Tag: Q&A Page 1 of 19

Literary Locals logo
This past weekend, the Nampa Public Library hosted The 3rd Annual Treasure Valley Book Fair and, as is my habit, I wanted to take a minute or two to talk about it.

Like last year, everyone was given a Passport with the names of every author present. If you got a stamp from every author, you got a free book from…I don’t know where they got this selection—but it was a pretty good one. I got a hardcover of Terry Pratchett’s Dodger, which looks fun. The downside to this is that there were several people that just came by, got a stamp, and moved on. My daughter and I had a conversation of a decent length with all of them—and were interrupted more than once by someone just wanting that. It’s kind of a shame because you could tell that too many people were just out for that (we actually had to be reminded more than once by an author to get a stamp—we’d just get distracted by whatever we were talking about). We had some great conversations—too many. Once again, we spent about 4 hours at an event we’d planned on attending for 90 minutes. We both would’ve gladly talked to many of these authors for longer than we did.

We didn’t see nearly as many returning authors as we’d hoped (Amy Maren Rice‘s absence made us briefly rethink attending). However, there were many that we got to meet for the first time. I’ve already talked to some about showing up here—and will be reaching out to as many of the others as I can in the next few days.

All in all, it was a great event with a large range of genres, target audiences, and authors represented (which was pretty encouraging) and one I hope is repeated again and again.

Now, I can’t be expected to show up to an event like that and walk away empty-handed, can I? I did restrain myself this time (the budget was very restrained this year—I bought less than half of what I wanted too) I do have a shopping list of some of the leftovers.
NPL Indie Fair Book Haul
(behold yet more evidence of why I don’t do bookstagram).

I, again, really enjoyed getting to talk to all of the authors there. Here are the social media (and/or way to order the books for) everyone that I could find. Do yourself a favor and check these authors out!

bullet Ashley DeLeon—a writer of spooky and humorous tales, I think my daughter and I could’ve stopped and talked to her for quite a while
bullet Bonnie Schroeder—her “novels feature complex female characters who must navigate challenging and even extraordinary circumstances to discover strength and wisdom they never knew they had.”
bullet Vannotes—writer of graphic novels, who was super-friendly
bullet Charles L. Hay—his novel focuses on survival, nature, and faith (I really wish we could’ve talked more)
bullet Cindi Hartley—her book talks about her struggles, and how she gets through them, with guidance for others (if this book is half as bright and optimistic as she seemed, it’ll be great)
bullet Daniel J. Breen—author of a cute children’s book about a well-loved dog
bullet Danielle Harrington—Fantasy and YA Fantasy novelist
bullet Elliott Linker—a young graphic novelist, back for his third time at this festival
bullet Ellis L. Knox—a local Fantasy novelist with a healthy backlist and a new mystery series in that fantasy world that looks promising
bullet Felicity Watt Wilson—author of a charming children’s book with art you have to see
bullet Gail Cushman/Helene Mitchell—As Gail Cushman she writes rom-coms for the senior set, and as Helene Mitchell she writes mysteries set in a (fictional) small-town Idaho
bullet Glen Gabel—his doorstop of a fantasy novel looks to be fun. Glen took time out of talking about his stuff to tell me about a Western that he’d recently become a fan of. A non-Western reader talking to another about one instead of plugging his own book. It’s exactly the kind of conversation I love falling into
bullet Katherine Ecrivain Joy—writer of faith-filled books for children
bullet James T. Lambert—one of my favorite local writers—SF and Steampunk—with one of the best beards in the valley
bullet Charles Sage—His thrillers look like they could be uncomfortably realistic (just from the setting). Came all the way from the panhandle.
bullet J.S. Anderson—writers of thrillers with a supernatural edge
bullet J.C. Jackson—I’ve probably been reading Jackson longer than any other local writer, always great to see her.
bullet JoEllen Claypool—Claypool writes for children, adults, and writers of all ages. And probably a few other audiences as well
bullet Julie Howard—writer of a series of domestic suspense novels
bullet K.J. Backer—writes books for younger readers who love animals and fantasy novels for adults that feature unicorns who know what to do with that horn. She’s new to the area and I hope I run into her at future events.
bullet Kelsey Elwood—the author of a memoir full of life-coaching lessons
bullet Ken Pollard—a musician-turned-travel writer. He had a violin/fiddle with him to decorate his table. We only realized later that we could’ve asked him to play for us (what we could hear from a distance sounded good)
bullet Laura Jenski—writer of cozy-ish mysteries
bullet Lori Josifek—writer of bird-centric children’s books
bullet Margaret Koger—a very nice poet
bullet Mary Vine—writer of “Romance With Humor, Suspense and Inspiration” and “Language-based Children’s Books that Educate, Inspire and give Hope”
bullet Melaney Taylor Auxier—Writer of Adult Fiction, Middle-Grade and Children’s books. Also a generous fellow dog-lover.
bullet Mel Parrish—A YA Fantasy writer from the Eastern part of the state
bullet Nathan Keys—Epic Fantasy writer. Our conversation led me to realize I didn’t post a Q&A we did last year. Oops.
bullet Nicole Sharp—her website describes her as a “writer of love, coffee, Italy, and fearless women.” I think she’s added “with a touch of spice” to her signage. Conversing with her was just as pleasant this year as last year—she’s the kind of person you’d love to get coffee with.
bullet Rachelle Nelson—writer of YA Fantasy
bullet Rebecca Evans: another brave soul trying to sell poetry
bullet Robin Chadwick Rundle—writer of Historical Romances
bullet Samual Smith, aka Joe Idaho—writer of “action and adventure, political commentary and satire, contemporary or historical fiction, modern or weird westerns.” Anyone who titles a book Teddy Roosevelt’s Goblin: A Bigfoot Story has got to be fun to chat with (and he was!).
bullet Sara Knightly—writer of Fantasy, who had one of the best-decorated tables.
bullet Sarah Hill—writer of Romance, who (with good humor) remembered that I told her last year that I probably would never read her books.
bullet Sherry Briscoe writes : writer of “suspense mysteries with a flavor of the paranormal”
bullet Troy Lambert—a writer of thrillers, and a couple of other things. He’s been distracted from getting to sequels that I’m waiting for by things that pay better (and that sound pretty cool, truth be told)
bullet Wendy Ann Mattox—a writer of Christian children’s books. She seems so full of energy, I expect her to put out 5 more books this year. At least.

