Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I started writing because I was bullied very badly throughout my childhood. I didn’t have a lot of friends or anyone I could really talk to, so I channeled my frustrations into comic books. I was the sidekick to the superhero and in my own world I was somebody really cool instead of the kid that got beaten up. When I got a little older, I moved into poetry and eventually novels
What inspired you to write your book?
I was watching a conspiracy theory show that documented the stifling amount of lakes and rivers that are mysteriously being drained throughout the country. It appears some powerful force has a very specific motivation for the water disappearance. It just got me thinking about so many different possibilities and outcomes
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Always be cognizant of what’s happening around you. Stand up for what you know is right even if others disagree with you
What drew you into this particular genre?
I’m not sure, to be honest. I guess many years of being a nerd
If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I would ask Blane why he made some of the idiotic decisions that he made because he’s not a stupid man at all. I can’t provide a lot of detail or I’ll give too much away
What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Instagram and Facebook
What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Network with other authors. Promoting and selling your work is a group effort so be part of a community and scratch each other’s backs
What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I’m currently writing a Prequel to Arid called “Parched-The Days Before Exile.”
Anne Rasico (AKA Anne Joyce) was born in a small town in Indiana you’ve probably never heard of. She composed short stories and comic books as a child to amuse her family and began writing poetry at the age of thirteen.
In 1998 she received an Honorable Mention for Literary Excellence for her poem “She Didn’t Come Home.” She attended business school and made the Dean’s List for three consecutive years, putting her love for writing on the back burner. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties that a political post on social networking rekindled her literary flame that has since become a bonfire.
In 2013 her novella When the Chips Are Down was named a Finalist in the MARSocial Author of the Year Contest. When she is not writing, thinking about writing, or going insane from writing she enjoys camping, fishing, swimming, and otherwise spending time with loved ones. She is mother to three extremely spoiled cats. Crazy cat lady? Probably.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
There came a time almost twenty years ago that I felt I had actually been quite fortunate to have had so many experiences already during my lifetime that I wanted to share. I had invented and patented some laser technology which could, if introduced deep inside the human body, remove even potentially lethal obstructions, as in clots in small blood vessels and otherwise. I had practiced medicine and surgery around the world. And more.
I focused first on a few of those and wrote short articles about some of them. Mirage in the Desert was about my period of living and working in the Persian Gulf. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow had to do with some of the tragic losses in my life when I lost loved ones under the most painful of circumstances. Something From Nothing was about the strange process of inventing with all of its uncertainty– somehow, one day, coming to believe you actually had stumbled upon something new and potentially important or valuable. Monster in the Midst was about the tragedy of living with a loving spouse who is turned into a human monster by the emergence of violent, psychotic bipolar disorder. But then I felt there was more I could say and at the time, to me, the most efficient way to do that was using free verse. That lead to my anthology of some 88 poems I wrote over the course of about one year. In 2018, finally, I decided to write At the Point of a Knife, a narrative that encompassed a lot of the above in just one book.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
At the Point of a Knife is also the story of a lot of things that can go very wrong, with the backdrop of a lot of others which are very right. I was certain that there are so many people who struggle with living with severe untreated mental illness, even if that manifests itself in a partner or someone else very close. It is tragic in its destruction, and with the stigmas about such things which run so strongly in society, there must be better ways. First, though, something cried out for this tragic type of circumstance to be called out and exposed. Somehow society needs to not only recognize the enormous destruction that these severe mental illnesses cause to it, not only to the affected individuals directly, but it needs to open channels for proactively identifying these ill people who desperately need help, and force them to get it! The costs of not doing so are far too great. Mental hospitals hardly exist any longer in the U.S., but if the stigmas are removed, their benefits are great and the costs of not having them are extreme. Having these facilities is half the battle. Forcing their use in extreme situations is the rest- proactively, not after people die and lives and livelihoods are ruined.
After my experience with losing fabulous children who were so horribly abused by their other, alienating parent, ruining our family and my relationship with them and theirs with me, I came to realize that there were many such circumstances, albeit with differing degrees of adverse impact. In the 90s when my children were so severely alienated and abused, Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was still being broadly challenged in society, in essence a cover up of an enormous problem which destroys families. Since, through the hard work of many dedicated mental health, medical, social work, justice and other professionals, that has changed to a signficant extent, although the battle still rages in society about PAS. But it turns out, quite conclusively so unfortunately, that if courts don’t both enforce custody and visitation by and with the non- alienating, normal parent and restrict and severely control the visitations with the alienating one, the problem will not only not be solved, it will become permanent. When the abused, alienated children grew up, they retain that ‘blind spot’ in their brains inculcated by the abuse, and they can not re- form relationships with the non- alienating parent. Again, as with severe mental illness, ignoring the problem is horribly destructive and futile, and proactivity, by society, in all such cases is imperative. This is one situation for judicial pro- activity.
