William T. Prince interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I’ve always been a night person, so I get most of my writing done late at night after the rest of my family has hit the sack.  Even if I lived alone, I’m sure that my routine would be the same.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I may be an old-fogy about a lot of things but not about technology.  It’s 2011, and I use a computer—period.  I rarely hand-write anything anymore.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Good writing inspires me.  When I read Russell Banks, John Irving, or Ron McLarty—when I am moved by the complexity of their characters and by their wonderful storytelling—it makes me want to write.  In my wildest dreams, I could never hope to reach their level, but they do make me want to try.  I also draw inspiration from real life.  Although I write fiction exclusively, I look to my own experience and knowledge for the basic characterization of my novels as well as some plot details.  To me, fiction is always better than non-fiction, but all fiction is based to some degree on real people and events.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

No, not at all.  I don’t use outlines either.  My wife is an English professor, and it drives her crazy that I rely so little on structure.  I don’t like feeling constrained.  Specific plans for word counts, page numbers, plot details, or whatever else some folks might be inclined to map out in advance are too restrictive for me.  I prefer just to sit down and go wherever the words lead me.

5: Are you a published or a self-published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

I self-published my first novel and will do the same with my second.  My POD publisher is Infinity, and their art department designed my first cover.  In all honesty, they absolutely nailed it.  I truly could not have asked for any better, so I’m confident that they will do a good job on the second as well.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I don’t know that I make enough money to call myself a “professional” yet, but I do hope that writing will one day be my true career.  I’ve had several, and hopefully this will be my last.  I’ve always taken great pride in my writing, but I never really thought that I could tell stories.  I wrote to inform—not to entertain.  Although my first book hasn’t sold particularly well, the reviews have been outstanding, and now that I know that I can indeed tell stories that people enjoy reading, I want to keep going.  Career-wise, I don’t think that anything has ever made me feel better than someone telling me how much he or she enjoyed my book.  Hopefully they like the second as well—and the third and the fourth and so on.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I just got a Kindle for Father’s Day.  I’m such a newbie that I can’t say much about it, but I think I’ll like it in the long run.  Like it or not, people are going to have to get with the program.  E-books are the future of this industry.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and what are you reading now?

I have a lot of favorites—Russell Banks, John Irving, Ron McLarty, Joyce Carol Oates, Jodi Picoult, Maeve Binchy, Wally Lamb, and too many others to list them all.  I just started Ron McLarty’s Art in America—my very first Kindle read.  McLarty has such an incredible gift for creating memorable characters, and this book is starting out very well.  I’m already hooked.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I have a book trailer for my first book, and I intend to create one for my second as well.  I like them, but I don’t think that they particularly help sales.  There’s only a very weak correlation between my trailer views and my sales.  Even so, they’re pretty cool and not very expensive, so I don’t see any reason not to use them.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

The Education of Clint Buchanan (my second novel, still in edits) is a sequel to The Legend of Sasquatch.  Sasquatch/Clint has moved on to the next chapter in his life, which involves attending college, but it involves other life lessons as well—dealing with love, loss, and deception and hopefully learning from those profound experiences.  Education (formal and informal) is the underlying theme, so it seemed natural to include it in the title.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I’m not really working on anything at the moment, although I should be working on the aforementioned edits to The Education of Clint Buchanan.  Life has thrown me several curveballs in recent months, but hopefully I can get on the stick, finish those edits, and get the book published sometime this year.

LINKS:

Website: http://www.williamtprince.com

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/txsasquatch

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/-9ix124qXts

Amazon (Paperback): http://amzn.to/kL925U

Amazon (Kindle): http://amzn.to/mtX7P6  (On sale for a measly 99 cents!)

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/12007  (Only 99 cents!)

B&N (Paperback): http://bit.ly/l99kKQ

B&N (Nook): http://bit.ly/kUynwY  (Only 99 cents!)