Literary Locals logo

HC Chats with Michael Michel about The Price of Power and some other stuff

By HCNewton

On April 4, 2025

In HC Chats, Miscellany, News/Misc.

HC sat down with gritty Fantasy author extraordinaire Michael Michel (https://michaelmichelauthor.com/) to talk about his book The Price of Power (released 4/2/25!) his other books, influences, and things of that nature. HC also works in an error-filled description of Thespis–a mischievous ghost (apologies to Jeremy Goodwin).

Some of the books we mentioned were:
Michael’s books:
The Price of Power
A Graveyard for Heroes
War Song
Way of the Wizard

Other books we mentioned/discussed:
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie (Book 2 of The Age of Madness)
The Steel Remains(Author) by Richard K Morgan (Book 1 of A Land Fit for Heroes)
Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty (I’m pretty sure about this one, my handwriting got hard to read, and if I’m wrong, it looks like something we should’ve talked about)

For the two of you who might be curious, what I should’ve said about Thespis:

Jeremy:…in 534 B.C. that Thespis stepped out onto the stage of the Theater Dionysis during a choral song and dance and became the first man to speak words as an actor in a play.
…
Dana: Thespis?
Jeremy: The first actor. Now a mischievous ghost. He likes to wreak havoc on performances of any kind.

HC Chats with Paul Regnier about Monster Therapist and the Warlock’s Citadel and some other stuff

By HCNewton

On March 26, 2025

In HC Chats, Literary Locals, Miscellany, News/Misc.

HC sat down with literary local Paul Regnier (https://www.pauljregnier.com/) to talk about his books, influences, and things of that nature.

Some of the books we mentioned were:
Paul’s books/writing:
Space Drifters trilogy
Luke and Bandit cozy mysteries
Bard Tidings
Monster Therapist and the Warlock’s Citadel
Almost the Chosen One Substack by Paul Regnier

Other books we mentioned/discussed:
The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks
Magic Kingdom for Sale–Sold! by Terry Brooks
MythAdventures by Robert Asprin series
Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke
Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix
The Unraveling of Emlyn DuLaine by Lindsay A. Franklin
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

Literary Locals logo

HC Chats with M.D. Presley about Laurel K. Hamilton

By HCNewton

On March 18, 2025

In HC Chats, JCM Berne, Miscellany, News/Misc., The Hybrid Helix

Last year, you’ll have seen the name M.D. Presley here a few times–thanks to the first two books in his Inner Circle UF series. We had a fun chat last week that I bring to you today. Matt introduced me to the work of Laurel K. Hamilton and her influence on the genre.

Of course, better than that, would be checking out her site and work for yourself. But you might as well start with this chat.

M.D. Presley Links:

Website ~ Bluesky ~ Facebook ~ Rites of Passage (Inner Circle book 1) ~ Worldbuilding Nonfiction

Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

A Few Quick Questions With…Kate Ashwin

By HCNewton

On March 3, 2025

In A Few Quick Questions With...

Earlier today, I posted my thoughts about Ashwin’s Hit the Ground Running, and now I get the fun of presenting this Q&A with the author Kate Ashwin.

Why don’t you take a moment to introduce yourself to the readers, and tell us about your comics, before hitting us with an elevator pitch for Hit The Ground Running?
Heya! I’m Kate Ashwin, and I’ve been getting away with putting stories on the internet for over twenty years now. Comics-wise, I’ve worked for UK kids’ comics such as The Phoenix and The Dandy, and my (award winning!?) Victorian-era wizardy adventure webcomic Widdershins is entirely free to read online at https://www.widdershinscomic.com/ !

