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An Interview with Author and Poet David L. Harrison

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David L. Harrison is a best-selling, award-winning author and poet who has also been a musician, a scientist, an editor, and a businessman. He is the former poet laureate of Drury University and the current poet laureate of Missouri (2023-2025). His 106 published books include poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers and educational books for teachers. In 2022, he published This Life: An Autobiography (Ozarks Book Series) that “chronicles the fits and starts, professional rejections and redirections, the inevitable personal life conflicts and tragedies, as well as the breakthroughs and triumphs in a career that has spanned seven decades…and is still going.” You’ll find David on his website DavidLHarrison.com, his blog, and on Facebook. His autobiography is available through Missouri State University at Ozarks Book Series, but the rest of his books can be found on his Amazon Author Page.

David, you’re an award-winning author. You even have a school named after you: The David Harrison Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri. And now, you’ve written This Life, An Autobiography. Please tell us why you wrote this book and why you choose this time in your life to write it.
Thank you for offering me this chance to say hello to friends and colleagues in SouthWest Writers. I’m delighted to be a member of this group of talented writers.

I didn’t plan to write a memoir. I sat in a theater audience one night and was highly entertained by a gifted young musician who told about his journey from a child who was attracted to music to the professional musician he had become. I wondered if I should do something like that. I, too, had taken a long, sometimes difficult journey from the time I wrote my first poem to become a well-published author and poet. Forty pages into a play script, I knew that the effort was headed toward disaster. I don’t have a playwright’s instincts. But rather than throw out weeks of work, I decided to go forward with a book about my writer’s journey. Someone, I hoped, would like to know how one person managed to go about it. This Life, An Autobiography was the result.

Having successfully written so many books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers, as well as educational books for teachers, is there a genre you haven’t tackled but are eager to try?
Now and then I wish I could write a series of stories, but my brain isn’t wired that way. I exhaust my supply of energy, originality, and patience for a given subject in a single effort. After that, my mind moves on to something else.

Were there any unexpected moments for you when writing This Life? Did you ever feel vulnerable revealing so much about yourself?
The first challenge was setting the boundaries of what I would include in the narrative of my life. Once I decided that this was to be an effort to trace my development as a writer, I passed on many memories that were important to me but which didn’t seem to touch on the main theme. Had I written the story of my life, instead of the story of how I became a writer, the vulnerability issue would have been more of a problem. In other words, I left out some of the good stuff. (:>

Tell us about your experience as Missouri’s Poet Laureate and what this experience means to you.
The Missouri Poet Laureate program, which began in 2006, features a new state poet laureate appointed by the governor every two years. I’d been nominated four times previously and this time I made it. I’m the first who identifies as a children’s poet to be chosen, so I’m delighted with the honor and the opportunity to meet people across our state. My first official appearance in my new role took place on September 8, 2023 in David Harrison Elementary School, which was named after me. Coming up are events in Kansas City at the Heartland Book Festival on October 6–7 and in St. Louis on April 6 to give a 2-hour poetry workshop for the St. Louis Writers Guild and general public. I expect to do a lot of traveling but will also take advantage of Zoom and other technology to reach as many as I can to read and write poetry and talk about how it enriches our lives.

I read that you started writing poetry at the age of six. Do you remember what inspired you to write your first poem and what it was about?
I wrote my first poem in a snit. We lived in Ajo, Arizona, a town not far from the Mexican border. My dad had come home from a fishing trip in Mexico and my mother was frying his catch on a skillet in the kitchen. That fish smelled SO good and I was SO hungry and I am sure I was SO much in her way. I found myself banished to the living room until she called me for dinner. I made up a poem to show how I felt.

Sometimes I wish
I had a fish
Upon a little dish.

How did you feel the first time you saw an illustrator’s interpretation of a story you created?
The first time you see how someone else imagined what you’ve imagined is a highlight in a writer’s life. For some reason, when I write about human characters, they don’t always materialize in my mind as whole people. They are symbols, personalities, metaphors. It takes an artist to be practical and say, “Come on, they have to look like something. How about like this?” I almost always love the surprise of meeting my characters face to face. I’m more at home with animals. I know what they look like!

After a six-decade writing career, is there anything you’d do differently if you started your writing and publishing journey today?
The easy answer is to say I would have avoided becoming a scientist, head of a block manufacturing company, and co-owner of a gift store specializing in crystals, porcelains, and china, and gone straight into writing, but I might not have wound up here. If I hadn’t touched those other bases along the way, I might have ended somewhere else, and, since I have few regrets about anything that happened down that rather crooked path, I think I’ll say I would walk it again.

Can you tell us about a time when you didn’t know if you would make it as an author and how you persevered?
The low point for me was toward the end of six long years of rejections. Only one guy — a professor at Drury who taught a writing course — had told me he thought I could become a writer. No one else had said that. Ever. To the contrary, editor after editor had told me by their actions that I was definitely not a writer. On one rejection letter, an editor had scribbled, “Are you kidding?” I came to feel like an utter failure. I was wasting my time. I was not a writer, was never going to be one. I simply didn’t have the talent for it. In This Life, I hesitated to describe those dismal years, filled with self-doubt and a growing sense of futility and failure. My decision to include the experience was based on two considerations: 1) it was the truth; it happened; it was part of my journey, and 2) I thought there might be other struggling writers out there who would understand what I went through and take heart.

With such a varied writing background, who are your favorite authors and how have they influenced your writing?
Among my favorites are Annie Proulx, Barbara Kingsolver, Joan Didion, John Irving, E. B. White, and Kurt Vonnegut. They’re all masters of knowing what they’re talking about before they start talking, and when they do begin, their voices are so distinctive that they hold our attention from beginning to end. My favorite authors of literature for young people are too numerous to mention here but my choices all have one thing in common. They use words like a palette of endless colors and they paint images with them that remain with us long after the printed story or poem or narrative ends. They bring literature to life. I try not to compare my developing manuscript to the so-so writers in the world. I hold my work up to the very best, sigh, and try harder to come closer.

Can you give us an update on when This Life: An Autobiography will be available more widely online?
Although the book is available through the Missouri State University site in Springfield at OzarksStudies.MissouriState.edu, ongoing efforts to connect with a major distributor for wider distribution through Amazon and other traditional outlets look promising. By the time you read this, terms may have been agreed on and become operational by the end of the year.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Lynne Sebastian

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Retired archaeologist Lynne Sebastian is a published author of nonfiction books, research papers, and journal articles who now considers herself a storyteller. After switching from nonfiction to creative writing, she published stories in the 2021 SouthWest Writers’ contest anthology, Ramblings & Reflections, and in Holes in Our Hearts: An Anthology of New Mexican Military Related Stories and Poetry (2023). Besides being a short story and nonfiction writer, she can also call herself a novelist since her 2023 debut release of One Last Cowboy Song. You’ll find Lynne on her SWW author page and on Facebook. Look for Lynne’s books on Amazon.

