The Inside Scoop on Geoff Nelder

Today, I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming Geoff Nelder, an award-winning author of thriller, fantasy, and science fiction. Geoff is also co-editor of a new science fiction magazine titled, “Escape Velocity”. Geoff made three humorous contributions to Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting and Writing by Hollywood Insiders and Published Authors. We’ll talk to Geoff about his books, his magazine, and his contributions to Inside Scoop, but I warn you, Geoff might just crack you up.

Welcome to The Book Connection, Geoff. It’s great to have you with us.

Cheryl, the pleasure is all mine.

When you first contacted me about this interview you mentioned biscuits and tea. Sounds English. Is that where you hail from? Do you still live in England?

I hail from Earth, but I live in the bit called England.

How long have you been writing? Have you always viewed the world with a sense of humor?

I have been writing since schooldays, when I wrote skits for end of semester stage shows.

Who would you say is your biggest source of inspiration?

Tibor Fischer plays with words in a way that I appreciate, admire and make my chuckle muscles ache. Read his The Thought Gang and you’ll see what I mean. Less obviously, one of your countrymen living in Paris, Howard Waldman, has an inspiring flair for writing – try his Back There and his soon to be released Good Americans Go To Paris When They Die.


You’ve recently had a short story published in the literary magazine, Delivered. Would you like to tell us about it?

"Camera Shy" came to me while sipping lemon tea at a pavement café in the Place de Concorde, Paris. A thief dismounts from his bicycle to ‘help’ then steal a video camera from a tourist couple. They use his bicycle to give chase down in the Metro underground. The confrontation is where the twist and countertwist screws when the wife pieces together the real reason why her hubby is so keen to recover what is recorded in the camera. Writing a chunk of a story while on location always gives me a buzz. Hey I get a prize if readers vote for my Camera Shy in the March edition of Delivered – get it from Grimmy Productions.

Why don’t you tell us about some of the story collections you’ve contributed to.

My favorite crime story is "Fake Fake" that appeared in Shots Magazine. Two bungling burglars steal a famous Van Gogh painting and sell it to the wrong people. The story is based on a real Van Gogh stolen painting, yet to be recovered. I understand the police are taking their clues from my story…



Let’s talk about Escaping Reality. It’s listed on your website as a humor thriller, crime mystery with a dash of romance. Okay, how in the heck did you pull all that off?

It is the novel that grew inside me as a young man and finally burst out in 2005. The protagonist is thrown into prison and escapes to prove his innocence. He uses humor, like I do, to overcome adversity. If you are a kid trapped in an adult’s body then it isn’t difficult to find hilarity all around you, particularly when real adults are so po-faced.

How can writers add humor to lighten up their stories without making it seem out of place?

Good question. Next?

Oh, all right. Don’t deliberately use humor to lighten a story. It has to fall into the subtext naturally, or it will feel forced. Often an observation of real life is simple and simply funny. For example, from Escaping Reality is this:
'...a wheeled basket was pulling an old lady down towards the shops on the other side of the road.'

Even in a dangerous episode the way the endangered protagonist thinks helps him to survive trauma. Example:
‘Through half-closed puffy eyes I could see they were considering their next step. It wasn't so much their conversation because two of them hadn't said anything at all and the talkative one had only uttered two words. Actions speak louder than words. They seemed to operate with some sort of low-life telepathy. I've seen it before. Knowing looks, eyebrow elevation semaphore, short jerks of the head, shrugging shoulders and grunts. Why use complicated language, fraught with the dangers of using the wrong words and all the permutations of ambiguity?’



Tell us about “Escape Velocity”. How did it get started? Where can readers get a copy?

Robert Blevins runs Adventure Books of Seattle. He and I have edited his company’s novels and then we realized that between us we had a truckload of unpublished short stories we’d written. We threw some of them into an anthology, Dimensions, which is still available here Adventure Books of Seattle. Although we were satisfied with that publication it struck us that we could involve many other writers if we created a magazine. Now, only in its second issue yet the magazine sells better than the books. "Escape Velocity" has its own website for purchase here: http://www.escapevelocitymagazine.com

Do you accept outside submissions or is this magazine entirely staff written?

After the first issue, it would feel too much like vanity to use our own stories in the magazine – and so we defeat our own original purpose! We write articles and editorials but are open to science fiction stories from any good writer. Please read the submission guidelines in the above link first, even if you send a packet of biscuits stapled to your e-mail.

Let’s move on to Inside Scoop. How did you get involved in this project?

Marilyn Peake and I bumped into each other in a couple of writers’ forums and that latent spark of love and recognition burst into everlasting flame – or something like that.

Your article “Where the Spanish are German, the English are Scottish and the Sheep Wear Cowbells” is about what writers can learn by traveling to places they hope to write about. Is this something that you do frequently?

