Interview with Larry Hammersley

Joining us today is fellow TSRA author, Larry Hammersley. Tell us about yourself, Larry.

[Larry] I am married to Sue coming up on 49 years this December 29, have two children and four grandchildren. I graduated from Purdue in January 1961 with a BS in chemistry and from IU in January 1975 with a MS in chemistry. I enjoy writing science fiction and romance, jogging, amateur radio, a bit of woodworking, and am active in our local church. I worked as a civil service chemist for forty years and retired in September 1999.

[Anne] Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary! That’s awesome! When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

[Larry] I believe it was almost forty years ago when I dreamed up a science fiction novel. I had fun plotting and getting ideas while doing such mundane tasks as mowing the grass.

[Anne] Tell us about your latest book.

[Larry] May I talk about my last novel I’ve written early this year? It is strictly romance involving two of my favorite characters from a short story. Leroy and Jody have resolved to avoid the opposite sex as they enter college. They’ve had unhappy experiences in high school. The story covers six years of their life and involves Leroy trying to break down Jody’s icy barrier and her opinion that a career woman has no room for a man in her life.

[Anne] Sounds like a wonderful story, Larry. What inspired you to write it?

[Larry] The Leroy and Jody characters exist in my first accepted short story with Wild Rose called Lab Partners. That has been my most popular story if you can call 15 downloads popular. It is available in the Vintage Rose line. The novel casts Leroy and Jody into modern day but is not a time travel. I had to give these characters closure.

[Anne] How did you go about researching your book?

[Larry] Leroy and Jody moved to Pittsburgh after graduating from college so I did a bit of internet search on the three rivers there and a little of scenery involved. I already have knowledge of chemistry labs and chess tournaments which form a part of the story. I also did a bit of reading on the H1N1 virus which both Leroy and Jody contracted.

[Anne] Do you have anything new in the works?

[Larry] Two things. I’ve been thinking about a short historical story, romance, based on a true happening in my home town of Williams, Indiana. The event was the building of a hydroelectric dam in 1910. I have a number of photos of that project and would like to build a story around a young man and woman, fictional of course, around that project. The other project is one based on the Biblical character of the Shunammite Woman. It can be romance as her husband I perceive from the scriptures is probably 40-50 years older than the woman. She was a marvelous woman.

[Anne] What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

[Larry] I’d say mainly a plotter, a little dose of pantser included.

[Anne] If you could be anyone of your characters, which one would you chose to be and why?

[Larry] Well, now that is a revealing question. I’d say Leroy from my Lab Partners story or Leroy from the modern version novel which is entitled A Change of Heart. Why? Because he’s a lot like me but with more ability and more deep feelings. He’s a track star, an ace in chemistry, and lucky enough to have romance in college. I told you this would be revealing.

[Anne] Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go?

[Larry] Alaska, although I’ve been there but I’d like to get to the real wilderness or I’d like to go to Antarctica perhaps for an adventure involving one of the science stations based there.

[Anne] You’ve just been informed that your latest release was a NY Times bestseller and Hollywood wants to turn it into a movie. What actors would you choose to play your main characters?

[Larry] Jason Ritter would play Leroy, but he’d have to shave the facial hair away. He’s on the TV show The Event. I had to do some searching on Jody. I like Gemma Arterton with red hair and she would need the straight hair and bangs hair do. I’ve not seen her acting but liked the photo.

[Anne] What type of books do you like to read when you’re not writing?

[Larry] I like science fiction and sweet romance, both of which I like writing. I always have romance in my science fiction stories.

[Anne] Having read some of your work, I have to say you do a great job writing both, Larry! Name three things you can’t live without (excluding spouses and family because that’s a given).

[Larry] Freedom of worship, blessings of good health and ideas for stories.

[Anne] Awesome choices! What advice would you give to any aspiring writers out there?

[Larry] Keep plugging away and don’t sweat the rejections. This is what I must continually remind myself.

[Anne] Where can we find you on the web?

[Larry] http://larryhammersley.blogspot.com/ I hope to have a website one day. A friend is supposed to be constructing one for me but she is very busy.

[Anne] Where can we purchase your books?

[Larry] You can get Motorcycle Woman at Red Rose Press.

Here’s the blurb:

Tess McBride relied on her motorcycle to carry her away from an unhappy past, one that involved her father leaving her mother for another woman and her mother dying a year later.

