Podcast - Interview with John R. Fultz

I had the chance to talk tribal fantasy with fantasy author John R. Fultz, author of the fantasy trilogy THE BOOKS OF THE SHAPER, short fiction anthology THE REVELATIONS OF ZANG, and the brand new stand alone "tribal fantasy" novel, THE TESTAMENT OF TALL EAGLE.

http://thegrimtidingspodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-five-tribal-fantasy-with-john-r-fultz

My Interview with S.C. Flynn

Hey! I had the awsome opportunity to be interviewed by blogger S.C. Flynn who's doing a fantastic work featuring bloggers from across the web who are covering genre fiction.  Be sure to pop on over and check out my interview, and scope out the rest of the site as well.

http://scflynn.com/2015/05/25/interview-with-rob-matheny-grimdark-fiction-and-the-grim-tidings-podcast/

NEW PODCAST! The Grim Tidings Podcast

I'm very excited to announce the launch of an all new podcast that I'll be co-hosting. It's called The Grim Tidings Podcast, and I'm proud to say it will be a podcast about all things Grimdark! Joining me will be Philip Overby and Ross Evans.  It's a show for fans, by fans, and we hope to bring listeners a weekly dose of all the cool things happening in Grimdark realism, including books, movies, tv, video games, news, interviews, and much more. If it's grim, gritty, and all together awesome, you can expect us to talk about. I've been working in professional broadcasting for over a decade, so my hope is to deliver a high quality program, that's both listenable and entertaining. You can find The Grim Tidings Podcast on iTunes and Stiticher, or drop by our Facebook page. If you like the show, please be so kind as to leave a review, and spread the word. But that's not all... We also plan to do companion episodes that focus specifically on writing.  We're not experts, but we want you to join us on our journey toward publication. We'll speak to other writers and experts in the field to get tips and insights to writing and publishing fantasy fiction. 

Grim Interview: Peter Newman

I was excited to see that Marc Alpin and the awesome folks over at Fantasy Faction had scheduled another Grim Gathering event, April 10th in Bristol, UK (for anyone living across the pond you can get all the details here). Then I scrolled across the names of those who'd be in attendance. Mark Lawrence, check. Peter V. Brett, check. Joe Abercrombie, check. Peter Newman. Peter Newman? The name didn't ring a bell. But my curiosity was instantly spiked, and I set off to some serious Google-fu just to find out how this stranger could just somehow show up from nowhere and rub elbows with my literary superheroes. So today I simply aim to find out, just who the hell is Peter Newman? What I've discovered is that Peter is a professional, a gentleman, and his forthcoming title from Harper Voyager, titled The Vagrant, available April 23rd, has some pretty epic praise already, and is one of the most anticipated debut releases scheduled for 2015.

Where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets? Secret identities?

I grew up just outside Watford (which is just NW of London for those of you outside the UK). I now live in Somerset with my wife, Emma and our son, sometimes referred to as the Bean. I sometimes pretend to be a butler.

When did you first start writing? 

I always loved that kind of thing at school but it seems (sadly) that most of the creative writing in primary school and early secondary school gets replaced with literary criticism as you get older. I first had a ‘proper’ go at writing in my early twenties. It ended badly and I didn't write anything else till 2011.

What authors and / or books have had an influence on your craft as a writer?

That’s quite hard to answer. I know a lot of books where I thought ‘I wish I could write like that!’ and I know a lot of books that I love even though they may not be the finest examples of literature, but it’s hard to say what exactly influenced my craft. Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light and the Amber chronicles blew my mind when I was growing up. The books were incredibly imaginative, fast paced and the world building is excellent. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman was another major winner for me. He seems able to write so deeply so easily. Weis and Hickman’s Dragonlance chronicles imprinted on me early so I’ll always have a soft spot for them. And Watchman by Alan Moore. I’m still processing that and I read it nearly twenty years ago.

Tell us about your forthcoming debut novel The Vagrant?

It’s an epic fantasy set in a far future world that has recently suffered a demonic apocalypse. It features a silent protagonist, singing swords, demon knights, a baby and a badass goat.

Many of our readers are aspiring writers. Can you give us just a few details on how you landed your publishing deal?