My problems, as described in At the Point of a Knife, also included how horribly one rogue judge was able to piggyback on his own sordid past to wield power from the bench which made a mockery of justice. While he turned a blind eye to the above mentioned severe problems squarely before him, the system let him carry on his own psychopathic brand of jurisprudence unabated, while he slashed and burned everything in his sight. Not satisfied with allowing a potential murderer to run loose, a beautiful family to be destroyed, he persisted in destroying a thriving start- up international business involving life- saving technology, a professional career and sought for as long as he could to put in jail his chosen victim. For the judicial system to hide behind veils of opacity, while according no recourse in reality even in situations of gross abuses of power by a few who clearly have no business having been given the trust placed in them, is simply a wrong crying out for change. Juries of peers sit on crucial cases, both civil and criminal, in American jurisprudence. There is no reason that peers, ordinary citizens, can not sit in courtrooms so that when the obvious, gross abuse of power and justice does occur, they are there to see it and have the authority to make those few perpetrators of these quasi- judicial horrors disappear into the oblivion they deserve. Anyone sitting in that Virginia judge’s courtroom would have likely recognized in short order that he was an outlier who did not belong in that position. There were lawyers sitting in the gallery at times, unrelated to these cases, who said as much openly– but they had no power to act. No one deserves that kind of immunity from exhibiting even a minimum level of responsibility in society which places trust in their hands, or the impugnity to openly scorn that society while abjuring that trust.
Large companies are also given huge sway in our society. Perhaps even like big government itself, they become too big to control. Unrestrained, they continue to get bigger and more powerful yet. But since there are, alas, too many flaws in societies, manifested by the underlying flaws in the individuals of which they are comprised. Somehow the society must rein in not only the sickest individuals before they can harm themselves and others, they must control those who abuse their powerful positions for their own gain and to the detriment of so many others. My small, but very successful start- up hi- tech company was robbed blind by a few in power in some large companies that knew they could just steal our patented technology and probably never have to pay for it. By virtue of bonuses, stock options and the like, sometimes well deserved, othertimes not at all, those individuals could steal from us, not pay royalties and get away with millions. Their companies benefitted financially as well, but inventing is thwarted and society several disadvantaged when the incentive to invent is stifled, particularly when that is done totally illegally. We had fought for the international patents and we even managed to enforce them in courts. But the losers in all of that simply went on to lie and cheat about their royalty- bearing revenues, having little to fear. If, in the end, after almost endless litigation all over the world, we would win, time and again, they might have to pay, but no more really than what they owed in the first place. That is not justice, it favors the greedy and the rich and discourages the honest and the inventive among us in this type of situation. Patent cheating is theft and that is a crime, and societies should extend that type of control to patent infringement and to wanton breaches of patent royalty license agreements. Those crooked executives who are in it only for their own aggrandizement and care not a wit about who might benefit from new and better technology, including in the life sciences, or even if they ever do, should risk being put in jail for patent crimes. That might put some control in place on what, now, is their unfettered rampage over smaller inventors whose technology represents, collectively, the way forward for societies and stimulates the growth that they all need to stay healthy. Furthermore, the companies that steal this technology, if found guilty of same in the courts, should pay treble, not just once for their crimes and defalcations, and that might get the proper attention of their shareholder- owners who are all too happy now to put their crooked managers in place and look the other way from their foibles.
My story, told in At the Point of a Knife, from my experiences, points to a lot of grotesque wrongs that exist quite openly today and which reap huge destruction on our society because they are not realized and even less addressed in meaningful ways. It is death, injury, mental abuse and the collective pain and ravages of corruption, negligence and distrust. That is what inspired my writing this book.
3) What drew you into the field of developing new technologies and inventions as mentioned in your novel?
My entrance into the field of innovation, via the basic medical science investigations and inventions ultimately happened by accident. My late inventive partner asked me a seemingly simple question, having to do with laser energy, something I used in my clinical practice therapeutically, but the answers were anything but obvious. We discovered that no one else seemed to know those answers either. We experimented, with the laser energy, applying it in the laboratory to human and animal tissues, and we observed what happened. Eventually, quite literally, we stumbled upon a way to control that laser energy which produced the desired results we sought, but avoided the damaging ones which had thwarted prior efforts. We defined what we had done and that lead to patents being written, then prosecuted before patent offices around the world. As is often the case with innovation, it was happenstance. In this case, things went well.
4) What is the biggest obstacle facing the legal field in regards to mental health and those afflicted from it (not to mention the families of those individuals)?
How to make societies more attentive to and focussed on real problems is very difficult. The problems are complex and there are always seemingly forces of evil which miltate to take advantage of those problems rather than to ameliorate them. It is in the end about the people. If they want and can take responsibility, then that is hopeful. But when and if they won’t, they are doomed. Abdicating that responsibility is often disastrous, whether to those powerful in business or to those in even any branch of government too. After all, they are all made up of people, sometimes even the same people. Blindly trusting all justice makes that justice blind. When something is fundamentally wrong, someone has to be both motivated to, but also empowered to be able to do something about it. Letting a judge like the rogue described in At the Point of a Knife to act unempeded is disastrous. Letting a violent mentally ill individual, untreated, reak havoc on those nearest to her, and indirectly even those not so close, is calamitous. Similarly letting those in high authority in private industry trade on their enormous advantages unchecked is extremely dangerous. I believe we all need a much stronger fundamental level of responsibility and personal integrity, or else we are doomed. Society can not determine for any of us specifically what those things look like better than we individually can by deep personal searching within. Education is crucial, since the more each of us knows, the better chance we have.
5) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
The lessons I perceive from my own extensive experiences which are chronicled to some extent in At the Point of a Knife, and in my other writings, are varied and cut a broad swath through society. I have been very fortunate to have seen so much of that over many years. It is, now, difficult to point to any social media which directly speaks to a lot of that. Probably the answer may be that a lot of social media speaks to a little of what I write about and very little current social media speaks to a lot of it.
6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
People sometimes seem to say that writing a memoir or a narrative non- fictional story is cathartic. Actually, I am not sure that is so because it is so painful to do, and the pain persists. It is also a sacrifice, as such, but one I felt compelled to undertake in these ways, manifested by the written words. Also, as before so often in my life, whether in Medicine or in inventing life- saving laser technologies, in trying to be a loving parent and spouse and son, I like to believe I cared enough to make the effort, to face the problem and to react to it, this time in words rather than in deeds. Given how popular writing seems to be, that must be, in general, a good thing.
There are, of course, many genres of books, of stories, as there is variety in life itself. I seem to be inspired by what I have seen and felt. One can only encourage that sort of thing in others.
7) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
For me it is important to continue to confront challenges, which is, to live. I continue to try to find what seems best, and to act on that as best I can. I continue to learn since that, too, should never end. I always want to find what motivates me most, and to act on that as much as I can. I continue to be inspired by those around me most, who I love. I continue to seek justice, even all too often in all too mediocre courts. But I continue to seek harmony, compromise and peace. I continue to try to support technology, inventiveness and innovation since, alas, it seems to me we continue to need those things. I continue to tell tales, and to write, as I am doing now.
Kenneth R. Fox is the inventor of a great deal of laser medical technology and the patentee of many international patents. Dr. Fox has practiced Medicine in six countries on four continents and has lectured in many others. He has taught both Medicine and Business at several universities in a number of different countries. He is the author of many peer- reviewed medical and scientific articles, quite a few published poems and several short articles, mostly related to various aspects of health, but all based on his personal experiences over many years, as is At the Point of a Knife.
I am honored to be able to share this next guest blog post with you all. Writer Greg Josselyn from Reedsy has reached out with a brand new post on the Blurb Factor to share with aspiring authors and writers out there. Enjoy and be sure to follow Greg’s work on Reedsy.
From botched to bestselling
When romance writer Alessandra Torre uploaded her first book on Amazon eight years ago, she only sold three on the first day. And for the next few months, she averaged a still-disappointing 15 – until one night, she looked at her book description and said: “I’m going to re-write this.”
That re-write sparked a renaissance. First, it was 100 books sold in one day. Then 300. Then 2,000. That’s when she started ranking as a top seller in the Romance category, and offers from agents and publishers came flooding in. Now, Torre is an Amazon International bestselling novelist, with over a dozen books to her name.
We can’t pin Torre’s success entirely on a book blurb – she is a good writer, after all! But we would be remiss not to poke around the subject, especially since this is a great Amazon self-publishing success story. The fact is, without the social credit and marketing budget of a big publishing house, the seemingly small things we usually save for last – like book descriptions – will make or break you.
If you’re a writer who’s planning to self-publish, this post will help improve your book description (or back cover text) and grow your profitability on Amazon. But even if you aren’t quite at that stage yet, you can apply these techniques to query letters and pitches for your book. After all, it’s never too early to start selling people on your ideas.
Step 1: Get a hook and bait
Hook, hook, hook. That seems to be all writers and editors ever talk about, and yet, most of us still wonder what it really means. When we say “hook”, we mean like a fish hook, with – you you guessed it – bait. This is particularly important in the sea of distractions that is Amazon.com. But what are the raw materials that will make up your hook and bait? You’ll require:
A brief – we cannot stress this enough – summary of the story (no spoilers, please!)
A question that the story poses (which, of course, makes the reader want to find the answer so much that they’re willing to pay $9.99 for it). What’s going to compel Suzie So-And-So to forgo her mocha lattes this week for your book?
A little typography dress-up. You don’t have to go to coding boot camp to try on bolds, italics, and colors when setting up your product page. For example, on Amazon, you can:
Make things bold: <b>Be Bold My Friend, Be Bold</b>
Italicize Things <i>don’t go overboard though here because sometimes readers breeze over italics </i>
Headline: <h1>This is a classier way to do all caps</h1>
Amazon Colors: <h2>Jeff Bezos will approve.</h2>
Indent: <blockquote>for anyone who likes a good old indent, you’re welcome. </blockquote>
Step 2: Blurb it out
Try to think of your book description in the most succinct terms possible. This isn’t a school book report; it’s like more like an elevator pitch. In other words, don’t blurt it out – blurb it out!
And when it comes to blurbs, our friend Torre is the master. If she didn’t revise the blurb for her first book, she may have switched careers instead of rising to the New York Times best seller list, which is why we always refer aspiring writers to her video tips on the subject. But in brief, she stresses these two essential facts:
The first three sentences of the blurb matter most. It’s like a teaser trailer – after those three sentences, users are going to have to click “Read More” to well, read more. To keep them scrolling, or get them to move onto the “full trailer,” as it were, those three sentences should stand out by utilizing the problem/question structure mentioned above.
