authorblog

FISHING AROUND JAMAICA WITH TONY TAME

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 23:55:27 +0100

Tony Tame was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1943. His mother was a native Jamaican and his father was "technically" an Englishman who arrived on the island with their baby in arms. An only "island" child, he naturally assumed that simply by being born he had done all that could reasonably be assumed would be required of him in life.

Tony enthusiastically left high school in absolute agreement with his father’s view that "spending further money on tertiary education in his case would be a waste of hard-earned money." From that day onward he progressed steadily through the ranks of waterfront characters from being a basic seaside idler to eventually a supplier of fishing and other marine equipment. Those intervening fifty-odd years experience with the University of Salt Water and Boats represents his "true" education.

A few months shy of his seventieth birthday, he has written his second novel of Jamaica. As with his first, THE VILLAGE CURTAIN (Savant 2009) this second work continues to explore of the lives of the men and women of his beloved Jamaica who try to wrest a living from the sea. "Fish ought to be priced like gold and weighed out on jeweler’s scales," says Tony. In actuality, payment to the artisanal fishermen is minimal and the scales of the buyers and distributors are often crooked as they come.

Tony Tame is an unabashed admirer of people who face their desperate situations with resilience and humor, and believes that all good fishermen should come back to life reincarnated as hedge-fund managers and investment bankers. It would prove a great boon to this ailing world.

Tony does yacht delivery jobs (which he did on a regular basis for years) while going on as many fishing trips as the weather will allow and pretending to run the family business: Commercial Marine Equipment Ltd. According to Tony, like so many "island" businesses, it is really run by his wife, Jennifer. When asked about this, Tony explains that this way he can hide from "real" work, authoring not included. After all, lifting a big fish over the transom of a boat rolling in rough weather is good exercise for a senior citizen, but certain other activities such as balancing checkbooks and seeing to the routine of an office are much too strenuous for a person of his advancing years.

Sincerely,
Tony Tame
Author of
THE VILLAGE CURTAIN - A JAMAICA COLLECTION (Savant 2009)
THE DESPERATE CYCLE - A NOVEL FROM JAMAICA (Savant 2012)

SURFING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:28:21 +0100

My name is David Allan Williams and I am a writer. It kind of sounds like I should be standing in front of a group at a weekly AA—Authors Anonymous—meeting. I guess that’s how I feel about writing now: It’s addictive. Especially when a work is finally released.

I would not recommend being an author to anyone looking for a career choice. It is a journey full of rejection and despair, brief moments of relief and excitement and capped with an overall anticipation that something bigger will happen one day. Of course, I could be describing life in general.

I have only been writing since I turned forty-one. If anyone tries to deny that turning forty is not a perspective-changing milestone, they have denial issues. Outlook, expectations, even dreams change. There is a list as big as a Sears catalog detailing the changes, from physical ailments to work challenges, but most importantly it’s the age I first noticed that I was not invincible, and that life does not last forever. Ergo, writing—aside from children, one's only other real claim to immortality.

If I were asked when I turned forty what I would be doing next year, writing a book would have been the last possible answer I would have ever imagined giving. The last time I had written more than a page, was a report on how to iron out the ebbs and flows of production in a distribution center – boring stuff compared to LIGHT SURFER! Apart from the normal school reports and the occasional love letters of my youth, I had little experience in writing for others' enjoyment. But turning forty was a double-edged sword. I felt as though I either needed to force myself into continue my usual, ho-hum daily routine and swallow the desire to change something, or do the opposite and change everything, risking all I've spent the last twenty years trying to hang on to. So, I started writing, and, to my surprise, authoring.

I consider myself an average Joe (except my name is David). The difference between me and most other Joe's, is that, despite the mid-life crisis, I still carry around "an I-can-do-anything" attitude. When I decided one day to write, not a letter, not a poem or short story, but a book, I ended up writing two LIGHT SURFERS. Of course, it didn't happen in one day; LIGHT SURFER One and Two took two years to write, and the first one is just now hitting the shelves. When I was told an author really should have ten titles under his or her name, I wrote another two LIGHT SURFERS, a romance, and am now working on another science fiction book. Close friends have taken to sarcastically questioning my actions, saying, “You don’t do things in halves, do you?”

