Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I spent my most of my life in the vocations of businessman and university professor and writing has been an avocation for many years now. Since I retired from the University recently, I have written my latest novel, The Dumb Class. The earlier novels I wrote are Horseshoes & Nuclear Weapons and Take It To The Limit which were international terrorism thrillers. I have also done a considerable number of business and technical articles in the past.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my latest book is the dumb class and it’s about some wayward teenagers in 1960 students at a junior high school called Boomer Junior high. It is intended to be a dark humored look at junior high school life and society in those days. I attended four different junior high schools in four different cities back in the late 50s and early 60s since my family moved around a lot at that time. This gave me a rich variety of experiences and observations to draw on from those days. When you’re the new kid in school, which I was several times, you are apart from the crowd and able to be an observer. Each character in the dumb class is drawn from several junior high schoolers I knew and observed at that time. The dumb class is a series of interconnected stories, each of which has some basis in truth but I let my imagination go in embellishing these truths to tell a more interesting and funnier story ofttimes about things that could’ve happened.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t believe I have any terribly unusual writing habits. With this latest book I’ve adopted a newer technology using a software called Dragon which is a voice recognition package. I’ve never been a very good typist and Dragon allows me to put in the rough draft very quickly as compared to banging away at the keyboard. One still has to edit using the keyboard as the editing and voice recognition software is not yet sophisticated enough to allow for efficient changing and rewriting of the text. I’m sure the editing capability will come in the future. After roughing in the book by voice I edit and rewrite parts of it it myself at least three times or more before turning it over to the capable hands of my editors.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ken Follett has certainly been an influence on my writing. I think he is the most skilled fictional writer out there. He writes both historical fiction and thrillers. Other authors that I have enjoyed over many years and have influenced me are Erskine Caldwell, Kurt Vonnegut Junior, John Steinbeck, Jack Higgins, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. John Sanford and Michael Connelly’s crime fiction are current favorites of mine.
What are you working on now?
I am in the process of piecing together components of a sequel to the dumb class where we just might move these 1960’s teenagers from junior high to high school and experience some more their adventures. I would call it a squeakquel if it had anything to do with chipmunks. But since these teenagers will be driving regularly, I think I’ll call it the squawkquel. We used to stand outside the high school as each hot-rodded car would leave the parking lot and scream “squawk’em, squawk’em” as an encouragement to the drivers to squeal their tires on the pavement; and squeal them they did.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There are many book promotion services out on the web including PRETTY-HOT.COM and I am in the process of using several of them for my new book.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I believe persistence is the key both in developing and practicing your writing skills and in marketing and selling your books.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Stay in school.
What are you reading now?
Earlier this year I reconnected with the long-lost cousin who has it turns out is a producer and director of plays in New York. This sparked an interest in Broadway plays and musicals something I have never known much about so I am reading the secret life of the American musical: how Broadway shows are built by Jack Viertel. It is a very absorbing read about the anatomy of the Broadway musical and very educational for me.
What’s next for you as a writer?
At this time I’m focused on marketing my current latest novel and starting the sequel.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett is my favorite. It is the most enjoyable and well-crafted fictional novel I have ever read.
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