Please tell us about yourself.
I grew up in southern Michigan, but my family all live in the mountains of eastern Kentucky and have lived in those hills and hollers for many generations. I always wanted to live in the West, and I have had the great fortune of doing so for 50 years, the last 42 of those years here in New Mexico. My husband and I came to Albuquerque in 1980 so that I could enter the PhD program in Anthropology at University of New Mexico, and somehow, we never left. We have lived in Corrales, New Mexico since 1998.

In my archaeology career, I carried out fieldwork in all the Four Corners states and served as the New Mexico State Archaeologist and as the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer. I also had the honor of being elected as President of the Society for American Archaeology and as President of the Register of Professional Archaeologists. For the last 15 years before I retired in 2016, I worked as a consultant and expert witness on historic preservation issues for clients throughout the United States.

Tell us about your recent release, One Last Cowboy Song. How did you come up with the idea?
Funny you should ask. For several years, I have been in a creative writing critique group. One of the short stories that I shared with them was about a couple who would seem to have nothing in common and be unlikely ever to have met. And if they did meet, one would not necessarily expect them to have gotten along very well. The short story took place several years after they not only met, but fell in love and created a shared life that is unconventional but brings them great happiness.

My critique group colleagues said, “Oh! We like this story, and we love these characters. You should write more about them.” Flattered, I wrote a second short story about these same characters, and the group said, “This is great! But we want to know more, like how did they meet? And what is her backstory? And….” Soon, I realized I was writing a novel, and I had started in the middle. Which is not a process I recommend.

Where do you draw inspiration for your characters and settings?
My settings are, at least so far, versions of real places. One Last Cowboy Song is set in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, which is an area that I love very much. I’ve traveled quite a bit, and I’ve experienced so many wonderful, vivid, special places in this world. I’ve never felt any need to create a place in which to set a story, although I really admire people who can imagine whole worlds and bring them to life.

As for characters, they tend to be composites — imagined people who incorporate some aspects or characteristics of real people, often multiple people, that I have known. For example, one night as I was working on a piece of dialog spoken by the best friend of my male lead character, a rancher named Dale, I realized that every time I wrote or read Dale’s dialog, I was hearing in my head the voice of an old friend, an archaeologist who lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Dale doesn’t look anything like my friend, and his life experiences are very different, but their voices and way of talking are identical. I’ve no idea why.

What typically comes first for you: A character? A story idea?
I’d have to say that the story idea comes first and that the story idea often comes with a character, or characters, already attached.

When did you realize you wanted to write western romance?
I didn’t. This book would be characterized that way, I guess, because he’s a rancher and she’s an English professor, and it is — at its heart — a love story. But it’s also a story about the way childhood trauma can create patterns of behavior that work against our happiness throughout a person’s adult life. And it’s a story about resilience in the face of loss and grief. And about the way country and western music can capture a moment and carry with it a memory.

Do you think your previous occupation as an archaeologist working in New Mexico influenced your choice of genre?
No. My love for the West and its people predates my life as an archaeologist. But stay tuned for my next book. It is about being an archaeologist working in New Mexico.

What did you find most rewarding when writing One Last Cowboy Song?
Interesting question. My first thought was “FINISHING IT.” But that’s not really true. I did much of the work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was a wonderful escape being able to slip away from the reality of life during that time and live for a few hours with Virgil and Amanda and all the other characters in beautiful landscapes and happier times (depending on how one experienced the mid-1990s).

Tell us how and why you chose the title of the book.
There is a country and western song called “The Last Cowboy Song” that was co-written and sung by the late Ed Bruce who was one of my favorite singer/songwriters. The song plays in the background at two key moments in the story, and the sense that Virgil and Dale are part of a dying breed and of a way of life that is passing on into history lingers in the background.

What prompted your first writing project?
I discovered that I’m really bad at painting. No, I’m serious. My plan was to take up painting with watercolors when I retired. I made a gallant effort, but finally had to admit that I have no talent for visual arts. Fortunately, just about the time I faced this ugly truth, I was taking a Writing Memoir class at UNM Continuing Ed, and a very nice lady in the class told me she thought I had a talent for creative writing and asked me if I would be interested in joining a critique group of which she was a member. Which brings me to the next question….

What is the best encouragement or advice you’ve received in your writing journey?
Join a critique group. The regular feedback, the gentle but firm critiques of other writers, the camaraderie (even when we were stuck meeting on Zoom), and especially the structure provided by having to produce something to share every two weeks were all essential to getting me through the process of writing three drafts of a novel-length work.

Would you mind sharing with us what you’re working on now?
Something very different. It is a combination memoir/creative nonfiction story about an archaeological project south of Farmington, New Mexico, in which my husband and I participated in 1981. It has it all — humor, pathos, danger, miserable weather, unique characters, unforgettable dogs, and cool stuff about archaeology. And like my first book, this work is the result of my having written a short story about an experience with a flash flood that we had on the project. And once again, my critique group colleagues said, “Oh, we like this! But we want to know more about these characters and why you were digging there and weren’t there any dogs in the field camp? And….” So, watch for another book-length work that will, hopefully, be finished this winter. Current working title is Stories from the Field: Archaeology and the Waterflow Mine.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Poet Gayle Lauradunn

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Gayle Lauradunn is an award-winning poet whose work has appeared in numerous journals as well as national and international anthologies. Some of her poems have also been included in art gallery exhibits and adapted for the stage. Her third poetry collection, The Geography of Absence (Mercury HeartLink, August 2022), prompted one reviewer to write: “Open this collection to the first poem—or to any poem—and lose yourself in words that matter.” Look for Gayle’s book on Amazon.

Tell us how and why you chose the title of your poetry book The Geography of Absence.
When I was camping in the Sahara I was struck by the immensity of the space and the gigantic proportions of the sand dunes that seemed to creep across the landscape. The sheer vastness. I wondered what was absent in that huge emptiness. Then we spied a brown speck in the distance between dunes and went toward it, and it turned out to be a large Berber tent, probably large enough to hold 80-100 people. But there was only an old woman and her 3-year-old grandson napping beside her. She invited us in and talked with our guide, who translated for us, carding and spinning the camel wool contained in a large bag beside her the entire time we were there. There was nothing else in the tent, not even cooking utensils, and I still wonder who or what was absent. That experience led me to become aware of absence throughout our lives. The poet Morgan Parker has said, “Absence implies a memory of what once took place.”