I don't. I also don’t know from where the story of LIGHT SURFER originally came; it's certainly not the story of my life. On the other hand, bits and pieces of my life experience appear in it, tied in with my love for technological advancement in all the sciences. When pressed, I tell people LIGHT SURFER was channeled; it’s easier than trying to make up a compelling story about where a fictional piece came from, and, who knows, maybe it really was.

I also don’t know where my ability to write came from either. The hundreds of rejections I had to endure getting to where I am today were constantly trying to tell me I couldn't write, but my dogged determination to get published, along with the bit of slack that God cut me in finding Savant Books and Publications separately confirmed that, maybe, despite all these difficulties, I could write. In life, one ultimately either goes for it, tries it, or doesn't. With only one life to live, it occurred to me that there was no reason not to try. Today, I am glad for having come to that conclusion and diligently acting on it.

And so, with that, I commend to you the first in what I hope will prove an exciting, "can't-put-it-down" LIGHT SURFER series. It's a pleasure to meet you, world; I look forward to a long and productive literary friendship together.

Sincerely,
David Allan Williams
Author of LIGHT SURFER (Savant 2012)

SUE DOLLERIS EXPANDS HER AUTHOR REPETIORE TO INCLUDE "THE LOONS"

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:21:42 +0100

Like my first book, HELLO, NORMA JEAN (Savant 2010), THE LOONS (Savant 2012) also started out as a screenplay written several years ago. In converting THE LOONS into a contemporary comedy-of-errors novel, I worked hard to maintain the freshness of a play and the visuals of a movie. Reminiscent of the screwball comedies of the 1930s, THE LOONS is replete with heavy doses of love woven throughout the chaos.

As with HELLO, NORMA JEAN, I was excited that Savant Books and Publication saw promise in my pitch for THE LOONS: "Con artist gets conned into caring for seven eccentric cousins" all barely hanging on by their lunatic fringe. My thanks to Savant and to my Savant editors, Zach Oliver and Chris Catron, who constantly steered me back from the precipice so I wouldn't fall off the cliff into total absurdity. Thanks also to Kristin Arbuckle for the perfect rendition of the cover art that was in my head almost as soon as THE LOONS came into mind.

Parents are supposed to love all of their children exactly the same, and I would normally presume that applies to authors and their books, except that THE LOONS is clearly my favorite of my works. I say this without a hint of braggadocio. I was handed THE LOONS in its entirety as a gift from wherever inspiration resides until it hits home. All I did was listen and type. Well, I also smiled and laughed from time-to-time, as I so loved the characters.

Writing means so much to me, as I lost one third of my support system when my husband of forty-one years died this past summer. He was so happy for me when my first book was published, and I know he would have been thrilled to celebrate THE LOONS. Now it's up to Meagan and Erin to welcome another this new sibling into the family. That shouldn't be too tough as they're both blessed with an abundance of compassion and caring.

I hope that you enjoy THE LOONS as much as I enjoyed bringing the DeLunes from idea to reality.

Sue Dolleris
Author of
THE LOONS (Savant 2012)
HELLO, NORMA JEAN (Savant 2010)

RE-INTRODUCING MASTER STORYTELLER DAVID B. SEABURN

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:26:38 +0100

I have been writing for as long as I can remember. As a teen, in particular, I wrote awful poetry and tried to emulate Bob Dylan. I started writing seriously in seminary at Boston University in 1972. There I was published for the first time—a series of poems in an alumni journal—work lost long ago. During my six year tenure as a parish minister, I became a disciplined writer, having to produce a sermon each week, both a literary and theological task. During this period I wrote many short stories, song lyrics, poems, and two nonfiction manuscripts. One manuscript, "Dancing on the Edge" was accepted for publication, but the offer was later withdrawn. Unfortunately, I was so disheartened that I did not write for several years.

I left the ministry and entered the field of psychotherapy, working in community mental health where I published a few papers on my experience as a clinician, including one on a patient's suicide.

In 1986 I started working at the University of Rochester Medical Center, where the focus on academics accelerated my development as a writer. Over the next twenty years, I co-authored two professional books and over fifty-five papers and book chapters. The rigor of mentored writing and excellent editing taught me a great deal about the craft.

During my academic career I remained interested in fiction, but did little more than collect ideas and make notes.

My first novel, DARKNESS IS AS LIGHT (2005), was based on a personal vignette told by a former patient. The story stayed with me for ten years, was reworked it in several creative nonfiction workshops, and finally transforming into the backbone of a novel about a middle-aged man sorting out the truth about his mother's death. I wrote Darkness in exactly one year.

