Blog Archives
It Is Always Appropriate To Ask For Help
Shrieks and Sounds and Things Abound: The Quiet Wants of Julien J. follows a young boy who loses his temper when his reading is interrupted. What was the inspiration for your story?
The inspiration for all of my stories (there are more to come!) comes from the common though unique challenges I’ve observed in my clinical work experienced by adolescents and early aged youth.
What morals were you trying to capture while creating your character Julien?
That it is always appropriate to ask for help; that we are always accountable for our actions; and that regardless of our age or size, we have agency and can direct a choice.
What were some educational aspects that were important for you to include in this children’s book?
To always nurture socio-emotional growth; to remind that feelings, both big and small are okay-even if confounding.
Do you have more books about dealing with emotions planned? If so, when can readers expect your next book?
Yes, my next book is entitled: Troubles and Doubles and Reflections Askew! The Curious Case of the Two Emily Soos. It will debut in September of 2023 and will focus on the concept of negative self-talk or ‘intrusive thoughts.’
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All Julien J. wants to do is read his comic book in peace, but when distractions interrupt him time and time again, his frustration boils over. Julien kicks at the ground, he yells, he cries, and when the dust settles, he can’t believe what he sees-Bluebullet, the hero from his comic book, is standing right in front of him!
Learn what Bluebullet has to say about working through the most frustrating moments like a true superhero!
Our Endeavor For Eternal Life
A Fresh Look At Living Forever looks at the question of evolution vs. creation using both religion and science to support your views in a meaningful way. What inspired you to write this book?
Once I was introduced to the theory of evolution, I was inspired to determine which one was more realistic, creation or evolution. I decided to start with the one I was most familiar with first which is religion. Once I started my research, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I needed to take notes on all the information I was accumulating. Frankly it was too much information to remember. After creating and organizing my personal notes, I soon realized that there is a lot of information about our religion that many people may not know about. Providing this information for interested readers was my inspiration.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
One of the most important ideas to me was about who is God and what being the Most High is all about.
Another important idea is the three major concepts that guide us to the will of the Most High and aid us in our endeavor for eternal life as promised by the Most High. A third important point is the misconceptions that reign in our religions.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about creation?
I’m not sure about people’s misconception about creation but I am sure about misconceptions most people have about religion, believers and nonbelievers, which is based on misinterpretations or bogus information. The most common misconception people have is about what happens to us after we die.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
Seeking eternal life is a straight forward and simple process and not as burdensome and difficult as most people think.
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With clear answers to your deepest questions, Donald L. Thomas guides you through the questions that call from your soul.
If you’re a curious person, A Fresh Look at Living Forever takes you to the source of ultimate wisdom. With information from historical records and scientific discovery, nothing is ignored in this essential guide.
When Industrialization Runs Amuck
Rilloön: Dark Passage follows a young and strong humanoid-like female who takes off on a dangerous seafaring adventure to save her people. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Believe it or not, a very vivid dream served as the inspiration behind Rilloön. I dreamt of an island clan that I presumed had once lived on Earth. It was simple hunter gatherer society that farmed from a rice paddy field. Life was somewhat simple for these people with one major exception. The problem these folks encountered was a major snake infestation. This issue was so bad, they had created a temple for the snake gods.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t exactly a pleasant dream. These people practiced ritualized sacrifice so their entire population wouldn’t be decimated by the plague of serpents. Sacrificial beds lined the deepest room in the temple. The unlucky few were slid into the snake mouth carved at the foot of the bed. This tunnel, in turn, emptied into the dark “underworld.” These lost souls were never seen again.
What was the inspiration for the culture of your characters? Is it modeled after any particular society?
Primarily, the culture is heavily influenced by ancient Mesoamerica. I studied the Aztecs and Mayan while in school. There is also a generous helping of Greek mythology mixed in. I paid homage to Apollonius’s ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ in the later chapters. As you can probably guess, I was pretty much geeking out the whole time.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
There are a few themes that I explore in my book. The first is that of an oppressive society. The echniodyne are a poor and ragged society. They have somehow managed to survive after the brutal decimation of their world. (Fun fact. The name I gave them is a zoological reference to barnacles. They literally cling to the volcanic spires that jut out of the Alkaline Sea.)
The echniodyne are ruled by the Fettaris, an upper-class order of priests. This sect administers the fell will of their new gods, the evil Lecht’veneá. It was interesting to dissect the many different levels of their hodgepodge society. The echniodyne work together to survive, but things are far from harmonious. From top-down, every level preys upon the other in some manner.
You could also say the book is very environmentally friendly. Karoquil is an extreme example of what happens to a world when industrialization runs amuck and unchecked. Let’s just say that there is no love lost between the surviving mutants and their forebears. Their world is a living hell.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?