Absolutely. As a former teacher of Geography I used to get irritated by the use of theoretical models that were the vogue in the 80s. Kids would learn about NewTown and NewPort and know nothing about real places. Now I see that in stories and I see no point in making up places when there are so many colorful real and vibrant towns. But to grab a feel for those places I need to breathe in their air, smell their wild plants, and kiss their women, and so forth. It is a bit trickier in science fiction, but I have a ticket waiting for the next bus to Saturn’s rings.

You talk about Internet research in your next article, “Foraging the Forumiferii (or
using Internet forums for writing research)”. What can you tell us about this one?

I was commissioned by a cycling magazine to research and write a piece on why dogs chase and bark at cyclists. There are so many Yahoo and other forums inhabited by cyclists, dog owners, sound engineers and scientists that they presented an ideal opportunity to forage them for information. I had over 2,000 responses from ‘because they can’ to a book-length essay from an ethologist on canine psychiatry.

Your last article, “The Mob and Hotels: Elements of Research in the Writing of Escaping Reality” talks about the real-life background research you did for your novel. Sounds dangerous. Were you ever worried that what you uncovered could be harmful to you or your loved ones?

I am too ignorant and foolish to realize any danger I put myself and my family into at the time. When you have taught 5,000 people no matter how much I hoped they’d all become model citizens – at least whacky anarchistic but friendly citizens – some were statistically likely to become criminals. One such was a likeable rogue as a kid, and though he became a drug pusher and then gangland leader we kind of respected each other so I didn’t feel in any personal danger. The information he imparted to me was obviously not going to be relevant for a police operation by the time it came out in Escaping Reality. Having said that there were police raids in Maryport, UK after a local reporter noted the crime scene described in my fiction!

What’s up next for you? Are there future projects you would like to share with our readers?

My agent is hawking around my sci fi trilogy, Left Luggage. It has an original premise and will be bigger than Heroes, and more disturbing than Lost. My work in progress is Xaghra’s Revenge, a magic realism fantasy based on a real incident when in 1551 pirates abducted the entire population of a Mediterranean island. Their spirits seek revenge…

Is there anything you would like to add?

That cup of tea? My biscuit has sunk in it.

Just one last question, how are my interview skills? Before you answer, let me tell you that I have an over-protective husband who stands around six-feet tall and is dangerously close to two hundred pounds.

Your skills are outstanding, as is your hair.

Thanks for joining us today, Geoff. It’s been a wonderful and funny ride getting to know more about you and your work. Best of luck in all you do!

Thanks, Cheryl. Next time make it Earl Grey tea, and I’m partial to custard creams.

The Inside Scoop on Lee Barwood

Today, I welcome multi-published author Lee Barwood. Lee is just one of the many writers who contributed to Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting and Writing by Hollywood Insiders and Published Authors edited by Marilyn Peake. Many of the articles found in this book were originally published in “The Golden Goblet” Newsletter, voted TOP TEN Finisher in the 2007 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll. Two of Lee’s contributions appear in Inside Scoop: “The Beat of Gaia’s Heart” and “Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings”. This is just one of the many interviews I will be performing with the writers who contributed to Inside Scoop.

Welcome to The Book Connection, Lee. It’s great to have you with us!

It’s great to be here – thanks for having me!

Let’s get started by finding out a bit about you. Where are you from originally? Do you still live there?

I’m from Jersey City, NJ, and currently live at the Jersey shore. I’ve lived a few other places in the interim, though – such as the Ozarks, where my novel A Dream of Drowned Hollow is set.

How long have you been writing? Are you a full-time novelist? What do you like to do in your spare time?

I started writing stories back in grade school, although I didn’t really start writing seriously till a friend and I wrote a TV script for “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” in eighth grade and sent it off. We were terribly disappointed when they sent it back unread. I began writing seriously for publication, though, in the seventies.

While I’m not a full-time novelist at the moment, I have been from time to time and it’s creatively wonderful, if financially nervewracking. But you can get into a “flow” when you have more time that allows you to be a little freer, a little more creative, than when you’re working on a tight schedule – particularly when you’re also dealing with a day job that demands a lot of your energy and creativity.

So in my spare time I write. I also do a lot of reading, play and compose music – I play harp, and am a hospital-certified harp practitioner (play at the bedside in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices) – and then write more. I also do a lot of research for potential projects and projects that I’m working on. There’s never an end to research, if you want authenticity in your work. Besides, it’s fun – I love learning new things.

You have written books in several genres. Do you prefer one genre over the others?

I like fantasy and mystery, probably, the best; the former for its infinite possibilities and the latter for its intricacy. Anything at all can happen in a fantasy novel, and I think in a lot of ways that’s more reflective of the way things can happen in real life: occasionally events take a totally unexpected turn, people behave in ways that no one would have expected, and the impossible suddenly becomes possible (of course, not as often as it does in fiction).

