Greetings! As I write this, I’m getting ready to publish “Ace Carroway and the Growling Death,” the fourth slim book in the Ace Carroway series. On this auspicious occasion, I’d like to introduce the main characters, one by one. I’ll post every couple of days until we’re through the list. By the time I reach the last post, it ought to be about May 5, and the book will be available for purchase.

Here to help me start things off is my fake interviewer, Mr. Bigg Faquir, abbreviated herein as “FAQ.” He looks a little bit like Boris Karloff in a turban.

GW: Greetings, Mr. Faquir.

FAQ: Tell us little bit about yourself.

GW: I’m a bloke. He/him. I live in the dry part of Washington State.

FAQ: That’s it? That’s the “elevator pitch?” You’re not very good at back-cover blurbs, I take it.

GW: Terrible.

FAQ: …

GW: All right, I’ll try harder. I’m a professor of astrophysics at Washington State University, specializing in galaxy evolution, especially the creation and distribution of the various chemical elements.

FAQ: …

GW: …

FAQ: Moving on, then. Do you have any training as a writer?

GW: Nope! Just what I gleaned in school to start. In my day job I write a lot, but it’s technical writing. As soon as I started contemplating publishing fiction for general consumption, I had to learn a huge amount in a short time. I joined several writer’s groups, bought self-help books, and found a couple of support groups online. It’s a good thing I like learning, because creative writing and technical writing are worlds apart.

FAQ: House?

GW: Gryffindor. Subcategory Neville Longbottom, of course.

FAQ: Naturally. What are your books about? Ace sounds like a card in a poker game more than astrophysics.

GW: Cecilia “Ace” Carroway has a sense of humor, but she’s not really a card. She is an actual Ace, though, in the sense of having downed more than five enemy planes in the Great War. She’s a very well-educated young woman, clearly destined to be a hero. The books are about the adventures of Ace Carroway and her five associates as they travel the world, solving mysteries and fighting crime.

FAQ: The way you said that, it sounds a little corny.

GW: It’s pulp fiction, or at least has that flavor. Think wild plots with exaggerated characters. It’s written for teens, so it’s clean, but I’m finding that older readers appreciate a fast, clean read, too.

FAQ: What’s the setting?

GW: 1920s. But it’s not quite the earth we know. It’s altered from true history. It’s got airships, undiscovered lands, and the status of women is a little higher than the actual.

FAQ: How many books are out?

GW: Three. The fourth coming very soon.

FAQ: More on the way?

GW: I’ve drafted seven.

FAQ: Good grief.

GW: Erm. They’re short.

FAQ: When do you find time to do all that?

GW: That’s seasonally dependent and day job dependent. The short answer is, for the most part, the hour or two before I go to bed. Editing takes a lot longer than writing the first draft. The turtle wins the race, as they say.

FAQ: Is seven the end? When are you going to stop?

GW: Well, the story arc, such as it is, wraps up in about ten. I’ll evaluate whether to write more after Darko Dor gets some comeuppance.

FAQ: Darko Dor is a character? List your characters.

GW: Stick with me through the next couple of weeks. The upcoming blog entries comprise a tour of the characters. One character per post.

FAQ: Is it time for the limerick, yet?

GW: Yes. Each entry concludes with a limerick.

 

Today’s limerick.

 

Ace and her crew never shrink

From danger, and never rethink

The rash high speed chase

Or risky crime case.

Their motto could be “never blink.”

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Interview 2 (Ace) – Interview 3 (Darko Dor) – Interview 4 (Gooper) – Interview 5 (Tombstone) – Interview 6 (Sam) – Interview 7 (Bert) – Interview 8 (Quack) – Interview 9 (Mrs. Figgins)

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