SM: Okay, so here we go—Welcome to Sylvia Says, Eric. It’s a real pleasure to have you featuring on the blog today. ET: Thanks, Sylvia. It’s a pleasure to be here. SM: Eric, like me, you’re a multi-genre author. Every author has a reason as to why they decide to be multi-genre instead of sticking to one particular genre; so what is your reason? ET: Sci-Fi is my passion, and what I feel most comfortable writing, but my first children’s book, Sam and the Dragon, was based on a story I wrote years ago when my boys were little. At the time, I didn’t really consider trying to get it published, but I liked the story and kept it around. Once I started publishing my SEAMS16 series, and got a decent understanding of the process, I dug up that old tale, rewrote it, recruited my brother to illustrate it, and put it out there. At that point I became a “multi-genre” author, but didn’t really think of myself that way as I had no intention of writing any more children’s books, but then I was struck with an idea for another children’s story, and it wouldn’t let me continue my “real” writing (the next SEAMS16 novel) until I wrote it down and sent it to my brother to illustrate. And that’s how most of the children’s stories came to be, not so much a decision to become multi-genre, but more like an itch that needs to be scratched. SM: Among your numerous works I noticed you wrote an illustrated poem entitled “Everyday Wonders”, which is directed at kids who wear glasses, right? What made you write about this and why? ET: It’s dedicated to kids who wear glasses, but it’s just as much for those who don’t need them. Growing up, I didn’t need glasses, but everyone else in my family wore them. And my younger brother got them at a very early age. I didn’t really understand his need, and when I tried looking through his glasses, I didn’t understand how they could possibly help. But they clearly did, so I accepted the concept without really understanding. When my son got his glasses, my wife told me that on the way home, he was pointing out things he had never seen before - birds in flight, names of streets on signs, individual leaves on trees – things I took for granted. Flash forward thirty some years and I’m visiting the optometrist for my own pair of glasses, finally understanding beyond an intellectual level. The memories of my brother and son, and my better understanding of what getting glasses really meant for them, worked together to inspire the poem. SM: Please tell us a little about your books in the different genres you write in. Which would you say is your favourite genre and why? ET: I have released five novels in the SEAMS16 series. The first, SEAMS16: A NEW HOME, the second, SEAMS16: ARRIVAL, and the fourth, SEAMS16: FRIENDS AND FOES, take place on the Space Equipment Authority’s Maintenance Station number 16 (SEAMS16), a repair depot for spacecraft in the Solenty planetary system, said to be the finest repair station in the known galaxy. These stories follow the lives of Charlie and Susan Samplin and their life on the station. The other two books are retrospectives. Book three in the series, AND SO IT BEGINS, reveals the origins of the society, and book five, THE KLINDORAN WAR, recounts an important event that happens some 500 years after the book three, and 500 years before SEAMS16 is built. I’ve also released five stand-alone children’s picture books. SAM AND THE DRAGON, a story in the style of an old legend to explain a modern day convenience; BILLY’S FAMILY, an introduction to family relationships and genealogy; THE WIZARDS OF THE BODY SHOP, fantasizing the roles of regular workers; YETI IN THE FREEZER, a modern day legend to explain another convenience; and as mentioned above, EVERYDAY WONDERS. All of my children’s books are designed to be read-to-me-books, and I imagine a man reading to a small child on his lap when writing them. I think of my novels as my “real” writing, and the children’s books as a bonus. I don’t usually set out to write a children’s book, but as I mentioned above, I get struck with an idea, and it won’t let go until I’ve written it down. Yeti in the Freezer is the only story I deliberately set out to write, as it came as a request from my niece, when she explained how she calmed her children’s fears of the “scary” refrigerator that seemed to growl at them from time to time. SM: So what’s next up for you, Eric? Any works in the pipeline? ET: I’m planning to write one more SEAMS16 novel, but haven’t worked out the story for it yet. In the mean time, I’ve been trying my hand at a murder mystery and a Middle Grade sci-fi story. At this point, it’s hard to tell if either of them will be published, since I’m writing them as an experiment, but we’ll see how they turn out.
