Chrystalla Thoma's Blog, page 14

Sample Sunday – Opening lines of Rex Rising

Happy Sunday to all. I decided to take part in Sample Sunday – posting a sample from one of my stories. I am giving you the opening of my dystopian YA novel Rex Rising, and hope in the next weeks to give you more samples from this and perhaps from other stories of mine, either published or in progress.

Opening lines of Rex Rising:

Blood seeped between Elei's fingers.

The small wound was above his left hipbone. He pressed down harder to staunch the bleeding and gritted his teeth. His pulse leaped under his palm as he sat shivering on a hard, cold bench. He rested his other hand on the grip of his holstered gun. In his blurry eyes, everything had a shimmering edge, suspended between reality and dream.

Then the world tilted.

Danger.

Elei jerked and sharp pain erupted in his side. Hissing, he drew his gun and waited. His possessed eye throbbed; cronion, the strongest of his resident parasites, hated surprises. The world lit up in bright colors. Be ready. His heart pounded in his chest, sent bruising beats against his ribs. He swallowed past a dry throat and gripped his gun until his knuckles creaked.

Nothing moved. Oblong objects around him pulsed in cool hues of green and blue. Safe. Nothing living. He relaxed a little. For a while he simply sat, left hand pressing against the wound, the cold metal barrel of the gun held against his right thigh.

"Hey, you," a man's voice said from behind.

Clamping his jaw, Elei lifted the gun and turned to point in the general direction of the voice. Cold wind blew his jacket hood back, allowing him a wider view. The man appeared at the right periphery of Elei's tainted vision — a splash of red. He went still when Elei cocked the hammer. The click rang too loud in the quiet.

"Calm down, will you," the man said, raising his hands. "Just checking on you. You're bleeding all over my boat."

The boatman. Elei let out a breath and lowered the gun, but didn't click the safety back on, just in case. The cold breeze ruffled his short hair and water splashed and murmured. The low hum of an engine set his teeth on edge. What was he doing in a boat out at sea? He prodded his memories, but came up blank.

Cronion beat at the back of his eyeball like a hammer. He forced his tense muscles to relax and rubbed his eye with his thumb until the dull ache eased. This time, when he blinked, he saw the surface of things, his unfamiliar surroundings — the wet prow, moonlight glinting on metal benches like the one he sat on, yellow lifesavers underneath them. The boatman stood by the rail, dressed in shabby trousers and a pale yellow shirt, watching him from under his dark cap. The light from a lamp set on a bench pooled around him. The sky stretched naked above, night-black and starry.

The boat rocked and listed. His legs slid. He was falling.

He threw his hands to the sides, to find a handhold, the gun screeching against metal. His fingers caught the edge of the bench. He clutched it, the deep, sharp pain in his side squeezing the air from his lungs, and he bent over, panting.

Broken pieces of memories rushed back with a deafening roar. Shots fired. Running through the streets. The docks of Ost.

He was crossing the straits between the great islands.

Shivers crawled up his spine. He lifted his hand and stared at the blood on his fingers. He'd been shot, but couldn't remember who'd done it.

Spaces between novels

Once upon a time, I wrote novels. Truly, I did. Like many novelists out there, I started out young and produced my first big work – a colossal epic fantasy of about 700 hand-written pages – at around age 12. Mark that I wrote it in Greek, my mother tongue. I still have it (the book, but also the tongue :p). Bad or not (bad, very bad…), it was my first foray into this hereto uncharted for me territory, and it taught me this: I could do it.

This lesson has stayed with me and gave me self confidence. If I did it once, I could do it again. And I did.

Fast-forward a few years (or more than a few), and here I am, writing novels again (I had stopped for a few years, my mind too caught up in my studies). I learned many essential things in this period, not least that I could write in a foreign language (English) and that the story and characters trumped the style used in writing any day (but not overly much – after all, style and voice ARE important).

And I learned one more important thing: leaving a novel to rest for a month or two isn't a bad thing – it is in fact recommended.

Leaving a novel to rest a year or two is a bad, bad thing.

