny Miller (on the covers) since the first novel came out, and I have trouble picturing anyone else as Penny. As for Scratch, I’m going to get into big trouble. Everyone—including Harry—seems to think that Norman Reedus should play Scratch, but—this is where I get into trouble—I modeled him (at least in my own mind) after the character of George in the movie Erin Brockovich, played by Aaron Eckhart. Long hair, beard, scruffy, tattoos. That’s who I picture. But I think he’s a little old for the part now. Terrill Lee should be someone tall and lanky, but if I were casting the movie, I’d probably cast Chris Platt (from Guardians of the Galaxy) in the role. He’s funny and versatile enough to pull off the role. Sheppard, well, I don’t know. Christian Bale, maybe. He’s supposed to have “movie-star good looks” and be deeply troubled. After The Dark Knight, I think he’s show that he can pull it off. If I’m picking actors from that movie, though, Heath Ledger might do a better job, but he’s not available any more.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I see my writing and publishing career growing in 10 years. As much as I adore Harry, I am going to start writing my own stuff and establishing my own name as a writer. Again, I have several sci-fi and fantasy ideas in mind, many with mystery or detective themes. If I could be any other author out there, I’d want to be Gregory McDonald, who created Fletch. I love his lean style, his sense of humor, and his ability to captivate the reader. I like writing series, so I guess in ten years, I want to have one or two other series under my belt that are worthy of being next to Brust, Saylor, and McDonald on someone’s bookshelves.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

I have an MBA in Nonprofit Management and a Masters in Teaching. I’d probably be working in a nonprofit school or university, which I am to a certain extent now. I am the Director of Fundraising for a nonprofit named VETBOSS (www.vetboss.org) which helps veterans become successful entrepreneurs. I’m going to be doing that concurrently with writing and publishing.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

Apart from finishing The Hungry 6, I’m working hard on an idea for a post-apocalyptic science fiction story with Lovecraftian-type monsters who invade from another dimension. The main character, a woman scientist (she was going to be a librarian in honor of both my wife and my mother—long story—but she changed from the needs of the story), must find a way to protect what they believe to be the last surviving humans on earth, as well as protecting every living still on earth. That’s probably more than I should say, but it should be fun to see if I can pull it off.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

Larry Niven. His collaborations always seem to improve on the best storytellers out there.
Gregory McDonald. If anyone can pull off a mystery in a charming and funny way, he can.
John Scalzi. I can already feel the Mallet of Loving Correction coming down on my first draft.
Neil Gaiman. There’s a creative mind. It would be like co-writing a screenplay with Tim Burton.
Leo Tolstoy. Just to learn from him. I believe that Anna Karenina is the best general adult novel ever written. Bar none.
C.S. Lewis. For the same reason as Tolstoy. His Narnia books are lush, emotionally charged landscapes. I could learn a lot from him.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I earned my pilot’s license when I was 17, and had to make two emergency landings—one because I was trying to teach myself to do loops without an inverted flight carburetor, and once because I couldn’t read a weather chart.
If I hadn’t bought the wrong kind of electronic piano in 2006, I’d probably be a performing musician instead of an author right now.
I have studied French, German, Spanish, Klingon, and I can recite the entire Han Solo/Greedo speech from Star Wars in the original Rodian from memory. Han shot first.

Find Mr. Booth online via:

Genius Books Publishing (his company)

Goodreads

Facebook (LIKE page)

Amazon Author Page

Twitter

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

BOOK REVIEW: "The Hungry #1" by Steven W. Booth & Harry Shannon

What do you do when you're the first female sheriff of your town and the zombie apocalypse occurs?
If you're Penny Miller, you fight, even when your only allies are a grizzled biker you had originally arrested and your wimp of an ex-husband!

I am one of those who experienced The Hungry for the first time, sent to me by Malena PR for an honest review.
I don't like most zombie novels. With the exception of Stephen Kozeniewski's Braineater Jones and Darren Shan's Zom-B series, most authors take it way too far. There's a certain stopping point that most whiz by going at about 120mph. Mr. Booth and Mr. Shannon, however, knew where the line between horror and "disgusting" was and hit it perfectly!
This book has its gross moments, but what it really has its this unsettling aura that will settle over the reader and make them peer out the window, because it seems so real.
Penny is a true bad-ass. She's a cop, she's confident and she's beautiful. She kicks butt in her wedding dress and takes zero crap from anyone. Every girl reading this will have a new heroine, probably the only truly tough female lead since Sailor Moon in the '90s!