Mystery novels offer us the chance to figure out complex circumstances in a way that challenges us intellectually; although we’re given more information than one might normally have access to in real life, still one has to put together the occurrences in a way that solves the puzzle, and good novels can make us realize that there are so many more ways to put together the facts than the solution presented to us that we should be cognizant of that fact in everyday life – and remember to think outside the box when we’re confronted with a set of “facts” that may not be as they seem.



Let’s talk about your contributions to Inside Scoop. How did you get involved in this project?

I’d met Marilyn through an online writing group – she’s incredibly generous with her knowledge and talents, by the way, and it was her suggestion that led me to Double Dragon and my first novel being published – and when she was beginning "The Golden Goblet", her online newsletter, of course she let me know about the project. Then later on she invited me to write an article for it, and that’s how I came into the picture. I was thrilled to be invited, and am honored that the end result made it into Inside Scoop.

“The Beat of Gaia’s Heart” is an essay about ecofiction. What is ecofiction? Are certain genres more open to being written and classified as ecofiction than others?

Ecofiction is really a pretty broad term, and I don’t know that it’s restrictive in which types of fiction can fit under its umbrella. If it has to do with the state of the Earth, with the way people feel about it, whether they believe in global warming or not, how they treat its creatures and its land and resources, it’s ecofiction. If it has to do with future survival because of a dearth of food, water, or other things, it’s ecofiction. And if it has to do with how two people react to one another because of how they view the Earth and its creatures, or how they treat people in other nations, or even whether they have a sense of entitlement to “more” and believe that others have a lesser right to the same resources, it can be ecofiction.



My novel A Dream of Drowned Hollow is ecofiction; it pits a young woman with uncanny powers against a man who’s determined to bring prosperity to the poverty-stricken region of the Ozarks he was raised in, no matter who gets in the way. It’s a suspense/thriller. It’s also a fantasy novel, because the Earth itself, and elemental spirits, get involved in the conflict. As ecofiction, it was a little ahead of its time when it was written, and even though it won the late Andre Norton’s Gryphon Award, it was a while before it found a publisher. Double Dragon has published other ecofiction authors, and I was thrilled when A Dream of Drowned Hollow was accepted there.

It arose out of the changes I saw in the local landscape just in the time I lived there. I lived out in the country, and saw nature in a whole different way than I had ever seen it before; when you’ve grown up in a city and suddenly you’re as likely to hear coyotes serenading the moon and the song of the bobwhite as you are to see a squirrel or chipmunk, and you can be at the mercy of flash floods or a freak snowstorm that keeps you from leaving your property for three weeks, it changes your outlook on things pretty drastically. And you learn a lot more about both sides of the issues.

Mystery? A perfect opportunity for a ripped-from-the-headlines tale about the destruction of a housing development, or a car dealership, or even a murder, when the reasons for the deed are linked, or appear to be linked, to environmental causes. What about a company trying to open a new mine in a pristine area? Locals want the jobs; environmentalists know the damage it can cause. Who’s right? Where’s the middle ground? What if someone gets killed, or there’s sabotage?

Romance? Take a woman who believes very strongly that her family’s company should be allowed to build a new plant in an area designated as a wetland; put her up against a local guy who grew up wandering that wetland, became a naturalist, and is determined to protect it. Or set a vegan woman up in a situation in which she has to interact with a man who hunts, fishes, and thinks that that’s the natural order of things even in a changing world. Give them a common cause, so they have to work together, or a source of friction, so that they have to interact on a deeper level – and you have ecofiction.

Country? Pit a factory farm employee or owner against someone struggling to save a small family farm, or a homeowner protesting the spreading of sludge on farm fields nearby. Set someone who advocates for animal welfare against a rodeo rider or a rancher who raises exotic animals for meat. Pit an organic farmer against the building of a world-class golf course, the chemical runoff from which threatens his whole livelihood.

Medical? Take your choice: animal testing, the use of animal organs to replace human organs, the use of animal products to help humans survive on a broad scale. The current case of contaminated heparin from China is a good example of how wide-reaching the theme can be; what happens if an animal-sourced product is suddenly found to be unsafe, as it was with heparin, because of some unknown factor that could be contamination from the way it was prepared – or it could be an illness in the animals from which the product was derived. Bird flu. Pandemics. They all have the potential to be written as ecofiction.

If it involves conflict and the Earth or its animals or resources, it can be classified as ecofiction.

But there’s more to it than that. When a writer really examines a character’s underlying motivations for his or her actions, it becomes clear that no matter what side of the issue they’re on, they’re not the monsters that the other side thinks they are. Many bad actions arise out of misunderstanding, ignorance, belief in something that’s not true, or an incomplete understanding of the facts. When you mix in human error, greed, anger, and other potentials for conflict, you have an “antagonist” who is a whole person, someone who can’t (and shouldn’t) be demonized – unless, of course, you’re writing about actual demons. And even then you can give those characters an extra dimension that will make them linger in the reader’s mind.