Not only does the story fossilize somehow (it is there, set on paper on screen for so long that it turns from story into history, deceptively "true" and unable to change) – but also as the author evolves, it becomes harder and harder to go back and a) revise, b) recapture the spirit and voice of the story as it had been conceived originally.

Cue dramatic and angsty music. The novel is dead, long live the novel! I did manage to resuscitate stories and novels, but it was rarely a revision and rather a complete rewrite of the book. Which defeats the purpose somehow.  Write the novel. Let it rest just a little, let the yeast work. Then attack it with vigor and shape it while it's still warm and pliable.

Unless you're satisfied with it (as much as you can, perfectionist author that you are), don't set it completely aside.

Because then you will find that the spaces between novels contain much more dark matter than the spaces between the planets.

(from http://www.universetoday.com/15502/pl...)

Author Interview: Chloe Jacobs

Chloe Jacobs is a writer of YA fiction and she graciously agreed to an interview with me today, letting us know about her upcoming book Greta and the Goblin King, a "cross between Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth and Hansel and Gretel". Sounds exciting!

 

Chrys: Hi dear Chloe and welcome to my blog! Why don't you tell us a few words about yourself first?

 

Chloe: Hi, and thanks for letting me visit! I'm really excited.

 

Chrys: What genre(s) do you write and why?

 

Chloe: I write young adult dark fantasy. Why? You know, I've never been asked that. I don't think I ever really decided I was going to be a fantasy author, but that's the story that came out of me. I suppose at some point I'll decide to branch out and try something else as well, but for now I'm perfectly happy with it.

 

Chrys: What can you tell us about your writing projects and recent releases?

 

Chloe: I'm currently working on edits for the first book in my series for Entangled Publishing. It's called GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING and I call it my cross between Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth and Hansel and Gretel. It's due to be released in late 2012.

 

Chrys: Tell us about your latest release (could include blurb, small excerpt like 200 words).

 

Chloe: While trying to save her brother from the witch's oven three years ago, seventeen-year-old Greta was thrown into the fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon.

To survive, Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she's good at what she does. So good, in fact, that she's caught the attention of Mylena's young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape.

But Greta's not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil knows she's the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the boys she finds stranded in the woods will die. If she succeeds, Greta will be forced to give up the only thing in this world worth keeping and, worse, no world will be safe from what follows her back…

Goblin King, by Candra

(http://candra.deviantart.com/art/Gobl...)

(Not the book cover!)

 

Chrys: What gave you the idea for this book?

 

Chloe: You know, I can't remember exactly what it was that got me started on this book, but I remember very clearly seeing Greta in my head. I knew she was tough, but lonely. Lost, but strong. I knew that the Goblin King wanted her…and that he wasn't going to be the type of character to play fair.

 

Chrys: What is special about this book – what sets it apart?

 

Chloe: This book is special to me because it's my first foray into writing YA. It's so much fun and there are so many possibilities in YA. I'm having a really fantastic time!

 

Chrys: Do you have a favorite scene in the book?

 

Chloe: One of my favourite scenes is a pretty sad scene. It comes when Greta has just found her pater has been murdered, and she can't keep the pain inside, even though it kills her to show any weakness in front of Isaac, the Goblin King. And then he surprises her—not by taking advantage of her like she thought he would, but by helping her.

 

Chrys: What kind of research did you do for this story?

 

Chloe: The only research I did was to review some fairytale lore. My books can (very loosely) be considered fairy tale re-tellings. Other than that, it all comes from here *taps forehead*

 

Chrys: Reading fairytales is valid research to me! Where can people learn more about you and your writing?

 

Chloe: I'm online! Visit my website at www.chloejacobs.com and find me on twitter at www.twitter.com/Jacobs_Chloe

 

Thanks so much for letting me hang with you today!

 

Chloe Jacobs

 

What it means to be a novelist (and the issues)

Hi everyone. Long time no see. No read. Whatever.

I decided I need to write more on my blog, use it as the sort of journal I never kept. A means for expressing my frustrations and happy discoveries and taking you along for the ride – if you're reading this.

