Tony Deuce

Tony Deuce is both author and podcaster. As co-host of the Back Seat Producers podcast he brings his love of Scorsese and Cagney-style crime thrillers, as well as his affection for the European (Guy Ritchie, Michael Lonsdale) and Asian (John Woo, Tony Leung) equivalents in crime cinema, to an eclectic mix of hosts. Tony and his partners in crime, Tony #1 (Tony Mast), David (Adam), and Darryl, podcast every Wednesday evening, giving you their collective and often confrontational insights on exactly what is going on (or wrong) in Hollywood.

Tony the author has just published his first novel. "The Boston Connexion" is a gritty crime and revenge tale that harkens back to the heyday of mob fiction. It's a coming-of-age story that sprawls three cities on three different continents,"a gritty, pub-soused, bare-knuckled-brawler of a revenge novel." that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Tony will also have a short story published titled ” 商君書 (Shangzi) Or Engine of the Species." It's being released with the “Built for Speed” anthology by Unasked Question, LLC later this year (2011). He is also working on a forthcoming project with Tony Mast that hopefully will see release at the beginning of next year.

Now, wait right here while I make this man an offer he cant refuse.

6 Questions with Tony Deuce:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "LOL, I couldn't tell ya. Every word has a purpose. Even those formed from complete nonsense."


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally? 

  "Wow, where are the questions like "What's my favorite color," etc? :-)
Creatively I try to be influenced by everything and anything possible. I want to feel like I could theoretically write about anything. To the extent that some creative work continues to impress me as interesting and different enough from something that was done before, to the extent that it reframes my thinking, that stuff usually can be fascinating and creatively invigorating. One example would be "The Social Network." To me, that movie kind of reframes how a movie about modern society could be done. It's like a modern day "La Dolce Vita" style-commentary, only that it's legal drama about computer geeks in a script vaguely reminiscent of "Animal House." When you see something like that--kind of breaking the formula--that gets you thinking. "I want to write something like that someday." And that pushes you further. 

  Spiritually I'm a Christian and a believer and you can't escape that stuff. Salman Rushdie says "Atheists are obsessed with God." Well, many believers can't run away fast enough! I'm no exception, and this is the central yin-yang dichotomy of spirituality. I find spirituality a trying and intellectually challenging, rather than a blissful experience. But it's just as important either way. It finds its way into my work generally, I think. I know it did on  "The Boston Connexion."
  I also like kung fu philosophy, and classical taoism alot as well. Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the internal-external dichotomy of kung fu principles, and how a lot of other things in life are like kung fu. But that's not as much of a spiritual thing as it is a philosophical and physiological thing. But it affects the spirit significantly. Mind and body always affect the spirit. I wish I had the discipline to be a hard core kung fu guy.
  I wish I had the discipline to be a better Christian as well. In short, I think spiritually, what turns me on would be more self-discipline. How does that relate to my writing? Hopefully it's in the characters.

  Emotionally, I try to let the characters' limited perspectives drive the story. As the omniscient voice in my stories, usually, I try not to involve my own emotions too much in what I write."

3. What profession other than yours would you most like to attempt?
  

  "There are a ton of things that I would love to do professionally, that I could never do. Boxing is just one of them. It's easily the most extreme thing that I would want to do, relative to who and where I am now. I think those fighter guys/gals have a lot of guts, endurance. To stand in that ring and take hits, and think on your feet, and not hesitate to deliver the blows... that's a kind of stubborness, intransigence and discipline I would never have. It's also high on strategy. Either that, or maybe it's just crazy. But you still have to be disciplined to be crazy too."

4. What profession would you least like to attempt?

  "I've cleaned enough sewer lines in my life to know that I prefer not to do that professionally."

5. What is the most fun you have ever had?

  "I have fun everyday! I don't measure it too much. I try to live in the moment, like my dogs. Everyday for them is the most fun they've ever had."

6. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

                "We have Guinness."


Make it a Yuengling and I'm in. Thanks to Tony Deuce for giving a GREAT interview! Tony I really appreciate you taking the time to do this!
And thanks to YOU for reading! If you'd like to know more about Tony Deuce and his work check out the following links:

http://thebostonconnexion.com/
@TonyDeuce
Here's another great chat with Tony

Thanks again for reading and I'll see you next time for an interview with the extraordinary comic book artist J.K. Woodward!

