Between the lines with Erin Lale, Science Fiction/Fantasy Author and Film Maker

I am a universal genius. That is what it says on my business card, anyway.  That is kind of a pun, actually, meaning that I am the person who thought of the Time Yarns shared world universe. Time Yarns is kind of a pun, too. A yarn is a story, and it also refers to string theory.  Time Yarns is the universe in which my new book series Punch is set. 

I live in the Green Valley area of Henderson, Nevada, with my mom, Meta, my Bengal, Beni-Wan Cat-Obi, two drums named Grandmother Elk and Mr. Hairy Goat, a Chevy Silverado named the Warhoop Wagon, and a garden gnome who prefers not to be named.  At various times in my life, in no particular order, I have worked as a farmer, alarm service dispatcher, techsupport floorwalker, and spy (aka mystery shopper). I was was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police in a political campaign while running on a platform that included ending marijuana prohibition, taught Russian at a university, invented technical processes in iDEN and CDMA wireless communications technology and I won the Double Ruby Award from the National Forensic League.

I have conducted religious services, owned and operated The Science Fiction Store in Las Vegas, sang and played drum in a Celtic folk-rock band, founded City Lights Artists’ Co-op in Henderson, danced at powwows and served on the Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Advisory Board. I have competed in martial arts tournaments, became the world’s most prominent contemporary sunprint artist, bred a new variety of creeping phlox flower, and directed the magical realist short art film Rain Dance.

Tell us about the genre of your work. 

The Punch series is science fiction, and beyond that, there are a number of different subgenres that apply.  It is based on a hard science fiction idea, an examination of the consequences of an alien psychiatric drug used on human POWs. It is written as space opera, with lots of internal cliffhangers and really evil villains and plenty of action, but most people who have read it classify it as military science fiction.

Why did you choose this genre?

I love science fiction and fantasy. I am a born fan; if I had been born a boy; my parents were going to name me DeForrest, after DeForrest Kelley, the actor who played Dr. McCoy on Star Trek.  Moreover, science fiction and fantasy are where you can talk about the big issues out of their befuddling real-world contexts. There is a long tradition of that in science fiction and fantasy. For example, there is the dystopian fiction like Yevgenie Zamyatin’s We and the books that followed in its wake, like 1984 and Brave New World, which were warnings about what the future could be like.  

Lots of writers translated their personal issues into science fiction and fantasy to deal with them. No one can read Slaughterhouse-5 and not realize it is about the author’s war experiences.  

There is a huge amount of transposed war experience in Lord of the Rings, too.  If you have ever seen any footage of the Battle of the Somme, where Tolkien fought in the trenches in World War One, there is this vast army rushing through the darkness while flashes of light from bombs go off in the sky, which is an eerie parallel to the orc army fighting under the darkness of the smoke of Mount Doom while flashes of light from the volcano go off above them.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

Universal Genius is also the title of my book of collected short fiction. I also have a book of collected nonfiction, Polymath, and a book of collected art and poetry, Renaissance Woman. Sounds like I must have an ego bigger than a giant swarm of space locusts, doesn’t it? Actually, that is my reaction to people always telling me I have to have just one simple message to get across who I am and what I do.  That is my way of saying, OK, here is a simple message: I do everything! I’m interested in everything (except curling.) Having a lot of disparate interests, skills, and talents is the legacy of how I fit the puzzle pieces of my mind and life together to become whole, as I detailed in my memoir Greater Than the Sum of My Parts: My Triumph Over Dissociative Identity Disorder.  

The Punch series deals with many of the same issues that I dealt with in my nonfiction memoir: recovery from psychological trauma, career and identity, sexuality and gender identity issues, and religious conversion experiences.  I have also published a book about my 2010 campaign for Nevada State Assembly: How to Lose at Politics, Or, Not Bad for a Libertarian. And a cookbook, The Las Vegas Locavore Cookbook, and a guide to saving money, Skinflint Hints. I published all those books this year and the seven book Punch series will also be published this year. My first book was Asatru For Beginners, about the Viking religion. I have also published a vast amount of stuff other than books. I used to write the “Outdoors” column for the sports page of the Sonoma Index-Tribune, for example.

Tell us where we can find your books.

My books are available on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and direct from me on eBay.  Just search for my name; there is no other Erin Lale in the world. My first book, Asatru For Beginners, is available to wholesale customers through Baker & Taylor.