One strong way to do that is to employ the classic proposition “but.” For example: “Will Byers lived a normal life in a boring suburban town. But when a mysterious alien creature shows up, his life turns upside down. Will it ever turn right side up again?” (Read More…)
Leave out unnecessary details. All too often, authors use their blurbs to share irrelevant details like character surnames, where they live, their professions, or other excess exposition to no end. Cut all of that out – just set up the problem and the stakes of the story. You can always go full-on Charles Dickens in the actual book. But don’t make your blurb into Bleak House, or you’ll send readers running for the hills.
Step 3: Demonstrate (and prove!) a social benefit
You’ve done it all so far: The blurb is short enough for a social media share. Your first three sentences set up a key question and further dilemma. You’ve omitted unnecessary details, like your character’s middle name or their township’s population.
And yet, potential readers are still scrolling to click on other book titles in your category. Yes, it could be other factors like book cover design and reviews, but still – there’s one last ingredient needed to seal the deal on your blurb. This is, of course, why the book matters to the potential buyer. What does your book provide for them? How will it make an impact on their life? Advertisements do it all the time, so why not utilize this technique to sell your book?
For example, if your book is self-help, be sure to mention that they’ll never think the same way about X problem ever again. Or if it’s fiction, show how your main character is relatable to readers, and how they overcome problems that many of us experience in our own lives.
If you have reviews or testimonials to prove this, even better: up the social proof to the max. And if you’re new to self-publishing, drawing comparisons to pre-existing works is one great way to do it (e.g. “This Gender Bending Historial Fantasy is Games of Thrones meets Queer Eye), or just stress how it’ll change the reader’s way of looking at the world (“fantasy fans and fashionistas will never be the same again…”).
Takeways
In order to make a successful book blurb, be sure to include:
An enticing lead to grab readers
A question that a reader can only answer by actually reading your book
Proof that the story will benefit the reader’s life – this might be pure entertainment, or genuine self-improvement
There are endless ways to play around with these elements. Try out different options – at least three – and test them with friends and family, as well as pro beta readers. Ask: which description pulls you in? Which one doesn’t do it for you? And why? Or, do an A/B test in Amazon: swap out the different descriptions and see which one performs the best.
Still no sales? Keep re-writing and testing until you do, like Alessandra Torre. Otherwise, accept that the marketplace just may not be ready for this particular book, and start re-examining your content from the ground up.
Greg Josselyn is a writer for Reedsy, a curated marketplace dedicated to empowering authors. When he’s not covering KDP Select, he writes short fiction and makes podcasts.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Two supernatural beings skilled at hunting down and stalking human prey for a god find themselves banding together to take the god’s throne for themselves in author Emilie Knight’s novel “Dagger and Scythe”.
The Synopsis
Dagger and Scythe spent good decade’s together, stalking human prey at night, and taking out the targets the god Maniodes deems worthy. With one hundred years under her belt, Scythe is comfortable in her ways, and takes incredible enjoyment of her skills. Dagger may be new to the undead order, but he’s relishing in the work. The two of them together set beautiful bonfires, with the occasional corpse inside that fire.
When they enjoy each other’s time a little too much, and an entire village burns down because of it, Maniodes becomes sick of their rogue behavior. Regular punishments haven’t worked on either of them, so he tries something new: marrying them to each other. To keep each other in line or they’ll both end up properly dead.
Both have grown tired of the god’s odd punishments and lazy control, taking over his throne and the land of the dead should fix things.
Her scythe is perfectly curved for slicing.
His dagger, made of folded steel, is ready to strike.
But are they strong enough to take on gods?
The Review
A truly one of a kind, original and gritty dark fantasy novel. That’s the best way I can describe this novel, which took me as a reader on a roller coaster of emotions and thrills as the story followed two monstrous killers and made them into protagonists. The author did a marvelous job of playing with the reader’s feelings towards the characters. A balancing act between being disgusted by the character’s bloodlust and compassion for the circumstances that brought them there, the book takes a deep dive into exploring the minds and souls of Dagger and Scythe.
What was most interesting was seeing Dagger grasping onto the remains of his humanity, while Scythe fought the memories of her human life that clashed with her growing feelings for Dagger and her growing bloodlust. Combined with the amazing world building that went into the creation of this fantasy driven narrative, and readers are given a rare treat of a story that begins as a mission to take the power of a god and turns into a fight for the souls they once had.
The Verdict
One of the top Dark Fantasy novels of 2019, this is a book fans will not want to miss. Releasing on October 1st, 2019, this book is filled with action, dark fantasy characters with a tie into Ancient Greek mythology and a pair of protagonists that keep the readers in a balancing act of empathy and fear, challenging the reader to determine for themselves who the true monster of this story really is. With a splash of dark fantasy romance tying these protagonists together, this is a must read fantasy novel like no other, so be sure to pick up your copy of Dagger and Scythe, the second in the Ichorian Epics Series by Emilie Knight, today!
