Blog Archives
Self-Fulfillment And Discovery
The Retirement Quilt follows a retiree and recent widow who seeks to make a quilt of his tie collection and meets interesting people along the way that teach him much about life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
When I decided to retire from full-time work, my colleagues joked about what I would do with all my ties. I had worn ties all my life and to part with them was like destroying a part of my history. I had my first tie from Brooks Brothers in Boston, ties given to me by friends and lovers, ties from my overseas trips to Paris and Rome and ties from Australia.
I discussed this with a dear friend, Maisie, who said I could turn the ties into a quilt, find a new use for them and still retain the memories. I contacted several senior citizen centers and offered to underwrite the costs, including a small payment to the quilters. This proved far more problematic than I thought.
I wanted the quilt to be made by men since a man wore the ties and their history was a man’s history. It then occurred to me that I could write a story about the quilt’s creation by four men.
At the same time, my personal trainer posed a challenge. Complete the book by your birthday, the 28th of July. So in March, I started and did complete the first printed draft in July.
The characters in your story were all varied and interesting. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
I wanted my main male characters to be strong individuals in various stages on the road to self-fulfillment and discovery. So I had identified each male character with an Australian actor – Geoffrey Rush as Geoffrey, Russell Crowe as Russell, Barry Otto as Barry and Bryan Brown as Bryan. The main female characters were also strong. Margaret, although dead, plays a role in the lives of all characters. I wanted my characters to experience all the normal emotions of middle-aged men and women and discover love.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The theme of resurrection dominates the interaction of the four men, and by the end of the book, each finds his path to fulfillment and happiness.
The role of Morton places an important role in the story, not only for its historical significance but for the support it provides all characters.
As Margaret and the Bigelow family demonstrates, the role of heritage and tradition colors the social setting. It is woven into the story as the quilt is being designed and executed.
Finally, the development of friendship and trust is woven into the fabric of the quilt.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am completing a book called “The Secrets of Ferncrest,” which traces four generations of a family, their role in Newport, Boston and New York society and the family’s Newport home.” Ferncrest. It is told through the diary entries of the principal characters as transcribed by the grandson and son of the main characters.
It reflects their life from 1900 to 1946 and touches on all the important social, intellectual and political events in the United States. For example, it reflects the reaction to the sinking of the Titanic, the passage of government acts that sought to redistribute wealth and increased the role of government in social welfare programs, the Women’s Suffrage and Settlement House movements, the financial panic of 1929, the Spanish Flu, and two world wars.
I expect to complete the book by the first quarter of 2022.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
However, it is the spirit and love of Margaret, Geoffrey‘s deceased wife, which affects everyone and leads Geoffrey to love and happiness.
This is a beautiful story of love and loss that is destined to enchant and inspire.
What’s The Worst World I Can Imagine
Inside Out follows a young man and his friends as they see their dystopian world torn apart by Freedom Fighters and their government’s harsh reaction to them. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I began writing this novel over a decade ago – when I was twelve years old. I was quite an angsty teenager (I am now quite an angsty twenty-something!) I suppose the real genesis of this novel was asking the question “what’s the worst world I can imagine and what would the consequences be of that?” Worryingly, I think the premis has got closer to reality over time.
Zack is an interesting character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Inside Out has an ensemble cast – all dear to my heart – but Zack is one of my favourites! He has a very fierce protective streak in him and that gets more apparent as the story goes on. Without wishing to give too much away, that need to protect leads him to take some fairly extreme measures. Whether or not they’re sensible – I’ll leave the readers to decide!
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
One of the biggest themes I wanted to tackle was the destructive evil of prejudice. As a disabled woman, that’s something I’ve had to contend with all my life. It is such a pointless, baseless concept, and yet it ruins so many lives. I also wanted to tackle the fact that those who are in power are not always the best suited to it, and the lengths they will go to maintain their standing.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently running final checks on the sequel to Inside Out. Hopefully, it will be released by the end of this year. I am so excited for my lovely readers to experience it!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
While the Insiders appear pampered and privileged, the Outsiders know only harsh realities. Believing themselves to be needlessly deprived of everything the Insiders have, the younger generation channel their rage into a terrorist group called The Freedom Fighters, a group intent on overthrowing the Inside at any cost. Now the Insiders must watch as the world they love collapses around them while the government resort to increasingly desperate tactics to try and contain the Outside threat. When the latest initiative catapults one of the young into the heart of the war, everything is pushed to breaking point.
Loyalties will be tested. Lives will be risked. Their worlds will change forever.
