Welcome to Meet The Author. Today Wayne DePriest has stopped by to give us a little insight into his life and his books. So let’s get started.
Please tell us a little about yourself.
Born and raised mostly in Montana. I really lived in a log cabin when I was a kid, complete without indoor plumbing. Four rooms for six people. We did have a pump in the kitchen. We hunted and fished and raised vegetables for the majority of our food, which was cooked on a coal and wood cast iron stove. We moved to civilization when I was 14.
When did you start writing?
I think I was about fifteen when I wrote a lurid tale for a couple of school mates. It got copied and made the rounds and eventually got back to me...in the hands of the principal. He was less than thrilled. Three years later I wrote a terrible novel about a phone number and its effect on three people. It was another three years before I wrote anything, and then it was a poem (equally terrible) on a dare by my younger brother. That seemed to start something. Over the next few years I played with poetry and fanciful yarns in which I included horrid puns because I thought puns were the height of humor. (I still do.)
What projects have been published?
Four slim volumes of poetry cleverly titled “Wayne Verses Everything” and an equally slim book of love poems equally cleverly titled “Wayne Verses Love”. A collection of 146 things that just irritate the crap out of me titled “ARG! Works”. A Western/mystery titled “Angeltown” about a young man who travels west and becomes involved in a mystery surrounding missing children. A Mystery titled “Selected” set in St Paul, MN, about a weary Detective faced with his most frustrating case, a killer who leaves a calling card with each victim...before and after.
Tell us about Selected:
A janitor, a former junkie, a cab driver, a waitress, a high school senior. Strangers in life, they each receive a blue card in the mail. Now they are connected in death by blue cards found on their bodies. The enigmatic letters on the cards means something to the killer, something Homicide Detective Jayson Weis has to decipher before he can rid the city of this madman. Confronted with the bodies of the present, haunted by the bodies of the past, Weis knows there will be more bodies in his future unless he can stop the Card Killer. When the few witnesses can’t agree about the killer, not even the race and sex, Weis begins to dread the possibility of a second killer. His relationship with long time girlfriend Lois Fremont is deteriorating. The pressure from City Hall mounts. His own uncertainty about his future dulls the edge of his investigation. Help comes from an unexpected direction, a paraplegic teenager who has received one of the cards.
How did you select the title of your novel?
I never considered any other title. The victims are ‘selected’; it just seemed natural.
What was your inspiration?
Well, now. If I answer that, it would give away too much. Suffice it to say the idea came to me out of the blue in about 1996. I jotted a couple of notes and there it sat until 2006, when I decided to write the thing for National Novel Writing Month. I completed it in 22 days. “Angeltown”; the other novel currently available, is also a product of NaNoWriMo.
What are you currently working on?
My main focus is a collection of short stories and vignettes planned for an early August release. There is another volume of poetry just about ready. I have a Western about 1/3 written, three mysteries in various stages of completion and about half of a fantasy novel. I’ve never written fantasy before. It’s a bit daunting. I spent two days just drawing a map of the fantasy world.
What are you reading at the moment?
“The Autobiography of Mark Twain”. “Forts: Endings and Beginnings” by Steven Novak. “Stream: The Awakening” by Bill Jones. “Dark Running” by M. Cid D’Angelo.
What do you like to do in your free time when you're not reading or writing?
I’ve been an avid pool player for more than 50 years. I enjoy putzing in our flower gardens. Becky and I love garage sales, even if we don’t buy anything. I think it’s a morbid curiosity about other people’s discards.
Do you have any advice for other authors?
“Write, damn you!” That is my screensaver. If you pay any attention at all, the more you write the better you’ll get.
And finally, can you tell us some fun facts about yourself, such as crossed skydiving off my bucket list.
Don’t spread this around, but I was once locked in an old post office vault for over three hours with my kid sister, thanks to my kid brother. We made the local paper with pictures and everything. I am also walking for President under the banner of The Cookie Party.
Where can we find out more about you, and where can we purchase your books?
All anyone has to do to learn more about me is ask me. All of my books are available in paperback and various digital formats at lulu.com. Kindle versions of “Selected” and “Angeltown” can be found on Amazon.com.
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/awriter
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=wayne+depriest&x=0&y=0
Very nice, folks.
ReplyDelete