I'm honored to present Stephen B. Pearl, contributory author for anthology Morbid Seraphic. After interviewing him I felt like I got a taste of his writing abilities from his unique answers and witty humor, which had me laughing and curious for more. His talents don't stop with Morbid Seraphic. He has several books and short stories published, which he'll tell you about below. Welcome Stephen! |
Let’s see. I am a homo sapien living on a small, rocky planet orbiting a class G star in the outer spiral arm of a relatively average spiral galaxy. My species are oxygen breathers and
bi-pedal with two forelimbs ending in manipulative digits. We have two genders, although there have been recent social movements to expand this, though in a biological sense
there are only two. I am a male and I am life paired, married, to a female. My species have many societies and beliefs that our population is divided amongst and in my society I was able to choose my own life mate. It has been twenty six orbits of my planet around its sun since I made this choice and so far it seems to be working out.
As a means of meeting the need to contribute to society I have chosen to write fiction. These
are stories that extrapolate artificial realities that none the less may make real statements about the world and the living beings within it. This has the advantage of maneuvering around my fellow Homo sapiens pre-conceptions and possibly making them look at the world in a new light.
I have also been a Lifeguard, one who observes, prevents and intervenes to mitigate emergencies in an aquatic setting.
A Shipping and Receiving clerk, one who is incessantly abused for things completely outside
their control and expected to make material items instantaneously leap off the back of transport units count themselves then arrange neatly for future distribution in a room already over filled do to others incompetence.
A psychic councilor, one who uses abilities on the edge of his species capacity that some choose to disbelieve to assist others in dealing with life situations that generally wouldn’t be a problem if they had any common sense in the first place.
I also swim for fitness, body maintenance, and act as a servant to three of the planets dominant ruling species, Felis catus.
All else is open to further anthropological analyses. ;-)
Better the Devil You Know: A wizard cop in a world where magic has returned to mythical power levels teams up with a
Succubus with a difference to staunch the flow of Morph, a deadly, destructive drug, that is costing lives in both the human and demonic realms.
Twenty three planetary orbits. My first novel was basically an ode to the woman who is now my wife. It served its purpose I landed her although the book itself is awful and will never see print. I’ve learned a lot since those days and I no longer do awful books.
4. When you write do you like it quiet or do you play music? If you like music, what types?
Quiet. I suffer from industrial hearing loss which means I can hear just fine. My hearing is actually quite acute, but I have practically no ability to filter background noise. The loudest
sound around me is what gets through. Bars are a joy and half. At parties I’m normally the chap in a quiet corner talking one on one or sitting alone. Not because I don’t like the dynamic of a group it’s just in a noisy environment I’m as good as def and I can only catch every third word or so with lip reading. Hay, it’s life, what do you expect when you are exposed to three hundred screaming kids in an indoor pool for years.
5. Are you an am, pm or whenever you have time writer?
I’m a day time writer. Sun up to sun down I’m good after sun down I want to relax, watch TV and sleep.
6. Do you have any quirky habits?
Me quirky, what do you mean? Honey, hide the duck suit someone suspects. ;-) I guess you mean regarding writing. Not really. Normally I’ll start the day by doing a spell-check and quick read through on what I did the previous day then I’ll start in on new material. I’ll
often play spider solitaire when I’m feeling stuck just to distract myself so I can come back with fresh eyes. Nothing too quirky.
7. If I were to come in your house and opened your refrigerator, what would I find? Are any of those items a guilty pleasure used when writing?
Goat’s milk and cheese because I’m allergic to cow’s milk. Frozen pizza for my wife. Orange
juice eggs at present a lot of fish, the local store had a good sale. Fairly normal grazing for an average North American. Excluding what my allergies proscribe, and anything in the cabbage family, I’ll eat or am willing to try most things. I love trying ethnic foods. We have an Ethiopian restaurant in my city that I’ve eaten at several times. Interesting dishes though I’m sorry I need cutlery. I just can’t get the hang of eating with my hands and not being
disgusting.
8. If you could time travel, even to a fictional place, when and what era would it be? Why?
Any future with a significantly advanced medical technology and socialized medicine, so I could walk in say fix me and walk out an hour later in perfect perfect health with perfect eyesight, a greatly extended life expectancy and , blushes a little, a full head of hair
bereft of grey. I always assumed that the Doctor in Doctor Who must do something like this with all his companions. At the least he must get them some form or treatment that strengthens their immune system or they would be getting horribly ill with every planet and time they visit.
9. Tell us about your other published stories or novels. Or perhaps, do you have something that you are working on that you would like to share?
I have several novels published and you can read the first chapter of any of them on my website for free. At present I have
Tinker’s Plague: A post-apocalyptic, science fiction, medical and political thriller, ISBN 978-1-933157-30-6 Available in paperback and e-book formats from Draumr Publishing: http://www.draumrpublishing.com/store/cart.php?target=main
Slaves of Love: e-book: A futuristic detective story of love and madness.
The Hollow Curse: e-book: A centuries spanning tale of love and obsession.
Available from Club Lighthouse Publishing: www.clublighthousepublishing.com
Nukekubi: A paranormal, detective novel, ISBN 978-0-9867633-6-6 - eISBN. 978-0-9867633-7-3 Available in paperback and e-bookformats from Dark Dragon Publishing: www.darkdragonpublishing.com
Coming March 2013 Worlds Apart: A Paranormal Romance where Marlin, a wizard from an alternative Earth, travels to our world to save his own and meets Alcina, a wiccan priestess struggling to protect her son Tim from a fanatical cult. Marlin helps save Tim, Alcina helps save Marlin’s world and along the way they fall in love.
I am also a contributor to the Pagan Writers Press Samhain and Yule anthologies. With a highly episodic series of stories about recovering from loss and learning to love again as it is
paralleled by the Pagan Sabbaths. http://paganwriterspress.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
Also of course the Morbid Seraphic anthology: https://www.createspace.com/3800561
Or
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/morbid-seraphic-s-k-whiteside/1110455126
Trailer:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_5_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=Stephen%20B.%20Pearl
10. Share with us the sites we can stalk you on.
Website: www.stephenpearl.com
YouTube reading:www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlMDmlb-Los@
Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/StephenBPearl
Blog: http://stephenpearl.blogspot.ca/2012/03/our-energy-future-is-crap.html
Polka Dot Banner:
http://www.polkadotbanner.com/index.phpoption=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=528