Great read for all genders!

5/5--awesome!

Purchase The Hungry via:

Amazon

Goodreads

Barnes and Noble

Google Books

BOOK REVIEW: "The Misadventures of Me And My Uterus" by Laurie W-J-N

I enjoy medical stories, real or fictional. I even toyed with the idea of becoming a doctor before I realized I am highly squeamish around everything EXCEPT for blood!
The Misadventures of Me And My Uterus by Laurie Jake is an introspection into the everyday struggles with peri-menopause and menopause. Mrs. Jake details her story of pain, endless doctor visits and endless anxiety with humor and insight.
Every woman should read this! Everyone close to a woman who is/is near the menopause stage of her life should read this. When women go through the change, it's not JUST hot sweats and mood swings. It's so much more (and all of those things contribute greatly to mood swings!).

Reading this, I understood even more of what my mom has gone through since she was in her late thirties (yes, she got it young). Even my mom, when I read her a few select passages, got some better understanding of her situation.
I liked the humor embedded into what really is a very stressful story. How do I know, at my young age? I went through all the cancer tests alongside my mother. I see the pain she's in a lot of the time.
The way Mrs. Jake dealt with her medical problems will give a lot of women some comfort and a lot of others not going through the change some necessary information.
The only thing I disagreed with her about was the fact that they want to make transvaginal ultrasounds mandatory. She doesn't agree with the politicians' views. I do, because, had the doctors not given my mother one when she was pregnant with me, they couldn't have found my heartbeat and would have killed me, never knowing I was alive.
So yes, transvaginal ultrasounds being mandatory might save a lot of lives!

All in all, as I said above, every woman should read this!

4/5--entertaining and reassuring!


Purchase The Misadventures of Me And My Uterus via:

Amazon (PRINT)

Amazon (KINDLE)

Amazon UK

Goodreads

CreateSpace

Facebook

EVENT PROMO: San Diego Comic Fest 2014

Hello, everyone! Today's post is a promotion for the San Diego Comic Fest, which is called "Comic-con unplugged". Instead of being overly commercial, with actors and so many things that really aren't comic book related, this goes back to how conventions used to be before being a nerd or a geek became "cool".
The guest list is impressive (listed below) and the special events for Twilight Zone, Superman and Ghostbusters sound incredible!
Ticket prices and links are available below. I highly recommend you go and enjoy being a geek!





Celebrating the present.

Honoring the past.

Investing in the future.

www.sdcomicfest.org

contact: Mark Stadler (619-850-7552 or pr@sdcomicfest.org)

 

· The third annual San Diego Comic Fest will be October 17-19, 2014 at the San Diego Town & Country Resort and Convention Center. Our guest of honor is Neal Adams, “the greatest living comic book artist,” according to Geoff Boucher, creator of the Hero Complex website. Wizard Magazine wrote of Mr. Adams: “He revived Batman, saved the X-Men, challenged the system and changed comics forever.”

 

· Comic Fest is the friendly comic book convention with a casual atmosphere and an intimate scale – it is Comic-Con unplugged. We offer all the things that make comic book conventions special, but without lines or crowding – and memberships are available for purchase. The emphasis is on comics, science fiction and movies, served up with a sense of community that brings professional creators together with fans in an environment of creative exchange.
 

· Comic Fest’s origin story: Back in 1969, when he was a teen-aged San Diego comic book dealer, Mike Towry was part of the small group of fans who founded what became known as the San Diego Comic-Con. After the celebration of the 40th Comic-Con in 2009, he and other Comic-Con veterans agreed that San Diego needed a second convention, one reminiscent of the early Comic-Cons. Thus, San Diego Comic Fest was born in 2012.
 

· On Friday night, Oct. 17, the Fest will throw a 100th birthday party for Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman. Laura Siegel Larson, Jerry’s daughter, will join us for the party and entire Fest, so that, as she wrote to us, she can "meet my father's fans." She also wrote, "We sincerely appreciate the spotlight you are putting on my father's landmark 100th birthday. My father would have been humbled and proud to know that people still care about him and will be celebrating his birth in such a loving way!"
 

· One unique aspect of Comic Fest is the Comic Fest Café. This year, the Café will pay tribute to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. We will have several guests with connections to the show, including Anne Serling, Rod’s daughter and author of As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling, and George Clayton Johnson, who wrote several Twilight Zone episodes. The Café will feature musical entertainment, good conversation and an array of reasonably priced and delicious food, coffee, and other beverages.
 