Writers can understand human behavior because of their work, and they can then help their readers to do the same thing. This opens the door to conversation, compromise, and progress – something that’s more important every day as many issues overtake us and the world we know.



Tell us about “Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings”.

Ah, this was a book from the heart. It’s a collection of stories traditionally told by the Aboriginal people of Australia about the Dreamtime, relating how things came to be the way they are – how the koala came to lose his tail, what happened during the Great Flood, how the koala’s ears got so big, how the whale got his blowhole, why the koala’s baby clings to mama’s back – and other beliefs about the koala that most people have never heard of. In Australian Aboriginal legend, the sleepy little koala is actually very powerful, and has magical, even shamanic powers. He can sing the trees into growing and the rain into stopping, and one tale even tells how he used his strong arms to throw a boomerang into the heavens and rain down seeds to grow for the men and beasts of a formerly barren region. The stories are so charming and so wonderful that it was a delight to retell them for today’s children. And it was a labor of love, because I so much love the koala, and always have – and wanted to do something that would help, because its numbers are declining rapidly, and its habitat is disappearing.

During World War II, my father was stationed in Australia. While he was there, he “met” koalas and other indigenous Australian wildlife, and he sent back stuffed koala toys to my sisters, as well as copies of the Durack sisters’ wonderful book The Way of the Whirlwind, which is the story of Australian Aboriginals Nungaree and Jungaree and their quest to recover their baby brother, who has been carried away by the great whirlwind spirit. When I was born some years later, I “inherited” my sisters’ koalas, which I loved; there was literally never a time when I didn’t know what a koala was. And The Way of the Whirlwind probably the first book that made a serious impression on me.

When I met Joanne Ehrich, my publisher at Koala Jo Publishing, we shared a common love of Australian wildlife, and she’d already brought out the incredible Koalas: Moving Portraits of Serenity, one of the most beautiful coffee table books I’ve ever seen – all filled with incredible koala photos taken by photographers around the world. She was doing a whole series of additional koala books, and we discussed the project, and the next thing I knew I was retelling Dreamtime stories about the koala. It was wonderful; it was fun; and it brought me back to my childhood.

The illustrations in Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings, by the way, were done in part by young art students who were big Steve Irwin fans and wanted to do something meaningful in his memory. Joanne, who is an artist, created the rest of the illustrations, designed the wonderful cover, and pulled everything together with color and format. The pictures really pop – kids love them, as well as the stories.

You are donating your royalties from “Klassic Koalas”. What organization will be the lucky recipient? How long have you been involved with them?

The Australian Wildlife Hospital, which is a major project of Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors, is the beneficiary of the royalties. Joanne and I discussed various organizations that might receive the contributions from the book, and she made the arrangements; the Hospital was planning a new facility – they’d completely outgrown their old building, which used to be an avocado processing shed – and had designed a new, environmentally friendly facility that would tremendously increase their capacity as well as being kind to the surrounding area. They broke ground for it last year, and it’s actually projected to open in late March – so they need funding more than ever, for equipment and supplies. They go out on over 100 wildlife emergency calls each day, and have a koala rehabilitation area where the ones who are seriously injured can relearn climbing trees and the orphaned babies can grow up in safety. At present they have more than 50 koalas being treated, and the numbers grow because of habitat loss, animal attacks, and disease – so they’re fighting to stem a rising tide.

What’s up next for you? Are there future projects you would like to share with us?

Currently I’m working on a paranormal mystery that deals with domestic violence and animal abuse – the two are tied together in real life, with the latter often being a predictor of violent behavior toward humans – and hope to make people more aware of the emotional issues behind these problems, so that they can recognize the signs and take action against them. One of the best ways to fight a problem is to tell a story about it, so that people can see it for what it is and come to care enough about it to want to get involved – so that’s what I’m trying to do.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I’d like to say that if people enjoy reading ecofiction, if they like proactive characters who do something about the circumstances in which they find themselves, they should see if there’s a way they can bring that excitement and satisfaction into their own lives. There are thousands of ways in which people can get involved to better their neighborhoods, their cities, their states, and the conditions under which people and animals live. The information is out there on the Web for anyone who wants to do more, whether it’s just finding organic food for the family table or volunteering at a shelter – human or animal – or starting a neighborhood garden for kids to grow their own plants in the summertime, or volunteering to build a house with Habitat for Humanity or going to a foreign country to help with a water purification project. If you see something that’s wrong, you can help to find a solution and make it right.

I’d also like to thank you for letting me be here. I’ve really enjoyed it.

Thanks for joining us today, Lee. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I wish you great success in all you do.