Stacy Juba interview

Although Stacy Juba specializes in writing adult mysteries, she has also authored books for children and young adults – she pursues whatever story ideas won’t leave her alone. Stacy’s titles include the Amazon bestselling adult mystery novels Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim, the mystery short story Laundry Day, the children’s picture books The Flag Keeper and Victoria Rose and the Big Bad Noise, and the upcoming young adult novels Dark Before Dawn, Face-Off and Offsides. She is a former journalist with more than a dozen writing awards to her credit. 

Web site: http://stacyjuba.com/blog/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/stacyjuba

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacy-Juba/100155471301

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

Definitely the early morning, around 6:30-8:30 a.m., when the rest of the house is still asleep. I wake up excited to go on my computer and write. At night, I focus on book promotion tasks - I'm alert enough to do straightforward tasks like marketing, but am too tired to tap into the creativity I need to write fiction. 

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer? When I was younger, I had to write it all on paper. After I started working as a reporter in my early twenties, my editor cured me of that habit pretty fast.  Most of my writing is done on my home computer. A friend also gave me an AlphaSmart word processor and I love using that to write on the go. I have a laptop, but don't use it much as the word processor is much lighter and faster to use on the go.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?  I draw inspiration from my interests and situations that I've been in, although everything I write is fiction. For Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, I was inspired by my old job as a newspaper obit writer and editorial assistant. One of my responsibilities was using the microfilm to research snippets for my daily 25 and 50 years ago today column. One day, I looked back on that experience and got an idea: What if a newspaper editorial assistant stumbled across a murder while researching her 25 years ago today column and was driven to solve it?     

For Sink or Swim, I was inspired by the popularity of reality TV shows. I chose to make my character, Cassidy, a personal trainer as I once worked in a health club and could draw upon that experience. My children's picture book The Flag Keeper was inspired by my husband's respect of the U.S. flag. 

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?  I try not to worry about page numbers or word counts when I'm writing a first draft, but I do set writing goals. I like to finish at least half of a scene in one sitting. Instead of saying, I'll stop after 5 pages, I'll say, let me try to get to the part where the phone rings. Then the next day, my goal will be to finish the scene.  I like to finish at least one solid chapter per week - "solid" meaning that once I get it down, I might edit it a few times before moving on to the next chapter. 

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

Like many authors nowadays, I'm a combination of both. I've been published in print by Avon and Mainly Murder Press. I have the e-book rights to my books and Mainly Murder Press allows me to use their trade paperback covers for the e-book versions, which is wonderful. I've self-published my picture books and short stories. When I do need covers designed, I'm very fortunate as my husband is a graphic designer. 

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer? I've been writing stories since elementary school and had my first book published at 18, though there were several years of rejection after that. I majored in exercise science in college, and worked briefly in a health club and a hospital cardiac rehabilitation program, but I wasn't excited about going to work in the morning. In fact, I dreaded it and it felt wrong, despite my interest in health and fitness. I found that writing was the career that excited me and that I was best at. Although publishing novels has always been my main goal, over the years I've also been a newspaper reporter, a newsletter editor, a publicist, and a freelance writer. But, my passion is writing and marketing my books and I love the ability to independently publish my e-books and be in charge of my career.

7: Do you own an e-book reading device? Yes, I own a Sony Touch, which I love. I like it because it can also read Word files and PDFs. I am considering getting a Kindle also, as I feel like I'm missing out on some of the free books that Amazon offers, but it wouldn't replace the Sony - it would complement it! 

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

I enjoyed J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and also enjoy Lisa Gardner, Jodi Picoult and Joy Fielding. I also like to reads books by indie and small press authors that I've developed friendships with. I have about 130 books on my e-reader including books by my friends Darcia Helle, Maria Savva, and Lisa Scott.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any? I have created three book trailers, for Twenty-Five Years Ago Today, Sink or Swim, and The Flag Keeper. You can see them on the Screening Room of my web site at http://stacyjuba.com/blog/books-2/book-trailers/  . They were fun and inexpensive to make and I think they do a good job of depicting my books in a visual way. They have catchy music also. Honestly though, I don't think book trailers affect book sales in a significant way.  I'll probably make them for future books as I enjoy doing them, but now I know that it's a project for lower down on the priority list.       

