Resolutions Shmesolutions

It's that time of year. You know. The last day of the year as determined by a certain group of little beings that populate the third planet from the sun (that's us, btw...unless you're some of those other little beings that have a different New Year...rebels). It's a time to raise a glass of (alcoholic or non) beverage of choice and say one of two things "Here's to a better year" or "Here's to a year as good as the last." And it's also that time of year when people make promises to themselves (and sometimes others) about the coming year (promises may vary depending on alcoholic content of aforementioned beverage).

Being a writer, you can imagine that most of my previous resolutions involve, well...writing. And, this year is no different, but it occurred to me today that it's a waste of time to make a resolution today just because everyone else is doing it. What we should really be doing, whether you're a writer or not, is to stop making promises of what we will do and commit to taking action every day to reach our goals. So, join me in making a promise to stop making promises we can too easily ignore. Let's change our attitude. Let's make a commitment each day to do something that will make a positive impact on the things we want to change. So, here's my top five daily "resolutions."

1. Work on my novels every day, even if it's only a paragraph.
2. Read more.
3. Spend less time procrastinating (eg, surfing internet, playing video games).
4. Work out at least 3 days a week.
5. Eat out less.

Comments are very much welcome and feel free to leave your own daily resolutions! Happy New Year everyone!  

Stop Pointing the Finger

An event like the recent shooting in Connecticut will stir emotion from the coldest heart. I have seen the argument begin with gun control, shift to mental health issues, and land with conspiracy theory. And it all comes back to the fact that, as human beings, we need to justify what happened, even if it's on the most base level. We have a need to try and make sense of the senseless. And, the problem is, no matter how many details come out, we'll never truly understand what led a young man in Connecticut to gun down his mother and then proceed to an Elementary school and kill small children and educators.

People want to blame guns. Being a liberal, I'll admit to leaning in favor of gun control myself. I understand that guns don't kill people, people kill people. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I understand your desire to hunt. I understand your desire to protect your family. But, you know what? There needs to be a limit. I don't care who you are. You shouldn't be able to walk into a store, or shop online, and purchase a fully automatic weapon. Bambi isn't that fast/stealthy/monstrous. You don't live in a war zone. And collecting? I don't know. I think collecting anything in such a quantity that it could be used to wipe out a battalion is a tad excessive, to say the least. And don't give me that bullshit about the Second Amendment being in place in case the government needs to be put in its place. No matter how bad you think it is, we don't live in that country. Get over it.

People want to blame mental health care, or the lack of ease with which it can be obtained. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that topic. Mental health is a slippery slope at best. It may seem obvious when someone has a history of mental health problems, but it's not something that can be "seen" in most cases. And, even if it is something that’s being dealt with, as in the case of the Colorado movie theater shooter, there’s nothing to stop the individual from taking action. Mental health care is only going to work if it’s being applied to an individual who is willing to be cared for. Its usefulness ends the moment care stops.

People want to blame the media. Well, they want to blame the media for a lot of things. But, we only have ourselves to blame for that one. The media simply feeds the beast what it wants. If we didn't want interviews with 6-year-olds about the horror of what happened, they wouldn't occur. If the websites that had these stories were getting no hits, you wouldn't be reading about how frightened little Tommy was, or how one child was "heroic," or the gorier details of how the six kids who ran got mown down. But, we want to know the details, don't we? We can't help but try and look into death's eyes and see ourselves or our children. What would we have done in their shoes? Would we have thrown ourselves in harm’s way? Or prayed for divine intervention? Or stared in the face of a crying child and told them it would be alright even when we knew it would not? And, for those of us with children, the toughest questions of all: What would your son or daughter have done? What if that was your son or daughter? That is when I have to turn it off, for I have no desire to imagine the possibility. So, blame the media all you want, but they are only giving you what you want, what you've asked for. We cry out "Why?" and they answer. Personally, I agree, in theory, with keeping the killer's name out of the media. I haven't mentioned it here because I don't want to contribute to his historical record. A part of me does believe that these people do such heinous things in order to leave a mark on a world that would have otherwise forgotten them the moment they passed. In a world that glorifies so many for so little, the average person is made to feel inconsequential. To the irrational mind, what better way to make your mark on the world?

