Interview with Robert K. Swisher Jr.

Interview with Robert K. Swisher Jr.,

Author of Conversations with

The Golf God

Questions from Author Roy Murry

CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?

I started writing in 1967 when I got out of Vietnam.  No, I was not an officer.  I was a radio operator in the infantry.  From then until now I have had about 2,579 odd jobs ranging from cowboy, mountain guide, bartender - a good one was dressing up as Uncle Sam in front of an income tax office.  During all of this I have written full time - sorry to say my college career was short. I have placed 14 traditional novels ranging from historical fiction, to contemporary, to young adult.  Several of these books were reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Best Sellers, Midwest Book Review and others.  Two were optioned but the movie deal did not go through but, I do not write format or slot fiction.  It makes the writing game harder but I write what pops into my head.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST STORY YOU WROTE?

It was called Ned and was published in THE LONG STORY.  I also placed a lot of outdoor articles to magazines - mostly fishing.  I placed over 500 poems to literary magazines and many other short stories.  I no longer write short stories, articles, or poetry.  The muse is gone.  I am stuck on novels and relish reading rejection letters.  They seem to inspire me.  My first novel, THE LAND, was rejected 400 times before it found a home - it is still in print.  Go figure.

WHERE YOU INSPIRED BY SOMEONE?

My high school English teacher that informed me after I told her I wanted to be a writer that my chances of being a published writer were slim and none - maybe not being able to spell, hating semi-colons, and flunking English had something to do with it.  I will not divulge her name but I did send her my first published novel that received great reviews.  Not nice I know but I have mellowed with age.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WRITING A BOOK?

I have a love hate relationship with my books.  One day I love the process and the next I hate it, but even hating it I still hit the keys.  I have worked on books for a year and then erased them.  I have burnt some.  The ones I like I keep.  Besides the five books I have indie published I have six that keep begging me to send them out.  Once a year I take a few weeks and go through the process of contacting agents and publishers.  After that I don't mess with it.  The story from agents and publishers has not changed - everyone should read the book ROTTON REJECTIONS - it's funny and true.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR BOOK?

I have been the head greens keeper at three golf courses around the country.  Golf helped pay for a lot of stamps to send out manuscripts.  I started playing when I was six years old.  Now at 66 I have a 4 handicap - not from the senior tees either.  I wrote CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GOLF GOD because I wanted to be serious and also funny. I had just finished a novel that left my brain dripping put of my right ear and I needed a break.  GOLF GOD is slightly political with some great tips about life and golf and a lot of absurdity - bit golf is absurd - think about it.  Trying to hit a round object straight with a club that is set at an angle and then getting angry when it doesn't ---- please?  It is almost as bad as trying to make a living as a writer.

ARE YOU WORKING ON SOMETHING NEW?

At the moment a lady is editing a novel called HOPE - the story of a group of elderly people that learn how to fly.  I recently finished a novel titled THE LONELY COWBOY.  I am going over a novel I finished last year - HOW BRIDGE MCCOY LEARNED HOW TO SAY I LOVE YOU - story of a man who walks two steps forward and one backward who has fallen in love but when he tries to tell the lady he loves her all he can say is I, I, I, Lo, Lo, and then he starts to choke -something about trust in this modern world. And I am half way through a novel titled VENT- where it is going I have no idea but I am enjoying it.  The six novels in my closet I am ignoring.  They started complaining they didn't like the tense they are written in so I am letting them stew for a while and get over it.

DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR ASPIRING WRITERS?

I taught a class at a university called THE REALITIES OF WRITING, go figure; I flunked out of college, but back to the point.  ADVICE - don't listen to too much advice.  I have seen books that show and don't tell.  I have seen books with little punctuation and some with so much they should have been a textbook.  I have seen books that use just, had, very and all that no-no stuff.  I have heard a zillion times write what you know.  QUESTION?  If you wrote what you didn't know it would be a blank page.  To write put your rear in a chair and write.  They invented editors to figure out all the other stuff.  JUST DO IT.

WHERE CAN PEOPLE READ YOUR WORK?

Libraries, Amazon and other sites, ordered through book stores.  The 5 books I indeed I did through kindle select.  It's free and they have the biggest market share and if you get lucky and a mainstream publisher wants to pick up your book all you have to do is unpublished.  I will say I made a lot of mistakes when I first jumped into indie but I am learning.  I have also made some good sales but that is from many years of writing - I have a mailing list.  I like the indie process but one must control the promo and keep writing.  My indie books have received from 5 to 2 stars - don't let bad reviews get you down - no big deal - if we were all the same we would be in a cult. I sell my indie books from $2.99 to $3.99 although I feel they should really go for about $8,000 each.