Having worked on a bunch of goofy caper comics, I fancied trying my hand at writing a goofy caper novel, and that’s where Hit The Ground Running comes in! It’s an offbeat cyberpunk heist novel about robbing a megacorp’s Christmas party, and it reads kinda like Leverage, but gayer and with more cyberarms.

I can’t/won’t be the first to ask you about the difference between what you’ve been doing for years and novel-writing. Nor the last. So while apologizing for that, I have to. What was the hardest part about the switch and was that what you expected it to be? Is there a different kind of internal reward to it? (if there’s anything else about the differences/similarities you want to ramble about, go for it.)
Hey, it’s a good question! The biggest thing I kept getting tripped up on was dialogue length, oddly enough. When you’re working with comics, you really have to consider how many words fit in a speech bubble and how many bubbles you can fit onto a page. There’s a real economy of space going on to prevent clutter, so I was finding myself automatically “clipping” dialogue to fit non-existent spaces. Didn’t see that one coming! It’s also difficult to adjust your sense of comic timing to no longer include the visual, a lot of the anatomy of how I traditionally crack a joke is in the break between panels, or the facial expressions of the character, so to switch to using turn of phrase for that instead required some thought.

One of the most rewarding parts was the one I was expecting and hoping for–it’s nice to be able to get into a character’s internal narration a lot more, y’know? When you’re drawing out a scene, unless you’re doing something high-concept, a setting will look the same to the character as to the reader since you have to convey a readable sense of space. But when you’re writing it from a character’s perspective, you really get to play around with what they’re noticing in particular, any internal judgments they may be making, and such. This also applies to how they see other characters, too. Happy to report that it’s exactly as fun as I was hoping!

I could probably talk for days on this question in particular, but I’ll save that rambling for another day.

What was it about this idea—out of all of the dozens likely flitting about your mind—that made you say, “yup, this is what I’m going to spend years(?) and thousands of words on.”
Might be kind of a simplistic answer, but I just love heists. I could write heists for years and never get tired of ’em. There’s something in watching a plan come together (or fall apart) that really tickles my brain nicely.

What came first—these characters (or at least a couple of them) or the world/story?
Renji in particular has been kicking about in my head for quite a while now. I love an impulsive rebel, I love a fast-talker, I love someone who notices something is wrong with the world and sets out to do their bit to change it, and that’s all him! A guy who is going to have to shake off a lot of bad habits, but is sure as hell willing to try.

Hanging the series on a heist crew means you already have roles that need filled–the hacker, the bruiser, the stealth expert- so it’s all about building it out from there. Creating an idea for a character, then layering up little quirks and foibles like a love of plants or zines or french press coffee is one of my favourite things to do. I got to write a scene where everyone’s having tea while planning their heist, and deciding what each of their orders would be is how I get my kicks, it turns out.

The setting came kinda naturally–a cyberpunk version of the UK felt like a fairly obvious leap to make, since that’s pretty much just a step or two away from where I live anyway, and while the ol’ “vertical city as class signifier” deal is not uncommon, it’s still a fun one to play with, and there’s just a hell of a lot to say on that front, unfortunately.

This is the point where I like to ask about a supporting character or two that caught my attention. But I can’t pick just one. Truly. So, if you’re in the mood, you pick one that you want to talk about to highlight for a paragraph or two.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t pick Cadence, really. She and her sister Melody are, through circumstances they don’t wish to explain yet, stuck sharing the same body, and neither of them are having a good time with this arrangement. While Melody is the laid-back type, a hacker with a love of 90s pop and garish clothing, her sister Cadence is a furious mess of energy and punches. Her scenes were fun as I do love to write a good punch-up, and her two cyberarms were a fun addition to the usual brawl, but mostly I enjoyed writing her and Renji sniping at each other. Renji has come from a far more privileged background than Cadence, so she very much views him as some rich boy playing at rebel, fully expecting him to cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Renji doesn’t quite grasp the intricacies of this beyond “the mean lady is yelling at me” which leads to some of that good conflict where both sides have a point, which is always the best kind of conflict.

The core of Cadence is her big tangled ball of feelings- she isn’t some cold combat machine, she’s a conflicted mess in this situation where she isn’t even in control of her own body half of the time, stuck with strong desire for vengeance with nowhere to park it because her enemy is an entire city, and she can’t even talk it out with her sister since they physically can’t inhabit the same room.

It’s no wonder she punches so many people.

In lieu of asking questions about a character, I want to talk about two non-characters a. At what point did you start thinking that Renji carting around a potted plant with him everywhere was a good idea (it was, btw)? Is there, in your mind, a point to it?
Oh man, the plant ended up as more of a running theme than I’d intended. While he wouldn’t admit it, Renji steals the thing from the airship because he’s burdened with an inconvenient amount of empathy, and sometimes that peeks out in unexpected ways. He steals it from the airship, where it ought to be doing well enough in the care of the company, and totes it down to the dark lower levels of the city, where it ends up thriving and cared for in a place where society does not expect things to be able to grow. So, yeah, I never met a phor I didn’t like..!

