Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Janis Wilson is a former newspaper reporter and retired trial lawyer. After leaving her law practice, she began researching the world’s most compelling cold case, that of Jack the Ripper. He became the subject of her first novel, Goulston Street. Then, she taught a course on Jack at Temple University, where she attended law school. Her next Ripper venture was to co-create RipperCon, a conference for students of the crimes and investigation into the Ripper. She will be a panel moderator and principal speaker at this year’s RipperCon in Baltimore April 7-8. Wilson is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America and Maryland Writers Association. Wilson is the author of The Devil’s Triangle, printed in Death Knell V, available through Amazon. She lives, without incident, with her husband and two rescue cats in Baltimore.
Wolf: If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Janis: I’d really like to slice people up with my sharp wit until they suffered the death of 1,000 cuts.
Wolf: I think you’ve been a bit over-immersed in Jack the Ripper. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Janis: I let one escape a serial killer when I could just as easily have made her another victim. I also gave a poor woman an income for life.
Wolf: That was nice. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Janis: I sent an aristocratic woman to live in Whitechapel, the poorest section of the richest city in the 19th century. She really didn’t deserve it.
Wolf: Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Janis: Confirmed cat person, although I wish long and happy lives to all canines. I prefer cats because I am humble enough not to be upset by their superiority. However, I am jealous of their beauty and grace.
Wolf: There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Janis: Wet my pants.
Wolf: After you change, I have another question for you. The world is about to end. What is the first thing you do?
Janis: Eat a whole pie.
Wolf: Pie is good. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Janis: Tough call. My protagonist is Lady Sarah Grey, who has a lot of courage and a big heart. On the other hand, Lady Millicent Maelson, Sarah’s best friend, is as smart as Sarah, far prettier, and kinder than Sarah. However, she is not so nice as to be cloying.
Wolf: What is your favorite body of water and why? (river, ocean, waterfall, puddle, bottle…)
Janis: Without question, it would be the Thames River. If flows in England, where my books are set and has inspired everyone from Charles Dickens to Jerome K. Jerome.
Wolf: That makes sense. What story are you working on now?
Janis: I’m writing another Lady Sarah Grey novel in which the 19th Century socialists are getting up to trouble and blowing things up, literally and figuratively.
Wolf: So, why aren’t literary agents beating a path to your door?
Janis: I live in a high-rise building.
Learn more about Janis at these links:
https://JanisWilson.com
Ja***@*********on.com
Twitter: @Janis757
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Wolf: This week we welcome Lew McIntyre. Tell us a little about yourself, Lew.
Lew: I was borne in Asheville, NC, attended Catholic elementary and high school, though I don’t know how my parents afforded it on my father’s taxi-driver pay. We managed, and I helped, first with a paper route around age twelve. Interestingly, I delivered most of Thomas Wolfe’s paper route that he described well enough in Look Homeward Angel to identify. I was a ham radio operator then, building or repairing my own equipment. I joined the US Naval Reserves while still a junior in HS, planning on technical rate training and two years active duty after graduation, then college on the GI Bill. What I got were delightfully unsupervised drill weekends at Naval Air Station Atlanta my senior year, and an appointment to the US Naval Academy instead. I graduated in 1970 with a degree in aerospace engineering, got my wings in 1972 and began flying with the TACAMO squadron VQ-4 at Patuxent River. I went to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, where I got my masters in aero, and met my wife Karen. That was followed by another TACAMO tour with VQ-3 on Guam. I imported Karen and we were married there in a squadron wedding in 1979. We had two children, raising them while we cast about from Norfolk, to San Diego to Omaha, where I retired in 1990. My civilian career was as contractor/engineer, continuing to support TACAMO which I do to this day, about a hundred yards from the hangar at Patuxent River where I flew my first mission flight.
Wolf: Wow. Thank you for your service. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Lew: I think I would be what I am, human, flawed, but we know we are flawed, and can constantly strive to be better.
Wolf: That’s a good way of thinking. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Lew: Kimchi, for the first time in Korea, back before it was modernized. Made in jugs on everyone’s porch. The smell of fermenting cabbage, charcoal, and benjo ditches forever for me are Osan, though I am sure it is a bright bustling modern city now.
Wolf: If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Lew: I am very partial to the Russian Nagant 7.62mm bolt-action rifle of WWII. Though it is a long rifle, it is exquisitely balanced. The first time I fired it, though I hadn’t used iron sights in decades (I use scopes on all my other rifles), I was able to place a clip of seven rounds into a two-inch group at a hundred yards. The adjustable sight is good for about a mile range (2000M), though I can’t vouch for the accuracy: the rear sight aims the weapon up at about a twenty-degree angle at that range.
