Interview with D.D. Chant, post-apocalyptic author

Today I have D.D. Chant here in the Midlist Trenches. D.D. has come out with a post-apocalyptic novel called Broken City, and that being my favorite genre at the moment, we sat down to chat.

What attracted you to the post-apocalyptic genre?
Broken City actually started out as a dream I had, so I guess you could say that the post-apocalyptic genre chose me!

There's an interesting contrast between the claustrophobic life of those characters not allowed outside and those who roam the ruins. How do you reflect this in your characters' development?

Deeta’s character is very naive and trusting because she’s lived such a sheltered life. She wants to believe that deep down everyone is good and that all the problems in the world could be fixed if everyone just worked together.
This belief makes her a good person and she tries to live by that belief, it’s one of the things Tom loves so much about her. Tom knows that the fight for survival has actually made the tribes selfish, they only care about getting through the day and they don’t care who they step on to survive. He’s seen the ugly side of the City and he’s had to toughen up against it. He’s a mysterious character, he feels it’s his duty to protect the weak, but at the same time he doesn’t flinch from making cynical decisions.

What's the strongest character in your story? Why?

I think it would have to be Deeta.  I know that Jan seems a more likely candidate, but everything Deeta thinks she knows falls apart in this book and yet at the end she’s still standing.

Do you think civilization is really going to fall?
I think that, left to themselves, humans would definitely self destruct in the end.

What can we expect from you in 2014 (assuming the apocalypse isn't coming)?
I have three books out this year! They are the sequels to all three of my series:  Broken Truce (Broken City, #2) The Vow (The Lady Quill Chronicles, #2) Severance (Chronicles of Discord, #2)

Sounds like you're busy just like me. Thanks for joining us D.D.!

In a Broken City, filled with warring tribes, lives:

A girl with no future
A man with no past
A little lost boy
And those who seek to find him....

....Welcome to Deeta's world.

Deeta Richards has never seen the outside world. Before she was born a banking crisis brought civilization to an end and now no one leaves the safety of the compounds unless they need to, but Deeta still dreams of seeing more than the building she was born in.
Tom is in the guard, this group are the only people that the tribal elders allow to leave the compound and Tom knows only too well that Deeta could never survive the harshness that exists outside. Then tragedy strikes and Deeta and her Sister Jan find themselves captured by a hostile tribe. Why does Tom know so much about these people? And why do they know so much about him? As this mystery draws to a climax, they discover that their friend Tom is not quite what he seems...

For sale now on Amazon.

Globsters, baldknobbers, and Wild West pterodactyls: I'm interviewed on the A to Z blog!

Hey folks. I'm over at the A to Z blog today talking about the A to Z blogging challenge. You'll hear all about cryptids, Ozark vigilantes, and where Clint Eastwood got his trademark grimace. Head on over and check it out!

Photo of the Chilean Blob, one of the more loveable globsters, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Interview with fantasy author A.J. Walker

It's nice to meet fellow writers who share your interests. I met A.J. Walker on an archaeology discussion group and discovered he's just published a novel with Double Dragon Publishing, one of the top two ebook publishers that does something other than erotica. His work is called Roots Run Deep and that's what we're talking about here today.

So, how does it feel to have your first novel published?
Exciting and exhausting. It's been six years in the making and it's a thrill to see it finally out there. That said, I'm learning that publishing isn't the last step. There's a lot of promo work to do for an unknown writer to get noticed. So many ebooks come out every week it's easy to get lost in the flood.

Tell us a bit about Roots Run Deep
This is the tale of Kip Itxaron, a goblin thief and sorceress trying to make her way as a second-class citizen in a kingdom dominated by humans. When the human King Roderick is deposed, they are thrown together by fate. Roderick offers her people equality if Kip rallies an army to help him take his throne back. Kip must struggle with her own self doubts, her mistrust of humankind, her fear of battle, and the divisions among her people in order to lead them to a better future.

One thing that's interesting about Kip is that she isn't really good at anything except getting into trouble.
I like having flawed characters. Yes, she's a bit of a mess at the beginning of the book, but she gets better!