Well, first of all, I realized I haven't talked much about what is happening in my life right now. I focused a lot on interviews with other authors, which is fun and interesting (and there will be more of those soon!) but let's see what I have been doing:

I think the last time I set out my goals was at least a year ago. Back then I was working full time and vacillating between self publishing or going the traditional route. I was also just realizing back then that my writing is mostly addressing a Young Adult audience – I don't mean children or teenagers really, but young adults (from 16 to 86 or so).

Cue dramatic music, a year goes by.

I had to quit my job due to stress-related headaches, and I sat down to write in all seriousness and devotion.

I published a YA novella with MuseItUp publishing set in an alternate modern day Greece with ancient gods coming back to life (Dioscuri).

I self published my YA novel "Rex Rising" and a novelette set in the same world (Hera), and already wrote the sequel (in revisions now).

I wrote another novella set in the world of Dioscuri, to be submitted now.

I wrote several short stories, many of which have already been published or are in the progress of being published.

Overall, then, it was a good year for writing and publishing. Since I left work, a good year in general.

But what does it mean to be a novelist?

First of all, it's not the same as being a writer. It's being a writer but it's even more difficult (and personally I think more rewarding).

First of all it means to be full time occupied with stories. You don't just sit and write. You create a world, find a premise, create the characters, find the conflicts, the purpose, the twists of the story.

Then you sit to write. And write. And write.

No, it's not the same as writing short stories or poems. Writing lengthy fiction (novelettes, novellas and above all novels) takes a lot of time. No, you can't just go around gathering ideas and jot them down, no that's not enough. To write a novel takes months and sometimes years. Think short story not only multiplied by hundreds, but also entwined and complex. Now imagine a series of novels, a trilogy for instance.

So yes, I do need days and days alone, sitting at my computer, just to produce some chapters. That's a hell more than a few short stories.

And then come the revisions, sometimes ten of them. That can take months too.

So this is what it means to be a novelist.

I had to get his off my chest. Soon I will have another guest interview coming up, and then I can talk and rant and rave some more.

Good day all!

Guest Authors Eric Zawadzki and Matthew Schick

Today my guests are authors Eric Zawadzki and Matthew Schick. They agreed to hop over today and talk about themselves, their writing and their YA epic fantasy novel "Kingmaker".

Chrystalla: Hi Eric and Matthew, and welcome to my blog! Why don't you tell us a few words about yourselves first?

Eric: Matt and I have been writing together since we were 14, which is 20 years as of last month. We've come a long, long way since our early efforts (as we detail pretty thoroughly in our blog). I'm an extroverted geek – what I've sometimes heard called a humanities geek, meaning I like science well enough, but what really gets me excited are people and relationships and the exploration of our shared humanity through the arts.

 

Matt: As Eric said, forever and a day working together. It's been exciting. I'm a journalist first, and he's an English major first, and so if you see an adverb, it's probably not mine.

 

 

 

Chrystalla: It sounds like you have the perfect blend of knowledge and enthusiasm to create fant astic books! What genre(s) do you write and why? Why YA?

Eric: We write high fantasy – that is, fantasy that takes place in a world different from our own. Everyone always thinks of Tolkien and many dismiss it as nothing but elves, dwarves, and Dark Gods, but this really doesn't do the genre justice. Really good high fantasy is limited only by the imaginations of the authors writing it, because it gives us a chance to explore an entire world through a different lens.

Our central assumption is that each book we write should reflect the fantasy culture about which it is written, almost as if it was written by an author living in that world. By the time we got just a little way into the second draft of Kingmaker, we knew we had a YA fantasy novel on our hands. This had less to do with the teenage protagonist (which is nothing new even in fantasy aimed at adults) and more to do with what the magic so central to the story implied about the relationship between generations (more on that in a bit).

Chrystalla: What can you tell us about your writing projects and recent releases?

Eric: We released Kingmaker at the end of September. We'll be releasing Lesson of the Fire in the spring, which is aimed at an older audience and concerns the rise to power of a possibly mad wizard-king. That one is ready to go (you can read the opening chapters of it at the back of any Kingmaker ebook), but we decided early on to space out our releases at least 6 months. I'm currently actively working on our release for next fall, and Matt will be starting work on the Kingmaker sequel for release probably in late 2013.