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book? Sink or Swim is about a young woman who goes on a reality show set aboard a Tall Ship, and the name of the TV show is Sink or Swim as losers are required to walk the plank. The book starts when the show has ended and she is returning to her normal life as the target of a stalker, so the Sink or Swim also has a double meaning - will she rise above this adversity or will she let the stalker control her life?  It was one of those books where the title came to me immediately.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about? I'm working on editing and formatting e-book editions of my out-of-print young adult book Face-Off and it's previously unpublished sequel Offsides. I'll probably also do a double edition paperback since many kids don't have e-readers. I'll have one more picture book coming out and will be releasing an e-book bundle of all my picture books.  My young adult paranormal thriller Dark Before Dawn is coming out from Mainly Murder Press in January, so I'll be preparing for the book launch and will also be working on the e-book editions. Once all these projects are finished, I'll return to writing my novel-in-progress Sign of the Messenger, the first book in a series, and I also have a novella that I'd like to polish up, called Doll House.   

Toni Dwiggins interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?
Morning, after taking in the day’s news in the paper and getting well caffeinated. Also, usually after a walk/hike chewing over plot issues.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?
I’ll take notes with paper/pen (on those hikes, waiting in line at the market, etc) but once I start writing it’s all on the computer. So easy to delete that overwritten paragraph I loved the day before!

3: What do you draw inspiration from?
I’ll get ideas from the news, from overheard conversations, from those painful life lessons—that sort of thing. Inspiration, when it comes, most often comes from the characters on the page who start insisting it’s their story. In which case I shut up and type. And, I’ll sometimes take inspiration from my cats, who always do what they’re intended to do. They know it’s time to nap in the sun and so they do.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?
Not word count, but I will set a goal of, say, finishing a scene or solving a plot problem. If I reach the goal I get chocolate.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?
I’ve been traditionally published, a good long while ago by TOR Books. Going Indie is a new venture, with a new series.
For the cover art, I knew it had to be fairly simple (to work in thumbnail, in grayscale). I wanted something that would give the reader an idea what the book is about at a glance. In this case, radioactive material loose in Death Valley. From there, I found some stock photos of rad symbols and deserts and learned the basics of Gimp and came up with a not-too-awful cover. I posted it on Kindleboards and people gave me great suggestions. I also heard from a cover artist who liked my concept and offered to improve it (my words; he was more circumspect). I think he did a terrific job.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?
I come from a family of writers. Dad was a newspaper aviation reporter, and then wrote books on the topic. Mom wrote a couple of B-movie scripts. Aunt and Uncle wrote westerns and detective stories. When I was twelve I barged into a meeting of hardboiled writers in their living room—having just finished reading GONE WITH THE WIND. I announced, with tears and snot running, that GWTW was the best book that ever had been written or ever would be written. A lot of polite coughing and a few snickers and one muttered you try it. The next day I wrote a short story about a little girl who loses her favorite doll, simply heartbreaking, and sent it to the New Yorker. Got my first rejection slip. And then just kept on trying.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?
A Kindle, which I am finding to be very useful and very easy to read. Still love paper books, but that Kindle is soooo handy.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?
Favorite authors: Kate Atkinson, Barbara Kingsolver, Nevada Barr, CJ Box, Marcia Talley, Lisa Brackman, Scott Turow, Olen Steinhauer, Laura Lippman, Michael Chabon, and a boatload of others. I have a lot of favorites. Plus, I’ve discovered more favorites since getting the Kindle: J. Carson Black, Michael Wallace, David Dalglish. Right now I’m reading two books: Black’s THE SHOP on my Kindle, and Barbara Kingsolver’s THE LACUNA in hardback. Love ‘em both.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?
I’ve seen a couple; one very good, one not so much. Don’t have plans right now to have one but never say never.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?
The book is set primarily in Death Valley, and Badwater is an iconic site there, the lowest elevation in the country. Badwater also a play on words, because the bad guy is threating to contaminate the national park water supply.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?
The next book in the forensic geology series. It takes place in my forensic geologists’ home town—Mammoth Lakes, in the Sierra Nevada range. A volcano is rumbling, and FEMA has sent a rather psychopathic emergency-ops guy to get the town ready to evacuate, and the mayor’s body has just been found in a glacier.

