An Interview with Brenda Perlin

Brenda Perlin

In an Indie environment completely dominated - nay, saturated - by fantasy, sci-fi, YA, and horror, it was a pleasure to bump into Homewrecker, a no holds barred account of the simple failure of a marriage; a story firmly entrenched in bitter reality.

Intrigued, I investigated further and discovered that it was written by Brenda Perlin, in the tradition of Elizabeth Wurzel and other writers of similar raw boned ilk: Writers prepared to give of themselves and their stories in order to improve the understanding of our our social reality rather than escape from it by creating alternative worlds. 

This book is no holds barred stuff, written in bleak, dispassionate, matter-of-fact, almost documentary style and I approached Brenda in similar fashion. 

I was reminded of the magnificent Woody Allen film "Manhattan", particularly the scene where Allen confronts his ex-wife, played by Meryl Streep about a book she plans to write about the failure of their marriage. In Homewrecker, Brenda shows the same clinical restraint, the same chilling rapacity, and the same ruthless, inarguable power, leaving no need for anger, rage or recrimination: The power of the written word being much mightier than the sword.

Manhattan

Her blog is essential reading each week as she goes into great detail and discusses the stories behind the story. Eager for a natter, I picked up the Wizphone and caught up with Brenda in downtown Orange County, California. Here's what she had to say while she sat amidst the orange groves,  with the smell of eucalyptus in the air and surrounded by, what I perceived to be, the chirping of a milion Cicadas.

Tell us a little about yourself, Brenda.

Thank you so much for even wanting to hang out with me for a while. How cool are you! This is all new to me. Before this I was just your average “hausfrau” living in Orange County. How quickly things change. I can get used to all of the flattery. No bad reviews please, I have thin skin!

Those Real Housewives of Orange County -
Top Rated British Afternoon TV

I am big into fitness and an avid reader...I know that is not too thrilling but I never said I was a party girl! Writing is not just a passion but a necessity. I would probably be a basket case without this outlet of spilling my guts all over the world wide web.

Tell us about Home Wrecker? What made you write it? Where are its influences? In what tradition does it fall?

Lots of information about Homewrecker is readily available on my blog and website.

I'm an avid reader, Brenda. At least once a week.

Are you, Wiz? I'm so pleased.

I don't miss it. I have it on all sorts of alerts. I love this kind of stuff.

Thank you! :-) Here's the website for you readers. I hope they can join us.

http://www.homewreckerthebook.com/

and here's the book cover.

Is that you on the cover, Brenda? Apparently there's a big debate and you aren't saying?

Hahahahah...that's true, Wiz. I'm not saying.

I got the title Home Wrecker from one of my ex-mother in law’s best friends. She used to call me Home Wrecker because she didn’t like all the attention I was getting from the elderly gentlemen at Leisure World!!

At that time, the thought of me being anything but a good girl seemed absurd. I really was a goodie two shoes!

This is a true life story, but names and a few circumstances have changed to protect...mostly myself but also the innocent and not so innocent.

I first started writing this story when I was just approaching thirty and newly engaged. I thought I would write about what a rip off the wedding business was. I wanted to highlight how you can get suckered into spending, unnecessarily.

A very expensive wedding.

After the wedding I buried my story in a drawer. Then 16 years or so later when things got ugly with my husband...I mean really ugly... I decided to pick this story back up. There were many circumstances that led me to let it all out in the open. 

I won’t give the whole story away but I think my husband got what was justified.

How faithful to the real story have you been? Have you given in to the temptation to dramatize? To exaggerate? Or have you played it straight.

Funny you should use the word “faithful” considering my book title. Was that just a slip of the tongue? I wish I could call my book “Faithful.” I could walk around with my head held high but unfortunately Home Wrecker was the most appropriate title I could come up with.

I haven’t really needed to dramatize this story AT ALL because the drama was never ending. In fact it is still going on.

What sort of reactions have you had? Have you had any flakes?

Actually, I didn’t expect to be as well received as I have been. I find that people tend to make excuses for what I have done. I never thought you could leave your husband for another man and get praises but I have. Go figure!

As far as flakes (I can’t pass that one up) I have had a couple of friends that have been pretty disappointing, an editor that seemed to miss as many typos as I did and a publishing company that are scam artists. Yes, I have come across a few flakes!

Was writing Home Wrecker cathartic? What does your ex-husband think of it?

Writing Home Wrecker was better than therapy or an expensive bottle of booze!!! Writing your life story after people have dirtied up your good name is as cathartic as it can get. 

This way I am able to seek revenge and also have the last word....