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

Some of them just came to me. But, most of the Nigerian names are named after people I worked with at Sprint-Nextel. That is actually how I came up with the idea of having Earth be ruled in the future by the Nigerian Empire, because they seemed like the up-and-comers of the future, the next India.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

Carla Punch is an amalgam of a lot of my personal issues plus some of my lifelong wish-fulfillment fantasies.  I could not join the military because of disability, and Carla gets to. But she doesn’t get something else I always wanted and could never have, children; instead she gets my issues with that. Like ex-Imperial Marine Carla Punch, I too struggled to recover from PTSD; in her case, she survived a war, in my case, I survived childhood sexual abuse and rape. War veterans and survivors of rape and childhood abuse are the two biggest categories of people diagnosed with PTSD, and although the details of the experiences are very different, there is a lot of similarity in the emotional experience and in the psychological fallout.  When I read Faith of My Fathers, John McCain’s autobiography in which he wrote about his experiences as a POW, on just about every page I was thinking, yeah, that is how I felt. Except that I was six.  Therefore, Carla gets the same problems I had, except she is not only an adult, she’s a sci-fi action hero, and she can deal with her problems by shooting the bad guys.  So, that is a big wish fulfillment thing for me.

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any kind?

Carla’s nemesis is Carla. There is a succession of villains for her to foil, but the real struggle is with herself.  When I was a kid, there was a framed motto on the wall in the martial arts dojo where I grew up: “He who conquers fear conquers himself. He who conquers himself is the greatest of warriors. Never again walk in fear.” In my life, I have struggled to live up to that, and so does Carla.  One of my cognitive tasks in overcoming PTSD was to learn to live in a world full of men.  Carla has to learn to live with aliens.  The expression “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” is a crock; men are from Earth, women are from Earth, and we all have to learn to get past the surface differences and relate as minds and souls, not bodies.  So alien hermaphrodites take the place of men in this story.

What is your favorite thing about your book?

Can’t tell you that; it would give away the ending of Book 6.  You will have to read it and find out!

What is your writing schedule?

I just write when I feel like it. Obviously, as you can tell by the fact that I have published seven books this year besides the seven books in the Punch series, I feel like it a lot.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future? 

Punch isn’t the only story in the Time Yarns universe. There is the three book Magi series, plus two stand-alone novels, plus the Time Yarns movie, plus I am editing two short story anthologies of other authors’ works in the Time Yarns universe that will be published next year, in 2012.  So far the other Time Yarns authors are the poet Gordon Yaswen, whose work I published before in my print magazine Berserkrgangr in the 90s, and a group of distinguished scientists writing hard science fiction: Ian Miller, from New Zealand, inventor of algal bio-fuel; Humberto Sachs, from Brazil, co-designer of the International Space Station; Ralph Ewig, from Europe, a rocket scientist at SpaceX; and Tony Thorne MBE, an Englishman in the Canary Islands, who was awarded a chivalric order by the Queen of England for advances in cryosurgery tools and carbon fiber furnaces.

The anthology covers above go with books Anarachy Time Zone and Cassandra's Time Yarns for which I am still accepting submissions. The submission deadline is the end of this year, and the anthologies will be published next year.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and get published?

Writing and publishing are two different animals.  Once you decide to publish your work, you have to decide if you want to hand over your work to the experts in a traditional publishing company or remain in control of it by self-publishing. If you self-publish it will entail an awful lot of work you will either learn to do things like marketing and graphic design, or paying someone to do it for you.  I didn’t even submit the Punch series anywhere; Carla Punch is too close to my heart to let control of her pass out of my hands. I would be heartbroken if my character got locked up in a contract and then all seven books didn’t come out and she never got to finish her story arc. And I’d be furious if the same thing happened to Punch that happened to my first book, Asatru For Beginners—the publisher to whom I sent it to first was convinced by my marketing presentation of the market for such a book and contracted a big name to write a similar book, which has forever overshadowed mine because theirs got shelf space while I was selling mine as an ebook in the days before there were any such things as eBook readers and online eBook stores.  The time of the eBook has come at last, and I’m not letting Carla Punch pass out of my hands.  But that’s an entirely personal decision, and most writers would probably do well to submit their books to traditional print publishers.

What do you do when you are not writing? 

Shamelessly promote my books all over the internet and hand out my Time Yarns business card to total strangers at the local art house movie theater, The Underground Screening Room, trying to recruit film crew, and build props and dye fabric for costumes for the Time Yarns movie. Who has time to write?



The Weird Sister: 

A production still from the Time Yarns movie, which is currently being filmed and is scheduled to go into post-production next. The Weird Sisters are shown spinning yarn, a mythological reference to the nature of causality and a third level of the Time Yarns pun in which yarn = story and story = string theory.


 I am self-published, I spend all my time on marketing.  Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about the stigma of self-pub because I am also an indie filmmaker, and for some reason the prestige factor goes the other way in the medium of film.

Actually, I also spend of a lot of time gardening, cooking, sewing clothes and quilts, fixing my truck, and stuff like that, but who doesn’t? That’s just life. My only real “hobby,” as in something I do that’s not related to either making money or saving money with do-it-yourselfing, is swimming.  Come to think of it, that’s related to trying to save money on healthcare by trying to lose weight.  Sometimes I sleep, too. I don’t recommend it, though; it’s a waste of time.  My Alarm Cat must think so too, because he has decreed the proper time for the human to get up is one hour before dawn.  And Beni-Wan Cat-Obi always gets his way, because he has really sharp claws.