People want to blame a God-less society. Please, don't get me started. I'm going to tread cautiously here because I don't want to really offend anyone. But, if there's one thing this world could use, it's a little less God-based judgment and a little more open-minded common sense. The things that have been done in the name of God (whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, matters little) over the years is shameful. And just because your religion has found some semblance of humanity in the last 50 years or so does not wipe away hundreds of years of oppression. So, don't dare tell me that having a God, any God, in his life might have changed his actions. God's "will" has been manipulated to justify cruelty to man a million times over. When 9 men flew planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, they did so with the understanding that it was their God's plan. 'Nuff said on that point.

I think it's important to talk about things like this. However, I think it's more important to understand how it happened and not who perpetrated it. What, as a society, can we do differently today that will make something like this a thing of the past? It will happen again, we know this much. There are horrible people in this world and all the rules, regulations, and prayers will not stop them. A knee-jerk response is the easiest. The tough part is taking a good look at who we are and what we can do to make a change. Because, in the end, the killer was a product of the society in which he lived. This society. Our society. We made him. We have only ourselves to blame. So, there you have it. Stop asking why. Stop trying to point the finger. Change what you can. Have a positive impact on those around you. Don’t expect others to step up and take responsibility. Do what you can to craft an open-minded society that takes care of its own without shutting out what we don’t understand. Do what you can to make sure that we never have to ask “Why?” ever again.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

It's been a very distracting summer. But, more than likely, I've sought out distractions because I haven't been happy with my writing. Part of that was due to the fact that I'd never truly pinned down an ending to my trilogy. Kind of hard to get somewhere when you don't know where you're going. Well, I've pinned it down. I know how book #3 of the Trilogy of the Six will end. Now, it's a matter of un-distracting myself and finishing the job. I hope I'll still have a few readers left when I finally release book #2. It has now been over a year since Multiples was released, and the excuses are starting to wear thin. I hope your writing is going smoothly.

Cheers,

Andy

The Same Six Questions - C.W. LaSart

Hello there, and welcome back to The Same Six Questions! Today's guest is C.W. LaSart. In her own words:

A lifelong horror fan, C.W. LaSart resides in the Midwest with her beloved Lou, 3 young children, and 2 neurotic dogs. A mother with a love for horror movies and a father who read her Poe from an early age, fostered in her a love for the horror genre and she has done her best to do the same for her own children, often warning teachers at conferences that it's Halloween at her house every day of the year, and not to worry too much about their gleeful darkness.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

Yes I have. My first collection of short stories,
Ad Nauseam: 13 Tales of Extreme Horror, was released in early March by Dark Moon Books and is doing quite well. I entered a contest for extreme horror and the publisher liked my submission so much that he closed the contest and contracted me for the whole book. I'm excited by the responses I've gotten from it, and it's just fun to be able to share my stories with so many others. The stories are extreme in nature, so they aren't for everyone, but if you're tired of the same old slasher/
zombie/vampire stuff, it may be just what you're looking for.

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

I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a writer. I didn't necessarily dream of being an author when I grew up, but I always enjoyed writing and planned to continue on. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I even entertained the thought of publishing what I wrote. Until then, I wrote just for the fun of it.

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 think it was probably an essay in Jr. High School. Something dreadful about teen suicide and depression. Before that I only wrote poetry. I have a folder full of everything I've ever done, but most of it is embarassing in its immaturity. I used to make little books for my mom in elemetary school. They were blatant plagiarism, but I think she still has them somewhere.

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

I submitted my first short story about two years ago and it was accepted at the first place I tried. Over the next twelve months, I had a phenomenal acceptance rate wherever I tried, but it wasn't until I got contracted for Ad Nauseam that I started to think I may be able to actually do this for a living. I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the three winners of the Cemetery Dance Amatuer Writing Contest, which qualified me to become an Affiliate member of the Horror Writer's Association, which also cemented my resolve that I may be able to do all right.

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

Oh lord. None of them! They are all such twisted and miserable creatures. I suppose in a way I have already met all of them, since I tend to borrow bits and pieces from people I know, but in their entirety, they are a bit too horrific for my tastes. I would much prefer to meet someone else's characters. Maybe someone from Stephen King or Robert McCammon.

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 huge spider, selling Avon and wearing toe-socks. I hate toe-socks!

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LOL...thanks for sharing with us today! For more of C.W. and her writing, be sure to check out her Web site, Facebook page, and Twitter profile.