Your book cover has interesting details with randomly placed blocks, giving a fractured appearance. Is it representative of what this poetry collection is about?
Yes. I originally thought I wanted a photo of large sand dunes with a broad sky but could not find anything. I asked my friend Scott Wiggerman, who is both poet and artist, if he could suggest something. He sent me what he had posted on his website. Of the many items there, I kept going back to this piece even though it is not the kind of art I generally like. I went to Scott’s house to view the original and asked him what he was thinking when he created the piece. He said he was thinking about what was absent between the blocks. When he said the piece was untitled, I suggested we call it “absences” to which he agreed.

You mentioned that you write poetry to learn about the world and to learn more about who you are. What things can you share with your readers about your discoveries?
The process of writing poetry is organic for me. I begin with a vague thought, an idea, a landscape, etc., and write the first line, whatever occurs to me. The poem writes itself; I never know where it is going or how it will end. I don’t think ahead. I let it be what it seems to want to be. It’s similar to traveling to a culture that is different from ours, a landscape that is different, a different language. The absence of my own culture surrounding me is provocative and causes me to view the world in a new way. I’ve taken ten trips with a company that focuses on going off the beaten path. It’s the reason I rarely travel to Europe which is our heritage. I prefer places like Mongolia and Bhutan. After hiking up 12,000 feet in the Annapurna Mountains in Nepal, we had lunch in a tiny village and visited one of the homes. The woman had a television set and later I asked our guide what the people thought about how different much of the world is from their lives. He responded that they think what is on television are fairy tales.

In your book description of The Geography of Absence you question the validity of memory. Can you elaborate? Do you find freedom with this prospect when it comes to writing, or is vague memory more of a hindrance?
Memory, vague or clear, allows me to write both the actual event and infuse it with imagination. Whatever the memory, imagination expands it, enhances it to get to the meaning of what really occurred.

What sort of decisions do you make when putting a poetry collection together?
Good question, one I’m dealing with right now as I work on the order of my next collection. The Geography of Absence and my first book, Reaching for Air, were both much easier as the poems lent themselves to sections. My second book, All the Wild and Holy: A Life of Eunice Williams 1696-1785, is a book-length persona poem which I wrote chronologically as I followed her life. This current manuscript has a central six-part poem which is the focus of the collection. My struggle is how to arrange the other poems around this one. All the other poems reflect the central idea in the long one and that is what I need to keep in mind as I organize them.

For someone new to poetry, can you recommend where they might start reading?
It depends on what kind of poetry you want to write: open or formal. Today there seems to be more call from publishers for the latter. I find much of it fairly boring as the traditional forms do not fit our contemporary language, which causes the poet to focus on the form rather than what is being said. People are inventing new forms such as the golden shovel and calling a single line a haiku. I’m a storytelling poet, so content is more important to me than form. I do occasionally write a form poem, such as a pantoum, but I am rarely satisfied with them as the content often becomes distorted to fit the form. Some poets write a sonnet which you would not recognize as such because they are more interested in content than form. For form poetry, start with Shakespeare and improvise on his sonnets. For open, start with Denise Levertov and Gwendolyn Brooks. Galway Kinnell wrote both open and formal.

How important is accessibility of meaning? Should a reader have to work to understand a poem, or should readers find their own meaning?
I have been giving readings since 1970. In the early days, I experienced an awakening when after a reading, people would come up to me and say such things as “I love your poem about….” or “I understood your poem X as I had a similar experience.” In such cases I had no idea to which poems they were relating as I did not see what they said in any of the poems. That taught me that when we write, if we are open and not tightly controlling, people can get inside any poem that speaks to their own experiences. All we must do is write from within ourselves, organically. I remember one of my high school English teachers taking us through ten unbearable weeks of poetry. She invariably asked such nonsense questions as “What does the word the on the third line mean?” I doubt if even the poet knew. Readers should let the poem speak to them and not try to control it. Poems are a gift to allow people to find their own meanings.

Do you have a favorite poet? Someone who inspired you along the way?
Too many poets to choose just one. My early influences were William Blake, Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden, Galway Kinnell, C.K. Williams, and the early poems of Louise Glück.

What do most well-written poems have in common?
A broad and deep knowledge of craft. Learn it and then you can toss it away. It will be part of you and you will use it without being conscious of doing so.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Alan E. Diehl

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Dr. Alan E. Diehl is the author of nonfiction investigative books and historical fiction that use his real-life experiences as a pilot, psychologist, investigator, and whistleblower. His newest novel is Armageddon’s Angel: Cuban Missile Crisis Thriller (December 2022). You’ll find Alan on his website at AlanEDiehl.com and his SWW author page.

Armageddon’s Angel is the first volume of the Pandora’s Keys Trilogy. At what point did you realize you had a trilogy versus a series?
The manuscript was intended to be a standalone novel in 2012. But John J. Nance, who had written best-selling books and TV screenplays, felt my project might make a great television series, if it were longer. So, I begin thinking about what could have happened after the protagonist-school teacher stole the Russian missile launch keys during the 1962 crises.

Can you give readers a broader perspective of what your story is about? Characters? Setting?
During the Cuban missile crisis Nick, a Russian major, falls for Maria, a beautiful local school teacher. When the major’s colleagues mistakenly think the Americans are attacking, she steals their missile launch keys. The two lovers, with the help of her student, Elian, hijack an aircraft to escape from the island in a protracted chase scene.

You’ve had a distinguished career as a pilot, design engineer, research psychologist, and investigator. When did you realize you wanted to become a writer?
During a multi-decade career, I produced hundreds of technical papers, magazine articles, and a couple of book chapters. Once I retired, my media contacts suggested I write nonfiction tell-all books about what really happens during civil and military crash investigations, etc. So, I decided to write narrative nonfiction books, revealing insider information and how the system really works and why it sometimes fails with deadly consequences.

On your website you state you were a “whistleblower.” Was there ever a time in your career when you felt threatened by your decision to come forward with controversial information?
Yes. Government officials don’t want the public to know how the system works, or fails. When another scientist and I exposed an FAA top official for lying to Congress, he diverted the sky marshals to harass us. I was soon told to leave Washington immediately, or there would be severe consequences. Fortunately, John Nance had just written a book (Blind Trust) about my success in reducing airliner crashes, and the US Air Force hired me. I was immediately sent undercover to investigate a mysterious Soviet jetliner crash that killed President Machel of The People’s Republic of Mozambique. I was recently informed that a KGB major by the name of Vladimir Putin was also there.

While working for the Air Force, I was assigned by President Clinton to investigate the worst fratricide since Vietnam, where 26 US and allied troops died. The incident was caused by a four-star general (who had ignored one of my important recommendations). When I refused to go along with the Pentagon cover-up, I was immediately threatened, demoted, and reassigned. I then warned that other crashes would occur if my recommendations were ignored. Two years later, 35 people were killed when an Air Force 737 crashed in Croatia, killing Clinton’s secretary of commerce, Ron Brown. When I disclosed why the tragedy happened, the Pentagon established a “blue ribbon panel” headed by the former FAA administrator who I blew the whistle on earlier. Our Deep State works to protect their own interests and control whistleblowers. But a few of us are still willing to speak truth to power and try to educate and entertain the public at the same time.