Oops..I almost forget to answer your question about what my ex-husband thinks. I am sure he is not at all happy. After you read it, you will understand. No, I am sure he is not happy at all. I am just flattered that he bought the book

You're a popular and consistent blogger. What advice have you for young writers who are linking their work and their blog as you do? How do you get people reading your blog

Now that you mention it, I am starting to have a little bit of writers block. How can you blog when you are out of words? There lies the problem. Actually I could use a little advice around now. I am always open to suggestions!!!

A grumpy good ol' boy reader kidnaps you in the street, throws you in the back of a van and locks you in his cellar. However, his wife, who likes your book and is planning to off her husband, sneaks into the cellar and offers you three books, two cd's and a DVD. What would they be?

Now that is funny! This question was just getting exciting until the bit about the books. I thought it was an invitation to something...hahahaha....Okay, let me think...books

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

Barbara Streisand Ballad from Prince of Tides Film

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

JD Salinger

As far as CD’s, I think one of the two most brilliant albums of all time is 

Pearl Jam’s Ten 

Pearl Jam

U2’s October

On DVD I will always be in love with Cinema Paradiso. I love a good story with heart!

Cinema Paradiso trailer

Where next for Brenda Perlin and her fans? (Including yours truly!)

I am glad you asked, if not I would have had to thrown it in somewhere. Thank you for that! I am actually working on a sequel to Home Wrecker which I am calling - 

Home Wrecker Redemption

Hopefully by the time I finish, this girl will have received her fair share of absolution.

Brenda, it has been an honour and a privilege to speak to you and I hope that you sell a bunch of books in the coming year.

Without a doubt I want to thank you Wiz for a clever Q & A and your interest in my book. I am so elated that you have followed my blog posts!

Don't be a stranger, Brenda!

I won't, Wiz.

Wizard Watchers can find out more about Brenda Perlin here!

Links:

Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=brenda+perlin

BarnesandNoble.com:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-wrecker-brenda-perlin/1111340083?ean=9781462653898

Website:

http://www.homewreckerthebook.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Home-Wrecker/166853390108387

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15825106-home-wrecker

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HomeWreckerbook

Dont forget to pick up the Indielit Scrapbook - 110 Indielit Paperbacks for gifts this Christmas! Top Right at the top!

An Interview with Bill Jones Jr

Bill Jones Jr

One of the great perks of being an Indie Wizard is the pleasure of both meeting new people and people you admire from afar. I hear great things about Bill Jones Jr's fantasy work on a regular basis and I was introduced to him by a mutual acquaintance and wasted no time in reaching got the Wizphone. 

Here's what Bill had to say from somewhere over the ocean.

Hi Bill.

Hi Wiz!

UK readers have heard about The Stream due to your membership at the Independent Paperback Gift Shop. Tell us a bit about Bill Jones Jr?

I grew up assuming I would be a professional photographer one day. However, like many kids, I was steered away from the arts and into a “normal” profession in the business world. I’ve had a rewarding career, but I think there’s something inborn in artists that can’t be quelled any other way but through art. I started writing poetry, and had quite a few published in obscure little journals here and there. Then, on a dare from a friend, I decided to try my hand at writing fiction in 2009. I became immediately addicted, and wrote my first two books back-to-back. Now, after having written four books and a short story collection, I’m finally allowing myself to call myself an artist.

Of course, that could just be because my mum finally read my first book, and liked it. If your mother doesn’t think you’re an artist, you aren’t.

Tell us about The Stream series

The Stream is a fantasy fiction series starring two brilliant adolescents, Charlie and Robin, who discover they share the ability to walk into and influence others’ dreams. Charlie’s vivid dreams are initially merely an escape from their shattered family lives. They jounce from one adventure to the next, amidst warm-blooded dragons, mythical creatures, and increasingly, a growing darkness. There is more to the land of dreams – the Stream – than sleepers, they learn. Something there has trapped Charlie’s best friend, his great grandfather, and he and Robin will stop at nothing to find him, and bring him home.

Always been a big fan of your covers, BIll. The former has something of the "Shrooms" and "Blair Witch" about it.

Thank you, Wiz. They're pretty sharp.

Who is your target audience? Are you a primarily a YA author?

 Although my main characters in The Stream are 12, the books are actually targeted at adults. There are dream adventures based on history, re-imagined mythologies, as well as some fairly adult themes. 

There is no language or sexuality that’s inappropriate for kids, but my “perfect reader” as I imagined her, was a parent who loved the Harry Potter and Narnia series, but pretended they did so for the sake of the children.

