Author Spotlight October 2022

 

 

 

Author Spotlight October 2022

Jeff was born in downtown Toronto.  Being the only child to two working parents, introspection came naturally to him.  As he progressed through school, he was never the popular kid, but still formed friendships that would last a lifetime.

As a kid, he loved cartoons, especially the late 1970s imports from Japan.  They were leagues away from Star Wars and Star Trek and helped change the scope of his imagination.

After high school, he was in the military for nearly half a decade.  Lots of long nights on observation patrol let his mind soar into the heavens.  He finished a first year in Computer Programming/System Administration at Sheridan College, and a 4-year BA at York University. 

 

Spending nearly 20 years in security and logistics, in 2014 Jeff finally succeeded in publishing his first work “The Secrets of Solomon” which was well received.  Combining his knowledge of esoteric topics with one of the more enigmatic figures of the Bible was a triumph, and he has been writing ever since.

He resides in Canada, with his wife and daughter.  His continuing interests are science, astrology, mythology, and the paranormal.  This influences his books.

 

The moment that inspired “Summerland: Another World” was sitting with his daughter reading books with her.  At 8 years old, she was having trouble with alliteration and words made up to rhyme for kids.  It seemed to be hindering her more than helping her.  This made Jeff think seriously about writing his own children’s series that would be as simple yet compelling for ages 9-12.  Thus, “Summerland” was born, focusing on 3 children finding themselves in a magical land with all sorts of mystical creatures.  That way the children can experience the narrative of the story without being deprived of expanding their vocabulary. 

 

Jeff still maintains his catalogue for over 18 year old’s in both fiction and non fiction, but already has plans for a possible sequel for “Summerland” in “Darkland” His current work in progress is “Visions from the Vaccum” – a science fiction book which introduces a character peripherally related to all his other works who discovers that the universe is more complicated than anyone would believe.  

Interview 

Who is your inspiration for you and your writings?

 An author and podcaster named Mack Malone who has written over 50 books in his career.  I just like his style, personally and professionally.  I picked up one of his books when I was 14, ("Wingman") and just found it was a good read.  

 Can you tell us a little about the process you go through doing your writing?

 I call it "scripting" where I assemble my ideas on paper and write almost a pseudo code to the book.   I have pages filled with outlines that I may never even get to writing, but it is a great crutch when you are staring at a blank page!  Of course, the writing part is easy, editing is hard!  Because you fill yourself with self doubt!  The trick is to never be too hard on yourself, and remember that someone out there is waiting to read your story! 

 Do you find writing or marketing harder?  

 Marketing.  Due to my disability I can't do book signings or go to conventions.  I have considered taking an online marketing course to improve my own skills, and because I love learning, so this may change in the near future!

 What makes your own characters unique or different in your books?

 I always try to balance the characters so that people can relate to them.  I will describe eye colour and hair colour, but rarely skin colour so that way people can relate to them as they chose.  I broke that rule with Summerland because I wanted the characters to stand out.  To tell the truth, I hid "accents" in the characters dialogue, while making it appear as natural as possible.  It amused me to give one character a distinctly Canadian accent!  

 Tell us a bit about yourself and how you get your ideas for your books

 I get my ideas from all over the place!  I'm a DM for D&D and am always looking for inspiration, and my books just seem to appear at random in my mind!  My mind never stops, so its a pleasure to put it to productive use.  I have difficulty sleeping, so I often am roused from bed at 3am to grab my notepad and jot ideas down.  I am absolutely nocturnal, which is sometimes a curse, but I find my best ideas come at 2am! 

 Do you have some favorite books you love or books that helped you grow as a writer?

 "The 12 Caesars" by Suetonius.  Those Emperors did some incredible things, both positive and negative, and definitely influenced me.  "The Quintara Marathon" by Jack L Chalker really opened my horizons, especially the way he wrapped it up.  It was full of twists and turns, and showed me that you can put a vague concept on paper, and readers will relate to it.  At the time, I hadn't heard of Lovecraft, so I give Chalker the credit for my inspiration.  

 Do you have any advice you want to share with new writers?

 Never, ever leave a blank page!  If its a new chapter, or a new page, just write a few sentences before you shut down for a break or to have a nap.  It takes away that dread of staring at an empty page, and its a lot easier to follow your thought process.  Its a silly trick I adopted early on, and I find it works wonders for creativity.  You literally just pick up where you left off.  At first it feels weird, to leave at a random point, but when you get used to it, you'll find it so much easier to continue after being interrupted!  

 Can you tell us about an incident in your life that changed you?

 I've dealt with a lot of tragedy, and I don't to make this depressing.  So I'll tell you about an incident from the military.  We were doing a mortar shoot, and the section down from us didn't cover their mortar shells when it rained overnight (We did to keep the increments dry) so in the morning, they fired two or three shells, and the next one let loose this sickening thud.  I saw it careening through the air like a punted football, and it landed on its side maybe twenty feet from me.  Everyone froze - you know, one of those moments that no one knew what to do.  Some Sergeant regained his senses after ten seconds and yelled at everyone to run, and we all did.  I realized exactly how close I had come to death, and it was an eye opener.  I was just a dumb 18 year old private newly graduated from basic training, and I nearly had a live mortar shell go off in my face.  It inspired me to go to university, where I met new friends, and gained a new outlook on life!  I do wonder what happened in that alternative dimension where it may have landed on the fuse.  

 If you can have a meal with anyone in history, who will it be?

 Winston Churchill.  Because he was not only a politician, but a writer and painter.  So engaging him in conversation would be interesting, just to hear his train of thought.  Secondly would be Barack Obama, because he seems like the kind of guy you could have a beer with, and have a good time!

 Please share any advice and wise words with everyone?

 Everyone says they have a story in them.  Be the person who makes it happen.  Its 2022, so get a recording app on your phone, and just talk out any ideas you have.  Later on you can record them on paper, and before you know it, you'll have a book!