Today we're visiting with author S. R. Howen on her tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the paranormal horror story with romantic elements, "Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time".
The author will award a $10 GC to Wild Child Publishing to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour, so comment today AND follow her tour (if you click on the banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops)! The more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a really cool prize!
Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
I never really chose a genre to write in. When I had an agent, he asked me what genre I would place my book in. I had to think on that. When I write a story I don’t start out thinking, oh, this is romance, or mystery, or horror. The story dictates what it wants to be. Maybe my muse knows, but they don’t let me know until the first evil spirit shows up, or we make the leap to hyper drive, or we tumble through time.
For me the draw to writing is the discovery of the story. But my favorite genres are the ones that contain an air of mysticism and the spirit world. The ones that explore the deeper, darker recesses of the human soul.
What research (or world-building) is required?
It doesn’t matter what genre you write in, you build a world. Even if the story takes place on main street, small town America, you build the world around your characters. Research is the backbone to creating a realistic story. Even if I lived on main street in small town America, I would make sure I knew the streets and the settings of the story in detail. Get the facts right and make the reader feel as if they have stepped on board the space ship, or into the bank of a small town and you have won the reader over and will kee them interested, while one wrong fact can have them tossing the book.
Name one thing you learned from your hero.
In the case of Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time, the Main character Shannon Running Deer is drawn into his past and the prehistoric past of his people. He has to come to terms with his past in order to save the future. While nothing so dramatic and all encompassing, I think I did come to the realization that we are all products of our parents and grandparents no matter how much we fight that as teens and adults. There comes a day when we look in the mirror and go, wow, I am like my (insert your greatest influence here). Like my hero in Medicine Man I I let go of the idea that I had ot be what other thought I should be an embraced who I am and who my past made me into.
Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?
Every story I write has its own soundtrack. Most times I start out with one song and build from there. I have no idea if the music dictates the story, or if the story calls for the music. Since I work on a number of things at once, all I have to do is put the track on and I sink into the world of that story.
I also wear noise canceling ear buds so I don’t hear anything other than the soundtrack. We have a door bell that would wake the dead, can’t even hear that. I have ot have a cup of pens and a stack of index cards, though I have not used them in years, I twitch and can’t write if they are not there at least when I am writing at home. If I'm out with the laptop it doesn’t seem to matter. I can leave the music or the pens, but at home I need those things.
Are you a plotter or pantser?
Pantser. That term to me is odd, feels like it’s a bad thing. Oh, you just fly by the seat of your pants and hope it turns out? I prefer the term "organic". This is such a huge thing among writers, a gigantic source of debate. As I stated above I have no idea where a story is going, or who the characters are, or event he genre when I sit down to write, I often have a name, (or the main character), a song, and maybe a location and that’s it when I start. Do I stall out on stories? Heck no. In 40 years of writing, I’ve only stalled on one story, lost interest and quit. It was my first mystery and I thought I had to plot it out—it didn’t work. My muse said blah we have already told the story move on and he ran away. (Yes, I see my muse as being male) .
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
Buddy, the raccoon. Seriously. I have a wildlife rescue and rehab. LOL
Anything new coming up from you? What?
Upcoming I have a traditional fantasy romance, a very different story from Medicine Man I. And of course the second book in the Medicine Man series, Raven. I’ve also written an erotic-romance/mystery that I am looking for an agent for.
Do you have a question for our readers?
Have you gotten your copy of Medicine Man I yet?
Shannon Running Deer is American Indian by blood, he has forsaken his people's ancient ways to embrace the "modern" world as a wealthy, highly successful trauma surgeon.
His comfortable existence begins to unravel when, seemingly by chance, Shannon finds himself gradually drawn into the past. Pursued by an ancient evil, he knows he can change the future, if he can survive the past.
In the tradition of Diana Gabaldon, S.R. Howen's MEDICINE MAN is a distinctive and atmospheric novel full of spirituality, mystical time travel, passion, and suspense.
The teapot shrilled, and Morning Dove’s voice came from the doorway. “I am very tired.”