 I believe the books are appropriate for ages 12 and up. While I enjoy YA fiction, and have kept all 3 books of The Stream safe for younger readers, most of my other work is targeted directly at adult readers.

How do you write? Do you binge, or are you a strict 2,000 word a day man?

 Ah, binge writing – I love that concept. hahaha, 

Since I have a day job, I am a strict 2,000 word a day writer. I actually started writing novels during the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in the U.S., and found that format (write a bit each day) fit the fact that I had to drag myself out of bed early every morning and go to work. 

If I were stinking rich, and could write full time, I’m sure I’d turn into one of those book hermits whom you never see for three months at a time while he writes around the clock and forgets to bathe or eat. Hmm, maybe it’s good that I have a day job.

I binge in a way, in that I set aside months out of the year where I do nothing but write. This past June, for instance, I wrote about 100 pages of short stories.

I understand you are a photographer. Tell us a bit about that?

 I have always loved photography. My grandfather, with whom we lived, was one of those old gents who always had his camera with him. My fondest family memories were all of us grouped in the living room, looking at granddaddy’s slides projected onto the wall. I also had a great uncle who would come to visit, and never seemed to tire of taking Polaroid shots. So naturally, when I got my first camera at age 12, I was hooked.

I’m sure my photography has been influenced by both men, as I love candid and street photography, and rarely take posed or studio type shots. If you see me without a camera, I’m having a bad day. I do a bit of freelance work, but mainly, it’s for the love.

You have been kidnapped on the way to the Walgreens by strange furry purple aliens. You are locked in a spaceship brig. Your gaoler is a kindly alien and allows you three books, two cd's and a dvd. What would you choose?

I would choose Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, because I have started, and been interrupted while trying to read those books for 10 years. I am determined to finish them or die trying. 

My CD’s would have to be Bob Marley’s “Legend” and probably some jazz, any jazz; otherwise I’d never be able to write. 

Legend - Bob Marley Full Album

Magnificent Mike Figgis Jazz score
for Leaving Las Vegas

John Coltrane, A Love Supreme

A dvd would be harder; the alien would probably shoot me before I could make up my mind. Perhaps “The Day the Earth Stood Still” would feel appropriate.

Original Poster

Casual Vacancy at Bill's table for JK

Which writer, and which photographer, would you be pleased to see knocking at your door with two bottles of Claret? And what would you cook?

I would honestly love to see J.K. Rowling show up, not because of the success of Harry Potter, but due to the incredible blend of imagination and detail her books showed. Even more interesting to me, is the determination she showed in going through rejection to reach success. I could learn a lot over dinner I think.

The photographer I’d pick would be Annie Liebovitz. I’ve never been satisfied with my portraits, and she is just the master at connecting with her subjects. Of course, if death were no obstacle, it would be Diane Arbus. Such a talented, tormented woman.

Annie Liebovitz portrait of America's First Family

Since clarets are earthy wines, and I don’t eat red meat, I think I would have to cook them my version of my grandmother’s Shrimp Creole. It’s about as earthy a food as you are going to get. Plus, if you want to get a genius talking, a bit of spice with their wine can’t hurt.

Magnificent Shrimp Creole

What do fans of Bill Jones Jr have to look forward to in the coming year?

In the coming year I will be releasing my first full-length science fiction adventure, Hard as Roxx. In Roxx, in a 22nd-century world that is a distorted hybrid of rigid control and absolute freedom, one woman broke a cardinal rule: she got pregnant, without permission. Worse yet, it was her second pregnancy, in a world where only one is tolerated. The penalty for breaking the One Child law is death. Roxx, however, is not the victim type.

In addition, I will be releasing the final book of The Stream trilogy – Emprise, as well as my first short story collection. It should be a fun year.

Bill, it's been an absolute pleasure to see you round the Cauldron. I wish you every success in the future.

Wiz, the pleasure was all mine!

Stalk the Writer

Contact Bill on his website:

bill@billjonesjr.com

Buy The Stream: Discovery:

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Stream-Discovery-ebook/dp/B005NL83I2

On Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-stream-discovery/18886133 

On Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/3778886

You can also buy Bill's beautiful books IN PAPERBACK - along with the work of a hundred other Indielit authors - at

http://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentPaperbackGiftShop

Read much more about Bill with the wonderful Mary Ann Bernal

http://maryannbernal.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/an-interview-with-author-bill-jones.html

An Interview with Alan Rhodes of "The e-reader house"

Guru at The e-reader house,
Alan Rhodes

We all go there. 
We're all part of it. 
If you're not, then do so. 
Today. It's an essential.
Go on.  Do it.
Wiz is pointing his magic wand at you.

