FAQs

Yeah, yeah, it is. A specially rolled Texas Sweets La Grange from Finck Cigar Company. I believe there are six things that give our lives quality – (1) a supportive significant other, a best friend, and/or a pet (some choose to wrap all three into one package); (2) consistent good conversational company open to any and all topics; (3) an occasional fine wine or a well-crafted beer (or both); (4) a properly cooked piece of red meat or salmon; (5) an occasional good tasting cigar to complement all of the above; and (6) red raspberries.

Nelson DeMille, Dean Koontz, Carl Hiaasen, Robert Jorden, R.A. Salvatore, Brandon Sanderson, and every other epic and sci-fi fantasy author on Kindle. Currently, I’m reaching into the past to sample some of Louis Tracy’s work. You can read about him here.

Yes, each one recalls a person I’ve met in real life. It’s a requisite. There are even several I first met in grade school.

Some do, and some, well … let’s just say I’m glad they don’t. The 13 last-born elves are people I met online while playing a now-defunct MMORPG. They became my second family when working as a consultant away from home. Yes, I do miss them.

Get to know me online or in person. I’m on Facebook and Blog here. In person, you can start by buying me a beer at The Flying Saucer in San Antonio. I’m there usually from 3-8 pm on Wednesdays, but not every Wednesday. If you get there before 5 pm, you can have a sandwich made by Shatayir.

Check the books pages. I remind you Pepper and Terri do not promise not to interrupt.

The original outline called for 8. After an intense discussion with my contributing editor, the number decreased to 6 or 7. A subsequent discussion altered the original ending and left the number of books unspecified. Recommendations for companion books abound. That is, books about specific characters’ origins. Or, a compendium of short story origins (my preference). There has been some talk, late at night between me and my muse, about not ending the tale until … well, hell, that would give too much away.

Every day except Sunday, even if it’s just one word. Sunday is New York Times crossword puzzle in ink. I strive for 3,000 words per day, usually get 2,000, and too often settle for less.

Both. An outline is just an outline – a map that has recommended directions but also provides alternate routes.

No and no. I plan a post on my feelings about beta readers soon. (If Pepper and Terri leave me alone tomorrow, it may already be posted as you read this). That said, I do have a small stable of ‘experts’ who advise and correct me on specific portions of the story. My wife, Terri, hates the genre, but reads and comments on everything I put before her.

What makes you think this is an autobiography?

I’ve googled that term and found some odd results. But, it’s not a genre. Though, you may consider that it loosely shatters the accepted and excepted form of a memoir.