Want to know about this author, then check her out on these pages:

My author page is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaleLibrary where you can get free downloads of my writing.

The Time Yarns fan site is: https://sites.google.com/site/timeyarns/home

I am also on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Like Paranormal Stories! Then You May Want to Get Aquainted with Jane Crammer and Her Book, Ancestors and Angels

I am a forty-something mother of three grown up children, married to Mark for twenty-five years, born and bred in Yorkshire, England.  I have a great interest in the paranormal and afterlife and love to spend my time researching anything weird and wonderful. I write for several ezines, The Spirit Seekers, WakaWomen, News2Views  and have written a guest article for Moonlight Paranormal which is published by a ghost-hunting team of paranormal investigators. 

When did you begin writing? 

From the age of three, I declared that when I "grew up" I would write books. "Writing" for me back then was actually a succession of stories told in rudimentary pictures of stick people with no arms - but I have found over time my style has improved somewhat! 

What tips would you offer beginning writers to help them? 

Write down whatever comes to mind, in any order, whenever the inspiration strikes you - it can all be re-organized later, just do not lose the creative thread. Invest in a dictaphone; they are invaluable for talking your way through awkward passages. Most importantly, believe in yourself, find your own unique voice and style, and you will get there in the end. 

Please share with us more about your latest book. 



My book "Ancestors & Angels" is a true story of my family across several generations and their numerous encounters with the paranormal.  It begins with my great-great grandmother who literally came back to life on the mortuary slab, several hours after physically being pronounced dead. She declared she had seen the other side, and been allowed back for two weeks only to "put her affairs in order.” It comes up to the present day and my own strange experiences, and subsequent search for answers. I have included pictures of family members who are in the book.  The first picture is of Auntie Mary, followed by Elsie and then a picture of Olive.



Who published your books? 


I set up an Independent Publishing Company as I decided life is too short to sit around sending off manuscripts endlessly to Traditional Publishers (not that I had tried). I wanted complete control over the book, how it looked, typeface etc. and I was fortunate in being related to some very talented people who helped me with the technical side of things. 

What audience is your book geared towards? 

Anyone with an interest in the afterlife, angels, spirits, ghosts, haunted houses, astral travel, the paranormal generally, or just an interesting tale of one family through several generations enduring numerous hardships and deprivations and pulling together as families do. It could be described as "Angela's Ashes" meets "The Twilight Zone.”
 
When it comes to social media do you prefer one platform over the others? 

I am on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I find Facebook the best medium to properly interact with people though, and have built up some good relationships there. I am still finding my way around Linked In, and Twitter is a bit impersonal, more of a numbers game. 

Where can people purchase your books? 

Ancestors & Angels is currently for sale on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, through Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository and several other outlets. 

What else is in the works for 2011? 

I am currently working on two further books.  One is Seasons out of Time about Soul Mates, Kindred Spirits, Akashic Records, Life Maps and Karma. The other book is Specters in the Mist is more tales of the paranormal, but looking in greater depth at different phenomena.

Before we go, could you tell the readers just a little about your home in Yorkshire, England.  Once again where we can find your book, or more about you and how readers can contact you.

Yorkshire is a vast and varied region of more than three and a half million acres and a population of almost 5 million.  Most of Yorkshire's people live in the south and south west, in the old West Riding. Here we find many of the region's largest towns, most of which grew as a result of the historic textile trade. Most of Yorkshire's people live in the south and south west, in the old West Riding. Here we find many of the region's largest towns, most of which grew as a result of the historic textile trade.  It is the countryside, though, for which Yorkshire is best known. The beautiful Yorkshire Dales in the Carboniferous Pennines of the west attract visitors from across the land. They come to walk, to stroll, to browse in bookshops or relax with a pint of Yorkshire's finest ale. They come in search of waterfalls, ruined abbeys, captivating views and literary links.

On Facebook - Jane Cranmer, Author of Ancestors & Angels

On Twitter - @JLCGhostwriter

My Website - http://janecranmer.webeden.co.uk/#/home/4544794215

A Lively Chat with Author, Lynda Fitzgerald with a Surprise at the End of the Chat

Lynda Fitzgerald has been writing all her life.  Thirty years passed from the writing of her first novel until her first book was released.  Now she has written ten novels, has three of the series written and a fourth due out late this year, with several more in the works.

Lynda is a native Floridian who now lives in Georgia, and both settings appear in her books.  She studied writing at both DeKalb College and Emory University.  She is a frequent speaker and teacher of creative writing.  She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Florida Writers Association, and the Atlanta Writers Club.