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD?

A lot of getting published is luck and hard work.  Don't give up.  Here is my author page, if you have any questions feel free to message me....

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-K-Swisher-Jr/296768763702474?ref=hl  ....also leave a like...this face book is a funny thing.  The best to all of you.  Enjoy the journey - nothing in life is easy.

Oh yes, I almost forgot, if one of you will buy 85,000 copies of one of my books I will put you in my will and you can visit once a year after I have moved to the big island.

                                                             ************

Review of A Favorite Son

Review of A Favorite Son

Written by Uvi Poznansky

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Uvi’s writing is unique in this short rendition of a story as old as Abraham -wanting something that is not yours. The first born is the benefactor of their father’s fortune – lands, goats, and whatever are the items left behind by their father. The head of the tribe words are final. All other siblings must rely on the first born to take care of them.

It’s a basic theme that Ms. Poznansky has developed into a smooth and humorist read. The wife asks for a camel from the king, while he is on his death bed. She doesn’t want one of those automobiles they have out west. She begs for this comfort to no avail. Your son will provide for you the man replies.

That and other off the wall snippets will bring the reader to reality. However, the story resides in a wealthy man’s desert serfdom, where women have no say and only what he says rules. This is a problem with his wife who feels her favorite son should reap the benefits of first born since she thinks he is more equipped to rule over the tribe.

That woven into a deceit of an uncommon kind, propels the story forward to an understandable conclusion. Ms. Poznansky weaves a plot that is told by the second son, who instead in confronting the situation upfront, listens to his mother into a void he cannot handle.

Plot: enjoyable; Characters: believable; and the prose was easy to read.

Links are below: A FAVORITE SON
♥ Audio http://tinyurl.com/fvort-a
♥ Print http://tinyurl.com/fvort-p
♥ Ebook http://tinyurl.com/fvort-e

    

     

Interview with Uvi Poznansky

Interview with Uvi Poznansky

Author of A Favorite Son

Interviewed by R. Murry

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I am an artist, a poet and a writer. In the past, my professional life has undergone several changes, as so many of us are experiencing in this day and age. I have a master of architecture from RPI in Troy NY. Later I have earned a Master of Computer Science from the University of Michigan. I love to extend my skills, reinvent myself and find out the common areas between different disciplines.

Can you tell us about your book?

This story is a present-day twist on the biblical story of Jacob and his mother Rebecca plotting together against the elderly father Isaac, who is lying on his deathbed, in order to get their hands on the inheritance and on the power in the family. This is no old fairy tale. Its power is here and now, in each one of us.

When you listen to Yankle telling his take on events, you will feel the bitter rivalry between him and his brother, and become intimately engaged with every detail of the plot. These are flawed, yet brilliantly fascinating characters. Yankle yearns to become his father's favorite son, and he sees only one way open to him, to get that which he wants: deceit.

"What if my father would touch me," asks Yankle. In planning his deception, it is not love for his father, nor respect for his age that drives his hesitation--rather, is it the fear to be found out. And so--covering his arm with the hide of a kid, pretending to be that which he is not--he is now ready for the last moment he is going to have with his father.

How did you come up with the story? 

I have long been fascinated with the story of Jacob and Esav. To me, it captures several layers of emotions which we all go through in our families: a rivalry between brothers, the way a mother’s love, unevenly divided, can spur them to action, to crime, even; and how in time, even in the absence of regret, a punishment eventually ripens. 

The story had been brewing in me for several years before I put pen to paper. Being an artist, I had expressed it through sculpture long before I wrote the words. So here you can see Yankle and his mother Becky, plotting to cheat the father. Out of a sense of shame, they are unable to look each other in the eye. 

Having been cheated, I found that the character I wish to explore is not the victim of the crime, but rather the perpetrator. What are his motives? Has regret set in? Does he love his father even as he is cheating him? Does he long for the early years when he still had a bond with his twin brother? 

I wrote the first chapter, Lentil Stew, and thought I got the story out of my system. But no, Yankle kept chatting it my head, demanding that I record his thoughts. I wrote the second chapter, and the same thing continued to happen. It was not until I wrote the last chapter, The Curse of the Striped Shirt, where I find a ‘poetic justice’ to conclude the story, that Yankle finally fell silent...

So when reading my story, do not seek clear distinction between heroes and villains: no one is wholly sacred, because--like Yankle, the main character here--we are all made of lights and shadows, and most of all, doubt.

Are you working on something new at the moment?

I thought you’d never ask! I am! And at this moment I am only two chapters away from finishing it. If you like biblically-inspired fiction, here is a new series soon to come your way, titled The David Chronicles. Volume 1 will be titled Rise to Power. In it I present the life of David like you have never heard it before: from the King himself, telling the unofficial story, the one he never allowed his court historians to recount!

