INTERVIEW WITH DAVID PERLMUTTERDavid Perlmutter is a freelance writer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of America Toons In: A History of Television Animation (McFarland and Co.), The Singular Adventures Of Jefferson Ball (Chupa Cabra House), The Pups (Booklocker.com), Certain Private Conversations and Other Stories (Aurora Publishing) Orthicon; or, the History of a Bad Idea (Linkville Press, forthcoming), and The Encyclopedia of American Animated Cartoon Series (Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming.) He can be reached on Facebook at David Perlmutter-Writer, Twitter at @DKPLJW1, and Tumblr at The Musings of David Perlmutter (yesdavidperlmutterfan). Welcome to Scarlet Leaf Review! Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your background. I was born in 1980 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and have lived there my entire life. I have Bachelor’s and Masters degrees in History and a Library Technician certification. Q: Do you think that your school years have had an impact in your writing career? If so, what were you like at school? Yes, they did. I had my first exposure to writing in school, and enjoyed doing it. I also encountered many of the writers who first influenced me in school reading, on my own and for assignments. Since I was rather shy and retiring then, as now, I tended to do a lot more reading then most people on average, and I probably still do. Q: Were you good at English or like Einstein you excel now in a field that was a nightmare for you as a student? English was one of my better subjects, along with History. Q: What are your future ambitions for your writing career? To keep writing and publishing books in fiction and non-fiction forms on a regular basis, as long as I can find publishers willing to underwrite me in this endeavors. Q: So, would you mind telling us what you have written so far? America Toons In: A History of Television Animation (McFarland and Co., 2014) The Singular Adventures Of Jefferson Ball (Chupa Cabra House, 2014) The Pups (Booklocker.com, originally 2009), Certain Private Conversations and Other Stories (Aurora Publishing, 2013) Honey and Salt (Scarlet Leaf Publishing, 2017) Orthicon; or, the History of a Bad Idea (Linkville Press, forthcoming) The Encyclopedia of American Animated Cartoon Series (Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming) Q: Where can we buy or see them? Amazon, Abebooks and the various publisher’s websites. Q: What genre are your books and what draws you to this genre? In fiction, I write in science fiction, fantasy and horror. I find that these forms are not bound to the same sorts of restrictions in terms of expectations that other genres have. Also, they allow me to write narratives and characters that are close in feel and style to the animated television programs that have been my primary cultural influence. Q: Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book? I could name some names, but, because they are television animation voice actors, you’re not likely to have heard of any of them, so why bother? Q: How much research do you do for your books? A lot! Whatever it is, it has to be as accurate as possible, or else the people and things depicted in it will give you hell. Even for stuff that isn’t “real” in the first place. Q: When did you decide to become a writer and why? What was the principal reason for taking up a pen (metaphorical speaking) and write that first sentence? As soon as I realized that animated cartoons were made by actual people, and were not documentary depictions of real places I wanted to visit more than once every week. Q: Do you write full-time or part-time? Do you have a special time to write or do you write every day, 5 days a week or as and when? Part when I am at work at my library job, full otherwise. No particular time, just when I feel I can fit it in without being interrupted. Q: Where do your ideas come from? Or is it just the spur of the moment, a special feeling you experience or a specific conjuncture that offers you inspiration? Some sort of union between what I watch on television and read, and the desire to fix any and all of the “mistakes” I felt had been made by the writers in doing their work. Q: How do you think you’ve evolved creatively? I have a stronger sense of moral purpose about my work than I used to do, as well as a stronger sense of humor, and a stronger sense that I seem to know about things other people don’t know about at all, since I have to explain some of the more obscure references I put into my work sometimes. Q: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you? For longer works I have an outline; for shorter things, I wing it as much as I can. Q: In your opinion, what is the hardest thing about writing? Not getting paid a regular and dependable weekly salary for doing it. Q: Now, what about the easiest thing about writing? Being the boss of everything and