About the Author
Emilie Knight is a writer, and author of her debut Era of Undying. After years of reading fantasy and horror she combines them together into her own dark fantasy writing. Using her BA in Classical Civilizations and fascination in Ancient Greek mythology she blends it well into her fiction. Other then reading in her spare time she plays video games quite often.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’ve always loved books and stories, and like many people who love these things, I always wondered if I had it in me to be a writer. And so I started writing in my late teens, working on short fiction and poetry but never taking it very seriously. One day, I just stopped. Almost a decade later – having moved back to my old hometown in the bush, at the tail end of a ten-year drought – I had the idea for my first book. It seemed to come from nowhere, and I hadn’t even considered returning to writing. But the idea burned within me, so I decided to take writing seriously. After all, no one else was going to bring this idea to life.
I returned to university, took a bunch of writing classes, and eventually undertook a PhD that involved writing both a novel and a piece of literary criticism. In effect, I took the small-talent I already possessed, and the passion I felt, and nurtured them and learned how to make them grow, and practised and practised and practised until I understood what discipline meant. And then one day, while working on my second book just for the fun of it, I realised that I’d become a writer.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
I’ve always been a voracious reader, and sometimes an obsessive one, and giant monster fiction was one such obsession that consumed me around the time I completed my first book – I’ve also always been a fan of giant monsters, which I’ll get to shortly.
Gripped by this obsession, I devoured whatever giant monsters fiction I could find, looking for something that took giant monsters seriously, and something that was more than just capital-A action or zany in a post-modern way. But nothing really scratched the itch I’d developed. And so, looking for a new writing project that I figured should be distinctly different from my first book, I settled on the serious work of giant monster fiction that I had been craving.
In other words, I decided to write the book that I wanted to read. Isn’t that what an author does?
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
My real hope with We Call It Monster is that people might start to see that life will go on, and that hope perseveres. It’s just that life in the future – life after we’ve faced the earth-shaking forces of climate change – won’t be the same as it is now. We’re a persistent, determined, ingenious and tenacious species, and I firmly believe that we’ll still be around once it’s all over. As far smarter people that me have said: It’s not really the end of the world, just the end of the world as we know it.
This is the lens through which I hope people interpret the various beasts and kaiju of We Call It Monster. I hope people see them as forces almost beyond comprehension, and from which is there no real escape or ability to defeat. The only real solution lies in accommodation; only by changing the way we are now, will what’s to come be that little bit brighter. And to do so, we must remember that the things that will be most important are those that have always been the most important: Community and compassion, love and family, kindness and togetherness, hope and faith.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I’ve always been fascinated by giant monsters. At first, as a kid, it was a childish fascination with things being smashed. After all, every little kid has thrown a tantrum, broken something and then experienced relief at the wordless release this brings. Giant monsters flattening cities for no apparent reason readily reflects our own difficulties in articulating and making sense of our emotions at a young age. As well, giant monsters conjured a feeling of awe and mystery, in much the same way dinosaurs did – show me a kid who’s never gone through a ‘dinosaur’ phase’ and I’ll eat my hat.
But beginning in my teenage years and continuing on into the present day, I’ve loved the metaphorical potential inherent to giant monsters, and their ability to ‘stand in’ for so many incomprehensible problems that seem beyond our control. Nuclear war, environment degradation, international terrorism, industrial pollution, climate change, the staggering number of displaced people around the world – giant monsters can represent them all, and more.
And so, as I mentioned earlier, when I was looking for a new writing project that would be distinctly different from my first book, I settled on revisiting this fascination.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
Owing to its structure, there are at least two-dozen featured characters in We Call It Monster, and so choosing to sit down and talk to just one of them is tricky. Instead, if I could, I would sit down with Sue Fleming from the first chapter, and Melaarny from the final chapter, and encourage them to talk to each other, in the hope that what they have in common outweighs that which distinguishes them.
Here things get a little dicey, as I don’t want to be so gauche as to unleash any spoilers. But I will say that despite the years that separate them, Sue and Melaarny are really the same and are inextricably linked, and are just like all us. They live their lives, making do as best they can; they have friends and families, hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties.
And so I would like to sit down with Sue and Melaarny in the hope that they realise this, and that we could all share in the comfort of this realisation. After all, isn’t that the point? No matter who we are – or what or when – in the end we’re just like them: We’re living our lives.
6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
There’s so much advice for aspiring authors out there, much of it contradictory, so I’ll share something that works for me.
If you want to write, you need to have some understanding of the science and art behind it, and have some small talent. After that, all you have to do is keep at it – like all creative arts, writing is something you need to practise. By writing and writing and writing – and keeping your chin up as you wade through it – you’ll eventually get there.
But remember, there are no real rules when it comes to writing – what works for some doesn’t work for others. Finding your own way is what’s important.
7) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
If I’m not careful, I end up with too many different projects on the go at the same time. And so aside from my semi-regular pieces of science fiction criticism and the occasional piece of short fiction, I’m trying to be disciplined about focussing on my third book – a piece of metafictional science fiction that’s a bit “lighter” than the rest of my work – rather than get lost in daydreams about the book after it, or the book after that.
With a bit of luck and perspiration, it’ll be done by Christmas. Won’t that be a nice gift to myself?
Lachlan Walter is a writer, science-fiction critic and nursery-hand (the garden kind, not the baby kind), and is the author of two books: the deeply Australian post-apocalyptic tale The Rain Never Came, and the giant-monster story-cycle We Call It Monster. He also writes science fiction criticism for Aurealis magazine and reviews for the independent ‘weird music’ website Cyclic Defrost, his short fiction can be found floating around online, and he has completed a PhD that critically and creatively explored the relationship between Australian post-apocalyptic fiction and Australian notions of national identity.