Lynda, tell us about the genre of your work.

Well, let me start out by saying most people describe me a multi-genre author, which is a nice way to say I didn't know what a genre was until I'd finished writing my fourth novel.  I just wrote the stories that compelled me.  Therefore, my first book was tagged―by the publisher, not me―as romantic suspense. I was shocked.  I do not think of myself as a romance author.  I still think it should be classified as mainstream, but we authors have little say in these decisions. It was the same with my second book.  It is decidedly women's fiction, but I did not even know that was a genre when I wrote it.

When I wrote my third book, LIVE Ringer, I knew it was mystery.  I did not sit down and decide to write a mystery, but when my heroine stumbled on a body floating in the water, the story took a decided turn in that direction.  I had a ball writing that novel.  I never intended it to be a series, but when I got to that last page; I knew I was not through with these characters.

All my books have strong elements of women's fiction, but judging from the reviews of my male readers, not too strong.  Another element my books share is that they are all character-driven fiction, which means that the characters and their reactions to the world around them drive the plot, not the other way around.  To me, characters are everything.  Well, plots are good, too, but they are nothing without well-developed characters.

Will you continue to write mystery?

I will, at least for the time being.  Book two in the series, LIVE Ammo, will be released late this year.  Book three, LIVE in Person, is in the first draft stage, and I have the plots for three more in my head.

What are some of your books that have been published?

The first book, which is actually the third novel I wrote, is IF TRUTH BE TOLD (ISBN: 978-1-59141-56801), was released in 2007.  It is the story of a young woman who values truth above anything, but when her uncle dies suddenly and she suspects a family member may have killed him, she has to decide what's more important:  the naked truth, or family loyalty.  My main character, Christie O'Kelly, goes from age fourteen at the book's beginning to thirty years old when it ends.  Christie had such a strong personality that she wrenched the story away from me on about page 3 and did not hand back the reins until half way through. She will always be one of my favorite characters: precocious, feisty and independent.  The things she said just cracked me up.  It is set in Brevard County, Florida, what people call the Space Coast.

OF WORDS AND MUSIC (ISBN 978-1059414-776-0) is set in Atlanta, Georgia.  It is about the power of music to break through barriers and overcome generations of family hurt and misunderstanding.  The main character, Lilah, is a sixty-year-old grandmother who suddenly has her previously unknown teenage old granddaughter Bethany thrust on her when the girl's parents die.  Lilah agrees to take her, but only until other arrangements can be made.  Neither is happy with the situation.  When Lilah begins seeing herself through Bethany's eyes, she does not like what she sees, but she does not know how to change.  Bethany and music begin the process, but then information comes to light that threatens to destroy everything they have begun to build.

LIVE Ringer (ISBN: 978-1-59146-327-6), my first mystery, is also set in Brevard County.  Many of the characters are sheriff's deputies.  At the beginning, Allie Grainger, is just returning to Cape Canaveral to lick her post-divorce wounds.  Her favorite aunt has left her a paid for beach cottage and a couple of million dollars.  Before a day has passed, Allie stumbles on a body floating at the Cape Canaveral jetty.  When the body is identified, Allie is stunned; the woman looks enough like Allie to be her twin sister.  Then a string of like murders down the Florida coast is uncovered.  All the victims look like Allie.  She is pretty sure someone is stalking her, and she is afraid she might be the killer's next target.

There is a lot more about each and about the upcoming release, LIVE Ammo, on my website:  http://www.fitzgeraldwrites.com.

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

I know it sounds hokey, but my characters kind of name themselves.  I begin writing with an in-depth biography of each of my main characters.  Before I finish it, their names come to me.  Most of the places are real.  The residents of Brevard County and people who have visited there love reading my books because they are reading about places they have actually been.  I spend a lot of time down there checking out my facts and places.  Oh, and catching a few rays of sun.

Melbourne Beach, is a bit of Old Florida, home to wildlife, annual sea turtles, and eventually, Allie Grainger. 

Cape Canaveral is exploding with mid-rise condos.  Allie treasured her home there because of the isolation that is no more.  Now she hears construction noise instead of sea gulls, backhoes instead of the whisper of the surf.  When she starts looking for what she once had, she does not have far to go.  Thirty miles down the coast is Melbourne Beach, a strip of barrier island that clings stubbornly to the old ways.