I've noticed Roots Run Deep has a lot of anthropological detail. I had fun playing "spot the reference". You seem to put a lot of your academic research into your work. What are your main inspirations?
I am a Medievalist by profession and so my writing is deeply rooted in that era. My archaeological training exposed me to lots of different cultures. Readers of Roots Run Deep will find aspects of Native American, Pacific Island, Neolithic Switzerland, and contemporary American culture in my work. And yes Sean, your email is right, those statues were inspired by the Kurgan culture!

Why did you choose to epublish rather than going the traditional route?
Impatience with the traditional houses, mostly. They take a year to get back to you and don't want you to simultaneously submit. Now with all the belt tightening they are taking fewer books, far fewer from first-timers like me. I really feel that epublishers are the way to go to establish a fan base.

What's next for you?
I'm working on a sequel to Roots Run Deep called The Maze of Mist. It follows the adventures of Kip and Roderick's biracial son as he tries to deal with being part of neither race while being expected to rule both. I also have a couple of other books in the works, including a mystery/thriller and a collection of fantasy short stories. Check out my writing blog to keep up to date on what's happening!


Thanks for being here, A.J., and be sure to check out his blog for an interesting feature he's doing called Medieval Mondays. I learned something about Viking navigation!

Author interview: Conda V. Douglas

Today we're talking with Conda V. Douglas, whose short story Changing Woman Ways was recently released by Damnation Books, the same folks who published my horror short story Dannevirke. It's an interesting tale steeped in Navajo lore. Having lived for twelve years in Arizona, I really enjoyed it. I've been to Navajo country, although I've never known any Navajo. During my time in Tucson I worked with lots of Tohono O'odham and Apache but those are very different societies so it was nice to read about a society I don't know much about. The Desert Southwest is one of the last places in North America you can really experience Native American culture. Let's give it up for Conda!

Your story was based on your childhood with the Navajo. Tell us a bit about that.
Now when I look back at old photos, it seems almost odd to see my blue-eyed dad working alongside his good Navajo friend, the Singer, Fred Stevens, Jr. My famous artist dad, Luther A. Douglas, was the first man to preserve Navajo sand paintings. So we spent a lot of time with Fred and his family. It never occurred to me until I was about 12 that not everybody knew what a sand painting ceremony was, much less about the different ones. I now know how fortunate my childhood was--one filled with the fantastical of Navajo gods.

Given your experience, how accurately do you think Native Americans are portrayed in American fiction?
The best I can say about this, is it's quite a bit better than it was. Writers like Tony Hillerman and Sherman Alexie have helped by representing the Native Americans as being...people. Individuals. Complex and complicated and impossible to fit into a clichéd box. Yes, there are cultural differences, but I find cultural differences between different towns where I live in Idaho! Writing with the cliché is a lazy form of shorthand. I believe we all prefer the richer read of writing that is about various individuals who may be different and impacted by their culture--but then show how and why.

Tell us about your writing career. How did you get started, and how did you get to where you are today?
Thanks to a wonderful teacher in fifth grade, Mrs. Loringer, I discovered that writers were not gods. And if they weren't then I could be a writer too. I learned, early on, that there was one path to my writing success: read, write, edit, submit. And repeat, repeat, repeat.

What are you working on now?
My newest w.i.p. is about a young gal who can alter reality with her art. She doesn't know she possesses this ability until she brings the dead back to life. Then she doesn't want the skill. Trouble is, somebody else does.

Where can we find you and your work?
If you visit my blog where you'll find out lots about my various published articles and short stories and links to same. And various odd things about me and my creative life. Plus the occasional recipe.

And thanks Sean, for the opportunity to speak to your readers.

Good advice for writers

A while back I interviewed fellow midlist author Kathryn Meyer Griffith, who gave some insights into her 25+ years of work in the business. Now she's given another interview over at Dasef Central, a fun blog I'd never stumbled upon before. There are so many it's easy to miss the good ones!

Check out this interview for some great writing advice from someone who has been at it longer than many aspiring writers have been alive. Like me, she doesn't gloss over the bad stuff. For example, "I’ve had publishers go bankrupt. . .in the middle of my book editing, had a book pulled (after the final proofing, cover done) six weeks away from going to the bookshelves, agent dumping me, long stretches – 9 years once – when I couldn’t get anything published anywhere and a hundred other fears. Awful covers, awful editors. Cruel reviews. On and on. Too many to list here. Never writer’s block, though. So now nothing scares me….much."