Wolf: Impressive. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Lew: Antonius’ and Marcia’s wedding in her hometown of Liqian. It was totally unexpected, though they had been lovers for a year. Her mother was still alive, and it was just impromptu. They were traveling with a group of Xiongnu nomads. It was quite the multicultural event, part Roman, part Chinese, but with portions contributed by the Xiongnu nomads, the Arabs, and the mysterious character Galosga, from wherever he was from.
But first, she had to kill her consort in a fight to the death.
Wolf: That’s a harsh way to end a relationship. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Lew: Antonius and Marcia had developed a shy tentative friendship when they were first cast together on the ship Europa. She is a twenty-year-old concubine, physically and verbally abused since forced into that role at twelve. He is a Roman centurion, but oddly awkward around women, the ones he is not renting. He considers her above his station, a domina (lady). She is separated from her consort on another ship, and their subsequent hijacking causes her to consider that she may be rid of him for good. She blooms in the respect and deference given her by Antonius and his companion. Their friendship evolves, and just when it might transition to something more, somewhere in the South China Sea a sail appears on the horizon behind them, with the distinctive triangular topsail of the Asia, her consort onboard.
Wolf: Bummer. You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
Lew: I can’t! I have no mouth! I would be aware of the world at a much, much slower pace than an animal. I sense the sunlight on my leaves and ever so slowly turn them to face the sun but pumping fluids from one side to the other. I sense something like what you call pain, from predatory insects or damage, which causes me to repair it. I move by growing and that takes a while. We plants communicate with each other, which NPR reported a while back. We can communicate chemically with other plants, to warn each other of predatory animals or insects, so I would have some sense of smell, which would be my primary sense of the world. We also form inter-species symbiotic relationships, for example with fungi and mosses moving nutrient from one tree to another, taking a cut of the produce for their own use. Would I think? Perhaps. The NPR program indicated that plants can learn and remember, and since I can do those two things, I can have some sort of thoughts. And since I don’t have to move, I would have plenty of time for deep thought.
Wolf: Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Lew: Definitely a cat person. I like dogs, but I find them more demanding than cats. We have two indoor cats and an outdoor one
Wolf: While walking in the woods you come across…
Lew: A flint arrowhead. I would muse over the story behind it, how it came to be lost, then exposed again for me to find, hundreds or maybe thousands of years after it was made. I would examine the stone carefully, examining how it was shaped into a deadly weapon, wondering how long it would take to make one.
Wolf: If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Lew: Not much for superpowers, I like ordinary characters doing extraordinary things. I think I would most like to have very good night vision, able to see shapes, perhaps thermally, rather than visually.
Wolf: There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Lew: First, I would be very careful about opening it! Is the rumble water or machinery? Water of course has a chaotic arrhythmical character to it, with a lot of Gaussian white noise superimposed. If it were water, I would try to determine if is flowing in some sort of channel or directly past the door itself. If it were flowing past the door, I think I would hear more of a vibration, like water past a hull. In that case, opening it would be a very bad idea indeed. If it were a channel, on the other hand, an underground river, it might offer an opportunity or escape, perhaps more water, if it is not a sewer!
If it were machinery or vehicles, that would depend on my circumstances. Do I expect such things? If it is a manned space, do I expect the people to friend or foe?
Wolf: What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?
Lew: I would want things that are durable, useful for making other things I need, things that I will not use up and be unable to replace.
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
Lew: While I love the relationship between Antonius and Marcia, I think my deepest and most complex character is the pirate Ibrahim. He started his life on the sea forty years before the setting of The Eagle and the Dragon as an illiterate runaway shepherd boy, joining a ship at Jiddah to end up as a deckhand on some tramp freighter plying the Mediterranean. The ship picked up someone under military escort at Caesarea, a person of some status, who oddly enough took to talking with the young deckhand. He did not understand much of what the man was talking about and declined an offer to continue with him to Rome when he got off in Myra to board a big grain freighter. The man wished that God would grant the young Ibrahim his greatest wish. Later that week, a storm blew Ibrahim from deckhand to captain and into a life of piracy. He later learned through dockyard gossip that the same storm had been his friend’s big ship onto Malta.
Ibrahim at sixty is urbane, self-educated, and a meticulous planner. He runs a criminal enterprise that spans the eastern Mediterranean and northern Red Sea, preying on the lucrative Roman trade with India, always one step ahead of crucifixion. His enterprise rivals a military organization, with logistics to dispose of the loot, security to protect the valuable booty in transit, intelligence to identify lucrative victims and keep an eye on Roman surveillance. In another life, he might have been a successful businessman, general or admiral. He is ruthless and cunning, but never unnecessarily brutal. He kills only those who need killing.
