And the bash continues. This week I have the very talented Stan Hampton Sr. Hi Stan and welcome to the party.:-)
1: How did you start
writing?
I was about
15 years old and I wanted to tell stories. I was inspired by the many science
fiction and fantasy writers in the 1960s and 1970s, including Isaac Asimov, Arthur
C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl, and Robert A. Heinlein. Oh, and of course, Leon
Uris, Herman Wouk, Frederick Forsyth, James A. Michener, and Jean Lartéguy, among others. And
including non-fiction writers Bernard B. Fall and Cornelius Ryan. Anyway, I
wasn’t published until 1992 and then not again until 2002. After that, the
writing credits started building each year.
2: What is the one
thing you most enjoy about writing? Least enjoy?
After
necessary research, telling a story, a believable story, that hopefully people
will enjoy. Editing. I know that editing is a necessary evil, but I really
don’t enjoy it. It wasn’t until the past year that I wrote my first novel and a
sequel, and I am reminded of why I didn’t care to write novels to begin with.
Editing a novel is so much more time-consuming than editing a short story or
even a novella.
3: If you could go
back in time and talk to anyone, who would you speak to? Why?
Sappho, the
Classical Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. She is sometimes referred to as
the “10th muse” after the traditional nine muses who inspired artists and
writers. I would ask her to tell me of men and women of her time and her view
of relationships. I would ask her to share her poetry with me as, from what I
understand, her complete poems have not survived. Only fragments of her poetry
have survived.
4: When you write do
you plot out the story or do you let your muse run wild?
I generally
write an outline, Beginning, Middle, and End. Then I add bullet points to
identify critical points followed by a dash (-) to identify elements of the
critical points. Of course, sometimes when I start writing everything goes out
the window as the characters take off on their own path.
5: Tell us a bit
about your book.
I believe
the tagline, with the blurb, gives a broad hint – Not everyone can choose to
live life to the fullest... Burt and Rachel Markham are ordinary small business
owners of a seed & feed store in a small Kansas farming and ranching
community. Many years before, as young university graduates eagerly anticipating
exciting overseas employment, a lifetime in Kansas was the furthest thing from
their minds, particularly Rachel who was raised overseas and dreamed of going
back. By July 2013 their twin 18-year old daughters, having graduated high
school several months before, go east to attend a university. Burt and Rachel
settle into their new life of an empty house and a predictable and unchanging
routine that threatens to stretch far into the future. One summer evening Burt
has an idea—but will Rachel accept the idea? If she does, will the idea add new
excitement to their marriage, or destroy it?
6: What inspired the
story?
I’m not
sure what specifically triggered this other than a general interest in male and
female relationships, marriage, and the varied interests of people that make us
all different and unique. Another factor is that though I believe people read
fiction as a form of escapism, especially erotic romance, most contemporary
escapism presents situations or adventures far removed from the world of and experiences
of ordinary people. Perhaps that is part of the attraction of fiction escapism.
But then again, for the ordinary man and woman, why can’t escapism become
reality if they are willing to actually explore and experience regardless of an
“acceptable box” that society dictates? And, if there is one thing that usually
cannot be hidden forever and that can bring a person down (politicians) or add
to their image (movie stars), all of which really does fascinate people, it’s
sex.
7: Is this a series
or a stand alone novel?
Originally
I wrote this as a stand-alone, but the characters would not let go. I began to
think of further situations that this very ordinary couple might find
themselves in, which real life people might be able to relate to. So now this
stand-alone is planned as a series (I haven’t told my publisher that, yet).
8: What advice would
you give an author just starting out?
Don’t worry
about rushing into writing. As soon as you decide you want to write, start
developing a public relations and marketing plan. Read writer blogs to learn
from their experiences. Once you have a basic public relations and marketing
plan down, then start writing. After your work is accepted by a publisher, join
their author loop—a lot of information can be found there as well as
interaction with experienced authors—and ask questions and learn. Then you can
polish your public relations and marketing plan and go for it. Oh yes—develop a
thick skin. Not everyone will like what you write and there are even some “literary
gangs” out there that will try to take down a writer through terrible reviews and/or
personal attacks, for some reason or another.
9: How do you balance
writing with the demands of everyday life?