It was pretty straightforward really. I wrote a book. It sucked (but I’m still fond of it). I wrote a sequel. It sucked less. I wrote a third book in a new world. It only sucked a little. I re-wrote it and it was good but not good enough. Then I wrote The Vagrant. It didn’t suck at all. It still went through multiple drafts, test readers and all that kind of thing.

Then I looked at all of the agents that were taking on submissions for SFF and all of the publishers taking unsolicited manuscripts and read their guidelines very carefully. I also went to some UK conventions and attended the panels on getting an agent and how to write submission letters.

After that it was just a case of picking who I liked (which was quite liberating). Then, in August 2013 I sent it out to publishers and agents. I was signed on by Juliet Mushens in December 2013 and she got me a deal with Harper Voyager in January 2014.

What does a writing day look like for you?

On a happy day when I’m not doing my other work, I’ll take my son to school, make a nice strong coffee and indulge my social media fetish for about fifteen minutes. Then I switch everything extraneous off and get started. I like to have music to help transition into the writing. After a while I associate a particular album with a particular project and the opening bars of the first track spark that world in my head. For The Vagrant it was the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack.

I write fairly slowly, excavating as I go. When I’ve written a scene I read it aloud to Emma for feedback and reassurance. I find I notice problems reading to another person that I don’t notice when reading it in my head. When I’m in a project I try to write something every day, even if it’s just a few hundred words, five or six days a week.

You also happen to be a writer for the Hugo nominated podcast Tea & Jeopardy, tell us about the show.

It’s a geeky interview show crossed with a dash of audio drama and a lot of silliness. Each episode is set in a special Tea Lair. Past examples have included an undersea base, a volcano, a giant robot and the labyrinth. A guest comes to the lair and has tea and cake with Emma while she interviews them. Afterwards they have to survive a peril of some sort, often instigated by the butler, Latimer (I voice the butler). Past guests include: Aliette de Bodard, Joe Abercrombie, Myke Cole, Seanan McGuire, John Hornor Jacobs and N.K. Jemisin.

If you’re interested, you can find all the episodes here.

Tell us how you came to join the panel at the upcoming Grim Gathering 2 event? What are you looking forward to at the event?

It went something like this:

Harper Voyager: Would you like to be part of the Grim Gathering?

Me: HELL YES!

The end.

As to what I’m looking forward to: ALL OF IT! Honestly, it feels incredible to be alongside such a great collection of writers. It’s a touch intimidating too. I think I’ll be more than ready for a drink afterwards!

What are your thoughts on the Grimdark sub-genre? Where do you see the future of Grimdark?

Tricky one! I suppose when somebody says Grimdark to me, I think of fantasy with a more realistic edge (even if there is world-shaking magic). Where a happy ending is unlikely and where there isn’t necessarily any kind of narrative justice.

I think Grimdark makes a nice counterpoint to more heroic fantasy. I also think at the moment there’s a really healthy range of fantasy out there and there’s plenty of room in it for more gritty and epic stories (as well as lighter romps).

Wizard, rogue, warrior, or cleric?

If we’re talking 5e then Wizard all the way. I’m all for standing at the back and blowing stuff up. I’m also quite a fan of teleportation, reading lots and magical servants to clean the house.

Speaking of D&D 5e, what role has gaming (video games, table top gaming, etc) played in your writing?

Quite a big role, I think. I've roleplayed constantly since the age of eleven. I ran a Warhammer campaign for six years and used to know the rulebook so well I didn’t need it. I've also run Amber, Gurps, Exalted and D&D 3rd edition (I’m proud to say I took a party from 1st to 20th level). Gaming taught me about world building and making interesting characters; however running a game isn’t the same as writing and while a game might help generate ideas and flesh out areas of a secondary world, it won’t deliver you the perfect novel on a plate. Trust me on that one.  I've played a lot of video games too and I have no doubt that Final Fantasy 7 has left deep marks in my delicate brain, as has most of Bioware’s back catalogue. Yes, Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect (MASS EFFECT!), Dragon Age, I’m looking at you. Oh, oh, and Torment. What a game that was.

What is the single most profound piece of writing advice you've ever received?

I don’t know about profound but I’d say keep writing is the most important thing, especially while out on submission.

Following the release of The Vagrant, what other projects are on the horizon?

Next up is the sequel, due out early next year. All other projects are highly secret but have a high probability of containing demons.