Having hijacked the Europa, he finds his erstwhile accomplice has double-crossed him and his pre-planned safe port for disposing of the tons of gold and silver in the ship’s hold is likely compromised. He continues on, extemporizing, with more gold than he can swim with, until he forms an unlikely alliance with the two Roman soldiers, Gaius Lucullus and Antonius Aristides.
His underlying desire is to end his life with at least one friend… not an ally, not an accomplice, not someone who constantly bears watching, but a trusted friend. And to understand the message given to him forty years before.
Wolf: What story are you working on now?
Lew: Two stories are in work, one nearly complete, True Believers, the Founding Fathers of TACAMO. This is an anthology of ten memoirs, including my own, the people who came back to the TACAMO aviation community, when it was considered professional suicide to do so, and the commanding officer who inspired us to take that leap of faith. That is complete, though there may be one more submission (I am not waiting, this has been like herding cats!) This is an unusual story, as new aviation communities, built around a specialized mission, aircraft, and the accumulated customs and traditions that give it life, these communities do not emerge very often. TACAMO (rhymes with Whack-a-Mole) is one of only three new Navy communities to emerge since World War II, the others being airborne surveillance flying the E-2 Hawkeye, and the Electronic Intelligence community flying the EP-3, doing “spook stuff.” We are adding pictures now, then there will be a DoD security review. I hope to publish through the US Naval Institute Press.
The other story is a sequel to the The Eagle and the Dragon, the same characters ten years later where I left them off, from Kazakhstan to China, the Middle East, Rome to northern Italy. Various forces will put them on the move, to be drawn into the maelstrom of Rome’s version of Iraqi Freedom, the invasion of Mesopotamia in 115AD. Many of these characters had very minor roles in E&D, but will have major roles in The Long Road Back to Rome. The Jewish rebel/deckhand Shmuel, for example, joined the Roman army and rose to the rank of centurion. He will be challenged severely, to choose between the honor and duty of his new profession, and the Jewish faith which he doesn’t practice.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Lew: Ham radio, talking to people around the world, something I have done since the 1960s, hunting, running and biking. I love exerting myself physically to the limit. Oh yes, and wasting time with Freecell and Sudoku.
Wolf: Thanks, Lew, and thanks to everyone who stopped by. You can connect with Lew through the links below.
Lew McIntyre on FB: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn
Lewis McIntyre author page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/Lewis-McIntyre-245650645781133/?fref=ts
Eagle and the Dragon book page: https://www.facebook.com/TheEagleAndTheDragon/
Come, Follow Me book page: https://www.facebook.com/ComeFollowMePilateAndJesus/?fref=mentions
Website: www.lewis-mcintyre.com
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Jan Bowman’s story collection Flight Path & Other Stories (Evening Street Press -October 2015) is available through the publisher or Amazon. Her next story collection, Life Boat Drills for Women is under construction. She is working on a novel based on the last story from her published collection. Bowman’s stories have won awards and been finalists in a number of publication contests, including the Danahy Fiction Prize, Gival Press Awards, Glimmer Train, Roanoke Review, Broad River Review RASH Awards, Phoebe and “So-To-Speak” Fiction Contests, among others. Winner of the Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Bowman’s stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.
Wolf: Thank you for visiting. What story are you working on now?
Jan: I am revising a new story with the working title: Dark Matter, that I envision as the fifth story in my new eight-story collection, tentatively titled: Life Boat Drills for Women: Survival Stories, that I hope to complete by late fall of this year. Then by early next year I hope to get the first draft of my yet untitled novel completed.
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
Jan: Generally, I find I like all of my characters, even the deeply flawed ones. In particular, I like the strong, kind, compassionate potential within all of them.
Since I don’t have repeating sessions with characters in my short stories, like I would if I wrote a novel, I can’t answer this fully until I finish my first novel that I’ve begun.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Jan: I like to garden, bird watch, travel, and read all kinds of books. Poetry helps me see and feel life more intensely. Nonfiction opens up new ideas and possibilities for plots. Fiction, particularly short stories help me appreciate the complexity of crafting and revision. Usually I have multiple books going at the same time and I read a chapter or story in each most evenings.
Wolf: What are your reading now?
Jan: Currently I am reading and rereading Mary Oliver’s Devotions, a collection of her favorite poems from her previous published poems. For nonfiction, I am reading Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. I’m reading Edna O’Brien’s Select Stories: The Love Object and also rereading an Alice Munro collection, Vintage Munro.
