Walter Rhein's Blog
May 14, 2020
January 27, 2020
An Interview With Jon Ray, Author of 'Gorp: Goblin Janitor'
1. Can you tell us a little bit about Gorp: Goblin Janitor?
Gorp the goblin is fleeing his lands in search of better employment. With only a cloth map to guide him, he sets out across the sea to secure work at Ye Olde Dungeon working for the sinister Dungeon Overlord Jamalin Spellslinger. Once there, along with a group of misfit monsters, Gorp is hired on as a janitor to clean up the messes left behind by the horde of fortune, glory, and treasure seeking adventurers. But all is not well within the dungeon as the Red Dragon has ideas and an agenda of his own.
2. What's your background with writing?
I started in screenplays and eventually moved over to novels after writing Gorp: Goblin Janitor, which was my first novel. I've since gone on to also write short stories for anthologies, and am currently working on my first game/CYOA type book series.
3. Who are your inspirations/influences?
J.R.R. Tolkien would be one of my main influences, but I also love the Dragonlance series and William Gibson.
4. What was it like working with LJR Publishing?
As I also own and run a publishing company, it came about as a necessity to publish my own works as well as Fantasy and Sci-Fi works of other authors later down the line. At the moment LJR Publishing only publishes the works of author Jon Ray.
5. Who was responsible for the cover/book design?
I created the book cover, but the artwork for the book was commissioned by me through artist Simon Tjong (Simon Zhong). I held an online interview process of over 100 artists before settling and deciding to work with Simon who later went on to illustrator all 3 novels in the Gorp the Goblin trilogy. You can find more of Simon Zhong's work here.
6. What are you doing in terms of marketing/publicity?
Aside from running marketing campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and the LJR Publishing website. I also attend book signings at local markets and medieval faires here in Australia where I get to meet my readers and sign copies for them. I've had return readers find me at events to buy the next copy of the series and it's a great feeling to see their eagerness to continue the story into the next book.
7. Do you have any stories from book signings/radio interviews/etc.?
I have a heartfelt story at the 2019 Winterfest Medieval Faire, just outside of Sydney, Australia. While there a little boy about the age of 10 came up to me and just smiled. He then took his tie to look over both of the two books I was doing a book signing for at the time. Afterward, he left and I thought that was the end of it. But a minute later he returned, smiled again and told me "Well Done" on becoming an author. He then shared that he wanted to be an author someday, to which I encouraged him and said to never give up his dreams.
8. What is the name of your blog and what can readers expect to find there?
Writer's Tower Blog I cover current projects, events, and writing tips of my works here. Anything author-related is shared here.
9. What projects do you have planned for the future?
I'm in the middle of finishing my first Sci-Fi novel, which will be the first book in a new series called "Dark Dwellers". It's an apocalyptic tale that follows six protagonists from around the world on the day the end of the world as we know occurs. I've also got the first volume in a new fantasy anthology series called "Tales of Agrobathe" that I'm still writing stories for. The entire anthology is written by myself with all the tales set within a fantasy world I've spent the past 10 years world building. I plan to set many future literary works within this world. I also keep a page for what I'm currently working on to keep updated.
10. Is there anything else about you we should know?
I'm a writer, director, and actor in film along with a large assortment of other titles when it comes to entertainment. Since the age of 13, I've played and enjoyed Dungeons & Dragons normally running my own games as the Dungeon Master for others. Originally I'm from Tyler, Texas in the U.S., but currently reside in Sydney, Australia where I prospect for gold in the outback when not writing.
January 19, 2020
October 8, 2018
A Small Gang of Authors: Guest Author: Janet Morris
A Small Gang of Authors: Guest Author: Janet Morris: I, The Sun by Janet Morris https://www.amazon.com/Janet-Morris/e... From palace coups in the lost city of Hattusas to tr...
March 30, 2018
Sequel to "The Reader of Acheron"--"The Literate Thief" Available now!