He loves all things music-related, the Australian environment, overlooked genres and playing in the garden. He hopes that you’re having a nice day.
AN EXTRACT
The old man shuffled out to the balcony, dusted off an outdoor chair and
then made himself comfortable. The sky was a shade of blue that painters
only dream about; it was a beautiful sight. The old man drank it in,
leaning back in his chair. He sipped at his coffee and smoked a cigarette.
He was happy to wait as long as was necessary – he had all the time in
the world and he wasn’t going anywhere.
The monster finally appeared, a blurry smudge in the distance.
Slowly, but not as slowly as he would have thought, it grew both
closer and more distinct. The old man laughed out loud; it looked like
nothing more than a child’s drawing of something that might have been a
lobster or might have been a spider or might have been both, propped up
on flagpole-like legs that supported a wetly-shining carapace, a beaked
head, and a tail as long as a bus.
It was enormous and ridiculous in equal measure. The old man was
surprised to find that it failed to frighten him.
It drew closer to the city. It stopped suddenly and bit a great chunk
out of a stately old tree lining a boulevard. Chewing slowly and
methodically, it worked its way through the mass of wood and foliage
before throwing its head back and opening its mouth wide. Despite his
deafness, the old man felt the monster’s keening in his bones and in the
pit of his stomach.
He pulled his hearing aid from his pocket, turned it on then slipped it
in place.
The beast’s cry was low and mournful, more a melancholy bellow
than a ferocious roar. Thankfully, the klaxon-blare of the evacuation
alarms had stopped. The monster cried out again and it shook the old
man, both literally and metaphorically. The beast shifted its legs,
presumably adjusting its weight, and destroyed an office building in the
process.
Almost comically, it looked down at the destruction it had wrought
and seemed to shake its head.
It looked back up and cried out a third time, and then started walking
again. It seemed to meet the old man’s eye. Without breaking its gaze, the
old man took another sip of coffee before lighting another cigarette.
Slowly-slowly-slowly, the monster drew closer. You could almost see
a smile on the old man’s face.
A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR
What is it about giant monsters that appeals to you?
Initially, it was a childish fascination with things being smashed. Let’s face it: Every little kid has thrown a tantrum for reasons they can’t explain, broken something and then experienced relief at the wordless release this brings. A giant monster barging through a city for no fathomable reason can reflect our own difficulties in articulating and making sense of our emotions at that age.
This fascination soon turned to awe and wonder at their scale and mystery, a reflection of the feelings inspired in me by my discovery of dinosaurs and cryptozoology (the study of creatures such as the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Yetis and the like). My love of dinosaurs is easy to explain – show me a kid who hasn’t at some point gone through a ‘dinosaur’ phase’ and I’ll eat my hat – while my love of cryptozoology was inspired by a book entitled Creatures From Elsewhere, which my parents gave me and which is actually still sitting on my bookshelf.
Beginning in my teenage years and continuing on into the present day, I’ve loved the metaphorical and symbolic potential that giant monsters possess, and the ways in which they can ‘stand in’ for so many different problems that seem beyond our control and almost impossible to deal with. Nuclear war, our negative impact on the environment, international terrorism, industrial pollution, climate change, the staggering number of displaced people around the world – giant monsters have represented them all.
Why did you decide to write about giant monsters?
As mentioned, I’ve always been fascinated by them. But I’ve also always been a voracious reader, and sometimes an obsessive one. I’ve been known to occasionally get my nerd on for a particular sub or micro-genre, looking up ‘similar title’ and ‘you might also like’ lists online when I should be doing better things with my time. But I still keep searching, because there can’t just be one example of Mystery Sub/Micro-genre X out there.
Giant monster fiction was one such obsession that carried me away, the timing of which coincided with the completion of my first book. I binged on literally anything I could find, looking for something that took giant monsters as seriously as some of the movies do, something that was more than just capital-A action. I found lots of fun, post-modern stuff out there – some of which could even be described as zany – but not much that approached giant monsters with a serious eye.
Looking for a new book to throw myself into writing – a book that I wanted to be distinctly different from my first book – I decided upon a piece of serious giant monster fiction. In other words, I decided to write the book that I wanted to read. Isn’t that what an author does?
Do you need to be a fan of giant monsters to appreciate We Call It Monster?
Nope, but it probably helps… In all seriousness, though – no, you don’t need to be a fan. My aim with We Call It Monster wasn’t only to write a serious piece of giant monster fiction because giant monsters have, historically, rarely been written about in such a way. Instead, I also wanted to write a piece of speculative fiction that does what all good speculative fiction should: Use the speculative element within to make us look at ourselves and our place in the world with fresh eyes.
Despite its title, We Call It Monster is more concerned with people than monsters. It isn’t a ‘wham-bam, shoot-em-up’ but instead a serious look at how we might react to forces beyond our control, and to forces that illuminate the precariousness of our position as world-conquerors sitting atop the food chain. And ultimately, it’s the story of what really matters: community and compassion, love and family and friendship, hope and faith. Anyone that appreciates such people-centric stories should find something within We Call It Monster that they can enjoy.