And recently, I reread John Hersey’s Hiroshima, because I am reminded how horribly stupid and dangerous our political leaders are when they engage in casual discussions about using nuclear weapons.
Wolf: Wow. That’s a lot to keep track of. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Jan: I try not to ever do mean things to anyone. No good comes from that.
We are all flawed humanity. Most of us do our best to be kind. I make it a practice to avoid mean people, and before I remove them from my life, I do them a kindness of telling them why I don’t enjoy being around them, giving them the opportunity to become more aware of their best potential.
Wolf: What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Jan: I leave them with a thread of hope. Always leave people room to grow, to hope, to change, and have a better tomorrow. I’m not talking happy endings. I’m talking about hope. Characters need this, as do readers and writers.
Wolf: Do you consider yourself as a cat person, or a dog person?
Jan: I love both cats and dogs. I’ve enjoyed the company of two cats and a dog at the same time on many occasions throughout my life. They’ve all become great friends, and they grieve along with us when one of them dies. At this particular time, I have only one cat, having recently lost a very old cat and dog. My current cat often lies beside me on the desk as I write. I read passages aloud and if she purrs, I know I’m on the right track.
Wolf: Sorry for your loss. I know what it’s like to lose a furry friend. If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Jan: I would like to have a cloak for invisibility and the ability to touch the most compassionate possibility within individuals. I would go out into the political world and try to touch the heart of even the most evil people, so they would not continue to do horrible things. I would want people who continue to show no compassion to others to have a powerful moment of truth that would shake them to the core. I would hope they would decide to make up for their past transgressions or remove themselves from the world.
Wolf: That would be a great super power. Today’s world is scary. Speaking of, the world is about to end. What is the first thing you do?
Jan: Assess the cause and evaluate the possibility for survival. Then gather the needed survival tools already available to me, and help others around me, organize a plan to help each other within the community, because transportation would likely be limited. And, if all else fails, I always keep a bottle of champagne chilling, for those moments we need to celebrate or to say good-bye. And. Yes. It is a bottle that is changed out monthly so it doesn’t go bad.
Wolf: So glad you could stop by.
Jan is a retired MCPS teacher, researcher and writer with a PhD in Cognitive Psychology. She taught advanced journalism and AP English Lit. and Creative Writing at Walt Whitman in Bethesda, MD for many years.
Publisher: Evening Street Press
http://www.eveningstreetpress.com/jan-bowman.html
email: ja*******@*****st.net
Read Reviews of Flight Path & Other Stories on Amazon and Goodreads
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Nancy Alexander devoted her professional life to helping those in need. As a psychotherapist, she provided intensive, reconstructive psychotherapy to those recovering from childhood trauma; as a mental health educator, she developed and delivered comprehensive mental health staff training programs; as the chair of the Maryland Social Work Coalition, she advocated for healthcare, mental health and social justice reforms in Maryland.
In 2017, she and her colleague, Linda Ciotola developed, recorded and launched a comprehensive online training series in Psychodrama, a reparative, expressive treatment modality. The training program can be found at www.ac-ts.com.
Nancy launched her career as an author in 2015. Five of her short stories have been selected for publication in Literary Magazines; three of her novels are available online and she has recorded seven audiobooks. Her most recent novel, Twisted Realms is available in paperback and kindle version, that audiobook will be released shortly.
She is currently working on her 4th novel, Sun Runner. Nancy has been publishing independently and has formed her own production company, NJA Productions.
Her blogs and her novella, entitled Elisabeth, can be found on her website at www.nancyjalexander.com
Wolf: Wow. You’ve been very busy the past few years. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Nancy: A wolf. Wolves are smart, confident and loyal pack animals. Wolf packs coordinate well with each other, care for their cubs collectively and have a high level of respect for pack hierarchy.
Wolf: Thank you. I’m a big fan of wolves myself, for obvious reasons. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Nancy: I’d pick my body as a weapon… skilled in the martial arts. I’d always have my weapon with me and be strong enough, well trained enough to fight most foes. The advantage would be surprise, because no attacker would ever suspect I have these many skills.
Wolf: Remind me not to startle you in a dark alley. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Nancy: Let them be themselves. I work to create characters who are authentic and internally valid. Once they are created I let them take the lead in the story and support their needs, instincts, conflicts and emotional complexity.
Wolf: Super. I’ve always said people should be who they are. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Nancy: Superimpose my will on them or misunderstand them. My writing works better if, once characters are created, I respect who they are and let them do the things that each particular individual would actually do.