SM: Eric, before we close off please tell our readers a little about yourself. That is, who is Eric B. Thomasma aside from being an author, where is he based, what are his likes and dislikes, etc. You can pretty much share anything you like with the audience. ET: I’m a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I married my wife nearly 42 years ago, we raised two sons together and now we’re enjoying two grandsons. We live in a house we built near the city of Grand Rapids, MI, about six miles from the home where I was born and raised. I’ve held a number of different jobs in my life, mopping floors, delivering furniture, licensed electrician, servicing sophisticated telephone systems (to name a few), and enjoyed many hobbies including swimming, computer programming, and video production. I’ve always been a do-it-yourselfer in almost everything. Often preferring to repair instead of replace, extending the usefulness of many of the items around the house. (This comes in handy on a writer’s salary.) I suppose that’s a large part of why I self-publish. I enjoy the formatting and other processes involved in preparing my book for Amazon and Smashwords distribution. SM: Well, thank you so very much for taking the time to feature on Sylvia Says today. I really enjoyed learning more about you and your work, and I look forward to seeing what’s coming up next on your agenda. I’ll be sure to tweet about it! Ha, ha! ET: Thank you for inviting me. It was a pleasure. And thanks for all you do to support the writer community. For more information on Eric B. Thomasma and where you can purchase his books please visit here for his sci-fi works: www.seams16.com or here for just the kids: www.rtycati.com
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CA: For the past 16 or so years, I have been a newspaper reporter. I have always covered our local school districts and lately, my focus has been on doing features. Of course, I will write as many A&E (arts & entertainment) stories as my editors will let me. LOL. Since I did the “cops and courts” beat for 12-plus years it’s nice to chip away at and redeem the black parts of my soul. For some extra money, and I do mean a little bit, I also cover high school football and basketball games. In my spare time – and when the motivation hits me – I write op-eds* and reviews about various comic book projects and the related media on my Cary’s Comics Craze blog. So basically, I feel like I write, or should be writing, all the time. And that can be a double-edged sword. [*Note by SM: meaning of “op-ed” – jargon speak for a newspaper page opposite the editorial page, devoted to personal comments, feature articles, etc.] I grew up in the beautiful state of Virginia in a VERY small town called The Plains. I earned my B.A. in English with minors in secondary education and music at James Madison University. My plan was to be a band director and/or a high school English teacher. Life took some detours and here I am, where my late mother said I should have been as a back-up plan – working in journalism. Since September, I have returned to singing in the church choir and playing handbells, which has been great for my soul. I live in a lovely little city called Norwalk, Ohio, and it’s a wonderful place to call home. SM: Life always seems to throw us detours, Cary, and here’s another one for you: I know of many reporters/journalists who have turned to writing books; so what was it that made you turn to novel writing? CA: It really started with my writers group, which meets once a month. We read our works in progress to each other and get wonderfully constructive feedback. I hadn’t done any fiction writing in years, so I started out just reading some of my nerdy blog posts. Having been a long-time mystery reader, I realized I always wanted to create my own P.I. or investigator. But it had to be original, not a knock-off of another character. SM: And this brings us to Colt Maverick. What inspired you to invent this character? Tell us a bit about Colt. What is he all about? CA: As I said, I wanted my character to be as original as possible. That’s tough when you’re writing mysteries. The name Colt Maverick came to me literally, when I was going to bed. It speaks to his somewhat rebellious nature and the name spoke to me, so suddenly I was ready to go! As an aside, many of my friends and readers say they absolutely love the name Colt Maverick. So if nothing else, I gave him a memorable first and last name. I couldn’t just have Colt be a P.I., so I made him a retired pro football player who had been a Marine sniper. Colt is a bit full of himself; some of my readers have called him arrogant. Really, all this happened in just what was going to be an experimental scene, but I ended up loving this guy. He’s fun to write, and you just never know what he’s going to do or even say. But, as a P.I., he’s always going to end up pursuing justice for everyone involved. That’s why I started the hashtag on social media of #WhatWillColtDo or #WWCD for short. SM: Well, he certainly sounds like an original character with an impressive background. Now, you released Colt’s debut novel not so long ago, so what’s coming up next for him? CA: I have been working on a follow-up story for not quite a year. There have been several stops, starts and do-overs. The writing hasn’t been nearly as “easy” as the original. It’s been tough going and honestly, Colt and I are just off a couple-month “break.” But I’ve found something I can stick my teeth into – and it gets Colt into a mess at the same time. That’s where he shines. Colt is investigating a security breach related to the murder of an attorney. What’s been fun is bringing back supporting characters from my first novel. That’s challenging at the same time because, as my writers group told me early in this draft, I can’t