Why did you decide to write We Call It Monster as a story-cycle/novel-in-stories?
To me, one of reading’s biggest attractions has always been in my sense of engagement with the world being built on the page (a process even more absorbing when reading science fiction and speculative fiction). I think this enjoyment of engagement applies to most people. We all ‘see’ things in written worlds that the author didn’t actually write, even at the most mundane level: we populate a footpath with pedestrians, a street with cars.
A story-cycle/novel-in-stories can increase this sense of engagement to an incredibly strong degree, and their traditional structures allow writers to work magic. They can give us different perspectives on the same events, blocks of ‘missing time’ that exist between stories/chapters, events that are only alluded to rather than seen first-hand, a multiplicity of narrative “voices”, and so much more. But ‘missing time’ begs to be filled; events only alluded to tantalise us; we can’t know the truth when presented with different perspectives, or even if the truth exists. And so our minds do this work for us, conjuring up and giving life to parts of the story the writer has withheld.
The way story-cycles/novels-in-stories allow us to create the world right alongside the writer is a beautiful thing. However, the structures behind them aren’t just beautiful, but also incredibly practical. They can allow a story to cover a span of time longer than a regular person’s life; and help do away with the inevitable and repetitive ‘amazing coincidences’ that prop-up stories where one single character guides us through an incredible sequence of events covering an incredible amount of time; and enable a wider representation of voices from a wider variety of countries and cultures, without also falling back on the aforementioned trope of inevitable and repetitive ‘amazing coincidences’.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I had an unlikely path towards writing. I spent my career in technology. Working as an engineer for the Bell System (that dates me), striking out on my own to start a software company, then managing projects for IBM. But I had a knack for storytelling and writing is the outlet for those stories.
What inspired you to write your book?
I always toy with ideas that upset our sense of reality. What would happen if we found a sophisticated code deep in the earth? We’ve come to accept a certain evolution of our development from primitive cave drawings, but wouldn’t such a new discovery turn history upside down?
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
The Code Hunters, while meant to be a strait adventure thriller, does suggest that there may be other mysteries waiting to be discovered that might shake up what we know to be true. Don’t assume that history is fixed, not to be changed.
What drew you into this particular genre?
The Code Hunters is a technothriller. You only have to see what I said about my background to understand the ‘techno’ part. As far as the thriller, an adventure like that of Indiana Jones is just plain fun.
If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask him or her and why?
Most readers have favorite characters other than the title character, Nicholas Foxe, but Nick’s my guy. I would like to meet Nick in a bar and talk about the history of the world over a round or two of drinks.
What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Facebook is number one since I have a page there where I post information about my books and direct people to my blog (www.JacksonCoppley.com/blog). On my blog, I write about, among other things, heroes and why we love them. I also have a large Twitter following and keep them entertained.
What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Determine if you love to write. Don’t think about it much. Just do it. Don’t worry about creating perfect prose. You can fix it. You can improve it over time. But you cannot fix or improve what’s not been written.
What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I have much of the second Nicholas Foxe adventure written. I’m spending a few weeks in Italy and along the Dalmatian Coast getting the locations right. I’m hyped about the book and I have readers of The Code Hunters asking for more. I aim to please.
Jackson Coppley, a consummate storyteller, illuminates in his writing what happens when technology intersects with human behavior and emotion. Coppley weaves his stories from a sophisticated knowledge of technology and an understanding of human behavior. Coppley’s resume includes a dynamic career with leading world communications and technology companies, and the launching of what the press called “a revolutionary software program” during the rise of personal computing. As a world traveler, Coppley developed an interest in and an understanding of cultural differences and nuances which play an important role in his stories. His YouTube video on the Hmong people of Vietnam, as an example of how he investigates other cultures, received thousands of hits. It is this sensitivity about human behavior combined with the understanding of the potential of technology that brings to his writing a glimpse of what is yet to come.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’m a painter, an educator, a business owner, and a mom (among other things)! I’ve always loved writing poetry and prose, but as I seriously pursued the visual arts, I put my writing aside…or tried to. As much as I attempted to convince myself that I wasn’t a writer, I couldn’t ignore the drive. I finally gave in while I was pursuing my Master of Fine Arts degree and made writing a priority again. I realized I didn’t have to make such a drastic choice – I could chase all my varied dreams.
What inspired you to write your book?
Actually, this was a story I was carrying with me in one form or another since I was twelve years old. I had a wonderful English teacher in seventh grade who really encouraged journaling and creative writing, and this story had its earliest beginnings in a class writing prompt. It changed a lot along the way, discarding its original Tolkien-inspired backdrop and undead characters, and finding its way into a dystopian world with Angelic magic, but the main characters and overall plot emerged from this time in my adolescence.
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I hope readers enjoy the beautifully desolate imagery and the slightly twisted love story, but on a deeper level, I hope the underlying philosophy comes through – that the answers we are all looking for truly come from within.
What drew you into this particular genre?
I feel like this story doesn’t neatly fit into one genre, but I’ve always been excited by the different forms fantasy can take. In my paintings, I often play with abandoned imagery, so a dystopian setting was natural for me.
