Interview With Author Philip Shadowfire
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello everyone and thanks for the opportunity to share my life with you it certainly is an honor. I am a full solitary practicing Christian, Wiccan, Shaman Witch and because of my background I have been so fortunate and blessed to meet people from all backgrounds of life I consider part of my extended family. The most pleasant thing I discovered in life is that religious differences aside, we really aren’t that different from each-other.
In addition to my religious life, I am a very active individual that never grew up. I am an avid cyclist with over 120,000 miles logged in my lifetime, I love kayaking, mountain climbing, spelunking, and participating in bike races and charity events for so many worthwhile causes. I am a 58 year old individual but I never aged! I think my fountain of youth came from a promise I made to myself that I would never grow up and see the world as a child would until it is time for me to leave here.
I don’t know why my life is so strange in the religious sense and regular in the secular world, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because it taught me to appreciate life and how precious it truly is!
I wish someone would make a movie out of my life because I lived it so fully even though it was so bizarre and wonderful at the same time. I have no regrets. At the age of 18, I decided to save enough money to go to Guam and live there for a year on my own. I really have no fear, if I were to see a tornado approaching me, I would probably pick up a stick to beat it up. My family and friends naturally were concerned about this and pleaded me not to do this because the tornado would win. I said don’t be so sure, and bet in my favor, because what if I win the fight with that tornado! 😉
Naturally people think I have a death wish, but I’m enjoying life too much. I just live each day as if it is my last and I savor every drop it has to offer! The last thing I always say to my family before I leave them for the day is that “I love you” because that is the last thing I want them to remember about me, if I don’t make it back to them.
I have a very unfair advantage about life and death because of my background. I have always seen spiritual entities my entire life, crossed 3 billion years of time zones from the living and non-living worlds, and briefly died twice in my lifetime. Once when I was 6 years old and again when I was 21. When I was 6 years old and died the first time, I didn’t want to leave the Earth and was sent back to live my life, but when I turned 21, I wanted to cross over to Heaven/Summerland, but it wasn’t my time, so in all essence a very beautiful and Divine figure I believe was Jesus? Said He had to bring me back to the world of living. So, in essence, I was kicked out of Heaven which I joke to my Christian friends I wasn’t kicked out because I was a witch, I was kicked out because it wasn’t my time to be there! 😉
I’m glad I came back to life because I met a beautiful woman, my soul mate for eternity that I am happily married to for 32 years now as of this writing, and I’m going to be with her forevermore! 🙂
Getting back to My life being so strange, I am a walking contradiction in everything I do, I absolutely hated reading and writing in English classes at school, but all that changed when I went to Guam and started writing a diary of my adventures there. I didn’t realize how beautiful and eloquent words were when they are expressed in writing from authors who are so passionate about life and want to express it in stories for people to read. It’s their zest for life, for the stories they share, that is what gives me inspiration to live my life the best I can while I’m here.
As a result of this revelation, I wanted to write and share my life and stories with anyone who is kind enough to hear them and hope my stories inspire them to be the best versions of themselves as well. That is why I went on a quest to write as much as I could and hope my writing makes a difference in people’s lives. I have written 5 books and over 10,000 articles concentrating on the higher meanings of Life and Spirituality and I’m so thankful to be on this writing adventure of mine in addition to my active physical life.
By the way, thanks for asking this question, I hope it helps give people a chance to peek into a very normal and yet wonderfully bizarre life I live while I’m blessed to be here! 😉
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I just finished my Book of Life Trilogy series involving myself and the 3 main characters of Astraea, Isis, and Aphrodite who are the kindest, sweetest, girl witches you would ever meet that saved families, communities and the world with their love in my stories, but after I finished the final book, I realized that there was one more story I needed to tell involving the real witches I was blessed to meet in my life.
In life there is a spectrum of light from complete darkness to blinding light and most of us fit somewhere in the middle of light and darkness. My character girl witches were off the scale, beyond the blindness of light, since they have no darkness in them, and their love is so beautiful to see, but in my haste, I didn’t get to write about all the wonderful stories I had about the real witches I met in my lifetime. I wanted to have a book to honor their life, their perfections and flaws too. I also wanted to have a spinoff book that is related to my Trilogy but different, because I wanted to separate myself from the teen girl witches so they can hopefully become an inspirational urban legend of girls that never age so that they can help young adults long after I’m gone. that is why I wrote this final addition to the story that means so much to me.
