Fridays 5 with Dave Riese

Born in 1946, I grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts. I attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, majoring in English literature. During my junior year, I studied English Literature at Oxford University and travelled in Europe.

After graduating in 1968, I enlisted in the Air Force one step ahead of my draft board's kind invitation to join the army and travel to Vietnam. I married Susan, my high school girlfriend, during leave between tech school and my posting to the Philippines at Clark Air Base.

Discharged from the military in 1972, I was hired by Liberty Mutual Insurance to attend their three-month computer training course. I learned later that the major reason I was hired was my writing and communications background. An English degree can be a valuable asset!

After 35 years in information technology, I retired from Massachusetts Financial Services in the spring of 2012.

My wife and I moved north of Boston in 1974. Our daughter lives in Ireland with her husband. Our son and his wife are pediatricians working in Rhode Island. We have four grandchildren.

1.) When did you first get serious about writing?

Although I began writing in high school, I became serious at Bates College. I wrote a creative writing thesis in my senior year about my experiences travelling in Europe during my junior year studying at Oxford University.

Once I started working and raising a family. I lost a lot of my impetus to write. I took writing classes at Continuing Education centers and wrote short stories, but never sent them out to magazines. I eventually competed a novel after working on it off for 25 years! Again, I never sent it out.

When I decided to retire, I told myself I had to be more disciplined if I ever wanted to be a published author. I didn’t want to be on my deathbed thinking, “I could have been a published writer if I’d only worked at it with everything I had.”

2.) What is the hardest part for you about writing?

The hardest part is the first draft. I’m always disappointed after writing new material. Only when I go over it 2 or 3 days later, do I begin to see the possibilities and realize that the writing isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was.  I love editing and cutting out all the junk that tries to hide in the corners of paragraphs and sentences. A book is always improved by being shorter.

The hardest part of being an author is the marketing process. So hard to determine the effectiveness of everything one does. I never feel I have done all I should.

Click on cover for more info or to order!

Synopsis:
1950s Montreal. A young woman from a working class, Catholic-Jewish family blindly falls in love with a handsome, wealthy, Jewish orthodox man. The courtship is a romantic dream, but class, religion and sexual secrets test their love, leading to a shocking, life-changing revelation.

"A bittersweet story of love and loss set in one of the most colorful cities on the planet in its film-noirish heyday." - Peter Behrens, author of Law of Dreams and The O'Briens
3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

I felt disbelief, joy, relief, and optimism. The disbelief that I’d finally accomplished my live-long goal of publishing a novel; the joy of holding the first copy of the book in my hands; relief that all the hard work had not been in vain; and optimistic that this book would blow everyone’s socks off. I’m still working on that last emotion.

4.) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?

Character is the most important ingredient for me in fiction. If the story or plot is lacking in some regard, I still enjoy reading it if the characters engage me. On the other hand, if the story is top notch, but the characters are unreal, the story usually fails for me.

When I sit down to write, I often imagine that I am going to visit friends (the characters in my novel) and spend the day with them. At first I will take charge of the visit to get things started, but eventually they exert their influence and I am content to become an observer. As I write, I watch them acting out the scene and listen to what they say. I often feel the ideas go from my subconscious directly onto the page. Things happen that I never imagined. The characters may begin to act out one of my own experiences. They say things I wish I had said at the time. While in this semi-unconscious zone, I let them do what they want and only rein them in when they risk going off the plot’s cliff.

5.) What is a typical day like in your world?

Generally I try to leave the house at 9:30 and go to a local coffee house or café. I will write the first draft of the next section of my novel for about 2 - 3 hours; then I will edit previously written material for 2 hours; then I check email and catch up on some marketing for 1 – 2 hours. By this time, my brain is exhausted and all I want to do is take a nap or read before dinner. Usually I watch the news or a movie at the end of the day.

Author links:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Dave-Riese/e/B00RXXH104/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/DaveRiese

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/Dave.Riese

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DaveRiese

Book’s Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/EchoFromMountRoyal?fref=ts

Book’s Pinterest page:  https://www.pinterest.com/driese1/echo-from-mount-royal/

Billie-Bob's Birthday Part I

They had come to him two weeks earlier with their proposal, arriving as the last of the days light fled to the safety of the west. Three men dressed in an a way he’d never seen before.

