Author Q & A

 Over the past couple of months I have fielded some questions in real life and through direct messages on my social media about writing, some more specific than others. Here's my attempt to answer some of these:

Q. What got you into writing?

A. I had been working on a concept for a few years. I decided in March, 2019 to quit Facebook because social media can be a terrible thing when it gets under your skin. The same day that I deleted my Facebook account I wrote the first 1,700 words of Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett. 

I have wanted to write ever since I was a kid, though. In high school I wrote a never ending stream of short, and admittedly stupid, horror tales. 

Q. What was your first professional writing job?

A. Well, I can't really count serving as a head news writer at my high school radio station since I didn't get paid for that. For a number of years I did writing jobs as part of an independent contractor gig. I made a surprising amount of money writing the long-form descriptions that you would find on the back of Adult DVDs. Hey, it paid my utilities for years.

Q. Why horror?

A. Why not?

Q. Who are your biggest influences as a writer?

A. Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, J.R.R. Tolkien. Each of those authors affected me in profound ways. 

Q. Do I need to read Morbid Fascinations before I read Book 2, Maestra. 

A. Probably would be best. Otherwise you may be a bit confused and not be impacted as strongly by certain events in Maestra. Maestra isn't so much a sequel as a concurrent story that intertwines with MFoDB's timeline.

Q. Were you worried about writing your first book 1st person and making the entire story take place through journal entries?

A. Oh, definitely. In some ways it worked very well but it made for an incredibly challenging book to write. Trying to maintain focus on the story through the eyes of a character who is clearly losing his mental faculties is a rough job.

Q. Is Maestra written in the same style as MFoDB?

A. No. Maestra is 3rd person and more traditional in style. There was no way to write this somewhat epic story in a 1st person manner. It would have been far too limiting.

Q. Why change genres within the same series?

A. I want to push the reader out of their comfort zone a bit, as well as myself. The world is big, wide, and full of different emotions. Writers shouldn't be afraid of reaching out and exploring many ways of telling a story arc. Life has scary moments, funny ones, romance so why not use each book as an opportunity to focus on a different aspect of the journey?

Q. Did you always plan a sequel to Morbid Fascinations?

A. About halfway through the first draft I realized that the story had a lot more to tell. There will be at least four books in the Concentric Worlds.

Q. So, what's next?

A. I am on hiatus until sometime in October or November when I start drafting The Dreaming Sea, a standalone science fiction novel.

Q. Any advice to someone who wants to write a book?

A. Clive Barker once said to write persistently like it's your career. I agree, to an extent, but you also need to know when to pull back and give yourself a break. Don't take so long off that you start to lose the fire for the story. If you're overwhelmed by it just try writing in smaller chunks. Even if you only write a few hundred words every few days it is still progress and it keeps your head in your story without feeling like a burden. Break it down into chunks. Writing 500 words four times per week will let you draft a 100,000 word book in 1 year. It's all about perspective.

It's Happening!

 This past Friday was the official release for Maestra in all formats. The hardcover from Barnes and Noble is big and beautiful, easy to read and looks great on my coffee table. The paperback is an absolute unit at 646 pages.

I had zero expectations for the release of this book with the global pandemic eating into everyone's minds and wallets. I have made it available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers, as is my previous book. To my surprise I have actually moved a decent amount of books through Amazon since the release on Friday. Book 1 has definitely seen a boost, as well.

A year and a half ago I began this adventure into a career of writing and I had no expectation beyond wanting to share my stories with the world. I want to take a minute to thank everyone who has helped this dream become a reality for me. All the readers, my family, my friends who have all supported this endeavor - I am indebted to you all.

For the time being I am sitting back and doing what limited promotion that I can. Beyond that I am just going to take a few more weeks to relax and plot out the course for my next book before I begin writing it.

Also, I'm going to be playing with kittens. 

Cheers! Let me know your thoughts if you have read these books, and please leave a review where you purchased them or on Goodreads.

The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett (ebook or paperback): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1701845431

hardcover: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-morbid-fascinations-of-david-bennett-r-m-smith/1134337814

Maestra: (ebook or paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H24LB12

hardcover: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maestra-r-m-smith/1137596053

Pandemic Kittens

 It has been anything but a boring week here. After adopting baby Reginauld nearly 2 weeks ago we discovered that he brought a feline respiratory virus into the house with him. Our little rescue ragdoll ended up costing us a fair amount of money because we had to run our other kitten and our 12 year old cat to the vet for emergency treatment for secondary infections. Oh, and then we had to run baby Reggie back to the vet because we also discovered that he has ringworm. 