everybody I write about. Q: Do you ever get writer’s Block and if so do you have any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block? Keep exposing yourself to new things culturally. The more you expose yourself to other people’s ideas, the more you’ll figure out how to do those same things yourself. Q: Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors? For your own reading, do you prefer eBooks or traditional paper/hard back books? I read considerably. I am a paper book person, and will be so forever. Particular favorite authors who have influenced me are many, but a small list would include: Robert Bloch, Jack London, Mark Twain, Philip Jose Farmer, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Sherwood Anderson, Lawrence Block, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, Joe Lansdale and Ring Lardner Sr. Q: What book/s are you reading at present? The collected stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, in the three volume Library of America edition. Q: Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you? I do much of my own proofreading and editing, with some assistance from my mother on non-fiction works. Q: Do you let the book stew – leave it for a month and then come back to it to edit? I let it stew when I first draft it. When it’s finished the way I want it like that, that’s when I type. Q: Who edited your last book and how did you select him/her? It was edited by an editor chosen by the publisher. Q: Tell us about the covers of your books. How did it/they come about? I try to tell the publisher what I want, and they try to find an artist who can make it work. Q: Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process? Not terribly, but it can sway some people, so it can’t be glossed over. Q: What would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around? With self-publishing, you have to promote everything yourself, and that’s hard if you are, like me, an introverted, insecure person at heart. With mainstream publishing, they take care of promotion, and you just have to do what they tell you to do, and you let them, because it’s their business and not yours. Q: What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews? Good reviews help you get what you want as a writer. Bad reviews ruin entire careers. Q: Did you get interviewed by local press/radio for your book launch? No. I have been strongly ignored by the media in Winnipeg for most of my writing career so far, although I don’t think I did or said anything that caused that. Q: Why do you think that other well written books just don’t sell? Because the publisher didn’t help the author to promote their work enough in a positive way. Or, if they published it themselves, they didn’t do a good enough job promoting it. Q: How do you relax? Reading. Q: What is your favorite book and why? “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London. The book that truly turned me on to adult reading, and the author whose life and work I have admired the most, and whose commitment to sparse but vivid storytelling and social justice I have attempted to honor in my own work. Q: Where can you see yourself in 5 years-time? Doing what I am doing right now- reading, writing and working. Possibly I might get paid more, better and more often as well. Q: What advice would you give to your younger self? You will get through all of this. Do not be bewildered by any of it- it is all normal and commonplace. Q: Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He seems to me to be the only person in the modern world who completely understood the true meaning of peace and racial brotherhood. We all could have learned a great deal more from him had he not been so tragically taken from us. Q: If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why? Any of Jack London’s. He wrote anything and everything he felt like doing, and he did it without being pretentious, because he was a man from low origins who nevertheless was more perceptive that most of his more learned contemporaries. Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers? Keep doing it. You won’t get it the first time you do it, but eventually it’ll come, and you’ll be glad it did. Q: Where do you see publishing going in the future? Wherever it wants. I’ll have to keep up with it regardless. Q: How can readers discover more about you and you work? Blog: yesdavidperlmutterfan (Tumblr) Facebook: David Perlmutter- Writer Twitter: @DKPLJW1 LInkedin: David Perlmutter Amazon Author Page: Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview. NEW RELEASE:  Bravery comes in all forms: fighting bullies and fighting your own demons. Honey and Salt is a superhero novella that will draw you in the just fight of a few super heroines. The story is packed with action and humor. Their quest against evil superheroes and against their own weaknesses is refreshing. You can identify with them and embrace their battles. 