If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
The pirates would probably be the most fun to hang out with, but I think I could learn a lot from Asher Serafin. He’s one of the characters that is the least like me, but I strive to be as steady and unwavering as he is. He has seen the world before and after an apocalypse, he’s basked in the glow of the divine, he’s seen extreme good and evil (and the uncomfortable gray areas too), and he’s survived things that would have destroyed most. If I was having a difficult time and needed some perspective, he would be the one to go to.
What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Goodreads and Facebook have been useful, and I’ve finally made an Instagram! Sometimes social media distracts me from writing, but I’m trying to stay connected.
What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Write the story you want to read. There are times that I almost stopped myself, worrying about what others might think or concerned that the book wouldn’t be well received. But in the end, only you can write your story, and something written honestly is bound to resonate with someone else.
What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I’m currently working on the sequel to Dominion of the Star – the second book of the Descendants of the Fallen series – tentatively titled Resurrection of the Hierophant. It takes place seven years later, and it finds some of the characters much changed. I’m also working on the audiobook for Dominion of the Star, which is already proving to be an adventure!
Angelica Clyman was raised on Catholicism and urban legends, fairy tales and 80s movies. Her love for fantasy books and poetry was put on hold while she pursued other passions, but she found her way back to words and stories after following the seemingly disparate paths of the visual arts, academia, yoga, martial arts, business, dance and magick. Angelica is an artist, educator, wife, and mother. “Dominion of the Star” is her first novel.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
Writing began in college with a sonnet each day. I have blogged for years. The previous three books drive me to continue!
What inspired you to write your book?
Calumny from extreme environmentalists. I wanted to tell their deep story: many want to destroy humanity completely. Here is how it could be done!
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Evil is a real aspect of our lives, in so many ways. Tracker is evil, certainly, but so are most of the heroes in the book. We survive by creating goodness, not by destruction.
What drew you into this particular genre?
Who: Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Blish, Norton, Niven. All great sci-fi writers. And of course, Michael Crichton!
If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
Jake, why didn’t you marry Soliz?
What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
The SM action is just beginning, so it is hard to tell…
What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Write daily, if only a few hundred words. Write for yourself, but mostly for the ‘muscle memory’, doing the ‘word reps’ builds confidence and style.
What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
John has traveled extensively, with more than 80 countries’ stamps in his passport. His avocation is adventure. He has sailed to Hawaii several times as well as across the Atlantic and throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean. He has trekked the Andes, the Sahara, the Taklamakan, the Serengeti, and the Namib.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’ve been a nonfiction writer my entire adult life – first as a health care strategic planner/hospital administrator – then as a portrait painting instructor (4 books, 4DVDs). Writing fiction is entirely new.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
A. Why write fiction? I’ve read about 50 novels a year for decades, 95% of which are fiction. I have always marveled at how authors can come up with such complicated plots, characters, and weave them together so that a terrific story results. With non-fiction, the goal is to remove all ambiguity – but ambiguity is at the very heart of good fiction. So, I loved the idea of trying it out and it is more fun than I’ve had in quite a while.
B. Why write this story? I write about the things that I care about, what makes me angry – injustice, corruption and governments that fail to function for their citizens. I also write about things that frighten me. So I guess you could say it helps me grapple with things I can’t control.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I set Collateral Carnage in the near future, and my themes are a warning, really. We all need to be paying much more attention to big issues, rather than the small-issue chum we are constantly fed. Citizens United/dark money is and will continue to be the one of the greatest threats to democracy. The greed that sets armies of lobbyists in play to control public policy serves its shareholders long before its patients, and drug companies are among the worst. Specifically, Collateral Carnage grew out of the many scandals and tragedies surrounding the VA and its treatment of vets, especially those with PTSD. And that’s how it all started.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
Thrillers? Refer back to my 95% comment – it’s what I love to read.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d first chat with Dr Vivian Jaffe: “How did you remain so complacent for so long? Why?” She’s a minor character in the book, but quite complex in her behavior and arc. Her motivations are conflicted and I would like her to explain her decisions. (She will in the sequel 😊 )
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Since my book has only been out a short while, I am using the platforms I’ve built through my art career to introduce and hopefully migrate my interested people to engage on my author-related sites. I am active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I have added an author business page to FB, developed a separate website, http://www.chrissaperauthor.com and newsletter. I think though, that if new authors aren’t active on social media, just choose one or two to explore. I only am comfortable with all of these social platforms because I’ve using them for so long – but you don’t need to do them all or you risk spending way too much time being distracted.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Get as much education about the process as possible! Getting a book into a reader’s hands is an enormous undertaking – and writing the thing is just the start. Take a course (or a lot of them). Have your manuscript professionally edited – developmental/content editors first, then you need copy editors and likely a proofreader. You need an excellent cover and engaging blurb. You need to budget for your book – from what I’ve read, plan on about $5K to self-publish. If you plan to traditionally publish, plan on months or years of query/editing/printing/distribution, and then another unknown number of months or even years to repay your advance before you actually earn a penny (my bias showing here). Most of all, though, be willing to listen to your editors and your readers, so it’s important to check ego at the door.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
New books? Yes, two in process. First is a sequel to Collateral Carnage and I’m about 4K words into it right now. The other is a much larger undertaking so that one is now in research mode. I plan to finish the sequel before writing the next manuscript.