That’s how the system works, but it gets more interesting. A classmate of mine from the USAF Academy, who became a senior Pentagon insider, informed me that the Secretary of Defense was furious at my exposing problems in his department and that they might go to a federal judge, claiming that I was a national security risk, which would allow them to take my clearance, pension, and job. Fortunately, I had friends in the media, so they never carried out the threat. But I was also told that someday my car might explode. Yeah, being a government whistleblower has interesting moments.

Given your extensive background, are there any parallels in your fiction that mimic your own experiences?
Many! For instance, in Armageddon Angel I discuss how a general briefed me on why the Pentagon-planned attack and invasion of Cuba never occurred. What actually happened was the super-secret plans were being transported from Washington’s Andrews Air Force Base to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. But the baggage compartment on the Air Force jet came open and the plans were lost. The officers at MacDill informed the Pentagon that because nobody knew where the plans had ended up, there would be a significant delay in the hastily planned attack. This gave Kennedy time to consider other options. He went with the naval blockade instead, literally preventing World War III. In subsequent decades, I interviewed many officials involved with similar situations, but knowing the government would never allow me to reveal the information in nonfiction books, I tell such stories in novels, but interject my actual role in the story. There used to be a commercial that said, “Is it real or is it Memorex?” Readers will have to figure that out in my “inspired by real events” treatises.

In my first novel, Kidnap Marilyn: The Daring Scheme to Save Her, I also wove my real involvement into the fictional story after I interviewed a J. Edgar Hoover senior staffer who gave me details on how the FBI “monitored” the involvement of Marilyn with the two Kennedys. The novel tells what could and should have happened to this iconic actress if a CIA psychologist had been willing to risk his own life to rescue her. Furthermore, a close acquaintance who worked in Hollywood disclosed her own MeToo situations. That helped me describe such rapes in realistic terms. The use of hypnosis in that novel was also based on my own training in those techniques by the FBI and Pentagon. My involvement with interesting situations is included in my novels, but I wouldn’t dare put such information in nonfiction books.

What sets Armageddon’s Angel apart from other thrillers in today’s market?
Perhaps the most significant difference is that this novel deals with the most dangerous situation in human history. The Cuban missile crisis could very easily have resulted in World War III with hundreds of millions of casualties. While many novels are “inspired by real events,” my fictional thriller includes factual information that I witnessed or discovered from credible sources. It reveals what really happened during that seminal 13-day period. Of course, I spent decades researching information about that critical fortnight and thought the public needed to hear these revelations. In fact, the most dangerous element of the Cuban missile crisis was not the strategic rockets aimed at America, which were under the control of Nikita Khrushchev, but the well-hidden smaller battlefield nuclear weapons that were in the hands of junior Russian officers. How that happened is described in the thriller.

When can readers expect book two in the Pandora’s Keys Trilogy?
The second book in the trilogy will come out early next year and the third in late 2024.

You’ve written investigative books and historical fiction novels. Of the type of books you’ve written, is there one you find more enjoyable to write over the other?
Great question! Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death had always interested me. But the events involved in the Cuban missile crisis were world-changing, so I’d have to say Armageddon’s Angel was probably more important, and therefore enjoyable to write. I want readers and influencers to know what really happens behind the scenes, and I was fortunate enough to witness some of these events.

Who were your early influences, both personal and literary?
Safety advocate Ralph Nader, whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, President John Kennedy, and ABC News’ John Nance (who helped me master both nonfiction and novel writing).

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Yes, to use an aviation cliché: “Fasten your seatbelts. This is gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Also, readers might want to check out the following:

  • A one-minute video that explains my non-fiction book Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives—One Crash at a Time
  • My CNN State of the Union interview.
  • The AP interview about the jet that crashed after flying over the capital in June 2023.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Lynn Ellen Doxon

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In September 2022, nonfiction author Lynn Ellen Doxon branched into historical fiction with her debut novel, Ninety Day Wonder (Becoming the Greatest Generation, Book 1), released by Artemesia Publishing. You’ll find Lynn on apbooks.net and her Amazon author page.

Tell us about the book Ninety Day Wonder. What were the origins of the story?
Ninety Day Wonder is the story of a Kansas schoolteacher who was drafted in June of 1941. He had just been accepted into medical school, fulfilling a lifelong dream, when the draft notice came. After basic training, he trained for a position in the coastal artillery and was posted to Fort Worden on Puget Sound. While there he wrangled an opportunity to become a pharmacist, furthering his interest in a medical career. The weekend after he finished that training the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The Army, in immediate need of officers, sends him to OCS, where, in 90 days, he becomes an antiaircraft artillery officer,

The story is based on my father’s experience in World War II. There are a few things in the book that didn’t happen to him — for example, meeting Sarah Gale while at OCS and falling in love, but some of the most surprising things did actually happen to him.

Who are your main characters, and did they surprise you as you wrote their story?
The main character and narrator is Eugene Sinclair. Other characters include Tom Morris, a friend from Kansas who goes off to pilot school as Gene goes to OCS, and Joseph Zook, a 16-year-old Mennonite who runs away from home to join the Army. Captain Henderson is the CO of the AAA Battery, for whom Eugene becomes executive officer, and Lieutenants Brasseux, Carson, Douglas, Edelstein, Sessions, Tilton, and Wright are officers of the battery during at least part of the book. And of course, Sarah Gale Simmons, a young civilian employee of the OCS base. In the original story arc, Sarah Gale would not even be in the third book of the trilogy, but through her letters to Gene and her adventures as she joins the newly formed WAACs, she takes over the book and becomes the favorite character of many readers. When I finish Gene’s trilogy, Sarah Gale will get a book of her own.

Can you give readers a glimpse into the main settings of your novel?
The novel follows Gene from a small town in central Kansas to basic training at Camp Callan (now the Scripps Institute and Torrey Pines Golf course), to Fort Worden on Puget Sound, to Camp Davis on the southern coast of North Carolina, to Fort Bliss (which at the time also included the White Sands missile range), to the Orlando Air Base in Florida and finally, to Jungle Warfare training in Australia. While each is an army base, some are new, some old, and some not even fully formed when Gene arrives.

What are some obstacles you faced while writing Ninety Day Wonder?
I have written three non-fiction books, hundreds of online, print magazine, and newspaper articles, and scientific publications, but this is my first novel. Novels are MUCH harder than anything else I have written. I researched the period, the equipment, the Army, the bases extensively, then had to write the story so that it did not sound like a report on the research. The learning curve was pretty steep, the time in process almost five years, but I finally finished and got it published.