Space-Faring Sci-Fi And Epic Fantasy
Lady Silver follows a warlock and a soldier who grudgingly join forces to prevent the multiverse from collapsing. What was the inspiration for the setup to your epic space opera?
To be totally honest, I really don’t know. I grew up on the original “Star Trek” and “Lost in Space.” Had a major pre-teen crush on Captain Kirk. Then came “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica.” There was “Star Trek: Next Generation” and “Voyager.” I was, and still am, an avid Dungeons and Dragons player.
I think it was a combination of all of these factors, plus my voracious appetite for reading sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books, that formed the basis for the world I’ve constructed in the “Warlock Chronicles” series. I always thought it would be incredibly kick-butt if elements of space-faring sci-fi and epic fantasy could meld. So when I began writing the series, this is basically what came out.
I began writing this tale 30 years ago. It’s gone through multiple incarnations over the years with the final product the one you see in print today.
Bastion and D’Isaac are intriguing and well developed characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
I wanted a strong male character who was not ashamed to be male. You won’t find Bastion in skinny jeans or sporting a man-bun. And I wanted to portray a woman who wasn’t afraid to be feminine, to embrace her feminine nature, but who also wasn’t afraid to be strong when she needed to be. I wanted her to grow over the course of the tale from something that society forced her to be to who SHE wanted to be and who she really is. I wanted main characters who weren’t afraid to demonstrate, “This is who I am and I will not allow society as a whole or any one individual to make me into something I’m not.”
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I wanted to demonstrate how a woman could be a woman in the true and traditional sense while also being strong, independent, and a power to be reckoned with all on her own. The same for the male lead character. Men face just as much pressure to conform to society’s idea of “normal” as women.
It was also important to me to show that doing what is right isn’t always easy, it isn’t always pretty, and it isn’t always something we may want to do. Sometimes you have to fight your way through a lot of what’s not right before you can get to what is right. The ends don’t always justify the means, but sometimes they do. That’s just a fact of life.
This is book one in the Warlock Chronicles. What can readers expect in book two?
“INTO THE WELL: Warlock Chronicles, Book II” picks up the story where “LADY SILVER” ended. It continues the trek of the Maelstrom and her crew into Well space in search of the lost homeworld of the human and warlock races. In Book II, D’Isaac and Bastion must find a way to seal the breach in the barrier between dimensional layers before the multiverse itself unravels. There will be a Book III (“The Emperor’s Son”) and Book IV (“The God of Rycappa”) coming also.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
When religious zealots resurrect the ancient technology that ripped open the dimensional barrier six thousand years ago, the galaxy faces another coming Cataclysm.
Warlocks and humans, sister races of the same evolutionary tree, are divided by millennia of enmity and ancient animosity. It will take the magic of the warlocks and the humans’ technology to heal the breach between layers of the multiverse.
Bryanna D’Isaac is an untrained, untried warlock with powerful magic who only wants to be left alone.
Admiral Devon Bastion is career military, renowned for executing warlocks, who harbors secrets of his own.
Deadly events indicate a derelict area of space called the Well is expanding. The threat of apocalyptic events forces the warlock and the soldier together. By joining forces, Bastion and D’Isaac can save the galaxy—if they don’t kill each other first.
Can they learn to trust each other before the multiverse collapses?
The Deeper Crime
Ninety-Five follows a college student who uncovers an on campus scam that’s connected to a larger criminal underworld on the dark web. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
From an investigation perspective, most crimes are like icebergs. What you see sticking out of the water often has nothing to do with what’s really going on, with the deeper crime and the layers of secrets protecting it. Zak was a transfer student trying to reset his academic journey and an on-campus party led him down a rabbit hole and, ultimately, a one-way trip to hell.
Zak is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Duality was one of the ideas I wanted to explore with Zack – bravado and vulnerability, he’s jaded yet innocent, and I was very curious how he would react to not only challenges in his immediate environment but to things that challenged his view of the world, of reality itself.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Ninety-Five is my seventh published book and I think I’m addressing the same themes as an underlying commonality – abuse of power, secrets, corruption, and family connections. But for this book specifically, I found the dark web, crypto, and Pharma elements pulling me deeper into the story.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
This year I finished writing my first series – a three-book private investigator series. I’m hoping the first book in that series will be published in 2022.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
The Masters Of Sci-Fi
Antithesis is a collection of fascinating science fiction stories offering a variety of intriguing scenarios that explore humanity through different lenses. What inspired some of the stories in your collection?
