Author Profile Interview
1. Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on James Taylor's 8th birthday and Jack Kerouac’s 34th birthday. I live in Hawaii with The Woman. Before Hawaii I lived in Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Arizona, and Colorado, annoying people as a janitor, math teacher, field hand, computer programmer, brickyard worker, editor, resident Gentile in a Conservative synagogue, IT director, weed-cutter, and in a number of influential positions in other less notable professions. When I’m not writing I do what I can to impact the productivity of my fellow workers in the telecommunications industry.
2. How did you become a novelist, and did you always want to write?
It's more like I've always written. I've been writing stuff since my age got in double digits. However, I didn't take up writing fiction seriously until I got a computer and a word processing program in 1981. I was too lazy to write longhand or with a typewriter because the editing was just too daunting. So I've been working seriously on writing fiction for almost a quarter century. I started with essays and short stories, but it takes me a long time to say anything, so when my short stories grew to 25,000+ words, I realized I would have to do novels.
3. What do you think is significant about Christian fiction?
It probably creates opportunities for books that otherwise would never be published. I see this as both a good thing and a bad thing.
4. How do you hope your readers react to the stories you write?
I hope they are captivated by the story, sucked in, taken for the ride. If they look up at the end and say, "Dang, that was fun! Let's do it again!" then I have succeeded.
5. What responses to your novels have affected you the most and why?
The response that freaked me out the most was when a fellow preacher’s kid wrote me to tell me she identified with The Creature in “Welcome to Fred” and was afraid to finish the book because she was afraid that whatever was the fate of The Creature, it would be her fate as well.
6. How has being a novelist impacted your relationship with Christ?
I don't know that my writing has had an affect on my relationship with God. During some scenes I am very aware of the mercy of God, but I don't think that it has increased my awareness or changed it in any way. My worldview affects my writing, but my writing doesn’t affect my worldview.
7. Other than writing great novels, what other goals do you have for your life?
Very few. I have been told I have an appalling lack of ambition.
8. What do you like to do in your spare time?
Spare time? The day job and writing takes up most of my time. I also am the front man for a band. I do vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica. We play 3 nights a month in coffee shops and bars.
9. What can you tell us about your latest novels?
“Escape from Fred” releases January 2006. It is the final installment of the Fred trilogy and the best of the three in my humble but accurate opinion.
“Hell in a Briefcase” releases May 2006. It is co-written with Phil Little, head of West Coast Detective Agency and author of Unmasking Terrorism, a non- fiction title released by B&H last year. It is an action/thriller type story.
Terrorists and bombs and shooting people and blowing things up and all that. Very different from the Fred Books
10. What stories can your fans expect from you in the days ahead?
I have some ideas percolating in my little pea brain. A story about a guy who lives on the bus. A story about a scandal in CCM. A story about a millionaire, a playboy and an itinerant preacher in the Depression. A series of whodunits.
There’s always something brewing. Never know what will float to the top first.
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