Ask the Author: Scott Burtness
Answered Questions (12)
Scott Burtness
Hey Rick!
Thanks for reading. I’d thought that it would be done with three books, but realized that there are some women in Trappersville that would love to have their own adventures. There will be three more books- Lois, Dee (from the diner) and Pam (Jerry’s wife). I’m just finishing up the first book in a new different series, and will be starting Monsters in the Midwest book 4 in January!
Thanks for reading. I’d thought that it would be done with three books, but realized that there are some women in Trappersville that would love to have their own adventures. There will be three more books- Lois, Dee (from the diner) and Pam (Jerry’s wife). I’m just finishing up the first book in a new different series, and will be starting Monsters in the Midwest book 4 in January!
Scott Burtness
There’s a raven. It never leaves.
Scott Burtness
I would go to Larry Niven's Ringworld, and I would wander and wonder for the rest of my days. And if I happened upon some boosterspice, I'd have a lot of days to wander and wonder. A LOT.
Scott Burtness
Oh crap. I always panic when someone asks this question. It forces me to reveal a guilty secret. I'm a writer that spends precious little time reading. It's not that I don't want to. It's just, you know... adulting gets in the way. But even though there isn't a lot of time for reading in my busy life, I do read, and enjoy it all the more because it's something I don't get to over-indulge in.
At the moment, I'm about halfway through Vernor Vinge's "Zones of Thought" series. It's really far-flung scifi that spans galaxies and millennia and has a whole bunch of wonderfully imagined worlds and alien races. Super fun stuff!
On my TBR list are a few books from some local Minnesotan authors. I recently started an event called the Books and Beer Pop-up Bookstore (www.facebook.com/mnbooksandbeer). The first event was on May 11th at a cool brewery in St. Paul, MN called Lake Monster. There were 23 other authors there, so I had to be really selective in the books I decided to buy. I chose to pick up "Justice" and "Peace," the first two books in a scifi/western series by Anthony Eichenlaub, and "The Buccaneer of Nemaris," an epic fantasy tome by JD Delzer that weighs more than I do. At the pace I read at, I expect they'll keep me busy through 2018!
Just kidding. My mid-year's resolution is to watch less Netflix and read more. I do mid-year resolutions because no one's paying attention and thus less likely to notice if I don't exactly follow-through on my resolutions...
At the moment, I'm about halfway through Vernor Vinge's "Zones of Thought" series. It's really far-flung scifi that spans galaxies and millennia and has a whole bunch of wonderfully imagined worlds and alien races. Super fun stuff!
On my TBR list are a few books from some local Minnesotan authors. I recently started an event called the Books and Beer Pop-up Bookstore (www.facebook.com/mnbooksandbeer). The first event was on May 11th at a cool brewery in St. Paul, MN called Lake Monster. There were 23 other authors there, so I had to be really selective in the books I decided to buy. I chose to pick up "Justice" and "Peace," the first two books in a scifi/western series by Anthony Eichenlaub, and "The Buccaneer of Nemaris," an epic fantasy tome by JD Delzer that weighs more than I do. At the pace I read at, I expect they'll keep me busy through 2018!
Just kidding. My mid-year's resolution is to watch less Netflix and read more. I do mid-year resolutions because no one's paying attention and thus less likely to notice if I don't exactly follow-through on my resolutions...
Scott Burtness
I once made a list. I was at a diner in Chicago with a friend, this was probably 1999 or 2000, and I wrote out a list of things I wanted to do in my lifetime. The list was written in crayon on a diner napkin. I don't remember all of it, but a couple of more interesting items were drive a cab in Seattle and live at a Tibetan monastery for a year.
What would've happened if I had actually done everything on that list? Would Trump be president? Would Prince still be alive? Would Fukushima be the site of an inter dimensional portal?
Wait, I think that happened. I think Fukushima IS the site of an inter dimensional portal...
Anyway... Someday, I think I'll write a book about a 20-something that makes a list at a diner in Chicago, and actually does everything on it ;-)
What would've happened if I had actually done everything on that list? Would Trump be president? Would Prince still be alive? Would Fukushima be the site of an inter dimensional portal?
Wait, I think that happened. I think Fukushima IS the site of an inter dimensional portal...
Anyway... Someday, I think I'll write a book about a 20-something that makes a list at a diner in Chicago, and actually does everything on it ;-)
Scott Burtness
For me, it's a toss-up. Either can add a lot of suspense if done right. A few fast ones can be terrifying. But the thought of a huge horde of slow but inexorable shuffling, staggering, hungry corpses? Yeesh. Super creepy.
Scott Burtness
Yes. Yes I do.
No you don't.
Seriously, dude. I do. All the time.
... Fine. But not in a weird way.
No you don't.
Seriously, dude. I do. All the time.
... Fine. But not in a weird way.
Scott Burtness
Ooh! Tough question, Goodreads!
Well, right now I'm reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. It's a fun sci-fi epic. Two of the main characters are a human woman named Ravna, and a human construct created by a transcended Power (not unlike a god) named Pham. When the Power that created Pham is killed by a new, emerging Power, Pham becomes the receptacle of much of what his creator knew. Unfortunately, Pham doesn't understand the vast knowledge he has, and can't control the strange fits of 'godshatter' that overcome him. Vinge does a really nice job of giving Ravna and Pham a nuanced and tragic love story with very little detail. Imagine falling in love with someone created by a god, and then seeing that person driven near mad when their creator's dying act is to stuff them full of unfathomable knowledge, but no ability to truly understand that knowledge. Oh, and that unknowable knowledge? It might just be the key to their survival...
And here I thought I had gone through some rough relationships... ;-)
Well, right now I'm reading "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge. It's a fun sci-fi epic. Two of the main characters are a human woman named Ravna, and a human construct created by a transcended Power (not unlike a god) named Pham. When the Power that created Pham is killed by a new, emerging Power, Pham becomes the receptacle of much of what his creator knew. Unfortunately, Pham doesn't understand the vast knowledge he has, and can't control the strange fits of 'godshatter' that overcome him. Vinge does a really nice job of giving Ravna and Pham a nuanced and tragic love story with very little detail. Imagine falling in love with someone created by a god, and then seeing that person driven near mad when their creator's dying act is to stuff them full of unfathomable knowledge, but no ability to truly understand that knowledge. Oh, and that unknowable knowledge? It might just be the key to their survival...
And here I thought I had gone through some rough relationships... ;-)
Scott Burtness
Thanks- yeah. An earlier file had some errors. Glad you enjoyed the book though!
Scott Burtness
Book 3 of the Monsters in the Midwest series.
Scott Burtness
It's hard to nail down what the "Ah ha!" moment was for Wisconsin Vamp, but I think it was the result of watching "Interview with a Vampire" again when I lived in Los Angeles. Claudia got turned and her hair was immediately perfect. That bugged me, so I started thinking about the non-glamorous vampires, the sad sack vampires, the vamps that can't match their socks, and decided to write about Herb.
Scott Burtness
Don't think of yourself as 'aspiring.' If you've put the proverbial pen to paper, you're a writer.
OK, then. Now you're a writer. Get to work!
OK, then. Now you're a writer. Get to work!
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