Tag: Author (Page 2 of 4)

Meet Ace Hansen Author of Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery

July 31, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Today I’m so pleased to welcome a very unusual guest: a writer alien! Ace Hansen (who happens to be green) wrote the hilarious MG novel Julius Caesar Brown the Green Gas Mystery (see my Goodreads review here). Welcome, Ace!

So exactly how does a green alien get into the profession of writing?

He chooses to inhabit the body of an Earth host who is in the profession of writing. Should have chosen a gummy worm maker, but I didn’t know about them at the time.

I may have read that you like gummy worms…what’s your favorite flavor?

The ones with red. Red and white. Red and yellow. Red and orange. Red and green. But I’ll eat any and all of them. No problem.

How about favorite color (I notice there seems to be a lot of green in your life)?

Purple. I really love purple. All kinds of purple. Haven’t you seen my sweater?

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

No candy? Are you kidding me? One movie? E.T. I’m in love. Two books? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG both by that tall Earth man, Roald Dahl.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

The ability to make humans laugh hysterically on command.

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

I can say the alphabet backwards in Spanish. And I’ve tasted vomit. Don’t be shocked! Everybody has, at least everyone who’s thrown up. ^_^

And your final challenge if you should accept it…using the magnetic refrigerator poetry set, please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words.

#1 Sky you are but a spy

All day

Seeing us nuts

#2 Imagine

Another perfect chance

Dream green!

#3 Read

Play more

Live life like fire

Julius Caesar Brown and the Green Gas Mystery blurb:

The world is farting green! Who will stop the green gas crisis?

When a mysterious green gas crisis breaks wind, the Global Air Group (GAG) offers a million-dollar prize to the first person to discover the cause. Julius Caesar Brown dreams of winning the cash so he can pay off Jake the Snake, the blackmailing bully who threatens to ruin his chances with the cutest girl in fifth grade. But Julius can barely pass a math test, let alone solve an international scientific mystery. What he needs is money. Fast. His mom volunteers him to help the Zombie Lady. Yeah. The crazy woman down the street who every kid knows eats boys’ brains. But Miss Crabtree’s no zombie. And winning the million-dollar prize may not be as far-fetched as Julius once thought.

If you’d like to purchase JULIUS CAESAR BROWN AND THE GREEN GAS MYSTERY it’s available as an ebook now at MuseItUp, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo, and is coming in print Fall 2013.

About the Author:

Ace Hansen, the smartest green alien in the Milky Way Galaxy

If you’d like to learn more about Ace (of course you do!) you can find him on: Ace Hansen’s Website, Twitter, Facebook.

Alpaca Farming with Priscilla Brown Author of Anna and the Soap Opera

July 15, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Please welcome back Priscilla Brown, author of the contemporary romances Anna and the Soap Opera (see my Goodreads review here) and Nothing But Love. Alpacas play an important role in Anna and the Soap Opera, and when I found out Priscilla actually owned alpacas, I just had to learn more about these adorable creatures. Welcome, Priscilla!

I didn’t know I was looking for a story idea when I saw a newspaper advertisement for a seminar on alpaca farming. But as I read the information, a plot began to form in my head: he owns an alpaca stud and the local council wants his land for development of some kind.

Attending the seminar sparked my interest in these charming animals; the next stop was the alpaca exhibition at a country show. There, I fell in love. She was young, pretty, friendly, with fine black fleece, and she was for sale. My suburban backyard being no place for an alpaca, I negotiated agistment with the owner. Deal done, this excited writer turned alpaca owner began a new journey.

I bought a second young female, and through my visits to my huggable investments, my interest and knowledge increased. These animals are intelligent and curious, with individual personalities and mostly nice natures. My girls (they are referred to as girls and boys) let me hug them; they are soft and warm. I helped at shearing by collecting and separating the shorn fleeces, which taught me about quality. My two alpacas matured, were mated, and had crias; my small herd expanded.

As I spent time with them, the alpaca stud story developed. I sat in the paddocks absorbing the ambience of the peacefully grazing animals, making notes and jotting down possible scenarios. Much of this did not get into the final narrative, as I reminded myself this story was a romance, not a treatise on alpacas. There were two occurrences which I was particularly fortunate to witness; while they did not fit into the plot, they did feed into my overall experience. The first was a birth; she was a first-time mother, and while naturally protective of the cria (baby), she appeared completely relaxed. The second took place in a paddock with mothers and young crias; the girls organized the youngsters together with one mother sitting with them, while the other mothers grazed undisturbed. Alpaca child care.

The fictitious farm needed a problem, and I didn’t want to write about the use of agricultural land for anything but agribusiness. And why ‘he’? I had no mind picture of a male farmer.