The plant actually nearly made it onto the cover–one of Ben’s sketches included it, but I decided not to go with that one as it made Renji look like he knew a single goddamn thing about plant care.

The sword—primarily the one Renji carries with him, but beyond that, the culture around these people carrying them. It seems so out-of-place, yet so fitting. Where’d that come from?
Searching for a better answer than “Swords Are Cool”, searching…

Ah, there we go, found one. I had the upper class of this setting carry swords and enact duels because it’s such a ridiculous bit of history that seems to happen whenever there are people with too much cash and not enough to do. There used to be something of a trend for “dueling scars”, to the point where people would even have them added intentionally to their own faces, and that’s just an intoxicating bit of nonsense, isn’t it? It felt kinda right to have that included, but based more around cyber arms, implants, etc. It also leaves a little more room for close combat than an excess of guns might, and simply feels like a more natural fit for a city-state that’s physically attached to the UK.

As for the sword Renji had in this book, it mostly just tickled me to have him steal the thing despite having little to no idea how to use it. Will he get better at swordfighting? I’m led to understand that it takes years of diligent practice, so the odds… are not great.

What’s next for Kate Ashwin, author? Does that depend on the reaction to Hit The Ground Running or are you already neck deep in your next project or five?
The reaction’s been good, but a little quiet- part of that is my insistence on writing for a very quiet genre, though, so that’s on me, but getting an independent book in front of people is even harder than getting an independent comic in front of them, it turns out!

All the same, I have another book or two planned out for this series, and would very much like the encouragement to get stuck in on those. The second one will be from Melody and Cadence’s point of view, and would include corporate espionage, cyborg assassin romance, and infiltrating a robot wars tournament, so obviously I very much do want to write it..!

Otherwise, I’ve been picking at a standalone spy vs spy romance novel; and my webcomic Widdershins is going to be wrapping up in the next year or two with its eleventh and final book, so that is going to be a hell of a feeling. Which feeling in particular, I am not sure, but it will very much be felt.

Thanks for your time and participation! I hope Hit The Ground Running finds its audience—I had a lot of fun with it!
Thank you! So did I!

A Few Quick Questions

A Few Quick Questions With…Ed Duncan

By HCNewton

On January 27, 2025

In A Few Quick Questions With...

Earlier this morning, I gave my take on Ed Duncan’s Pigeon-Blood Red (and it occurs to me that I didn’t explain that interesting title choice–one more reason for you to listen to/read it). Now I get to share a quick Q&A that Duncan was kind enough to make time for. I hope you enjoy this as I did!

Why don’t you introduce yourself to my audience, and talk about what led to you writing thrillers—has this been a plan for a while, and post-retirement you had time for it? Or is this a later-in-life choice?
I have enjoyed writing since English composition days in high school. I always planned to write a novel when I got the chance, but I never found time until after a career of practicing law. Along the way, in 2008 I wrote a legal treatise entitled Ohio Insurance Coverage, which I updated annually through 2012, the year I retired.

I read The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett as an adult and was so taken by it that I decided that crime fiction would be my genre. Indeed, I still find inspiration in Hammett’s masterful dialogue, much of which is reproduced almost word for word in the last movie version of the novel written and directed by John Huston. For example, there is this:

Spade to Wunderle:

I’m going to send you over. The chances are you’ll get off with life. That means you’ll be out again in twenty years. You’re an angel. I’ll wait for you…. If they hang you I’ll always remember you.

Later he tells her:

Don’t be silly. You’re taking the fall. One of us has got to take it …. They’d hang me sure. You’re likely to get a better break….

Still later Spade says to her:

I don’t care who loves who. I’m not going to play the sap for you. I won’t walk in Thursby’s and Christ knows who else’s footsteps. You killed Miles and you’re going over for it.

For you –at least when it came to Pigeon-Blood Red – what came first? Rico, or one of the other characters, and you had to come up with a story to put them into; or was it a story that you needed to populate?
You have hit upon something here because the two alternatives you present are closely related. Because the two main characters in this story come from such different worlds, and yet would be interacting together, before I could begin to write, I had to imagine a plot line in which they could believably exist and interact together. In other words, I had to come up with a story that brought a lawyer from a big corporate law firm together with a hit man for more than a fleeting instant. And, because I’ve written a trilogy, I had to do it three times! I think I mostly succeeded but not with everyone. For instance, despite giving me an overall positive review, a recent reviewer called the storyline in Pigeon-Blood Red “absurd.” The foregoing notwithstanding, I already knew who Rico and Paul were, which is to say, what kind of man each was and what each would find that was positive about the other’s character, however reluctantly. I just needed interesting supporting characters and an intriguing crime to bring them and everyone else together.