Hey all!I'm very pleased to announce the release of the sequel to 'The Reader of Acheron.' 'The Literate Thief' is available on Amazon now! This book has just been "born" so it needs some love. Love comes in the form of reviews, shout outs on amazon, heck, even liking the Amazon page helps a ton.I hope you all enjoy this book. I have a certain number of review copies available so write me at WalterRhein @ Gmail.com if you're interested. But if you have the means, please grab a copy. The verified purchase review goes a lot further in Amazon's metrics to help push this book.
Looking forward to reading reviews, the initial word has been good, and I'm hard at work on the 3rd volume.
Cheers and best to everyone!
October 5, 2017
Christopher Crosby Morris to Perform In Hyannis, Massachusetts October 11th!
This is one of those times that I wish I had an endless supply of free airline tickets! Our friend and Heroic Fantasy author Christopher Crosby Morris will be performing at the West End in Hyannis, Masachusetts this October 11th. Chris is a wonderful performer. I've listened to him read at the Library of Congress and he has a riveting, hypnotic voice that takes you to another world. Many of you know Chris as the co author of books like The Sacred Band, one of the best works of modern fantasy.
So whether you're a lover of fantasy, or a lover of great music, mark down October 11th on your schedule. Here's the Facebook page, please share!
August 30, 2017
Fantasy Novel Free Through September 1st!
Hello Everyone,My fantasy novel from Harren Press, The Bone Sword, is free through September 1st on Kindle. Please zip over there and grab your free download today. Anyone who is a fan of Heroic Fantasy should get a kick out of this book. Download here! Thanks!
April 19, 2017
Two Months After Release--Tom Barczak's 'Mouth of the Dragon'
The months leading up to a book release are filled with tension and excitement. How are people going to react to the work? Will they love it? Will they hate it? Will they be indifferent? Every book is a new experience, and sometimes the work sparks revelations that you never could have predicted. Today, Tom Barczak will share his reflections two months after the release of his dark fantasy novel, Mouth of the Dragon.
What are your impressions of the book’s release?
It has been a lot of fun. Totally. It has been a lot of work too, but then I think it’s supposed to be a lot of work when you’re doing something this important. I mean, you kind of owe it to the story, don’t you? I think I do.
My publisher, The Perseid Press, has been more than wonderful. Supportive. They have always gone beyond the pale. Not just for me, but for all of their authors. What I appreciate most from them has been how they have explained every process along the way. More than they have to, I think. They’ve done a great job of helping me get out the word.
Mostly I’ve enjoyed talking to people about the book in venues that range from interviews to podcasts to book signings. I personally enjoy the act of shaking hands and getting to know my readers, as well as meeting new ones.
Mouth of the Dragon: Prophecy of theEvarun , takes my work into a new realm of fantasy, and I’m really enjoying getting to tell people all about it.
Sometimes releasing a book can be the equivalent of hitting “send” on an email—all of a sudden you get insight into things you could have said better. Have you had anything like that experience?
I have. And I actually have some thoughts about that. In my opinion, that’s ok. I think the need to modify is inherent in the storytelling tradition, the way it’s supposed to be. If you were to sit with friends around a camp fire, and every night they asked you to tell them the same story, you wouldn’t use the same words every night. Every telling would have its own nuances. You would change the words from time to time. So at some point I do think you merely need to click send. It really makes you take a look — it makes me take a look — at what in the book is really sacred: is it the words, or the story. For me, it’s the story.
What have the signings/interviews been like?
They’ve all been really great. Mostly. I think because I just like talking to people.
From a book-sales point of view, most all events have been good for me. I tend to do better when I’m giving a talk, or doing a reading than when I am only sitting at a table waiting for folks to walk up. So I think I’m learning to engage them, which of course makes sense.
Have there been any good/rousing discussions?
There certainly have been. Mostly about the very thing I set out to avoid when I decided to write fantasy: tropes and stereotypes.
I love fantasy, but actually don’t like most fantasy books I read. I hate to say that. I mean they are good for what they are, but I’ve always wished they could be something more. I guess that’s why you are told to write the kind of books you like to read.