But suddenly ‘he’ became ‘she’; her image, backstory and current difficulties arrived neatly packaged. My fictitious alpaca breeder Anna had a house, a position as mayor of her small country town and huge financial problems dating from her backstory. These were not sufficient to provide sustainable conflict, and the male protagonist was missing. Then at a party on a blistering hot day, one of the men joked about doing the full monty—they didn’t. But Kyle did—enter into the story a sexy television entrepreneur with designs on Anna, her farm and her town, appearing on page one in the full monty. He was nothing to do with my personal alpaca experiences, but as the ‘soap opera’ progressed, he fitted into it well.

This story is an example of what writers are sometimes advised—‘write about what you know’. By the time I felt ready to start on it, I had picked up a quantity of information concerning alpaca husbandry, but there were still points which I researched to confirm and expand my knowledge. I loved writing about these appealing animals, making them the four-legged stars in the romance between Anna and Kyle.

Anna and the Soap Opera blurb:

Excited that television producer Kyle Kinross wants to shoot his blockbuster drama not only in her struggling country town but on her cash-strapped alpaca farm, Mayor Anna Marshall sees his company’s fee as a solution to financial predicaments. But can she survive accusations of payola? Is this sexy younger man buying her influence against community opposition, or could he possibly want her for the generous loving nature masked by her business suit?

Anna and the Soap Opera is available at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, and other ebook retailers. Nothing But Love is also available at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other ebook retailers.

About the Author:

Since coming first in English in Primary School, Priscilla resolved language would be her future. She majored in Literary Studies and added a Diploma in Migrant Teaching (English as a Second Language). Creative writing always beckoned, and, over time, she collected a box full of story ideas: a notebook crammed with fragments of dialog mostly garnered from eavesdropping in cafes; observations of people again from cafes and also public transport; pictures from magazines of potential characters and settings; possible names and titles. Moving house proved the catalyst for turning this hoard into “proper” stories. Packing, she spent too much time browsing through the box, and as soon as her new desk was organized, she embarked on a fiction writing career. Priscilla lives in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, where she does much listening, observing and writing over coffees in the many cafes.

“The Rewrite Before Christmas” by Beth Overmyer Author of In a Pickle

July 12, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Today (ahem, on my birthday…and, yes, I’ve stopped counting how many I’ve celebrated) I have a unique poem from Beth Overmyer, author of the middle grade novella In a Pickle. Be prepared to laugh as Beth takes over the blog!

Just in time for Christmas in July…I present:

The Rewrite Before Christmas

(Parody of Clement C. Moore’s The Night Before Christmas)

‘Twas the first draft of my novel and all through the book

There were typos and blunders, not even a hook;

The scenes were all tied together by a hair,

All hoping the editors soon would repair;

The characters were voiceless, all bland and cardboard,

They talked and they rambled, no sense in their words;

And my alphas and my betas put on thinking caps,

“How do I keep reading? I want a long nap!”

And out of my prose there arose such a clutter

Of dialogue tags such as “murmured” and “muttered;”

“Away,” “through” and “of” all ended each sentence;

I misspelled all words without a hint of repentance;

All adverbs were abused shamelessly;

The luster and shine was very much lacking.

When pressing my brain on to make this thing better,

There appeared on my desk an over-sized shredder.

With a clunky old hard drive, so ancient and sick,

I rigged up old Bob with the help of a fork lift.

More vapid than prairies my stories I shredded,

Lit them with a match, doused with unleaded,

“Now burn, you! Now, die, you!

Now shred, burn and fry, you!

No ands ifs or buts:

I’ll burn short stories too!

To the top of the shredder, to the top of the wall!

No dashes, m-dashes, n-dashes; away, all!”

As dry as leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

I watched the smoke drifting up, up to the sky;

So shiny and lovely, the ashes, they flew,

With smell of burnt plastic and toxic waste too.

And then I’d an inkling, a nudge in my head,

The itching and clawing, as that of the undead.

And I drew in my head an outline so sound

For a shiny new novel, and then went to town!

So, hear me exclaim as I drop out of sight:

“A novel isn’t written; thou must rewrite!”

In a Pickle blurb:

Charlie Pickle can’t stay put in the year 1920, due to an annoying habit of time-traveling. On a trip back to 1910, he meets a man with a secret. Murder makes the headlines that day, and Charlie’s new friend knows who the guilty party is. Now, not only does Charlie have bullies and murderers to contend with, he’s got some history to fix.

Find In a Pickle at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, and other ebook retailers.

About the Author: CC Pic Beth Overmyer: writer of kidlit, penner of prose, petter of cats.

Author links:

Blog: http://bethovermyer.blogspot.com

Website: http://bethovermyer.com

Confessions of an Author: Daydreaming

July 2, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Confession #6: When I’m staring out the window daydreaming (or doing any number of things that might look like time-wasters), I’m actually working.

I’ve been trying to get out of the house one morning a week to head to my local coffee shop. I order my tea and breakfast and settle down in my usual spot looking out the window. At any point during my writing session, you’re likely to find me staring at the people walking by on the sidewalk or the train chugging over the bridge. This isn’t me procrastinating; it’s me working.