The Inside Scoop on K. L. Nappier

We have a real treat today. Award-winning author K. L. Nappier joins us to talk about all sorts of good stuff. Kathy has been published in many genres, but leans towards thrillers and mysteries. She is also a founding member of the Indiana Writers Workshop and a member of the Tampa Writers Alliance. Kathy contributed two articles to Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting and Writing by Hollywood Insiders and Published Authors. This is just one of several interviews I am performing with the writers who contributed to Inside Scoop.

Welcome to The Book Connection, Kathy. I’m thrilled you could join us today.

Thanks, Cheryl. I’m flattered you asked me.

Let’s start by getting to know you. How long have you been writing? How many genres have you been published in?

Oh, I’ve been writing for over 20 years and I’ve done a little bit of everything, really. Most of my novels fit into at least two genres. I work with themes or premises first and don’t tend to focus on genre. For a lot of years, publishers didn’t know how to catalog me. At any given time, a novel might be a thriller/adventure/horror story or a mystery/intrigue/romance. It all depends on what the theme calls for. But since I like to work with mythic images, I’d say most of my stuff leans toward the darker genres. Always with an eye toward the light, though. ;-)

Who or what has influenced your writing the most?

It’s not popular to say so but the simple truth is that, being a Baby Boomer, TV and movies have influenced me as much as great literature. Although I was more consciously aware of literature’s impact on me than I was of the silver screens’, both big and little. E.A. Poe was a major, major inspiration when I was a girl and he remains so. Unlike with movie icons and those on the tube, I knew I wanted to “write like Poe.” I read everything he wrote and, also, as much as I could about the man.

It wasn’t until later that I realized what an impact Alfred Hitchcock had on me as well as Rod Serling. They were as formative for me as Poe, whether I knew it or not at the time. I think that’s because of media’s natures. When you hold a book in your hand, you know who the author is, even when you’re a kid. But, as a child, you don’t even know what a screenplay is. You pay no attention to the film credits at the end of the movie. You’re just swept away by the story itself. Or, at least, I didn’t pay attention as a girl. I had to mature a little before I realized that Serling was a writer first, who became a TV icon later and Hitchcock...well, I’m convinced that the reason Hitchcock was so great as a movie maker was because he had a writer’s soul.



Now, from what I understand, there were many years between your debut novel, Shadows in the Mist and your supernatural thriller, Full Wolf Moon. Why do you think that happened? What did you do to keep yourself from getting discouraged?

Well, before I start pointing fingers, I need to look in the mirror. First and foremost -at the risk of sounding like a public broadcast announcement- I dropped out of college. Big mistake. Cost me years, because colleges and universities are to publishing houses what minor league is to baseball. Connected professors refer talented students. It was -and still is- a large part of the system and there’s no shame in it. Why would publishers go out into the general public when there’s a guaranteed source of talent in a concentrated area easily tapped?

So, stay in school, kids, if you want your writing career to develop early.

Beyond that, I couldn’t write to trend. Honestly, I tried, I really did. I wasn’t too proud to mimic the flavor of the month or year. It’s just that I’m not good at it. Also, by today’s standards, I’m a slow writer. It takes me a couple of years on average to complete a novel. And if you’re going to be a trend writer, you gotta pump those babies out faster than that.

Now for the finger pointing. I had two terrible agents in a row. I won’t name names or go into details, but they were volume agents: agents who loaded themselves up with every writer they could sign. The theory there, of course, is similar to throwing spaghetti on a wall. If you stuck to the wall immediately, they focused all their attention on you. If you slipped off the wall too soon, they left you to shrivel on the floor.

This is not a statement against literary agents in general. Heaven knows there are many, many very good ones out there. Just consider it a cautionary tale. I should revisit the mirror here as well because I did, after all, choose to sign with these people. The lesson is that a writer should research the agent well and, most especially, not leap into the lap of the first one who asks him or her to sign. Regretfully, that’s what I did. Twice.

What kept me from being discouraged? Well, I did get discouraged. I can’t count how many times over the years I was discouraged. But getting discouraged and giving up are two very different things. But, during the tough times, I had a lot of hands pulling me up off my knees: my husband’s, my family’s and the Indiana Writers Workshop critique group’s, foremost.

But, you know, simply...I’m a writer. I know it’s cliche, but being a writer isn’t what I do, it’s what I am. I love to write. I get depressed if I don’t write. When I was a kid, I wrote stories just to write them. I wasn’t thinking about getting published. If I were to let publishing be the soul reason to write, then I guess I would have dropped out years ago. Would have wound up being a babbling old Boomer chick staring into her pinot noir, lamenting what could have been. ;-)
Good news, though. Today, there are so many ways to keep a writer from being discouraged. Even if you blew it like I did during your college years, the publishing opportunities -contrary to conventional wisdom- are better today than ever. Contests for both published and unpublished writers alike are all over the Internet. There are a swarm of independent publishers really putting the New York houses to the test. And no aspiring writer should discount self-publishing. It’s another avenue of potential, if you do your due diligence and proper research.