In 1990, I did extensive work on a story idea and then stored it all away in a folder. I returned to those ideas years later, making them the basis for my second novel, PUMPKIN HILL (2007).

My third novel, CHARLIE NO FACE (2010), was my first with Savant. It is a first person coming of age story told by an eleven year old boy named Jackie. The novel is set in my hometown and explores the issue of how we treat the “other” in society. CHARLIE NO FACE was a Finalist for the Indie Excellence Book Awards in 2011.

While working on CHARLEY NO FACE, I read a story from Great Britain about the death of a child that became the springboard for my current novel, CHIMNEY BLUFFS (Savant 2012). It is the story of parents who, after the death of their four-year-old son plan to commit suicide by jumping from the cliffs at Chimney Bluffs. I think this is the most powerful story I have written to date. In it I focus on the survival of one parent, Kate, who is helped in her healing by the two men, Clancy and Bobby, who find her at the base of the cliff. Their lives become intertwined as each person’s story of loss and regret unfold. In the end, it is the power of their complex and transformative relationships that provides hope and a path forward to a new day.

Common to all of my work is an abiding interest in the common struggles that make us human—loss, fear, hope, uncertainty, connection, separation, meaning, seeking, questioning, love, guilt, wonder, joy, and storytelling. I think we are all storytellers. That is how we make sense of our lives and the world around us. When I write, I feel that more than anything else, I am trying to make sense of life, trying to explore its meaning. And, of course, I am trying to tell a good story in the process.

David B. Seaburn
Author of CHIMNEY BLUFFS (Savant 2012) and CHARLIE NO FACE (Savant 2010)

KEYS IN THE RIVER

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:04:19 +0100

When I was little, we would eat good food and then listen to stories. I was fortunate to have two of the best storytellers ever: My father’s mother told fables, horror, and zombie stories. Her stories were flights of fancy, intense and imaginative. My mother told real life stories of growing up in the fifties and sixties. Alternating between each of their homes (I lived with both) I heard the best of both worlds.

I remember as a child telling myself that when I grew up, I wanted to tell stories like these to my children and grandchildren. During my childhood, however, what mattered most was just playing, exploring the world where I lived, and having fun. During those years, I forgot my love of stories. Later, during those bitter-sweet teen and early adult years, I rediscovered my passion for stories. I felt as if I were reborn, breathing the fresh air of creation.

During my “O” level years, I was constantly borrowing books from friends and the library. I read during every free moment. I remember reading novels as I walked the daily three kilometers to school. I'd put it away when class started, and keep the dog-eared pages within reach so that I could continue reading every spare minute throughout the day. After school, I continued reading on my way home from school, and later, while herding cattle, goats, and sheep.

During my “A” level years, I remember, I really losing it, when, about six months before the big exam, I received a failing grade on O-level English, which I had had to re-write the previous year. I didn't know how to deal with the failure, and immersed myself into reading novels again. I stopped reading my A-level subjects (Mathematics, Accounting and Geography), and, instead, read all the novels in our A-level library. When I finished all the books, I started borrowing books from the O-level library. I couldn’t stop. My fellow students thought I had gone mad. And I did in a way, when I failed my A-level examinations.

I didn’t stop reading, though. Whenever I borrowed a book, I read it throughout the day and night, stopping only to eat. I read Tom Clancy’s THE EXECUTIVE, then Charles Dickens’s DOMBEY AND SON, then Frank Herbert’s DUNE, then Anthony Grey’s SAIGON—the list went on and on. I even began to write down some of the stories I'd heard as a child and then some of my own. Soon I was as avid a writer as I was a reader, and as a writer, I felt the first stirrings that I wanted to be an author. I dreamed about creating riveting novels that would stir the soul, and compel readers to read them, like I had, nonstop.

Now that I'm an author, I strive constantly to improve, so much so, I have scarcely enough time to read. There is so much I would like to say and so very little time. And yet, I think there is nothing as satisfying as curling up before a fire with a good book.

In that spirit, with a wink and a playful smile, I recommend to you KEYS IN THE RIVER (Savant 2012). Play some good background music, preferably African, and have some tasty food within reach. Then, let yourself sink into the stories. Let the ideas growl across the consciousness, until it becomes a howling, mangy dog. Experience with my the passion and heartaches that are modern Zimbabwe. KEYS IN THE RIVER might be just the right medicine for the tribulations of living in this exhausting, frustrating and high-strung 21st century.