What sort of decisions did you make about including historical figures and events while crafting your novel?
Events are historically accurate. For officers of the rank of colonel and above, I used real names in most cases. I debated how realistic to the Army of the 1940s to make the dialogue. I ended up using words like Jap, Negro, and damn, but avoided the more offensive pejoratives and expletives for the most part.

Was there anything surprising you discovered while doing research for this book?
I was surprised to learn that my father was trained as a pharmacist. I had always assumed his knowledge of medicines came from the fact that he was a chemistry and biology teacher. I also learned that the attitude of the majority of Americans was that we should stay out of the war right up until the Pearl Harbor attack. I discovered that there was a radar in Hawaii that detected the Japanese planes coming in, but the lieutenant those radar operators reported the sighting to thought it was a squadron of American planes that were expected that day and did not pass the report along. I had also been unaware of the frequent Japanese bombing raids on Darwin and other parts of Australia.

What was the most rewarding aspect of putting this project together?
My father spoke very little about his experience in the war, and I think the most rewarding part was learning what he did. This first book follows his experience pretty closely, although I departed from the actual timeline in the second half. The next two books are not so close to his actual experience, but his experiences gave me a strong basis for the story.  Simply having the book published and out there is also very rewarding.

When can your readers expect book two?
I had about 240,000 words down on paper and my publisher told me it could not be one novel, so it became a series at that point. I do not feel I did as good a job as I could have at making a suitable ending for the first book, but I made it into three books. I promise a better ending in book two, which will come out in April 2024.

You said you started writing at a young age. At what point in your writing life did you finally consider yourself a writer?
I started telling stories at the age of 3 or 4 and started writing them down in second grade. I came in second in my first writing contest at the age of 18 (and have come in second in numerous others since then — never first). The local newspaper editor published my letters home (slightly edited to remove personal comments) when I traveled around the world on World Campus Afloat at the age of 20. My first book was published in 1980. I wrote a newspaper column called “Yard and Garden” for the Albuquerque Journal for 15 years, and numerous other articles in my position as Urban Horticulture Specialist with the New Mexico Cooperative Extension Service, but all of this was incidental to other jobs and I didn’t consider myself primarily a writer. Early in my retirement, I was making about $1000 a month writing online articles, but I still didn’t consider myself a writer. I didn’t really consider myself a writer until I was deep into the first draft of Ninety Day Wonder (my fourth book) and joined SouthWest Writers. I was surprised to learn that there were other people who considered themselves writers who had much less writing experience than me.

What are you most happy with, and what do you struggle with most, in your writing?
I can tell a good story and hold people’s interest. The plot and characters come easy to me. I am almost never at a loss for words and can quickly get lots of them down on paper. I have the most trouble with writing highly emotional action scenes. Because of my beginning as a scientific and educational writer, I use long sentences, too much passive voice, and excessive description. I have to go back and edit several times before I am satisfied, and Lee Child still beats me hands down every time. I am considering making Sarah Gale’s book a thriller just to challenge myself.

Writers can sometimes get bogged down with writing rules. Do rules ever affect your creativity?
I don’t pay too much attention to writing rules. That was a problem for editors when I wrote the Yard and Garden column. Having read voraciously for almost 70 years, I have internalized many of the rules but I don’t let them get in the way of creativity.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Rachel Bate

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Author Rachel Bate writes children’s books that inspire readers to collaborate with nature and each other with respect, compassion, and kindness. Her first three books — Desert Bliss (2016), Turquoise Tail (2018), and Santa Fe Tom (2020) — were published by Mascot Books. Her newest release is Tierra Day (Mascot Kids, October 2022). You’ll find Rachel on Facebook, her SWW author page, and her Amazon author page.

Tell us about Tierra Day. What sparked the story idea?
I was inspired to write Tierra Day, which pertains to Earth Day, as a lesson for children about the importance of recycling and not littering. I really wanted children to ponder how keeping the Earth clean is a community effort. Organizing a Litter Clean Up Recycle Day as a community event involving the whole town — including humans and animal friends, the mayor and the governor — shows everyone is responsible for our Earth no matter what their position/title, to help keep our Earth trash-free and clean. Finally, in my humble opinion, I feel Earth Day should be Every day, as I care deeply for our planet and all its creatures.

How have the years you devoted to teaching as an elementary and special education teacher informed your writing?
My educational experience has played an instrumental role in my writing. Many times, throughout my teaching experience, I have come up with stories using puppets for my students to engage their curiosity and conversations about a particular event, emotions, behaviors, etc. I frequently smiled and thought to myself, one of these days I would like to have the time to write down the stories I come up with, especially when my students were extremely engaged and wanted to hear the same story repeatedly.

Did the illustrator’s interpretation capture what you had envisioned for Tierra Day?
For each of my books, I worked very closely in a collaborative approach with my sister, Rebecca Jacob, the illustrator. We both allow each other constructive feedback and independent thought through each of our book creations. She is an amazing artist and each book that we create with my stories and her art truly touches my heart and soul. It is always exhilarating to see and touch each finished book.

How and why did you chose the title for this book?
I chose Tierra Day as the title for this book because Tierra, as a girl’s name, is of Spanish origin that means Earth. Tierra, as the main human character in my story, symbolizes her compassion and caring relationship with others and the animals of our beautiful planet Earth, especially on Earth Day, April 22nd.

What fundamental roles do picture books play for young readers?
I feel pictures capture the written word and bring it to life for young readers. Illustrations allow the young reader to further comprehend what the story is about and provide a visual escape into the story. I feel my sister Rebecca’s artwork especially appeals to children with her vivid colors and character expressions throughout each of our books.

How does Tierra Day differ from your three previous picture books: Desert Bliss, Turquoise Tail, and Santa Fe Tom?
Tierra Day can be used as an instructional tool for teachers, families, outdoor instruction, etc., to familiarize children about Earth Day that occurs annually on April 22nd. At the end of my book is a fact sheet regarding Earth Day and a glossary to use as a lesson on Earth Day. It also aims at teaching children the importance of recycling and how taking care of the Earth impacts not just people, but also the critters we share the planet with.

Do you have a preference, verse or prose, when writing children’s books? What helps you make that determination?
I enjoy writing in both verse and prose depending upon my story’s theme and message. I added a song for children to sing in Tierra Day as another means of learning an important message using music to remember and especially having interactive fun with learning while cleaning up/recycling.

What typically comes first for you: A character? A story idea? Location?
I love getting many of my ideas when I am outside in my garden, hiking in the mountains, being inspired by everything I sense in nature. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I will visualize a story in my mind, and I must gradually creep out of bed and proceed to write down my thoughts in my journal. A story idea may also slowly evolve from my adventures and characters and quickly formulate in my mind based on my subconscious and conscious experiences.