Since Full Wolf Moon you’ve experienced tremendous success. You’ve won awards and contributed to the online bestseller Twisted Tails Anthology. What do you feel is your most significant achievement?

Golly, I have to decide which baby I love best? ;-) That’s just too tough a call. But I can say that entering Full Wolf Moon in Double Dragon Publishing’s Draco Awards was my smartest move. Because of that, I was signed on, first, by Double Dragon as an ebook author and, most recently, by Aisling Press for the paperback rights to my novels. Needless to say, I mark my win in the Dracos as significant in relaunching my writing career.



Let’s talk about your articles that appear in Inside Scoop. How did you get involved in this project?

I have the great good fortune to know Marilyn Peake, the brains behind the series. She’s also a DDP author and a best selling writer to boot. She’s a savvy industry insider, she knows first hand the challenges of this calling and is keen to share her knowledge with aspiring writers. When a whirlwind like Marilyn invites you into a project, you do not want to say no. Good things follow Marilyn whereever she goes. I’m always happy to catch a ride on her coat tails.



What are “Barbarians at the Gate: The Future of Literature, Rumor versus Reality” and “Promo Ammo: What Is A Video Book Trailer & What Can It Do For You?” all about? What will writers learn from them?

“Barbarians at the Gate” is about the emergence of the independent publishing industry. Readers and writers alike are poised at the cusp of a very exciting and prolific time in publishing. Conventional wisdom -and I do use the term “wisdom” loosely in this case- is looking at what’s happening to the traditional publishing houses of New York and predicting all kinds of calamity, equating these houses’ financial woes with the demise of the global book industry. Typical. The NY houses rarely look outside themselves to see what’s going on and too many in the popular media take what the houses say as gospel. Well, I’m saying the future of literature is far from bleak. It’s just breaking out of its old NY boundaries and that’s disturbing to those who prefer the status quo.

“Promo Ammo” is an introduction to an emerging and highly valuable promotional tool for today’s authors: the video book trailer (or book preview). YouTube, MySpace, DailyMotion and their ilk are now major players in the popular media, and writers need to keep up. The video book trailer is a great way to get your titles in front of the reading public. And a struggling writer doesn’t have to break the bank to have one produced. It’s a niche industry getting ready to bust out.

As a virtual book tour coordinator, I am very interested in your opinions on video book trailers. Do they really help sell books? How fancy do they have to be? Any advice on how many minutes is too long or too short?

I think they’re one of the most exciting new tools available. But, like any other promotional aid, they won’t sell a book by themselves. They need to be part of a total package. They’re a “hook,” an invitation to “come see more.” A good one can really draw in the visits at the YouTube style venues. They’re also highly effective at conventions and book fairs.

The time element certainly is important. I know it’s a thrill for us authors to see our books come to life on a video, but to the reading public it’s just a commercial. I may love to watch a four minute video, over and over again, that’s all about my book. But my potential readers are gonna start yawning and say “bye bye” in half that time. Remember who you’re making the video for and keep it under three minutes tops. About two minutes is optimum.

Like any promotion, the more professionally they’re made, the better. The good news is that there are affordable, easy-to-learn computer programs that can produce impressive videos, if your budget is such that you need to create them yourself. But there are also professional production companies creating videos, and not all of them will stress a writer’s pocket book. I use one myself, which I name in the article. One of the best in this new business and very affordable. Believe me, I don’t have the deep pockets of a Stephen King or Anne Rice, so you can trust me on this.

What’s up next for you? Are there future projects you would like to share with us?

I’m scurrying around a bit right now with book signings and panel discussion appearances at conventions, so I’m not getting as much writing done as I’d like. But that should settle down by the end of the year. Between trips, though, I’m working on something for the fourth in the “Twisted Tails” series and getting some ideas mapped out for what will be the third novel following the characters in “Full Wolf Moon” and “Bitten.” I think next year I’ll stay home so I can knuckle down and get some real work done on my manuscripts.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Only my best wishes and strongest encouragement to everyone out there. Writers, when “stage fright” strikes you, sitting in front of that white space on the monitor and wondering what the heck you’re doing there, realize this: you’re thinking too much. Stop it. Just write. You can clean it up later.

Readers, thank you for being you. Writing is a dance between an author and a reader. Without you, I wouldn’t even hear the music.

If anyone wants to come visit, my web site is KLNappier.com or drop by my MySpace page or YouTube channel. And I’m always happy to hear from readers and writers, so write me at klnappierddp(at)yahoo(dot)com

Thanks for joining us today, Kathy. It’s been great getting to know more about you and your work. I wish you continued success.

I appreciate the invite, Cheryl. When the questions are as thought provoking as yours, an interview is great fun.

