I get SMACKED by Bibliorati!

by Tommy Hancock

Before we walk into the interrogation room that is The Smack, single light bulb hanging from the ceiling swinging back and forth and all, an administrative note.  These interviews will alternate at times in style.  Some will be, as was the debut last week, done in a more newspaper story, article style.  Others, just because of the spirit of the question and the one providing the answers, simply demand to be presented in their raw interrogation like form.  The style for every interview is chosen on what will serve the information and the interviewee best.  With that in mind, step inside the dungy green/gray room with this week’s suspect and enjoy as writer Sean Taylor Gets SMACKED!

First, tell readers about yourself personally.

I’m a father of three awesome kids ranging from 18-21, one girl and two boys, Charis, Evan, and Jack. Charis is the first to follow in my footsteps as a writer, with both a comic book story and a pulp short story to her credit as of now. My wife, Lisa, is a beautiful and multilingual woman who teaches both Spanish and French for one of the local high schools. I grew up reading illustrated classics (the abridged kind with a drawing on every other page) before reading the originals, and also gorging myself on comics ranging from Legion of Super Heroes to Ghosts and The House of Mystery. I hate long walks on the beach, but I love playing my guitar around a bonfire. I’ve also been in bands for years and even played onstage once with Kansas’ Kerry Livgren and several times with the Newsboys. My most embarrassing memory is of having to cancel a date because I fell down an elevator shaft while in college. And no, the girl didn’t believe me until I showed her my swollen leg and ankle a day or two later.

Read the full interview: http://www.bibliorati.com/single-post/2017/02/20/The-Smack-Sean-Taylor

The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now #299 -- My Writing Goals (Or introducing Sean 2.0)

 What are you goals as a writer?

My writing goal for this year is to finish up all my short story and novella commitments and then next year not to write any short stories at all -- just to focus on novels and a few digest novels.

Why? Two reasons, mainly.

The first is that I have so much to offer on my table when I go to a convention that I'm crossing over into other writers' tables too. When five of us offer the same books, how is one to make any money to justify the trip to one's family? I plan to eliminate all the multi-table stuff from my convention table and then focus solely on work that is completely my own period. I'll still stock my short story collection, novels, and digest novels, but not the books in which I'm one of a group of writers. 

The second thing this frees me up to do is to work on crime/mystery novels for my own imprint with a mid-publisher and three mainsteam novels that I hope will be more marketable to the publishing business at large. (Or paying short story gigs. I'll always have a place in my schedule for a job that's pays upfront or even upon release -- just not so much space for back-end jobs anymore.) I enjoy writing for small and medium presses. I really do. And I will continue to do so as my time permits, but it's time for me to get serious about my career as an author. 

I have a vast network of connections and if I had the work ethic up to this point that I should have had as a writer, I should be a heck of a lot further along than I am now. In addition to the small and medium press work, I should have at least three books that I'm shopping around to mainstream publishers who can perhaps make my "brand" more profitable. 

A buddy of mine (thanks for the kick in the butt, Frank) posted something online the other day about how we get what we have worked for and that all the inspirational quotes in the world won't change that.
So this is it. This is me taking that advice to heart and making a change in my writing career. 

If I owe you a story, you'll have it before the end of the year, and many of you prior to that based on deadlines. But once that's done, I most likely won't be joining any anthologies for a while, except for a project that just really resonates (or characters that I own or co-own -- you know who you are, Rick Ruby and Spy Candy) and that I can work in to my paid and novel writing schedule. Of course, for those characters I'll most likely be working on novels or digest novels already, so that might be a moot point in all actuality.

Get ready for Sean 2.0 (or 4.0 or whatever we're up to now). He can't wait to be unboxed and let loose on the world.

PARTNERS IN NEW PULP AND GENRE FICTION -- PRO SE PRODUCTIONS AND THE PULP PROJECT

Known as a cutting edge publisher of New Pulp and Genre Fiction, Pro Se Productions, continually looking to expand the variety of its catalog and bring the best packaging possible to the books it publishes, announces a new partnership with The Pulp Project.

The Pulp Project is a collaboration of Colorado’s most talented photographers, models, artists, and designers, coming together to create Pulp inspired photography in the studio and on location. Headed by Austin Welch, The Pulp Project has produced and plans to continue to create images definitely inspired by both the medium of Pulp Fiction as well as the style of Pulp, which long outlived the original magazine format.

The association of Pro Se and The Pulp Project means that Pro Se Productions will be utilizing images produced by The Pulp Project as covers for appropriate books and collections as well as Pro Se Single Shot digital singles and Single Shot Signature series. When a Pro Se work requires a cover and a Pulp Project image matches said story or book, then Pro Se will utilize the image as a cover. Also, plans are in the works for covers to be designed and created by The Pulp Project for specific Pro Se works. Thirdly, collections and/or complete novels will, in the future, be built around Pulp Project existing photographs.

“One of the best parts,” says Tommy Hancock, Pro Se Editor in Chief and Partner in the company, “of being a part of Pro Se Productions is when neat things like this happen. We’ve always known our interest in Pulp and Genre Fiction was shared by many, that others have the same passion we do. When we find those people, those groups who are expressing that in their own way, in a fashion that not only we can utilize, but where there can be mutual benefit, it’s almost an innate action to see how the two entities can work together. The Pulp Project is an exciting prospect, something that I wish we saw more of in this field. The bringing together of models/actors, photographers, cinematographers, and more to produce a singular image that is a story all by itself. To have the opportunity to put these works of modern Pulp art on Pro Se books, it’s really one of the reasons I enjoy doing what I do.”

The first image from The Pulp Project to be used for a Pro Se Productions title will act as the cover for author Sean Taylor’s upcoming Single Shot Signature Series Spy Candy. It will be featured on the digital singles as well as the print collection produced when the series ends.

For more information concerning this press release or interviews with those involved, contact Morgan McKay, Pro Se’s Director of Corporate Operations, at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about The Pulp Project, go to https://www.facebook.com/thepulpproject.

For more information on Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.