Fantasy is chock full of stereotypes. If I say the word dragon, or dwarf, a certain picture comes in your mind. Tropes can tempt a writer to be lazy. When Tolkien wrote the Hobbit, he took existing myth and reinvented it. He made it his own. So I think, if one chooses to write fantasy, you have a responsibility to make it your own. Or you can do what J.K. Rowling did when she wrote Harry Potter. She changed nothing, but her stories were never about the myth. The myth is just the backdrop. Her books are so character driven, she didn’t need to depend on gimickry. If you took all that magic stuff out, like Tolkien, you would still have a story with depth and weight.
And that’s the key: depth and weight. If you remove all the stereotypes, will you still have a story?
So when I wrote Mouth of the Dragon:Prophecy of the Evarun , I set out to do a few things differently.
I rethought dragons, and wrote about them in a way I had never read before. In the dark ages, to most people dragons were very real, as real as technology is to us today. I don’t always know how it works, but I know it works. I expect that bog gas in the swamp, and the myth and lore they attached to it, was pretty much the same way to them.
The dragons were their heads, but they were no less real to them.
I also took out all races other than human and depended on their ethnicities and cultures and religions to set people apart from one another. Like how people saw dragons, kind of like real life.
I wanted to write from a point of view wrapped in myth. Some fantasy authors waste that opportunity, and look at their worlds through a 21st century mentality and morality.
The truth is, people in the medieval world (and if you’re writing fantasy, even about someplace else, that’s where the genre was born) knew myth through aural tradition, through stories like Beowulf. Our medieval history is immersed in myth and religion. It saturated everything. Everything. And most fantasy writers ignore those myths completely. Or they become simply background noise with no real impact on the characters.
As a note, I just read a really great book by a great author, Scott Oden. The book is coming out soon and it is called A Gathering of Ravens. What Scott did with that book was rare and amazing. I was surprised, because what he did was really hard. He explores myth and religion equally, and fearlessly, without disparaging or sharing his opinion about either one. And you know what, it made a story with exceptional depth and weight. It was believable. It was like real life.
I think that in fantasy, authors run away from real life way too much. Even though it’s fantasy, it still has to be believable. It ought to still somehow be based in truth. Everyone in such stories doesn’t need, nor should they have, 20/20 vision and good teeth.
What’s the most unusual thing that’s happened as a result of this release?
I think coming to find that one of my villains was one of my heroes all along.
Have any reviews or comments given you insight into the work or stood out in any other way?
My work is steeped in allegory. It can’t not be. It’s about death and rebirth. In some ways this work is a lot about the death of my daughter eleven years ago and everything I’ve been through before and since then. Nothing literal, mind you, but I think you really do write what you know. And I don’t see how, if I am being honest as a writer, some of that experience colors what I write.
Overall, are you satisfied with how the book has performed?
I am. It is having a good beginning. And you can’t ask for more than that. I won’t lie and say I wouldn’t like do even better. I would like to sell as many as possible, and I would be lying if I didn’t hope this article might lead you, the reader, to buy my book. But I also think, sometimes, a book needs to find its audience, especially when one has specifically written something to be somewhat new and different, as I hopefully have done with Mouth of the Dragon: Prophecy of the Evarun .
How has the new release affected your writing time?
It has seriously slowed it down, unless you count interviews like this. But I am still writing.
How’s the sequel coming?
Aside from issues discussed above, very well. I am certainly writing. The book is called Hands of the Dragon, and I am neck deep into it. It begins five minutes after Mouth of the Dragon: Prophecy of the Evarun ends. And so far, it is everything it needs to be. I would like to have the rough draft finished by end of the 2017.
Check out the Preview Section on Tom Barczak's release in the link below:
January 30, 2017
Awesome Video Interview with Tom Barczak
Tom Barczak is an author with Perseid Press, his new release, Mouth of the Dragon, comes out on February 10th.
Tom is a fantastic author and this interview is truly worth your time.
January 9, 2017
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog: The Gateway
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog: The Gateway: The scarecrow’s evil knows no bounds ... Having failed to save her friends from the scarecrow’s malevolence, Sullyan...