They all wore heavy denim jeans that appeared hand made, and leather vests over plain cotton shirts. The vests were covered with odd symbols that had been hand worked into the aged leather. Two of them struck him as manager types used to giving orders, and being obeyed.

It was the third man who elicited a tiny spark of fear in him, a sensation he hadn’t felt in years. He stood behind the other two, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes every watchful from beneath the shadowy brim of his hat. On his hip he carried a massive pistol whose sandalwood grips dwarfed his own hand.

Looking into his eyes he knew this man could kill him in an instant.

What they asked for had at first seemed odd. One did not normally approach a mercenary of his reputation with a request to keep the target alive. At the ripe old age of Eighteen he had earned  a standing as one of the most brutal guns for hire out there. He had only been fifteen when the dead rose up and the living fled as the society they all knew crumbled.

Overnight the world he’d known had ceased to exist. Cell phones quit working, the internet followed shortly thereafter, and it wasn’t long before the first long night came as the electric grid failed. All of the conveniences of modern life had fallen by the wayside as roving bands of heavily armed men and women took what they wanted, killing any who dared deny them. Not to mention the wandering groups of undead who sought sustenance from the living. It was like they had jumped from the frying pan into the fire, a phrase his father had always used.

He’d witnessed his mother and father’s death at the hands of one of these groups. On that night his alter ego had been born, and he stopped being Todd Franklin, who had a secret crush on his neighbors daughter who happened to be three years older than him, and hardly knew he was alive.

That night he became the Angel of Death.

For six months he tracked the group that had killed his parents with a single mindedness that bordered on obsession. Carving away at their numbers as opportunities presented themselves, until he cornered the last few members in a small town West of the capitol of a nation that lay in a smoldering ruins. That final confrontation had been brutal and bloody, with the flames of the fires he’d set consuming the entire town in which they had hidden.

He had walked away satisfied in a way he’d never known before. Over time he earned a reputation as someone not to be trifled with. Someone in fact that it would be best to avoid at all costs. Someone willing to trade any life for the right price. But even he had his limits. No kids, and especially no pregnant women. They were off limits to him. He’d kill anyone you asked for unless they were a part of those two groups.

Now he was being asked not to kill, but to protect another person from the brutality of a world that had been turned upon its ear. When he’d asked why, the only thing they would tell him was the child she bore would take part in saving untold worlds that had been thrown into turmoil. The idea had appealed to the fourteen year old kid still trapped within him, an innocent side that had once marveled at the worlds created in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. 

But what sealed the deal for him was their offer to let him escape this desolate place if he was successful. Yeah, they might be lying, but they struck him as not being from this world so he took their word for what they offered. Besides, if he hadn’t accepted, what if he was wrong?

There was always that chance.

They told him she would be by this way within the next few days, and he’d been keeping a cold camp for a week now as he waited for her. Several times roaming bands of Zombies had wandered by, and each time he had gone to ground until they passed, his weapons always at the ready in the event they wandered too close to him.

He had just laid down for a short nap when a shout from the roadway he had been watching drew him back to the edge of the forest. A group of people appeared from around the bend in the road. A number of them were heavily armed and a few appeared to be wounded.  He’d heard some distant shooting earlier that day but hadn’t gone to check on it, preferring to stay where he was so he wouldn’t miss his target, and his only chance to escape this dying place.

There were four girls tied together in the middle of the group and as he watched one of the men, really nothing more than a boy, walked over and cut the ropes binding one of them. The boy called over another, younger boy, and handed him his pistol, pointing towards the field that was between Todd and the group. She was pregnant, he noticed as he realized he was looking at the girl he was supposed to protect.

They were going to shoot her.

The thought shot through him and he moved from cover to get into a better position from which to save her. Crawling forward behind the rusted remnants of a tractor he heard the girl sobbing as the young boy led her by the rope tied around her neck. He felt his anger rising at the thought that another innocent was about to die.

“Quit your damned crying and get on your knees, bitch.” The boy said as Todd came around the side of the car in a crouch. The girl looked up and screamed as he came into view.



To be continued!

Follow Billie-Bobs adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

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Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

Click on the cover for more info or to order!

Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

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Monday Motivational: The myth of the insant bestsellers!