There are a lot of balls in the air at once here – how do you approach something like this – did you write a character/group of character’s arc at a time and then layered them together? And was getting all the ducks to line up in a row just right enough to make you think of writing a sequel to Ohio Insurance Coverage instead?
First, there was never a possibility that I would write a sequel to Ohio Insurance Coverage. That legal treatise and its annual supplements was a project that I happily bequeathed to another lawyer in my old law firm after I retired in 2012. You are correct, however, that for such a slender novel, there are a lot of balls in the air. Writing it chronologically helped me to keep each of those balls in the air. However, I did write chapter one out of order both so that I could start the novel with a bang, so to speak, and so that I could introduce the reader to two warring sides to Rico’s complex personality: his inability to recognize his cruelty toward his own girlfriend when he believes it is required by “business” and the pleasure he gets out of turning the tables on a husband who is bullying his wife.

There were some great characters in here—and most of them weren’t who I expected to find when I started the book. What was the bigger challenge—getting these people to live and breathe in a way that was satisfying to you (and the reader) or getting the action/plot just right?
Again, both challenges were related and almost equally formidable. I needed to construct a story that was dramatic and exciting and yet believable. While in general that is the challenge of almost any writer of fiction, and in particular it is the challenge of any writer of crime novels, the task is made more difficult if the story is implausible. So, while it was a close call, getting the action/plot right was more of a challenge.

What lessons were you able to take from finishing Pigeon-Blood Red to make The Last Straw easier—or was it such a different animal that you were back to Square One?
There is a famous writer’s quote that is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway but whose author is probably unknown. I learned how true the quote was when I wrote Pigeon-Blood Red and it was no less true when I wrote the other novels in my trilogy. Thus, it is the lesson I was able to take from finishing each novel. Unfortunately, it did not make writing either the second or the third novel easier. Here is the quote: “Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper and open a vein.”

Who are some of your major influences? (whether or not you think those influences can be seen in your work — you know they’re there)
I think Dashiell Hammett and Lee Child are my major influences. Others include Walter Mosley and Frederick Forsythe.

Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader?
Duke Ellington once said, “There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music.”* I feel the same way about writing. Therefore, I enjoy reading in every genre, but I particularly enjoy histories of the Civil War and its Generals, histories of World War II, biographies, and literary fiction. I may take a crack at literary fiction one day, but I could never write in any of the other genres.

* I thought it was Country and Western. Guess you learn something every day.

What’s next for Ed Duncan, author?
I would like to write a fourth installment in the adventures of Rico and Paul and Jean and Evelyn. Then I would like to write that literary novel. I hope I get to both.

Thanks for your time and participation–and for this entertaining listen!
Thanks for your interest. You posed some intriguing questions.

A Few Quick Questions

A Few More Quick Questions With…Steven Max Russo

By HCNewton

On October 21, 2024

In A Few Quick Questions With...

This morning I brought you my (overdue) take on Steven Max Russo’s third novel, The Debt Collector, and now I’m very pleased to bring you a few questions about the book with the author.

Last time we talked, you stressed how you were a pantser and many things about the books I asked about just came about as you were writing. But I have to wonder—that striking visual that opens The Debt Collector—did you sit down with that in mind, or did it come up later and put it in during revisions?
That’s a very perceptive question. With my first two novels, Thieves and The Dead Don’t Sleep, the prologues were both written after the novels were pretty much completed. I wanted something vivid and dramatic at the very beginning to draw the reader in. But that wasn’t the case with The Debt Collector.

When I was in college, I was driving through town when I witnessed a young man walk nonchalantly out of liquor store wearing nothing but his underpants – tighty-whities as I recall. It was early afternoon on a warm and sunny spring day. He was carrying what appeared to be a bottle of vodka in one hand and his wallet in the other. It wasn’t a robbery or anything nefarious. No alarms or people screaming or any commotion whatsoever, just a young guy in his underpants walking out of a store in the middle of the day. When I began writing what turned into the The Debt Collector, I just started typing one evening and that memory from my youth of the young guy in his underpants walking out of the store popped into my head and I built the story from there.
Great story…

Along the same lines—with this book, did you have a vague idea for the plot, or did you start with Abigail and/or Hector and create a story for them?
I had no idea of a plot or any characters beyond the opening scene with Abigail and Hector. The story simply emerged as I began writing. When I write, I often feel like I’m just following my characters around in a parallel universe or watching them in something like an old-time newsreel that runs in my head and I simply write what I see and hear. I often feel more like a reporter than a fiction author. I know that sounds strange, but that’s how it feels.

Do you see some sort of line between your protagonists? Are their common traits? Is there some sort of progression between Skooley/Esmeralda, Frank/Bill, and Abigail/Hector?
I’m not really sure how to answer this. I strive to make all of my characters relatable and believable. Their environments and their history and their circumstances are different than those of most people and that obviously affects their world view, but once you learn a little about the individuals, you can at least recognize if not understand their motivations from their unique perspectives. And I guess there are some common traits in my characters, but heck, you can say that about most people. As for any progression of the pairings mentioned in your question, I don’t really see any. Each relationship between the characters is different – Skooley and Esmeralda start as reluctant partners and then evolve into lethal adversaries; Frank and Bill have a warm, familial relationship as uncle and nephew that gets somewhat tested under stress; and Abigail and Hector are basically strangers who develop a friendship and bond under unique circumstances.

Going back to the pantser idea, there are so many little clues, little tidbits tying elements of this novel together—things you may gloss over early on that come back in a satisfying way.
A big part of writing is reading what you wrote – and then re-writing, re-reading, and re-writing over and over (and over) again. Once the main story is established and I have an idea for what I think will make for a satisfying ending, then I go back, re-read (again), and drop in those little clues and tidbits where I think they work best to lead the reader along, help raise the stakes, and/or tie things together.

There are a few characters I’d like to ask you about, but I can’t think of a way to do so without spoiling something (next time—first time?—you’re in Idaho, I’ll buy you a drink and ask), so I’ll let you decide who to talk about? Is there a supporting/minor character that surprised you as you wrote this, that you ended up enjoying more than you expected? Maybe someone that you expected would be around for a scene or two to move the story along and then ended up being a major player?
I think the character in The Debt Collector that surprised me the most was Gino, the mobster who befriends Abby. He’s tough, fearless, smarter than he gives himself credit for, can be empathetic yet follows orders much like a soldier doing what he is ordered to do regardless of his own feelings about what he is doing. Gino is someone who I think could have been successful (and happier) in any number of careers outside of crime, yet probably fell into the life early on and feels trapped in it. He is not college-educated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he secretly read deeply about issues or topics that he found interesting. He is better than his circumstances and I believe somewhat troubled by his job, but doesn’t feel deep down that he deserves better. I get the feeling that he is neat and tidy, likes literature and art and philosophy and cooking yet can’t really share those interests with others in his circle. He likes and admires Abagail, yet wouldn’t hesitate to take her out if he were ordered to by his boss. I didn’t plan on Gino emerging as a major character until I wrote that scene of he and Albert meeting Abby for the first time in the motel parking lot. I really liked the interaction between the two characters. After that, he just sort or wormed his way into my brain and he kept coming up in the story. He’s the type of character I love; definitely a “bad” guy, but there are also things about him that make him both honorable and endearing in an odd sort of way.

There’s a game we play around here, called “Online Bookstore Algorithm”. What are 3-5 books whose readers may like The Debt Collector?
I’m not very good at picking books for Online Bookstore Algorithm – so I’d rather pick authors. I think if you enjoy the writing styles and books of authors like Elmore Leonard, John Sandford, S.A. Cosby, Lou Berney, and Jordan Harper, then you may like my writing.
I’d co-sign Leonard, Cosby, and Harper. I’ll have to check out the others.

In our last interview, you said you had two other novels underway at that point. Are those finished, or have you moved on to something else? Do you know when we should expect something—and what’s it going to look like?
I am actually working on several new novels (one is a sequel to The Debt Collector) and I’ve written a few short stories. At some point I’d like to put together a collection of my short fiction, but the truth is I don’t have a solid timeline on any of those projects.
Oooh, a sequel? Sign me up!!

well, sign me up for any of those, but really the sequel.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for this read, I enjoyed it and hope you have plenty of success with it!

A Few Quick Questions

HC Chats with Adrian M. Gibson about Jeff VanderMeer

By HCNewton

On September 25, 2024

In HC Chats, JCM Berne, Miscellany, News/Misc., The Hybrid Helix

If you’ve been on Bookish Social Medial at all in the 6+ months, I’m willing to bet you’ve seen the name Adrian Gibson or at least the cover of Mushroom Blues. You may also know him from the podcast he hosts with M.J. Kuhn, SFF Addicts. Last week, Adrian was gracious enough to struggle with StreamYard (and it was in a mood) in order that we could sit down and talk about Jeff VanderMeer–an author that I’ve been intimidated to pick up and try, but who has been instrumental in Gibson’s career. I walked away excited to try VanderMeer, and I had a good time in general. I hope you watch this and walk away thinking the same.

As I said, StreamYard wasn’t happy, so the video freezes a couple of times on both of us, but the audio is fine.

Adrian M. Gibson Links:

Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Website ~ Newsletter ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

A Few Quick Questions About RinthCon 2024 with Armanis Ar-feinial, Marilyn Peake, and T. Olsen

By HCNewton

On August 20, 2024

In A Few Quick Questions With...

RinthCon 2024 is this weekend (or is it in 300 years and we get to learn about it this weekend?), and to follow up from the video chat I had with John Simons about it, I got the chance to chat with a few of the authors involved, Armanis Ar-feinial, Marilyn Peake, and T. Olsen. I admit that I got distracted by life, the universe, and everything, and dropped the ball. I’d planned on a few more questions, but that just never happened. I really appreciate Olsen, Peake, and Ar-feinial showing up to play as much as they did.

Would you all start off by introducing yourselves in 1-2 sentences to my readers? Be sure to mention a book title you’d like to feature, and a link to a website/social media, so we can follow up.
Armanis Ar-feinial (AA): You know, when I picked my penname, I never thought I would have to clarify that my initials do not stand for Alcoholics Anonymous, but my name is Armanis Ar-feinial. If you’d like you can call me Armin, or by my moniker, The Sarcastic Elf, all of which works. I write mostly fantasy, and for this year’s SPFBOX competition I submitted my short Novel The Plagued Elf, which basically infuses a pandemic in a Middlea-Earth-like setting.

Sarstic elf’s epic website
Twitter

Marilyn Peake (MP): I’ve been writing for a long time and published my first novel twenty years ago. I write in a variety of Science Fiction and Fantasy sub-genres. My latest novel is a combination of both. It’s my Science Fantasy novel, They Left Magic in Their Wake, which I entered in this year’s SPFBOX.

Marilyn Peake’s website: http://www.marilynpeake.com
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MarilynPeakeAuthor
Newsletter Sign-Up: https://www.marilynpeake.com/newsletter
Purchase They Left Magic in Their Wake: https://books2read.com/u/mdYoY5

T. Olsen (TO): I’m an author in the Midwestern US, where I work in the engineering industry. My current passions are TTRPGs (two sessions a week if they happen on schedule), turning our house into a cottagecore/witchy/medieval oasis, and wrangling our 5 dogs and 2 cats. My published book is Shadows of Old Town, which is an adult fantasy, and I have an urban fantasy and a sci-fi book going through final edits. My characters tend to be morally gray or antiheroes.

T. Olsen’s Linktree: https://linktr.ee/tamiolsen

In your words, what exactly is RinthCon?
AA: Okay, Carmielle willing there is no other authors here with AA as an initial or I have some serious explaining to do with my therapist. I mean characters. Now this is my first entry into Rinthcon, so I’ll do my darndest hardest to explain how this works. It doesn’t. Without a “Dripping Bucket” which I’m proud to say my book has one of those. To really simplify it, it’s a portal fantasy that brings characters from different worlds into Rinthcon, which takes place in a fictional world, or so John says: we all know it’s his backyard. And every year, he holds this convention in space with multiple things to do, places to go, and seems subterranean. Seriously, for a self pub guy like John, I have no idea how he funds this convention every year! He must be richer than Bezos.

MP: That’s funny, Armanis, about RinthCon actually being held in John’s backyard! What a backyard that would be!

I’ll try explaining RinthCon the way I understand it. Rinth is from John Simons’ novel, Explorers of Rinth. Rinth is a fictional asteroid near Saturn. A corporation once dug tunnels through it, setting up secret labs to conduct research that wouldn’t be allowed on Earth. One of their projects involved trying to build bridges to the multiverse. When it seemed like this hadn’t worked, they left the asteroid. However, the experiment just needed time. It worked after they left! Now, a wild and crazy Sci-Fi convention, RinthCon, is held on Rinth every year with attendees arriving from all over the multiverse. I hope I explained this accurately.

TO: I think that about sums it up. In general, it’s a sci-fi version of a sci-fi convention that ends up becoming a huge crossover story. I feel like the best part is that some of the OG characters are desperately trying to keep the chaos from happening, and some of them are totally on board with it, and even facilitating it!

Who participated in last year’s Con? How did it differ from other virtual cons you’ve done?
AA: So I don’t actually know who participated in last years con, so I can’t really answer that. I plead the fifth your honor.

MP: I didn’t know about RinthCon last year. I wish I had. Writing stories for this year’s con has been a lot of fun! Hmm…On the other hand, perhaps I did attend last year, but in another timeline in the multiverse. [if you happen to find a way into that timeline, I have some questions…]

TO: I also didn’t catch last year’s con. My book wasn’t out of the editing closet yet, so there was nobody to be sucked into an alternate reality. I did read the anthology though! I think the cool thing about Rinthcon is that the reader gets to experience the convention from the perspectives of so many different lenses. It’s chaotic, just like a real convention, and the reader gets plopped into little situations that allow them to see the event from the inside.

Okay, so we have no vets here. How did you all get involved this year? What in particular (assuming you remember) about the idea drew you in?
TO: I heard about it through the discord group for SPFBO. John talked about it and asked for volunteers to participate, and I’ve always loved making up little stories, so I figured why not? Besides, this way I’m the first person to write fanfiction for my own novel!

AA: Basically, I expressed some marginal interest when I found out about it in discord. Apparently all the juice secrets are there.

Without ruining anything (obviously), can any of you supply a sneak preview or two of what readers/attendees could expect to see?
AA: let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll?

