Worlds of Wonder Author Hop Day 5: Short Interview

Here's the fifth day of the World's of Wonder Author Hop, and for this one Holly presented me with some questions for a short interview that will hopefully catch you up to where I'm at right now, give you some insights into my feelings about speculative fiction and why I write it, and also give you some of my thoughts about the nutty world of publishing authors have to deal with nowadays.   There are some sobering things to think about, but I've always preferred straight talk, so I hope you both enjoy and find value in the things gleaned from my experience.
-Stephen

Holly: Can you tell us some of your latest news?

Stephen: Right now, I’m working on the 4^th Rising Dawn Saga novel, as well as polishing up several short stories.  I have new ones coming out soon for the Chronicles of Ave Collection, the Annals of the Rising Dawn Collection, and some horror short stories for a brand new themed collection called the Hellscapes.  The latter will be very intensive, inspired by my loves of Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, and Clive Barker!

2013 is poised to be a fairly busy year, with the 4^th Rising Dawn Saga novel and hopefully a new Fires in Eden novel coming out, as well as more short stories, and perhaps the first book of a new cross-genre YA series.   I’m also looking forward to the latest Harvey and Solomon story coming out in the third Dreams of Steam anthology, and plan on doing more with those two wonderful characters in 2013 as well. 

When there are enough short stories in one of my collections, a single-author collection in print is very likely too.  So as you can see, a busy year ahead indeed!

Holly: Why do you write in these genres?

Stephen: Speculative fiction is truly without limits, especially when writing in an epic scale like I do with the Fires in Eden Series and the Rising Dawn Saga.  You can go from the cosmic to the intimate, and everything in between.  Similarly, you can focus on themes involving life’s big picture, or more personal ones, with a full range of tools to address them. 

I like that kind of freedom and creative possibilities.  Further, creative arts allow you to transcend the mundane, so I am drawn towards speculative fiction because it allows for the existence of worlds of wonder, magic, and all things supernatural. 

Holly: Do you think you may ever go into other sub-genres?

I certainly intend to, as I’m not afraid to try any other sub-genre.  At the heart of every story you have to have good characters and a compelling plot.  If you have that foundation, the elements unique to various genres can be brought into the mix. 

I can say for certain that I have a space opera series mapped out.  When I get the time, it won’t take long to immerse into writing the first installment of that series.

Holly: What is your favorite part of writing?

Stephen: The actual writing is my favorite part, when I have my music playing, a cold can of Monster Energy on my desk, and am in a good flow.  The actual creative moments are by far the most rewarding.  

Some days I find myself tilting a little more towards J.D. Salinger in that I am tempted to just write a story and enjoy it for its own sake, and not worry about going through all the mess that goes with the chaotic world of publishing today.

I have often described my zone like being in a mild trance, in terms of seeing the stories transpiring mentally and then working to depict them with words.  Being in this zone is just wonderful. 

Holly: Can you tell us a few do’s and don’ts for aspiring authors?

Stephen: Understand the publishing process and the value that others bring to it, whether that involves editors, cover artists, layout/graphic design artists, blog reviewers, publicists, or anyone else who have a part to play in the publishing and promotion of a literary work.  The more you respect and value this process and the parts that others play in it, the more professional and considerate you will be while interacting on all levels.  Not everything goes smoothly or perfectly, and the more you understand how things work the more reasonable you will be when you encounter bumps on the road.  

I also think it is a good idea to keep your writing and promotion/publicity worlds separate.  I write on a separate computer, in fact, one that is not hooked up to the internet.  In this way, I help to keep my full focus on my writing, and keep potential distractions at bay that might otherwise become problematic if I was doing everything on the same system. 

Finally, I’m not a big fan of word counts, and believe it is more important to write regularly than it is to obsess over a certain number of words per session.  If you write regularly, the word count will largely take care of itself. 

Holly: What are some of the pro’s and con’s of self-publishing verses being published by a publisher in your opinion?

Stephen: There’s far less of a stigma about self-publishing than there was before, but it is important to emphasize that good self-publishing approaches publishing in the same manner that an independent press would.  From editing, to layout, to marketing, every stage of a book’s production and release must be executed properly.  Effective self-publishing assembles the right team to achieve all stages at a professional level of quality.

Publishing at the moment is really chaotic.  Old models are no longer applicable, and the ground is anything but stable. 

There really is no rhyme or reason why some things take off and become blockbusters.  Take 50 Shades of Grey for example.  There is no question there are many, many far better written books out there with the very same kind of themes, but for whatever reason this one trended and became the “hot” and “must read” release.  There was nothing unique or special the author did with 50 Shades of Grey than other peers of hers that write on the same themes.  It just happened. And the fact that a major press picked it up and put it out is no reflection of the quality level.  It merely reflects that they calculated they can make good sales with it.  I can give many more examples of titles that are not even well-edited that have sold in droves versus works of a very high literary quality that struggle to make sales, despite authors doing everything right promotionally. 

It has been one of the more gloomy realities I have discovered over the past few years, but if you want to do this as a career it is better that you understand that there is a lot of great stuff that struggles, and a whole lot of crap that sells.  And even when you understand this, it can still be a bitter pill to swallow.  I recently read two works by authors who are truly elite in their craft.  Elegant prose, spectacular word choices, loads of thought into plot and character.  Really quality literature, with depth, by two authors who have honed their craft to a razor-sharp edge. Yet they struggle to sell when a derivative urban fantasy clone of a best-seller thrown up without even having professional editing sells in the thousands.  

Go figure.  But that's how it goes. There really is a luck factor these days, but you still have to put yourself in the best position for that luck to strike. 

You are dealing with a tsunami of releases, as everybody and their cousin, brother, and mother are putting up eBooks these days, and it is indeed hard to gain attention in such a churning sea.  You are going to run into many people throwing eBooks up on Kindle and Nook thinking lightning is going to strike and they’re going to get rich.  This type does just enough to put out eBooks, and really don't have a passion for storytelling.  I see it all the time.

I’m not being pessimistic, it is just that this is the simple reality on the ground when there is zero gatekeeping for getting to market.  This is the glaring con side of the brave new world of digital publishing.   And if you remain inert, even if you have an absolute gem, the sad truth is that the legions of the mediocre will drown you out. 

Basically, if you have a passion for being a writer and a storyteller, you should just work on being the best writer and storyteller that you can be.  Understand that most likely it is going to be a very frustrating process with all the demands of promotion, social media, and the like.  Know the business as best you can, engage in regular promotion and publicity activities, but the priority should always be your stories and your writing.   After all, your love of writing is what took you on this path to begin with.    

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Worlds of Wonder Author Hop Day 4: Welcome to Ave, a World Like No Other

Welcome to day 4 of the Worlds of Wonder Author Hop!  For today's installment, I was asked to write about the world of my Fires in Eden Series.  I hope today's post gives you a good introduction to Ave, and I invite you to explore this world extensively in my novels and short stories!  

-Stephen

Welcome to Ave, a World Like No Other

Ave is the world that the Fires in Eden Series is set within.  It is pronounced “ah-vay”, just like the Latin term it is derived from.  The word itself means “hail”, and in the world of ancient Rome one would use it to greet someone of great distinction, such as an Emperor.

In the context of my series, the idea the name is getting at is a dignified greeting of life itself.  Not life in the way that most of us know it, with death, disease, and all of the brutality inherent in nature.   Rather, it is a hailing of existence over non-existence, the uniqueness of each individual spirit (whether animal, human, or other), and an unsullied state of nature like one that we humans on earth have not experienced.  It is life in its most vibrant state, a transcendent one that bears no corruption.

Obviously, in the series Ave is under assault from the same things that we are in our own world, and this is discovered by the small group from Earth who go into Ave during the first sections of Crown of Vengeance.  Aside from the struggles inherent in nature itself, such as famine, drought, disease, earthquakes, and other calamities, it is filled with cultures both human and non-human that are part of a lengthy history covering several thousand years. 

There are immortal races within Ave(But not eternal, there is a distinction between the two.  An immortal does not age or get sick, but they can be killed by violence).  They include the Wizards, who are a race of beings imbued with a variety of incredible powers.  There are also the Elves, who are quite different in outlook from those in other series like Lord of the Rings.  The Elder, a race of titanic dragons whose impact in Ave was something to behold in its first era, are another.

Beyond the immortal races there are a great variety of mortal beings and creatures populating Ave.  When it comes to the humans, many of their realms reflect cultures that we might know from our own history.  In Crown of Vengeance alone, the reader encounters and learns about cultures existing in Ave based upon the Normans, Saxons, Iroquois, Byzantines, medieval Russians, medieval Islamic world (from the Moors to the Fatimids), Vikings, and more.  As the series grows, many more are revealed.  The short story series set in Ave, the Chronicles of Ave, has also introduced the reader to other parts of Ave that resemble medieval China, sub-Saharan Africa, Ireland, and others. 

Just like earth, Ave is comprehensive in its range of cultures and ethnicities.  Book Three, Spirit of Fire, finally gave the reader a map of the lands involved in the series to that point, but it is by no means a complete map of the entire world.  There is much more ahead. 

In addition to human cultures inspired by ones from our own world, there are many non-human cultures that readers are encountering for the very first time in this world.  The underground-dwelling Unguhur, with their mushroom forests and dwellings carved out of rock are one example.  The Trogens, a brawny race of creatures with short, thick muzzles that give them a pit bull-like countenance, are perhaps my favorite.  The rat-like Atagar, the huge Gigans, the desert-dwelling, long-limbed Khala (revealed in a Chronicles of Ave short story called Land of Shadow), the bull-headed Burujin, and many, many more strange and exciting non-human cultures populate Ave and come into the story told in the Fires in Eden Series. 

There are aspects of Ave beneath the waters and in the skies that come into play, but I won’t comment much on these due to the major spoiler factor.  I will say that the Fires in Eden Series is able to take the action into unexpected environments, as there are supernatural factors, as well as races of flying creatures that many realms have trained as steeds, and other things that enable characters to engage environments that are not often encountered in other epic fantasy series.   The wars in Ave truly take place on land, sea, AND air!

I have been developing Ave ever since the series began in the mid-90’s, and I can assure the reader there is a lot more ahead than what they’ve already seen in the novels and short stories released so far.  In terms of content, I have yet to find or hear of another fantasy world with the richness and depth that Ave contains, or the sheer variety of cultures.  In this sense, I am very confident when I tell new readers who enjoy epic fantasy that they have a world like no other to explore and adventure in.  So I welcome you to Ave, a world like no other!

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Worlds of Wonder Author Hop Day 3: Character Interview with Dragol of the Fires in Eden Series

For day 3 of the Worlds of Wonder Author Hop, Holly from Full Moon Bites presented these questions for me to give to one of the characters from the Fires in Eden Series. I was able to reach Dragol, a Trogen warrior of the Thunder Wolf Clan. Trogens are tall, muscular beings with faces that have short, broad muzzles, almost like a pit bull. In this series, they are one of the many lands who have come to fight on the side of the Unifier in a war intended to end all wars, and usher in a new order.  When you first meet the Trogens in Crown of Vengeance, they appear pretty harsh and brutal, but there is a lot more to them, and I hope this interview with Dragol gives you some deeper insight to one of my absolute favorite cultures in all of Ave!
-Stephen



Interview with Dragol of the Thunder Wolf Clan:

 Holly: What single thing or goal do you want most in life?

 Dragol: I want to live a life of honor.  What a Trogen means by honor may be different from what you might understand.  I have found the ways of humans very different from those of Trogens.  Human honor may be different from Trogen honor.  But living an honorable life is the highest goal of a Trogen.  A Trogen with honor will find a home in Elysium in the next world.

 Holly: What do you fear most? 

 Dragol: I fear what every Trogen fears. To never be tested. To never be measured. To never know if my heart is strong or not.  To never know if I am truly worthy of being called a Trogen.  Those are the things to be feared. A life untested is a life not worth living.  I believe it is even worse than it is to fail.

 Holly: What’s your world like? 

Illustration of Trogen upon a Harrak from
Crown of Vengeance.
Artwork by Matthew Perry

 Dragol: The Trogen lands are to the north and west of Kiruva, a human realm, and west of the lands of the Gigans. The Trogen lands are filled with hills and great mountains. Many powerful beasts dwell there, many who our great clans are named after. The Blood Boars, the Forest Wolverines, the Mountain Bears, and others. We live in villages, but we live in the shadow of an ancient enemy.

 The Elves have long oppressed the Trogens. They sailed the seas, flew upon their steeds in the skies, and mastered weapons before my kind existed. When we settled our lands, they attacked us. They have raided us throughout the ages. When part of our lands were found to be rich in the things valued by them, metals and gems, they took that land and enslaved a great many of my kind.

It is not Trogen weakness that keeps us from freeing them. We could not build a fortress, or ships. The Elves would attack in great strength to destroy them before they were completed.

Blade to blade, we can fight them.  But we do not have their high walls or their ships.

We were able to master sky steeds, and we fly upon the great Harraks who dwell in the mountains of our lands.  Since the time of the warrior Marragesh, we have challenged the Elves in the skies.

We live at all times under threat, but our kind are strong, and we have endured.   One day we will find a way to liberate the Trogens held captive.

Our path is not an easy one.  Like a longblade, a Trogen is forged.  The world that we live in is the fire that shapes the iron of who we are.

Holly: Are you presently in love, or do you hope to find someone special? 

Dragol:  It is hard for me to understand what humans mean by love.  Do you mean a mate?  I have yet to find a mate. I will not do this until I know in my heart that I am fully worthy of being a Trogen Warrior ... fully worthy of being one of the Thunder Wolf Clan ... fully worthy of being called a Trogen. Any sons or daughters I have must be born to a father with honor, as I was born to a father with honor and a mother most strong.  I must be worthy of the respect of my mate.  I must be strong for her, as she must be strong for me.

A Trogen life is not an easy journey.  A family is a great responsibility.  Sons and daughters are reflections of those who give them life.  And they are reflections of the clan.  It is not the duty of others to raise our offspring.  It is our duty to raise them and prepare them for whatever may come.  This great responsibility is one that must be shared fully by the two who are mates.  This is why the choosing of a mate is no easy thing, for a female or a male of the Trogen kind.

I do hope that when I return to my kind I can find a mate.  I want to have strong sons and daughters, and a mate I respect, honor, and share life with.

Holly: Sum up your life in the last few weeks in 150 words or less. 

Illustration from Spirit of Fire of a
Trogen Warrior in combat against
a knight.
Artwork by Matthew Perry

Dragol: The fighting had just begun over the tribal lands, the place the humans call the Five Realms. While protecting the huge Darroks sent by the Unifier, the warriors under my command did not heed my command and became reckless when I saw a great force of Midragardan warriors approaching through the skies upon Fenraren steeds.

I did not wish to throw my life away so uselessly when they went against my command and rushed to certain defeat. I landed my steed on the ground and took to the forests where the enemy dwelled.  It was there that I met the Wanderer. He is of human appearance, but I believe him to be a Wizard as he has done much to show he has great powers.

He was like a guide to me, even to the moment when I was taken captive by tribal warriors.  Much has happened since then, and I am still held by the tribal humans as another journey begins.


 Holly: Do you have any words of wisdom you think everyone should live by? 

Live always with honor.  It is hard to explain this to humans.  Trogens do not care for the gold and silver that seems to rule you.  You deceive each other, kill each other, steal from each other over metal from the ground.  The worth of a Trogen has nothing to do with what things they possess.  The worth of a Trogen is measured by what they have done.  Courage ... strength ... loyalty ... these are some of the things that are part of living with honor.  It is earned.  It is built.  It is forged.  It is not given.

Holly:  If you could change one thing of your past would you? If so, what would it be and why?

There is nothing I would change.  I may know and realize more now than I did before.  But the path that led to where I am today brought me what I needed to have the understanding I have in my heart now.  I have always sought to be true to myself.  I have made unwise choices, but I have learned from these times and grown.



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