Your stories focus on helping children to overcome their fears and to believe in themselves. Can you share any experiences that may have inspired you?
I was a very shy child and young adult. At times, I still experience this shyness in my adult life. In the past, I would seek situations to push me out of my comfort zone, for example trying out and getting a lead part in plays, track, cross-country, etc. As an educator, it has made me extra sensitive and insightful to the needs of my students and how each student that I taught over the years is unique and special. I learned so much through observing others, my students, nature, critters, and the responses of each in various situations. It has been a great asset in regard to my writing skills.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Marcia Rosen

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Marcia Rosen is an award-winning author of eleven fiction and nonfiction books. Writing as M. Glenda Rosen she published several series including the Senior Sleuths and the Dying To Be Beautiful mysteries. Her newest novel, Murder at the Zoo (Artemesia Publishing, March 2023), is the first book in the Agatha, Raymond, Sherlock, & Me cozy mystery series. You’ll find Marcia on her website at MarciaRosen.com. Visit her Amazon author page for many of her books.

Please tell us about Murder at the Zoo.
A body is tossed into the lion’s habitat at the zoo where Miranda Scott is the senior vet. She and Detective Bryan Anderson join forces to unravel that mystery and several more murders. A fan since childhood of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Sherlock Holmes, they seem to live in her head, frequently telling her what to do…and not do. Murders, family, deceit, revenge and a gangster father and godfather often get in the way of a fine romance between Miranda and the detective.

What is the driving force to write cozy mysteries over other types of writing?
In what I consider my BOLD THIRD ACT, I decided to experiment with writing a different type of mystery. It was very fun for me to create along with some new projects I’ll tell you about later in the interview.

What makes Murder at the Zoo different from the novels in your other mystery series?
They are not cozies. Zoo is also the only one that takes place in New Mexico, but my novels are more similar than not. They all offer a sense of seeking justice and have a gangster character who plays an important role in the story.

What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
Creating the puzzle to keep readers guessing who the murderers are and why.

You have based Murder at the Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What research did you do to provide background information for your novel?
I researched the Albuquerque Zoo layout, and I researched a lot about the different positions people hold at zoos including what is expected of them. How animals were cared for in the story was important to me.

Did your characters surprise you as you wrote their story?
A little. I write organically so I’m never quite sure where they will end up in the story. I do always know there will be several murders, and the murderers will come to justice!

Do you have plans to bring back Miranda Scott, along with her cohorts Detective Bryan Anderson, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Sherlock Holmes?
Possibly. Also, possibly another book for one of my other series, and I’m completing a memoir about my father and me. I had a very unusual upbringing.

What first inspired you to become a writer?
I wanted to be a writer since I was 14 and sat down at the kitchen table and wrote a play. I wrote for many years for the marketing/pr business I founded. I’ve been writing books for the past 20 years. I love to play with words. What we say and how we say anything can have a big impact.

What writing projects are you working on now?
I’ve started a Memoir/LifeStory blog which includes inviting guests to share a part of their story. It also offers hints and tips on writing a memoir (from my book My Memoir Workbook), as well as excerpts from my own memoir. The blog will be posted on the 1st and 15th of each month and began May 1st of this year. Members of SWW are invited and welcome to participate. Here is the link to the first one: TheSeniorSleuths.com/blog.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Listen to your own voice, not others.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Brian House

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Besides being a lawyer, minister, hunter, motorcycle adventurer, and cancer survivor, Brian House is a poet and an author of short- and long-form fiction and nonfiction. His second novel, the espionage thriller Reich Stop (Corsair, 2023), is book one in the Brock Donegan series. You’ll find Brian on his website at BrianHouseBooks.com and on Facebook and Instagram. Visit his Amazon author page for all of his books.

What is your elevator pitch for Reich Stop?
Brock Donegan — a deadly special agent for hire for the Defense Intelligence Agency — races to prevent neo-Nazis from implementing a time-warping gene therapy that could start a new world war.

What inspired the story idea, and how long did it take to write the book?
Reich Stop is a modern-day thriller set in significant part in southeast New Mexico in the Cloudcroft/Sunspot Observatory/Alamogordo/Las Cruces area. I owned a home in Alamogordo for several years while my son was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base there. During those years we spent many days at Cloudcroft and Sunspot and I fell in love with the area and its beauty. There was an incident during that time when the military descended on Sunspot to secure the facility against a security threat. That gave me the idea for using Sunspot as a key location in the book. Reich Stop came easy to me. I wrote the first draft in thirty-five days. Editing of course is another matter altogether. I kept revising the book for months through the various beta readings and editorial challenges.

Tell us about your main characters.
Brock Donegan is the protagonist. He’s a wealthy middle-aged, battle-hardened former soldier having served in the French Foreign Legion. A hard man skilled with weapons and a nose to find trouble and deal with it. He lives discreetly on a farm in the Bluegrass area of Kentucky and has an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Defense Intelligence Agency Special Agent Sandy Wallace.

Pelham Auxier III – Ox – is Brock Donegan’s best friend and faithful sidekick. He too is ex-French Foreign Legion, as deadly as Brock and content to let Brock find the jobs and lead the way.

Sandy Wallace – Special Agent with the Defense Intelligence Agency and Brock’s love interest. She brings the stolen gene therapy crisis to Brock’s front door and supplies the assets he needs to get on with the job.

Dr. Karl Wunderlich – the brilliant researcher who discovers a ghost gene and uses it to create the gene therapy that has anti-aging cancer fighting properties.

The Fortin family – wealthy wine producers with Nazi links from the second World War running an organized crime ring in France. They will do anything to get their hands on the gene therapy.

At what point in the writing process did you know the story was strong enough for a series?
I had the thought for a series in mind as I was writing the book. To be honest, it was so much fun creating the characters and putting them into the narrative, I really did not want to see them end after just one book. Later, when the reviews started coming in, people asked for more. That’s when you know. When people ask for more, you know you have a series on your hands.

What are the key issues when writing a series to keep readers coming back for more?
I think two kinds of relationships are at work here. The first is the writer’s relationship with the characters. I want the characters to be fresh and original in each story while maintaining their essential identifying characteristics. Brock Donegan is battle tested and a killer but he is not a murderer. Ox is a brilliant academic who is also a deadly mercenary who will do anything to protect Brock. Those things will never change. The second relationship is the one I have with the readers of the Brock Donegan series. I have an obligation, a desire really, to keep the stories fresh. Some of the settings will be familiar and some of the characters will reappear but the central dilemma Brock and Ox must resolve will be entirely new and involve new antagonists.

The story starts out in New Mexico and follows Brock Donegan to Bavaria. How does the setting impact the story and the characters?
The setting shifts had to happen. The story must go to Bavaria, to the birthplace of Nazism and all its evil. It will be there that Brock confronts the darkness that threatens to emerge again on the world stage.

Is there a scene in your book that you’d like to see play out in a movie?
Yes. Brock and Ox ruining the Nazi rally at Oberst Lodge. I could see some major pyrotechnic effects being used there!

