Interview with
Jim Riley
Author of
Today I have the pleasure to present an author who was born on the banks of the Cane River in Natchitoches, LA, the heart of the southern cotton patch. Growing up in this rural setting developed the love and passion Jim riley has for the outdoors and for the wildlife he hunted.
After graduation from Louisiana State University with a degree in Industrial Engineering, Jim worked in the oilfield for more than twenty years. Now he is happy at home with his wife.
When did your start writing?
I began when incarcerated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in March 2015 for a disagreement on how to report hedge fund results. Obviously, the government won that argument. When arriving at the medical facility in Fort Worth, I did what others were doing: sleeping all day, watching TV, playing cards, goofing off. I didn't get involved with the gambling, fighting and territorial disputes among the various gangs, including MS13. A few months into my sentence, I became ill: couldn't eat, sleep, or doing any of the normal activities. The prison doctor (actually a veterinarian) told me I would die. I made arrangements for another inmate to take everything in my locker after my death. On the fourth night of devastating pain without sleep, I received a vision. The next morning, the pain was gone and I began to write.
What obstacles did you face?
I soon discovered that prison is not the best place in the world to focus on creativity. Chaos surrounded me 24/7. No day went by without fighting, cursing, turmoil and even death. Other inmates harassed and mocked me for spending time writing. I had no access to a typewriter or computer. The only tools available were ink pens and yellow pads. The correctional officers were suspicious. They twice confiscated my yellow pads, which had about 30,000 words each. I never recovered those and had to start over. The officers dictated when I slept, took meds, ate, went to rehab and had time to write. During the summer, the air conditioning failed. I often sweated onto the yellow pads, smearing my words. My health deteriorated over the four years of incarceration.
Why didn't you give up?
I wanted to show the other inmates they could also be productive while in prison. Six other convicts began writing, all asking me for assistance. My hope was that others would see my efforts and begin their own paths to using their time more wisely.
What happened after you were released?
When I went to home confinement in March 2019 I had completed 59 novels and short stories. The problem was they were all on paper and had to be transposed to Word documents. For those who have seen my interviews, you know I have a cross vernacular somewhere between redneck and Cajun. The voice recognition software still struggles to translate my words correctly.
I managed to get the first novel, Murder in the Atchafalaya, in a somewhat readable form before submitting it to publishers in June 2019. Surprisingly, a micropublisher offered me a contract for it in July 2019 with a release date in May 2020. As many writers realize, there are numerous rounds of editing and cover design. I sent out pre-publish alerts and was all set. Little did I anticipate reality.
The publisher canceled the contract the week prior to the release. I felt devastated after the high emotions of the expectation of having my first book published. However, I thanked the publisher and God for closing that door.
Two weeks later, a larger publisher offered me a contract for all 59 works, almost none transposed at the time (some still aren't). I couldn't believe it. That doesn't happen to authors with no history and no books on the market. I thanked them and God.
To date, they have published more than two dozen of my works, with the remaining stories on contract. I am still transposing from yellow pads to Word documents to this day.
What was your first book published?
Murder in the Atchafalaya was the first published. It's a story set in a swamp larger than Rhode Island between Baton Rouge and Lafayette in southern Louisiana. I grew up hunting and fishing this mysterious ecosystem that changes every time the flood gates of the mighty Mississippi River are opened. The abundant wildlife, cypress trees and Spanish moss make it a lush setting for the murder mysteries. This book represents my writing style, offering many opportunities for the reader to crack a smile while guessing the identity of the culprit.
What does the future hold?
I hope to continue to write, including Western novels. My goal is to encourage other writers and folks facing tremendous hurdles in life to complete their dreams. Many face obstacles: financial, health, family, job, etc. These burdens often interfere with productivity, whether they are physical or mental blocks. If I can write with constant turmoil enveloping me, I hope they can fulfill their hopes despite the struggles they face. I would like to give hope to other writers who are having difficulties staying focused on writing because of external interferences.
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Interview with
Richard Correa
AKA R.A. "Doc" Correa
Author of
Today I have the pleasure to present the author of a Sci-fi Adventure. Richard Correa served in the US Army, Army Reserve, and Rhode Island Army National Guard as a battlefield medic, surgical tech, scout section leader, and other roles. He graduated from Colorado Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1999. His poems were published in various publications.
Was Rapier your first attempt at writing a book.