I’m stalling in telling you the title of my final book because it caused some concern and discomfort to my readers for which I sincerely apologize, but I wanted a title to catch people’s attention how our society stereotype’s people they don’t understand, or think is weird. That is why I came up with the title of “Don’t Talk to Evil Witches especially Her!” My story is a delightful roller coaster of humor and drama that I hope people can relate to. Life isn’t as perfect as my teen girl witches are, it’s difficult, and it’s filled with challenges we have to face every day of our life, but when you have a quirky sense of humor and are brave enough to get up every morning knowing you are going to fail miserably at this thing called life, I salute you! Because you are a hero in my book!
https://www.booksie.com/664712-dont-talk-to-evil-witches-especially-her
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I developed a technique to make you part of my story! Believe it or not you are my main character I write about in my 2nd book of life series Return to Earth.
https://www.booksie.com/652159-the-book-of-life-return-to-earth
Another thing about my writing is that all my books are on free websites, I don’t want money, I just want to share my stories with anyone and everyone that wants to read a free story and wonder what my motives are hee hee. I know I’m strange, that is why most of my characters also have a quirky sense of humor that I hope people get! 😉
Anyway, getting back to you being my main character I had to come up with specific rules to make it seem like I am talking to you while reading “our” book. I couldn’t mention your age, your gender, your race, in my story because if I did, that could leave you out of “our” story, but I had to give you a name. That is why I came up with a nickname to call you Sunshine, because of your beautiful smile and ability to brighten up my day! I hope it worked and made you part of my story, because you mean so much to me!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dennis J reader “Coming Back Alive!”
I loved his simplistic writing style because it really helped me understand and feel for the characters in his book!
Tom Brown “The Tracker” I absolutely love his writing style too because I could relate to his Shamanistic story. He wrote so eloquently and effortlessly that really made me feel like part of the story!
What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m taking a break, I’m not sure what my next project will be next, but I would like to continue the Book of Life franchise I started back in 2006.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Booksie.com Because it is a totally free site that people can read my work without having to register or pay to read.
YouTube because it is also a free site for people to enjoy and I recently converted one of my book to an audiobook movie that I am shamelessly posting for people to see if they want to see what my teen girl witches look and sound like. 🙂
I don’t understand why my marketing is so difficult that is why I also have a personal word of mouth to anyone I meet, that loves reading books. All I ask is for people to give my girls a chance to change their life, because I believe in them, I believe in the stories I made and I’m proud and honored to have the courage to write for people to enjoy the stories that mean so much to me! Thanks!
Finally, I sincerely hope this interview helps promote my stories too, and I want to thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to have a platform to get my stories out!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes! As you are writing your story, try to think how much it means to you and how you can’t wait to share it with your readers! Let your enthusiasm, your passion, your creative juices flow in every word you write down and don’t self-doubt yourself. Believe in your story, believe in yourself and pretend you are writing one of the most exciting things you want to tell your family, because in a way, our readers our are family and that’s what motivates us to be our best as we share our thoughts with our readers.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you believe in your story, don’t give up! Have the tenacity to overcome your fears and get your story out for people to read!
What are you reading now?
Actually, I’m mostly watching movies and hoping there are more positive stories about Witches. I hope and pray that the stories I wrote are not going to be the only ones out there to show the human side of Witchcraft. Help me find a book that shows the beauty of witches and I promise to read it! 😉
What’s next for you as a writer?
Rest. Right now, after writing 3 books in less than a year, it has physically drained me, so I’m going to rest for now, but I will be back because writing is too addicting and fun to leave!
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?
I probably wouldn’t bring any books with me, just give me lots of pens and paper, a solar rechargeable laptop and lots of time to write books, because that is what I love and do!
Author Websites and Profiles
Philip Shadowfire’s Social Media Links