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Ask the Author: Tony Smyth

“My book is not just about earthquake and nuclear energy but also about global warming and and our future energy requirements. Will we need nuclear as well as renewables?
” Tony Smyth

Answered Questions (7)

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Tony, I found the description of your book to be very interesting. If I am not mistaken an author like yourself might be curious about the broader spectrum of life interests reflected in other writers’ work. The 1st volume of my book “400 Years of New York History: A Pictorial Guide” is the retrospective of Dutch NY and the attentive portrayal of its citizenry. Would you be interested in exchanging reviews?
Tony Smyth Hi Sasha. Yes I would. How do we do it? Exchange PDF's or Mobis? If so my email is tonysmy@gmail.com.
Your book sounds interesting ( I'm a big non-fiction reader. Mostly on the theme of coming world change, hence economics, energy, climate change etc, but I also like history).
So YES I'm interested. Just let me know how.

Regards, Tony
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What books are on your summer reading list this year?
Tony Smyth Well the summer is over, though its still humid here in Tokyo. Basically my reading has been research for my next book. So, Techno-fix (Huesmann), Data and Goliath (Schneier) and one non-fiction The Singapore Grip, historical fiction based on end of British Empire in Malaya as the Japanese invade.
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How do you deal with writer’s block?
Tony Smyth I choose to write the main stuff on days when I have slept well, have no disturbances, and can set about 5-6 hours to only writing. These are the days when I get a section - at least few paragraphs, sometimes a couple of pages - down. They can be altered cut/pasted, added to, smoothed out etc later, but you need undisturbed focus to just organise mentally and get it down in one burst. Those are the most creative days. Its like juggling 30 balls at once. Later its about polishing and minor detail.
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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Tony Smyth Find a a subject you are passionate about. Be prepared to put vastly more time into creating your book than you ever imagined. You need to be stubborn and to do whatever it takes to get your book as good as you possibly can. Also I think FLOW is very important, meaning your text should flow and take the reader along with it.
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What are you currently working on?
Tony Smyth Promotion for this book and gathering info for my next book, which will argue that we cannot continue with the endless exponential growth/rape the earth/ loss of biodiversity paradigm anymore. All the easy to get resources have already been extracted, there are too many of us on the planet, and a tiny elite are running things for their exclusive benefit. Energy - the KEY resource - will become scarce and expensive in about 20 years. With that, and worsening climate conditions, the whole game changes.
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How do you get inspired to write?
Tony Smyth I read non-fiction every day. I'm an information junky.
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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
Tony Smyth I've lived in Japan for 39 years and so know the country and the culture well. My wife comes from Fukushima and I have been there many times, so I have a subject I knew well Japan/ Tokyo/Earthquakes (though I had to do a lot of research about nuclear).
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