The e-reader house on Facebook

Alan Rhodes, a terrific fellow, who runs The e-reader house, doesn't read much fiction, has a technical, detached interest in writing and writers, and has virtually no ego (which is a rarity in our little nest of literary sparrowlings), and orchestrates, conducts and revs up his page, The e-reader house, for the sheer love of it, an almost futurist, academic concern.


I visit every day and he's been a great help to me and to many writers in our Social Litwork, such as Ruth, Toi, Wendy and n'gaire.

I know from conversation that The e-reader house is often the first port of call for these authors at the beginning of an arduous day of networking, political comment, the sharing of inspirational metaphors, images and motivational status updates. And that. Thus, I was keen on a chat over the Smorgasbord.

Here's what happened when Alan met Wiz somewhere across the Norwegian Fjords.

Hi Alan.

Hi Wiz!

You're a helpful, respected and knowledgeable member of the Indie team, Alan. Yet in some ways, you are the shadowiest of us all. Tell Wizardwatchers about yourself?

I love the idea of being a ‘shadowy’ figure but in reality it is all a lot less interesting than that suggests. I’m quite an old guy (59 next January). I was born and brought up in West Yorkshire near the World Heritage Site, Saltaire 3 miles from Bradford but work took me all round England. For most of my working life I worked in the social care industry.

Saltaire Salt Mills - Bradford, Northern England

Bradford and places of interest

Part of that included working for a national association linked to services for people with learning disabilities and that included publishing a number of books linked to research projects we took on for the government. 

I also started an internet business linked to e-learning so over the last 15 years I’ve seen and been on the edge of some of the developments in e-reading.

Last year I took on the editing of a book for a Norwegian-based author - Egle Skei and our relationship developed to one where I now live with her in Stjordal in Mid Norway.

Stjordal Norway - Alan's Current Encampment 

The e-reader house is a popular Facebook venue. How did it come about? What are your goals and ambitions for the site?

When I moved to Norway I didn’t have a job but having always been a hard worker and needing a small income to help life here we decided to start a business within the e-book world. 

The e-reader House is a key part of that. 

All my working life has had the elements of earning an income but also trying to do something useful. This is no different. I recognised that with all the new developments in the Indie author world there was a role for someone to offer support and information. 

These are the 2 cornerstones of The e-reader House.

"In the very near future (hopefully this Thursday or Friday) we are expecting to publish an e-book - 

"The e-reader House Book of Bits"

It will be an extended version of the page with short articles to help authors (drawing on my past as a management trainer), cartoons including a new cartoon character, info from a number of up and coming books and the odd short story. 

Our hope is that people will see it as useful, interesting and fun (in the same way we hope the page is) and that they’ll spend the $2.99 (£1.97) as a way of supporting The e-reader House

Have you ever wanted to write, Alan? Has goofing around with so many writers influenced you at all? Would you write in the future? Or is there another artistic passion in your life?

Throughout my working life I have always been seen as a good technical writer - I can write persuasive reports and project bids but I have no real creativity. I’m the guy who will write your advert, your back of book blurb etc but never the whole book

I admire someone who not only has the basic creativity but can also hold that together through 400 pages. I know it isn’t my strength but I value it and like being around people who have that creativity. Being around them these last few months has increased that admiration.

What do you do to unwind? What are your hobbies?

Since moving I am still trying to find good ways to do that. I’m a big sports fan - now from the armchair rather than the playing field. I’m a big Bradford City fan - that’s football (soccer for those in the US) though whether watching them could ever be described as un-winding I’m not certain

Jubilant Bradford City Supporters

Bradford City: Fast forward to 4.00 for happy memories

I’m a Notts County fan. I must have seen our teams play fifteen times!  Honours even, I think.  Anyway, for failing to adequately promote the High Magistrate's e-book, you are to be harshly sentenced by the Council of Independent Authors to ten years in a cyberspatial cube. As we are a kindly judiciary, you are allowed to take three books, two DVD's and one CD. What would they be?

I’ll start with the three books. These would be taken more for what they represent to me than for any other reason.

 Here I‘m likely to be in trouble in the fiction world as I‘ve only one fiction choice.which would
be Egle’s book -The Life and Death of Benjamin Brash.

Benjamin Brash

My next book would be Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom - I admire the man’s ability to see the importance of reconciliation rather than revenge I hope I could gain a greater understanding of how he achieved that. 