Yes. Though I enjoyed writing when I took creative writing in high school I never seriously considered writing a book or a short story. In the 1990s I dabbled in poetry and had four of my poems published in poetry collections. I even received a couple of editor’s choice awards, but it wasn’t until 2017 that I started on Rapier.
What convinced you to write Rapier?
After ‘role playing’ the adventure with a friend it just seemed an exciting idea for a book.
How did you come up with the plot idea for Rapier?
I had an internet friend in Australia who was several years younger than me that I spent time chatting with online. We had little in common so we started what we called ‘story time’. It was kind of role playing where I would come up an adventure scenario and we would ‘play’ it out. There were a number of different story lines, and Rapier was one of them.
Obviously, you decided on Science Fiction. What made you decide on that genre?
I’ve loved Science Fiction since I was a kid. The idea of exploring the stars, visiting different worlds and discovering new life always intrigued me. I read Heinlein, Asimov, Dick and others constantly. I just couldn’t get enough.
However, I’m not just Science Fiction, and in the Science Fiction genre I don’t just do Space Opera.
I’m also involved with a number of really good authors in providing stories for a series of anthologies. The majority of stories I write for that are my Gospels of A.S.I.N.M. (Artificial Super Intelligent Network Manager), which you might call my ‘rant’ about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
I’m tinkering (nine chapters so far) with a werewolf/vampire story called Sophie. The few friends I’ve shown it to are very enthusiastic about it.
I’m afraid I’ve digressed here, at the top of my list of projects is Razor, the sequel to Rapier.
Where else did you draw inspiration from?
I drew inspiration from History Channel’s, there’s a bit of the real dread pirate Robert’s in Commodore Black. Of course the authors I mentioned above influenced the story. What might surprise some is the tactics used by the Rapier, and the rest of Commodore Black’s ships, come from an old book called ‘U Boat’. And the Chinese Empire in the story is highly influenced by a History Channel episode on China and a U.S. Army country study of China.
Focusing on Rapier, what would you consider the major themes of the story?
As the old saying goes; When you begin a journey of revenge, start by digging two graves: one for your enemy, and one for yourself. Though Commodore Black is a brilliant tactician and a successful raider he is also enough of an irritant that the navies of the Chinese and the Americans dedicate large amounts of resources to hunt him down and destroy him.
I also deal with how a community responds when they feel all they have left is revenge. What will the survivors of a colony do when their enemy has so devastated them that they are on the edge of extinction? How will they respond when their own people won’t come to their aid in their darkest hour and what will they do when their tormentors keep returning to take what little they have and enslave their children?
There needs to be a couple more things mentioned here. The main characters of this story are three women that are brought into this maelstrom by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I want to leave the details of their involvement to the reader but there is the sub theme of how their lives become intertwined with all of the above and what is the impact being a part of this has on their lives.
Book link:
Rapier a SciFi adventure
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Interview with
M. S. Spencer
Author of
In the Crosshairs: The Body on Leffis Key
Today I have a pleasure to present an author who has lived or traveled on five of the seven continents. Much of M.S. Spencer’s life was spent in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor, non-profit director and parent. She has published fifteen best-selling murder mystery romance and contemporary romantic suspense novels.
What do you begin with when starting a book—Characters? Plotline? Something else?
Actually I love writing about the setting: scenery and weather descriptions, local birdlife, etc. In fact I often choose the setting before I come up with a story line. The setting doesn’t just contribute to the story, it informs it. For example, The Wishing Tree: Love, Lies, and Spies on Chincoteague Island is set on Chincoteague Island, across from the secret research NASA facility on Wallops Island. Eureka! Spies. And what do you find at the Ghost Hotel in The Pit & the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel but a ghost? My latest cozy mystery, In the Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key, uses the interplay between water and land in the mangrove islands of Florida to enhance the mystery and build the suspense.
What part of writing a book do you most enjoy—Building the tension? Inventing red herrings? Humor?
I love developing the secondary characters. Unlike the main protagonists, who are propelled by the story, the author has a freer hand with them. I like making them quirky, or intriguing—or even the principal in a plot twist. In the Crosshairs has a group of eccentric birders for humor, as well as a couple of unconventional daughters, who dunk a couple of red herrings into the pot.
What was the inspiration for In the Crosshairs: the Body on Leffis Key?