So yeah, we have a very busy production schedule, which suits both of us just fine. We'd be lying if we said we have 20 years of manuscripts to polish and publish, because 95% of it really isn't of publishable quality. However, we definitely have 20 years worth of ideas and story seeds at our disposal. The world has been rolling around like a snowball in a huge field of wet, sticky snow. We'll likely never even get through all of our best ideas, but we're willing to give it the old college try!

Matt: I've got a huge bin of first drafts and revisions. I'm looking forward to getting going on the Kingmaker sequel, if only because there's so much cut material from this book I can work with. But the new story will be, well, new. One thing brilliant about the upcoming stuff is that it'll be less "20 years of polishing/rewriting/discarding" and more "12 months of frenzied activity."

Chrystalla: Tell us about your latest release.

Eric & Matt: In the desert land of Turuna, every child possesses powerful magic, and only an ancient treaty prevents the clans from recruiting them as soldiers. In the tiny Ahjea clan, Butu has just had the worst day of his life. His childhood sweetheart has caught the eye of the most powerful man in Turuna. Even worse, his magic has suddenly become unreliable. Now the adults are telling him he has to stop playing with his friends and start working for the clan.

Despite his youth and small size, Butu receives and invitation to join the clan's army, which must be more exciting than farming or mining. Excitement turns to frustration and then suspicion when Butu's squad of young recruits is sent on a mission they can't complete without magic. Rumor has it that a rival clan has discovered the location of Pisor, a long-lost artifact that restores childlike magic to an adult, and the true purpose of Butus mission is to find Pisor before anyone else does and bring it back to the Ahjea. By the time Butu and his squad reach Pisor, though, they won't have any magic left to make good their escape.

Chrystalla : What gave you the idea for this book?

Eric: This one was all Matt. I just took the core premise and amplified it.

Matt: The goal was something different. We have this great, detailed magical structure to work with, and we had a child. And in most fantasy fiction, right around Butu's age is when he'd start learning magic. The idea here is, what if that's when he loses it?  I wrote a draft with that in mind, and Eric developed it much further. What does it mean for kids to have magic? How does the culture deal with that, and the eventual loss of magic?

Butu's always been an orphan, too. Family's always been a big part of the story, in each and every revision. Being accepted when you're an outsider. In Kingmaker, we put Butu in a place where he's not the only outsider. He's with seven other people, who all have their own stories about how they're outsiders. And they get to grow up a little bit together.

Chrystalla: What is special about this book – what sets it apart?

Eric: Anyone familiar with the genre knows the story. Young, ordinary hero goes on adventure and learns to wield powerful magic in order to complete the seemingly impossible quest. Kingmaker deliberately sets that trope on its ear. At the beginning of the book, Butu and most of his squad have all the magic they could want, and it can solve most of their problems. As the story goes on, though, that magic grows less reliable, and they have to figure out how to make do without it. The elements of the Hero's Journey and the impossible fantasy quest are still there, but rather than learning to use magic in order to overcome obstacles, Butu must learn to solve problems without relying on magic.

Matt:  Oops, think I answered some of this one above.

Chrystalla: lol! It's fun, I've never interviewed two people at the same time. Okay now, do you have a fav orite scene in the book?

Eric: I'm pretty proud of a scene near the end of the book involving tiny, burrowing snakes and people buried up to their necks in sand. It's one of those where I managed to creep myself out while writing it, and more than one reader has told me they would probably have nightmares about it.

Matt: My favorite scenes are at the beginning, when Butu's first learning his magic isn't trustworthy anymore. Imagine that you've never taken a scratch before, never scraped your knee, for the first 14 years of your life. And then it happens. It's more surprising than painful, that's for sure.

Chrystalla: What kind of research did you do for this story?