Resolved to avoid men, judging them to be all alike, she meets Johnnie Parker, a stranded biker whose motorcycle she repairs. Her staunch resolve is undermined by Johnnie's kindness, respect and lack of a sordid agenda toward her, not to mention him being handsome.

Should she stick to her plans to take to the open road again after replenishing her traveling bankroll from her motorcycle mechanic's job in Johnnie's hometown? In the past, that question was easily answered, but what about now? Johnnie has fallen in love with her. The answer is obvious when she knows he's genuine, he treats her special, and she realizes that she has fallen in love with him too.

And you can find my other titles on my author page at The Wild Rose Press or at Smashwords. You can read a free story, very short on my blog.

[Anne] Is there anything else you’d like to add?

[Larry] Thank you, Anne, for having me.

Thanks for the interview, Larry! I hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas and an awesome New Year!

TK Toppin Interview

Joining us today is author TK Toppin. Here is TK’s Bio:  I was born and raised in Barbados where I currently live with my husband. For the last twenty-odd years, I have been working as a freelance graphic artist. My world has only ever orbited around that field. Writing has always appealed me and it’s something that I would eventually like to do full-time in the future. Early in 2008, after whining about it, a friend said to just do it. So, I decided to just jump right in and make a start. The Lancaster Rule is my first real attempt at writing.

[Anne] When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer, TK?

[TK] Not sure. I’ve always scribbled stuff down, writing in a journal, or outlining storyboards for cartoons that I’d later draw out. In school, I just did what I was told. As an adult, I wrote family newsletters and then doodled around with stories, half-hearted attempts at writing. I love to read and I think the main motivation into actually attempting to write was because some books I read, I wondered how on earth it got published in the first place. I kept thinking, I could write that! But I said to myself, if I ever started to write, I’d want to write one of those books that you just don’t want to put down. The ones that take you into a different world, where the characters are so alive and unforgettable. I hope I’ve achieved that – I know I’ve a long way to go before I can call myself a real writer.

[Anne] Please tell us about your new novel, The Lancaster Rule. It’s the first in the series, right?

[TK] It is. While writing it, I knew that one book was not enough to complete the story I wanted to tell. The Lancaster Rule is set in the future, even where it begins, it’s set about twenty-odd years in the future where certain scientific technologies may become possible. Basically, it’s about this young woman who helps her scientist father with an experiment. She enters a suspension chamber and ends up sleeping for 300 years. When she awakes, she has to deal with the terrible new future she finds herself in by learning to adapt, basically. She also finds real love and realizes that her life in the future was always meant to be.

[Anne] Fantastic cover!  And it really sounds interesting. What inspired you to write this story?

[TK] I like daydreaming…a lot! Most of it was idle musings and imagining what life in the future would be like – who doesn’t do that, right? The more I daydreamed, the more it became into a sort of story. And then, thinking, what if this happened, what would happen then? And, also, at the time, I was reading a book series where the heroine goes back in time and all the adventures she got into. I thought, well, we know history, but what about the future? What if a person were to go into the future, realistically speaking, and have adventures there? And if you wrote about the future, you weren’t restricted by accuracy. You could write any old thing and call it the future!

[Anne] How did you go about researching it?

[TK] I spent hours online just reading scientific stuff. Since I knew how my heroine was going to end up in the future, I wanted to make sure if it was reasonably possible to do so. At best, I like to keep things relatively realistic, with some room for a bit of far-fetched ideas. Google and Wikipedia became my new best friends. But, most of it was about stuff that related to me…things I knew, like some parts have a suspiciously close likeness to my own family. Other bits, I just made up as I went along.

[Anne] Can you give us a peak further into the series?

[TK] The second book is called The Master Key, but it doesn’t quite continue where the first one ended. It also sets the stage for the theme of the book. Like the Buddhist saying of where every action has it’s opposite reaction, the continuity of life cycles and balance, harmony, etc. The Master Key is about how a person’s life is connected or interweaved with time and movement…I could go on and on.

The heroine is living life quite happily in the future, ready to settle into it, so to speak. But circumstances intrude, making her realize that her future is, most definitely, determined to link her to her past. She is once again kidnapped, her life threatened, and her questions about her past and her family are all answered. And she gets to see outer space!