At the end of Melbourne Beach is Sebastian Inlet, a place where Allie often goes to think.  Until the sixties, A1A ended at the Inlet.  Now a bridge spans the turbulent waters, but the state of Florida controls that area.  Part wildlife preserve, part surfer's and fisherman's dream, Sebastian Inlet still has dirt roads overhung by mossy trees, and a feeling of the Florida of yesteryear.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

In LIVE Ringer, Allie Grainger is a young woman in her late twenties who has just lost the most important person in her life, her beloved aunt.  On top of that, her marriage has blown sky high.  I wanted her to be less decisive and strong-willed than her best friend, Sheryl, a sheriff's deputy, because I wanted Allie to grow and change as the series developed.  Once I knew that, the rest of her personality fell into place.  I think you can see her change and deepen as a character as incident after incident happens to her.  Allie also inherited a little Lhasa Apso, Spook, who was adopted by her aunt after he had been abused and abandoned.  Spook's development kind of mirrors Allie's in that he is becoming more courageous every day.

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any kind?

The antagonist in the first book does not come back in the second because…well, he is dead.  The bad guy in the second and third books is the same, but I have a brand new villain in mind for the fourth book…and the fifth…

What is your favorite thing about your book?

I think emotion makes the book personal to the reader.  I try to infuse humor, sorrow, and suspense into everything I write.  What I love about all my books are the characters.  These people take on lives of their own after a while, and sometimes they seem more real to me than the people around me.  I cry when they are sad and laugh when they make jokes.  I am totally drawn into their lives.  Most of the reviews of my books applaud the characters, so I guess feeling close to them makes a difference.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

That is a tough one.  They are all different.  The language is different in, say, literary writing, plus you can meander a lot in literary fiction.  If you meander as a mystery writer, you have lost half your audience by page five.    With romance, the romance should move the book forward, not a side plot.   Writing a mystery means, you have to start out with a bang and keeping increasing the suspense until the climax of the book, or at least that is my thought.  I love writing mystery.  I never know what is going to happen next.

Why and when did you begin writing?

I have always made up stories.  In fact, I got into a lot of trouble doing that as a kid.  Once I started putting them on paper, life got better.  I hear I was reading before I was four years old.  I do not know if that is true, but I do not remember ever not reading.  I wrote my first short story when I was ten.  It was awful.  Once I started writing, I never stopped.  It has been my most constant companion through life.

To answer the why?  I took me a long time to get published, so I had plenty of time to ask myself the same question.  Was it worth it?  Writing is hard work, and when you go twenty years or so without a publisher, you begin to doubt yourself, or at least, I did.  A lot of times I asked myself why I was spending all my time―time other people spent watching TV and going to the movies and doing a lot of things I didn't have time to do―why I spent it writing when no one seemed to care.  Finally, I had to ask myself the hard question:  "If you never have another word published, will you keep writing?"  The answer was―and is, yes.  I cannot imagine not writing.  It is truly a passion with me.

What is your writing schedule?

I spend most of my free moments writing.  I am more productive in the mornings, but I write at night, too.  When a novel is going well, I will write twelve to fifteen hours a day.  Otherwise, I write a few hours a day and for a whole lot of hours on weekends.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and get published?

My number one tip to any budding author is not to give up on you.  In fact, I have a framed picture on my desk of a kitten looking into a mirror and seeing in its reflection a lion.  The caption is "Believe in Yourself."  It has always made me smile.  As a writer, you will go months or years without significant feedback.  Join a critique group.  Join a writers club so you can network with other writers.  Join on-line groups in your writing genre.  Google them.  You will find a lot of them.  When you finish that novel, send it out to agents or publishers and begin another.  Repeat as needed.  That is how I had written eight novels before my first one was published.  A manuscript in a drawer will never find representation.  Get it out there.

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

Yes.  Take classes on writing.  There are online courses these days that are inexpensive and excellent.  Read books on writing.  I have books on every aspect of writing, from plotting to dialogue to description.  Don't let reading about writing take the place of your writing, because your real schoolroom has only one student:  you.  The old, tired adage, you learn to write by writing, became an old tired adage because it is true.  You also learn to write by reading:  literature, popular fiction, whatever.  Read outside your genre.  Then you can bring something fresh to your writing.

What do you do when you are not writing?

I don't mean to laugh, but there isn't a whole lot of time when I am not writing.  Outside the household stuff, I give a lot of time to my dogs.  I have three, all rescues.  My German Shepherd is two years old with a puppy's enthusiasm.  My half-Shepherd, half-Rottie, is a little older and has so much energy he makes my Shepherd look like a slug.  Then there is my little twelve-year-old Wheaton Cairn Terrier.  Think Toto with gold fur.  The youngsters have given him a new enthusiasm for life.  It's a scream to see him attack the big girls, and they love to play with him. 

I also garden.  And, I sew.  Well, not much anymore, but I made my daughter's wedding dress and most of my clothes until a few years back.

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

My favorite was when I got word that my first book had been accepted for publication.  I walked around in shock all day, feeling like I had stuck my finger in a light socket.  I expected my hair to frizzle.  It is always a wonderful feeling when they take your book for publication, but there is nothing like that first time. 