Wolf: You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
Nancy: I am amazing, full of color, movement, beauty and grace. My flower blossoms are like the hibiscus plant but they cluster around one another forming complex patterns of splashing orange, yellow and red. I am tall and willowy; I stretch high into the sky like Jack’s beanstalk, moving past the clouds, flowing with the breeze; I reach toward the sun.
Wolf: Don’t go too close to the sun. You could get burned. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Nancy: I am both. I love all creatures domesticated, wild, farm, aquatic. I have had the pleasure of having many different species through the years of my long life and recognize the gifts each species has brought into my life.
I see cats as living sculptures who bring beauty, warmth and love into my world. Their cuddling warmth, calming purr and soft touchable fur, make them unique family members. They can also bring a sprinkling of chaos. Cats are to be loved, respected, admired and appreciated.
Dogs bring their pack mentality into my world, they are responsive, joyful, and intelligent; dogs move in concert with me bridging the gap between the inside and outside of the home.
My dogs wanted to be with me, listen to me and be one with me. They have loved me as I have loved them. They were my dearest friends.
Wolf: There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Nancy: First I’d hide so I could evaluate the sound. Once I knew what it was I would decide whether to run away, stay hidden, call for help or fight. Hopefully by the time I was in this corridor, I’d have my ‘weaponized body’ ready to deal with whatever opened that door!
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
Nancy: The title character in my Elisabeth Reinhardt series is a fav in that series. She and I are a lot alike, especially when in our therapist role.
As to bad guys in that series, I’d have to say it’s Jake. He’s sociopathy to its core.
In my Olive Grove Series, my fav is Rafi… though he and Ari were identical, I like Rafi’s personality. Their twin-ship is always a pleasure.
Wolf: What story are you working on now?
Nancy: I’m working on my 4th novel, the 2nd in the Olive Grove series called Sun Runner. It’s action-packed, fast-paced, complicated and filled with exciting ‘spy’ things.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Nancy: I have a small private psychotherapy practice and provide consultation services to other therapists. A colleague and I have developed an online training series in a reparative, expressive treatment modality called Psychodrama. Our training series is available online at www.ac-ts.com.
I maintain a blog that leans toward social/political commentary on my website @ www.nancyjalexander.com
I am the president of the Maryland Writers Association, Howard County Chapter; I go to the gym and I see my children and grandchildren as often as possible.
Wolf: Thanks for stopping by. You can learn more about Nancy Alexander by visiting these links.
https://www.facebook.com/NJAProductions
https://twitter.com/njaproduction
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
D.L. (Dee Leana) Carter was decanted from her incubation pod in the outback of Australia many decades ago. This terrifying event was closely followed by shrieks of “there, there it goes. Hit it with a brick!”
These valiant attempts to correct the existence of D.L. were, unfortunately, unsuccessful and she now resides in New Jersey, US., in a box with her toys, two human beings and a variable number of cats.
Wolf: That’s an interesting introduction. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
D.L.: Deep fried Witchetty Grub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchetty_grub
Wolf: Lots of protein in grubs, especially that big boy. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
D.L.: Nulla Nulla
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waddy
I have a scar on my upper lip from where my brother hit me when I was five.
HE has a scar on the top of his head because… well… sometimes it amazes me that anyone survives childhood.
Wolf: Sounds like you played with some interesting toys growing up. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
D.L.: In First Destroy All Giant Monsters I psychically bound a guy to his ex-girlfriend. It was, is, complicated and it almost resulted in his death. Nasty way to die, that.
Wolf: You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
D.L.: Blooming Idiot.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/134896951308997624/
Wolf: Interesting sense of humor. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
D.L.: I am the imperfect human slave of six cats at the moment. I have the greatest respect for my cats, four of which are Maine Coons, who are very intelligent companion animals and are very good at managing me.
I dearly love the senior Maine Coon for whom I am writing a series of children/YA stories in which a cute, fluffy cat has ambitions to become The Evil Overlord. Stay tuned.
That being said, I love Boarder Collies. I wish I could have a few of those about because they are so intelligent and determined but my life doesn’t allow for the amount of time that breed of dog requires from their humans.
Wolf: That’s a lot of cats! While walking in the woods you come across…
D.L.: A snake.
A big snake.
No, seriously it was a f###ing big snake – 15 feet long and known to be poisonous because, you know, all snakes in Australia are seriously poisonous. A black whip snake. http://www.snakecatchers.com.au/Lesser_Black_Whip_Snake.php
This particular snake was better than me at climbing trees.
And eventually I had to kill it with a hand axe.
Thank you so much for bringing the memory back. Time for chocolate.