The third book, The Eternal Knot, continues almost directly from where the second one ends. More of her past and family are revealed and she comes face to face with a relative – pretty much like the endless knot or, as some call it, the eternal knot. Everything about the heroine is linked and tied in with her past, which has now, finally, come to face her. I know, very Buddhist. Unfortunately, this relative is not a very nice person, so they must battle it out to the end. Our heroine also learns to accept that her life is basically is one endless knot… It’s still a work in progress, and who knows, I have options to end it wide open for another book!

[Anne] What is your writing process like? Are you a plotter or a panster?

[TK] Well, not sure what a panster is, doesn’t sound too appealing… I like order, so while I see the big picture in general, getting there, I like to stick to things chronologically. Like start at chapter one and finish at chapter so-and-so. I make notes, constantly, and write down things I think will work in certain areas. But mostly, I stick to ordered writing, plodding along until I reach the ‘big picture.’ I do a lot of re-reading as well, correcting, adding and changing as I do so.

[Anne] I’m panster – meaning I’m not an organizer or plotter. Okay, if you could be anyone of your characters, which one would you chose to be and why?

[TK] Hmm…that’s a really tough choice. I like them all! Funny enough, I’d hate to be the heroine since every bad thing known to man seems to happen to her. I can’t decide. I’d be all of them for a day since they all do interesting and exciting things.

[Anne] Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go? (Okay so maybe this isn’t very likely to happen but since I’m asking the questions…)

[TK] Anywhere is good – so long as it’s got internet access! Not big into remote and exotic. So, I suppose anywhere that’s got relatively good parts of civilization and creature comforts.

[Anne] You’ve just been informed that The Lancaster Rule is a NY Times bestseller and Hollywood wants to turn it into a movie. What actors would you choose to play your main characters?

[TK] Oh, boy! Well, after recovering from my fainting spell…I’d have to think really hard. The characters images are quite vivid in my mind, so to get an actor similar to play them would be really difficult. At best, the heroine could be anyone from Kate Beckinsale to Keira Knightley. I’m just pulling straws here since their strong screen presence stands out. For the hero, anyone from, I dunno…Brandon Routh to Karl Urban. Although, the latter sounds more likely. That sort of quiet but strong presence…

[Anne] What type of books do you like to read when you’re not writing?

[TK] Good sci-fi (like the Dune series), a good mystery or suspense thrillers (like Dan Brown…just finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire – excellent!). Some quirky, modern day fiction (Shopaholic series, that sort). Some young adults like the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, and, of course, Harry Potter. Not much horror or supernatural/paranormal – I like sleeping with both eyes shut, thanks. I’d read a Stephen King providing there’s no clown or dolls involved. Some Dean Koontz I’d read.

[Anne] Name three things you can’t live without (excluding spouses and family because that’s a given).

[TK] As of late, the three things I must leave home with are my laptop, my iPod and my Blackberry. Living in the modern world sucks big time. Without them, I feel out of sorts.

[Anne] What advice would you give to any aspiring writers out there?

[TK] Just write what you like, what you know (and if you don’t, research it), keep it real with a window for the unreal, and keep re-reading what you wrote. Give it to someone else to read, a friend, your partner, anyone whose opinion you value and listen to their remarks. Take the lumps with the jumps.

[Anne] Where can we find you on the web?

[TK] www.tktoppin.com but its still very much under construction. Nothing to write home about, but I’m there.

[Anne] Where can we purchase your book?

[TK] My publisher is Champagne Books: www.champagnebooks.com

[Anne] Is there anything else you’d like to add?

[TK] Just to say thanks so much for this opportunity to talk about my book – hope I didn’t bore you senseless. And that I hope people who read it will enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

Book Blurb:

The world loathes Josie Bettencourt's kind – pod-survivors from the past. When death is certain, an ex-military and friend to the pod-hunters, saves her life. Unfortunately, she is soon arrested and taken straight to the Citadel, the heart of the Lancaster regime where they have ruled tyrannically for over fifty years. Now, young John is in power, hoping to make a change, to erase the wars, famines and unimaginable terror. When Josie meets the frighteningly powerful John Lancaster, she has to ask, is he really the so-called tyrants' spawn? She soon discovers who the true tyrants are by unraveling a deadly plot to take over the world. And she realizes that her life in this new future are indelibly linked to the one she left behind.

The Lancaster Rule, the first of a three-part saga, takes you on an exciting rollercoaster ride, 300 years into the future!

[Anne] Thanks so much for joining us today, TK. Best of luck to you with all your writing endeavors.