I just thought of a few more things I want to tell new writers, if that is okay.  If they are in it for a quick buck, they are in the wrong profession.  Getting published and then building a readership takes time.  It is not a quick buck.  Also, if they are writing to the big fad du jour (think Harry Potter), they are way off course.  By the time their novel emerges from the black hole of the publishing house―it usually takes one to two years between signing the contract and seeing the books on the shelves―the world will be tired of Harry and onto Twilight or something else. 

Write what moves you.  Read the newspaper.  If some article grabs you by the heart, turn it into fiction.  Write what you love, and your readers will love what you write.  It is as simple, and as complicated, as that.

…and, by the way…

The first three comments that tell us about Lynda's lifetime love affair will win a signed copy of her latest book, the first in a mystery series.  (Hint:  it is on her website http://www.fitzgeraldwrites.com.  Shhhhh.....)

Introducing Kaye George, 2010 Agatha nominee, and her new book, Choke

Kaye George, an Agatha nominated short story writer, is the author of CHOKE, published by Mainly Murder Press, as well as A PATCHWORK OF STORIES, a self-published collection of her previously published stories. FISH TALES: THE GUPPY ANTHOLOGY contains her story, "The Truck Contest.” She reviews for "Suspense Magazine,” and writes for several newsletters and blogs. She, her husband, and a cat named Agamemnon live together in Texas, near Austin.

Tell us about the genre of your work. 

Most of what I write is some sort of mystery. My new novel is amateur sleuth, but many of my stories are all over the map and some are even hard-boiled. I do not know why, but my shorter writing tends to be grittier. Just this year I have crossed over into horror. It does not seem that far from noir crime fiction. Just add a dash of paranormal and you have horror.

Why did you choose this genre?

I wrote "literary" short stories during my teens and twenties. When, a few years after that, I decided I really, really, really wanted to see something in print, it occurred to me that most of my reading was in the mystery genre. Since I knew the most about it, it made sense to start at novel length there.

What are some of your books, stories that have been published?

My debut mystery, CHOKE, came out in trade paperback in May of this year. I later put it out myself as an e-book. While trying for years and years to get a novel published, I started having success with short stories, for some reason, and have had a few of those accepted into print and online magazines. Since some of the venues have gone out of business, I decided to put out a volume of those stories myself, called A PATCHWORK OF STORIES. I also have stories available in FISH TALES: THE GUPPY ANTHOLOGY and one at Untreed Reads called THE BAVARIAN KRISP CAPER. There should be one at Sniplits soon, too, if it is not already there. That one is called RESCUE:2005 and is about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Give a short description of each, and what is your newest book?

My newest, okay, my only book is CHOKE, ISBN 978-0-9827952-7-9, available at Mainly Murder Press (mainlymurderpress.com). Here is the teaser--

Twenty-two-year-old Imogene Duckworthy is waiting tables at Huey's Hash in tiny Saltlick, TX, itching to jump out of her rut and become a detective. When Uncle Huey is found murdered in the diner, a half-frozen package of mesquite-smoked sausage stuffed down his throat, Emmy gets her chance. Immy's mother, Hortense is hauled in for the crime. Unclear of the exact duties of a PI, Immy starts a fire in the bathroom wastebasket to bust Mother out of jail. On the run from the law with her mother and her toddler daughter, Nancy Drew Duckworthy, Immy wonders, now what?

THE BAVARIAN KRISP CAPER, ISBN 9781611870824, is only available as e-story. It is at:

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a64124/Kaye-George/?si=0

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b121731/The-Bavarian-Krisp-Caper/Kaye-George/?si=0

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bavarian-Krisp-Caper-ebook/dp/B004SP1DE0

http://store.untreedreads.com/index.php?

Mandy adores Bavarian Krisp donuts. A nice day at Boston Common with her niece, Ella, turns ugly, though, when her quest for the goodies takes her down a dark path. Out of work and out of donuts. What lengths will she go to in order to satisfy her sweet tooth?

"The Truck Contest" in FISH TALES anthology, ISBN 978-1-4344-3081-9 comes in paperback

http://www.wildsidebooks.com/Fish-Tales-The-Guppy-Anthology-edited-by-Ramona-DeFelice-Long-trade-pb_p_7754.html

(It is also through Ingram and Baker & Taylor)

and as an e-book at

http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Tales-Guppy-Anthology-ebook/dp/B004TM9DL2?_encoding=UTF8&al_rs=#al_rp

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fish-Tales/Ramona-DeFelice-Long/e/2940012396365/?itm=4&USRI=fish+tales

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=422220

https://www.iflowreader.com/ebook/Fish-Tales-The-Guppy-Anthology/164172/.

My story, from a review by Edith Maxwell on her blog, Speaking of Mystery, at http://edithmaxwell.blogspot.com/2011/04/fish-tales-anthology.html:

"The Truck Contest," by Kaye George, describes recreational activities on a lake in winter. I have been working on an ice-fishing story myself, so this was a fun read. The twist at the end was particularly satisfying.