This is the first book. I am planning on finishing the story up in a second which will be a bit different from the first.
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Set sail across the treacherous Alkaline Sea.
Join the ranks of a brave crew as they travel into the unknown.
But beware, there are more than ravenous creatures waiting out past the forbidden zone.
Sinister forces lay beneath the dark undertow.
Watching.
Waiting.
What Makes A “Good” Society
The Vending Portal has an intriguing setup to a novel that is high in social commentary. What was your moral goal when writing this novel, and do you feel you’ve achieved it?
I didn’t have a particular moral goal when formulating this novel, but you’re right in that there is social commentary weaved throughout. My goal was more to highlight certain aspects of our society and societies around our world and bring questions on what makes a “good” society to the forefront. I understand these are difficult questions and complicated topics (all of which I don’t have answers to!), so I wrote these into the novel in hopes of providing a light avenue for young adults to critically think and ponder while also being carried on an adventure with our young protagonists.
I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?
It always excites me when readers like yourself tell me your thoughts about the world within The Vending Portal and the potential. I pulled my world-building inspiration from a variety of places: a recurring childhood dream, animations from studios like Studio Ghibli, my experience living in Japan years ago, anime series (some of which are quite ridiculous!), and my dabbling interest in aquariums. Overall, I was also inspired by other young adult adventures, like those of the Harry Potter series and the Narnia series. I created a few main tenants of how this world worked, and from there, things changed in terms of how certain instances react to each other and adding color and depth. I’m excited to continue building it out and discovering it myself as I write.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Some themes that were important for me within the book were not only the obvious one on a utopian/dystopian society and leadership, but also that of a hyphenated identity. Our main protagonists are Asian-Western; their home setting is quite inspired by Asia (particularly, the town I lived near in Japan years ago), and yet our characters are clearly some sort of Western, speaking English with very plain, western names. As an Asian-American myself, I wanted to craft a story that wasn’t just a nod to my roots and Asian, but more particularly, a nod to my experience (and many others within the diaspora across the world) as an Asian-American. The hyphenated identity is a unique space, shared by many around the world, and I want to help us feel more seen.
To highlight that, I specifically wanted to explore the food and dinner scenes within the book. I’ve found that in my family’s household and in many other immigrant family households, food holds a significance, culturally and socially. It’s our connection to a culture as well as a way many families express affection and care. Hence, I wanted to have food scenes describing the food and with family, despite it potentially slowing the plot or seeming more slice-of-life. These were crucial to the theme.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
The Vending Portal is indeed the first book in a series! I’m planning for a trilogy, but already thinking about a companion novel as a prequel. Due to life getting busy and some personal challenges, the second book won’t be out in 2023, but I’m hoping for a late 2024 release at earliest! In the meantime, I have a few world expansion projects to write – in my preorder campaign to help me fund the book’s publication, I offered a world expansion package where I create a character with the person who orders it – and build a quick write up of this character interacting within the world of The Vending Portal. I’m pretty excited about these, and they’ll potentially be posted on my website should anyone want to learn more about the world outside the novel!
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It’s just a normal day for Mel and Sage. They’re walking home from school, when they come upon a battered vending machine of mysterious snacks. While examining it, the sisters are whisked away to another dimension by the seemingly innocuous machine. They encounter advanced memory-enhancing technologies, a strange new government, and an ominous secret behind it all. Follow Mel and Sage as they discover friendships, unravel an unknown family history, and brave a multitude of hazards to save a society in a world that was never theirs.
Judy Liu’s debut novel is a passion project motivated by a desire to explore the concept of a “perfect” society. In it, she explores both the fantasies and the frightening possibilities that can exist in a world of any design. The Vending Portal is a lightly distorted, funhouse mirror to reflect the pitfalls of our own society, seen through the innocent eyes of two young protagonists.
Crafting Something Creepy
Dark Awakenings is a collection of haunting short stories that take readers into the darkness and show them the horrors that are hidden in the dark. What was the inspiration for this collection of stories?
Each was inspired by something different. Written some time ago, “The Awakening” was my take on the vampire genre. “Mabel” is a twist on a story I cover with my Creative Writing students. It is much darker in tone and turns the original plot on its head. “Keynote,” a twist on something I saw on television as a child, is a risky effort. Reminiscent of The Twilight Zone or The Night Gallery episodes, it can be difficult and even offensive to read if the point is overlooked. These three may be the most unsettling, with “Mabel” perhaps more so once the reader pieces together what happened.
“The Oracle Board” is a creepy story inspired by real events that occurred during Ouija Week when I was a college freshman. How this impacts the reader will depend on their faith and any experience they may have had with a Ouija Board.