Eric: Even though we write not-of-this-world fantasy, I spend way too much time reading articles that might be vaguely relevant to whatever book I'm working on. For example, I read several articles about sandstorms. One article about simoom (whose name means "poison wind") claimed that some people caught in its path would be so completely dehydrated and covered in dust by it that their bodies would look like half-buried statues. What's more, if you touched one of these dust statues, it would just crumble away. That last bit was probably a bit of 19th Century exaggeration, but it was such a vivid image and so much in keeping with the feel of Kingmaker that I absolutely had to steal it.

Matt: I spent two spring breaks in Tucson, Ariz., hiking and horseback riding through a region most closely where Jasper is. The rest, forays into articles via the Internet. We didn't want Turuna to be too much of a mirror of some Earthly culture, but we made sure people acted appropriately for the setting.

Chrystalla: Where can people learn more about you and your writing?

Eric & Matt: We maintain a website and blog at www.fourmoonspress.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @FourMoonsPress or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FourMoonsPress.

Where to find Kingmaker:

Authors' website

Amazon

Nook

Smashwords

In print

Chrystalla: Thank you so much for stopping over. Your book sounds fascinating and I can't wait to read it. I wish you lots of success in your endeavors!

Guest author interview: Craig Hansen

Chrys: Hi, Craig, and welcome to my blog! Why don't you tell us a few words about yourself first?

Craig: Well, I had my first fiction short story published when I was around age fourteen and I've been serious about my writing ever since. I got distracted into journalism and some day-jobs that didn't quite fit for several years after college, but now I'm back to pouring a lot of my creative energy into writing.

Chrys: What genre(s) do you write and why?

Craig: Right now, I'm concentrating mostly on paranormal suspense aimed at the young adult market. I'm focusing my efforts there because right now I enjoy writing about the high school experience. As for paranormal, I recognize it's a hot genre right now and I've read this sort of thing since I was a young kid. I choose to attach suspense to the paranormal label because my main character, Ember, hasn't found her first love yet at this point in her journey, so the emphasis is more on edge-of-your-seat paranormal thrills and the adventures she goes through. She'll discover boys eventually, but she's not there yet, so I can't honestly call it paranormal romance. Plus, none of the boys she'll be infatuated with are vampires or anything like it, so again, I wanted a label that reflected the book's actual content. Therefore, SHADA is YA paranormal suspense.

Chrys: What can you tell us about your writing projects and recent releases?

Craig: My first novel, MOST LIKELY, was young adult as well, but focused strictly on coming of age with no paranormal themes, although there were some mild Christian themes. It takes place in Hope, Wisconsin, my fictional setting, and also the same high school that Ember Cole will attend. So characters who appeared in MOST LIKELY could pop up again in SHADA, EMBER and other books I have in the works.

SHADA is my first release, a YA paranormal suspense novella that kicks off the Ember Cole series. It's a fun adventure, but also a haunting tale of friendship.

EMBER will be my next release, and picks up a few weeks after the events of SHADA.

Chrys: Tell us about your latest release.

Craig: Here's how one reviewer summarized SHADA:

"SHADA was an absorbing read about friendship, letting our friends make decisions for us and then having to deal with the fallout. Shada and her three friends—the strong-willed Jeni, the melancholy Ember, and science nerd Willow—are close and Jeni invites them to a sleepover in the woods for a séance. Jeni lives on reservation lands, and when the girls trudge out to the camp site, they soon learn about the history of the place. Shada, like Jeni, is Native American, and understands Jeni when she speaks in Lakota, really putting on a show for her friends. But when a cool breeze starts up and twigs begin snapping in response to questions, the girls have to wonder what is really going on. The story had an endearing charm about it—a combination of the feel of old-fashioned ghost stories combined with the complexities of modern day friendship in a technological age. The girls were not the usual norm, they were unique individuals and I especially enjoyed their camaraderie. Holding a séance on ancient burial grounds was incredibly spooky and Craig Hansen skillfully crafted these chilly scenes. SHADA asks the question of what happens when fake becomes true." (Excerpted from a ReaderGirls.com review)

Chrys: What gave you the idea for this book?

Craig: Several things. I had some parallel real-life experiences, including a grandmother who lived across the street from us, had a boyfriend we called grandpa, and who suffered from Alzheimer's and dementia. I also took part in a makeshift séance once as a kid when I was too young to know what I was doing. There were some other parallels, but I won't share any that are spoilers here.