Mur Lafferty

Writer, podcast producer, gamer, geek, and even martial artist, Mur Lafferty is a multi-faceted talent and a force to be reckoned with. Hailing from Durham, NC where she lives with her husband and eight year old daughter, Mur churns out fiction and editorials at a breakneck pace. Her fiction works include the Parsec winning Playing For Keeps, Nanovor: Hacked!, Marco and the Red Granny, and my personal favorite The Afterlife Series. 

Mur's podcasts are many, Escape Pod magazine and Angry Robot Books Podcast premiere among them, the seminal author is probably best known as host of  the long running podcast I Should Be Writing " the podcast for wanna-be fiction writers by a wanna-be fiction writer." The award winning podcast follows Mur's trials and tribulations in the publishing world, offers advice to new and beginning authors, and boasts a series of interviews with some of the top names in scifi publishing. 

Mur is also an avid gamer and has written for several RPG's. She currently writes a column for the gaming magazine Knights of the Dinner Table, and in the past she has been a contributor to Games Quarterly, Suicide Girls, and Anime Insider.

Mur also studies Kung fu. No, I'm not making that up. Kung fu. Northern Shaolin five animals style to be exact. And she plays World of Warcraft. And Dragon Age. And Button Men.

Now, when you can move across this rice paper, and leave no trace...

6 Questions with Mur Lafferty:


1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "Favorite words: Pie, defenestrate, limerent. Least favorite words: It's misuse of words that bug me, and anyone using "nom" as anything but onomatopoeia. (for example, as a noun, "It's time for noms" or verb "I'm going to nom that" or adjective "It was nommy." I just cringed writing that.)"


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Reading excellent writing makes me want to write, it moves me in ways that I can't describe. Any story well told can inspire me in a number of ways."


3. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up writing?

  "When I gave up on writing. :) I quit in college because I figured I'd never get better than I was - and others were better than me - and then spent a decade thinking to myself "I want to be a writer" without actually doing anything about it."


4. What is your favorite profanity?

  "Cunt-blossom."


5. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

  "Uh, nothing leaps to mind. I think one time I laid out Reese's Pieces on my desk and ate one for every hundred words I wrote, to push me along."


6. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "Probably what Douglas Adams said the last known message from God: "We apologize for the inconvenience."

Reece's Pieces. I rather love Reese's Pieces.

Thank you to Mur for taking the time to share this. And thanks to you for taking the time to read! If you'd like to know more about Mur Lafferty simply go to the Murverse.

On the menu for tomorrow is comic book master Ben Templesmith! See you then!

Tee Morris

Tee Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first book podcast in its entirety. He won acclaim and accolades for his cross-genre fantasy-detective Billibub Baddings Mysteries, the podcast of The Case of the Singing Sword winning him the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Audio Drama.
2011 marks Tee's return to fiction with his madcap steampunk adventure, Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel, written with Pip Ballantine and released by Harper Voyager.


And now, by your command...
  
15 Questions with Tee Morris:

1. What is your favorite word?

  "Enigma. (The word just evokes mystery.)"


2. What is your least favorite word?

  "Nigger. (The hatred behind the word just makes me cringe. I find the word utterly repulsive.)"


3. What decision in your writing career do you regret most?

  "Writing the Social Media how-to books. I did two for podcasting, two for Twitter. I honestly thought they would open doors for me, and I kept getting passed over for speaking events (and even professional jobs) for fly-by-night Social Media Snake Oil Salesmen and the like. The years and the efforts I put into those books could have been spent in fiction."


4. What decision in your writing career are you most thankful for?

  "When I said in 2004 to Evo Terra and Mike Mennenga "Guys, I got an idea. I want to podcast my first novel."


5. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Music. The natural splendor of the world around us (like a gorgeous sunset, the Natural Bridge of Virginia, etc.). Friends."


6. What turns you off creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Politics and the backbiting nature of it. The hypocrisy is sometimes too much to stomach."


7. What is you writing ritual?

  "I select a playlist on iTunes, fire up Scrivener, and then I start working. Usually the music fits the mood of the scene."


8. What sound do you love?

  "My child, laughing."


9. What sound do you hate?

"My child, crying."


