Bad Girls, Good Guys, and Two-Fisted Action: Imaginarium

Showing posts with label Imaginarium. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Sharing the Sickness: A Few Words with Peter Welmerink

Part 3 of my series of “Cool People I Met at Imaginarium.”

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

TRANSPORT. It is a post-POST apocalyptic military thriller (I like action-adventure better. L. Andrew Cooper called it zombie fantasy) about Captain Jake Billet, his crew of military misfits and their 72-ton heavy transport vehicle, the HURON. In 2025, we’re still here after the 2013 bird flu pandemic. The undead are still here, some even protected by local law.

In TRANSPORT (Book One), Captain Jake Billet and his crew must covertly bring a much-hated government official roughly 40 miles across West Michigan while avoiding everything and everyone who desires to stop, kill, eat and dismember them along the way. Not necessarily in that order.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I’d say the themes of most my stories is the HERO JOURNEY and/or ROAD NARRATIVE. I also enjoy something that gets up and moves you, is action packed, adventure driven, but delivers characters who are also enjoyable to read, to laugh and cry with. The human element in a fantastical setting.

What would be your dream project?

My dream project would be a project so awesome and rewarding that I could quit my day job and write for a living, and survive. Yet, I feel I AM LIVING THE DREAM by being able to support my family with day job while doing what I love (writing) during whatever bits of available minutes I can scrounge.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

BEDLAM UNLEASHED, an Epic Fantasy, Viking berserker novel co-written with the talented Steven Shrewsbury. It was published. We didn’t pursue a new contract with the publisher when contract expired. I would love to see it brought to alive again with another publisher who, with our support, do it real justice.

I would just like to see this very fun, and brutal, and lively, Viking adventure available to the masses again.

And who knows, perhaps we could pursue the follow up book or two we were plotting to keep our giant brain-addled berserker smashing through Europe.

What inspires you to write?

The inspiration to write comes from a desire to tell stories, and adventure in make-believe worlds with make-believe characters. Writing, and being read, inspires me to write. Seeing the growing piles of books Steven Shrewsbury and Michael West have written inspires me to write.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Robert E Howard. RA Salvatore. David Drake. Chuck Wendig.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Neither. It is a sickness. I need to write or my head will explode. If I can’t sit down and write for several days, I get itchy and squeamish. I need to write because it is therapeutic, a break from the mundane, something and somewhere I can go when it is just me and a blank page.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I am part of upcoming Horror anthology in which the authors involved need to write an Animal vs. Humankind story. I am writing something about ROADKILL. I have heard ramblings about other stories, with statements made like “otter porn” (not what you are thinking) and hamsters in space vs. astronauts in suspended animation. It sounds like there will be some Dark Humor/Comedy in this antho. I have also heard someone jokingly comment: “This is wrong on so many levels.”

For more information about Peter:

My blogs:
TRANSPORT (current novel series) related: grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com
Author Interviews and other sundries: darkheroicfantasy.blogspot.com

Website:
www.peterwelmerink.com

Twitter: @pwelmerink

Latest book available:

TRANSPORT (Book One)
Kindle ebook edition
http://amzn.to/1tWk1XB

Paperback
http://amzn.to/1ytfz7b

Miscellaneous e-short stories:
http://amzn.to/1rnjITN

Thursday, September 25, 2014

A Rose Among the Pages

Part One of my "Cool People I Met at Imaginarium" series...

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

In my first novel, The Bearkeeper, there is a troupe of Shakespearean actors who (due to an unnatural condition) have been alive since before the time of Shakespeare. Some of them are more famous than they are letting on. The sequel, Children of Stone, deals with their backstory: who they are, how they came together, and how they learned to only pretend to kill each other, instead of for real.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

The theme of being an outsider comes up again and again, as does time, history, and the illusory quality of what we (as individuals and as a society) think we know. There are also undercurrents of surrealism and absurdity in much of what I write, and how people actually deal with extraordinary circumstances.

What would be your dream project?

To invent a time machine so I can go talk about art, cats and guns with William S. Burroughs. And then send a babbling, poorly-scrawled letter to my 1990's self, postmarked from his Kansas residence, just for the hilarious mindf*ck that would ensue.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

As with many, I would rewrite my first novel. But not heavily. My first novel isn't bad, you see; it's just that continuity is a harsh mistress, and I would like to make things easier on myself with the sequels.

What inspires you to write?

The unusual combination of reading non-fiction and having an overactive imagination. It's weird.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

I consider Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut the angel and devil on my shoulders, though I wasn't aware of their influence until it was too late.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

I would put it in a different position on a sliding scale for each author. But there has to be a balance. Too far into Art, and it's a hot mess, and too far into Science, and it's got no soul.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I've got a month to whip up something for Blackwyrm Publishing's Reel Dar anthology. I'll be riffing on my favorite film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. There's no guarantee it'll make the final cut, but their project looks fascinating, and people should keep and eye out for its release.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Imaginarium -- The Birth of a Truly Literary Focused Convention

The Imaginarium Convention I attended this past weekend is unlike any other convention I've been a guest for. Why? Because this one was all about writers and their creative works. Rather than short-sheeting the folks who create the stories readers love, Imaginarium chose instead to honor them and put them on display.

Were there some obstacles to overcome? Of course. Any con will have them. Particularly any first-year con. But with plans in place to stomp them into dust, Imaginarium is one of the cons I'm most looking forward to hitting again as a guest -- as often as the awesome folks there will have me.

What rocked?

For starters, the staff. Stephen Zimmer, Susan Roddey, and their team of evil minions made me feel right at home from the get-go. They seem to have a knack for anticipating issues and already be working on them before someone like me could even approach them to let them know the issue existed.

Also, the guest list was like a family reunion for me. It's often been said that you have two families -- the family you're born with and the family you choose to surround yourself with. This family is the one that I've made my own and has welcomed me into the madness we all share.

So, thank you to all who made it awesome from the bottom of my heart. My “booth babes” (daughter Charis Taylor and friend Ellie Raine) and I had a great time, from hanging with friends new and old to shaking out booties on the Masquerade Dance Floor.

Can't wait for next year!

And now for the photos...