I am a science fiction nerd who grew up reading and idolizing the masters of sci-fi; Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert just to name a few. I also loved science fiction periodicals and read many lesser-known voices who contributed their stories. Inspiration in general came from wanting to remind myself why I love sci-fi, telling stories with a nod to the past. But I also wanted to make the subjects and themes of the stories relevant and timely. In effect, social commentary masquerading as nostalgia.
I really enjoyed the diverse and interesting characters in the stories. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
My day job is being a screenwriter. Character in film, television and video games is what excites me the most about storytelling. If people love your characters (even the evil ones), they will go along for the ride and enjoy the experience. Now, diverse characters lead to differing points of view and unique perspectives, which will hopefully challenge the viewer or reader to examine their own beliefs. If a character has you questioning a preconception, then he/she/they/it has been well developed.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this collection?
Though Antithesis has six unique stories, they all revolve around humanity and the human condition. I wanted to explore what it means to be human. Our strengths, our weaknesses, our flaws, and our beliefs. Even when looking at non-human characters, I wanted to use them as a mirror to our own world to show areas where we as a species were either excelling or failing.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working on volume two of Antithesis. It will include the continuation of three of the stories and a few new ones as well. Hopefully, it will be out mid-2022. I’m also working on an adaptation/novelization of one of my own original screenplays that was never produced. Antithesis is my first book, and I enjoyed writing it so much that I’m being drawn more and more to literature. Stay tuned!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
A speculative tale about humankind becoming obsolete from the perspective of the machines we created. The story of an airline pilot who loses his faith in the physics of flying as his rational and irrational mind fight for dominance. An ancient being born of human evolution that strips us of our memories, feeding on one precious reminiscence at a time. An audacious fable that explores a new galaxy, one where humans are irrelevant, but the conflicts of a class-based society are not. A novella-length saga about a mission to Mars, the origins of humanity, and an atrocity that stretches across time and space. And finally, a story that asks the question whether an unstoppable artificial intelligence would indeed be happier traveling the vast reaches of space, or back amongst the flawed beings who created it.
Escape into worlds unlike anything you have seen before, but some eerily similar to our own. Antithesis – where the opposite is to be expected.
To Reveal Its Shocking Nature
Signs of the Times reexamines classic nursery rhymes through a contemporary and humorous lens. What inspired you to write this book?
My mother was an English teacher and a great fan of humorous poetry. She introduced me to the light verse of Ogden Nash and the nonsense rhymes of Edward Lear, kindling my enthusiasm for their writing styles. I have also been fascinated by wordplay, of one kind or another, and have written about it in earlier books. The light verse style offers considerable wordplay possibilities. It struck me that classic nursery rhymes would lend themselves to reinterpretation in this style and that they could do with some updating as it were.
What is the most memorable nursery rhyme from your childhood and how does that speak to you today?
One of the most memorable, if not the most memorable, nursery rhyme from my childhood is “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It speaks to me today because I now appreciate that a lamb represents innocence and purity and that the pure whiteness of the typical lamb’s coat reinforces the notion of purity. I now believe that this nursery rhyme emphasizes the faithfulness that a pet, endowed with the characteristics of innocence and purity, is capable of showing to a human companion. In the nursery rhymes, that faithfulness is reciprocated by Mary, to her enduring credit.
What nursery rhyme shocked you the most when reexamining it?
For me, the nursery rhyme “Goosey, Goosey, Gander” didn’t take much reexamination to reveal its shocking nature. It portrays someone throwing an old, presumably defenseless, old man down a set of stairs for the simple crime of refusing to say his prayers. For me, the shocking nature of the narrative wasn’t particularly dampened when I learned that what was being described here was likely the fate of a priest, hidden away in a “priest-hole” in a Catholic home, being rousted and punished for refusing to swear allegiance to the Protestant Queen. This would have been a not untypical occurrence in England during the Papist purge of the sixteenth century.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next book will be another collection of light verse for adults. It’s to be titled What If Jack Wasn’t So Nimble: Mother Goose Characters Reimagined. I’m currently looking for a publisher. One of the poems from this collection, entitled “Time’s No Fun When You’re Having Flies” has been published in the latest quarterly issue (Sept., 2021) of the British Webzine Lighten Up Online (see https://lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/isse-55-september-2021/2174-colin-mcnairn-time-s-no-fun-when-you-re-having-flies).
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
—Bruce Bennett, Emeritus Professor of English, Wells College
Colin McNairn is clearly having fun as he rewrites nursery rhymes to comment on the wider world. With jabs and plentiful jokes (“hickory, dickory, daiquiri”), he happily draws readers into his imaginative wordsmithery.
