Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Native American and was trained as a traditional American Indian Storyteller. My mom was one of the very first Head Start teachers when the program began over forty years ago. She always worked with three year olds. When I would visit her classroom on the reservation she would always go: “Here–you take ’em.” Then she would walk out. It wasn’t until much later I realized this was her way of forcing me to use the Storytelling I had been taught in order to survive the kids.
When I was ten years old I was in awe of the science fiction writer, Issac Asimov. I would look forward to reading a monthly column he wrote. I felt he was brilliant–I still do. I wrote him a letter asking how he knew so much (this was pre-Google) and that when I grew up I wanted to be also be an author. He sent back a post card explaining he didn’t know that much but he worked hard to give the appearance he did. And he encouraged me to become an author.
While I have a ton of boring academic stuff published (I am a former College Professor) my formal creative writing career started with Marion Zimmer Bradley. She was a hoot to meet in person (the last time I saw her she had rainbow dyed hair) and she chose some of my stories to publish in her anthologies. One of my fond memories was changing planes in the Frankfurt airport (I was lecturing in Europe) where I found one of the anthologies I was in at the bookstore. It was the first time I had seen something of mine translated into German.
To be frank, I have no idea of the exact number of books I’ve written. If a book of mine doesn’t seem to be getting any notice I’ll tend to futz around with it–changing the cover or sometimes the title. Sadly, there have been a few I really like that didn’t sell a single copy. In those cases, I don’t want to “abandon” them, so I’ll include them in an anthology so I know they’ll eventually get read by someone. But it means I don’t really keep an exact count, since that would get confusing. Do I count a non-performing story twice? Looking on my Amazon page, I’m told I currently am credited with 79 ebooks under my pen name and three under my “real name” of Ty Nolan.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Coyote Condoms: Tales of the Reluctant Shaman.” This is one done for a specific purpose. A friend of mine (Brent Hartinger) is a successful YA author, and his book “The Geography Club” was made into a major motion picture last year. We’ve both worked in the field of HIV Prevention and Education for many years. We’re involved in the Real Story Safe Sex Project (RSSSP), where we take gay characters from our already published works and create new standalone stories with the characters to encourage safe sex among gay and bisexual youth. One of the fastest growing groups in terms of HIV infection remains young gay and bisexual men, who most likely became HIV positive in their teens. It was always our intention of making the RSSSP stories available free to get them into as many hands of the intended audience as possible. We have invited other authors and artists to participate with the expectation of eventually having at least one anthology that can be used as a resource for HIV Education Programs.
It was also fun to go back and pull out a secondary character who was only mentioned in one line of my “Memoir of a Reluctant Shaman” novel and to learn more about his background in the “Coyote’s Condoms” work.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I suffer a lot from insomnia, so it’s not at all unusual for me to be focused on writing and then hear the SigO get up and start grinding the morning coffee beans.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My first week of Graduate School (it was during the summer) I saw a poster of several lectures featuring many authors I admired. I was so naive I thought these would be lectures “about” the author. Imagine my shock when I discovered these were lectures delivered by the authors themselves. That’s how I was able to meet Ursela Le Guin and Peter S. Beagle. I “discovered” Peter’s “The Last Unicorn” when I was a teenager and the beauty of his language really inspired me to strive to shape my own writing in a different way. My youth and early writing were also deeply influenced by an older writer–James Branch Cabell, who showed me how to incorporate the myths and legends of other cultures into a new work. I will also always be grateful to Marion Zimmer Bradley for launching my writing career.
As an adult, I would say the author I’ll always hope will have something new out is Terry Pratchett. I had the honor of meeting him at a lecture he gave at my University. He’s someone else who has shown me how to enliven work with humor and the use of traditional stories told in a new way.
I had mentioned Isaac Asimov. Like Mr. Asimov, I find I enjoy Ursela’s prose even more than their fiction (and I really like their fiction). I would include Terry Pratchett as someone I would love to hear discuss things of an intellectual nature. Ursela’s own history fascinated me. As a Native American I was familiar with the story of Ishi, the “last of his tribe” who had hidden away from contact with the non-Natives who had killed most of his people. When he was the only one left, he emerged and went into the non-Native world with the expectation he would be murdered. He ended up staying at the museum run by Ursela’s father who was considered the “Father of American Anthropology.” Ursela grew up around him and her mother wrote the book “Ishi of Two Worlds.” It’s very clear how Native American culture has influenced a number of her works.