Where do you see Peter Newman in the next 10 years?

Ha! I’m finding it hard to see past April at the moment. But okay, it’d be lovely if, in ten years, I’m chatting to you about my tenth book coming out in a new series and we’re looking fondly back on this interview. That or I’m a bitter drunk, ranting about the good old days, when I used to hang out with Abercrombie, Brett and Lawrence. Let’s go with option one, shall we?

Also, is there anywhere on the web where we can read some of what you've written? And where can our readers find out more about you?

Well, you can certainly hear something I’ve written. I did a short story for the Pseudopod podcast last Halloween that you can listen to here.  Mine is the last story in the episode called The Biggest Candle of Them All.

I blog at www.runpetewrite.com and I’m @runpetewrite on twitter. Feel free to come and say hi.

~

Thanks so much Peter, best of luck with The Vagrant release, and we'll be seeing you soon at the Grim Gathering.

Grim Interview: Daniel Polansky

Today we're joined by Daniel Polansky, a Brooklyn native and author of the Low Town trilogy, and the upcoming Empty Throne duology, of which the first installment Those Above, is slated to hit the shelves on February 26th in the US. 

The Low Town series was a blend of noir and fantasy. Would you say that your upcoming series (Those Above) is more traditional fantasy, or can we expect more genre blending?

A: It's a little hard to say--the Low Town stuff had a very deliberate sort of an aesthetic, being in first person and with that stylized hard boiled dialogue. Those Above is somewhat grander, both in terms of the language and some of the themes. It's sort of a noir on a much larger scale, the foolishness and brutality of nations as opposed to of individuals.

One of the reasons why so many people loved your first trilogy was because of the genre blend. Can readers expect more noir in your upcoming novel?

A: Yes, though perhaps of a less conventional sort. There's a strand of the novel dealing with urban poverty and the crime that runs through that, and there's generally a lot of violence and malfeasance and drinking and bad behavior.

Who would you say was your biggest influence as a writer?

A:I suppose it would maybe depend on the book? The Low Town stuff was all Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but Those Above is somewhat more flowery. I like to think that my writing is evolving, and so therefore my influences evolve as well. Hopefully that doesn't sound pretentious.

You’ve said in the past that Westerns were a big influence for Low Town and it’s respective sequels, what influences were you inspired by to write Those Above?

A: It's really hard to go back and pull apart all of the original threads. I'm a big history buff, have been for a long time, I think I was reading Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire while I was coming up with some of the ideas for Those Above. Robert Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Lots and lots of other things, probably.

Do you read any other authors in the genre, and if so who are your favorites?

A: Sure, lots of people. Myke Cole and Mark Lawrence and Stark Holborne and John Hornor Jacobs. I always say Gene Wolfe so Gene Wolfe once again. Tim Powers is awesome. I could go on for a while here.

Considering you were published by the time you were in your mid twenties, what advice could you offer to struggling writers?

A:Read a lot. Read more than you're reading. Read the most difficult books that you can make yourself read, push your comprehension skills, sharpen your understanding of language and your knowledge of the world.

Where do you see the fantasy and science fiction genre in the next ten years?

I am honestly the absolute worst person to answer this question. Trends and currents in the marketplace are just not something I have a very good grip on, probably to my detriment. I suppose there will be some good books and a lot of bad ones, but that's hardly a change in the status quo.

What does an average day of writing look like for you?

A:I'm a night owl, so I wake up late morning and brew a pot of coffee and just get to it. I try to get down a thousand words or so, then I go for a long walk and find a coffee shop and try to do it again. This pattern repeats until happy hour, and then I trade coffee for beer.

How do you feel about the rise of Grimdark? Do you consider your books Grimdark?

A: In any genre or subgenre there are some good things and some bad ones, so without trying to be pedantic I would say I like good grimdark and dislike bad grimdark. As far as my own books go, I can understand why someone would group them in under that rubric, but again you have a very different perspective on the stuff you've written. They just have their own look to you.

The synopsis for Those Above hints at the three main characters we will get to meet, a woman, a general, and a boy killer. Was there one in particular that was especially fun to write?

A: You're not really supposed to pick favorites (like with children) but yes, totally. The woman referred to in the blurb is Eudokia, the Revered Mother, sort of a Machiavellian type controlling the strings of empire from behind the scenes, and on a bunch of levels she was just so much fun to write.