"Twelve Drummers Drumming" is on the Dark Valentine blog http://darkvalentine.net/index.php/2011/01/the-twelve-days-of-christmas-day-twelve/.

This is the last entry for the horror noir version of The Twelve Days of Christmas and takes place on an African safari led by a man who is not too careful about poaching regulations.

My foray into non-fiction is THE ROAD TO SELF-PUBLISHING, a short how-to book for self-publishers.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004IEA8EM

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36453

Description: A self-published guide to self-publishing. This booklet tells you how to get your eBook onto Smashwords and Kindle, including detailed instructions on creating covers. 

My short story collection, A PATCHWORK OF STORIES, is available as a paperback at

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-Patchwork-of-Stories/Kaye-George/e/9781456348571/?itm=2&USRI=a+patchwork+of+stories

and as an e-book at

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26383//

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049B2C2A//

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-PATCHWORK-OF-STORIES/Kaye-George/e/2940012297211/?itm=1&USRI=a+patchwork+of+stories.

Nine previously published tales from sunny side up to over hard. Includes Agatha nominated short story of 2010.This collection includes the story nominated for an Agatha in 2010, a diet spoof, a Wal-Mart people short short, and much more. These stories originally appeared in Hard Luck Stories, Mouth Full of Bullets, Mysterical-E and others. 

How do you come up with the names of places and characters in your books?

Good question! When I make up place names, I try to stick closely to the actual name. I want the reader to know what area I am in, but I would like the freedom--when I do this--to put things where I want them and to stage murders in places that probably do not exit. Or cannot be identified anyway.  In CHOKE, I called Wichita Falls, a Texas town, Wymee Falls. I gave it the fake waterfall for which the town is named (which I think is hilarious), and the one shopping mall as in real life.

Many of my stories are set in actual places: Chicago, Boston, Detroit and all the places that I have lived or visited. I had specific reasons for the settings. The Detroit story uses the backdrop of the horrific local tradition of Devil's Night. The Boston story is about the local institution, Dunkin Donuts, disguised as Dandy Donuts. However, the Chicago story is dependent on the winter weather and the wind that comes off Lake Michigan to make my cop character's winter cold feel more real.

I love naming characters! I am always collecting names, off TV, out of newspaper stories and obituaries. I even save off the names attached to the spam. Yes, I look in that dreaded folder to get names. Many are misspelled, but there are lots I never would think of such as a contestant on Jeopardy a few months ago! He had an unusual last name, and he became a character in a short story I was writing at the time. However, with a different first name.

My favorite name, though, Imogene Duckworthy, appeared to me bit by bit. I knew I wanted an Inept Detective and imagined calling the series, I-something D-something, the Inept Detective. Therefore, I had the initials I wanted. I remembered a comedienne named Imogene Coca (I think); from a long time ago and I thought Imogene would be a good first name. There are not a whole lot of female first names that start with the letter I.

I was pondering a last name one night as we were driving past the Hutto High School football field, a local place whose claim to fame is that is was used in the opening shots to the TV show, Friday Night Lights. The Hutto football team is named the Hutto Hippos (for a pretty funny reason, in fact), and my mind wandered to the team name in the town where we lived, the Taylor Ducks. They were named partly because they had a coach named Mallard and partly because they played well for their first game, which took place in a downpour.

The name came to me--Duckworth. Duckworth was a good name, but somehow it seemed it would be funnier as Duckworthy. I could not find many people with that name when I Googled, so that was good (although there are people named Imogene Duckworth).  As soon as I had the name, Imogene Duckworthy, the character sprang to life in my head.

How did you develop the character of your protagonist in this book?

Imogene, as I have said, came to life when she had her complete name. I knew she was young and poor. She is naive and worldly at the same time. She has attracted to handsome men, well heck, to men. In fact, the father of her young daughter, Nancy Drew Duckworthy, was a trucker whose name she did not have a chance to get.  She lives in a single-wide because at least a third of the people in the real town that Saltlick is modeled after do. She fiercely wants to be a detective, mostly because her father was a police detective and was shot to death. Her mother, Hortense, a retired librarian, is her main obstacle to this, mainly because Hortense's husband was a police detective and was shot to death. Immy is willing to go up against even the formidable and controlling Hortense to make her dream come true. The kicker comes when Hortense is accused of murder and must depend on Immy to clear her of the charges.

What about an antagonist…is there a unique “bad guy” or a recurring nemesis of any kind?

I do not have a recurring bad guy, just a new hurdle for Immy, besides the solving of a murder, in each planned sequel.

What is your favorite thing about your book?