0 Comments
INTERVIEW WITH MONA ILLINGWORTH & DANIEL ANDREWS  Both Mona Illingworth and Daniel Andrews underwent a medical doctor training. Nonetheless, they have managed to retain a strong and fulfilling relationship with the nature, connection which began in the country during early childhood. In order to hand over their knowledge, as well as the humankind thousands-years old in-formation about the nature, they created the Bees' Products Series. "Honey - The Nature's Gold Recipes for Health" represents the first volume. The second volume is already in the making. They hope this series will make a difference in people's life. Welcome to Scarlet Leaf Review! Q: Tell us a little about yourself and your background. Mona: Hi! Thank you so much for having Daniel and me for an interview. We do appreciate it. Now, there are so many things to be said about myself. Let me see! First of all, I’m a young woman, full of energy and ideas. I love reading, cooking, travelling, but above all, I love nature in all its wonderful expressions. Together with Daniel, I enjoy taking long walks on fields, through forests, or beaches. These are long walks, for we often stop to admire a tiny insect, the fresh blossom of a flower or to follow the majestic flight of a bird. My professional field is a bit less poetic, for as a medical doctor, I deal daily with various ailments of the people. However, the relief we manage to bring to people many times represent a satisfaction in itself. Daniel: My background is pretty similar to Mona’s: we both spent lots of time at the countryside during our childhood, and we chose the same profession. As Mona has pointed out, we indulge in lengthy strolls, and we like to acknowledge everything around us. We share the same passion for reading, travelling and cooking, and I also enjoy a good old-fashioned fight on my computer. Q: So, would you mind telling us what you have written so far? Mona: We have started with a pretty interesting and fully packed with information book about honey. The name says it all: Honey The Nature’s Gold Recipes for Health. Anyway, putting together so many recipes for such a high number of ailments required a good deal of time and energy. It was sometimes a challenge to synthesize the information, but also a joy to write down so many captivating facts about these tiny insects, capable of such a complex and intricate social organization. Daniel: We are particularly satisfied of having included the precautions and adverse effects in the recipes, so that these can be safely used. That was an absent part in the naturist books I laid hand until now. And we found the inclusion of preparation time and difficulty, as well as the layout of the recipes as a whole quite helpful. Actually, this book is the first from a series regarding bees’ products Q: What are your future ambitions for your writing career? Mona: We are planning to continue the book series about bees. There are so many fascinating things to share about them and their products! Daniel: We are also playing with the idea of including practical and fashionable things in one of our future books, such as a fairly elaborated cosmetic book based on natural ingredients. Later on, there are so many other topics we are keen to tap into. Q: Where can we buy or see them? Mona: Well, you can find our book as a print in kindle format on Amazon. Daniel: And Ingram Spark is also a good place to start. Q: What are you working on at the minute? What’s it about? Mona: As promised in our book, Honey The Nature’s Gold, we have begun the next book in the series. Daniel: It is also about bees’ products, and for the time being we are in the research phase. Q: What genre are your books and what draws you to this genre? Mona: I’m afraid I’m a bit eclectic when it comes to books. I enjoy as much a Balzac’s book, as I savor an Agatha Christie’s book or one of Asimov’s books. I think I’m the inquiring type and I just like to have a finger in every pie. Daniel: I too enjoy lots of genres of books: crimes, science-fiction, fantasy, and classic books just to name a few. Like Mona I prefer to keep an open mind and gather as many information as possible. And to enjoy the things in the process! Q: When did you decide to become a writer and why? What was the principal reason for taking up a pen (metaphorical speaking) and write that first sentence? Mona: Daniel and I had often remarked how much had been lost or simply ignored from the ancient wisdom and connection with nature. Daniel: There are actually so many wonderful things in the nature to be known and used. Mona and I, as medical doctors and keepers of some of this knowledge, we decided to offer parts of these to other people so that hopefully a larger and larger number of people will benefit from it. Q: Tell us about the covers of your books. How did it come about? Mona: From the beginning, we agreed there had to be a bee on the cover, for the bees are, actually, the essential actors when it comes to honey. Daniel: And as we both love lavender, a field with lots of it seemed the best idea. We also find the poppies on the back cover a nice touch. Q: Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process? Mona: Some would say it is fundamental. I like a good cover too, but this has never been the main incentive for buying a book. I’ m more interested in the title of the book. Daniel: I think for many it is quite important