The Inside Scoop on Michael Ventrella

Today we are going to meet a multi-faceted individual who is not only a writer, but also a lawyer, game developer, and musician/songwriter. He has also acted in community theatre and been involved in Boston politics. In 1989, Michael Ventrella and his wife, Heidi, helped form the largest live action roleplaying organization in the United States, now known as The Alliance. Michael contributed to Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting and Writing by Hollywood Insiders and Published Authors. We're going to talk to Michael about some of these amazing things he’s done. This is one of several interviews I am performing with writers who contributed to Inside Scoop.

Welcome to The Book Connection, Michael. It’s a great pleasure to have you with us.

Thank you! It’s great to be here. This is quite an honor!

Let’s get started by finding out more about you. Did I leave out anything good from my introduction?

No, you make me sound much better than I really am.

How long have you been writing? Who or what has influenced your writing career the most?

I was writing stories even as a kid, but none of them were any good. In High School I wrote a musical comedy play called “But I’m Allergic to Horses” (a western) which the school performed, but then college beckoned. I tried sending in some short stories to magazines after law school, but they weren’t accepted and in retrospect they weren’t very well done either.

The fact is that writing is a skill that takes practice. The more you write (even boring things like legal briefs, in my case) the better you become. A successful writer needs more than just good ideas. My first novel was accepted by Double Dragon, but it is certainly not my first piece of writing.

What I have been doing mostly is writing for my live action role-playing game – there are many complicated plotlines when you have hundreds of players at once in chapters all over the country. There is a “Players’ Guide” to the game (available on Amazon.com! Get yours now!) which contains tremendous background to the fantastic duchy of Ashbury.

So my gaming experience is what has influenced me the most. Other than that, I love reading JK Rowling, Orson Scott Card, Peter Dick, Tad Williams – and classics like Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.

Your biography says that you are a regular fixture at science fiction conventions on the east coast. Do any of these experiences work their way into your writing?

No, not really, since I am mostly writing in a fantasy realm… but if you see me at one and have an idea, let me know!

Let’s move on to your contribution to Inside Scoop because it sounds fascinating. Your article was titled, “Basing Your Novel on a Game: What, are you stupid?” Now, am I correct when I say that this is exactly what you did with your novel, Arch Enemies?

You are indeed correct! Many years ago, my wife and I wrote an adventure for our game called ‘Arch Enemies’ and I kept saying to myself “This plotline would make a great book!” I finally decided to write it, and that’s when I learned why that was a bad idea.

You see, what works well in a game can make for a terrible novel (and vice versa). A novel needs the kind of character development that you just can’t write in a game, for instance. Further, a game is written so that a large number of players can enjoy it at the same time, whereas a novel needs a single protagonist.

I eventually ignored all the game rules, tossed out a lot of the subplots, but kept the well-developed game world as the setting.

I know it works because people reading the book have no idea it was based on a game. And that means I succeeded!

My article in “Inside Scoop” is to hopefully prevent others from making the same mistakes I did in my earliest drafts.



Tell us a bit more about Arch Enemies. What is the premise of this novel?

A young bard named Terin is called before the Duke and told that he fits a certain prophecy. He is the one who will stop the Duchy’s enemies from removing the magic from a special Arch (get the pun now?) behind which the enemy’s leaders have been magically trapped for hundreds of years. However, he is forbidden from reading the prophecy and not told how he is to accomplish this.

The enemy nation is comprised primarily of a race of people called the biata, who are descended from gryphons. The biata have powerful mental abilities, and can control people with these powers as if they were enslaved.

Sure enough, it isn’t long before our reluctant hero is attacked by people he had previously trusted and is forced to go into hiding. His only companions are two squires who are torn between following their orders and doing what they think is right.

But that makes it sound so serious! It’s a fun adventure, with unexpected twists and turns, a bit of mystery, cliffhanger chapter endings, and a nice touch of humor. Terin has to figure out the meaning of the prophecy while never knowing who he can trust, and part of the fun for me is having him figure things out along the way only to discover later that he was completely wrong. Still, everything fits together in the end and clues that seemed unimportant early on turn out to be tremendously relevant.

Reviews are on my website at http://michaelaventrella.com for anyone wishing to read more.

Do you believe a writer could take any roleplaying game and turn it into a novel?

It depends on how constrained he or she would be by the material.

I’ve started to read a few novels based on games, and I never finished them – I felt like I was just reading a description of someone Dungeons and Dragons adventure or computer game. If I wanted that, I’d just play the game. A good story is much more important than the game itself.

Are there legal issues to consider if the game isn’t one that you’ve created?

Absolutely! Without a doubt. Any novel you see out there based on a game (or a movie or TV show or a toy) has been approved by whoever owns the copyright for the original source. Fortunately, I own the copyright to my game so was able to negotiate a very good deal with myself.

If you could offer only one piece of advice to someone considering writing a novel based upon a roleplaying game, what would it be?