· The Fest is teaming with the Geekie Awards this year. The Geekie Awards is a Hollywood awards show for indie creators in entertainment, gaming, comics and art. The winner of this year’s Geekie for Comics & Graphic Novels will receive from the Fest two Fest memberships, his or her own program slot, autograph session and a complimentary hotel room at the venue. He or she also will be featured on the Fest’s Geekie Awards panel, which will be moderated by Geekie Awards creator Kristen Nedopak.
 

· The Fest will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters and the 25th anniversary of Ghostbusters II with guests Richard Edlund, the visual effects supervisor; John Bruno, the visual effects art director; Bill Bryan, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man creator and actor, Michael C. Gross, producer of both films and designer of the iconic “no ghosts” logo; Bill George, visual effects creator on Ghostbusters II; Robin Shelby, who played Slimer in Ghostbusters II; and Henry Mayo, storyboard artist on Ghostbusters II.

 

· The Comic Fest guest list (http://www.sdcomicfest.org/special-guests/) is growing every week. Confirmed guests, besides those mentioned above, include:

o Greg Bear: Science Fiction Guest of Honor and award-winning author of such titles as Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, Hardfought and Moving Mars.

o Floyd Norman: Disney Legend, best known for his work on such classics as The Jungle Book, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc.

o John Rogers: Fan Guest of Honor and President of Comic-Con International (San Diego Comic-Con).

o Andrew Robinson: Comics artist and winner of the 2014 Reuben, Eisner and Harvey awards for The Fifth Beatle.

o Two International Comics Guests from Mexico City:

§ Lucas Marangon: artist best known for his work on Tag & Blink, Dethklok and Hellcyon.

§ Gaby Maya: comics artist, writer, editor and popularizer of the manga style in Mexico; currently doing a webcomic, Pirates of Aquelonde.

o Liam Sharp: British comics creator and head of Madefire, groundbreaking digital storytelling company.

o Anina Bennett & Paul Guinan: Co-creators of Heartbreakers and the streampunk classics Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel and Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention.

o Eric Shanower: Creator of the award-winning Age of Bronze and writer of the Little Nemo and Oz series.

o Kristen Nedopak: Showrunner, producer, writer, one of Comic Con’s “Most Dangerous Women” and founder of The Geekie Awards, for achievement by indie creators in entertainment, gaming, comics and art.

o Jon Schnepp, Creator of original programming for numerous networks, including Cartoon Network and Comedy Central; editor of many Space Ghost: Coast to Coast episodes; now developing the documentary Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

o Scott Shaw!: Award-winning cartoonist/writer of underground and mainstream comics as well as such animated TV shows as Camp Candy and Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies. [The former artist for Sonic The Hedgehog, the comic based on the popular video game franchise, publiahed by Archie Comics!--KSR]

o David Brin: Award-winning science fiction author, as well as a scientist, inventor and public speaker; his 1989 ecological thriller, Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and the World Wide Web.

o David Gerrold: Author of classic Star Trek episode, “The Trouble With Tribbles”; time-travel novel The Man Who Folded Himself; and the award-winning The Martian Child.
 

· Three-day and one-day tickets are available for advance purchase at the official site and they will be sold at the door.

o Three-day tickets:

§ $50: General.

§ $25: Youth (13-17), students (with ID), active military (& spouse, with ID).

§ Free: Children (12 and under), with accompanying purchase of at least one non-child membership.

o One-day tickets, Friday, Oct. 17, or Saturday, Oct. 18:

§ $25: General.

§ $12.50: Youth (13-17), students (w/ID), active military (& spouse, with ID).

§ Free: Children (12 and under), with purchase of at least one non-child membership for same day

o One-day tickets, Sunday, Oct. 19:

§ $15: General.

§ $7.50: Youth (13-17), students (w/ID), active military (& spouse, with ID).

§ Free: Children (12 and under), with purchase of at least one non-child Sunday membership.

