Mirklin Wood is now live on Amazon. Watch for special promotional prices.
Also, in honor of Mirklin Wood finally being available, The Willow Branch is on special promotional price of 99 cents.
You could pick up two books at great prices and find a fantasy series you really love.
https://www.facebook.com/events/178819642462118/
I’ll be hanging out at this event for the next two evenings. You can win books by me and my fellow Booktrappers and learn about what we’re up to in our imaginary worlds.
My times will be:
4:00-8:00 am GMT/11:00 pm to 3:00 am EST (those of evening hours for Alaskans – 7 pm to midnight)
The Booktrap is celebrating the Magical World of Books this week. The main event takes place Wednesday and Thursday, but you can visit the page now and sign up for Rafflecopter giveaways.
Here’s mine –
Signed Copy of Life As We Knew It
Signed Copy of The Willow Branch
Ebook copies of Life As We Knew It and The Willow Branch also available.
There’ll be an interview and maybe an update on Mirklin Wood.
And, hey! Watch for a Booktrap event on December 3 and 4. Come celebrate the Magical World of Books.
One of the authors who interviewed me for my book The Willow Branch said he was a beta reader for the book.
What is the name of that author?
The answer is here on my blog and is one of the points to qualify for the Booktrap Treasure Hunt.
http://thebooktrap.weebly.com/forum.html#/20150201/treasure-hunt-4535002/
Come join us. I will be providing Cupcake Counseling from 6 pm to 7 pm Alaska Standard Time — that’s 10 pm to 11 Eastern Standard and sometime in the wee hours of Monday morning in Europe.
This week’s interview is with Joe Attanasio, author of several historical fiction novels and — a new one for the blog — a book of poetry.
Tell us a bit about yourself, Joe.
I am the oldest of eight siblings born in Buffalo, New York. I had five sister and two brothers. I dropped out of high school in my junior year and joined the army at the age of seventeen. I spent three years in the army including a one year tour in Vietnam from 1967-1968.
My older brother served in Nam the same time frame. What did you do after your service?
I married a girl from California and lived there for 35 years before returning to New York. I was a meat cutter and then manager for most of that time working in various grocery stores. We have a grown daughter who lives out of state. I have been married to the love of my life for almost 45 years.
When did you write your first story and what was it?
When I was a boy I loved to read. Stories like Tom Swift and the Hardy boys plus numerous comic books were a mainstay for me. About the age of 16 I stopped reading for pleasure. Except for chess books, computer manuals, magazines and the newspaper, I did not read again until I turned 60 years old. I was getting a haircut one day and talking to the barber about playing dungeon and dragon type games online. He told me if I was interesting in medieval times I should read ‘Pillar of the Earth’ by Ken Follett.
I found a copy in a used bookstore and it was 1,200 pages long. I bought it but never thought I could ever read such a tome. I put it on the table next to my easy chair and read about ten pages a day for a few weeks. My eyes and brain got used to reading and the story started to captivate me. I found myself reading while I ate lunch and breakfast and a few times a day. Before I knew it the story was done. I loved the story and the fact that I completed it.
I was on a treadmill at the YMCA a few weeks later and overheard the man next to me talking to a friend about having read some book he enjoyed. When the friend walked away I turned to the man and told him I just read ‘Pillars of the Earth.”. I did not know he was an English professor at a local college and a writer himself. He had read the same book and we talked about it. The following week he brought me a book he thought I might like from his collection.
Over the course of the next year I read about 40 books and renewed my interest in reading. However, I felt an urge to write a book myself. Since I liked medieval times so much I decided to write a fiction based in that time period but I felt strongly that it should be accurate and educational as well as entertaining. At the age of 62 I wrote my first novel called ‘A Butcher’s Tale’.
This historical adventure is the story of a passionate and idealistic young man named Joseph in 14th century England. He gives up his career as a butcher with his trade guild in York and follows a young woman named Dorothy and her family into the border country to the north. Dorothy and her family are going to take over the farm they inherited when her uncle died. The English-Scottish war is heating up and the border region is very unstable. This is the time of Edward I, (Longshanks), and William Wallace. Every effort has been made to ensure the historical events and flavor of the times is accurately portrayed. For those that are familiar with the reference; this story resembles a 14th century version of “Little House on the Prairie” written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This story is suitable for ages 13 and up.
What is your writing process?
I make notes about some of the things I want included in the story, but it is far from an outline. I do not start writing until I have a solid idea for the start of the story. Once I start the story I let the characters and the plot drive the story. I work out the scenes in my head and write them as they come to me. I usually end up writing about one thousand words each time I write. I take the time to polish my writing as I go and my first drafts are usually very readable despite the places that need to be fleshed out more and tweaked. My wife reads all my first drafts and makes notes and comments as she goes. We discuss character behavior and description detail in addition to obvious typo’s and unclear sentences. After my rewrite I give it to a few family members for a beta read and then a third rewrite. There comes a point when I decide I fussed with it enough to be happy and I publish it.
You write a lot of historical fiction. Is history a passion for you?
I love doing research and using history as a framework for a story. I like my stories to entertain and educate people and historical works seem like a natural way to accomplish this. I love reading historical works for the same reason.
Tell us about Treasure Trove.