Tendai Mwanaka
Author of KEYS IN THE RIVER (Savant 2012)
Author of VOICES FROM EXILE (Lapwing publications 2010)

MARCANTONI RISING

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 18:26:14 +0100

I have been a freelance editor and writer since 2004. My first paid gigs were for writing short plays and film scripts for a small production company in Atlanta. A theatre-kid, I attended film school and upon graduating thought I was the king fish. Then the production company didn't produce any of the scripts they bought from me and eventually folded. The same thing occurred with several other projects, first a TV show, then a newspaper in Tampa, Florida, and then another TV show, "The Bleepin' Truth," which had started developing a local following before being cancelled a year after I joined. I was no longer a king fish, but a mackerel swimming with hundreds of other hungry mackerels. I thought I would fare better as novelist, and in 2006 one of my short stories, "The Revolutionary," was published in an anthology called THE SHORTCUT, and once again I thought I was a king fish. Then, after submitting my first novel to publisher after publisher, and experienced a long list of rejections despite hundreds of revision and dogged persistence, I began, once again, to wonder if writing was my true calling.

In 2009, I was hired as an editor for Savant Books and Publications and built up a good reputation with Savant authors. One, Jean Blasiar, asked me to collaborate on her first adult dramatic novel, entitled COMMUNION, which Savant published in October 2011, and is available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. TRAVELER'S REST is therefore technically my second book with Savant, though my first wholly-authored work.

I started writing stories when I was ten but when I was fifteen I switched to plays and shortly thereafter, screenplays, but the world of literature kept calling me back. While I still dabble in screenwriting, books, I find, are where I feel most at home. I started to do freelance editing just "to make money," but I when I found that I was pretty good at it and enjoyed the process, that serendipitously reopened the door to being a novelist. After helping a dozen writers realize their own literary dreams, I determined to pursue my own. That's what makes the release of both COMMUNION (Savant 2011) and now TRAVELER'S REST (Savant 2012) so satisfying. I am now back on the path of telling my own stories. I have another novel in the works, and several stories swimming around my head, waiting to get on paper. I like writing stories that touch me personally and philosophically. My Puerto Rican heritage, and interest in Latin American politics, the ins and outs of relationships, the complexity of love, the inner turmoil people suffer, the search for transcendence in life, are all literary passions of mine, and although my writing tends to revolve around criminals and the lower levels of society, it is always with a concern about the ethics of our society and the internal struggles that we all deal with. My goal is to leave my readers with a vision of the world different from before they read my work, one, hopefully, infinitely more compassionate.

Jonathan Marcantoni
Author of TRAVELER'S REST (Savant 2012)
Co-author of COMMUNION (Savant 2011)

Savant Poetry Anthologies

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 17:02:42 +0100

I often heard readers, bookstores and publishers alike say with a grim, Nietzschesque frown, "Poetry is dead." And, if one is to believe that publishing is all about "making money," they certainly may be correct. But publishing, at least at Savant Books and Publications, isn't just about money; it's about sharing fine literature with readers all over the world. In sort, communication. But not just communication - if prose is the bread and butter of literary publishing (and it is), then poetry is its very heart. I'm proud to say that with the release of our third yearly poetry anthology, FIFTY-EIGHT STONES (Savant 2012), all of us at Savant Books and Publications continue our commitment to communicating heart-to-heart with readers.

Poetry anthologies generally don't "make money" (but then what does actually make money these days aside from counterfeiters?). Ours are no exception. Savant publishes the yearly anthology as a public service, without financial expectations. Contributors to Savant anthologies, whether poetry or short stories (yes, we are still considering the later) receive fame but no royalty compensation.On the other hand, our 2011 anthology, WAVELENGTHS (Savant 2011) won first place in poetry at the London Book Festival and has received applauds from readers worldwide, several poets have launched their literary career, and a number of prose authors have had the opportunity of sharing their hearts with avid readers. As a publisher, I'd say our poetry anthologies have been, and I hope will continue to be a resounding success, despite poetry anthology naysayers.

If you appreciate heart-to-heart communication, I invite you to purchase and enjoy a copy of FIFTY-EIGHT STONES - 2012 Savant Anthology of Poetry (Savant 2012) that's just been released. Help us keep poetry alive in a world that can seem lost and soulless in its inexorable pursuit of that greatest of human illusions - money. Take a moment and smell the flowers. They're still there.