In a very
real sense, real easy. I’m unemployed (I’ve had only two interviews in the
years of looking for a job) and I’m retired from the Nevada Army National
Guard. Basically there are no demands of everyday life other than paying the
very few bills I have. When I feel like it I can start writing at 6:00 AM or
noon or start at 9:00 PM—either way I can choose to write or edit for an hour
or six hours. Of course, after I enroll in a university I’ll have a new demand
on my time. But that’s about six months down the road.
10: How much research
do you do for your writing?
It depends.
For example, if it’s military fiction, especially historical, then I have to
check historical details in order to seamlessly blend the story with the
historical record, when necessary. If it’s science fiction or fantasy, then a
lot of research. After all, the idea is to write a believable story. I forget
who said it, but “the devil is in the details.” Then again, when Gene
Roddenberry was creating Star Trek,
he insisted on technology and story believability, “the believability factor.”
If your aunt and uncle and the taxi driver won’t buy into the story, then
you’re in trouble.
11: If you met a
genie, what 3 things would you wish for? Why?
First,
money. Money pays the bills and money makes all things possible, whether to go
on a grand vacation, or buy all of the equipment needed to put together a
super-duper photo studio, or hire an attorney to go after a cum-sucking Arizona
used car dealer or cum-sucking Colorado county agency. Second, money. See the
reasons already mentioned. Third, I don’t know. Since money covers everything,
maybe I don’t need a third wish.
12: What is the one
thing about the writing world that most surprised you?
The amount
of public relations and marketing that an author has to personally accomplish
with the hope of someday becoming financially successful. That, including the
learning curve, can be more detailed and time consuming than the actual writing
and editing of a novel.
13: What are you
currently working on?
Editing the
sequel to Sharing Rachel, namely Prairie Muse. By the time this blog
appears, the editing of Prairie Muse
should be complete and to the publisher for their consideration (nothing is
guaranteed, even by your own publisher). After that, there’s a couple of
military supernatural stories I’d like to write, as well as start on the third
novel about Burt and Rachel Markham. Oh yes—writing aside, there is planning a
live and on-line book release party for Sharing
Rachel.
14: What do you like
to do when you aren’t writing?
Listen to
music, watch DVDs, watch a movie on Netflix, and sometimes meet friends for
dinner and a beer or two. Once in a great while, visit a casino and gamble a
maximum of $5.00 while having a couple of beers. I won’t gamble more than $5.00.
Las Vegas was built on the money of losers, you know.
15: What is the one
thing you’d like people to know about you?
Well, that
is: I may be just around the corner from 60 years old, but don’t talk to me
about being a senior citizen and how terrible cold winters are for the bones and
living in a senior apartment or maybe living in Florida or Texas or Arizona. I
don’t care for the desert heat (or humidity) nor am I ready to find a rocking
chair to sit on a porch watching life pass me by while I wait for death. Whether
I have 10 or 20 or 30 years left in this world, I intend to keep writing,
photographing, studying for a Bachelors and then a Masters degree, and learning
to paint and make real parchment, until the day I die. Oh, and before I die, I
also hope to buy a bit of land in the Rocky Mountains and build a home there (I
love snowy winters and a cedar wood fire in the fireplace).
5 Bonus Questions
16: What’s your
favorite color?
Red, or
maybe blue or purple or black. I’m not sure, actually.
17: What’s your
favorite food?
Pizza with
extra cheese and sausage and onion and beer, or steak with French fries, cream
corn, Texas toast, and beer.
18: Favorite TV show?
Definitely
“Frasier” though “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Night Court,” “Star Trek” the original
series, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” and “Star Trek: Next Generation” run
close seconds.
19: Favorite Movie?
Either
“Black Hawk Down” or “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
20: Favorite Song?
I can’t say
because there are many songs I like, and each trigger a certain emotion and/or
memory.
“Sharing Rachel.” MuseItUp Publishing, forthcoming 2014.
TAG LINE: Not everyone can
choose to live life to the fullest...
BLURB: Burt and Rachel
Markham are ordinary small business owners of a seed & feed store in a
small Kansas farming and ranching community. Many years before, as
young university graduates eagerly anticipating exciting overseas employment, a
lifetime in Kansas was the furthest thing from their minds, particularly
Rachel who was raised overseas and dreamed of going back. By July 2013 their
twin 18-year old daughters, having graduated high school several months before,
go east to attend a university. Burt and Rachel settle into their new life of
an empty house and a predictable and unchanging routine that threatens to
stretch far into the future. One summer evening Burt has an idea—but will
Rachel accept the idea? If she does, will the idea add new excitement to their
marriage or destroy it?