If Low Town was made into a film, whom could you see playing The Warden?

A: Me. I would play him. I would make like Stallone with Rocky and refuse to grant the rights unless I was the lead also. would have to bulk up about sixty pounds and get taller and also a lot older and have my face beat up. But I could do it.

When you aren’t busy writing, what other hobbies or activities are you involved in?

A: Reading. Chess. I walk around the city. I talk to people occasionally. I don't travel like I used to but I'm usually still out of the country a few months a year.

If you lived in Low Town, what would your job be?

A: Oh Christ, nothing very impressive--I'm clever enough to get into trouble but not tough enough to get out of it. I guess everyone's clever enough to get into trouble. Anyway. I'm going to go with dream vine tester. I would be good at that.

Considering your novels have many darker elements to them, have you received any negative reactions from family, friends, or readers?

A: Well, some people just don't like my books, obviously, but I gather you're asking more along the lines of if I've offended anyone, to which the answer would be; a few people. Some readers have a way of taking the things a character says as being things you think, something especially common with a first person perspective. But that's pretty rare, honestly.

Is there a certain novel you would suggest is essential reading for struggling authors who want to write in the fantasy genre?

A: Not really, not one guy in particular. There are a lot of great writers but there's not really a silver bullet answer here. But just to say something I'll say Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, which is pretty tremendous.

Fantasy has many mediums these days ranging from films, to video games. Are you a fan of any of these popular franchises?

A:Sure, some of them, probably not anything unexpected. Firefly was great. Lord of the Rings was really cool. Game of Thrones, except having read them it's a little less exciting. I had my Xbox stolen a year ago and never got around to buying another, so my video games skills have kind of atrophied. My peak video game skills are all centered around like, early 2000's rpg's. My Morrowind character was on point.

Without giving away any spoilers, what can fans look forward to with Those Above?

A: Sex, blood, greed, death, hope, despair, evil. Lots of evil. It's bigger and more expansive than the Low Town stuff, there are a lot of viewpoints, I swung a bit more for the fences, if that makes sense. Hopefully people respond in a positive way.

How many books are planned for your newest series?

A:Two! Just the two of them. I don't know why people don't write duologies more. Did I spell that correctly? THESE ARE SO RARE THAT I DON'T KNOW THE PROPER SPELLING. Anyway, two. But a strong two! Like a kick in the head, two.

Thanks for joining us Daniel, looking forward to the new book, and best of luck with the release.

Thanks tons for having me! Please, if you have any interest, go out and pick a copy of my book. You could read it, or you could use it for terribly uncomfortable toilet paper, or you could buy a bunch of copies and build a fort. I think this last plan is probably the best.

Grim Interview: Tim Marquitz of Ragnarok Publications

Today we have editor in chief of indie press Ragnarok Publications, Tim Marquitz. Tim has an extensive resume as not only an experienced dark / urban fantasy author, including the Demon Squad series and the Blood War Trilogy, but he has also worked as an editor and contributor on many anthologies and other projects, including the Dead West Series and Neverland’s Library. His most recent professional endeavor is taking the helm of the new indie press Ragnarok Publications. Coming off the heels of the amazing Kickstarter Campaign for Blackgaurds, (which damn near tripled it's funding goal), we're chatting with Tim for a little insight into the beast that is Ragnarok Publications...

~

So, give us the story of how Ragnarok Publications got started. 

Joe Martin approached me originally to work on a project (which ended up being Dead West) and he and I got to talking about publishing in general. I’d been wanting to spearhead something different publishing-wise, expanding on my editing work, and along the way I realized Joe would be the perfect partner for this project given his experiences. We sat down and chatted about it. The idea exploded, and here we are.

What does a day in the life of the editor-in-chief look like? 

Coffee, coffee, coffee, followed by words. My days are actually split between all the different things I need to get done. Some days are slower, when I get to write and focus on my own stuff, but most days are spent dealing with the vagaries of Ragnarok, from contract creation to editing to doling out assignments to talking to agents to formatting to promoting. There’s a constant stream of little tasks that aren’t scheduled so it’s hard to define each day. That said, I love every minute of it, chaotic as it can sometimes be. 