Links:
BADWATER is available at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005466WQ6

http://smashwords.com/books/view/65431

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/BADWATER/Toni-Dwiggins/e/2940012940414

Nicholas McGirr interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write? 

Usually early mornings. They are most productive when you have a fresh outlook from the day before.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer? A little of both. I find that my computer isn't always where I am, so I tend to carry the classic Composition Notebooks and plenty of pens wherever I go.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?
Music and the Greek Gods. I have been a musician since I was a child and my father is a musician as well. The Greek Gods have always intrigued me, so I decided to put my favorite things together and write about music and Greek Mythology all wrapped up into a new spin on how we as humans perceive the Gods.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

Never. I write what comes, plain and simple. If I happen to write three chapters in one day or three words, it's always about setting aside the time to write and research. 

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

Self published. My cover art for the paperback version I asked my wife to draw up based on what she saw out of the book. The ebook version, I wanted to try my hand at a little photography.
6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?
I've always loved writing and telling stories. After finding that my adolescent rock star dream wasn’t going to come true, I began writing. 

7: Do you own an ebook reading device? Yes, I own the original black and white nook.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now? Right now, I’m reading House by Ted Dekker and Frank Perretti. Some of my faves in the past have been Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, and any tales I can find on Greek Mythology.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any? Over the past year, I’ve noticed a lot of different types of marketing tricks and seeing which ones work. As for now, I have no plans on creating a book trailer. 

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book? The Growing Dim Project was a contradiction in the title, and I love irony. I’m also a big fan of not really getting the title until you read the book. That’s exactly the case with The Growing Dim Project.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?
Currently, I’m working on two projects. The sequel to Book One: The Growing Dim Project which is entitled Book Two: Popular Jazz. This book will answer a lot of the questions that are brought up in Book One taking out some of the mystery and will hook the reader to wanting more of this series.
The second project I have is releasing Life of Death into ebook format. This was a project written long before The Growing Dim Project was even thought of. 


http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Dim-Project-Book-ebook/dp/B004WLPWRE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1308944585&sr=1-1

Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, 2081

 Short film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, 2081 depicts a dystopian future in which, thanks to the 212th Amendment to the Constitution and the unceasing vigilance of the United States Handicapper General, everyone is "finally equal...." The strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the intelligent wear earpieces that fire off loud noises to keep them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. It is a poetic tale of triumph and tragedy about a broken family, a brutal government, and an act of defiance that changes everything.

Featuring an original score by Lee Brooks performed by Kronos Quartet (Requiem for a Dream) and narration by Academy Award Nominee Patricia Clarkson (Far From Heaven, Goodnight and Good Luck), 2081 stars James Cosmo (Braveheart, Trainspotting),Julie Hagerty (Airplane!, What About Bob?) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network).

FREE Kindle books Plenty to read

Here is a list of the new Kindle Books enjoy

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Editorial Reviews

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HOMICIDE garnered two Emmy® Awards, three Peabody Awards, three Television Critics Awards, two Writers Guild Awards, and was named to TV Guide's "The Greatest Episodes in TV History" and "TV's Greatest Characters" lists.

Now, one of television's crowning achievements is available in its entirety on 35 DVDs and includes all 122 episodes spanning seven critically acclaimed seasons, the three Law & Order crossover episodes, and Homicide: The Movie.