This series is a lot of fun to write! And people tell me its fun to read. My goal is laugh-out-loud humor and I have not had a reader yet say I have missed with that. I like the chance to illuminate a way of life that might be foreign to a lot of city dwellers and people who have not lived in the more remote parts of Texas. Before we moved there, I had no idea that men still made a living by being horseback cowboys for the boss ranchers. The smaller ranchers mostly work other jobs to make ends meet. It is very hard work, but they will not give up their cattle for anything.

How is writing in the genre you write, different than other genre?

Mysteries, to me and many other mystery writers, are about justice. They are a form of escapism where, in the end, the world is set right and bad actors get what they deserve. Perfect justice happens so seldom in real life, it does a body good to read about it. I want to brighten someone's day with my humor, and also to give them a sense of something accomplished, through the solution to the murder and the capturing of the bad guy(s).

Why and when did you begin writing?

My first stories were crayon drawings before I could write words, so I guess I have been writing almost as long as I've been alive. I did comic strips when I was in early grade school and wrote two pieces I called novels in 5th or 6th grade. I wish I still had them, but I doubt they were more than a few pages. In one, a little girl snuck out of her flat in Chicago and ventured into the world, observing people. Not much in the way of plot. In the other, though, Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, escaped via an underground stream and joined a group of plesiosaurs in the Atlantic Ocean. She had not realized that is what she was until she saw them. Maybe it was a coming of age story?

I wrote what I thought of as literary stories for years until I started writing mysteries, and now I am hooked on that.

What is your writing schedule?

When I am doing a first draft (and I have written many novels besides the one being published, so I almost have a rhythm down for a first draft) I can spend 3-4 hours on it a day. That is besides keeping up with my critique groups, working on short stories, and interacting online, which is where my real life is nowadays.

Once I was writing a bitterly cold winter scene. When I stood up from the computer, I wondered why it was so hot in the middle of such a terrible storm. I realized that, outside my story, it was summertime and the AC was running full time. What a surprise! My fingers and toes had been so cold.

What projects are you working on now, or plan for the future?

I've finished another Immy book and am working on a third. I have a couple other series I would like to polish up and get published, and ideas for many more series. I get ideas faster than I could possibly write them. I am also, always, scribbling down short stories.

The non-fiction booklet with tips on how to put a self-published book online is a work in progress. As writers buy it, some of them let me know what they would like to see added or expanded, so I make changes to that on an on-going basis. This little .99 cent, 9-page booklet is my attempt to give something back to the very generous writing community.

What kind of advice or tips to you have for someone who wants to write and get published?

I heard once that the only difference between a published writer and an unpublished one is persistence. That has kept me going. It took literally years to learn how to craft a mystery and to get it sold. There is no short cut, except maybe for a few special people. Most of us have to do it the long, hard way. If you quit, you will never know what might have happened in the next week or the next month. That might have been your break through. Don't quit! Moreover, keep trying to grow and improve as a writer. It never hurts to take a course on some aspect you have problems with in your writing.

Are there any other comments, advice or tips that you would give to beginning writers?

Find other writers. I know a lot of writers do not like to interact with others, but it is a lonely occupation and no one else will understand you. Only another writer will know what joy it is to finish a first draft, or what dejection the one-hundredth rejection brings. The cyber world has made this so much more possible than it used to be, I am sure.

The other important thing, that I think is almost too obvious to state, is that you must read. In order to write, you must read. A lot. And write. A lot. Moreover, not everything you write will be good. Nevertheless, you have to keep doing it if you are driven in that direction.

What do you do when you are not writing? 

Besides reading, I review for Suspense Magazine, but that is really writing, I guess.  I play violin and like to compose. My family is far flung and I spend time and money visiting them. I also love to travel just anywhere. Our family hosted two exchange students when my children were in high school, one from Sweden and one from Italy. We visit them, they visit us occasionally, and those are grand times!

What “Made It” moments have you experienced in life?

Years ago, I made phone contact with an agent who agreed to look at my manuscript. This was a while ago. I printed it out and drove to his office to deliver it. We chatted a bit and I had a very good feeling about everything. This was it! I was going to have an agent and be published! A few weeks later, his secretary called me and said I could pick up my manuscript, that he would not be representing me. I was dejected, but drove over and took the papers from her desk.

He would put a post-it note on the top that said, "Author will pick up." Author--he said "author!" I began to think of myself as an author. That was my very first "Made It" moment.

Kaye on the left and my friend and writer, Gigi Pandian beside her  at the table I hosted at Left Coast Crime Conference.(On the left.)

Kaye George and Kate Collins signing, and the panel (short story nominees last year) at Malice Domestic Short Story Award 2010. (On the right)

 Want to know more about the author?  Check out her website and blogs at: Her homepage is www.KayeGeorge.com

Blogs:

http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com/, her solo blog,

and, http://allthingswriting.blogspot.com/, her group blog.