· To purchase a membership on-line, go to www.sdcomicfest.org and click on the Registration button. At the Registration site, you will find detailed information about options for Comic Fest membership and a link to secure online registration the Brown Paper Tickets service. Payment will be processed securely through PayPal. You will have the option of paying through your PayPal account if you have one or, if you don’t, with a major credit card via PayPal’s credit-card processing service.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Wayne Clark

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

It was never really a conscious decision. It seems to me I’ve always been writing in one for or another. I’ve been a journalist, a translator, and an advertising copywriter. When I was 14 I decided I wanted to be a newspaperman and began creating my own newspaper on scrapbook paper by rewriting news items I'd heard on the radio, or writing accounts of ballgames I'd listened to. I would paste the articles onto the scrapbook sheets, laying them out like a newspaper. My only readers were my parents. I also kept journals, but I don't recall taking a real run at fiction until my early 20s, when I wrote an hour-long radio play for Canada's public broadcasting network, the CBC. However it was never produced because in my enthusiastic ignorance I had used far too many characters — 20 or so. The show's budget allowed for only a handful, even with actors doubling. I remember how painful the 10 or 20 minutes were to write, then having a miserable time trying to keep the script down to 60 minutes. Anyway, that was my first agonizing, but exciting, experience with writing fiction.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

I'm not young, so hat's really hard to answer.  There have been too many books that have left me saying, "My God, what a writer!” or “ My God, what just happened to me?” However, in recent years, Philip Roth really got to me a couple of times, in The Humbling and The Dying Animal. Both books deal with aging, relationships, sexuality, and the fragility of the images we have of ourselves.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel he & She?

I'm not sure of the moment that the idea for this actual book, he & She, occurred to me. What certainly opened the door was meeting a dominatrix some time before. She was a young woman who was curious about life. Taboos were a red handkerchief for her, which is a very healthy state of mind when you're young. She was someone, like a lot of young people today, who found that jobs waitressing or clerking at minimum wage in a store or doing temp secretarial duties didn't add up to her notion of being alive. 
Over time — I'm talking about several years — I found myself trying to concoct some kind of story about her. I often like to just start writing and see what comes out, be it a scene or, depending how it goes, maybe even a short story. The novel itself grew out of one of those little deals we make with ourselves to make our lives better in some way. I was going through a bit of a depression and I decided to see if I could start each day for 21 days in a row writing fiction — anything that came out of my fingers — for an hour or two, or as long as my morning pot of coffee lasted. It started with just a few words ending up on the screen by the end of the session,

4. Was the lowercase "h" in the title intentional? If yes, what was your reason?

It was very intentional. Besides the fact that the book is primarily about a relationship between two people, the title he & She came from a practice in the BDSM community whereby dominants get a capital "D" and submissives are referred to with a lower-case "s". There’s an elaborate protocol around that sort of thing in some circles. Not everyone uses it, but it is common. The visual juxtaposition of the words "he" and "She" was the idea of the graphic designer, Nell Chitty, of Toronto, who created the cover. I love the cover because it says clearly and simply that the story must revolve around a very particular relationship, one in which the woman, the SHE of the title, is the character with her foot on the accelerator in this story.

5. We're any of the events/emotions taken from real life?

As for emotions, yes, lots, but for the most part they are recreated from other contexts. The feeling of loss, be it the result of an unexpected death, or a friend who suddenly no longer recognizes you on the street, it’s all very much the same. We all experience it at some time or other, and I tried to capture that in the book. Although loneliness and aging aren’t really events, they are often partners in life. Many of us find ourselves with fewer and fewer friends as life goes along, the result of changing circumstances, death, and the fact that the older you get the less time you spend out and about where you can perhaps start new friendships. I once caught myself falling in love with a younger woman. As absurd as the situation clearly was I was left in awe of the fact that I could still succumb to feelings of that intensity. It meant there was no reason why I couldn’t feel such intense passion about other things in life. But how do you turn on that switch?

6. Will we ever see another book of this nature from you?

To be honest, I find it hard to say yes. I would like to write about some of the same things, the things that fill a lot of my idle thinking time, but I have trouble imagining it all turning out in a similar way. Not so very long into the writing of he & She, the story gathered energy, seemingly on its own. There were days when I felt it was a tropical storm threatening to turn into a hurricane. I had to keep typing like mad just to outrun it. What caused that? I still don’t know. I didn’t plot out the book yet the story evolved anyway. It would be wonderful — as an experience for me — if I could get that plugged into my head again.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

Historical fiction. I’ve always loved history as a reader but as a writer the idea of placing myself in another time seems liberating somehow, like learning to play an instrument not based on Western scales. Your ears let new ideas take form. I also like the idea of going back to a time when a youngster would feel there was still much to discover about the world.  Adventure just around the corner, that sort of thing.