Is there really such a thing as an instant bestseller?

I doubt it. When you peel back the top layer of the past of anyone who has experienced bestsellerdom what you usually find is a life of persistent hard work, dedication, and of course any number of failures that they sprang back from.

It's not just restricted to the writing world.

In every endeavor from the business world, arts, and even sports, when we see someone who has achieved the pinnacle of success, what we are seeing is the end result of a life focused on greatness.

Understanding this, and believing that your success is out there, is the single driving force that keeps us focused on our goals. 

The ones you don't hear about are those who gave up before they achieved success. 

So just remember, as you plow ahead into an uncertain future. This could be your day. Or tomorrow, or the day after, but you'll never know unless you keep going. 

Fridays 5 with A.L. Butcher

A. L. Butcher is the British author of the Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles fantasy series, and several short stories in the fantasy and fantasy romance genres.  She is an avid reader and creator of worlds, a poet and a dreamer. When she is grounded in the real world she likes science, natural history, history and monkeys.  Her work has been described as ‘dark and gritty’ and her poetry as evocative.

1.) When did you first get serious about writing?

A.) I’ve written poetry and short stories for years, but I would say ‘serious’ was about 5 or so years ago. The first novel came out of stories written for a game, plus something I’d been working on for a while. At first I wasn’t sure if I should publish – it’s a very daunting step. A few people had read the book, and past short stories and persuaded me to give it a shot. I wasn’t writing to make money, I was writing because I had a story which wanted to be told, and because I enjoyed creating worlds and characters.

2.) What is the hardest part for you about writing?

(A) The discipline! I have a full time job, a few health problems and so finding the time to sit and write when I’m not too tired, too stressed, or too lazy is hard for me. Often it will take me a while to get started and usually I have several things on the go. I actually find it easier to concentrate on many projects and tasks at once, focusing on only one thing I find difficult.

Also marketing. In many ways this is the most challenging part of publishing.  I don’t like pushy sales people and the line between acceptable promotion and spamming people is very thin. Many readers don’t like any author promotion and knowing when to mention one’s book is tricky.  It’s also hard finding marketing strategies that work – what works for John doesn’t work for James, and James has a strategy which Joanne finds bizarre. Writing the book is relatively easy – selling the damn thing – that’s hard.

Oh and formatting. I hate it. BORING!!!!

Click on cover for more info or to order!

Synopsis:
Meet the Kitchen Imps - mischievous creatures who lurk behind the cupboard, and under the fridge.

Where do all the missing socks go? Find out with The Joy of Socks.

Learn the mysteries of the Secret Kitchen and gaze upon a rather familiar world with Free Will.

Dare you risk the king's wrath when you venture into the House of Treasure?

Short fantasy/fairy tales for readers of all ages. (Contains dark humour and some moderate mischief).

3.) How did you feel upon publication of your first completed project?

(A) Terrified. As I’ve said it’s quite daunting, and there is always the fear readers won’t like it or even find it. For many authors a book can take months or even years to write, rewrite and produce for publication and so there is a sense of relief, pride and achievement.

For me – there was a lot of joy and sadness. My mother was in the last stages of terminal cancer when I published but even so she was so proud of the achievement. I took the print version for her to see, and she had tears in her eyes. Even though she was so ill she told everyone about it – neighbours, friends, family members. For a while she had something else to think about and focus on. I was so pleased she was able to see it.

4.) What is more important to you, story, or character? Why?

Both. Although if I had to choose, I’d lean towards characters. Flat, one dimensional characters can kill a book. If a reader doesn’t give two hoots about the characters then the plot doesn’t matter. That reader is lost. Well-written characters can carry a dodgy story but not vice versa.

5.) What is a typical day like in your world?

Chaos usually. Get up, make breakfast, fed pets and man of the house and tidy kitchen a bit. Go to work. Spend day grumbling about work and wishing I had time to write down all the story ideas which poke me. Get home, walk dog, have dinner, then maybe write if I’m not too tired, or annoy Facebook if I am and then walk dog again, then bed. Repeat cycle.

So exciting…..

Author Links

Blog: http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6430414.A_L_Butcher

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alexandra-Butcher/e/B008BQFCC6/

Twitter:@libraryoferana

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkFantasyBeyondTheStorm