"LITERARY STUFFING" THANKSGIVING INTERVIEW SERIES (CYRUS KEITH)
Thank you again for donating a book for the "Literary Stuffings" giveaway. Can you tell us more about the book you donated?
Well, thanks for having me, and most assuredly, I’d love to share. Becoming NADIA is a science fiction thriller, set in a near future where the sciences of cloning and personality transfer combine with state of the art technology to create tomorrow’s super-assassins. I explore the nature of identity, the morality of Science, and toss in a nightmare or two just for fun. Plus, may I add, Becoming NADIA has been selected as a finalist by EPIC for Best Thriller.
This time of year is usually a warm and happy time with friends and family, how do you usually spend Thanksgiving every year?
The usual routine calls for piling into the minivan and ramrodding across the country (okay, one state south) to spend Thanksgiving with my wife’s family in Indiana. It’s a happy little riot involving children, grown men behaving like children, and a kitchen full of endless supplies of exquisite varieties of food.
Can you remember one of your most happiest Thanksgivings?
I don’t think any particular one stands out above the others. I’ve had so many of them now it’s very difficult to pick a favorite. I do think, however, of one time we were struggling just to get groceries on the table, let alone gather the resources for a family feast. An anonymous party left “a food basket” on our doorstep. In actuality, it was makings for a complete Thanksgiving feast along with enough food for about two full weeks, in a pile of boxes that took our breath away. I have no idea to this day who did it, but I thank God for them every year, and I guess that’s one of the things that Thanksgiving is all about.
What's your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?
The fact that it’s in autumn. In Michigan, the trees have lost their leaves, and combined with the scent of dried leaves, the air has the first bite of snow in one’s nostrils. I love that scent combined with the cold. It smells like jumping in huge piles of leaves, like riding a bicycle pell-mell down your street to a waiting cup of hot cocoa. It's red cheeks and walks through the woods, and nights around the bonfire with friends and family.
Some families have traditions they do every year, does your family have a tradition that goes along with Thanksgiving?
The Secret Santa drawing. It's for everyone over 13 to draw for Christmas. Everyone 13 and under makes out like a bandit.
Food is always one of the biggest things about this time of year, do you have a favorite desert or even a recipe you'd like to share with us?
Oh, I bake. I definitely bake, and my Thanksgiving specialty is Pumpkin Bread:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two loaf pans
2. In a large bowl, mix with a fork:
a. 3 cups flour
b. 1-1/2 cups sugar
c. 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
d. 1 tsp baking powder
e. 1 tsp salt
f. ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
g. ¾ tsp ground cloves
h. ½ tsp baking powder
i. ¼ tsp ginger
3. In a medium bowl, mix:
a. 3 eggs
b. 16 oz plain pumpkin
c. 1 cup salad oil
d. 1 cup applesauce
4. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
5. Add 1 cup raisins.
6. Add 1 cup chopped walnuts. Spoon into pans.
7. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean.
8. Take out and cool on a rack for ten minutes before turning the breads out.
NOTE: I like mine warm with butter on it, with a cup of coffee or hot apple cider.
There are so many ways to cook a turkey, does your family have a special way of getting the big bird ready, perhaps a special ingredient or stuffing?
That's my wife's secret, and if I tell you, she'd have to kill us both. But it rocks.
After eating all that food and settling in for the evening what do you do with the time that's left before bed?
What's there to do but watch American football and nibble? Well, we do clean up.
Is there any other information you'd care to share with us about your books that are out now or any upcoming novels?
Well, there is a second book, Unalive, that drives the NADIA Project farther on. Expect to see more of your favorite characters, and meet a couple new ones. Action and thrills abound! That's also available from Muse It Up Publishing: www.tinyurl.com/unalive-novel.com. Plus, I'm working on bringing the series home with the finale, Critical Mass. Feel free to check out my books plus other amazingly good fiction for everyone at www.museituppublishing.com/bookstore2
Thanks so much again for inviting me along! Now where's that coffee you promised?