How would you compare your experience with traditional publishing versus publishing independently?
I’ve had one book published through a traditional publisher. My other books have been indies. The upside of going the traditional route is the more meticulous editing and then the obvious distribution network to get your book out there. If I were forty years younger and trying to make writing my day job, I would have stayed in that world but I am sixty-five years old, a two-time cancer survivor who has made a good living as a lawyer. I am writing now because I love the art form. Indie writing is more immediate in terms of getting to market and seeing your work come to life. I like that, but you have to understand the responsibilities that come with indie writing. You have to be your own critic and editor. I am careful to seek out multiple beta readers. I literally beg for people to read my manuscripts and tear them apart. I look for all the critique and suggestions I can find.

Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently if you started your writing and publishing career today?
When people ask me to describe my career path, I tell them I’m a writer who went to law school to feed his family who then became a minister in his forties. When I was in my twenties there was no internet, now social media, no Amazon, no print-on-demand companies. Getting “out there” was very hard. If I were twenty years old in today’s world, I would be very persistent to get my manuscript in order and then work as hard as I could to secure an agent and follow that route if I wanted to make a living as a writer. I would also keep my day job. Even Hemingway had to borrow money off friends to pay his taxes.

Of all the books you’ve written, is there a particular genre you enjoy writing the most?
I have written two thrillers which have been published, a western which I have not published, and I am finishing the edits on a romantic manuscript that falls into the literary genre. It is by far and away my favorite book. I look forward to seeing it come to market.

What kind of writer are you? Do you prefer to outline, or do you dive right in and let the story unfold organically?
I know my characters and my story before I start. I think with thrillers that understanding of character and plot line are essential, at least for me, otherwise the story would be a confused, rambling mess. The literary piece I mentioned above began as a short story I was writing for a competition but it grew into a hundred-thousand-word manuscript.

Who are your favorite authors, and how have they influenced your writing?
It depends on the genre. In terms of classic American writers, it would be Hemingway. I discovered him in my early teens. His use of tight declarative sentences influenced the way I write as a lawyer and in my books. He is at the top of the heap of writers as far as I am concerned. F. Scott Fitzgerald for the sheer beauty of his work. No one can compare to him. His was a life that ended far too soon. Agatha Christie for her witty intrigue and durability. Her books have made billions of dollars. English professors can make fun of her but her estate can buy and sell most universities outright. Clive Cussler when he actually wrote his Dirk Pitt novels. Fun stuff. Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee novels are outstanding. I have read them all. He was an amazing writer. Both Cussler and Hillerman had great storylines and kept their character development consistent from one book to the next.

When can your readers expect to see the second book in the Brock Donegan series?
Likely in 2024. I am finishing the literary manuscript this year and will put it in the editing phase. My wife and I are spending several weeks in Seattle and Coeur d’Alene this summer as part of my research for the next Brock Donegan story. After that, I will return home and see what happens.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
I would say to anyone who is hesitant to write for fear of rejection — don’t fear rejection! All writers are rejected at some point, actually multiple points in their careers. All writers have been rejected by an agent. Write because you love the craft and remember to be disciplined in your work ethic and be willing to accept criticism of your work. Writers are like musicians and painters. Very few of us will ever get rich doing this but we can contribute to the art form that has been given to us as our talent, our gift. I think that is a wonderful calling in and of itself.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Julie Loar

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Julie Loar is an award-winning author of eight books and dozens of articles. She is an expert in symbolism and has worked with dreams, including interpreting dreams live on national radio, for decades. Her latest book, Symbol & Synchronicity: Learning the Soul’s Language in Dreams and Waking Life (Satiama Publishing, 2021), is a practical and comprehensive guide to working with dreams and learning their language. Symbol & Synchronicity has won five international literary awards, including a Nautilus Book Award. You’ll find Julie on her website at JulieLoar.com and on Facebook. Visit her Amazon author page for all of her books.

What was the inspiration for Symbol & Synchronicity?
I’ve worked with dreams and taught about their symbolism for decades. In the mid-2000s, I wrote a series of articles (about 40) for Oracle 20-20 Magazine in Atlanta. I always wanted to do something else with that material. At the onset of the pandemic lockdown in March 2020 I had “motive and opportunity,” and I turned my attention first to 80 articles of 108 I had written for Atlantis Rising magazine. Those articles became a two-volume sky lore anthology. I had the intention to create a similar book with my dream articles, but I was captured by a muse, and the idea morphed into a completely different book that became Symbol & Synchronicity. The isolation of the pandemic offered a writer’s haven and I rose each morning and wrote for a year.

What did you find the most rewarding while writing the book?
I loved the research and the deeper wisdom I gained about symbols, dreams, and synchronicities through the writing process. While writing the book, I had several amazing dreams and experienced stunning synchronicities. I practiced what I learned and incorporated what I wrote into my life, deepening my spiritual practice. I was my own case study, and the experience has enhanced my growth.

When did your spiritual journey begin? Can you pinpoint your own “aha” moment when you knew this would be your life’s calling?
In the summer of my second year in college, I was part of a volunteer program where students from all over the country spent the summer in Mexico living with Mexican families, teaching English, or working in hospitals. About 25 of us who had been together in an orientation in Mexico City developed Hepatitis A. I nearly died, and had what I later learned was called a Near Death Experience (NDE). Although it took years of study and exploration to unpack the experience, my path was revealed. There were many twists, turns, and tests as I realized my life was a spiritual quest and I wanted to work in the area that is now called Mind, Body, Spirit.

What makes this book unique in the Mind, Body, Spirit genre?
Symbol & Synchronicity offers comprehensive and practical tools and techniques that enable readers to work with their own dream symbols and waking synchronicities. As a result of a powerful dream while writing the book, I was guided to create a Seven Steps in Dreamwork© process that is easy to use and can transform dream work. Using the unique seven-step process, anyone can learn to unlock the symbolic messages and guidance that comes in dreams and magical waking synchronicities—it’s the book I wish I had at the beginning of my journey.

Do you have a favorite quote from Symbol & Synchronicity you’d like to share?
“Waking life is like a lucid dream, and we are the dreamer, sleeping until we awaken and remember our purpose. As we choose, and receive the consequences of our choices, slowly we learn. At some critical point in our long journey a spark of divine fire from the Soul (meta-consciousness) ignites the flame of aspiration in our hearts. This flame grows into a radiance as we walk the path of the sacred and do the work required. Our heart begins to beat with compassion in a rhythm that connects us to others and the Universe.” (Chapter 7, page 67)

Of all the books you’ve written, is there a particular one you enjoyed writing the most?
Goddesses for Every Day: Exploring the Wisdom and Power of the Divine Feminine around the World because I learned so much rich information. Learning about hundreds (thousands?) of goddesses from every culture in the world was empowering and affirming as I was unaware of the breadth and depth of the Goddess tradition. I had been hired to ghostwrite a book, and the research that involved revealed what felt to me like a lost history. The story and power of the Divine Feminine is reemerging in the world today, but at the time I was astonished by what I learned and felt a “call” to share, especially with other women.

