R.E. Houser's Blog

Interview with Derek R. King

Interview with Derek R King www.houserbooks.com/derekrking I have the honor today to interview Derek R. King, author of The Life and Times of Clyde Kennard. Thank you for joining me! Let’s start with some history then. What got you started as an author? ​ Derek: I've always been a writer in some form, lyrics and poetry from an early age, and music. The author journey really began through a fascination for the 1960’s and, reading and researching key events in that decade. I came across the name Clyde Kennard quite a few times but there was never much information on him, maybe a couple of paragraphs or pages at best. That piqued my interest back in 2007. ​ Ah, thus Clyde Kennard! What made him stand out to you? ​ Derek: Yes. To begin with it was really the lack of information about Mr Kennard that drew me in. I became intrigued as why that should be when many others of the civil rights movement of that time have received more attention, or so it seemed to me. And so one thing led to another, the more I researched and discovered about Clyde Kennard, the more determined and passionate I became about the telling of his journey and how his efforts inspired others many decades later. ​ You’re like a history detective haha Derek: History detective - I like that lol To understand that journey it was pretty essential to place it in the context of the times in which it occurred, quite different from today in some respects. Consider it your new title! That's really cool. So, were you able to conduct any interviews? What was your primary research method for the material? ​ Derek: No interviews as such, I did find the Oral History project file of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History extremely useful. Quite a lot are available as mp3 files so I listened to them in the car on long journeys. They gave me a feel for those times from folks on both sides of the debate, hearing those voices from the past bringing history to life. In addition, I've accumulated a private library of 104 books as well as various periodicals from the 1950 and 60's together with other research materials from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. So over the period of this project my initial six pages of notes on Clyde Kennard grew into the book I have today. ​ Bookwise I read pretty much all I could get my hands on, from the likes of Myrlie Evers, Hodding Carter III, Neil McMillan, John Dittmer, Juan Williams, among others and authors on the other side of the debate, segregationists Carl Putman, Judge Tom Brady  and Erle Johnston to name a few. ​ WOW! That's an impressive collection! So, if you could summarize your book to a single message that you want your potential readers to draw from this book, what would that be? Derek: In terms of Clyde himself, his utter determination and unflinching belief that he would be admitted to MSC, the inspiration he provided to others who followed him and how he continues to inspire over five decades later. So, shifting focus to your publishing process. I see that you used Lulu. What made you choose indie vs traditional? And what made you choose Lulu vs the other self-publishing services? ​ Derek: Indie vs Traditional?- that's straight forward for me - I took the pragmatic view that 1) I had written about someone few people had heard of 2) this is a niche book in a niche market 3) I wanted to get Clyde's story out there, first and foremost. The likelihood of Traditional publishing route for this type of book I reckoned had a limited chance of success so rather than waste time I moved on the indie route. ​ Lulu vs the other self-publishing services? - I'd checked a few indie publishers out over the years the book had taken, Lulu seemed best able to offer what I was seeking at a pricing point that suited my budget. In essence I was looking for a one stop shop I could pass the manuscript over to for full editorial, right through the whole process to end product widely available. ​ So, are you currently working on any other projects? Any future stories you want to get out there? ​ Derek: Ten years on one book is a long time. I've written a couple of short stories since, which I've really enjoyed, and surprised myself in the process. I'm also being encouraged to bring some of my poetry together into collection. Longer term project, another human story, The Highland Clearances (in Scotland) is something I've become more interested in recently, so I may well do more research on that. You weren't kidding when you said you were always writing haha ​ Derek: I can't help it - it's in the DNA! ​ Any advice that you can give to other writers, researchers, or those just starting out on the path to becoming an author? Derek: I'm not sure I'm best placed to give advice, but I will say. This there will be great highs and great lows along the way but don't be put off doing what you really want to do. And if you have rejection letters come your way just remember this Faber and Faber turned down Orwell’s Animal Farm, Heller’s Catch-22 was rejected as “not funny” and le Carré‘s Spy Who Came in from the Cold also rejected. Just to add to that, some poor individual at Decca records turned down The Beatles. So there IS always hope. ​ Awesome advice! Thanks again for agreeing to the interview! ​ Derek: Many thanks for taking the time to chat with me. ​ Find Derek R. King here: ​ Web page: www.clydekennardlifeandtimesof.com ​ Review on Literary TItans: https://wp.me/p3cyvH-3aV ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DerekRKing2 ​ Professor Steven A Drizin - Clinical Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago “I approached Derek King’s book on my client Clyde Kennard with scepticism. Could a white Scottish man be entrusted with the story of an unsung hero of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement? Yes, King’s book is a revelation. Read it. Learn. Never forget.”