When I wrote ‘A Butcher’s Tale’ I didn’t realized just how many words I would have to avoid using to keep in the flavor of a 14th century novel. I wanted to free myself from those restrictions and try something modern. I had been reading a lot of Steve Berry novels where he built his stories around ancient mysteries. I happened across the fact that most of Captain William Kidd’s treasure had never been found and that was my inspiration. Since many ‘fake’ maps had surfaced over time allegedly leading to the lost treasure, I followed that idea. I decided to tie the main character into Captain Kidd’s family while doing genealogy research and discovering a connection.
Tell us about A Butcher’s Tale.
I started the novel as a short story that was going to highlight the Mystery Plays from the early 14th century in England. When I started writing the short story my mind was plagued with the idea that this could be much more. I had passion and desire but lacked the education and experience to try a novel. I literally thought to myself, “I will write it anyway, someone might read it and besides it will be fun and interesting to try.” I let the characters drive the direction of the story based on historical facts and the flavor of the High Middle Ages.
Tell us about Sarah.
When I wrote ‘Treasure Trove’ and researched the genealogy for the story I discovered Captain William Kidd’s wife Sarah. She was married to four wealthy men including Captain Kidd. Sarah and Captain Kidd were suspected of murdering her second husband. She was sent to prison along with Kidd in an attempt to discover the location of his hidden treasure. The idea of writing this story haunted me the whole time I wrote ‘Treasure Trove’. I had to write Sarah or go crazy!
I took all the known facts I could discover about Sarah and weaved a fictional story to showcase her life and the times.
Writing Sarah presented a lot of obstacles for me. Very little is written about that particular time and place in America. The city of New Amsterdam was just conquered by the English and what little is written was in Dutch. It took considerable research to get a good perspective of the times there. In addition this story deals with people of means and as such demanded rich descriptions of their lifestyles and clothing. As a man I was up to my ears in corsets and breeches.
I hate describing historical clothing myself and admire any writer who can.
This is an example of one of the descriptions:
Sarah wore a crimson colored mantua with elbow-length cuffed sleeves over the lace-ruffled sleeves of her chemise. Her gold and rust colored brocaded skirt was looped back to reveal her petticoat. She wore white elbow-length gloves and a cap with a high lace fontange. Mary pulled her hair back under the cap and tied it with silver ribbon leaving ringlet curls hanging onto her shoulders.
You also write poetry. Tell us about the poetry book.
This caboodle or collection of poems was written over the last 40 years. A majority of these were written in the last five years. My poems deal with love and nature but also social issues, science, sex and humor.
This Caboodle of Poems contains a variety of rhyme schemes and free verse. A number of these poems have been written from the female perspective or Point of View POV.
The book contains over 100 poems.
What are your future literary plans?
My goal is to try all different genres. I am learning and growing every day as a new writer. I feel like I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I am writing a fantasy adventure which takes place on an earth like planet circa 800-1200 AD. In other words swords, gunpowder, hand cannons. The story involves tribes of catlike people and nomads that resemble man. My first draft is almost done at 33,000 words but is very lean and will easily double on the first rewrite. In this case I may well require three rewrites before the final.
I am also half-heartedly working on a steamy romance to see how it feels to write one. I am at around 11,000 words and not sure if I will end up keeping it or chalk it off as an exercise.
In my opinion, romance is the hardest genre to write. I’ve never completed one. Good luck to you with it! What are some of your writing challenges.
English was my worst subject in school; grammar, spelling and composition being the reason.
I have always been interested in words and would look up their meanings when I found a new one. I like to do crossword puzzles. I got my GED diploma in the army giving me a high school diploma even though I dropped out in my junior year. I have no credentials to write.
Some of the best writers have “no credentials” to write. Sometimes education gets in the way of writing, especially fiction. What would your advice be to others who want to write.
I have a ton of potential stories in constantly stirring in my brain. I tell them the best way I can and many readers seem to connect with that. My advice is to write, if only for your sake. Get your stories out there. Share your ideas with the world. Take the bad criticism and learn from it but then throw it away. Do what makes you happy.
My author’s page at US amazon is:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00954GOP2
My Author Page in UK Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joe-Attanasio/e/B00954GOP2
My Goodreads author page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6523871.Joe_P_Attanasio
Facebook Fan page for Joe P Attanasio:
https://www.facebook.com/JPAttanasio
Booksie – A popular writer’s website.
http://www.Booksie.com/Attanasio
My Blog-Spot Blog:
http://joepattanasio.blogspot.com/
A website sharing the works and links for about 30 traditional and independent published authors called The Booktrap:
http://thebooktrap.weebly.com/
Lots of wonderful books (including 5 copies of The Willow Branch) will be given away!
Stay Tuned for details!
Come celebrate with the indie author support group The Book Trap as we reach 100 books.
https://www.facebook.com/events/274308066111570/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
“We are celebrating our first milestone of reaching 100 books on our website. Join our party as you will have the chance to meet our authors and win lots of free books. HAVE FUN WITH US!”
Saturday, October 18!
From Paula’s This and That blog for Booktrap —
http://thebooktrap.weebly.com/paulas-this-and-that-blog/the-art-of-giving-offence
Nada como tus ojos para sonreir
Leon Stevens is a poet, science fiction author, and composer. Writing updates, humorous blogs, music, and poetry.
Books: fiction and poetry
Inside Life's Edges
Generally Christian Book Reviews
Voice, Exit and Post-Libertarianism
Social trends, economics, health and other depressing topics!
I write to entertain and inspire.
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The website of British steampunk and short story author
a voracious reader. | a book blogger.
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