I took a mug from the shelf above the sink. From a different cupboard, I took down the box of nighttime tea I kept there. I added water and tea to the mug and watched the steam for a moment, before I held it out to her.
“It will help you sleep,” I said when she just looked at the cup.
“I have had enough white-man’s medicines put into me already.” Her eyes flashed with what I took for humor.
“This is a mixture of natural herbs, no preservatives, no artificial colorings, no caffeine. . . ”
With a smile, she took the cup. Her fingers brushed against mine, sending an electric chill along my nerves. I led the way to my study and turned on the gas fireplace. Morning Dove went to the thick sheepskin rug in front of it and sat down. While she sipped the tea, I went to the closet and retrieved a pillow and some blankets. I paused with them in hand to watch her. She sat in the terry robe and held the mug in both hands. She took a small sip and stared into the fire.
Her hair hung down over the robes back in a glimmering wet curtain. One corner of the robe slipped down to reveal her shoulder. I wanted to sink to the floor and wrap myself around her. With a grunt, I pulled myself away from thoughts of intimacy with her. I covered the couch with a sheet and punched the pillow a few times--to fluff it.
The gate buzzer sounded loudly in the silent room. What nut would be out on a night like this unless they had to be? I pulled the door to the study shut and went to answer the gate intercom.
No one answered. When I turned away from it, thinking the storm had made it go off, it buzzed again. Loud and insistent. I jabbed the button.
“Who’s there?”
I heard nothing in return except the thunder rumbling overhead. I pulled open the front door. Down the drive, through the sheets of rain, it looked like a set of round headlights on the other side of the gate. My brother’s Jeep?
I reached back inside and pushed the button to open the gate.
Lightening cracked so bright I couldn’t see for a moment. I blinked back the brightness, tried to blink it away again.
It didn’t help. The deer filling my driveway didn’t go away. They ran past the house in a steady stream, an entire herd. Where had they come from? The drums sounded behind me.
For more than 12 years, S.R. Howen has been an editor at Wild Child Publishing and Freya’s Bower. She also runs workshops on how to craft a winning synopsis and query letter. Over the last few months S.R. Howen has been working on Medicne Man 2: Raven, as well as a second Forge book for Freya's Bower under the pen name Shaunna Wolf. She is also working on an epic fantasy series of books, and a Erotic Romance set in the 1980’s. Under her pen name Vic Ross she is working on a SciFi humor series.
A former military brat, then military spouse, and a traditional naturalist, S.R. Howen currently lives in Texas, with a dozen cats (three of them the non-domestic sort) two squirrles, one raccoon, one dog, and her daughter. She works with wilf life rehab and rescue as well as running a cat shelter and rescue. For more info on her and her works please visit her web site or her facebook page.
Contacts and Buy Links:
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Wild Child Publishing): http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106&products_id=404
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Ebook): http://www.amazon.com/The-Chief-Time-Medicine-ebook/dp/B009Z2R3BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353081294&sr=8-1&keywords=medicine+man+howen
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Print) : http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Man-The-Chief-Time/dp/1617980714/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1353081294&sr=8-2&keywords=medicine+man+howen
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Ebook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-sr-howen/1113712670?ean=2940015913316
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Print): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-i-s-r-howen/1113795431?ean=9781617980718
Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Kobo ): http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Chief-of-All-Time/book-_hYNNKIra06osXQdjttbtg/page1.html?s=vNIlqpUbIUaJ6gin-i4ZOA&r=1
Blog: Critters at the Keyboard http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/
Author Web page: http://srhowen.wix.com/srhowen-1#!home/mainPage
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/srhowen
Facebook Author’s Page: http://www.facebook.com/srhowen1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRHowen
Thank you for hosting today.
ReplyDeleteFabulous interview, Shawn. What I like about your interviews is that I am constantly learning something new about you even though I've known you for, um, 12 years. (g)
ReplyDeleteMarci
Marci I think it's been longer than 12 years, we've been back from Germany for 12 yrs now. Think it's closer to 14 or 15?
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.