“Hear More” was inspired by a number of things… people, events, and dreams. It didn’t come alive for me, though, until I was able to bring in Father David Tomassi and Joseph Carpenter. These are characters from The Forgotten Prophecy , my debut novel. “Hear More” continues their story within an already established world set in the early 1980s. I thought it would be interesting to explore the idea of hearing aids in a paranormal world. Imagine how torturing it would be to literally hear more than the average person, especially if it was the taunting voice—or voices—of evil at every turn. That the individual is an aged exorcist further complicates matters . Exploring faith and mental faculties in an aging state, I think, adds layers to this story even in its brief form.
What intrigues you about the horror and paranormal genres that led you to write this book?
I’ve always been intrigued by the genre because of intense dreams and past paranormal experiences. The challenge is putting those experiences into words, crafting something creepy enough that is haunting in its brief form no matter how it is unpacked and unique enough to hopefully be different from what already exists.
The thrilling part about writing short fiction is that the crafting of these bite-sized moments may bring about more questions than answers, leaving it to the reader to fill in the blanks. That’s the way I felt as a reader when I was a kid. Some of the collections I read as a youngster remained with me far longer than any novel because they were left open to my interpretation. Then again, it didn’t help that I dreaded the shadows even though I was certain there was no one in the room. Like when I’d have to traverse a dark basement in search of the light switch. Remember what that was like? That was the aim.
How did you decide on the title of this novel?
I released three short story collections in 2022. The original intent was to put them together in a larger collection, but I couldn’t think of a fitting title. I think it was because they were all so different. It was only after deciding to separate them by genre that the titles revealed themselves. For this specific collection, the title makes sense since each of the protagonists are literally awakened to some form of darkness surrounding them.
Do you plan to write another collection of horror stories, or will you branch out into a new genre?
The next horror story will most likely be a sequel to The Forgotten Prophecy, but knowing I could also revisit any one of these shorts to expand on their story and further build that world is inviting. The question is would it be as exciting as what readers come up with when they fill in the blanks?
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Opposite Of A Stereotypical Hero
Khaos Has Come follows an eclectic group of people who have taken on the responsibility to stop Khaos from taking over the Earth and causing destruction. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the main story centres around Rick Tonail who is a character I created a long time ago when I was just a boy. Rick is a stereotypical hero, perfect looks, perfect body, perfect hair, the full experience. I wanted to give Rick a sort of Avengers assemble or Justice league type set-up, but I wanted to make all the other heroes the complete opposite of a stereotypical hero in the way that they look and behave also their age, the Blockers are all middle-aged apart from Green who is a moody goth. All imperfect with lots of flaws, I wanted people to relate to them more than just wanting to be like them also if they did want to be like them, well, its not that hard.
What was your favorite character to write for and why? Was there a scene you felt captured the character’s essence?
Difficult to answer that, my favourite to write for in this book was Villager number three because he had such a pivotal roll. I feel a strong affection for Villager number three and I think everyone who has read Noobs also has that affection so that’s why he is in most of the more serious plot lines that tied the story together, and why he had a slightly tougher time of things. The part I loved writing the most was when Khaos caught up to Villager number three who refused to run away from him so that he could finish building a world for everyone to escape into. There was a reference to Noobs in what Villager number three said at that meeting and what friends mean to somebody with autism that was very out of character with the rest of the book and serious, but it summed up Villager number three brilliantly, for me anyway.
When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?
I knew how I wanted it to end, but other than that I found out what was happening at the same time as the reader does. There was honestly a few times when I reeled back from my computer muttering, “well, I never saw that coming!”
Will there be book 21 in the Apocalypse Blockers series? If so can you tell readers what to expect and when will it be available?
Possibly, I was not going to write any more as the Blockers storyline is done. I’ve written another book since, and I’m working on something else right now, but I have been playing around with the idea of doing something in the future centering around Max Pain and the crew of the Olive. If that comes to pass it wont be for a while yet, possibly 2024
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It’s this point; well, several points but all happening at the same time, well not the same time.
It’s super complicated, some question whether it really happened at all, or will happen, don’t listen to those people they just don’t understand super complicated stuff.
Unlike Anything I’ve Read
Of Space & Time is a collection of thought-provoking short stories about humans’ colonization of space and the challenges that come with this adventure. What was the inspiration for this collection of stories?
“Invasion” was one of a few early shorts I wrote that would become Future Destiny, the first book in the YA Torn Timeline series. This piece of flash fiction was initially part of a twenty-page treatment dreamed up on a drive home from a friend’s house, where the character HAMIL-E was born as an homage to my friend. A classroom teacher at the time, the character of Rustam was loosely based on me and HAMIL-E was his mentor. I was having some fun because my friend was waiting for a story where he was a main character. After the seed was planted, the story then evolved from a fun playful exercise into a full-fledged sci-fi adventure.
