Interview with author Walter Rhein
1. Can you tell us a little bit about "The Bone Sword?"
"The Bone Sword" is kind of what I like to call a counter-culture fantasy novel. What I mean by that is that it's not the same old fantasy adventure that you've read a thousand times. The first thing you'll[image error]notice about the book, is that it's short. I believe the final version ended up being only 230 pages or so. The reason it's short is because I didn't want to write one of those books where you have to read 100 before you even know who all the characters are. With "The Bone Sword" my purpose was to get to the action quickly and keep the pedal to the metal until the end!
2. What's your background with writing?
I studied English Literature in college. Secretly I've always wanted to write, but I didn't see the advantage of studying creative writing (and I still don't frankly). Even Literature is kind of a hard sell for people who think that a degree should be something that should actually make you money someday! I never really put my degree to the market test in the US, however, because shortly after graduation I moved to Lima, Peru. In Peru, a degree in English actually IS worth something, since there are a lot of institutes where people want to learn English.
In Peru, I worked as a teacher and translator as well as a freelance writer. During my last few years there I was the editor of Peru's largest English language magazine, and then the largest English language web page.
If you want to hear the FULL history of my writing background though, I suppose that starts in the cradle. I literally have boxes and boxes filled with old notebooks of stories that I used to scribble down. I had my first story published as a High School Sophomore, and it's just been going on from there!
3. Who are your inspirations/influences?
Anybody who writes fantasy has to say Tolkien first and foremost. He's set the standard and nobody else has even come close to doing what he did. Before I read Tolkien, I read Terry Brooks' "Shannara" series (which is essentially just a rehashing of Tolkien).
I like a lot of the "classic" fantasy like Robert E. Howard (he's better than anyone gives him credit for), and I like the people he influenced.
Raymond E. Feist is good and so is Lawrence Watt-Evans. I'm also a big fan of Piers Anthony, it all depends on my mood!
Oh, and Charles Bukowski (not fantasy…just a good writer!).
4. Who was responsible for the cover/book design?
That was done by my publisher with my input. I was thinking of doing a little bit more of a "hard" cover showing a close-up of the protagonist with the weapon at his side. But my publisher decided to go with one of the side characters instead. I think it turned out pretty cool!
5. What are you doing in terms of marketing/publicity?
This is a huge question actually! In the last year I've learned SO MUCH about using social networking, etc., to promote your work. I'm finding that writing really is a community. People might have the illusion that writer's just sit in tiny little cubbyholes in some pastoral autumn setting and type away, but that's not the case at all. You really have to get out there and get to know people in order for any buzz about your book to be generated at all.
[image error]I've been writing a lot of articles about what I've been doing for the blog at my publisher's site. Here's one about digg:
http://www.rhemalda.com/info/2010/11/digg/
And here's one about Facebook and Networked Blogs:
http://www.rhemalda.com/info/2010/12/networked-blogs-facebook-book-promotion/
Incidentally, if anyone who reads this is interested in doing some mutual "digging" on digg, then just get in touch with me. The easiest place to find me is on Facebook. Just send me a message with "digg" as the subject!
http://www.facebook.com/wrhein
6. What projects do you have planned for the future?
I've got a couple really good things coming up actually. First is a memoir about my days as a Cross-Country skier which is being published again with Rhemalda. I'm also working on a sequel for "The Bone Sword." In addition to that, you can check out my writing on my blogs:
Swordreaver (fantasy and craft of writing blog):
http://walterrhein.blogspot.com/
Streets of Lima (travel/Peru blog):
http://streetsofperu.blogspot.com/
CyclovaXC (fitness and exercise blog):
http://www.cyclova-xc.blogspot.com/
7. Is there anything else about you we should know?
Just that I really appreciate you taking the time to interview me and post this on your blog! Make sure you check out "The Bone Sword" on Amazon.com in either Paperback:
Or Kindle:
Thanks again!
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