Seriously, though, daydreaming is work for an author. There is actual scientific research that says that daydreaming is important, imperative even, to the creative process. Allowing the conscience mind to wander sends the subconscious mind to work on the problem (in my case, whatever story/character/language issue I’ve been obsessing over). I’ve mentioned on the blog before how my brain often works out tricky plot points in the shower, while I’m not even necessarily thinking about that story or writing in general.

Activating the creative process goes beyond daydreaming for an author. People-watching is another activity that may look like procrastination, but it’s actually great story fodder. I find people-watching gets me thinking about character, not only how a character might look, but their mannerisms, speech patterns, and their backstory.

Observation of any surrounding is great for the “What If” game. Pick a person and pose a what-if question about them. Take two teenage girls walking around a mall, one chatting away, the other checking her phone, barely paying attention to the first. Give them a what if: What if chatty girl is dating a boy, but her boyfriend is the one texting phone girl? Now that leads to a whole bunch of other questions. What is boyfriend texting phone girl about? A surprise party for chatty girl, a secret rendezvous with phone girl? How long have boyfriend and chatty girl been dating? How long have chatty girl and phone girl been friends? See what a little people-watching and “What If” game can do for getting the creative juices flowing.

For an author, reading is work too. Whether I’m reading to stay current on the book market, reading to absorb the excellent writing of authors I admire, or reading to see what kind of books out there are like mine and what I can do differently. Even when I’m reading for pure pleasure, I’m still working, though it’s more of a working by osmosis in that case.

What things do you do that may seem like goofing off but are really work?

Meet Jeff Chapman Author of Highway 24

June 13, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

While I’m off doing my first ever school visit, Jeff Chapman is holding down the fort (ummm, blog) with an interview about his ghost story Highway 24 (see my Goodreads review here). Welcome, Jeff!

What made you want to become a writer?

I don’t know. I loved reading from a young age and it seemed like a natural progression to writing your own stories. I have a compulsion to write but I haven’t always been so serious about it. A few years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately it was caught very early. Nothing wakes you up to your mortality like a brush with a potentially fatal disease. At that point I decided if I wanted to be a writer I should become serious about it because the clock is ticking.

What books have had the most influence on you as a writer?

John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers. The first time I read that book, I gave up writing for awhile. I was making many of the mistakes he talks about. I came back to it later and found I wasn’t making those mistakes any more. I guess the lessons from the first reading had taken root.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

I think everyone gets to bring the Bible to these islands or maybe it’s already there. My two books would beThe Lord of the Rings (I could read that over and over again and never get bored) and Crime and Punishment (another long book that you can chew on for a long time. It also reminds me of winter. I don’t like to be hot). For a movie, that would be a tossup between Das Boot (I like submarines) and The French Lieutenant’s Woman (I’m a sucker for costume dramas).

What was the hardest part of writing this book for you? And on the flip side what was the easiest?

I don’t know how many times I revised/rewrote the first section (Paul’s initial encounter with the ghost). The first part of story sets the tone for the rest of it so it’s important to get it right and sometimes very hard. The easiest parts were the secondary characters: the preacher and the caretaker at the cemetery. Those two came to me fully formed. All I had to do was transcribe what they were saying.

Have you ever had a paranormal experience yourself?

No, I haven’t. Not sure if I want to. But I have driven on some lonely highways and they are definitely creepy at night.

What is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

I love cats. I had three when I was growing up and I have two now. Cats and I connect. We seem to understand each other.

And here’s the fun part…below are three list of words from the magnetic refrigerator poetry set…if you so choose, please write up a little piece of poetry or prose from these words.

There’s a ground squirrel in the attic, digging for the nut of our skeletons that we keep beneath the shadows of the steps. I step in a cold puddle of sour take out. I give up the climb. He will find not but the dark manuscript of my soul up there and the dead dancing in a breeze. Why investigate? A spider will manacle him.

Highway 24 blurb:

On a lonely country highway, a young travelling salesman runs down a teenage girl. It was an accident. Why she was wandering around on a highway in a pink, formal dress, he can’t imagine. There’s no doubt she’s dead. Fear takes over and he flees the scene, absently taking one of her shoes with him. An old memory, something familiar about that shoe, struggles to surface. As he speeds away from the accident, he thinks his nightmare can’t get any worse, until he sees a pair of green eyes in his rear-view mirror. The shoe and those eyes lead him to a small town where he meets an all too knowing preacher and a sheriff obsessed with the girl’s tragic demise. As Paul digs deeper into the mystery of the girl and her shoe, he comes face-to-face with a dark secret from his father’s past.

Highway 24 is available at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other ebook retailers.

About the author:

Jeff Chapman writes software by day and speculative fiction when he should be sleeping. His tales range from fantasy to horror and they don’t all end badly. He lives with his wife, children, and cats in a house with more books than bookshelf space. You can find him musing about words and fiction at jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com.