Radio Interview - Indie Publishing

Part 3 of highlights from my January, 2015 Writing on the Air interview. We talk about indie publishing, screenwriting, and story structure. On a stick.

Radio Interview - Open Season

Remember when I read 38 novels to prepare for writing Open Season?

Find out why in this highlight reel from the Writing on the Air interview in January, 2015.

Radio Interview - The Fred Books

Did you hear the one about how I got tricked into writing Postcards from Fred?

Check out highlights from my interview on Writing on the Air in January, 2015.

Breaking Radio Silence Redux

It's been over two years since I've talked about my books on the radio, and I've written a few hundred thousand words since then, but the long national nightmare is finally over.

Tune into KOOP FM 91.7 (or online at koop.org) at 6 pm CST on Wednesday 1/28/2015 to hear me discussing Postcards from Fred and Open Season on the program Writing on the Air.

To hold you over, here are some highlights from the 2009 show.

Breaking Radio Silence

It's been over two years since I've talked about my books on the radio, and I've written a few hundred thousand words since then, but the long national nightmare is finally over.

Tune into KOOP FM 91.7 (or online at koop.org) at 6 pm CST on Wednesday 1/28/2015 to hear me discussing Postcards from Fred and Open Season on the program Writing on the Air.

To hold you over, here are some highlights from the 2012 show.

Reclamation Brewing Company

Prohibition began 95 years ago today. I celebration, I bring you this interview with Ben Smith at the Reclamation Brewing Company. Toward the end he recommends "What Would Jesus Drink." Ha!

-30:00 Story of how his father got run out of his church through religious bullying.
-19:00 WWJD mentioned.

Torn Curtain Church and WWJD

On the eve of the ninety-fifth anniversary of Prohibition, I'm going to turn you on to a cool study on a subject I know a few things about. I've heard countless sermons and read a dozen books on this topic, as well as doing the research to write a book of my own.

If you want a good overview of what the Bible says about drinking in a quick, easy read, What Would Jesus Drink? is your best bet. It's a short book, but it's all meat, no fluff, so you don't have to skim through stuff to get to the good parts. And the price is right.

However, if you want a deeper dive into the subject, Seph Coutinho at Torn Curtain Church has a four-hour, four-session podcast also titled What Would Jesus Drink? that knocks it out of the park.

The four sessions are:

• Prohibition vs. the Bible (where he endorses my book about 5 minutes in)
• Total Abstinence vs. Jesus
• Moderation vs. Abuse
• A History of Drinking

In the last segment at 24 minutes in, Seph again endorses WWJD as an easy read and mentions two other books on the subject, God Gave Wine and Drinking with Calvin and Luther.

A reader who gets it, except for . . .

I have sometimes described the Fred books as a seduction of language, you get swept up in the writing, but when you get to the end, you realize that nothing much really happened.

Imagine how gratified I was when I read this review of Welcome to Fred on Amazon by J. Bitney. Here's an excerpt:

"I cannot really "get into" a book which has such a light plot and then does not really resolve in any way. I would have given it a "3", but anyone who can write as beautifully as the author deserves better than that. I kept reading just because I enjoyed the author's way with words and the clever turns of phrase, but what I kept waiting for did not occur; nothing happened."

Of course, there really is a plot, however evanescent, and a resolution, however vestigial, but I think J captured the essence of what I set out to do in the Fred books.

I say that she gets it "except for" because if a story captivates you, there's no need to ding it because it's not plot-heavy.

Of course, if you insist on a more plot-forward story, you can always check out my other books, which bring more plot to the table while retaining the style.

Strange Vacation gathers in the offing

We have a cover design. We have the back jacket copy. Can April Fool's Day be far behind?

Want to get sneak peeks at new books, freebies, and an email when a new book is available? Sign up for the email newsletter. Because next comes a Hensley book. Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

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Berford Oswald Wiggins vows to take his best friend on a killer vacation. And a Wiggins always keeps his word.

-:-

Berf loves Jake like a brother, but not like a brother-in-law. After all, he wouldn’t wish his sister on anyone, least of all Jake. When Berf’s warning falls on deaf ears, he falls back on The Code and serves as Jake’s best man.

The ill-fated marriage scarcely lasts two hours before going south, and Berf decides he and Jake should do the same. But the trip is far from an idyllic escape.

A series of bizarre accidents gets Berf to thinking of Spider, an extreme sports freak who recommended this special Cancún deal. Did Spider ever come back from his Caribbean vacation?

And when a fellow traveler drops dead out of a clear blue sky, Berf suspects they might not be going home next week. Or ever.

Grateful thoughts on New Year's Day 2015

It’s a bitter fate for a novelist to be best known for his first book. –Reviewer writing of Aidan Higgins

But not as bitter as to never be known for any book at all. –Brad Whittington writing of the joy of getting published