Posts filed under ‘PUBLISHED WORKS’
ELMO’S SOJOURN, FINAL QUESTIONS
9. This would make a great series – have you considered writing the next adventure?
Glad you asked this one, it’s already written. Elmo’s Invention is a prequel to Elmo’s Sojourn. In Elmo’s Invention Elmo is working at Los Alamos and here sets out to build a time machine using an old iron lung, but things do not go as planned.
This novella is longer than Elmo’s Sojourn and still needs a lot of editing, and then out it goes. I’m sure there will be other stories fermenting in my brain, but they have yet come to the surface.
10. What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m doing a great deal of editing. I have two novels written but are in need of a rewrite.
The Beast Awaits is the most complete. It deals with a monster created through stem cell research. It escapes into the Everglades and its destruction leads to enhanced global warming. How’s that for ‘hot button’ issues?
Sweet Depression is a novel which is a cross between the work of James Patterson and Robin Cook, a very sinister thriller set in a pharmaceutical company.
11. In your point of view, what is the most difficult part of the writing life?
Imagining story ideas I find to be the easiest part. The writing can be difficult and the editing is, I find, even more difficult. But the part of writing I find the most difficult is trying to get the work published. I agonize over writing query letters.
12. Do you outline your stories before you sit down to write?
For short stories, I mull over the plot before I put pen to paper. I write all my first drafts by hand. So when I begin writing the story, it’s already fully formed in my mind.
For novels I use an outline but keep it fluid. In a steno pad, for each novel, I form an outline to include scenes and dialog when the characters start talking.
13. What plans do you have for your writing going into the future?
If I can publish Sweet Depression I have plans to write at least one sequel.
I’ve also published a short story, Martian Rebirth, which I want to develop into a novel.
And of course, my brain keeps on cranking out short story ideas.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
ELMO’S SOJOURN, MORE QUESTIONS
5. Your time machine seemed very well thought out – is it based on something in theoretical science.
The time machine is a product of my imagination.
While I was in college, there was a guy in the dorm who built a tesla coil. You could pull something like a quarter million volts to your finger, but since the amperage was low, you survived. I had to get that thing into a story.
6. How do you personally relate to your main character in your story?
I was a scientist for 34 years, but a biologist not a physicist. I love science and the opportunity it gives you to discover something new, when all the parts of a puzzle suddenly come together. I share the wonder Elmo has for science.
7. How challenging was it to build your alien landscapes and creatures?
I have a very active imagination so it was really quite easy. But the creatures changed along the way. The first creature that comes through Elmo’s machine was going to be the dominant creature on Roth, but of course that changed. Then Valmid was going to be a sinister being and that changed. Since I needed some conflict, Gylex came into being and I could just picture what it looked like.
8. What theme do you want to convey to your readers?
I think, as with most science fiction, I want to create adventure and the wonder of the unknown.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
ELMO’S SOJOURN QUESTIONS
A few weeks ago Jill Bisker was kind enough, through Melange Books, to ask me questions about my eBook, Elmo’s Sojourn.
I posted a link to those questions, but in case you missed them, I thought I’d post the questions directly to my blog.
I’m also posting the link to buy Elmo’s Sojourn with the hopes that this will cause my sales to skyrocket.
Yes, even at my advance age, I still dream.
1. Please tell me a little about yourself – Where you come from? What led you to writing?
I was born and raised in Newark, NJ, but since then lived in the Midwest, LA, Miami and now in Pennsylvania.
I’ve always been an avid reader, feel naked if there is not a book close by. I began writing poetry in college and pursued that for about thirty years while I pursued a career in science. About 14 years ago I began writing fiction.
2. What books and authors influenced your career?
I’ve read a great deal of science fiction by Arthur C. Clark, Asimov, Ray Bradbury among a host of others.
For horror I’ve read H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King and Algernon Blackwood.
3. Your story, Elmo’s Sojourn, is a space jumping sci-fi story. Do you write other genres?
I also write horror and the occasional poem.
4. How did you come up with the premise of your story?
I belong to a writers group, The Wordwrights, and one of the members writes children’s books. She told us she had to write a story beginning with someone yelling that they have a problem. Couple that with a Far Side cartoon where a wife is looking from a door down into a cellar. In the cellar is her husband with the head of a fly. She’s yelling, “Lunch. Are you still a fly?”
With that in mind I had intended to write a story, Cellar Science, but enjoyed the story so much that I continued and the result was the novella, Elmo’s Sojourn.
INFO ABOUT ELMO’S SOJOURN
Here is a link for an interview I did for Melange Books.
You might learn a little more about me (lucky you) and about Elmo’s Sojourn.
Enjoy.
FEBRUARY RELEASE FOR ELMO’S SOJOURN
Just a little promo for my story being released this month by Melange Books.
