Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Interview with Alex R. Carver
What was your favorite book as a child?
It’s hard to say what my favourite book was as a child, but the book that sticks in my mind the most is Lord Of The Rings (I was a precocious reader and was only about 11 or so when I devoured Tolkien’s masterpiece) My half-brother was working in a hotel in Devon and found a single volume copy of LOTR in the lost property, when no-one claimed it he gave it to me and I absolutely loved it.
What inspired you to write your book?
I don’t think anything in particular inspired me; I’ve been writing since the age of 10, when I was given a creative writing assignment in school. The only thing that I can say might have led to me writing the Inspector Stone series is the TV series A Touch of Frost with David Jason, I’ve been a fan of it for years, and there are similarities in setting and the personality of my inspector, except that Frost was widowed and elderly, and my detective (initially at least) is relatively young, married and has kids.
How did you research your information for the book and what were the biggest challenges?
Research for the book turned out to be fairly easy, if occasionally time-consuming, thanks to the internet, which had articles on pretty much every subject I needed, including how to get untraceable bearer bonds and how much money weighs. The biggest challenge, I think, was keeping the story as grounded in reality as I could while keeping it interesting enough for people to read
What are you working on next?
Now that Where There’s A Will has been released I’m working on a thriller about a serial killer in a small English village, Written in Blood, before I sort out An Eye For An Eye, which is the second book in the Inspector Stone series.
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Friday, November 18, 2016
Doing The Long Distance Love Thing
Long distance love, online dating, writing and working together to build a business, busy from 1,000 miles apart!
They say that working with your significant other can lead to problems. They also say that long distance relationships and online dating don’t work either. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but my wife and I are constantly proving them wrong! It’s hard work. There is no denying that, but nothing is ever easy in life.
My wife and I both met playing one of those online games. Sounds crazy right? It probably is. Either way, we were both real people and neither of us ended up being serial killers or con artists, so that was a bonus. I still remember the first time that I met Sam. My mom made me ring her to let her know that she was a ‘real’ person and not some sort of man pretending to be a woman or a killer. Never mind that Sam had just flown halfway around the world from Canada to Australia to meet a strange man!
Anyway, that was three or four years ago now, and since then we have gotten married, I’m an official Canadian Resident, and we have started a business together. As I write this, Sam is sitting at her desk mumbling away to herself about something or someone. When I’m in Canada, we work right next to each other, but when I’m in Australia, we also work together. We call each other up on Skype or Viber, and I’ll talk to her as she goes about her day and vice-versa. It isn’t unusual for us to have four or five-hour conversations. I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but it is for us. So, when you add the fact that we spend 50% of our lives apart and we are on opposite sides of the world you also have to throw in children. Both of us have two children each, to ex-partners. A total of 3 boys and one girl. Busy.
I started freelancing as a writer to help make a little bit of money when I wasn’t working in Australia. Freelancing allows me to be able to work while traveling. It isn’t going to make me rich, but it’s a good way to top up my expenses while I’m traveling. Freelancing led to me writing my first book, more to prove a point than anything. My wife was having a book ghostwritten for a publisher, and the author they hired was terrible, so I wrote it instead. This led me to write several of my own non-fiction books and some children’s books. Now, I write a lot as a freelancer, several large books as a ghost writer for other authors and in my spare time, for myself.
Sam works for a large publishing company as a formatter and design specialist. She also does freelance work, manages our small publishing company we have started, and manages several authors. Busy.
Sam and I are getting close to when it’s time for me to go back to Australia so that always sucks. I’ll get to see my kids again, but won’t be able to see my wife and step kids for a little while. We are lucky this time as it’s only four weeks until Sam and the kids come over for Christmas in Australia! We have gone four months before between trips. Now we try and plan for a maximum of 10-12 weeks if possible.
What we do isn’t easy. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but when you find your soulmate, it’s worth whatever it takes!
Links
The Day My Fart Followed Me to Hockey
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Ben Jackson Author Bio
Ben lives in Tasmania, Australia. While working during the week as a Boiler Maker/Welder, specializing in Aluminum Welding, he also writes of a night as a Freelance Writer and Author.
Ben is in a Long Distance Relationship with his wife Sam who lives in Canada, she works as a full-time formatting professional, publisher, and author. They both work for a number of clients, providing complete online administration solutions, SEO, website work and also publishing.
Be sure to check out all of his books, there is definitely something there for everyone!
As Indie Authors, we rely on our valuable customers to write a review, if you could spare a minute to leave a review of one of our books, we would greatly appreciate it.
He has numerous books in progress so stay tuned for information on those by following this page, connecting with him on Facebook or Goodreads.
Remember, if you enjoyed one of his books, leave a review!
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Book Feature: How To Survive The Zombie Apocalypse
The author had me at the disclaimer. Anytime a writer warns that his book does not guarantee survival in the event of a zombie apocalypse, you know you are going to have some fun. Ben Johnson has written a comprehensive guide to survive anything from a natural disaster to a zombie apocalypse. Filled with thoughtful and well-researched information, this is a surprisingly fascinating read. Chock-full of interesting tidbits, Johnson explains everything one needs to know to protect themselves. Written tongue-in-cheek style, it is brilliantly laid out in an outline that begins with identifying the enemy, then systematically lays out a reasonable and comprehensive plan to protect oneself, including chapters on food, water, clothing, bug-out-bags, weapons, transportation. Johnson leaves no stone unturned. He gives credible explanations of what has to be done and I especially loved the part describing setting up a group or community in his post-apocalyptic world. Whether you are worried about the end of the earth, or planning to write a book about it, this is a great source that will give you plenty of information that just may keep you alive. It has the added benefit of keeping the reader entertained while it doing it. I received this book to read voluntarily.
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