The Same Six Questions is always seeking independent authors to interview. If you're a fan and you know someone who might be interested, please be sure to send them my way.

The Same Six Questions - Aliya Anjum

Hi there and welcome to this special birthday edition of The Same Six Questions. Whose birthday, do you ask? Why, mine! :D Give a warm welcome to today's guest, Aliya Anjum.

Thank you, Andy! Thank you for this opportunity to engage readers on your blog. As for me, I am from the coastal city of Karachi, Pakistan, which happens to be quite like NYC as it's the commercial capital of Pakistan, oozing with diversity. As of now, I am a full-time author, but I have briefly owned the avatars of an international banker, university lecturer, and government employee. Wanderlust runs in my blood and I simply love to travel. I love cats, shopping, chocolate, and reading. I am an avid swimmer and I enjoy the outdoors a great bit. One day I hope to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, explore the Amazonian rain forests, and see Yeti on Tibetan mountains!

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

I have published more than one book, but since I am to discuss one of them I'd talk about my short story An Arranged Marriage. It is based on true events in the lives of four Pakistani women Physicians in the US. The story is close to my heart because it was the first adult fiction I wrote. It touches upon many themes, including immigration, diversity, assimilation, diaspora socio-economics, and, last but not the least, relationships.

Its available through Amazon, Smashwords, Apple iTunes, Barnes&Noble, Sony Books, and Kobo books.


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

I was always the writer. I used to write short snippets and poems when I was barely seven years old. They did'nt make it to print, but my family did appreciate my efforts. I wish I still had those small notebooks but, unfortunately, I don't. Till recently, when I was pursuing a regular career, I did write for newspapers as a freelancer and I had plans to one day write books, after retirement maybe. Then, one day, after a tiff with my boss in 2008, I got motivated to write fiction and I wrote 8 horror short stories for YA. I sent them off to the National Book Foundation's Competition and ended up receiving a Commendation Certificate. I was then encouraged to write more and ever since then I have penned down adult fiction and non-fiction. I am now a full time author.


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?

As I already mentioned, my first piece was a horror short story for YA. Titled The Farmhouse, I plan to publish it on Amazon soon and it may be available in print by the time this interview is published. I find that when I write about a character, I find myself playing that character in my head. In this story, the protagonist is a 14-year-old boy and I could feel his adventurous spirit enter me as I wrote about his tryst with the supernatural. I may add, that I borrowed a part of the story from two real unexplained encounters I had heard from a friend and an acquaintance, respectively. Quite likely they were making up the stories, but even then it's good matter for my story.


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

I never had a Eureka! moment, as far as writing fiction is concerned. However, I have been a creative person all my life. I could improvise stories that I would tell my younger cousins when I was 14. During my undergrad, my advertising project was top rated, so much so that years later my professor remembered me and my project, when I ran into him. Even my graduate thesis in the US was linked to animated characters, and the thesis committee was impressed with my creativity. As I stated that I had a tiff with my boss, and it stoked the flames of creative expression in me, as I felt I was not being appreciated. In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise, since now I do what I enjoy doing!


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

I am writing my first novel these days. If there was one character I could meet in real life, it would be the hero of my novel. I am in love with him! He's just so likable! :)


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 mouse or, even worse, a wet rat! I can see myself not just screaming, but also quickly shifting on my feet, lest it touches me. Its a black rat, I see its eyes, they seem to be looking at me. Eeek! its moving towards me at lightening speed. Good God! how can such a small thing move so fast. Better close the door before he comes in. Hurry! hurry hurry! Still shifting on my feet *phew* door closed. Safe at last!

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Thanks so much for sharing with us, Aliya! For more of Aliya and her writing, be sure to check out her blog!

Stop back in on Monday, when my guest will be C.W. LaSart! See you!

The Same Six Questions - Jennifer Word

Welcome back everyone! I just spent a week in sunny Arizona. Beautiful state, but we were running around like crazy and I'm glad to be home, sleeping in my own bed.

Jennifer Word is an award-winning poet and editor inSouthern California. She holds a B.A. inPsychology from Pepperdine University. Her short fiction and poetry has been featured in The Storyteller Magazine, The Klondike Sun, Dark Moon Digest, Dark Eclipse e-Magazine, and the Frightmares and Slices of Flesh anthologies. She is also the author of The Poe Toaster, All Because of the Cat, and Higher Love.