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/walttrizna/elmossojourn.html
UPDATE: SECOND CHANCE PUBLISHED BY SEPARATE WORLDS
My short story, Second Chance, is now available in the November/December 2013 anthology published by Separate Worlds as an online publication.
Along with my story you get over 400 pages of horror, science fiction and fantasy along with nonfiction and poetry all for only five dollars. I hope you decide to buy a copy.
Here’s the link.
ELMO’S SOJOURN
My eBook, Elmo’s Sojourn will be published by Melange Books on February 10th.
Here’s the cover.
UPDATE: ELMO’S SOJOURN
Next month my novella, Elmo’s Sojourn, is due to come out as an eBook published by Melange Books.
I’ve been working with Melange on the cover and after some back and forth I think we have the final version. If possible, I’ll post it when I am sure the version is a firm choice.
In the meantime, here’s the blurb to peak your interest.
Elmo, a retired Los Alamos scientist, travels through a wormhole in this science fiction story to the planet Roth where he meets Valmid and his wife Cal. All appears tranquil on the planet but there is disaster visiting the planet which Valmid hopes Elmo would have the answer of how to end. Roth’s females are being abducted and taken to the planet Gylex. Unknown to the inhabitants of Earth, the creatures have also abducted human females in the past, but suddenly stopped their raids. Valmid hopes Elmo can discover why the raids stopped on Earth and help Roth.
A CHRISTMAS STORY OF SORTS
In keeping with the holidays I thought I would share with you the only Christmas story I have written thus far, published by Bewildering Stories in 2007.
Picture a really sick Grinch story without a happy ending.
Read on.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
by Walt Trizna
W** was known for his stories of murder and mayhem. Tales of ghosts and monsters were his claim to meager fame. A member of a writers’ group, he enjoyed sharing his twisted stories with the group and the support they provided. But how could they know, imagine, they were not all stories. W** carried demons of his own. Even his wife did not know the visions, the “truths” that journeyed through his muddled brain.
It was during the November writers’ meeting that the group leader, S**, announced, “In place of our December meeting, I suggest we meet for a holiday dinner. It will be a chance to relax and prepare for the year’s writing ahead.” The approval of the group was unanimous.
Reservations were made and the day of the dinner arrived. It was a rainy evening when W** set out for the restaurant. The back and forth motion of the windshield wipers gave him a slight headache. He was one of the last to arrive, greeted his fellow writers and took his seat next to S**.
The room was large with a single circular table at its center. A curious aspect was the room’s ceiling. It was domed with a most unsettling feature. From one side of the room conversations, even in the softest whisper, were conveyed to the opposite side of this domed affair.
As the meal was served, W** looked across the table to C** and G**, deep in conversation, discussing light matters. Suddenly, the conversation changed. To his disbelief, W** heard them plotting his murder. He clearly heard their voices discussing every detail. W** sat in disbelief while those about him laughed and shared stories. His friends asked if there was anything wrong, for he was visibly shaken. “I’m fine,” he replied and left the restaurant to make plans of his own.
January arrived and it was time for another meeting. S** was the last to arrive. “I have terrible news. C** and G** have met with horrible accidents. They are both dead.”
The group sat there in shock. Disbelief was soon followed by sounds of sorrow and grief.
The year swiftly went by. It was a good year with many of the members being published. Once again, at the November meeting, S** announced the plans for a Christmas dinner. The site would be the same as last year.
W** once again made his way to the restaurant, this time during a light and peaceful snow. He greeted his friends and took his place. Once again, he could hear the whispered conversations from across the room. And once again he heard his murder being plotted: this time it was T** and B** who made the fiendish plot. Once again two members of the group were visited with horrible and fatal accidents.
January found the group deep in sorrow once more. That was five years ago. And for each of those years, a Christmas dinner was held and shortly after, two more members met their demise.
Christmas neared once again, but there would be no Christmas dinner, for the only member remaining was W**. A creature of tradition, W** reserved the domed room for his private dinner. There he sat, alone with no whispering conversations to fill his head.
He gazed around at the empty seats, and his ears perked up. There were voices plotting his murder. Looking out at the overflowing restaurant, he saw a young family that he was sure was plotting his end. A fiendish smile crossed his lips. His work was not yet done.
Copyright © 2007 by Walt Trizna
PUBLISHING UPDATE: SECOND CHANCE HAS A SECOND CHANCE
Separate Worlds is going to publish my short story, Second Chance. The story has already been published by Books To Go Now but is no longer available. For the opportunity to read my story as an eBook from BTGN, you had to pay. Separate Worlds is offering the privilege to enjoy the story for free.
If you still don’t show interest in the story, I guess the next step is to pay you to read it. JUST KIDDING!!
Second Chance is a science fiction story with a twist I hope you do not see coming. I’ll provide a link when it is available.
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