Wolf: I think I need some chocolate now too. If you could have a super power, what would it be?
D.L.: IN one of my unpublished books I have a character who is a rock singer. One of her songs is “Put Your Super On” in which she acknowledges that everyone is a Super. Super doctors, nurses, police, moms, dads, teachers, etc, . In the music video she produces everyone develops a power when she plays a guitar lick but she, at the end, walks away still herself – which is an acknowledgment that this particular character is happy just being herself.
Wolf: Cool. There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
D.L.: Have lunch.
Wolf: Hope you enjoy your meal. The world is about to end. What is the first thing you do?
D.L.: Post a Facebook Meme.
Wolf: What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?
D.L.: Adam Savage
Jamie Hyneman
Kari
Grant
… not Tory. Maybe Jamie’s storage facility.
Wolf: Interesting ‘items’ to choose. Which of your characters is your favorite?
D.L.: Millicent North – Ridiculous – This is one well adjusted, happy, adaptable lady who is determined to do what is necessary and laughs while she does.
Also makes everyone else laugh.
In the reviews I have received for this book a number of reviewers say they want to have Millicent as their BFF.
Wolf: What story are you working on now?
D.L.: Um. That is kinda a secret but on my to do list I have book three of the changing magic series, book three of the Ridiculous Lovers series and the first book of a new regency series overarching title Uncle Burnside’s Nieces in which a retired sea captain turns matchmaker.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
D.L.: http://www.dlcarterauthor.com/about.html – scroll to bottom of page.
I paint, sketch, do needle felted animals, collect antique medical books, visit sci fi conventions and turn my characters into cats.
Wolf: You’re really making me work with all these links.
Thanks for stopping by. For more information on D. L., check out these links.
www.facebook.com/pages/D-L-Carter/410572495645067
if you want to chat – please drop by Facebook group “Reasonable Intelligent Heroines”
www.funwithghoulsandgoblins.com
http://funwithghoulsandgoblins.blogspot.com
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
M.J. Patrick was born in Sacramento CA to a military family. She lived in faraway places such as Taiwan and Alaska. Today she lives in the Baltimore Washington metropolitan area. M. J. is an avid reader and video game enthusiast. She is ferocious in her determination to win. Her middle son shamed her into writing her first novel after he had written his.
She truly imagines herself as Jane, her ten-year-old main character in The House on Moss Swamp Road! Her adventures have just begun.
Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
M J: If I could be any animal in the universe, I would be one of the whales that Captain Kirk, Spock, and Scottie rescued in San Francisco in 1986 and bring back to the year 2286 to save Earth from an alien probe. Returning these awesome creatures back home is a touching lesson to never lose them in the first place.
Wolf: That was one of my favorite Star Trek movies. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
M J: I have a strange food story. My parents were stationed in Taiwan when I was four. A friend of theirs tried the local cuisine. He liked what he was served and ate it all up. When he asked what it was, the cook took him to the back and showed him a pen of live rats. Sometimes its better not to ask.
Wolf: I hope they were a step up from alley rats. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
M J: I would choose a quick-witted tongue because it could convince opponents to lay down their weapons, to forgive me, or sway them I’m a friend not a foe.
Wolf: I like that. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
M J: The nicest thing I ever did for my characters was to give them a wonderful grandmother who understood when no one else could.
Wolf: What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
M J: Hmmm, the meanest. One of my characters cuts her foot on a broken beer bottle. That’s pretty mean. Another character was punched three times in the jaw for no reason at all.
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
M J: A favorite character? As I used to tell my three sons, I love you all the same. But since you asked so nicely I’ll share my secret. I love writing the villains. Lilly is a pixie who uses nature to scare you to death. A close second is my newest villain Gordo who will slay you with his smile and southern generosity. Just don’t cross him.
Wolf: Lilly is a great character. What story are you working on now?
M J: I’m working on Veiled Horizons – a young adult family drama about seventeen-year-old Rachel who has to decide either to follow her heart and lose her family and friends, or stay in their good graces by giving her baby up for adoption to the perfect family.
Wolf: That’s a tough choice. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
M J: When I’m not writing, I’m boating on the Chesapeake Bay, enjoying the sun and water. It’s important for writers to read, so I’ll curl up with an adventure, fantasy, or a mystery.
Wolf: Thanks for stopping by. You can connect with M J through the links below.