Jennifer lives with her two beautiful children. When she's not busy writing, she enjoys Yoga, and taking care of her two cats, two guinea pigs and a plecostamus in a homemade aquarium.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

The Society - Book One: Genesis is my debut novel. It is a Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction novel, and it's book one of a trilogy now available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I have also published three separate stories through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing.

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

I knew I wanted to be a writer from about age nine or ten. I had a fourth grade teacher tell me I was a writer, and it inspired me to dream big. It was a teacher that started all my dreams of wanting to be a writer.

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?

My first story, I wrote in the fourth grade. It was a horror story about a black cat and a curse. I'm not certain how many words long it was, but it won first place in the Make-A-Book contest in my elementary school. Later, I just jumped in and began writing, at age 34, and I wrote five novels in four months!

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

When I received a publishing contract through Stony Meadow Publishing for my trilogy, I said, "Wow, I can really do this!" It was so unexpected, but I was floored! My debut novel is so meaningful to me, and the series means a lot to me. I hope it will inspire many readers to realize that there are no insignificant people in this world. Everyone is here for a reason, and everyone plays an important role in the lives of others, simply by existing.

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

I would like to meet my main character from my trilogy, Jessica Wembly. She is so lost, yet so important in the role of humanity. I wouldn't mind meeting all the characters from The Society. They are all amazing people, and I have wished so many times that they were real. My children think I am crazy, because I talk about my characters as if they are real people, but to me, they are. They are a conglomeration of people I have met in real life, friends, family. They are everyday people that anyone can relate to.

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?

Vampires, werewolves, all the B-movie monsters. I would say, "Bring it on," and I would have the Monster Squad to back me up, including Rudy with his bow and arrow!! And Stephen King would be right there to chronicle and write about the War that would ensue.

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Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Jennifer! For more of Jennifer and her work, be sure to check out her Web site.

Stop back in on Thursday when my guest will be Aliya Anjum! See you then!

The Same Six Questions - Axel Howerton

Welcome to today's edition of The Same Six Questions! Give a warm welcome to author Axel Howerton!

Author. Film reviewer. Music writer. Time Lord. Bookhouse Boy. Coffee Addict. Dudeist. Sox National. Enmascarado. Reformed pugilist. Ink Monkey. Best known for his work as an entertainment journalist, Axel is thelong-time Managing Editor of www.eyecrave.net. Axel also recently acted as Associate Editor for the first four issues of the horror fiction quarterly Dark Moon Digest. His work has most recently appeared in Kitschykoo Magazine, Dark Eclipse #4, EWR: Short Stories, Fires on the Plain, Dark Moon Digest #3, and many more. He is also the co-founder (with fellow author Julie Jansen) of the annual "Coffin Hop" horror author online event, which takes place in October and has featured over one hundred of the best Indie writers and artists of at least four continents.

Axel spends most of his time in Calgary, Alberta, traversing the frigid tundra of Canada - usually two steps behind his brilliant young sons, and a wife that is way out of his league.

The Same Six Questions

1.Have you published a book yet?

I have been published in books. I have actually just put the finishing touches on my novel Hot Sinatra which should be available in the next couple of months. I've had incredibly positive feedback from some fellow authors like Red Tash (author of the amazing This Brilliant Darkness) and Scott S. Phillips (Squirrel Eyes, Gimme Skelter). Here's the quick synopsis:


Moss Cole is a private detective. The kind you thought only existed in old movies and afternoon reruns. He's looking for a stolen Sinatra record... one that may be a figment of one cantankerous old bastard's imagination.

Of course, if that were true, Moss wouldn't have so many people busting down his door and threatening his life. He's smart, talented, sometimes even charming. You'd think he could find a better gig than carrying on his grandfather's legacy as a 'Private Dick'.

A vivacious redhead, a foul-mouthed Irish rock star and half the crazies in L.A. add up to business as usual, when all Cole wants is some fresh coffee and a Hot Sinatra...

The first three chapters are available as "added-value material" on the kindle version of my novella Living Dead at Zigfreidt & Roy. Axel's Amazon writing.