EXCERPT: Life—the sum of many
parts gathered into a raw and uninhibited whole and unashamedly and
breathlessly lived to the fullest…
One part trapped heat and humidity, a thick, heavy
embrace that fills the air and envelopes the flesh like a thing alive.
One part pungent scents swirling through the air and
becoming a powerful, intoxicating aphrodisiac. Each provocative scent with its
own story. The hot musky scent of feminine wetness and the stronger scent of
masculine sex blended into its own particular smell. The individual smells of
feminine sweat and perfume mingled with masculine sweat and cologne. And all of
the resulting mixtures blended into a strong overpowering fragrance of
consuming lust and pleasure.
One part sound for sound gives unseen life and strength
to the spoken and unspoken. A female voice that moans “Ohhhh shit!” or screams
“OH MY GOD!” followed by lengthy, rising whimpers that end in pleasure-filled
shrieks needs no explanation; nor does feminine unintelligible babbling
answered by a deep chuckle when accompanied by the rapid, endless slapping of
wet flesh against wet flesh. In between the voices are long periods of silence
broken only by the whisper of classical music, the rustle of bed sheets, the creak
of bedsprings, and the sound of joined, intimate sticky wetness. Finally, deep
grunts followed by much satisfied long, drawn out sighs from the feminine and
masculine says it all.
One part sight for the visual binds the many parts
together; blue-hued shadows and pale highlights playing across writhing shadowy
forms, one smaller, curvaceous and feminine, the other bulkier and masculine,
pantomimes an unspoken story. The feminine raised on elbows, head hung back,
long hair brushing against damp bed sheets, a leg draped over the masculine
with trembling pointed foot and toes curled tight. The masculine, resting on
arms with hands placed on the bed, head lowered to a pale, blue-tinted breast,
while hips move with a rhythmic passion between spread legs. The shadows joined
together speak silently of lust, pleasure, domination, and submission.
All of the sums gathered together and witnessed, for
without a witness there is no remembrance of a moment lived to the fullest.
Against the far wall of a bedroom loft, beside a glowing nightstand lamp, brown
eyes watched and took in every detail.
Sometimes the feminine looked with dazed blue eyes at the
glazed brown eyes of the watcher seated in a large brown recliner.
For a brief moment their eyes meet. For a brief moment,
without touching, the feminine and the watcher share the heavy humid heat of
the room, the incredible smells, and the sounds of endless pleasure from the
feminine and masculine joined together.
And then the feminine returned to the private universe
within that would always be unseen by and unshared with anyone…
Stan
Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a
divorced grandfather to 13 wonderful grandchildren, and a published
photographer and photojournalist. He retired on 1 July 2013 from the Army
National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he previously served in
the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready Reserve (1985-1995)
(mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the Nevada Army National
Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active duty for
almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle (2004-2006)
and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007) with deployment to northern Kuwait and several convoy
security missions into Iraq.
His
writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus
Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing,
MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror
Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk Journal, among others.
In May 2014
he graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with an Associate of Applied
Science Degree in Photography – Commercial Photography Emphasis. A future goal
is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully to someday work in and
photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to paint).
After 13
years of brown desert in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky
Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm fireplace
during snowy winters.
As of April
2014, after being in a 2-year Veterans Administration program for Homeless
Veterans, Hampton is officially no longer a homeless Iraq War veteran, though
he is still struggling to get back on his feet.
Hampton can
be found at:
Melange Books
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/sshampton/index.html
Musa Publishing
http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=50
MuseItUp Publishing
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/museitup/mainstream/better-than-a-rabbit-s-foot-detail
Ravenous Romance
http://www.ravenousromance.com/anthologies/back-door-lover.php
http://www.ravenousromance.com/anthologies/virgin-ass-first-times-tales-of-anal-sex.php
Amazon.com Author
Page
http://www.amazon.com/SS-Hampton-Sr/e/B00BJ9EVKQ
Amazon.com. UK Author
Page
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SS-Hampton-Sr/e/B00BJ9EVKQ
Goodreads Author Page
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6888342.S_S_Hampton_Sr_