—Warren Clements, Author, The Nestlings Press Book of Fairy Tales in Verse
If Mother Goose were writing her nursery rhymes to-day, she would no doubt
burnish her MeToo credentials by condemning Georgie Porgie for kissing the girls and making them cry,
have Billy Boy, a.k.a. Charming Billy, look for a wife online rather than by pursuing a ground game;
warn us against catching a tiger by the toe, given the dangers of nail fungus; and
recognize a twinkle, twinkle in the night sky as more likely to evidence a drone rather than a star.
These are among the revisionist scenarios portrayed in the 70 plus mature verses in this collection, all of which have been inspired, to some extent, by traditional nursery rhymes. The subject matter of the verses ranges widely and includes, politics, language, the law, dating and mating, social behavior, food and drink, health, sports, commerce, technology, travel, and the natural environment.
Real Life
Alacran The Honey Badger is a riveting fantasy story with a unique setup. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
It is basely a summery of my grandfather, father and my life. We were and still are a military family. Grandson is a pilot in the Marine Corps.
What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Real life. The war in Vietnam, then the war within after returning home, then being made an offer I couldn’t refuse by my dear Uncle Sam.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The false paintings of the world by the Church and Politicians. I watch the herd from a ridge line wondering if they do not care that there is a slaughter house at the end of the trail they seem hell bent to stay on?
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
There are three. The Ineffable Kiss – King Solomon & It’s Not Fun Being Serious. Have a couple of assistant writer come onboard and hope to have these titles on KDP by Dec. FYI, Sir. I limit the nasty words and reject all vulgar words. There are never any car chases or indestructible heroes. I do so thank you for this fine service.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
All I can promise is some interesting people and places—however, you’d not want these people living next door, nor would you want to live in most of these places.
I’ve never smoked or drunk booze, but maybe I should have. It’s for certain; I shouldn’t have made a veil threat against a U.S, sitting president. The U.S. Secret Service had me locked up in the mental ward at the VA facility in Menlo Park, California. They kept me for a little over a year. One of the other nuts locked up with me said that a guy gets a private room if he hits someone. So, with my luck holding steady, the next guy to show up was a guy in one of those white coats. I knocked him on his ass.
The nut was right. I got a private room. It was called the Quiet Room.
I didn’t care for it.
I started out in the Air Force. I didn’t care for it, either. Thought I’d give the Army a try. It was more to my liking; you could actually reach out and touch the asshole you’d just killed.
My favorite dead people are Thomas Paine, T.L. Lawrence, Carl Sagan, and Nancy Kilar. Thinking about it, I guess I’m kind of like God. A person has to die to make my list.
Sweet, Innocent, And Inspiring
Wallflower Pen Pals tells the true story of two people who fall in love after an exchange of letters and their emotional journey towards meeting one another. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This story was an important book to write for me as I was looking for a good story. In 2010, I wrote a self-help book that I self-published. It was such a thrill to have accomplished something I’ve always aspired to do—write a book. I did not know much beyond that about marketing that particular book as it languished on the online bookshelf for many years. Following that, I grabbled with changing my genre and aspired to write a novel someday. When I found these letters after my parents passed away, I only intended to read them from curiosity over the years as they were treasured and preserved. However, after reading one of the letters from my father, his words spoke to me. And I quote, “You know, I wish the world knew about our beautiful friendship.” I was inspired at that moment to put it into a book. Since there were 100 letters between them in a six-month period, I thought it was a sufficient amount of words for a novel. This story is sweet, innocent, and inspiring to share with the world.
What was the most surprising thing you uncovered while reading these letters?
The most surprising thing I uncovered from these letters was that this couple (my parents) did not know each other before they became pen pals.
Did you include all the letters in this book or was there any that didn’t make it in?
Honestly, I missed one letter from my mother. It was inadvertently placed at the end of the letter stack. I decided it wasn’t necessary to add it anyway as it didn’t add or subtract to the story. This letter was about how she mistakenly wrote her name/address upside down on the envelope and how this funny mistake lightened up her depressed friend.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next book will be titled Wallflower Lovers. I thought this would be a good story about their courtship based on my mother’s diary. This, of course, will be fiction. More like a young adult romance/clean and wholesome kind of story. I am already writing the book. I do not have a timeline as of yet.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
After much exchange and a deeper friendship ensued, there became a yearning to meet face-to-face. This affair of writing was more than attraction and much greater than passion. It was beyond what they ever imagined. What these pen pals learned about each other propelled them to an exciting new future and outlook in life.
Was it fate? Would they have ever met without these letters of truth and honesty? Or was it that these two wanted to escape from their mundane lives and found something more profound in the process?
LITERARY TITAN 