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

Can I use the ol' standby of “always”? Like a lot of writers, I was a very voracious reader at a very young age. I started writing stories in some form or another as soon as I had figured out the alphabet. By elementary school, I was putting out my own comic books and books of jokey poetry with my friends. I first had articles published when I was twelve. I focused more on poetry for a long time, just because it was better for wooing. I also gravitated towards screenwriting for a while, making terrifically bad movies in High School.


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?

Probably a story for grade ten English class. I think it was supposed to be a page or two, mine ballooned to twelve or thirteen pages of prime Steven Seagal-inspired hitman/ninja madness. I remember the teacher was supportive, but duly shocked by the content. There were numerous episodes of dismemberment and beheading, a couple of “creamy white breasts”, and a whole lotta F-bombs. I'm still pretty fond of the F-bombs. I'm sure I probably have it buried in a box somewhere, along with a couple of slasher movie scripts from the era and a few books full of bad poetry inspired by Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics.


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

Also, like most writers, I am a hopeless feedback whore. I doubt I'll ever be entirely confident or believe I'm accepted as a real writer, but that's just one face of the beast that drives us. Positive comments from writers I really admire and respect goes a long way, so I try to be very open and thankful when I get it. I also try to pass it on when newer writers ask for advice or validation. I know a lot of people who treat this industry as a cut-throat competitive battleground, but I think that is really counter-productive. How much better would it be if we all helped each other get better? How much greater would a world filled with amazing tales and rich, colorful, ORIGINAL stories be? Am I avoiding the question?


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

Good lord. That's a hullabalooza. I think most characters come from facets of the writers own psyche. So, in a sense, I've met them all because they all are me. That's kind of a dippity pseudo-psychology answer, though. If I was going to hang out with one? Foxy Thunders from Hot Sinatra is a good pick. He's a wild, foul-mouthed, womanizing party-hound. Good-time incarnate. If I didn't have to worry about getting beaten or arrested, I think I'd have a hell of a time with him. Conversely, I'd love to just sit in a room and have a coffee with the old cowboy from Living Dead at Zigfreidt & Roy. He's basically all the best memories of my dear departed Grandaddy, who flavors pretty much everything I do. I miss him something terrible most days.


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?

An army of ghosts, the spirits of legends passed, James Joyce at the fore. A bottle of whiskey in one hand, one of my books in the other. “Well? Come on then.”

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Thanks for sharing with us today, Axel! Be sure to stop back and let us know when Hot Sinatra is finished! You can find Axel at his Web site and follow him on Twitter.

The Same Six Questions is on Spring Break for a week! We'll see you back here on April 16th.

The Same Six Questions - Scott S. Phillips

Hey, Happy April! Can you believe it's here already? Me neither. Give a warm Spring welcome to today's guest, Scott S. Phillips!

Thanks for letting me step up to the plate, Andy! I've been a professional screenwriter for the last 17 years, and before that I wrote some comics and short stories. I wrote the cult action movie DRIVE (the one with Mark Dacascos, not the one with Ryan Gosling), a bunch of episodes of the CW Network series KAMEN RIDER DRAGON KNIGHT, and a few cheesy low-budget movies. My first published novel was FRIDAY THE 13TH: CHURCH OF THE DIVINE PSYCHOPATH. I love me some Star Trek (Original Series, natch), classic rock, and playing my KISS and Evel Knievel pinball machines. I spend my days dividing my time between writing and serving the whims of my Chihuahua. Greatest achievement: being Lemmy's stand-in for a Motorhead video.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

Several, the most recent being Pete, Drinker of Blood - Part 1, a serial novel in 8 parts. Pete is an idea I’ve been kicking around since 1999 when I was living in Hollywood and feeling sort of adrift and a bit vampiric myself. It’s an oddball take on the genre, about a reluctant blue-collar vampire with insomnia who was “turned” in the early 1970s and has never moved past that. He works nights for the Department of Water and Power, and hates the typical Goth-type vampires, especially the music they listen to. He winds up getting all crushed-out on the cute bartender at the Sunset Strip dive bar he hangs out in, and everything goes haywire when the sinister vampire who turned the L.A. vamps returns to reclaim his children. I’m a big vampire fan and wanted to play with the cliches — there’s a lot of humor but it’s not parody by a long shot.

I decided to experiment with the serial novel format while writing a comic book mini-series recently. I had written Pete as a screenplay, but a year or so ago I started adapting it as a novel, then got sidetracked by other writing projects. When I came back to it I realized it was perfect for the serial approach. Parts 1 and 2 are available now for Kindle, Nook and at Smashwords, with new installments released monthly (part 3 will be out in April).