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Read your work aloud, first of all to yourself, so your words will flow in the rhythms of your voice and breathing. You may even tape your reading, and listen to it afterword’s. Then, read it in front of an audience. Listen not only to their comments, but during the read, listen if they gasp in the places you wanted them to gasp, if the laughed and cried where you intended the text to move them.

Then go back to the drawing table…

Which authors inspire you?

Surprisingly, I find poetry to be the greatest influence on my writing: I appreciate the nuances, the overloading of words, and the musical rhythms used in the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, the sonnets by Shakespeare, and the lyrical descriptions of Virginia Wolfe, to name but a few. I love The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, and  Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, for their expressive use of ‘stream of consciousness’. I love reading the work of great playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.

Where can people go to read your work?

A FAVORITE SON
♥ Audio http://tinyurl.com/fvort-a
♥ Print http://tinyurl.com/fvort-p
♥ Ebook http://tinyurl.com/fvort-e

TWISTED:
♥ Audio http://tinyurl.com/Twisted-audio
♥ Ebook http://tinyurl.com/Twisted-ebook
♥ Print http://tinyurl.com/Twisted-print

APART FROM LOVE
♥ Audio http://tinyurl.com/aprtl-a
♥ Print http://tinyurl.com/aprtl-p
♥ Ebook http://tinyurl.com/aprtl-e

HOME
♥ Audio http://tinyurl.com/Home-audible
♥ Print http://tinyurl.com/Home-print
♥ Ebook http://tinyurl.com/Home-ebook

Where can people find you on the internet?I invite you to visit my website, which is organized like an art gallery, with bronze and ceramic sculptures, paper sculptures, oil paintings, watercolor paintings, poems and short stories:
http://uviart.com/

Also, stop by my blog, which is organized like a diary where I post almost daily, discussing anything that goes through my mind that morning--be it a poem, a story, a paper engineering project, advice on publishing and writing, and the latest news and reviews:
http://uviart.blogspot.com/

Last but not least, here is my Amazon Author page, where you can find my bio, two of my animations, and my books:
http://www.amazon.com/Uvi-Poznansky/e/B006WW4ZFG/

Review of Crossroads

Review of Mary Ting’s

Crossroads

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

What would you give up for your soul? Love?  Ms. Ting weaves a young adult romance story where the heart and soul come into question in the main character’s life. Turning eighteen, in its self, is a moving event for a young lady.  

Claudia, our protagonist, after a traumatic occurrence, finds herself in another reality or in a dream. In this emotional limbo, she is confronted with answers to her questions that are in conflict with her understanding of reality.

Some of those questions are answered, but will love win over reality. The young have no fears when it comes to love, but reality always seems to set in at some point of time.

Ms. Ting has written an interesting adventure into the unknown, leaving the reader with enjoyable contentment and wondering what will come next in the series. You will want to read on and that means getting the next book in the series.

Well written, as always, Ms. Ting understands a young adult’s demeanor and puts it on the page. It was a little difficult for me at age 65 to understand at first, but I can see how a young lady will enjoy reading this somewhat mystical and dream like novel.

It’s a fine Christmas or anytime gift for the young women in your life. She will learn from the main character’s questions and the answers that are given to her by her Guiding Angel.  It’s leave one thinking.

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryTing

Review of Ado in the Meadow

Review of Ado in the Meadow

Written by Mary Danino

Reviewed by author Roy Murry

In the meadow, there is much going on. Young animals frolicking doing their thing, which is nicely illustrated in Ms. Danino’s story of a youngster who is gathering some fruit for his friends.

He is different from the others because of his natural persona that his friends love. However, the adults have a problem with some of his frequent disruptions to the meadow. And, this is where the Ado begins.

The animal (Child) is placed in a position where doubt festers in as to its existence as to who he is. This produces the child’s reactions. 

Mary's simple prose repeats these reactions with illustrations, which when read out laud will bring a smile to a 3 – 5 year old listening to your voice.  This book, I believe is to be read to a child the first time around or many times.

Ado’s main character redeems himself to the adult animals by saving the day. His friends were not surprised. The adults had to agree that he is a friend indeed and should stay in the meadow.

The combination of sound bites repeated and the illustrations makes this an enjoyable read with your young ones. Also, there are morals within the paragraphs. Christmas is around the corner; and I believe a book with illustrations of animals is always a good choice as a gift for a child.

Try this one, which I have read out laud twice. Cute. 