Tell us about recurring messages or themes in your writing.
The over-arching theme of my work is the spiritual path and the power of symbolism as a guidance system along that journey with the potential to be a transforming influence. I have written books about mythology, astrology, Tarot, numerology, and the divine feminine. My goal is always to facilitate understanding of how to access these ancient teachings to illuminate our lives and empower our spiritual journey.

As a spiritual practitioner, is there a particular experience you can share with your readers that has informed and guided your principles?
Once while driving into town, I had an experience I will never forget. I stopped at a red light at an intersection and was first of a line of cars. As the light turned green and I prepared to drive ahead, I heard a loud and authoritative voice say “Wait!” I was so startled, as I was alone in the car, that I did not accelerate to proceed with my left turn. Within a few seconds a car hurtled through the intersection at a high rate of speed and drove off the road on the other side. I was shaken as I realized had I proceeded through the green light, the vehicle that ran the red light would have struck me broadside with disastrous consequences. Whose voice did I hear? I believe the power of my Psyche produced an audible voice that prevented a tragedy. Such experiences shock us into another state of consciousness. In that moment I was dramatically aware of guidance, and I am deeply grateful for the influence that watches over me.

Is there something that always inspires you or triggers your creativity?
The power of an unanswered question.

Give us a glimpse of what to expect from future writing projects.
I’m working on a second edition of my first book Messengers, which is a novel about ancient Egypt and Atlantis. The first edition was published in 1997 and a lot has been discovered since then. I want to enhance the book and bring it up to date, perhaps including the growing impact of technology, which has exploded since the book was published.

What do you hope readers will take away from Symbol & Synchronicity?
If they commit, knowing they may only need to work with one or two dreams a month, their lives can be transformed and empowered. Dreams provide guidance that is tailored specifically for us and our growth, coming directly from our Higher Self. We have a built-in and customized system that can be life changing when we start to pay attention.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Although it may sound trite and a bit condescending, life is a journey not a destination. The journey involves tests, trials, and blessings, and like Bilbo Baggins stepping off his front porch in The Hobbit, or Dorothy Gale and her companions skipping up the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz, the quality of our passage depends largely on our willingness to be transformed by our experiences.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



An Interview with Author Angus Robb

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Author Angus Robb is a retired mining engineer who was born and raised in sub-Saharan Africa. He used his love of that land, its people, and its elephants to create African Indaba: A Story of Adventure and Conflict, “a rich, compelling debut novel about friendship, loyalty and justice.” You’ll find Angus on RMKpublications.com. Look for African Indaba on Amazon.

What was the inspiration for African Indaba?
I considered it a necessity rather than an inspiration. About 10 years ago (at age 75), I decided to start composing an African story while I still had the time, memories, and most of my faculties. “Indaba” has different meanings in Africa, but this “indaba” means “trouble.” And that was the theme I ran on. Trouble in its worst forms. Although still employed back then, I had to find time to squeeze in my composition efforts, so it turned out to be very much a stop-go situation, with few opportunities for agility. Luckily my profession allowed me to travel the world, and those experiences, many bizarre, seemed easier to write about back then and I felt they deserved the re-telling now.

What is the most difficult aspect of writing historical fiction? What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
The most difficult aspect turned out to be ensuring my narrative “fixed” readers into the story’s many timelines and locations. The unique challenge? Making those events as accurate as possible while not detracting from the plot.

Who are your main characters and why will your readers connect to them? Do you share traits with your main protagonist or antagonist?
Callum MacKenzie. Impoverished Scots boy stowed away on a steamer to Africa in search of a better life and adventure. Readers will connect with how he fought for success in the new, strange, violent world.

Rory MacKenzie. Son of Callum and Afrikaner mother Maria De Villiers. He is the story’s protagonist, but no shrinking violet. Readers will sympathize with his main characteristics – hate, violence and vengeance and how he tried to supersede those demons in the pursuit of affection. Another positive trait found him impossibly attractive and irresistible to the opposite sex despite his diffident nature.

Inkosana Chitimukulu. Otherwise called James. Native prince who befriended Callum and promoted kindly African ways until colonial racism closed in on him. Readers will relate to how he fights back against those prejudices.

Chola. A bull elephant and main antagonist although he doesn’t deserve to be. Having experienced extreme violence from ivory hunters, he attempts to retaliate, but can’t overcome superior odds.

I share traits (mostly in my dreams) with both Rory and Chola, particularly regarding taking personal vengeance against bullies, murderers, and traitors. All three of us believe really evil people should be repaid with interest for their wrongs.

What decisions did you make about including historical figures or events?
Early on, I hit on subjects, mainly by mistake, that later turned out to be topical in today’s world such as “Save the elephants” and “Ban corporal punishment and bullying.” Call it opportunistic. Or just luck. I placed figures such as Nelson Mandela into historical perspective to give readers the feeling of “being there” with him.

Tell us about putting the book together.
It took about 10 years from first thoughts to publication with many breaks along the way when technical work became competitive with composing pleasure. Writing was the easiest part. Editing was repetitive and time consuming although I had imaginative editors, and cover design turned out to best-illustrate the “feelings behind the face of that elephant.” I was lucky to have Don Morgan as editor, Rose Kern as Publisher, and Pat Harrison as cover designer, all experts at what they do.

Was there anything surprising you discovered while doing research for this book?
Part of the book involved Callum’s military service during WWII in North Africa and Burma. I discovered he played a leading role in preparing African troops right out of their native elements into playing an important role in final victory.

What was the most rewarding aspect of writing African Indaba?
I’ve been getting good reviews from around the world without much formal marketing. This interview is the closest I’ve come to performing any publicizing of the book.

If you’re a plotter/planner, how do you know when it’s time to stop planning and start writing?
I’m not a plotter/planner, and it’s my first novel so I just picked up a pen and started writing…and rewriting…and rewriting. Probably wasted a lot of time in the process. I’ll know better next time round.

Who are your favorite authors, and what do you admire most about their writing?
Wilbur Smith, Paul Theroux, and George Orwell. A bit of a mix but all three had the storytelling gifts of clarity, brevity, and surprise.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
I have had no formal training in prose writing. Most of my knowledge on the subject (apart from English classes at a Scottish boarding school) came from the Wordwrights class held by Don Morgan and Dennis Kastendiek at North Domingo Baca Senior Center (in Albuquerque, New Mexico). I learned about POV, active and passive voice, progression, short sentences, and more. This face-to-face experience (no zoom yet!) proved both educational and exhilarating. A pity it was dropped.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



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