What are you working on now?
When I wrote “Memoir of a Reluctant Shaman” I decided I would never actually formally name the Main Character and his siblings. Instead, since there are 12 of them, I would call them by their star signs or by their birth months. Just so, the “Reluctant Shaman” is usually referred to as “Pisces” or “Moon of the Singing Frogs” (February). It was my intention to use his siblings in additional works. Thus, “Memoir” I see as the first of a series and it features “Pisces” and his brother “Scorpio.” I also want to see how the siblings perceive each other. I come from a large family myself and one learns there actually isn’t really “one large family.” In reality, such a family consists of a number of “smaller families.” For example, my own two youngest siblings were still quite small when I left for college so my interaction with them was a lot more parental than sibling based. If you asked them to talk about our family, I’m sure they would not say the same thing that the oldest siblings would.
The structure of “Memoir” is precisely an “autobiography” and I’ve established he’s writing about his past from the perspective on an adult. The book stops at his high school years and I’m looking forward to what happened to him next. I had actually written several chapters of the sequel when my laptop was stolen. I urge everyone to back up their writing. I focus a lot on my other fictional writing, but I intend to do both a sequel to “Memoir of a Reluctant Shaman” as well as another volume to accompany my “Coyote Still Going: Native American Legends and Contemporary Stories” because there were a lot of Legends and Stories that weren’t included in my first one.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is where I praise the Awesomegang, right? I’ve recently had an amazing experience working with what is pretty much a “co-op of writers.” We did two “mega box sets” where one had 10 full length novels and the other had 12. “Love Charms” is the set where you can also find my pouty little Shaman. “Fated Mates” which features Werewolves and other “Shifters” has hit the New York Times and USA Today Best Sellers List, and contains my “Romancing the Wolf” book. We worked very hard in promoting this and that meant putting up ads in appropriate book blogs, sending out advanced review copies, and then contacting 200 plus sites and groups to promote the sets. We also would go back to the Facebook groups that mentioned our sets to “like” and “comment” on the posts to increase visibility.
I also want to give a “shout out” to “BigAl and Pals.” Their book review site not only gave 5 stars to both my Coyote and Shaman books, but Coyote was awarded the 2014 BP Readers Choice for “Short Story Collections and Anthologies.”
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My Creative Writing Teacher always told us “Show me, don’t tell me.” I’m also one of those who was often told “don’t write about that because readers won’t be interested.” Perhaps it’s true the works I do that have a Native American focus won’t sell as well as other things I write, but there is still an audience out there. There’s also a certain sense of responsibility where if I don’t pass on some of these Legends, I don’t exactly know who will.
The stories I write that I tend to enjoy the most is where I pretty much step back and let the characters hijack the action and I just write down the results.
I see a lot of times new authors are told “write what you know.” As someone who began in the Fantasy field, I can’t exactly “write what I know” when it comes to invoking a demon or what the first “Change” for a werewolf actually feels like. But I have been very much inspired by traditional legends and then trying to figure out how to tell a similar story for the 21st century. I have a background as a Family Therapist and that has been a tremendous help in writing what a character might do in a given situation. As a new author, I would suggest you give a lot of thought to what’s called the “back story” of a character. In other words, even though it may never be mentioned in the story the Main Character has a twin, that unspoken fact may have “shaped” his/her personality, where they strive to “be different” and to “stand out” in order to distinguish them from their twin. Or perhaps the other twin died and now the Main Character is seeking his/her “other half.” If you really flesh out the “back story” then the actions of your characters can have a greater sense of cohesion and logic in what they do and how they interact with others.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.”
–and the advice I have given to so many of my students and patients: “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”
What are you reading now?
I’m reviewing the latest book of one of my friends–“Laura’s Wolf” by Lia Silver.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m preparing to do what I used to do–presenting at Science Fiction and Fantasy Conferences. It’s a fun way to meet fans.
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 would mostly likely look for as many “The Collective Works of–” in order to lug as many words with me as possible. My first thought was about having my favorite authors with me. But as a Native American I come from a very pragmatic people so I would bring such books as “How To Get Off A Desert Island” and “How to Survive On a Desert Island.” I’m sure there must be “The Professor’s Book On Building Elaborate Machinery From Coconuts and Palm Leaves.”
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