What are some of the challenges of running an indie press? 

The biggest I can think of is staying (becoming) relevant. There are thousands of smaller presses out there these days. The hardest part for us is to stand out above and beyond these folks as a press authors want to share their work with and be published by. We push ourselves every release, every day for that matter, to do better, to learn more, to become more competitive. 

Another huge challenge is finding an audience. We’ve been lucky to turn our Kickstarter successes into a soapbox, so to speak, but it doesn’t translate across the board for all of our titles. We’re constantly struggling to find a larger audience so the amazing authors we’ve picked up can shine as they should. 

What do you enjoy most about running and operating Ragnarok? 

For me, it’s finding and promoting authors I love who haven’t quite found their place in publishing yet. While we publish folks who are successes in their own right, we have a number of authors who should be successful but just haven’t hit that point yet. It’s frustrating because they’re talented and fantastic story tellers but just haven’t stumbled across the luck factor yet. I love being a part of these peoples’ careers this early on and helping to push the out there. 

Why the focus on darker fiction stories? 

I think that’s just the direction that appeals to us most. There’s a beauty in darkness that we like to tap into with our books. We’re comfortable in that darkness. 

Overall, how has Ragnarok Publications been received by readers and the industry? 

You’d have to tell me. I feel we’re fairly well received given our limited time in existence. Our Kickstarter campaigns have spread our name far and wide and we produce quality books consistently. People likely still see us as a small outfit, and they wouldn't be wrong, but we have huge aspirations. I think I’ll have a better feel for how we’re received as we get a little older in the business. 

How has social media played a part in the development and promotion of Ragnarok Publications? 

Social media has played a huge role in our development. We’ve a dedicated social media team who promote the hell out of us and do everything they can to get our name out there in a positive light. We’ve also used social media to coordinate and create our greatest successes along the way. If it weren’t for the current atmosphere of social media, I don’t think Ragnarok would exist. 

Currently Ragnarok isn't taking new submissions, but once you open the flood gates, what sort of works will you be looking to receive?

We want dark but different. We don’t have a specific type of story (outside of our basic genre preferences) but we want to be hit over the head by a story. We want something that screams at us to be published, whether it’s horror or urban fantasy isn’t an issue. 

I think our preference falls in the little-left-of-center category. 

Can you give us your take on the publishing industry eBook revolution that’s taking place right now? Where do you see the future of the publishing and eBooks headed? 

I feel there will be a slight correcting of course, paperbacks coming back a little more while eBooks begin to settle in sales comparison to paper. That said, eBooks will continue to be the new market, the technology spurring new directions for innovative and interactive eBooks. 

Small and self-publishers will continue to thrive for a long time to come. They’re becoming more adept at adapting to the climate while the larger presses stumble against tradition and investors’ needs. I suspect you’ll see a number of smaller presses explode over the next 3-4 years, becoming monsters in their own rights, but then the cycle will reset. 

Where would you like to see Ragnarok five years down the road? 

I’ve been blown away by Ragnarok’s success so far, so I can only imagine what five years would do for us. I think we’ll have ironed out the “in store” aspect of distribution and will expand into the market. We have big plans yet we still want to retain the creator-comfortable atmosphere we’ve developed. Ultimately, Ragnarok will succeed, expand, become better and wiser, as the years progress. Beyond that, I can’t say. 

What are the next titles coming down the pike that we should be keeping an eye out for? 

We’ve just re-released the first book in the Red Reaper series, Sword Sisters, by Tara Cardinal and Alex Bledsoe as well as the first book in the Gnomesaga series, Rough Magick, by Kenny Soward. We’re looking at releasing Rob J. Haye’s gritty, The Ties that Bind series so there will finally be a paperback version of it out there in the world. We’ve also got Skinjumper by Lincoln Crisler coming up and a bunch more. 

Tim, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.

Thanks so much for having us. We’re grateful to everyone who’s help make Ragnarok a success and we plan to hang around a long time and give y’all plenty of dark fiction to hunker down with.

~

To learn more about Ragnarok Publications, just head on over to ragnarokpub.com, and to find out more about everything Tim Marquitz, check out his blog at tmarquitz.com. Tim, thanks again for hanging out, and best of luck to you and Ragnarok Publications.