David Kazzie interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I have small kids, so I typically write late at night, after everyone's gone to bed. I find myself more productive at that time, although it makes for some rough mornings trying to get everyone out of the house. I'm not a morning person.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I often will scribble notes by hand, but as soon as a project starts to take shape, I switch to the computer. I can type faster than I can write, and if I don't get something down out of my head, I'm liable to lose it.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

I work more from the vantage point of story. I'm always on the lookout for a good story, largely because I'm always worried I'll never come up with another one. So, I guess I say I draw inspiration from panic.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I really like to hit 1,000 words per day. For my next manuscript, I plan to shoot for 1,500 a day, but that might be pushing it a bit.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

Even though I have an agent, I chose to self-publish my debut novel. Since October 2010, I've written a number of viral animated videos (about law school, writing/publishing, among other things) that have gotten about 2 million hits, and so I wanted to take advantage of that exposure for my novel. We'll see if it works.

I knew the kind of cover I had in mind, but I definitely needed help. I found a cover designer out in California (GOS Multimedia) that did a great job making my vision a reality.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I don't really know. I don't know how good a writer I am, but I'm probably a better writer than I am anything else. Actually, I think the truth is that writing chooses you as a career. I doubt anyone in their right mind would become a writer if they had a choice to do something else.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I've got a Kindle. I love it.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and what are you reading now?

My favorite writer overall is probably Carl Hiaasen. Other favorites are Stephen King and Dennis Lehane.

Three favorite books:

1. The Stand

2. Mystic River

3. Lonesome Dove

I am currently reading The End is Now by Rob Stennett. A satirical look at the Rapture.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I just saw one for The Passage by Justin Cronin that was really good. It was set inside the military compound where the vampires that ultimately destroyed civilization were engineered. It featured a soldier being attacked by viral after a power failure. Creepy. I've thought about a book trailer, but I'm not sure about going in that direction yet.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

My book is about a stolen lottery ticket, so the name The Jackpot seemed to fit really well. Plus, I've noticed books and movies that are called "The [Something]" often do well, so I've got this attraction to these titles. The Godfather, The Matrix, The Departed, The Town, The Firm, The Client, and so on. I think people respond to clean, short titles. That said, I realize there are probably fifty examples of crappy movies or books with that name template.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

Just starting outlining a new thriller. Plus ideas for a number of other books. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Jackpot-ebook/dp/B0051UAU4K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1306029362&sr=1-1

Keith B. Darrell Interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write? 

I find I’m most creative at night. I think the fact it tends to be quieter at night, with fewer distractions, makes it more conducive to writing. When the phone has rung for the final time that evening, the neighbors have gone to sleep, the street noises have faded, and the Witching Hour has passed, then the gremlins of my imagination can be unleashed. 

Someone once tried to explain to me that nocturnal creativity was tied to theta waves, but my money is on the gremlins.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

In the olden days, I would write in longhand or by typewriter, but these days I prefer my ubiquitous laptop. Judging from the chicken scrawls that pass for my handwriting, I was most likely destined to be a doctor, not a writer, so I run the risk of not being able to decipher my stories if I write them with pen and paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Stories are based on a coalescence of theme, plot, and characterization. I may see a social issue I feel more people need to become aware of, or view from a different perspective, so I might craft a story based on that theme. Other times, I may have an epiphany for a great plot and write around that. But I think the best tales come from creating well-crafted characters, placing them in a situation, and letting them act out the story. If your characters are truly well defined, the scenes almost write themselves, and the author reverts to taking dictation from his characters.



4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

Absolutely not. I believe a story is like Goldilock’s porridge: it must have just the right amount of words; not too many and not too few. Too many authors ruin good stories by padding them to fill up pages to reach some arbitrary length. It’s not the number of words but the impact of the tale on the reader that is the mark of a good story. A flash fiction piece may be so moving and thought provoking that the reader is still thinking about it weeks later, whereas he may not recall the last chapter of a novel he read a week earlier. 