Mary's links are in her interview below: http://bit.ly/1hXICr1

Interview with Mary Danino

Interview with Mary Danino, author of

Ado in the Meadow

Questions: R. Murry

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

I’m Mary Danino. I live by the sea side, along the eastern Mediterranean shore in a lovely city called Ashdod in Israel.

I spent all my early childhood in Ashdod, Israel. After my military service in the Israeli Air Force, I went to the university and studied, of all things, Physics & Chemistry. It was fun but apparently not my destiny although I’ll always have a warm spot in my heart for physics (I love it!). When my son Roy was born, we lived in Arad, a small city close to the Dead Sea area. There I worked with people from all over the world for quite a number of years. Meeting all kinds of people from different countries and cultures fascinated me. My second son, Guy, was born shortly before we moved back to Ashdod, in which we still live. What really curious is, that although I always loved to write and was truly hooked on being a writer, I never did it seriously. Just now, this last year, I'm actually writing stories. So you see, it's never too late.

Do you remember the first story you wrote?

Yes, it was in the sixth grade. A young student came to our class and asked if we would like to answer some questions for a research she was doing. One of the questions was, “What would we want to do when we grow up”, I immediately said, “A writer”, so she asked me to write a short story, which I did.  I don’t even remember what the story was about, I just remember her saying, after reading the story, that she was really impressed. 

Were you inspired by someone or something?

Since I remember myself I knew I want to be a writer, I can’t even tell how, or what lead to it. I love reading. As a kid I read up to 6 books a week. I’m always creating stories in my mind. When my sons were young and we would drive long distances, I used to make up stories for them. Many of our outdoor walks would be accompanied with stories I made up about all kind of things that we encountered on our way. The funny thing is that I never actually wrote these stories down, not until recently anyways. 

What do you like about writing a story?

Writing a story, to me, is like creating a “bubble of existence”. As I see it, the space around us is filled with bubbles, every bubble is a story created by someone. In every given moment we can choose to get a peek at one of them, just like watching outside the window of someone we don’t know. When I write a story, I create a new bubble, one that all kind of people that I don’t know, never met and probably will never meet, can look into and while doing so, become part of that story. In a way, all the people that read my stories carry a little bit of me within them, like I carry within me a part of all those authors I read.

Can you tell us about your book?

Ado in the Meadow is a story about a cheerful hedgehog named Poddy. Poddy finds himself, unintentionally, in the center of some unfortunate events taking place in a beautiful green meadow. He tries to transform himself, thinking that becoming someone else might solve his issues... Eventually, he finds out that being true to his nature serves him and his friends, best. It’s all about self esteem and friendship.

The book is most suitable for young children, age 3-6, and naturally for beginner readers.

What genre best fits for the book?

Children’s books.

Are you working on something new at the moment?

Yes, I have several ideas running all together. One of them involves a squirrel and a snail. I think I might pick this one for the next story, though I haven’t made up my mind yet.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

You just have to look around and be attentive to nature, people, stories you hear. In everything you can find a hidden story that waits to be told. Yet, the most important thing, on my opinion, is to enjoy doing it. When you enjoy doing something, it shows on the outcome.

Where can people go to read your work?

“Ado in the meadow” is published as a kindle book on Amazon

http://bit.ly/17WafwB

Do you have anything to add?

Last, but surely not least, I would like to thank Roy Murry for this interview! I enjoyed doing it, and I hope you’ll find it interesting!

FaceBook: User name- Mary Danino              https://www.facebook.com/mary.danino?fref=ts

Twitter - @MaryDanino.                                           https://twitter.com/MaryDanino

Review of Thackery's Journal

Review of John Holt’s

The Thackery Journal

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Bones and blood humans are the ones that fight wars. The journal is written by one who is convinced that his reasons for fighting a war pitting families, friends and relatives against each other are noble. His future is set because of those convictions; and you read his journey through Mr. Holt’s straight forward account.

This account leads to a show down between two childhood friends whose parting words prior to the American Civil War were not amicable. Through Thackery’s journal, we feel the pain of a young man following orders of his superiors.

These orders put him in a predicament that is in conflict with his core belief system and a face to face deadly situation with his friend who is fighting for the opposition, the Union Army. You’ll be surprised with the way that adventure is concluded.

Mr. Holt writes a genuine tale of human conflict. Through his prose you feel the historical dilemma that this war produced, which carried on many years after the guns and uniforms were put away for good. That being, where do you draw the line when deciding what is worth fighting for to the death.

John Holt’s story is worth the read if one cares for the feelings of other humans. 

I have a web site, although I don’t use it that often - http://johnholt1943.blogspot.co.uk/

My Facebook pages are - https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Holt-Author/553064201380567

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Thackery-Journal/583932428307932

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Kendall/524023174290695