The Same Six Questions - Nate Granzow

Where has the year gone!? Can you believe it's the 19th already? This is the 5-month anniversary of The Same Six Questions feature and I'd like to welcome my 45th guest, Nate Granzow!

Thanks, Andy! I'm a journalist by trade and I currently work as an editor for Meredith Publishing (of Better Homes and Gardens fame) in Des Moines, IA. When I'm not writing, I enjoy woodworking, leatherworking, hunting, fishing, weight-lifting, and playing the guitar.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?


Yes. My debut novel The Scorpion's Nest is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iBookstore as a digital download. It's a piece of historical fiction told as kind of action-adventure thriller. Essentially, a terrible virus is discovered during WWII, and recognizing its promising lethality, a band of German scientists are sent on a clandestine mission (Operation Scorpion's Nest) into the American southwest to unleash it upon the unsuspecting US. Seventy years later, my protagonist, Scott Kretschmer (an unemployed aircraft mechanic) witnesses a violent bank robbery where the crooks leave the money and take the last logbook from the Nazi operation. Scott suddenly finds himself trying to stop a pharmaceutical company with a Nazi past from replicating the virus and releasing it upon the world as the only provider of the antidote.


2. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

After reading Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island where the character Gideon Spillett so impressed me with his dashing behavior, bravery, and worldly knowledge. It spurred me to start my school's first newspaper out of my Dad's study when I was in the fourth grade.


3. What was your first lengthy piece of fiction (say, >1000 words)? What was it about? When did you write it? Do you still have it?

I was on an American Civil War kick for a few years when I was 10 or so. I wrote some short fiction emulating Jeff Shaara's work, and I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find it tucked away somewhere. My folks would probably have a copy—they're the kind that kept everything I wrote.


4. When was your first indication, "I can do this (write)"?

Writing has been such an integral part of my life—namely that it isn't just a hobby, but also my profession—that I never really had a moment where I realized I could make this work. At many points I've stopped and wondered how I got to where I am, but I sure wasn't cognizant of it when I first set out!


5. If you could meet one of your characters in real life, which would it be?

While I genuinely like my protagonist, Scott, and find him to be a compelling character, he doesn't seem like he'd be much fun to hang out with. I'd go with my comedic relief—Professor Timothy Alejo. The guy has a childish, inappropriate, wildly enjoyable sense of humor.


6. It's a dark and stormy night...you're alone in the house...there's a knock at the door...you open it, look out, and proceed to scream like a little girl. What's on the doorstep?

A time portal sending me back to high school.

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Fantastic, Nate! thanks so much for sharing with us. For more of Nate and his writing, be sure to check out his Web site and Facebook Page.

Thanks for stopping in! Thursday's guest will be A.P. Fuchs. See you then!