a good, catchy cover. Indeed, it is the very first thing one sees, before reading the title. So, accordingly, and also for the sake of our book’s beauty, we spent much time on deciding the right cover. And the right one we found! Q: What are your thoughts on good/bad reviews? Mona: Good reviews are the vital food for any writer. We hope we’ll enjoy lots of them. Now, regarding the bad ones, what can I say? People are very different. What’s pretty good for one is uninteresting for the next one, or even unpalatable for another one. Daniel: I totally agree with Mona. However, I’m pretty confident we’ll receive our fair share of good reviews. Q: Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included? Mona: We truly believe our series, and particularly our first book, Honey The Nature’s Gold Recipes for Health, will cover a missing segment in the natural medicine domain, specifically the bridge between it and the modern medicine. And I hope you’ll enjoy it and benefit from it. Daniel: Well, I have a single thing to add: Enjoy! Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview. NEW BOOK RELEASE:   Honey and Health - they go hand in hand. The book brings in the foreground the multiple benefits of honey. The nature' s gold stands out because of its multiple therapeutic characteristics, in particular the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial features. These properties play a significant role in preventing aging and averting and treating degenerative, as well as chronic conditions, such as cardio-vascular and pulmonary diseases. By regular consumption, honey also boosts the immune system, so that it helps in preventing and treating infections. Overall, honey consumption reduces fatigue and is one of the most effective energizers in nature. The book represents a guide with numerous recipes for many conditions, also briefly and simply depicted. The authors never tired to warn about the importance of precisely following the recipes, and kept advising that the treatment should be applied under medical supervision. We hope you will appreciate the information presented and will take advantage of the nature's gold benefits shortly.  LITERATURE IS THE ATOMIC BOMB BY ROBIN WYATT DUNN  Robin Wyatt Dunn lives in a state of desperation engineered by late capitalism, within which his mind is a mere subset of a much larger hallucination wherein men are machines, machines are men, and the world and everything in it are mere dreams whose eddies and currents poets can channel briefly but cannot control. Perhaps it goes without saying that he lives in Los Angeles. LITERATURE IS THE ATOMIC BOMB Literature is the atomic bomb, launched every day, and devastating cities and empires across the earth. It cannot be stopped. Like the bomb, literature-people find they have very little room to negotiate: this power backs us into a corner, and we, frothing at the mouth, can only point to our pen. Still, North Korea and Iran aren't stupid: they know literature (and the atomic bomb) is the only thing that will save them in this dog eat dog world, and since I am fortunate to be a nuclear scientist, I give my knowledge away freely (or sometimes for five bucks) to the world, in the hopes that we will all become more heavily armed with dangerous weapons, and so that, if not my children (I have none), then at least some fortunate brat somewhere will coalesce his mighty and small brain around a deserving comeuppance: even if he be fired and enslaved like me, forced to work for his daily bread by uncaring tyrants, who rob, cheat and humiliate him, even if this unlucky brat has all manners of horrors visited upon him, I will have provided him with the red button, which, like the gadget in Will Smith's eager little Hollywood thumb, can wipe not only individual minds but whole continents clean, denuding them of hypocrisy, lies, and fear. I sell the brave stuff; like whiskey, brewed at a reasonable rate, and like Jack Daniels, "each day we make it we'll make it the best we can." TWO NEW POETRY BOOKS BY ROBIN WYATT DUNN  “Remarriages” is for the outcast and the disappointed. Dark poems riding wildly through the mind of an angry man who both loves and hates the world. The words reveal a bitter struggle to reconcile with the horrors and the violence inherent in the world. Dunn’s poetry is psychological and raw, with a delicate balance between light and darkness. Dunn’s poems are valiant in expressing the darkness many fear, yet others embrace. Some of his poems nudge the reader to take time to examine the bizarre existence we call life. Roxana Nastase   Sunsborne pitches darkly into another world. Often the world and characters is hazy, but ''Sunsborne'' is a true picture of the reality, conflict and tensions. In the midst of a conflict torn situation there is love. Robin Wyatt Dunn presents an uncanny story of past and present, darkness and light. His way with language and its thick opacity create a stunning impact on the mind. If you are looking for ''meanings'', leave it. If you are looking for legerdemain stunts, leave it. But if you are looking for a fabulous world, in mythic settings, here it is, in the manner that only Dunn can achieve - credulity climaxing into incredible and fascinating story. Ananya S Guha Shillong, INDIA.  |
 ISSN 2369-8446
To bring joy to readers everywhere. Archives
June 2023
Categories
All
http://roxananastase.weebly.com/
|