Interview with S.J. Lomas

First and foremost, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. To any who are not yet familiar with the works of S.J. Lomas, she is the author of Dream Girl, and Dream Frequency, as well as other books! I have had the privilege of reading Dream Girl, and you can see my review on goodreads here I have yet to read the sequel, but I have purchased it and it is sitting in my library, and I am anxious to get to it! Now to the important matter at hand, the interview. S.J. Lomas, how do you want your adoring fans to refer to you? SJ: First, "adoring fans!" You're too kind! SJ is fine, and, actually, kind of fun. I have some writer friends who only call me SJ. I like that it keeps my writer persona separate from regular, every day me. After all, SJ is a little cooler and more mysterious than everyday me. Oh wait, am I referring to myself in third person now? Let's move on to the next question! I know that we have talked about how you were NOT influenced by the movie Inception, and in fact your story came first. Would you like to share that story for the world? SJ: Whenever I begin to explain the premise of Dream Girl, a lot of people will say, "Oh, you mean like Inception!" No! It isn't like Inception! To this day, I've still never watched Inception and I don't want to because I never want it to taint what I'd come up with for my book. I suppose that means it could be like Inception, but my first notes for Dream Girl were dated 2002. Well before Inception was released. And yes, it did take me a really long to time to write the book. (Dream Girl was first published in 2013.) My next answer will explain why that is. ​ Well than with let's move right to the next question! What inspired the world of Dream Girl? ​ SJ: Dream Girl came to me in a dream. Seriously. I had a vivid, bizarre, semi-nightmarish dream that woke me up in the middle of the night. I opened my eyes and thought, "Wow, that would be a great scene in a novel someday." I turned on my lamp and grabbed the notebook I kept by my bed for just such occasions. I scribbled some notes and went back to sleep. I didn't do anything with it for a long time, but I never completely forgot about it. A few years later, I was doing book reviews for a website and I got the book A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence. I fell in love with that book. As soon as I finished it, that dream I'd had popped into my head and I realized that it needed to be a YA novel. Once I'd had that realization, ideas came to me fast and furious. But it was still several more years before I finally got it together enough to finish the first draft and then start revising. The real catalyst was the birth of my children. I remember sitting on the couch, reading my baby daughter a board book. I smiled to myself thinking about how I'd read my books with my kids one day. Then I realized there wouldn't be any books to read because I wasn't writing them. That was a wake up call. It wasn't easy to complete a novel and be a working wife and mom besides, but I never gave up on my story and it's finally a real book! (Also, Michael Lawrence knows all this. I did an interview with him for that review website because I'd loved his book so much. We've ended up becoming very good friends. I highly recommend everyone look up his trilogy, beginning with A Crack in the Line, and also his stand alone, Juby's Rook. His books are incredible.) Great! See Michael Lawrence's books here! S.J, Do you have anyone special that inspired your characters? SJ: I do! I'm a librarian. The very first library I worked at was the model for the library Christine and Gabriel work at. At that time, one of my co-workers was being wooed by a handsome New Zealander so that gave me the idea for Tiffany and Marcel. (Marcel is actually based on a French friend I made at the library, though.) The characters themselves aren't completely one person or another, but a mix of traits of people I know or have known. I'm sure the big question anyone would have is whether or not Christine is me. We do have a lot of similarities but she's definitely her own person. Same for Gabriel, and especially Leo. Leo, after all, came to me after I was already over half way through the book. He was a fully formed character who dropped out of nowhere into his night field in Wyoming. As soon as I started writing that scene, I realized he was more than a one time character in a dream. He was part of the whole grander scheme of things. Also, during all those years that I was writing the book, I asked some friends if anyone wanted to loan their name to any of my characters. Some took me up on it and some of the minor characters are named for actual friends of mine. This is also true of nearly all the agents in Dream Frequency. It's like a fun inside joke between my friends and me. That's great! I'm glad that Leo became a regular, he became quite an important character in Dream Girl! Moving on, your chapters are very short, and I found that I really enjoyed that, but it’s not a traditional style. What was your motivation behind that? SJ: It's something that just