Sincerely,
Daniel S. Janik
Publisher

Autobiography of a Woman

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 07:30:49 +0100

My passion for writing started when I developed a fascination with different alphabets in kindergarten. I became a good speller, and then, I was constantly at the library checking out wordy books with fascinating stories and memorable characters. I started writing poetry in the sixth grade. In middle school, my sister pointed out to me that I had a knack for rhythm and words. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school when a fellow student asked me to autograph a poem I shared with the class that I realized my writing had potential.

My dad was the one who supported my creative endeavors and funded the self-publication of my first poetry book, which is no longer in circulation. Still, it was a milestone. Years later, I tried my hands in screenwriting and completed several full length feature scripts that drew interest from several independent filmmakers. I never stopped writing poetry and in February of 2010, I self-published “Whether By Chance” with some of my favorite old poems in addition to the new ones. Another poetry book titled, “Telling Eyes” is underway with my most recent poems, which are much darker and less dreamy. Readers, I hope, will continue to relate to my poems, albeit on a more tortuous adult level. My poetry can also be found in Savant’s Poetry Anthologies (FIRST BREATH, the award-winning WAVELENGTHS, and the upcoming FIFTY-EIGHT STONES).

With the release of my autobiographical novel, ON MY BEHALF, readers are invited to relate to my personal journey. In seeing me in all my naked humanness, I hope readers everywhere will feel less ashamed of their own truths and supposed shortcomings. Life is flawed every way one turns. Mine is not a particularly special story, I think. Rather, it’s a story that is retold many times in many forms by many tongues. Every experience has been experienced before. What people have not seen before is my unapologetically forward approach to detailing everything from my shaky childhood to my entrance into adulthood and all the missteps along the way. Surely every good person has some bad in them. However, in reading ON MY BEHALF, it will be clear who it is actually tipping the scales. My parents, my culture, my surroundings and ultimately my determination to defy all of the above shaped the person that I am… sometimes for the better, oftentimes for the worse.

Through my trials and experiences, I have become a Vietnamese woman with a modern take on the world around me. I hope you will enjoy my autobiographical novel and memoirs entitled ON MY BEHALF.

Helen Doan - Author of ON MY BEHALF (Savant 2012)

RULES OF PRIVILEGE

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:15:52 +0100

RULES OF PRIVILEGE is my third legal thriller, and fourth thriller overall (third issued by Savant Books), following KANAKA BLUES, MANIFEST INTENT, and WRONGFUL TERMINATION.

The world of law and lawyers is a fertile field for novels of this ilk, and some would say it’s really not much of a stretch for an attorney to write fiction. Fortunately, I also try my hand at non-fiction, having ghostwritten Murphy Martin’s memoir of his years in journalism, FRONT ROW SEAT: A VETERAN REPORTER RELIVES THE FOUR DECADES THAT RESHAPED AMERICA (Eakin Press 2003) and collaborated with rodeo-cowboy-turned-actor-director-producer Robert Hinkle on his memoir of his movie career in CALL ME LUCKY: A TEXAN IN HOLLYWOOD (University of Oklahoma Press 2009), with another non-fiction project currently in the works. Between practicing entertainment law, screenwriting, and operating a literary agency, and writing books, I manage to keep myself fully employed.

Mike Farris
Author of RULES OF PRIVILEGE (Savant 2012)

IN THE HIMALAYAN NIGHTS...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 18:17:43 +0100

Dehradun City, Himalayas, India 1977: Two bright, complex, and beautiful U.S. female students accompany their Indian research professor to this city near the tense borders of China and Nepal. The girls question the holiness of the Bhagavad-Gita’s two polygamist avatars while watching the “holy-war” dance of the Mahabharata, its link to polygamy and local heroes (or villains?). The students fall in love with India and their friendly hosts but discover much more about their own cultures and themselves--while gathering intrusive data on women’s rights violation, low-caste discrimination, and animal cruelty—all sanctioned by religion.

When the hosts discover the women’s secret love-life, they turn against them. The professor fails to avoid the aftermath. He tells the full story including what went between him and the women, and his wife, while trying to stay focused on the troubling research question: Are polygamists holy?

Anoop Chandola
Author of IN THE HIMALAYAN NIGHTS (Savant 2012)