On the one hand I am very glad that he came to live with us because his health obviously wasn't great and I'm not sure how long he would have survived in his crowded foster home with all of his ailments.

On the other hand I am incredibly frustrated with the rescue organization because it was overcrowded and we were given conflicting information on the health of the kitten and other cats in the home -- as well as his vaccination and neutering record. He was advertised as neutered but definitely wasn't (as he wags his junk in my face.)

The moral of the story is do your homework. We thought we did, but turns out that unexpected things can and will happen when adopting a pet. I still have no regrets about it. He's a sweetheart and little Arabella loves having a brother to wrestle with.

I'm still gearing up for the release of Maestra. It's hard to get very excited about releasing a book in the middle of the pandemic. Promoting my book has been very limiting and I feel completely lost without being able to go out and do shows and book signings to promote it. It's not even like I'm pushing a boulder up a hill, it's more like trying to push the hill itself. 

Authors definitely aren't in this to get rich, that's for sure.

All I want with my work is for it to connect with some readers and leave an impression on them, making them think or change the way they perceive the world. When I hear feedback (even negative) I learn and grow from it. It keeps me going.

Thank you to everyone who supports me on this grand adventure. Cheers, and I hope you enjoy the book.

Pre-Order Maestra on Amazon for $2.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H24LB12

Gluten and Dairy Free Treat Perfect for Halloween

 First off, the recipe:

6 cups Cinnamon Cheerios

1 bag 10 oz mini marshmallows (the cheaper the better, will explain why.)

3 table spoons plant based butter

It's pretty simple. Pre-butter or spray a 9 x 13 pan.

Grab a microwave safe bowl. Put the butter and marshmallows in the bowl and microwave for one minute.

Stir the brew.

Microwave for approximately another 30 seconds.

Stir some more and make sure the mallows are melted.

Throw in those cinnamon cheerios and mix it all together.

Pour into the pan and try to smooth it. Good luck with that part. I suck at it.

The cheaper the marshmallows are the better because less expensive ones are more likely to contain artificial ingredients rather than dairy based emulsifiers. So, this is one time that those 99 cent store brand marshmallows are likely going to be perfect for what you need.

These treats are incredibly tasty but just because they are gluten and dairy free it doesn't mean they are healthy. Even Cheerios, on their own, are marginal in their health benefits despite the heart healthy claims in their marketing. Adding the mallows really pushes it into that category of junk food treat best kept away from diabetics and anyone else trying to live past 60.

They're so tasty, though.

Enjoy!

p.s. I write horror. Buy my latest book, Maestra here! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H24LB12

Nothing Ever Goes as Planned

 After finishing edits on Maestra I decided to take a 2 month writing hiatus. Should be peaceful, right? It's been anything but.

Last week my family adopted a rescue kitten. This little guy: 

Sir Reginauld Bunnington the First.

Unfortunately, he had a bit of a snuffle when he came home and was on an antibiotic to treat it. Well, it quickly became obvious it was a virus and not a bacterial infection because our other kitten became sick and the crud has now made its way to the other two senior cats, as well. They should recover but baby Arabella, the five month old kitten, had to go to the vet to be pumped full of fluids. Calicivirus is nasty. It leaves them lethargic, high fever, inflamed joints, ulcerations in their mouths, and many other nasty things. So I am here caring for convalescing cats, carrying my senior cat to his litter pan because his joints are so sore that he can't walk.

Even if I wanted to jump back into writing earlier than planned it's not going to happen.

Reginauld is completely recovered and just a happy little ragdoll. He gets along with everyone and loves to cuddle. Not a mean bone in his fluffy little body. He exists to be snuggled. I feel bad that he's going in on Monday to lose his nuggets, but it obviously needs to be done. My Chromebook is his nemesis, though. Whenever it is open he has to lay across the keyboard.

I am slowly fleshing out the outline for my next novel, a standalone science fiction piece. It should be somewhat shorter than my last two offerings. I think it will be great fun. It will definitely be more hopeful in tone than my horror books. 