10. What was the closest you ever came to giving up writing?

  "When I thought I was facing some close calls, I found something to keep me going. Writing is a part of me that, when I don't do it, I feel "off" in some way."


11. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

  "It's something I tend to do, if I ever need to take a moment's break. I'll crank up the music and start grooving a bit. If I'm feeling festive, I'll have a glass of wine in my hand when I do it."


12. What is your favorite curse word?

  "Seriously. The word "Cunt."



Why?



When you call someone THAT, it is a point of no return. You have only one direction left when the C-bomb is dropped. It is a commitment.



Two enter the octagon. Only one will leave."


13. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

  "I did that already. I was a professional actor. A part of me still enjoys performance when I podcast, but acting and writing are two professions that have a lot in common with one another."


14. What profession would you not like to do?

  "Pretty much, any job seen on Dirty Jobs."


15. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "Hi, Tee. You did good. Real good. I'm proud of you."


Wow! I can't believe you did ALL 15! An amazing author and a gentleman to boot, Tee gave me a HUGE portion of his time and I cant thank him enough. If you'd like to know more about illustrious Tee Morris surf over to http://ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com or drop him a tweet at TeeMonster on Twitter.

And we close yet another interview! I really hope you enjoyed it and be on the lookout for tomorrow's interview with model and actress Mara Marini!

Philippa Ballantine

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, fantasy author and podcaster Philippa Ballantine has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.

She first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade.
 

In 2006 Philippa became New Zealand’s first podcast novelist, she has since gone on to voice and produce Weaver’s Web, Chasing the Bard, Weather Child and Digital Magic as podiobooks. Her podcasts have been short listed for the Parsec Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award.

Philippa is the author of the Books of the Order series with Ace. Geist, the first in the Books of the Order series, was released in October 2010. Spectyr (released June 2011), Wrayth (2012) and Harbinger are to follow. She is also the co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series with Tee Morris. Phoenix Rising will debut in May 2011.

When not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and whenever possible traveling.

She is currently in the United States where her two Siberian cats, Sebastian and Viola make sure she stays out of trouble.

And now, hang on kid, we're in for a bumpy ride.

6 Questions with Philippa Ballantine:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "I love the word 'quentessential'- for some reason I adore words with Q and this just feels nice on the tongue.

I'm not found of the word 'receive' just because it is a word I always mix up and there just seem to be too many vowels in there!"


2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "Creatively what turns me on is travel. Meeting new people and seeing news places just fires me up and makes me want to include them into my stories. Spiritually I need greenery, forests and gardens. It feels to me like the place where I can recharge and find my inner zen. Emotionally I need to be around creative people. Something about being in a community of like-minded souls fulfills me and just makes me happy"


3. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up writing?

  "When I did! From the ages of eighteen to twenty-five I gave up writing. Mostly it was just despair at never getting published A New Zealand writer hoping to break into the world of New York publishing was just a lot harder back then. Luckily, I saw the light and came back- I'm kinda glad I did."


4. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

  "I actually started Geist on the ferry from Scotland to the Orkney Islands. It was kinda choppy water and I was writing on a piece of paper all the ideas that were flying at me. It was a strange, yet also strangely appropriate way to start the books of the Order."

5. What decision in your writing career do you regret most?

  "I've taken logical steps in my career and I don't regret a thing, but I do with it had happened faster. This was probably because I did give up for seven years. So I regret doing that, because I know I would be even further ahead in my career path than I am now. Also all those extra stories I could have been telling."


6.  If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "The first draft was great- no need for editing!"



Thanks Pip! A great way to close an interview! If you'd like to know more about Philippa Ballantine and her work...

Email: pip at pjballantine.com
Website: www.pjballantine.com
Twitter: philippajane
Facebook: Group page

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time for an interview with the ever suave and smooth Tee Morris!

Rick Moyer

Rick Moyer is the creative force behind Moyer Multi Media LLC, a media company that runs the gamut when it comes to presenting information. His passion for faith and life shows in the creative work that he does. From a weekly podcast, called Take Him With You, which he does with his wife Amy, to composing albums of music available on Itunes and Amazon, Rick enjoys a full spectrum of geekiness and media.