So, yes, I drew on a lot of life experience, and juiced it up just a little, made it their experience instead of my own. So the story came together well, I think. I needed a shorter book I could introduce the Ember Cole series with, and this story turned out to be a shorter, less complex plot than EMBER, while still being a complete story. So I released this one first, rather than releasing EMBER first and then, later on, telling this story as a "prequel" or something.

Chrys: What is special about this book – what sets it apart?

Craig: I have a special place in my heart for the Stephen King novella, "The Body," which became the movie STAND BY ME. It had four iconic young boys and told a wonderful tale about growing up. I wanted to write a story like that, with that kind of heart, that would instead feature a female cast and maybe become, someday, that kind of story for girls.

Chrys: Do you have a favorite scene in the book?

Craig: Several. If I have to single out one scene, I guess one I can talk about here without critical spoilers is the dinner table scene between Shada Emery and her parents. It has some great family humor, at least one twist I would hope is unexpected, and really helps define our narrator, Shada, a little better.

Chrys: What kind of research did you do for this story?

Craig: To capture the flavor of northwestern Wisconsin, I knew I wanted to include some characters who were Native Americans. I suppose I could have been lazy about it and made them "modern" tribal youngsters completely out of touch with their own culture, but I didn't want to go that way.

So I researched the Lakota language so that I could allow Jeni, and sometimes Shada, to speak in their own language from time to time, as multi-lingual people sometimes do.

And I didn't want to be limited to just one or two pet phrases, so I found a couple different sources that were Lakota dictionaries, and did my best to construct some genuine Lakota dialog throughout SHADA. That being said, I'm still nervous about it. Any day now I expect to hear from a reader fluent in Lakota who will take me to task and tell me my characters speak worse Lakota than a five-year-old. But, I've done everything I can to avoid that.

Once I decided to include Sacagawega, I also had to do some research on the Shoshoni language. I did this because one of the things that always seems to be a bit fake about novels with séances in them is that all the ghosts called forward speak perfect modern English… maybe with an accent. It seems to me people who died long ago would speak the same languages they knew in life, more or less. So I researched some Shoshoni phrases as well.

Chrys: Where can people learn more about you and your writing?

Craig: My author's blog is a good place to start. It's located at Craig-Hansen.com. I also hang out at Kindeboards, Facebook and on Twitter. And my books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and in the iBookstore (through Smashwords distribution). Basically, "wherever fine ebook are sold," as they say.

Thank you for this chance to chat!

Find Craig's novel at:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Amazon FR
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
Meet the author:
Craig's blog (SHADA page)
Twitter
Facebook 
Formspring

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Six Sentence Sunday – Memory

Happy Sunday. Here is another snippet from my novel Rex Rising (dystopian YA sci-fi). Elei has crossed to the island of Dakru and has been trying to remember why he's there and where he needs to go.

Elei grappled with the memory. Where did he have to go? An address, he had an address. Where was it? His hand dove into his pocket and drew out a crumpled scrap of paper. The letters jerked and swam in his vision.

Remember that Rex Rising is on sale at 99c for two more days.

 

Rex Rising on Amazon

Read more excerpts from great authors at the official site of Six Sunday.

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Six Sentence Sunday – Dakru

Good morning to all of you, thank you for coming by.

Continuing with excerpts from Rex Rising today. The boatman has told Elei, who cannot remember why he is on a boat, that he took him where Elei told him to: Dakru.

Dakru! The heart of the Seven Islands, risen in their perfect center, pushed out of the depths of the sea by the gods — at the beginning, before their divine hands molded the flesh of fish and birds, and then man. Elei stared at the shore, not quite believing he was there.

Until the boatman planted a heavy hand on his shoulder and shook him. "Hey, snap out of it. Pay me my second half and jump out now, or the sea will have you."

Rex Rising is on sale now for the month of October at 99c!

[image error]   Amazon US 

 Amazon UK

 Smashwords

Also, I just released a novelette set in the world of Rex Rising, called "Hera", for free (free on Smashwords, hopefully later on Amazon as well).