happened as I was writing. I found myself getting bogged down in some parts. I'd have a burst of action and then I was basically killing time in the chapter until I could move on to the next one and get to the next exciting bit. I quickly realized that if I was getting bored writing it, no one would be interested in reading it. So, for myself, I thought I'd just write it without the extra bits and go directly from important scene to important scene and then fill in later. When later came, I realized it worked on its own with the ultra short chapters so I left it like that and hoped it wouldn't be off-putting to publishers or readers. I do see it mentioned in reviews that people enjoy the short chapters, so I'm glad that little gamble paid off! ​ I agree! It made the book go really fast! I would sit down to read a chapter or two and before I knew it I was through ten! It paid off well! You told me that this was just a two-book series, do you think maybe you’ll ever write another book in the Dream World? SJ: In person, I always laugh and tell people, "I'm done with these characters and this world!" But I guess the real answer is never say never. I'm done with them right now. Dream Frequency was really difficult for me to write. First, I tend to be more of a pantser, so I realized there were some things I left open in Dream Girl that I no longer wanted to follow through with in the sequel or that I should have done differently. Let's call it a huge learning experience to write your first novel. Dream Frequency, as I'm sure you noticed, is a great deal thicker than Dream Girl. I wanted it to tie up absolutely everything. It took me three years to write it, rather than the 10 years it took for Dream Girl. After 13 years, I'm definitely enjoying the opportunity to explore other ideas and characters that have been rattling around in my brain. I will always love my Dream characters though. They're like real people to me, and in many ways, we grew up together. I grew as a writer and they grew in their own story arcs. I understand that completely! I wish I had written a stand alone novel or two before getting straight into the Anthology of Resuoh, to get a little experience under my belt. We live we learn, but for Dream Girl, it holds up great! Tell us about what you’re currently working on, and upcoming projects that your fans can look forward to! SJ: I am terrible at identifying the genre of my own books, but I'm writing a dark tale based on the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe. His life was very troubled and his writing was unlike anything seen before or after. I decided to play a game of "what if" to explore the things that happened in his life and how it impacted the things he wrote. I ended up coming to a pretty wild conclusion and this book is basically the fruit of my fleshing out what might have been going on with Poe's life, and for that extra bizarre and mysterious death of his. It goes into darker territory than I've done with my other writing, so this one is definitely not YA. ​ ​ New territory, and new experiences! Thank you so much for sharing SJ! Please take a moment to share something with your fans, anything you like! From the author: I am a born book lover. One of my earliest memories is making up a story about a talking hamburger that I told to my grandpa when he was very ill. I was about 4 or 5 years old. In 2nd grade, my teacher gave us all little journals that we were supposed to write in once a week. I LOVED mine. I've been writing ever since. I'm also a reader, and it can be very difficult to find the time for reading and writing. Usually one has to be sacrificed for the other. There's only so much time in a day. I'm a librarian, a book reviewer, a reader, and a writer. I am blessed with an incredible network of writer friends who are some of the dearest people to me. I'd like to give a shout out to some of them and encourage your readers to support them too: Jody Lamb https://www.jodylamb.com Monica Sholar https://www.amazon.com/Monica-R.-Shol... Michael Lawrence https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Lawren... Ian Moore https://iantm.com/ Clay Boura https://www.leaveittobeamer.com/ Melissa Storm https://www.melissastorm.com/ Falcon Storm https://www.falconstormbooks.com/ Dominic Herron (Dominic is a writer and he sells gorgeous essential oil diffuser jewelry too. He's made me custom lockets for my author brand. Check him out too!)  https://www.organneck.com/ Follow me on Twitter or check out my blog www.sjlomas.com/blog for constant updates about other authors I admire greatly, and let's all support our friend, R.E. Houser! ​ Find S.J. Lomas here: ​ I have my own website where you can learn more about me, buy autographed books, or read author interviews on my blog: www.sjlomas.com I'm recently on IG @sjlomasauthor Twitter: @sjlomasauthor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SJLomas Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/S-J-Lomas/e/B0... ​ Thanks again to S.J. Lomas, and make sure you check out her books! Please follow and share my blog for future author interviews!