Grim Interview: Timothy C. Ward

Up next for the Grim Interview is probably one of the nicest authors I've had the opportunity to come into contact with. It seems whatever the subject of discussion, Tim always brings an encouraging, positive perspective. As an author, blogger, reviewer, and podcaster, Timothy is a respected voice in the genre fiction community. His newest title Scavanger: Blue Dawn, the second installment in his Sand universe series made popular by Hugh Howey, is available now here.   

Roll call. Name? Age? Where are you from? What do you do when you’re not writing or blogging or podcasting? Hobbies?

Tim Ward, author name, Timothy C. Ward because the guy who published under the former writes Buddhist Erotica. Anyway, off to a fun start. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, raised in suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Right now, I work out, play with my seven month old boy, Kai, my firstborn, and whatever I can to remind my wife that this author wants to spend time with her as well as in a book. I'm waiting patiently for that dream trip to Colorado to snowboard.

Where did your love for reading and writing science fiction and fantasy come from? When did you first begin writing?

I always loved books, but R.L. Stine's Goosebumps books were early addiction reading in elementary school. Middle school and high school was discovering Dragonlance and that I can finish Stephen King books (sorry The Regulators, you didn't work for me.) My first author experience was creating a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic in Kindergarten. But I didn't write fiction/prose until high school, when I started a novel about skateboarding mice in a mansion. It was awesome. Very Secret of Nihm-esque.

Besides fantasy and science fiction, do you enjoy any other genres of literature?

Horror is the first subgenre to come to mind. Not splatter and massacre Horror, but Ronald Malfi type, character driver horror. Aside from his stuff, Post Apocalyptic, survivor Horror is probably my favorite, if done well. I'm still looking for The Walking Dead type character focused zombie fiction. I've read some very good books in that genre, but none excite me quite like the show. Most of my fiction has elements of Horror, even Scavenger 2 has brought in a little Horror to the mix.

Your latest releases, Scavenger and Scavenger 2, is a shared world novelette set in Hugh Howey’s Sand universe. Tell us how this project came to fruition.

Hugh is one of my favorite authors. His book, Wool, is one of my favorites, and is part of the Kindle Worlds, shared world project. That world is a bit crowded with fanfiction though. In reading his novel, Sand, there was a moment where scavengers were described sand diving for survivors of a terrorist attack. I was immediately inspired to tell the story of one of those people and whom they were diving after. The character came to life right away as a drunk holed up in the local brothel who must get over his problems in order to save the woman he loved.

Scavenger was a stand alone novelette, but I’m getting good reviews and encouragement to keep writing, so I’ve already written 18k words on the next part. There is a lot left explored in Howey’s novel, such as the lost city of Danvar, a city of the old world now buried under a mile of sand. There are also a few remaining cities on the east coast, so I have a lot of ideas and adventure left planned. The goal is to put out a novel. At the moment, I’m trying to decide if I should serialize novellas or wait until I have a novel and then self publish that.

When it comes to craft, what’s the most profound writing advice you’ve ever received?

I did a podcast with Hugh Howey and Robin Sullivan on my old show, AudioTim (Episode 33: http://timothycward.com/2012/05/01/audiotim-33-indie-publishing-with-hugh-howey-and-robin-sullivan/). During our conversation about how Hugh and Robin’s husband, Michael Sullivan, hit it big, they talked about how Hugh had written about seven books, and Michael over ten before they had their overnight success. Hugh said he did no marketing on Wool, his breakout title, after having tried nearly everything on previous books. His success was unexplainable. Readers loved the story, told their friends, and he worked his butt off to serialize another four parts to make up the complete Wool Omnibus within a couple months (one of the most successful NaNoWriMo’s). Robin chimed in with the advice that after writing book one, you should spend about 80% or more of your time writing book two, and the rest marketing.

These ideas and examples imprinted on me the importance of a long term vision for my writing. Stamina is a must. Don’t get distracted by platform building and marketing. Write the next book, then the next, etc. and don’t let your hopes rest on that first book being a success cause you to crash when it isn’t. This has helped me develop a mentality of daily writing, counting my success on that production and not on whether or not the few short stories or still unpublished novels will become instant bestsellers.

For new authors looking to get their fiction out there and go the route of self publishing, what general advice would you offer? 