Amazon US

 Amazon UK

  Smashwords

Have fun and visit the site of SixSunday for more excerpts by other authors!

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Guest interview: Author Michael Meyer

Today my guest is author Michael Meyer. Drawing on his personal experiences in the academia, he writes funny, contemporary stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrystalla: Hi dear Michael and welcome to my blog! Why don't you tell us a few words about yourself first?

Michael: I retired in December 2010 from a 40-year career as a college writing professor. I literally studied and taught at universities throughout the world, Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the US Virgin Islands, and I spent the last 24 years at a California community college. I am an avid world traveler, and I live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.

Chrystalla: You've had an exciting life! It makes perfect sense that you want to put so many experiences in your books. What genre(s) do you write and why?

Michael: I have published two humorous short novels, both of which have an underlying seriousness to them. I think laughter is healthy, and I want my readers to be able to see humor in even non-humorous situations. Laughter is good for both the body and the soul.

Chrystalla: What can you tell us about your writing projects and recent releases?

[image error]Michael: THE FAMOUS UNION is a rollicking romp through the halls of academia, where the decisions of the powers-that-be have created chaos amid a time of severe financial turmoil. THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES is a whimsical look at a man's coping with midlife.

Chrystalla: Give us a small excerpt to see what your stories are like!

Michael: Here is the opening scene of THE FAMOUS UNION:

Famous Union was a pretty college, with pretty buildings and pretty coeds and a lot of trees. It also had a pretty water fountain that ran from eight in the morning until five in the evening, excluding Saturdays and Sundays. It was a small college but with not small problems and expenditures. The water fountain alone had cost a mint, not to mention the artificial turf on the football stadium, the bowling alley in the student union, and the many automatic coffee makers around campus.

On September 1, 2012, two recent PhD's entered employment with the English Department of Famous Union College, one a young Greek, the second a younger hybrid. But unfortunately for the latter—the hybrid—who had been hired to coordinate the department's freshman composition program, a two-semester sequence, the entire program, as the result of an executive decision in late August, was abolished forever at Famous Union three weeks before the new coordinator showed his face in town for the second time, the first having been for his job interview two and a half months earlier. The decision was a landmark one, Famous Union having been the first and only institution of higher learning in the entire country to disband the writing program that was a strict requirement everywhere else under the American flag, and always had been.

Chrystalla: I can imagine that you drew on personal experience for this story. What inspired you to write it?

Michael: I spent 40 years as a college professor and I have seen every personality eccentricity and quirk imaginable. In addition, I wanted to bring humor to the terrible global economic plight of today by highlighting the absurdity that often reigns, even in such a prestigious place as an institution of higher learning.

Chrystalla: Excellent. What is special about this book – what sets it apart?

Michael: One reader said in her review that the characters would make a good case study for a psych course. I like that. It made me smile.

Chrystalla: Do you have a favorite scene in the book?

Michael: Probably the very ending, where the absurdity of it all is reinforced with a comical finality.

Chrystalla: What kind of research did you do for this story?

Michael: I observed my colleagues, administrators, and students for years and years. Bits and pieces of people I have known and situations I have observed have made their way into THE FAMOUS UNION.

Chrystalla: Thank you for being here, Michael. Where can people learn more about you and your writing?

Michael: You can find me on my Amazon Kindle website

Link to THE FAMOUS UNION:

Amazon US

Link to THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES:

Amazon US

My UK Amazon site

 

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Six Sentence Sunday – Dakru

Happy Sunday all. Another six sentences from Rex Rising today. Elei is on a boat crossing between the great islands – but which islands? That's what he's trying to find out, since he can't remember what happened to him.

"Which island is this? Is it Kukno?"

"Are you saying I tricked you?" The boatman's voice was dry. "We're right where you told me to take you. Dakru."

I hope you're having fun with these snippets.

Visit the Six Sunday site for more excerpts from many great authors.

A small announcement: As of today and for the month of October (and unless I change my mind again), Rex Rising is up for $0.99 (from $3.99). Happy reading!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Smashwords