assume everyone read the first book. SM: Well, I can relate to that with my Mia Ferrari series. I believe there is a fine balance between not telling too much about the characters, but enough so that if a reader comes in at say, novel number three, they can still relate to the main protagonist and to the regular characters. This is not easy to do. The same goes for continuity. Recently, I read the third book in a mystery series (written by a well known author) and a character this author had appearing in novel one ended up with a totally different name in novel three. This put me off as a reader, and it isn’t the first time I’ve come across inconsistencies in the novels of bestselling authors. If I may be so bold as to suggest a method I use for consistency: I keep a file of white cards for each character, which come out of the file every time I start a new novel—this way I’m reminded of the little things that I may no longer remember from two novels ago. CA: That’s a great idea. I may steal that tip from you. Continuity is tough; I can’t imagine what you face with your Mia Ferrari books. I actually have a Colt Maverick sourcebook of sorts. I started a notebook devoted to the world of my novel, which details everything from who is related to whom to what they drink. It’s been helpful. SM: That’s a great idea, Cary. I think all authors have their own methods so they can remember and ins and outs of their characters. I could go on about this topic as it would be interesting to see what other authors out there do to remember all the details when they’re giving life to their characters, but now we’re running out of time; therefore, before we conclude I have a couple of quick questions: 1. Do you have a release date for the next Colt Maverick novel? 2. Is there anything you’d like to tell potential readers out there? CA: No release date on the sequel. Or even a tentative completion date. Not even close! I really am taking it slowly, mainly due to finding time with my work as a professional writer, but most importantly, so I can do it well. Lately I have taken to writing during my lunch break. SO many people who have read my novel have an immediate question when they see me: How is the next one coming? It’s incredibly exciting to know people want to read more about Colt, and honestly see my debut novel as the first in a series. Guess I must have done something right! Hahahaha. To any potential readers, it’s a blessing that you support authors, especially independent ones like Sylvia and me. Also, once you do read someone’s book, please post a review or send the author an email and/or direct message on social media and let him or her know what you think. Give us shoutouts! Constructive feedback is very helpful. Personally, there’s also nothing better than knowing you enjoy what I wrote. I have taken to heart the constructive criticism on my first book; that’s only going to help push me to make the next one even better. SM: Well, thank you so very much for taking the time to feature on Sylvia Says today. I really enjoyed learning about Colt Maverick and I look forward to reading about his adventures. Cary, I wish you all the best with the Colt novels, and please make sure you cut me into the deal when those film options come knocking at your door. Did I tell you I’m really good with continuity? LOL. CA: Good try, Sylvia! Hahahahaha. It has been a pleasure to be on Sylvia Says; thank you! For more information on Cary Ashby and where you can purchase Colt Maverick’s first mystery please CLICK here.   It’s been less than a month since I returned from a cruise to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, and already I am looking forward to another one. What was so good about the cruise? Well, if you look at it from my protagonist, Mia Ferrari's point of view, it was the cute, young officers. You can’t blame Mia, older-woman and wannabe investigator, seeing as she likes Playing with the bad boys, right? (Also the name of her first mystery adventure). Mia likes them young and good looking (even if they’re gay!), and on a cruise of over 1700 passengers and around 700 crew, one is bound to run into some young flesh ;) And she did.  But what was the real reason for going on this cruise? Namely, relaxation, and to plan my next murder mystery, which will take place on the high seas and will feature Mia, her friends, and a host of other characters. I will be starting to write Mia Ferrari’s next mystery adventure The South Pacific Murders in the next few weeks, and hope to release it in early 2014.. You can expect a number of murders, sexual tension, and quite a few suspects. Mia is going to be under pressure to solve these murders in a short time span, seeing as the cruise is not a long one, and she must solve the murders before the ship arrives at its destination. So the pressure is on. This is why Mia’s creator, little me, is in need of another cruise in order to relax :) While you are waiting for Mia’s third mystery to be released, why not grab a copy of her first two adventures? Click HERE to have a look at where you can buy them. So, see you on board soon, and Bon voyage!   The Breakthrough Bookstore is run by author and entrepreneur, Dannye Williamsen. Wow! I am honoured and humbled that my novel "The Soul Bearers" has not only been getting some rave reviews, but has now made it to Editor's Choice on the Breakthrough Bookstore! I worked long and hard on this novel, which started out by being a screenplay in 1997, and which I adapted into a novel in 2000. After counteless drafts and having worked on it for 13 years, it's fantastic to see that it's getting such wonderful reviews and the recognition it deserves! Now I'm waiting for Robert Redford or George Clooney to come along and buy the film rights to it :-)  |
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