I am a news junkie and have been concerned for a few years about the Chinese quietly buying up American farmland, to the point that they are one of the largest landowners in the US. I thought a thriller based on the China-US rivalry would draw attention to the issue. Since I started writing the book it has made headlines. So I want to state here that I thought of it first!
Any particular scene that was fun to write?
It would have to be when Carson’s daughter unexpectedly appears. She’s a typical teenager—alternately assertive and comfort-seeking. Here’s a little excerpt:
Her eyes lit up. “This was so neat. Bobby Pipit got me this fake ID, and I used it to rent a car at the airport.” She ignored Carson’s shudder. “I drove out here all by myself!” She turned to Palmer and stated with sublime complacency, “I have a learner’s permit.”
Carson’s voice was hoarse with suppressed emotion. “Setting aside—for now—the dangers of your little junket, as well as all the laws you’ve broken, why are you here?”
Nestor’s eyes grew moist. “Mama and me—we had a humongous fight.”
“Over Bobby Pipit?”
“Uh-huh. He wrote me this letter with”—her blush went to the roots of her hair and floated toward the ceiling in hot pink waves—“some dirty words in it, and she found it.”
I see you have children’s rhymes heading every chapter. What’s that all about?
At one point Carson likens their adventure to a nursery rhyme, Who Killed Cock Robin and I thought using children’s songs to foreshadow the chapter would be cool. I also often give my characters names that are relevant to the theme, but I try to make them fairly obscure. Since Palmer is a birder, In the Crosshairs characters are almost exclusively bird names—a fact that the proofreader really appreciated.
Is there anything autobiographical in the book?
There are always some bits—massaged of course—in every book of mine (“write what you know”). Lapses of Memory contained significant autobiographical elements. In In the Crosshairs, Palmer Lind is a birder, as am I, and the hero is a former Senate aide, as am I. I weave in bits of my experiences Inside-the-Beltway, as well as life on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
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In the Crosshairs: The Body on Leffis Key
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Today I have a pleasure to present an author who has lived or traveled on five of the seven continents. Much of M.S. Spencer’s life was spent in Washington, D.C. as a librarian, Congressional staff assistant, speechwriter, editor, non-profit director and parent. She has published fifteen best-selling murder mystery romance and contemporary romantic suspense novels.
CommissionsEarned
Interview with
Kurt D. Springs
Author of
Today I have the pleasure to present an author who is n an adjunct professor of anthropology and archaeology in New Hampshire. Kurt D. Springs holds a PhD. in anthropology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a Master of Literature in archaeology from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and a Master of Liberal Arts in anthropology and archaeology from the Harvard University Extension School. His main area of interest is megalithic landscapes in prehistoric Ireland.
To start with, I understand this isn’t your first time publishing these novels.
No. I first published Price of Vengeance in 2014 and Promise of Mercy in 2015. My first publisher went out of business in 2016. It was a shock, though it probably shouldn’t have been. I was actually doing quite well, selling over 20 books combined at Barnes & Noble. I’d finished the New Hampshire stores and was working on Massachusetts. In the meantime, I wrote Legacy of Valor, which became my new book 2. Last year, my agent lined me up with Black Rose Writing, which took on all three books. Price of Vengeance relaunched in February. Legacy of Valor launched in June. Promise of Mercy will relaunch in October.
When did you start writing?
That’s a complicated one. I first discovered my love of fiction writing in the Fifth Grade. I wrote stories for the English class, then started writing on my own. I tried my hand at novel writing off and on for decades. I attended writer’s workshops in the 1980s and 1990s, where I learned how to write a plot-driven story with a character-driven plot.
How did you come up with the plot idea for Price of Vengeance?
Between 2001 and 2003, I was working on my Master of Literature in Archaeology at the National University of Ireland in Galway. I did my fieldwork in the Summer of 2002. At some point, after I turned in my thesis, I was walking back to my flat in Mincloon when the idea hit me. A soldier finds himself cut off from a fortified city when monsters attack the city and breach its defenses. As the idea formed in my head, I imaged the soldier not being native to the city, with some special abilities. It would also make sense that not everyone in the city accepted him.
In the summer of 2004, I moved to Buffalo, NY, to start my PhD. I began a series of rough plotting outlines, but once the Fall semester started, I put it aside until I graduated in 2010. Back then, I hadn’t decided whether to make it Science Fiction or Fantasy.