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=interviews&thread=807#ixzz1dAAwqLSv
Thank you again for donating a book for the "Literary Stuffings" giveaway. Can you tell us more about the book you donated?
Well, thanks for having me, and most assuredly, I’d love to share. Becoming NADIA is a science fiction thriller, set in a near future where the sciences of cloning and personality transfer combine with state of the art technology to create tomorrow’s super-assassins. I explore the nature of identity, the morality of Science, and toss in a nightmare or two just for fun. Plus, may I add, Becoming NADIA has been selected as a finalist by EPIC for Best Thriller.
This time of year is usually a warm and happy time with friends and family, how do you usually spend Thanksgiving every year?
The usual routine calls for piling into the minivan and ramrodding across the country (okay, one state south) to spend Thanksgiving with my wife’s family in Indiana. It’s a happy little riot involving children, grown men behaving like children, and a kitchen full of endless supplies of exquisite varieties of food.
Can you remember one of your most happiest Thanksgivings?
I don’t think any particular one stands out above the others. I’ve had so many of them now it’s very difficult to pick a favorite. I do think, however, of one time we were struggling just to get groceries on the table, let alone gather the resources for a family feast. An anonymous party left “a food basket” on our doorstep. In actuality, it was makings for a complete Thanksgiving feast along with enough food for about two full weeks, in a pile of boxes that took our breath away. I have no idea to this day who did it, but I thank God for them every year, and I guess that’s one of the things that Thanksgiving is all about.
What's your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?
The fact that it’s in autumn. In Michigan, the trees have lost their leaves, and combined with the scent of dried leaves, the air has the first bite of snow in one’s nostrils. I love that scent combined with the cold. It smells like jumping in huge piles of leaves, like riding a bicycle pell-mell down your street to a waiting cup of hot cocoa. It's red cheeks and walks through the woods, and nights around the bonfire with friends and family.
Some families have traditions they do every year, does your family have a tradition that goes along with Thanksgiving?
The Secret Santa drawing. It's for everyone over 13 to draw for Christmas. Everyone 13 and under makes out like a bandit.
Food is always one of the biggest things about this time of year, do you have a favorite desert or even a recipe you'd like to share with us?
Oh, I bake. I definitely bake, and my Thanksgiving specialty is Pumpkin Bread:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two loaf pans
2. In a large bowl, mix with a fork:
a. 3 cups flour
b. 1-1/2 cups sugar
c. 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
d. 1 tsp baking powder
e. 1 tsp salt
f. ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
g. ¾ tsp ground cloves
h. ½ tsp baking powder
i. ¼ tsp ginger
3. In a medium bowl, mix:
a. 3 eggs
b. 16 oz plain pumpkin
c. 1 cup salad oil
d. 1 cup applesauce
4. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
5. Add 1 cup raisins.
6. Add 1 cup chopped walnuts. Spoon into pans.
7. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean.
8. Take out and cool on a rack for ten minutes before turning the breads out.
NOTE: I like mine warm with butter on it, with a cup of coffee or hot apple cider.
There are so many ways to cook a turkey, does your family have a special way of getting the big bird ready, perhaps a special ingredient or stuffing?
That's my wife's secret, and if I tell you, she'd have to kill us both. But it rocks.
After eating all that food and settling in for the evening what do you do with the time that's left before bed?
What's there to do but watch American football and nibble? Well, we do clean up.
Is there any other information you'd care to share with us about your books that are out now or any upcoming novels?
Well, there is a second book, Unalive, that drives the NADIA Project farther on. Expect to see more of your favorite characters, and meet a couple new ones. Action and thrills abound! That's also available from Muse It Up Publishing: www.tinyurl.com/unalive-novel.com. Plus, I'm working on bringing the series home with the finale, Critical Mass. Feel free to check out my books plus other amazingly good fiction for everyone at www.museituppublishing.com/bookstore2
Thanks so much again for inviting me along! Now where's that coffee you promised?
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=interviews&thread=807#ixzz1dAAwqLSv
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