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

It sort of happened by accident when I was a kid. I used to make cheesy Super-8 movies, and I discovered that it made for better flicks if I wrote something beforehand, rather than making ‘em up as I went along (imagine that!). These were silent films, so the scripts were little 4 or 5 page things with no dialogue, just bare-bones outlines of the action. It just developed from there, but my original scheme was to be a stop-motion animator like Ray Harryhausen before the writing kind of took over my brain.


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?

When I was 18 I wrote my first feature-length screenplay. It was this terrible wish-fulfillment thing wherein me and my friends hung out with the Go-Go’s and the Ramones, and all those who opposed us were destroyed. Or something. There was some over-arcing storyline about unrequited love and mean jocks getting their comeuppance, but mostly it was an episodic mess. If I remember right, it was called BRIEF OBSESSIONS. And yup, I still have it but I fear that my friends will find it and do a dramatic reading over my grave during the funeral, so I should probably burn it.


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

I’d say that happened at the exact moment I made my first short story sale. It was a saucy little number called “Truckstop Novel” that was purchased by Chic Magazine when I was in my mid-twenties. I had written at least one other feature-length script by that time, but it was receiving that check in the mail that made me think I ought to keep putting words on paper, especially if there was a chance I’d be able to wangle more people into paying me to do it.


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

That’s kind of a toughie. I wouldn’t mind sitting around with Pete, talking classic rock over a couple beers (well, a beer for me, anyway) whilst cranking Tommy or Led Zeppelin IV, but I think Boone Butters — a character from my novel Squirrel Eyes, now starring in his own series of stories (the first of which is Roomies) — might be a decent guy to hang out with, too. He smells a little funny, though.


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?

The Woodbooger. Of course. (Editor's note: Bigfoot...Viginia style. ;)

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Thanks for stopping by and sharing with us, Scott! For more of Mr. Phillips and his writing, check out his Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads pages.

Stop back on Thursday when my guest will be Axel Howerton. See you then!

The Same Six Questions - David Kazzie

Another episode of The Same Six Questions is upon us! Welcome today's guest, David Kazzie.

Thanks, Andy! I am a novelist and lawyer in Virginia, where I live with my family. When I'm not writing or obsessing about writing, I like to spend time with the family, read, watch movies, get some exercise, and eat bad food to counter the effects of exercise.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

I published The Jackpot to the various e-reader platforms in May 2011. It's about a young attorney who discovers that her financially desperate boss is planning to steal their new client's huge lottery ticket and her quest to return it to it rightful owner.

After a not-very-great 2011 for sales, I pulled the book from the other retailers and enrolled the book in KDP Select in January. After a successful freebie promotional run on January 25 and January 26, the book took off and became the No. 1 Legal Thriller on Kindle for about 4 days. It was the #1 Mover & Shaker in the Kindle Store on Jan. 27, and it reached No. 34 in the Paid Store on Jan. 31.


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

Looking back, I think I knew all along. As a kid, I wrote short stories, mostly about sports, I wrote my own Choose-Your-Own Adventure books (I used a real book for the template to get the page numbers to line up properly). I got away from it for a while as I pursued the normal grown-up route, but eventually, I saw the light. To be honest, I have no idea how good a writer I am, but I'm probably better at writing than I am at anything else.


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?

It was probably one of those CYOA books, written when I was probably 11 or 12 years old. I wrote several of them (by hand, no less) -- the one that sticks out was called Escape from Alcatraz. The premise was that you were incarcerated on Alcatraz (for a crime that you, of course, did not commit), and you were trying to escape from the prison.

My first lengthy piece of real fiction was a short story about a lottery ticket called The Winner, which I wrote in 1999. It was published in a now-defunct literary magazine. Although the story is quite a bit different than The Jackpot, I guess you could say the novel had a few of its seeds there.


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

It came to me a little bit at a time. I went for years without ever wondering whether I was any good at it. When I was writing for my college newspaper in the early 90s, I interviewed for a summer internship with a large daily newspaper. After reviewing my clips, the interviewer told me that I was as good a writer as he'd seen in the
college ranks. That stuck with me, and I kept building my confidence from there.


