Interview With Author Stephen Melkanos
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a motorcycle enthusiast and pagan idolator. I spend most of my time learning new ways to create things–my skills range into the musical and visual arts as well as the wordy kind. In fact I designed the covers for my books (two published to date), and I’m working on making a video package to promote the latest one on YouTube.
The rest of my time I divide between sharpening my skills, watching pro wrestling, philosophizing about pro wrestling, and having the occasional lunch with a married woman.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is named “Steep Dangerhill: Spy For Hire.” The story was inspired by my ex-girlfriend, who posted one of those “Describe how we met, but lie your face off” things. I came up with a yarn that involved a KGB agent and a portable helicopter in my bow tie.
The character name was inspired by a warning sign the local DPW put up in my area; the sign is intended to say “Danger, steep hill,” but for some reason they put the “Danger” smack in the middle. To me, “Steep Dangerhill” sounds like a British spy.
I put the two things together and they just sort of grew.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Does sitting cross-legged like a Himalayan yogi while typing on a laptop nestled in an antique rolltop desk count as “unusual?”
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The earliest influence on my literary style was Arthur Conan Doyle. By the time I was in the third grade I had read almost all of the Sherlock Holmes stories. After that came Stephen King. Threaded in there are people like Douglas Adams and Charles Schulz.
Lately I’ve become a huge fan of late 19th Century adventure novels, like those of Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard, and I intend to start incorporating elements from them to keep the style alive.
What are you working on now?
Right now I’m violating a major rule of writing: I’m working on two novels at once. One is a full-blown over the top adventure story like the ones that were popular in the late 1800s, and the other is an erotic fantasy which will allow me to celebrate my two loves, sex and violence.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best place to see what I’m working on at any moment is actually Instagram. My own website is something I use for more finished works, essays, sermons and the like.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Figure out what works for you. Some will insist that you treat your stories as products and churn them out like you’re a factory worker with word quotas and things like that. For some people that might work, so I won’t knock it. I’ll just say that there’s nothing wrong with you if you’re not “some people.” Find the way that lets you craft something good, and take the time to craft it. There’s no one way to do anything.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“In a race between a rock and a duck, don’t varnish your clams.”
What are you reading now?
“The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett. I love me a good old-fashioned punch-em-up.
What’s next for you as a writer?
International fame and fortune, of course. My ultimate goal is to retire to a school bus somewhere in the desert. So if you want me to go away, buying my books makes it happen faster.
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?
In this day and age? Ha, I’d bring a sketchbook, my Kindle, my portable solar panel (which looks like a book so it counts) and my hundred year old copy of “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” by E.A. Wallis Budge.
Author Websites and Profiles
Stephen Melkanos Amazon Profile
Stephen Melkanos’s Social Media Links