Finally I would take an illustrated guide book to Tibet. I got as far as Nepal on my way to Tibet in 1987 before the Chinese closed the border due to trouble in Lhasa. It is still a major ambition for me to stand on the steps of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

The scarcely credible awe and majesty of Potala Palace, Nepal

I’m not one who has films that  mean a huge amount to me but I would take Cry Freedom and Brassed Off. 

The first to remind me of the amazing lengths people have had to go to to
overcome inequality.

The second harps back to my childhood in Yorkshire with the brass bands but also to the terrible injustice done to the mines in the 1980’s when I was living in the then mining area of South Yorkshire.

Orange Juice from Brassed Off 

Finally a CD - It would probably be a collection of Leonard Cohen songs. I like the combination of poetry and music.

Wiz's notes: Can't watch Brassed Off, Alan. Sends me into a pit of despair that I take weeks to climb out of. But its a great film. And look at the cast! Amazing ensemble, most of whom went on to great things. 

Who are your heroes and idols? Anyone in particular who has influenced you?

From what I’ve said earlier obviously the likes of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King but the person who by a long way has had the greatest influence on me is my late father. He had a consistency and an ability to always do what was right that I can only aspire to.

In 1983 I got my MSc from Cranfield and at the graduation I found out that I had won the Social Policy prize for the year’s best piece of research. The pleasure and pride that that gave my father is still, almost 30 years on, one of my best moments ever.

 It's brutal out there, Alan - Independent Publishing is apparently one of the most viciously competitive free marketplaces in the economy - and I talk to many Independent authors who are disillusioned with sales, in particular.  Have you any advice for them from your reading and research?  

Yes it is hard but every sale is one more than was possible if you got rejected years ago and, even if you got published, if the first book didn’t sell you were likely to be cast out for ever. 

Enjoy the successes both your’s and those of other Indie authors - if it can happen for them it can happen for you. So one message is hang in there- you have a chance.

The second message is a very simple one - it’s a marathon not a sprint – I see too many authors keep switching marketing approaches looking for the immediate fix. To me it is about being part of a community - the world of authors and steadily forging the relationships that sustain you throughout your writing career.

The third message is a genuine one - you are already a success. I’ve said earlier how much I admire creativity that is sustained throughout writing a whole book. To achieve that is to me a major achievement - enjoy it and celebrate it.

Seriously minted Independent porn hack, E.L James.
Living proof of Alan's lessons of perseverance.

Finally we need to get smarter in our approach to marketing and selling - to start seeing the whole process as a business - with planning, good time management, targets etc.

Where do you think the e-book market is going? If you could film a documentary on what life will be like for an Independent e-book author in five years time, what would be the key elements of its storyboard?

I hope we will see a moving away from individual e-readers that can’t  accept each other’s books - getting rid of DRM.  I’m certain we will see different uses of the technology so that in some cases the book and video get merged.

So in a cook book you could see the item being cooked as well as read about it or the car mechanic manual will actually show you how to change the oil within the book.

Interactive cook books with famous TV chefs

Equally I like the idea of inter-activity between the book and the reader with all the possibilities it presents.

 Britain's most famous car mechanic, TV's
Phil Mitchell, storyboards an oil change ready for
September Kindle publication.
Alan awaits exclusive interview

Some of the new start-ups will fail but there will also be some major successes. I hope that one of the major successes - whether an author or a small company will be one that has been linked to The e-reader House.

I do too, Alan. So. Where next for Alan Rhodes? I understand there is a new website in development. What's that about? How will the Independent Author be involved? 

Yes - soon(ish) we should have a new website. 

"Part will be a ‘bookstore’ at this stage, just linked to the main e-tailers, with a page for each of the authors on The e-reader House Author Listing and pages for each of their books." 

There will also be pages for their characters or for their cover stories. The aim is that a reader can come and browse - looking at books, finding out a bit about the author, discover more about the inspiration behind the main characters etc. 

Making on-line book shopping fun - get a cup of coffee, settle in your favourite chair and browse through 100 books buying the odd one along the way!

Obsessive e-reader discovers Alan's new online bookshop.

The other half of the site I hope will be a help for authors in that it will have pages for different editors, small publishers, cover designers, promoters, reviewers etc. A place where the individuals and small companies that are growing up to support indie authors can showcase their services.

That sounds fantastic, Alan. Looking forward to being a part of that. Well, I know you're a busy man - thanks for talking to the Wizard's Cauldron and I wish you and Egle all the best with your new venture!

Thanks Wiz...enjoyed it!!

Stalkfest:

The e-reader house on Facebook