Ouch! Been there, survived that. I like the comment about writer's block. I don't get writer's block either. So head on over to Dasef Central and check out what it's really like to be an author, and then come on back here for more midlist grumbling. We love our job, really!

I'm interviewed on "Live Your Life Well"

Andy Hayes, managing editor of the excellent travel blog Live Your Life Well, has interviewed me about my twin loves of history and travel as part of his ongoing Travel Experiences Interviews. Hop on over there to hear me blather on about ancient monuments and achieving dangerous childhood dreams. Make sure to poke around the rest of the site too for other neat articles including one on candy around the world and a very cool piece on visiting Peshawar.

So what does the above photo have to do with all of this? Well, nothing really, but it brings back good memories of traveling in Somaliland. This guy is an Oromo, an Ethiopian people, but he works in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa as a street vendor making tasty samosas. So. . .an Ethiopian cooking Indian food in Somaliland for a Canadian??? That sort of randomness is one of the things I love about travel!

Looking back on this week's posts I notice that there's been a lot of self-puffery. So let me puff someone else for a change, fellow Madrid writer Sue Burke, who just had a short story published on Daily Science Fiction called Zero Hour. Check it out. It's only 900 words so you can take a look while the boss isn't paying attention.

Websites for Writers: The American Folklife Center

It's Monday, so it's time for Websites for Writers, a regular feature about non-writing websites of use to people in this crazy profession.

This week's pick is the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. If you're writing fiction or nonfiction set in the U.S., this webpage is for you.

Their online collections are a goldmine. The best place to start is with their illustrated guide, which points the way to many interesting pages. My favorite is the Traditional Music and Spoken Word catalog, with recordings of everything from early blues tracks to prison songs, just the thing to get you into the mood to write your next scene. Also check out the interviews with Americans the day after Pearl Harbor, and compare with those from September 11.

You can search by state, or by region and country for their international collections. The Folklife Sourcebook will point you in the direction of other collections, publishers, and societies. They even have a Facebook page!

The Library of Congress has done a grand job making a large amount of information freely available on the web. Check out their other pages too for all sorts of goodies. I'll be featuring some of them in the future.


[Photo of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Yours truly gets interviewed

It's been a crazy few days for this midlist writer. I'm up in Oxford now researching my next few projects. Because of this I'm late telling you that I got interviewed over at Molly's Musings, a fun writing blog. I talk about my latest fiction release, travel, my writing career, and writing habits. So if you want to know a bit more about this midlist author, check it out.

Oh, and I like conducting interviews too. So if you are a professionally published author or freelance writer, drop me a line.

Interview with Su Halfwerk

Hello everyone! After a brief interlude to switch countries (from Spain to England, more on that later) we're back with another interview of an interesting writer. Today our guest is Su Halfwerk, a paranormal writer whose latest release Zuphreen is out from Damnation Books.


Tell us a bit about your new release.
Zuphreen was released by Damnation Books in June. It is a horror-urban fantasy about three unlikely friends who unwittingly unleash the horrors of hell in a vain attempt to boost their grades. Duped by their scheming professor, the friends summon an evil demon and command him to bestow his gifts upon them. But the gifts soon become curses and the friends watch in horror as they slowly turn into monsters. In a desperate race against time, the students must undo the curses before the demon's gifts destroy them forever. How far will they go to lift these curses? How deep will they sink to save themselves?
You can find the book here: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615721290


What inspires you to write about the paranormal?
I believe that the paranormal genre is the best to describe and summarize fiction. Of course, there are other genres that are fictional, but the rules are bent differently in the paranormal world. If bent romantically, then it’s paranormal romance, and if thrown into the darkest tunnel of fiction, then we cross over to horror. There’s something magical and freeing about this the paranormal.


What projects are you working on now?
I’m working on the story of a special type of hero. He’s after the man who killed his wife and daughter and scarred his son for life. But the hero’s powers come with a very frustrating sexual restriction, and he still has to maintain a good front for his glamorous day job. I’m also working on a mini-series that has few known concepts in common between them.


