Interview With Author Lloyd Mullins
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up on a tree farm in Indiana, and spent 20 years in the Air Force. Since retiring, I’ve moved with my wife, the lovely and talented Jess, back to my family farm, held a lot of (mostly terrible) jobs, gotten my BA and MFA in Creative Writing, and currently make ends meet working as a writing consultant at a local university. I’ve written two books: the first, Thumperica! A Novel of the Ghost of America Future, is a very dark dystopian satire (think Orwell & Atwood meet Monty Python & Quentin Tarantino). It’s a weird little book, but I think it’s pretty funny. Of course, there’s always the possibility that there’s something very wrong with me.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, A Rare and Dangerous Beast, is an historical novel set in the Old West. It was inspired in general by my love of westerns and historical fiction, and specifically by several books that I read in fairly close succession: The Life of George Bent, by George E. Hyde, A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek by Ari Kelman, Wyoming Range War by John W. Davis, Thunder on the Mountains by Daniel Sharfstein, and Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce by Kent Nerburn. They were about (respectively) a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, the Johnson County War, and the Nez Perce War. It occurred to me that one person could have gone through all of those (he would have to be either extremely lucky or extremely unlucky!).
Then I thought about using a Russian immigrant as a protagonist, in order to have him enter the U.S. through California during the gold rush, thereby skipping the whole trip across the continent that most of these stories use. During my research, I discovered the Buriat people, and the Decembrists (failed Russian revolutionaries who revered the American founding fathers, and Enlightenment philosophy). Having a half-Russian, half-Buriat main character who was versed in that philosophy, and who would be well-versed in horsemanship, archery, and could be mistaken for white, native American, Chinese, or a mix of those. I wanted a protagonist who could fit in just about anywhere, but not really belong.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Only bad ones, to be honest. I don’t write every day. I also pretty much have to be completely finished with whatever I’ve finished (like marketing) before I can really concentrate on anything new.
I also tend to pretty much figure everything out in my head before I actually write anything, then write it all down as fast as I can, before I forget anything important.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh man, there are so many. Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man novels, George Macdonald Frazer’s Flashman novels, the works of Alistair MacLean, Henry Fielding, Dashiell Hammett, Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Schaefer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Margaret Atwood, Sinclair Lewis, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Upton Sinclair, non-fiction by Erik Larson, Stephen Ambrose, Dee Brown, Cornelius Ryan, Robert Utley, philosophy by Hannah Arendt, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Paine (don’t be too impressed. Mostly I just try to understand what they’re saying). And those are just ones that spring to mind. Honestly, there are too many to count.
What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m concentrating on promoting/marketing A Rare and Dangerous Beast, which is frustrating, because I have no idea what I’m doing.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to book promotion. If I see one of my writer friends try something, I’ll give it a shot too, if it looks good. That’s how I found Awesome Gang. My friend, the awesome Laura Gilmore Gaddis did one of these interviews, and it looked like a great way to get the word out, so I’m giving it a try. I also use my blog to try to promote it, and look for opportunities to do readings at bookstores.
I clearly have much to learn about all this.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I guess just, if you want to write, then sit down and do it. Don’t wait until you’re good to begin. It’s one of those things that you only get better at if you work at it enough. And don’t do it to make money. It’s great if you do, but it’s a tough, tough business. If you’re not doing it for love of the work, then you’re bound to be disappointed.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always start a new document when you revise, especially when you’re just starting out. That way, you can look at the previous version and latest revision side-by-side, and see the improvements. Pretty quickly, you’ll start internalizing those changes, and your writing will improve rapidly. This works for pretty much any kind of writing, whether it’s school papers, stories, books, or whatever.
What are you reading now?
The Huntress by Kate Quinn, and Why Read Hannah Arendt Now, by Richard J. Bernstein.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Right now, I’ve got a small town murder-mystery comedy brewing in my head. Something that will take a minimum of research. I loved doing the research for A Rare and Dangerous Beast, but it was some heavy going.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
At least one of the Flashman books, something by either Locke, Mill, or Arendt (might as well figure out the meaning of life while I’m stuck), one of the Discworld books, probably Reaper Man or Small Gods, and I guess A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving? It’s really kind of hard to narrow it down. Ideally, I’d have my Nook and a portable solar panel. Then I’d really be set!
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