Try to find beta readers who are willing to criticize your work. I’ve found too many “yes men” and not enough who have challenged me that my story isn’t good enough. The problem there is that everyone is busy and reading poorly written fiction is a kind of torture I’m apt to avoid. So, you have to practice. Get involved in the community via facebook, goodreads, blogs, etc and when you have friends who are critical readers, ask if they’d mind reading something. Give them the opportunity to stop reading at any time, asking only that they say why, then use that to make the story better and ask someone else. Reddit has an active critique community in the /r/writing forum. Critters.org is another option.

Be warned, editing can be very expensive. I recently shelled out nearly 4k for a novel that the editor did not finish reading and said needed rewritten. Tough lesson to learn after hiring another editor before that one. I thought it was ready to submit and/or needed polish before publishing and this editor had different views. Read books by editors you seek out to see if you like their style of storytelling. The one thousand word sample is not enough to determine if you are a good fit for each other, and by the time they are ten or twenty thousand words in it is likely too late to back out.

Episode 12 of the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast has an interview with editor, Harry Dewulf. I haven’t used him, but his advice is excellent and I really like his method for making sure you are a good fit by reading an extended portion of the work to determine character arcs, etc. (http://rockingselfpublishing.com/episode-12-effective-editing-harry-dewulf/)

Lastly, please, for your sake, don’t put out an ugly product. A poor cover and poor writing is going to kill your chances of selling and building readership. If you can’t afford a quality cover or editing, either wait and keep writing or submit to a quality small publisher who offers at least 50/50 royalties and other rights that are better than what large publishing houses offer. Custom covers aren’t cheap, but some cover designers offer premade covers for a discount. Get a second job or something on the side to help save money for that editor. Some may say publish and let the readers help you edit as you go. I say that time has passed; there are too many other books out there to read to take the time to email the author about why you aren’t going to read their book.

When did you first start podcasting? What was it about podcasting that caught your interest?

I started podcasting in 2010. I discovered podcasts in about 2008 and listened to every one I could find (Adventures in Scifi Publishing, Dragon Page, I Should Be Writing, The Secrets w/Michael Stackpole, Dead Robots Society, etc). Listening to authors talk about writing was the inspirational fuel I needed to push me through writing my first book and beyond. As much time as it takes to write a lot and read a lot of fiction, let your commute and workout time be where you get injections of writing advice and inspiration.

What has been your best experience when it comes to podcasting? Also, what has been your worst experience?

The best would probably be the two podcasts I did with Hugh Howey. I was a big fan. He is incredibly nice and inspired me like no other guest.  My worst will be under wraps, but in short, when a guest takes over the show, gives general answers, and is rude, yeah, that’s unpleasant.

Not only do you write and podcast, but you’re also a pretty busy book reviewer. When did you decide to start writing reviews and sharing your reading experiences with others? What do you enjoy most about reviewing books?

I think it was around 2009 when I started noticing blogs and was given the advice to buy a web domain with my author name (www.timothycward.com), that I thought it would be fun to fill it with book reviews and stories about writing. Plus, I wanted to help writers by reviewing their books on Goodreads and Amazon. I enjoy getting free books because I’m poor and don’t like how the library gives me so little time (if I can’t renew it). Plus, I like ebooks better, and the library has been really slow to improve their selection in that format.

I’m struggling with being a book reviewer now because I want to be more critical and harsh on my ratings than I can as a peer to these authors. The closer I get to publishing my first novel, the more I contemplate not reviewing. I have more than enough books at this point.

Can you give us your list of the top 5 genre books you’ve read?

Germline by T.C. McCarthy

Fiend by Peter Stenson

Wool by Hugh Howey

The Explorer by James Smythe

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (a bit dated at this point, but my first book love experience)

What’s the next project on the horizon?

Aside from writing the novel extension to Scavenger, I’m waiting on beta readers for my novel, Order After Dark, a post apocalyptic fantasy set in the rift between Iowa and the Abyss. Any volunteers to help me beta are welcomed. I have a certain small publisher I’d love to submit this to, partly because they are very talented, have a larger reach than I do alone (good boost to an author with no books out), and would save me the upfront cost of cover design and editing. I think the hybrid approach is a smart one, especially when I have multiple books that will be done before year’s end and won’t have the money to pay for covers and editing for both.