“Tabitha” came out of COVID. “Rogue Moon” examines innovation that could be achieved a la Gene Roddenberry’s vision. That is, when all of society is brought together for a common purpose. Instead of the aftermath of war, however, it’s a threat from space that unites everyone.
“Batarakala” and “Goliath IX” were not composed as science fiction tales originally. “Goliath IX” was based on a beginning teacher’s first day of school and “Batarakala” was based on a couple facing marital problems. Adding science fiction elements to these two stories provided depth that didn’t exist initially.
Is there any moral or idea that you hope readers take away from this collection?
Rising to the occasion when the moment calls for it is one of the ideas I hope readers take away from “Invasion,” the first in the collection. But there’s also the idea that we don’t always know what we’re capable of until tested and we may not truly know people as much as we think we do.
“Rogue Moon” posits human evolution to possibly be the product of some extraterrestrial string pulling. The way the concept plays out is unlike anything I’ve read or seen before.
“Goliath IX,” though a space epic, challenges the notion of equality. Sort of a reflection of today. Can these ideals be upheld, or do they inevitably break down? What does that reveal about human nature?
“Tabitha” is meant to underscore the need to maintain hope even when it seems all hope is lost.
“Batarakala” explores multiple ideas, from spouse loyalty and support to the loss of dreams to the definition of success and failure to the question of whether our lives are defined by where we come from.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
When I was a child, I remember being obsessed with looking through a collection of short illustrated books of the planets that belonged to my father. As I grew older, my fascination with science fiction only grew. Even today, I am drawn to anything released regarding the satellites and telescopes that take images of space phenomenon. When it comes to writing science fiction, I think Star Trek, the original series, and the six movies with the original cast have had the biggest impact. The reimagined Battlestar Galactica series and the Stargate SG-1 series were also impactful. But I always return to classic trek. The common thread in all of these is the elevation of story telling thanks to the genre.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
After a busy 2022, I’ve shifted from writing to promoting two nonfiction titles that were released in November and December. One is a study skills workbook for young learners ( Essential Study Skills: A Holistic Guide to Learning). The other is a coaching book for those looking to transform their lives ( Who Are You, Really? The Search for Authenticity ).
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Collection includes:”Goliath IX” – an L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Q2 2022 Honorable Mention recipient
“Batarakala” – an L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Q4 2022 Honorable Mention recipient
“The Invasion” – flash fiction taken from Future Destiny, LeCara’s first book in The Torn Timeline series, a 2008 2nd place Spinetinglingers (UK) Book of the Year. Originally conceived before the novel as a writing exercise, it is the story that inspired–and set into motion–the larger narrative.
That Unique Window Of Time
Music from a Strange Planet is a collection of short stories that explores thoughts and emotions in a unique and memorable way. What was the inspiration for this collection of stories?
The inspiration was the first story in the collection, “Mastering Surface Tension,” also one of the first short stories I wrote. It had a sense of humour, even pushing into magic realism, yet the subject matter (head injury) was serious. The story also involved an interaction with an insect that changed the character’s life and circumstances. It had a certain tone which became the blueprint for Music from a Strange Planet.
My approach was to write glimpses of people’s lives, to capture each of them at a crucial, intimate moment and to bring these experiences deep into the reader’s emotional sphere.
Your stories have interesting characters that span a range of personalities. What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
My only moral guidelines, which would have been purely instinctual and not presupposed, were to recognize the character’s ability to move through a crisis and emerge changed, even if in the slightest way. Always, this passage through an unexpected event (whether negative or positive) was dictated by the character, not by me.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
The moment in 2017 in Tyrol, Austria, when I test-drove my rental motorcycle (a Triumph Street Triple RS) in preparation for tackling the famous Silvretta High Alpine Road and immediately knew this was my perfect bike. It allowed me to ride with instinct. It let me take on challenges and go places I’d never thought possible. I had just started motorcycling in my 50s and, interestingly enough, I’d also just begun creative writing, too. And in that unique window of time, I learned to listen to my creative instincts, to take calculated risks, and to trust my unique voice and what fictional ideas it brought forth.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next book is a collection of flash and microfiction stories inspired by art, music, fairy tales, libations and the “authentic fabrications” of my ancestry. You’ll meet a lonely one-eyed monster who wanders the desert; a Medieval saint delighting in her “miraculous ruine”; a father and daughter saving species from extinction; a fisherman who falls in love with a giant herring …and much more. It’s a fertile microcosm of tales told with a nod to the absurd, the poetic and the tragic in life. The book is scheduled for release in Winter 2024.
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LITERARY TITAN 