TO: Well, on my end, Gray will be doing what Gray does best… lying, cheating, stealing, and running from responsibility! Only with even more tentacles.

That’s RinthCon, RinthCon, RinthCon this weekend! (if you can read that in the voice of a radio announcer talking about a Monster Truck Jam or something, that’d help) Be sure to check it out!!

A Few Quick Questions

LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About Writing in Idaho with R.M. Scott

By HCNewton

On August 6, 2024

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Literary Locals

Literary Locals logo
I met and had a nice chat with R.M. Scott this spring, and now I’m very happy to bring you this quick chat about her writing.

Before we get into things, why don’t you give the reader a brief introduction to you and your work.
Hi Wonderful Readers!

I am R.M. Scott, a young adult and children’s author.

My first traditionally published novel is Unseen.

It is a captivating tale of sixteen-year-old Alaia, a gifted healer. She can cure her father from a lung disease given enough time, but instead she must disappear, because the Inquisitor has accused her of practicing magic.

She flees with Mateo, the Inquisitor’s nephew, in a forbidden romance, but the young healer must learn to use her herbal knowledge to fight back to save those she loves. Even those she’d believed were already lost.

It is influenced by Basque culture and the European witch hunts of the 17^th century, but it is a sweet and adventurous, young adult read.

www.rmscottauthor.com
Amazon.com: Unseen: 9781942856825: Scott, R M: Books
Unseen – Kindle edition by Scott, R. M. . Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
Unseen by R. M. Scott – Audiobook – Audible.com
Unseen (Paperback) | The Rediscovered Bookshop (rdbooks.org)
www.instagram.com/rmscottauthor
www.facebook.com/rmscottauthor
www.twitter.com/rmscott99

Are you a native Idahoan? What brought you to Idaho in the first place? (answer whichever question applies) What is it about Idaho that keeps you here?
I was born in Idaho Falls on the coldest night of the year. There were power outages, snow, and storms. All the heat in the maternity ward was routed to the babies to keep them alive, and I was one of them. So yes, I am a native Idahoan. I’ve traveled to Europe, Asia, Central America, and all over the U.S., but the Northwest is more than where I am, it’s simply who I am. Home. A connection of life and being.

Are you tied into some sort of local author/bookish group/culture? If so, tell us about it and how it helps you as an author. If you’re not, is there a reason for it?
I joined SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) after meeting a local author at Hastings. It has been huge for me. I met other authors that helped mentor me in critique groups. I grew in my skill and craft. I took courses and attended conferences, still do.

What kind of events in the area do you attend—either to sell/promote your books or to network with authors? Are there any outside of this area that you hit regularly and wish we had something like it here?
I like to attend the Idaho Writer’s Guild conference held annually in Boise. There are usually agents to pitch work to and classes on craft. SCBWI also has great conferences, with a focus on writing for children. It has conferences occasionally in Idaho, and annually or semi-annually in Utah, Seattle, Portland, and other areas.

Utah also has a couple amazing conferences that I’ve attended – LTUE (a must if you’re a Brandon Sanderson fan) and the Storymakers Conference. The Storymakers Conference has an annual competition called the Whitney Awards. I was honored to be a finalist in 2022 where I got to meet Brandon Sanderson in person. And yes, I am a fan.

What’s the breakdown of your audience—do you have a strong local base, or are your readers from other parts of the world?
My audience is wide-ranging in age groups and geographical areas. For example, readers of my book have ranged from 11 to 90-years-old. My book is at different libraries across the U.S. I’ve had readers in the U.K. as well.

Do you think there are particular challenges or advantages to being a writer in the Treasure Valley? (possibly both)
When you attend large conferences, you realize how much a “small fry” you are. There are definite advantages to big areas with big names and big conferences. However, sometimes I see being from a smaller venue as an advantage because you’re not as easily discouraged by how intense the competition can be. You’re more likely to try simply because you’re a little unaware of it.

Do you bring Idaho (or some sort of Idaho-sensibility, assuming one exists) to your work? Whether or not anyone else sees it, can you look at some aspect of your writing and think “That’s Idaho” or “I would do ____ differently if I was a Kentuckian or from Illinois?”
I think writing is an expression of the soul. It’s hard to divide it into who you are and the story. It’s intertwined. Sometimes I can tell where an author is from quite easily from the choice of words, perspective, and storytelling. All our experiences shape our viewpoints, and I’m no different. I do believe kindness and helping others is part of being Idahoan and that is always going to be an undertone in my writing.

One final question, is there a book (or two…or 18, if you get really carried away), that embodies Idaho/the Idaho spirit to you to recommend to my readers?
For those who have grown up hearing about their pioneer ancestors, I enjoyed Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson. It’s a young adult novel with a magical twist influenced by covered wagons, walking the Oregon trail, and the gold rush.

Good looking pick!

Thanks for your time and participation! Hope you enjoyed it! Readers, be sure to click on at least one of those links above and check out Scott’s work out!

Literary Locals logo