Time to find out what the next few weeks of hiatus holds for me!

Be sure to check my author page on Amazon for all the latest updates, including links to all my books!

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07ZGH16ZC

Expanding the Universe

 Maestra releases in just under two weeks. I've been a bundle of nerves. This is my second full length novel and it is ambitious. When I set out to write this kind of book I considered keeping it pretty simple and using a safe approach but I knew that in order to tell Arabella's story that I had to give it a wide scope. Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett was closed quarters paranormal horror. The settings were few and the story relied on the claustrophobia to hold the suspense. Maestra opens up to a world far more vast than anything I have ever written before. It really challenged me to world build and I learned a lot in the eleven months that it took me to craft this 125,000 word epic dark fantasy tale of the incredible.

Maestra is divided into three distinct acts. Part 1 is all about getting to know Arabella as an awkward, depressed teenager. She is cocooned within her insecurities as a result of feeling different from other students at her school. She believes that she is utterly alone in the universe and finds herself curious about a mysterious stranger who takes an interest in her, although in the back of her mind she realizes that there is something terribly wrong with the entire situation.

By Part 2 we see the story open up from a relatively limited scope of a small Colorado city to a much broader canvas beyond anything the reader could have anticipated. Suddenly Ari's life changes. Time goes by, and she develops into a rather normal feeling adult, though the nagging of her past tragedies continue to haunt her.

What happens beyond this is for the reader to discover. Along the way she will find the meaning of family, love, loss, and what it means to take control of your own destiny -- no matter how tragic it may seem to be. Maestra is all things; it's dark, it's light, it's heavy and foreboding, it's humorous in its bleakest moments. It is a story of life and what one defeated human being is willing to do to save a world that never gave her a chance.

I poured my heart and soul into writing this book. It drained me and tore my heart out to create this fantastic universe. I sincerely hope you will join me for this transformative journey and learn why there is still a reason to fight against hopelessness in the world.

Maestra, available September 25th, 2020. Pre-order now on E-book for $2.99. Paperback NOW available for order, $21.99 Prime eligible from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H24LB12

Also available in Hardcover and Paperback through Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maestra-r-m-smith/1137565822

Endings

 The past few days have been an odd time here. Over the weekend I finished Maestra and got it ready for release later this month. I was relieved, happy with the end result, and exhausted. I didn't feel like celebrating, though.

In March our 11 year old Siberian Ragdoll cat was diagnosed with Feline Leukemia. He was losing his battle since the end of last week and it sadly came to an end yesterday.

It's absolutely impossible to celebrate anything right now. The house is sullen, the other cats are roaming and looking for their brother. My four year old is coping the way young children do. My 15 year old is spending time with her mother 70 miles away and I can't be there to comfort her during this. 

Between the pandemic and everything associated with it and now the loss of our beloved Coal McPatches my memories of writing Maestra are very mixed. I am incredibly proud of this book and how well it has turned out. I sincerely hope that some people out there connect with it, also. However, I don't think I'm going to be able to read it or revisit my memories of writing it for quite a while. It came from the ashes of a world on fire and my own mental health struggles, which have become more serious of late. Somehow, in the middle of it all, I crafted this diamond that I hope shines long after I am gone from this world. It's a fairly bleak epic. The world around us has undoubtedly influenced the tone of the book. 

Arabella's journey will absolutely tear at your heart. It's the story of wrestling control of your own destiny away from those who would control it for us. We all may strive toward an inevitable fate, but the journey there should be on our own terms. Maestra is roughly 600 pages spanning years, dimensions, and emotional highs and lows in the life of one woman who simply wants to know 'why me?' We've all been there and can identify with the concepts of her struggles, if not the specific supernatural details of it.

I will be revisiting the Concentric Worlds in the years ahead but I bid farewell to it, for a little while.

In October I will begin work on my first science fiction novel, The Dreaming Sea.

The first two volumes in The Concentric Worlds are over 200,000 words and nearly 1,000 pages of Lovecraftian influenced paranormal horror/dark fantasy that will satiate the hungriest of horror appetites:

Find The Morbid Fascinations of David Bennett on sale now, and Maestra available for pre-order (releases September 25th) here: https://www.amazon.com/R-M-Smith/e/B07ZGH16ZC/