Besides writing, you also design book trailers. What goes into making an effective trailer?
That’s a very interesting question, Sean. A book trailer is a tool to engage the visual and auditory senses to garner interest in the book. A mash of music, photos, and sentences doesn’t always work. Having a closely-knit piece of artwork that teases the soon-to-be reader into (at least) checking the book’s price, is something different altogether.
When I work on a trailer, I start by deciding on the important scenes without giving away too much. Next step is the development of the text that will accompany the images. It shouldn’t be lengthy or telling too much, it should complement the images and not distract from them. After that, I search for the music and sound effects that goes with both text and images. Finally, the fun part, the joining of all elements into one whole entity. I work on the synchronization of the pieces together, music reaching crescendo just as a certain word of significance appears suddenly, or a musical note dwindling at the end of a sad line and even sadder image. I run the trailer by at least three people to get a feel of what emotions it invokes in them. If I get 80% of those emotions right, then I’m happy.


Where can we find you online?

· My website is: www.su-halfwerk.com

· You can catch my tweets here: http://twitter.com/SuHalfwerk

· Or read my Facebook wall posts here: www.facebook.com/Su.Halfwerk

· I blog about anything and everything over here: http://www.suhalfwerk.blogspot.com/

Thanks for being here!
Sean, thank you for the interview. I look forward to visiting again :-).

Interviewed today

Sorry for the silence this week, but my wife and I went up to Santander for a short trip. This lovely port in the northern Spanish province of Cantabria will be the subject of a post I'm doing for Gadling this weekend.

While I haven't done any blogging of my own this week, I did get interviewed on the blog of fellow writer Yolanda Sfetsos. I talk about my career and the inspiration that led me to write Dannevirke, which as far as I know is the only horror story set in the Dano-Prussian War of 1864. So click on the link on her name and check it out!

Interview with paranormal author Yolanda Sfetsos

Today here at Midlist Writer we're interviewing Yolanda Sfetsos, a talented author with several titles to her credit. Like many writers, she works in a variety of genres but her stories have a common thread of the paranormal.

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you write.

Well, my name is Yolanda and I live in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, with my husband, daughter, and cat. I spend most of my time writing stories, thinking about ideas, developing them, researching, and revising them to an inch of their lives.

I write in a variety of genres, but every one of my stories has an element of the paranormal. There’s always something otherworldly lurking in the shadows. I enjoy stepping into those shadows, and delving into dark-edged stories with characters who find themselves caught up in this darkness.

Of course, I don’t spend all of my time in front of the computer, so when I manage to step away, I enjoy spending time with my family. I also love going for daily walks, working out, watching movies, TV shows, and anime. As well as reading, I love to read!


2) What inspired you to write BOUNDLESS: Book Three of the Alyce Kerr, Faith Healer Trilogy?

The inspiration for this story--which happens to be the last one in Alyce’s trilogy--was the other two stories. Seriously, the more time I spent in Alyce’s dark world, the more I wanted to write it. It was almost like all I needed was a paragraph to get my creative juices flowing.


3) What attracts you to write about the paranormal?

Oh, I love everything paranormal/supernatural. Even when I come up with a storyline that seems normal, something paranormal eventually turns up. I can’t help it. My ears perk up whenever I hear about new paranormal books, movies, or shows.

I think it all started when I was pretty young. I was one of those kids who didn’t turn away from a scary movie; it intrigued me. I also happened to be that teenage girl who loved horror movies, and enjoyed labeling herself as a ‘horror freak’. I encouraged my friends to go and watch scary movies all the time.

It’s an attraction I haven’t been able to fight. I can’t help wondering about what lies beyond our world, and choose to let my imagination go wild with the possibilities.


4) Where can we find you online?

This is where you can find me:

Website: http://www.yolandasfetsos.com/
Blog: http://ysfetsos.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/yolandasfetsos
Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yolandasfetsos/
LiveJournal: http://yolandasfetsos.livejournal.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/yolandasfetsos

I also blog on the 18th of every month at the RomErotica Writers Blog.

Thanks so much for having me over here today, Sean!