Throw away the rules. No one cares what level a spell is or how it works so long as it is dramatically exciting and important to the plot.

Let’s say you’re a Dungeon Master and your game world is well developed and your players really like your creativity. Take that and use it, but free yourself from the chains of the rules.

Concentrate on the plot and that way, your book won’t read like a transcript of your game. Plus if you do that well you won’t violate any copyrights!

What is up next for you? Do you have future projects you would like to share with us?

The sequel to “Arch Enemies” is called “The Axes of Evil”! I’m very happy with it so far and think it is better than the previous in many ways. I wish I had more time in my life to write, but I hope to get this out by the summer.

Thanks for spending time with us today, Michael. I wish you continued success.

Thank you!

Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting & Writing by Hollywood Insiders & Published Authors

Here's the latest from editor Marilyn Peake and Double-Dragon Publishing, Inc. This second helping of advice from Hollywood insiders and published authors is an invaluable resource for writers. Compiled and edited by Marilyn Peake, editor of "The Golden Goblet" Newsletter, Marilyn is also the author of a children's fantasy series and adult science fiction and fantasy short stories. She has also contributed to both Twisted Tails anthologies released by Double-Dragon Publishing.




Inside Scoop: Articles about Acting and Writing by Hollywood Insiders and Published Authors

Articles about writing and acting from Hollywood insiders and published authors, many originally published in “The Golden Goblet” Newsletter, voted TOP TEN Finisher in the 2007 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll. First chapter is a lesson on patience that John Klawitter learned while working at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Following are chapters about writing, book promotion, and breaking into the acting profession, as well as a humor column by J. Richard Jacobs. There are also several interviews: 1.) Sue Thurman interviewing Allison Dubois, the real-life medium behind the hit TV show, “Medium” starring Patricia Arquette, 2.) Sue Thurman interviewing ghost hunter Debe Branning, and 3.) Marilyn Peake interviewing Carole Whang Schutter who wrote a screenplay in collaboration with Director/Producer Christopher Cain for the movie “September Dawn” starring actors Jon Voight, Trent Ford, and Tamara Hope.

Here's your sneak peak into Inside Scoop:

Chapter 1 - Arthur Pierson and the Lesson of the Chinese Grandmothers
by John Klawitter

Chapter 2 - Where the Spanish are German, the English are Scottish and the Sheep Wear Cowbells
by Geoff Nelder

Chapter 3 - New Year’s Resolutions for Writers
by Sara Reinke

Chapter 4 - Finding the Moment
by Rachel DeFriez

Chapter 5 - You Have Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself
by Larriane Wills

Chapter 6 - Planning Your Attack To Break Out Of The Pack: Promises To Yourself and Bargains With Your Reps
by Michael J. Wallach

Chapter 7 - Basing Your Novel on a Game: What, are you stupid?
by Michael A. Ventrella

Chapter 8 - To Get Great Headshots, Just Use Your Head.
by Photographer Kenneth Dolin

Chapter 9 - Just Once...I’d Like to Be in a Movie or on TV: How to Be an Actor Who Memorizes No Lines and Needs No Acting Skills
by Jo Kelly

Chapter 10 - I Spy...a Fun Part-time Job for Seniors and Retirees - 10 Tips for Becoming an In-Demand Background Actor
by Jo Kelly

Chapter 11 - Allison Dubois Interview (May 2006)
by Sue Thurman

Chapter 12 - Ghost Busters
by Sue Thurman

Chapter 13 - Interview (by Marilyn Peake) with Carole Whang Schutter

Chapter 14 - Foraging the Forumiferii (or using Internet forums for writing research)
by Geoff Nelder

Chapter 15 - The Mob and Hotels: Elements of Research in the Writing of Escaping Reality
by Geoff Nelder

Chapter 16 - The Meaningful Mundane
by Rachel DeFriez

Chapter 17 - Writing Wrongs - Lesson One: Defamation Law
by Lincoln D. Bandlow

Chapter 18 - Putting on Your Editor’s Cap
by Sara Reinke

Chapter 19 - Editing Is Not a Dirty Word
by Larriane Wills

Chapter 20 - Barbarians at the Gate: The Future of Literature, Rumor versus Reality
by K.L. Nappier

Chapter 21 - Promo Ammo: What Is Video Book Trailer & What Can It Do For You?
by K.L. Nappier

Chapter 22 - The Beat of Gaia’s Heart
by Lee Barwood

Chapter 23 - News Release - Klassic Koalas: Ancient Aboriginal Tales in New Retellings by Lee Barwood

Chapter 24 - Failed Assassination
by J. Richard Jacobs

Chapter 25 - Tenacity in Art
by John Klawitter

"Cracked Universe" Column by J. Richard Jacobs:
1. For immediate release - 11 December 2003
2. Advise Fur Awl Wood-Bee Authors
3. From the "Did You Know?" Department
4. An Ode to Panspermia