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

Charles Flagg, the homicidal mercenary from my novel. He believes that humanity has become weak, and that it's his duty to "thin the herd" so that we continue to evolve as a species. I'd be curious to see if he thought I measured up.


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 clown. I would probably experience a psychotic break.

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Thanks so much for sharing with us, David! For more of David and his writing, be sure to check out his blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Swing back on Monday when my guest will be Scott S. Phillips. See you then!

The Same Six Questions - Cora Buhlert

Welcome back Same Six faithful! And a rousing Monday-morning Hello! to all the newcomers to this ongoing interview series, The Same Six Questions! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Please say hello to today's guest, Cora Buhlert!

Thanks, Andy! I live in Bremen in North Germany – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. But don't worry, I write in English. I have an MA degree in English and am currently working towards my PhD. When I'm not writing, I work as a teacher and technical translator.

The Same Six Questions

1. Have you published a book yet?

Several books actually. At the moment, I'm at fourteen and counting. But before you get too awed, most of those are reprinted backlist short stories and novelettes. I have published several historical shorts and novelettes, a series of short thrillers in the style of the pulp magazines of the 1930s about a pulp writer who fights crime in the guise of a masked avenger called The Silencer (the first story is called Countdown to Death (The Silencer) and has The Silencer facing the electric chair) as well as a scattering of other stuff. Jack – or rather Jane – of all genres, that's me.

You can buy my books at Amazon, OmniLit/All Romance, DriveThru Fiction and XinXii.


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

I've been telling stories all my life and I wanted to tell stories for a living since elementary school. However, I have a very visual imagination. And so I wanted to tell my stories in film form for many years, first as an animator and - once I realized that I couldn't draw for the life of me - as a director of live-action movies. I even went as far as joining the local amateur film club, until I realized that: a) movies were a team effort and b) I wasn't much of a team player.

I had already written my first stories at that point and even had a short story published in the literary magazine of my university, so I thought, "Forget the movies! I'll become a writer." And here I am.


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?

In high school I penned and composed an opera called Sino and Sana, because I happened to love opera. The libretto for that opera, a standard fairy tale plot of royal twins lost in the woods, was most likely longer than 1000 words, though the credit would have been shared between me and my then best friend.

A bit later I started my first novel, a science fiction tale of which I remember nothing except that it started with a flying red sportscar kidnapping two teenaged girls with a tractor beam and flying them out over the San Francisco Bay. Why San Francisco? I haven't the foggiest idea, except that I somehow thought it was a cool setting. Again, I'm pretty sure I got further than 1000 words before the idea fizzled out.

My first finished piece of fiction, which exceeded 1000 words, was a short story called Neverending Nightmare which I wrote in twelfth grade. It was a bizarre story about a girl who was turned into a plant by a mad scientist and then chopped up and served as salad and somehow managed to stay conscious through it all. There was also an ambitious circular structure, which I remember sketching in my notebook during German class.

Thankfully, all of those early attempts have been lost during countless computer updates.


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

During my second semester at university, when I wrote a short story for a writing/composition class and the teacher suggested that I submit it to a British newspaper which had a regular short story feature. Of course, my little story was rejected, but the fact that the teacher believed enough in my writing abilities to make me mail the story proved to be invaluable encouragement.

The next indication was when one of my short stories was published in New Leaf, the literary magazine of my university. Of course, I didn't get paid and I didn't even get my contributor's copies until several months later, because I happened to be doing a semester abroad when the issue with my story came out. But seeing my name in print for the first time was still a great feeling.


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

Probably Stella d'Anvers, singer, dancer and sorceress (in that order), from an upcoming story called Cartoony Justice. Why? Stella is fun to hang out with and unlikely to cause trouble or get me killed. Besides, she's one of my all-time favourite characters and I haven't done anything awful to her yet, therefore she is unlikely to harbour a grudge against me.

The Silencer, a.k.a. Richard Blakemore, would certainly be fascinating to meet, but he does have the tendency to get himself into trouble and bullets are likely to start flying whenever he's around.


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?

It's my three favourite writers, Jane Austen, Isaac Asimov, and Thomas Pynchon. That is, I think it's them, since Asimov and Jane Austen are rather decomposed by now and no one knows what Pynchon actually looks like.

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Thanks for stopping by today, Cora! Find Cora online at her author and publisher Web sites.

See you back here on Thursday, when my guest will be Steve Kazzie!