Social Media Links:
https://authormjpatrick.com
https://twitter.com/AuthorMJPatrick
Au*************@***il.com
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Ted Weber has pursued writing and music since childhood, and learned filmmaking and screenwriting in college, along with a little bit of physics. Trapped at home during the “Snowmageddon” of 2010, he transformed those interests into novel writing, and has been honing his skills ever since. His first published novel, a near-future cyberpunk thriller titled Sleep State Interrupt (See Sharp Press), was a finalist for the 2017 Compton Crook award for best first science fiction, fantasy, or horror novel. The first sequel, The Wrath of Leviathan, is coming out in Sep. 2018. He is working on the final installment of the trilogy, among other things, and seeks a home for an alternate history thriller titled Born in Salt, about a rural youth forced into terrible choices by a fascist government.
By day, Mr. Weber works as an ecologist for a non-profit organization and has had a number of scientific papers and book chapters published. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Karen. He enjoys traveling and has visited all seven continents.
Wolf: Welcome to Wolf Notes. Sounds like you’ve done quite a bit of traveling. What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Ted: Crispy mealworms and crickets in Thailand. (Mealworms were passable but crickets were too chitinous)
Wolf: Can’t say I’ve tried either of those. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Ted: Depends on the situation. In an interstellar battle, it would be hard to stop the Death Star. Here on earth, a suit of powered armor, like the Iron Man Mk. III. If confined to current tech, the Lorica suits are pretty cool. Combine that with an assault rifle and a katana. And in a zombiepocalypse, you’d need something low-tech, quiet, and durable, like a flanged mace or a crowbar.
Wolf: What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Ted: Let them enter a relationship with the man/woman of their dreams.
Wolf: What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Ted: In Born in Salt, Ben and Rachel are arrested by Internal Security and broken by months of physical and psychological torture.
Wolf: If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Ted: Time travel. Definitely.
Wolf: Take me with you when you go. What five items would you want to have in a post-cataclysmic world?
Ted: Lucky for me, I actually have a bug-out bag! If I were to narrow it to five: combat knife, water bottle, survival blanket, waterproof matches, roll of duct tape.
Wolf: Cool. You’re all ready for a cataclysm like the on in Star Touched. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Ted: That’s a tough one since I put a lot of thought into all my characters, and they are all unique. Perhaps Kiyoko, the main character in Wrath of Leviathan, is the most interesting. She lives in her own version of reality, and can divine the future by interpreting the shapes in her Pokémon cereal. I like Waylee, the main character in Sleep State Interrupt, a lot too. She demonstrates that people with mental illnesses can be just as gifted, or more so, than “normal” people.
Wolf: I really liked Sleep State Interrupt. What story are you working on now?
Ted: I’m writing the final book of the BetterWorld trilogy, in which a small group of hacktivists attempt to bring down a giant corporation that controls the flow of information.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Ted: If it were up to me, I’d be writing 24 hours/day! Obviously, this is far from feasible. I like to travel (unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity lately), long hikes in the woods, spying on birds and other critters, and pretty much anything that involves being on the water.
Wolf: Should people be concerned about climate change?
Ted: Yes! And I say this as a practicing scientist. Go to https://www.skepticalscience.com/ and https://climate.nasa.gov/ (until Trump has it purged) for more.
And here are some things you can do: https://www.ucsusa.org/what-can-i-do-about-climate-change
Wolf: Thanks. I’ll do that now.
You can connect with Ted Weber through these links:
Web site (for Sleep State Interrupt): http://savethereefs.wix.com/sleepstateinterrupt
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/T.C.-Weber/e/B01JB3VWWQ/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15548787.T_C_Weber
Email: fr**********@*******nk.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFreedomThorn
Twitter: @savethereefs
Instagram: t_warbler
Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
J.A. Grier is a speculative fiction writer and poet whose work is closely informed by her formal background in planetary science and astronomy education. More than three dozen of Dr. Grier’s poems and stories have appeared in venues such as Mad Scientist Journal, Eternal Haunted Summer, Eye to the Telescope, Liquid Imagination, Mirror Dance, and an anthology of the Maryland Writer’s Association entitled “Life In Me Like Grass On Fire – Love Poems.” Other writing credits include the textbook “The Inner Planets” published by Greenwood Press. Dr. Grier teaches workshops in poetry, and has served on panels and offered presentations at conventions including BaltiCon, HallowRead, and the Tucson Science Fiction Convention. Dr. Grier is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, and the Horror Writers Association. She is currently seeking homes for two speculative novels, as well as finishing a book of childhood horror poetry.
Wolf: Welcome to Wolf Notes. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
J.A.: Of course I’d be a cat-dragon. But another interviewee already mentioned cat-dragon because cat-dragons are amazing. I have a cat-dragon in one of my novels, and it is so cool. But I’ll move to plan “B” here and say I’d be a couatl, which is a creature from the original AD&D. It’s a beautiful rainbow-winged serpent – highly intelligent, noble, and virtuous. A couatl is magical, has psionic powers, and keeps treasure. It destroys demons in its righteous wrath. It’s also occasionally worshiped as a deity which seems like a nice perk.