8. What was your original goal while writing he & She?

As I mentioned above, it started out as a self-therapy undertaking. There were no goals at the beginning. There was no outline. I wanted to see where my fingers would take me. But once I knew I had a story to tell, I realized it had a lot to do with the need for passion in our lives, the passion that comes naturally to the young. Many of us live without it

9. Why decide to write about what is, essentially, a midlife crisis 50 years in the making?

One of the reasons was the realization I just mentioned, about the diminishing passion for life, and the feeling of helplessness in the face of it.  Even the smaller things, like the joy of eating, seem diminished. I know that’s not the case for everybody, but it is true for many people. Ours is very much an aging population, and for a lot of people, life is not turning out the way they thought it would. I think a lot of people probably ask themselves now and then, “Is this it, is this all there is?”  The initial panic might last only a microsecond, but it can take up residence.

10. Would you like to see he & She in theaters or on TV? I could, personally, see it on stage, with long soliloquies, like modern Shakespeare. If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

I cannot imagine it on TV. I would like to see it as a movie, but there would be problems, at least in America, because there is little on the surface that’s mainstream about the book, and so much takes place only in Kit’s mind. This isn’t a criticism about American directors, just the studios. However, I’ve been known to daydream about getting a call from a European director many years from now, just as I’ve all but forgotten about the book. As for long soliloquies, I realize the challenge the book would represent, on stage or in a film. But one day I did find myself imagining John Malkovich, a younger version of him, pulling it off. He doesn’t fit my physical image of Kit but that wouldn’t matter. That man is an incredible actor, stage or screen. It would take an actor like him.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I’m not young — I look a lot younger than I am — so I’m doing my damndest to think much more in the present than has been my habit in the past. It will involve writing to some extent because I’ve always written. I’ve written novels before he & She, but ended up hugely disappointed in them. I never considered them finished. However writing he & She was one of the most joyfully intense experiences of my life. I think if learning how to promote a self-published book hadn’t turned out to be so time consuming I might have already experimented with the beginnings of either another novel or short story.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

Trying to become a musician.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I would if I knew. After several years of research, I abandoned an idea for an historical novel in the 1990's. My conclusion, after writing he & She, is that I over-researched the former, over-plotted it. The thrill was gone before the first chapter was written. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll put on a blindfold and start it again.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

I’m afraid I’m not very good at collaborating. I’ll correct that: I collaborate well in just about everything except fiction. My writing is my writing. I don’t like to reveal it until I think it’s very close to the final thing. For this book, I put it in the hands of an editor and writer I’ve known and admired for 40 years. That turned out to be a wonderful sharing and learning process. However, I couldn’t imagine the same result with any of the truly great authors, present or past, mostly because apart from their fame I would be dealing with a human being I didn’t know.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I was 15 years old when I sold my first piece to a local newspaper. I wanted to work and be a grown up as soon as possible. I didn’t like being a teenager. 2) I decide whether I like a piece of music by trying to imagine myself playing it — if I can’t the verdict is no. 3) Though I’m a writer, and one who would be exceedingly nervous about a screenwriter adapting my work, I adore movies. And “thing” number 3½, I find nothing more miraculous in this world that seeing a single actor on stage with the talent to hoodwink me and everyone else in the theater into believing he is someone else for an hour and a half.

Find Wayne Clark online via:

Official site

Social media links (clicking this takes you to his website, where all of his social media links are located.)

BOOK REVIEW: "he & She" by Wayne Clark

Growing numb to life, to his on-and-off girlfriend of many years, his career, even Scotch, a man turns fifty. He is a translator who can no longer dream of translating beautiful works of fiction. He is an amateur musician who can no longer dream of expressing his life on a higher plane, without words. As he glares inside himself he sees little but his declining sexuality, his crumbling hold on life, a growing list of failed relationships, and a darkening well of loneliness. 
Stumbling upon an image on the Internet one night, he suddenly hears cell doors sliding open. He stares at a young woman, in profile, beautiful, unblinking, regal. Instinctively he knows that by lingering on that image he will shatter a relationship that has kept him on the sane side of loneliness as surely as if he stepped in front of a speeding eighteen-wheeler. But desperate to feel alive again before time runs out, he knows he must see the stranger behind the pixels on his laptop screen. 
Although it is her image that first transfixes him, his eye afterwards chances on a handful of words on the Internet page. She is a dominatrix. The word triggers something inside him, blows the dust off fantasies trickling back to adolescence, and slowly begins to re-choreograph his decades of sexual memories. Was he ever really the dominant male he thought he was? Did he have a sexual alter-ego? Was this the last card he had to play in life? The face on the screen held the answer. He would find out even if it killed him.