New to the HouserBooks Blog!

Hey all, it's been a while since I posted, but I'm going to be trying something new! Starting this week I will be posting interviews from authors. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on learning about some great authors and their books! First author scheduled is S.J. Lomas, author of Dream Girl, as well as several other books. Stay tuned!

Jade Horizons - Available Today!

Are you ready to continue the epic story of the Resuoh family? The wait is over, book 3 is available TODAY on paperback and eBook! For all of you Kindle Unlimited subscribers, all 3 books are free! Not a member of KU? That's okay, Jade Horizons will be FREE for digital download, this Friday! Have yet to start the Anthology of Resuoh? No problem, book 1 will ALSO BE FREE for digital download this Friday! Don't miss out, get caught up today so you will be ready for book 4, The Eons of Elijah!

Are you ready to enter the Void?

Book 3 of the Anthology of Resuoh will be available in 10 days! Are you ready? Within the Void, secrets are held. A beast with a hidden agenda lurks in the darkness, while an all consuming mist hunts any who enter. Are you brave enough to step through the portal? Can Jade survive long enough to discover the truth behind everything? Jade Horizons, available May 1st! Visit www.houserbooks.com to pick up the first two books if you have not yet read them, and enter for a chance to win a FREE AUTOGRAPHED COPY of Jade Horizons, or a FREE AUDIOBOOK copy of Forged in the Storm, on Audible!! For twitter followers, retweet for an additional chance to win AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ALL THREE BOOKS! www.houserbooks.com Twitter: @BooksHouser Facebook: www.facebook.com/houserbooks Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/REHouser

Book 3 days away!

Book 3 is done! I have finished writing and preliminary edits are done. The deadline is less then 2 weeks away before it is available, and here is YOUR chance to get a copy for free!!! Check out the contest page, and sign up now for a chance to win a free autographed copy of: "Book 3 - Jade Horizons" or "Book 1 - Forged in the Storm" audio book on Audible! Jade Horizons available at www.houserbooks.com now for pre-order or on amazon.com

Support the Schools!

Good morning from the REAL LIFE BABY JAMES, featured in The Anthology of Resuoh! We are here to announce a new contest! For the next 60 days we will be running a donation based contest on fundly.com. For every $1 donated, you will have your name entered for a chance to win your name as a character in an upcoming book in the AoR series, a small spot thanking you in the "acknowledgments" section of the book, as well as an autographed copy of book one, "Forged in the Storm." Five runner ups will also win a signed copy of the book. 100% of all funds received will be donated to the local school systems to help fund their libraries and the arts! Help the next generation of children to be able to read quality books and enjoy the arts! Thank you for your contribution and continued support, and don't forget to follow the blog at www.houserbooks.com Enter to win here!

BOOK 2 FREE TODAY!

Hey there fans! As an appreciation for all of the support for book 1, I am doing a free ebook promotion for book 2 "Remnants of Tomorrow" today! Find it on Amazon, or my website! Thanks for all of your support and love through this process!!

Remnants of Tomorrow Available Now!

It's official folks, book two of the Anthology of Resuoh is available NOW on amazon.com and Lulu.com Thanks to everyone who has reached out with support and questions about the series, I hope you enjoy the continuation of the series! As an update, book 3 is currently being written, I am 5 chapters in thus far! Stay tuned for updates, and once more thanks for the love!

Book 2 - Remnants of Tomorrow

Update, I have officially finished writing book 2, Remnants of Tomorrow! This book was a lot of fun to write, and I'm really excited for it to publish! It's in the hands of the editor now! Available date is March 28th, however I am ahead of schedule and hope to have it buttoned up and ready sooner! Stay tuned for updates, and check out chapter one available in the books section!! Don't forget to pre-order your copy today!