Wolf: What is the strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
J.A.: I’m very timid about trying new kinds of food, but a few possibilities come to mind. Octopus maybe? Black squid ink pasta? Bear? Not sure which to pick. One person’s strange is another person’s everyday.
Wolf: If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
J.A.: That would be my razor-sharp wit. No wait. This woman appeared out of a lake and gave me a sword. She was saying something like I’m supposed to rule something or other but I wasn’t really listening. It’s awesome for cosplay.
Wolf: What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
J.A.: So, one character was captured by the bad guys and tortured. It was nasty. Husband says he’s never going to be the same after reading that scene, so I guess the scene works? But really the meanest thing I’ve done is to have one of my characters win the war for cosmic supremacy. Now she’s stuck ruling the universe and the job sucks.
Wolf: You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
J.A.: I’m an ocotillo blooming in the desert. I’m strange but somehow compelling, and my flowers are used to cure ailments of all kinds. The full Moon touches the tips of my spines like Sleeping Beauty’s finger on a spindle. A coyote hunts the javelina snuffling at my roots. I understand the speech of the moths. I dream of rain.
Wolf: That sounds really cool. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
J.A.: Cat person. You might have guessed that from the whole cat-dragon thing. I mean, dogs have an amazing history and relationship with humans – they can predict seizures and detect cancer, just for starters. But cats … cats purrrrrr.
Wolf: If you could have a super power, what would it be?
J.A.: Probably teleportation, otherwise I want the power to choose the perfect wine to go with any meal. Actually, I do have a super power – I get to decide the order in which the Christmas presents are opened.
Wolf: The world is about to end. What is the first thing you do?
J.A.: After I stop screaming I contact my scientist colleagues. Fortunately, we’ve been studying asteroid hazard mitigation strategies, so we know just what to do. We launch a specially designed explosive that should change the asteroid’s orbit. The world watches, unable to breathe, as the asteroid approaches closer and closer to the Earth. The explosive detonates. The asteroid … sweeps by harmlessly! We all change our pants and celebrate! (Little do we know that we’ve now altered the orbit of the asteroid so it hits … well … that’s another story.)
Wolf: Thanks for saving the world. I could have used your help to stop the cataclysm in my novel, STAR TOUCHED. What story are you working on now?
J.A.: I can’t work on just one thing. I have poems, stories, and novels all going at the same time. One work in progress is a book of poetry that I’ll call ‘childhood horror.’ It explores the fears of childhood, both real and imagined. It has some poems with speculative elements like magic or monsters. Other poems could be considered literary poems with themes like illness, grief, and war. I’ve published several of the poems separately in various journals and other venues. However, the full book completes an emotional journey as it flows from beginning to end. You’ll have to read it to find out more, so keep your eyes peeled for when I finally get this thing out!
Until then try some of my other published stories and poems that are free to read online:
(1) A flash sci-fi piece entitled “The Gods of Home” – published in The Arcanist https://thearcanist.io/the-gods-of-home-a46a36fd0dd4
(2) A bit of pagan magic in short story form called “Bonfire Night” – published in Eternal Haunted Summer https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/summer-solstice-2017/bonfire-night/
(3) A couple of dark fantasy poems –
“It Snows on Camelot” http://www.mirrordancefantasy.com/2013/12/it-snows-on-camelot.html
“Stop Praying, Girls” https://liquidimagination.silverpen.org/article/stop-praying-girls-by-j-a-grier/
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
J.A.: Well, no doubt I should be reading if I’m not writing. But instead I’m probably thinking about writing, or planning writing or blogging about writing … okay I’m probably playing video games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Skyrim. Or I’m going wine tasting. I am also a paper artist in a form called ‘Quilling’ so you might find me working on art projects (my quilling blog is at storiesstonesandspirals.blogspot.com) Barring any of those I guess I’m working at my day job in which I’m researching impact craters on other worlds or sharing planetary science with the general public.
Learn more about J. A. Grier here:
Twitter – @grierja
Blog and Website – jagrier.com
Goodreads Author Page – www.goodreads.com/author/show/6429911.J_A_Grier
STAR TOUCHED
Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population. Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble. Will Tatiana flee or stay and fight for the new life she has built? Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.
“A unique and finely crafted debut novel, the characters touched my heart as I was drawn into their plight and compelled to finish!”
— New York Times bestselling Author Maria V. Snyder