Above is the Amazon description of the silver-medal winning novel he & She (it won in the Genreal Fiction category of the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards, a deserved honor).
Wayne Clark could have gone many different ways with he & She, particularly the "easy" way of writing simply about the pleasure-pain in vivid detail. The book still would've been a bestseller.
But he didn't. Instead, he dug deep into the psyche of a repressed, middle-aged man and asked himself, "What makes my character tick? What does he want to make him tick? Why does he want it?"
And he then wrote an entire novel about lust, missing pieces of one's soul and self-affirmation.
Kit is a typical man with two variations from the social status quo: he makes a great living working for himself and not "the man", and he is quite a talented musician. Do those things factor into his fascination with pain? Does his failed marriage? Or his dysfunctional childhood? Who knows? You will, once you read this book.
It's a great psychological story with a deviant undertone. It's not too difficult to understand, but it will make you think.

5/5--excellent!

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Shirley McLain

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I worked as an RN for over 32 years and then retired in 2010.  Shortly after retirement I woke up one morning with the thought in my head that I was going to write a book.  I got up and ate my breakfast and then sat down in front of the computer and started writing and didn’t stop until I’d finished the book.  It was nothing that I had thought about for a long period of time, it just happened.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger?

What books do you enjoy reading today? I liked reading stories by Mark Twain and John Steinbeck when I was younger. My two favorite authors today are JK Rowlings and Diane Gabeldon. I fell in love with the Harry Potter series and The Outlander series.  I’m in the midst of reading the latest book by Diane Gabeldon right now.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Dobyns Chronicles?

My mother was ultimately my inspiration. My sister and I grew up hearing my mother talk about her Grandparents, Charley and Mila Dobyns. They were wonderful stories to hear. I decided to write this book as a tribute to my mother and her family.

4. What do you think, aside from technology, is the biggest difference between living now and living in the very early 1900's?

I think the difference is value and speed.  It was a simpler time and life was slower than now. I feel they appreciated what they had more because of the tremendous amount of hard labor they had to put into just surviving. We take so much for granted in our time period and we have become very independent. Families in the early 1900’s had to depend on each other in order to have the necessities to survive.

5. Would you like to be a rancher or farmer if you'd lived back then?

No, they had to work too hard and did without too much. I would rather be a dress and hat maker. Even though I’ve always enjoyed cooking and canning.

6. Will we see another novel similar to this one in the future?

It’s possible, I’ve been thinking about doing a story about David’s life. I’ve just started doing some investigation into his adult background.

7. Can you tell readers about your other works?

Sure, my first book was The Tower. It’s a young adult mystery based in Tulsa, OK and takes you around the world.  It has murder, theft, betrayal and kidnapping to name a few of the things this book covers.  It is about a young woman who is kidnapped and her twin brother works to find her while running his business.
Then I have Shirley’s Shorts and Flashes which is a collection of ebook short stories of different genre. Those stories cover the gamut from fantasy to love and horror. I enjoy writing short stories, especially the challenge of flash fiction because you have to have all components in a limited number of words and it still make sense.
Then I wrote another ebook of Christian Poetry called Verses For My King.  I wrote different types of poetry with illustrations. It was my way of expressing my love for the Lord.

8. Were you in Charley's position at sixteen, what would you have done?

I don’t know that I could have did what he did, but hopefully I would. It’s possible I would have taken the easy way out but then that could’ve cost me my siblings. That one is really tough to answer.

9. What do you mostly want readers to take from Dobyns Chronicles?

I want them to take away the sense of love and family that Charley and his siblings had. They worked together to make their life acceptable and that sense of love and family was always in the back of their mind.

10. Would you like to see this or any of your other work in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

I think this story would make a great TV movie for the Hallmark channel.  I think it is a story combination of Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I write for the pleasure of it in my life and that’s what I will continue to do. I may never make it as big as John Steinbeck, or Diane Gabeldon, but I am satisfied with what and how I’m doing.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

Reading, sewing, watching old movies, playing with my animals, visiting my family. The list goes on and on.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I have started on book two for the Jensen Mystery’s. I haven’t gotten far because I’m spending so much time with promotion of Dobyns Chronicles.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

The ones I mentioned above. I want to soak up their vast knowledge about writing “a good story.”

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

1. I love scuba diving. It’s such a beautiful world to see and very peaceful.
2. I would operate a rescue animal shelter and never get rid of an animal.  Right now I have 4 dogs and 3 cats and it’s like having a house full of three year olds. A lot of work but bringing lots of joy.
3. I am a Great Grandmother. My oldest Grandson has 8 year old twin boys.