If you’re writing fiction, you are, by definition, a storyteller. A story is not judged by its length by how it affects the reader and how memorable it is.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

My print books and eBooks are published through my publishing imprint, Amber Book Company. I do all of the cover design for my books. For my print books, I usually use photography since I cannot draw stick figures. For example, for Issues In Internet Law, the cover is a photo of a dog, seated at a computer typing in a singles chatroom (“on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog”). For my anthology  Randoms, I used a random assortment of leaves of the front cover, and shaped them into the form of a giant leaf for the back cover. Shards, my second short story collection, has a stunning visual of shards of glass projecting toward the reader.

For my eBooks and eStorybooks (single short story eBooks), I still design my own covers but license stock illustrations, which work better than photographs when the covers are reduced to thumbnails online. 

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I’ve had many careers throughout my lifetime, including stints as a reporter, stockbroker, attorney, entrepreneur, retailer, web designer, real estate agent, ad rep… life is about experiences, and I think the more life experience you garner, the more you will have to write about. But there are two components to being a writer: the art and the craft. The craft is an objective set of rules; it can be taught and can be learned. But the art is intrinsic to the soul of the writer. This is where the creativity flows from, and one is either born with printers ink in his  blood or not. 

7: Do you own an eBook reading device?

I produced all of my eBooks and eStorybooks formatted both for Kindle and EPUB, so I read on Kindle and several EPUB readers, including Adobe Digital Editions and a great e-reader widget by Opera. My books can be read on Kindles and Nooks, and on various EPUB apps for smart phones. Later this year, I will be adapting many of my works as podcasts, too.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

My primary genre is speculative fiction, so Harlan Ellison and Neil Gaiman come to mind. As a child, I read all the popular SF authors: Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Kornbluth… as well as the classics: Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ernest Hemingway, Guy de Maupassant, D.H. Lawrence, Anton Chekov, J.D. Salinger, George Orwell, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Dante Alighieri, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Carlos Castaneda… there are too many to list. But in my anthology "Randoms", I explained: “My writing is a reflection of my muses. From Dickens I learned how to create memorable characters and tell a story. Like Hemingway, I believe in using simple, declarative sentences. O. Henry instilled in me a deep appreciation for the effective use of irony and a resolute belief that a short story should be … short. Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and Douglas Adams erased the boundaries of my imagination while showing that a sense of wonder can be accompanied by a sense of humor. e. e. cummings gave me permission to break literary rules, while Rimbaud encouraged me to go against tradition, as I push the envelope of speculative fiction. And the Marquis de Sade taught me that it’s O.K. to write nasty words and have impure thoughts if they express an underlying philosophy.”

Right now, my reading list includes Neil Gaiman’s :The Grayeyard Book” and three large volumes of short stories.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I’ve seen a few good ones but most are slide shows with background music and alternating text slides that make me feel as though I’ve warped back to the era of silent films. I’d love to produce some trailers for my “Halos & Horns” series of fantasy novels, but to do it properly, based on the quotes I’ve received, is way out of my budget. I’ve also read some preliminary reports that trailers do not increase sales, so I’m going to hold off on them for the present.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

I’m not sure what my “latest” book is. This month (May 2011), I published “And A Child Shall Lead Them ” (Book 2 in the “Halos & Horns” series) and sent “Shards” to the printer; published “Paved With Good Intentions” (Book 1 in the “Halos & Horns” series) as an eBook; published 34 short stories and one novella for Kindle; and am currently writing a Young Adult novel, a SF novel, and the third “Halos & Horns” book, so I’ve come up with quite a few titles this month.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I think my passion has become “Halos & Horns”, so I’ll be writing the third book, “To Hell in a Hand Basket”, this summer, taking the characters in a completely new direction. I have some very exciting stuff planned  that will surprise the fans of the series. I’ve been challenged by some author-friends to write a Young Adult novel and I’m outlining that right now. It will be titled “The 25th Hour”, revolving around a high schooler whose days have an extra hour he uses to aid those around him. I’m also writing a time travel novel that is taking much longer than I had anticipated, due to the research involved.

LINKS:
http://keithbdarrell.blogspot.com/
www.KeithBDarrell.com
TalesForSale.com