Obviously, you decided on Science Fiction. What made you decide on that genre?
I’d gotten involved with the video game series HALO. It is a series I really enjoyed. When I finally sat down and created more extensive plot outlines, it seemed like a logical decision.
Besides the HALO universe, where else did you draw inspiration from?
I drew inspiration from History Channel’s The Universe and Discovery’s How the Universe Works. A big inspiration was the late Andre Norton. I’ve been a fan of her writing since the 1980s. She wrote science fiction, fantasy, as well as in other genres. Her Forerunner science fiction series was a huge inspiration for the ESP aspect of my work.
Focusing on Price of Vengeance, what would you consider the major themes of the story?
Vengeance is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Liam became an orphan at the age of 2 when the giant insects known as chitin attacked his parents’ farm and killed his parents. He was adopted by High Councilor Marcus and his wife Lida and raised alongside their son Randolf. When a traitor helps the alien intelligence controlling the chitin breach the city’s defenses, Liam is trapped outside the city. Upon regaining entry into the city, he learns this traitor has murdered his beloved foster parents. Four people who cared about him, as well as soldiers he trained besides, are dead. Giving into his rage drives him to exact retribution on the traitor. However, revenge is a treacherous path. Dealing with the remorse becomes a challenge to Liam. As the hero of the story, Liam’s courage in the face of certain death is on display as well.
I also deal with themes like the importance of family. Liam becomes very close to his adoptive family, and Randolf is quite protective of him, especially when he is bullied. Family will become even more important to the story as the series progresses.
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Kurt’s Frontier (Book Review Blog)
Newsletter (free ebook short story, “Way of Forgiveness”)
CommissionsEarned
Interview with
Taggart Rehnn
Author of
Today I have the pleasure to introduce an author who creates a genre-bender populated by unconventional beings, an eclectic mixture of science-fiction, urban fantasy, horror-fantasy, thriller, action-adventure and historical fiction. Welcome into Taggart Rehnn’s unusual world, introduced by his first three sagas "Vampires and Spies", “The Council” and "Gods at War".
When did you start writing?
Many of the ideas I’ve used in my novels were often written in scraps of paper over a number of years. They languished first in two boxes, then a large chest, alongside trinkets of all sorts. Scores of them eventually met an inglorious demise, on the wastebasket or fireplace or even the barbeque. The surviving ones clamored to become something each time I opened that chest, until I surrendered and started writing regularly, then tried to get it published and was rejected a few times in the mid 1990s. Writing was then an itch I had to scratch, but professional life left little room to do it consistently. As an indie author, I started writing regularly in 2015 or so—but even then, waited a few years to publish on Amazon.
What genre do you feel at home writing and why?
After working on scientific R&D for over 30 years, I produced an eclectic mixture of science-fiction, urban fantasy, horror, thriller, action-adventure and historical fiction novels, the emphasis on each genre varying from book to book. Imagine “Dune” meets “Dracula”, with a healthy dose of Indiana Jones, spies aplenty, secret societies, commandos, and international political intrigue. This hybrid approach came about gradually, through evolution, not by design.
My novels tend to be more dark-fantasy/thrillers/action-adventure than horror novels, with gore used very sparingly, never as the main course; the characters in them, both human and supernatural, tend to be flawed yet rarely irredeemably evil or over-the-top righteous. Since they often venture substantially into sci-fi territory as well, more often than not (whether in international or interplanetary—sometimes, also dystopian—settings), I stretch science as far as it would go without snapping rather than defaulting to magic.
Why write historical fiction?
Why not, indeed? History provides an incredibly rich quarry where one can mine the best and worst of human qualities, from acts of near-superhuman endurance and selfless sacrifice to the most abjectly egomaniacal abuses of power and darkest machinations to destroy enemies or entire nations, and anything in-between. Historians patiently toil to unravel mysteries of the past, to get to the bottom of how, why, what and when things happened, acted upon by whom and so on. And often, despite their best efforts, can find only plausible, not definitive answers to many lingering questions. For example, nations need heroes. To become one, human or mythical, the latter cannot be flawed in ways that go violently against the mores of their time and place. Therefore, history is rife with falsehoods, suppression of inconvenient stories, and distortions that turn monsters into heroes and victims into villains, and vice versa. To get past those ‘alterations’ by unearthing better evidence, is the task of historians.