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BOOK REVIEW: "Dobyns Chronicles" by Shirley McLain

Charley Dobyns is the first-born son of two loving parents in the late 1800's. He had two much younger siblings, David and Viola, and the family ran a farm in the South.
When both parents are taken from them much too early, sixteen-year-old Charley must take it upon himself to raise his siblings and be the head of the house, though he's not much more than a child himself.

Shirley McLain's novel claims on my Kindle app to take 6 hours to read. I read it in less than four. From page one you are drawn to Charley, the primary narrator and hero of this story, and his life a hundred and fifty years ago.
The story is unbelievably sad. It's sad because this is about real life, not a werewolf lover or magical school. This is real life with no makeup or airbrushing.
While it's sad, it's also about the love of family and the grace of God. You don't have to be a Christian to enjoy this, but if you're not, here's to prepare you for a book about a great believer of the Lord, Charley, and how he knows, as long as he has his family and God, he will be okay.
All in all, it's a beautiful, interesting story about family, love and God, and about growing up in a very different time than we are now. It's an eye-opener, hearing about kids who WANT to go to school, or help their families, when nowadays we have kids complaining about those very things.

Great story. I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

5/5--beautifully written.

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Maximilian Timm

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

There really isn't a moment in time that I can look back on that was the definitive moment or decision. My career as a writer was an evolution of thoughts, decisions, career choices and gradual education. I was an athlete growing up, so all of my thoughts and actions were geared toward sports and being a jock, but when I went to college and started to focus my time on the arts, I discovered that not only did I have a knack for the medium, but (most importantly) I really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I was always a storyteller; since a very young age when my sister and I would play make-believe in our backyard evergreen, I have been surrounded by stories. My family is made up of the some of the best storytellers I know, and I fed off of that excitement of imagined adventure. It didn't quite come out of me, though and in a practical sense, until I was mid-way through my college career.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Since I focused so much time on sports when I was a kid, my dad - bless his artful soul - tried to convince me to read in between my hours on the baseball diamond or running up and down a basketball court. I started gradually by reading autobiographies of athletes (my dad was pretty smart), but when I found James Howe's Bunnicula series of books, I really started to fall in love with reading. When I found Tom Sawyer and then The Hobbit, I was hooked.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel The WishKeeper?

There has been a lot of soul searching over the past decade of my life. Nothing tragic or drastic, but the same kind of soul searching any twenty and thirty-something experiences. "Who am I?" "What's my purpose here?" That kind of thing. It has always been a challenge for me to "grow up". Very basically, I simply don't want to (haha), and this back-and-forth of being forced to be an adult, and yet still very much feel like a kid inspired my thoughts which then inspired my actions. Thankfully the actions were healthy ones and I channeled the thoughts into my writing. So with that ammunition of never wanting to grow up (that Peter Pan syndrome), I decided I would continue reading children's stories and young adult material, even though I was well beyond the intended age range. Truthfully, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings gave me an outlet to dream, imagine, and live in a make-believe world while still being an adult.
But while I was doing all of this growing up stuff, I found that doubt began to creep into my life. Doubt that would keep me from pushing forward and going after my dreams. That small theme lead me to believe that I was in some way flawed or broken, and I eventually learned that so many of us think this way; this way of life that stunts our innate abilities. Through this internal struggle, I was able to consider how difficult certain people's lives actually in comparison to mine. The people who are deemed "unfit" or handicapped or physically incapable of doing things other "normal" people can. It eventually spawned my little hero, Shea. Shea, at her core, is a handicapped teenager who just wants to fit in. I can't imagine how difficult it is for kids who have physical ailments that keep them from participating in all of the fun other kids can who are not handicapped. It's heartbreaking, really. So, I wanted to create a hero for those kids; a hero that proves just because you may be different, doesn't mean you are incapable.

4. Of all creatures, why did you choose fairies as your main species?

It wasn't a conscious choice, really. In the early drafts of The WishKeeper there weren't any fairies at all! I tried writing a story about a man who had lost his kingdom and didn't know he was born of royalty from this fictional land (this was the first incarnation of Grayson's character). Eventually, through the drafts of Grayson's adventure, he met a small fairy with a chipped wing. Her name was Shea and as I developed the story, she just became louder and more important. After some major rewrites, she pushed her way to the top of the list and forced me to write her story instead.

