INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR OF,
"RELIC OF DEATH" & "BACTERIUM"
NATHAN PENNINGTON


Hello Nathan, thank you for allowing us to interview you. By reading your bio it seems your mother actually cultivated your love for reading and writing at an early age. She seemed to be an insightful woman, is "Silver for General Washington" still one of your favorite books today?

Thanks for interviewing me. That book, Silver for General Washington, did make an impression on me. I mean, how many 3 year-olds know that German solders fought with the British and were called Hessians? I did.

If I were to make a ranking of my top ten favorite books (and the ones that had the most influence on me), that book would be in there along with LOTR series, and a number of Michael Crichton books.

I think it's fantastic that you had such a wonderful relationship with your mother and she seemed to really help you form your talent. Who became some of your most favorite authors as you grew older?

Michael Crichton. I think he was the best modern story teller (may he rest in peace). The first book I read of his was Prey. I believe that was the third or fourth last book he wrote. From there I’ve read everything he’s written. He was a brilliant writer.

Do you still have any of the stories she typed up for you when you were just a child?

Unfortunately, no. Those stories were typed up on an 80386SX computer (bonus points if you know what that is). Even if they were still around, most likely they’d be incompatible with modern software. I believe the word processor was WordStar (who’s ever heard of that?). That was back when 5.25 floppy disks were big and CDROMs hadn’t been invented yet.

Imagination is one of the greatest things any child or adult can have for that matter. Do you think without your mother's guidance you still would have developed such a strong one or not?

My mother absolutely had a huge impact on the development of my imagination. That said, from what she’s told me about myself when I was quite small, it seems I already had the seeds of an active imagination.

I didn’t have a lot of toys when I was little, but that didn’t stop me. From what she’s told me, I would sit in the kitchen with her and play for hours with various pots and pans, but I wasn’t playing “house” or anything like that. They became whatever I imagined them to be.

I find it amazing to know that J.R.R. Tolkien, one of the greatest writers of all time was rejected so many times before finally finding someone to take a chance on him. I have often used this bit of knowledge myself for Indie Authors that get a bad review here and there or a turn down from a publisher. Do you think this outlook has helped you a lot in the same way?

Once I finally got that outlook, yes. At first, I didn’t have it. I assumed I was brilliant, and it was crushing when everyone didn’t agree. Now, I come at it a bit differently. What I write is what I write, and it’s the best I can do at the time it’s written. What someone else thinks of it is largely irrelevant.

Being part of a small publishing house and seeing how hard it is for a lot of authors to get published do you feel that the smaller houses are the wave of the future and that eventually these bigger names will realize some of the great writers they've missed out on?

There are two questions here. 1) Do I think small presses are the wave of the future? 2) Do I think big publishing houses will realize some great writers they’ve missed out on? In answer to the first, not really. I don’t mean to be discouraging, but I think most writers want to be published with a big name house, and most small presses aren’t all that financially viable. Also, I think the larger publishers will get their act together in the near future and reassert their dominance over publishing.

Does that mean small presses or indie publishers are doomed? Hardly. There have always (and I do mean always) been the smaller publishers. They will be there, and they will fill a need or niche. It goes back to the 80/20 rule. The big houses will publish 20% of all published matter and take in 80% of the profits, but that doesn’t invalidate everything else. The point is to remain humble if you’re an indie or small press. Realize that you’re really not a “big deal.” (grin)

Now the second question, will small publishers realize they missed out on great writers? Actually, this flood of small/indie presses works to their advantage. Someone else takes all the time and risk to test market something. If it takes off, they just step in and throw some money around (e.g. Amanda Hocking). More than anything, this has made their business less risky.

What is your next novel and when can we expect it out?

Relic of Death (the third Ray Crusafi mystery). It will be out the end of 2012.

Hypothetically, if you ever had to write a romance, something straight laced without any mystery, thriller or science fiction and fantasy elements do you think you could do it?

LOL! I’ve asked myself this many, many times. No, I don’t think so. I can only stay interested in something I find dramatic. For me, that’s going to be hard-driving action. I don’t think I could stay interested in writing a straight romance.

If someone came up to you and said, "Hey Nathan, you can now only write in one genre and you have to choose only one for the rest of your life." What would it be and why?

Mystery. The reason is two-fold. One, it’s a widely popular genre. Two, you can do anything with it. You can mix in horror, sci-fi, thriller elements, romance, etc. Whatever you want to do with it, you can.

Do you have any advice you'd care to share with other authors? Please leave us your links so we can get to know more about you and your works!

My advice for other writers is simple. Don’t give a second thought to what someone else thinks of your work. It’s so freeing when you just accept that you write what you write. It’s as good as you can do.

Sure, your future work will be technically and dramatically better, but that doesn’t make you’re previous work bad. An example . . . look at Clive Cussler. No disrespect intended, but he is a bad writer. Nonetheless, he’s a best-seller. Instead of listening to people like me who say he can’t write, he just does his thing.

And he’s found an audience for his work and done extremely well for himself, no matter what anyone thinks of his writing ability.

In short, write the best you can, and don’t give a damn about what anyone says about it after it’s released.

Oh, and my website is http://www.npennington.com. Everything I’ve written is available on Amazon, BN.com, and a number of other ebook only sites.

Thanks for giving me a chance to share!
Read more: http://www.greatmindsthinkaloud.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=interviews&thread=1284#ixzz1rP721CFK



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