However, armed with logic, patience and imagination, we authors can creatively fill in the blanks, study where the what-ifs might lead, enjoy the challenge, and, hopefully, create something novel and worth reading. In particular, following pivotal episodes of history and—much like the Celtic, Norse, Slavic, Ancient Egyptian and other peoples did—injecting the supernatural into tall tales of familiar heroes, engaged in fantastic quests, seeking objectives far greater than the average human could handle, has always fascinated me. That’s why I feel at home writing historical fiction enriched with incidents, journeys and crises ideally suited to the undead in a more contemporary or futuristic setting, rather than going full-tilt into dungeons and dragons.
What makes “Freer of Souls” so hard to classify?
One could see it as historical fiction, religious fiction, archaeological fiction, a novel on espionage, action adventure, paranormal romance, mystery, urban fantasy and/or a few other things—and be right and very wrong at the same time, since it doesn’t neatly fit any mold.
This didn’t happen by design. As this story matured, the characters so naturally took charge of the narrative that pigeonholing it became extremely hard—and, probably, also pointless.
The novel’s main subject is a quest for the Ark of the Covenant, in which vampires, spies, exorcists, a rabbi, secret cabals, archaeologists, a meteorologist and a French countess are brought together by the savage butchering of a priest in Budapest. That priest was studying a symbol, painted with blood by hands unseen, in ways unknown; a symbol only seen in Jewish cemeteries and places of pogroms, which is invariably followed by glacial dust devils—unexplained, icy, mini-tornadoes. To pursue the dead priest’s work, another member of the same secretive Order of Saint Michael, teams up with a rabbi in Los Angeles, the meteorologist and a vampire. After a deadly game of cat and mouse across Europe and America, they find an unusual scroll and take it to a castle in Provence to be deciphered. There, as others join the group, with a traitor in their midst, surrounded by enemies closing in for the kill, it becomes clear they only have at most three weeks to get to the Ark of the Covenant and stop Armageddon. Would they live long enough to do it? If they find and reach the Ark in time, would then the ‘Freer of Souls’ dare approaching it and, alone in the darkness, overcome his demons, push the boundaries of his faith, and do the unthinkable to prevent the Apocalypse—or would he, instead, by unwittingly fulfilling an ancient vendetta, become an instrument of humankind’s doom? That's the story, in a nutshell.
Writing this novel required a good deal of research into not just the Crusades, but other aspects of the history of France and that of Jewish prosecutions and pogroms in Europe since the days of Constantine, and various theories about the Ark of the Covenant’s most plausible location, studying archaeological technique and examining in detail aspects of the Beauce, France’s breadbasket, southwest of Paris.
Since one of ‘Freer of Souls’ reviewers wrote: “This book is the best fusion of fact and fiction I have ever read. At times, because of the level of research and attention to details, I felt like I was reading a definitive history of vampires. But, the book is fiction. The rich presentation of characters with their unique voices will pull you in. The story is a sweeping saga that will entertain, inform and intrigue.
This is an excellent book and series that I highly recommend,” the research seems to have paid off.
Other reviewers, however, have complained there wasn’t enough romance in it. And therein lies yet another challenge to anyone authoring hard-to-classify novels: those lives the narrative interweaves can become incredibly rich, textured, multi-layered, and produce incredibly original characters; but, to fully explore every aspect of their potential while telling a story that includes so much intrigue and action, one might have to far exceed the length of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”—another problem I didn’t anticipate when this writing adventure began, seduced, perhaps a bit much, by this alluring terra incognita. Nevertheless, given that all my novels are standalone but form part of a growing ecosystem, some of those aspects are further developed in other books, either within that same saga or in other ones. For example, if Countess Chloé, one of my favorite characters, seems larger than life in this novel, she becomes monumentally complex and incredibly human as her deeply flawed, wounded soul, hidden behind a defiantly badass façade, is revealed in subsequent books.
As for the sagas, there are currently three available on Amazon: “Vampires and Spies”, “The Council” and “Gods at War”, all in KDP eBook and paperback. “Freer of Souls” is the first book in “Vampires and Spies”.
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This is an excellent book and series that I highly recommend,” the research seems to have paid off.
Much thanks, Uvi, for your feature of my book today! So appreciated! ox
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure Sarah! Can't wait to read it :)
DeleteThank you so much for this opportunity, Uvi. The presentation looks fantastic, too.
ReplyDelete