5. Would you like to, if you could, be a WishKeeper or stay a WishMaker?

I love this question because I've never really thought of it. I always just considered myself a WishMaker simply because I'm human and not a fairy! I think, at the end of the day, I would prefer to remain a WishMaker, but it sure would be fun to experience the magic of flight and to see the world through the eyes of such a small yet powerful little creature.

6. Will we ever see another Paragonia book?

I laughed at this question because even though I have Books Two and Three "in progress", they are taking longer than I expected to finish, and I tend to wonder on the same question!
Long story short, yes you will see Book Two (The WishMaker) and Book Three (The WishingKing) within the next couple years - less I hope.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I love comedy adventures. The Romancing The Stones and Indiana Jones movies. One of these days I'll release a story that consists of wild adventure with a lot of laughs, but the fairies come first.

8. What was your original goal while writing The WishKeeper?

I answered this one in questions #4.

9. What would you do if you were faced with Shea's issues: the crippled wings and the constant teasing?

I don't know if I would be as strong as Shea, to be honest. A lot of myself is in the Thane character, and I modeled Shea after who I wish I could be. She is my little inspiration because I just don't know how difficult a life it would be to be the lonely and physically altered outcast - especially in a world where these creatures completely rely on their wings and flight.
Thane, in Book Two, will be dealing with some major personal issues; issues that I will most likely have a difficult time relaying to the audience. I'm doing what I can to be faithful to the little guy.

10. Would you like to see The WishKeeper in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

Of course! What writer wouldn't like to see their creation on screen? I've thought long and hard about which actors could play certain roles. Bryce Dallas Howard is an amazing actress (and person), so I would love to see her take on the role of Elanor, Shea's mom. For the rest of the characters, for some reason, I bounce between a lot of different actors and I hesitate to call them out here mainly because I don't want to affect any readers' imaginations. I like the readers to come up with their own images. If and when the movie version ever comes out, they'll be able to rejoice and/or complain over the casting choices. :)

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

Thankfully, I see myself doing the same exact thing I'm doing now. It took me a long time to get to a place to be content with my career, and if I never make a million bucks doing this, I will be perfectly OK with it. I just like telling stories, so I will continue doing that as much as possible. I would like to get out to book conventions and local book stores more to do some readings and perform some book signing, however. Hopefully the next decade allows me the freedom to do so.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

Duh, playing shortstop for the Chicago Cubs!

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

It's rather obvious since The WishKeeper is the first book in a trilogy, so I am currently working on Book Two, The WishMaker. I am also writing a couple screenplays - I'll always be a screenwriter in some way.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

I hesitate to say Tolkien, primarily because I think I would be so intimidated by him that I wouldn't be able to get anything done. He would, of course, be any fantasy writer's dream come true. A possibly more realistic one would be Patrick Rothfus (author of The Name of the Wind and The Kingkiller Chronicles series). Pat is a Wisconsin native like myself and just a great, down to earth, warm-hearted soul. He is always friggin brilliant, so I would love to pick that brain of his.
Oh, and can I say Neil Gaiman too?

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

--I was a star athlete (primarily track and field) for most of my life.
--I have driven from Chicago to Los Angeles ten times...in nine different cars...in 11 years.
--I have never actually met a fairy...but intend to one of these days.



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BOOK REVIEW: "The WishKeeper" by Maximilian Timm

When a broken-winged, rebellious teenage fairy discovers that her family's WishMakers made an all-important True Love Wish, she secretly ventures to the human world in order to grant it despite the impossibility and prove that she can be a WishKeeper. An adventure to prove her worth turns into a battle against dark forces determined to harness the wish's power, as well as the insecurities that arise within the little fairy herself. 
We, WishMakers, all have a WishKeeper assigned to us that protects and guides our wishes to fulfillment. Teenage, broken-winged Shea is determined to become one.

The Wishkeeper by Maximilian Timm is an inspiring fantasy story for anyone over the age of 13, particularly those who have been made fun of for their physical appearance (check) or who have been told that they can't achieve their dreams (double check).
Shea is a fiery heroine with a strong sense of determination. She knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to achieve her dreams and help her family's WishMakers' wish come true.
Rarely will you find a story about fairies that doesn't seem like typical Disney fodder. Mr. Timm took Tinkerbell, gave her tattoos and a badass attitude and sent her on an amazing and treacherous journey.
She's an inspiring female character who will make readers flock to this series. One of the best female leads in fiction today!
With danger, evil fairies, and a great cast of supporting characters (you have to both love and want to give Thane a smack sometimes), not to mention the imaginative imagery and plot, you can't go wrong with The WishKeeper!

5/5--original work!

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