By day Moyer is a voiceover artist as well as musician where he creates jingles, parody songs,  theme music and background atmospheres for audio books and podcasts.  Rick created the music for The Martians Are Here Podcast and narrated the series creating over eight hours of original music.

Rick is also an accomplished graphic artist. 

So, what are we going to do today?

7 Questions with Rick Moyer:

1. What are your favorite and your least favorite words?

  "I don’t like cuss words as I find them a cheap way of describing things that could have so much more depth.  I don’t have any favorite words,  but I seem to say cool and awesome a lot.  Ugh.  I have one word that I’m fond of.  Verisimilitude. Learned it from my sixth grade teacher, and never forgot the reality of that word.  Words are tools like paint is for canvas.  We paint many pictures with them."

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

  "My switch seems to be activated in the creative world by things I see or hear around me.  I love to take the things we don’t take time to notice and draw on the creativity that is under our noses.  I did a whole banana slug pictorial with my macro lens a couple of years ago.  Those little buggers are some of the most beautifully made creatures you have ever seen.  Who takes time to really look at them close up?

  Spiritually I began my journey over 27 years ago.  I find myself gravitating more towards a close up relationship with Jesus Christ, not church.  To me there is a big difference.  I think when I read his words from the Bible they inspire me to be more.  I like that and my switch is turned on accordingly.

  Emotionally I seem to be getting much more sappy as I get older.  I used to be kind of tough like Spock from Star Trek, but not anymore.  Now I am more like Picard… I find my music and creative work to be very satisfying emotionally as I am able to release what I am feeling inside by composing songs and atmospheres.  If a song that doesn’t even have words can move someone to tears or make them smile and feel all warm inside, then I have done my job."

3. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up your craft?

  "I have made my craft into my career.  So there have been times when it does get lean.  Voiceover and music production is a fickle business.  One minute you can be up to your eyeballs in work, and the next no one seems to even know you exist.  Diversification is the key for me.  I do music, narration, photography, video, officiate weddings, do funerals, etc.

I often wonder how I will pay bills every two weeks, but it always seems to come in.  There was a few weeks in Feb of this year that I thought I might have to go flip burgers because work was scarce… but even if I had to do something out of my field I would never give up on music and creativity.  It’s in me.  I can’t deny it.  The fun is to pay the bills doing it."

4. What sound do you love?

  "I love the sound of my wife’s voice when she is close to me, I love the wonderful purr of my cats when they are happy and satisfied, the sound of the rain as it pours on my roof and the sound of the waves as they crash on the rocks.  Of course one of my favorite sounds is a Marshall Stack amplifier cranked up with a heavy metal guitar riff.  Oh yeah, something about that that simply turns my crank. I am also quite fond of the piano, flute and cello.  A rich orchestra can be quite awe inspiring."


5. What sound do you hate?

  "I don’t like the sound of arguing voices.  I don’t like the sound of hair buzzers in my right ear.  I’m not too fond of dogs barking repeatedly and I don’t enjoy the dentist drill.  I can live without the accordion or auto harp."

6. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while creating?

  "How does one answer that?  I have created for over 40 years in all sorts of places from coat closets, on rocks in the desert, in old movie theaters, next to lakes and rivers, in living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and yards, at festivals, in church, but the most unique and strange thing I have done while creating is too play Star Trek TNG in the background.  It’s like a comfort food and inspires me.  Not sure why. I also bite the side of my tongue when I’m concentrating."


7. Assuming heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

  "I believe that Heaven is a real place, for sure.  And when I die and stand before God I really only need to hear one thing… welcome Rick, thank you for receiving me in your heart.  I have a great place prepared for you.  In my opinion, nothing else matters."

Brilliant. Thanks again to Rick for indulging me! You can enjoy the creative talents of Mr Rick Moyer by visiting several different websites:

www.takehimwithyou.com

www.startrekparodies.com

http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/rickmoyer

http://www.moyermultimedia.com

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/rick-moyer/id336378772

And thanks again to you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time!

J.C. Hutchins

J.C. Hutchins is an award-winning fiction writer best known for using multimedia narratives, emerging fiction trends and participatory storytelling techniques to entertain online audiences. He is a published novelist, screenwriter, and experienced transmedia storyteller.

He is also much loved by his fans and was kind enough to be the first to contribute to this blog. For that I am eternally grateful.

5 Questions with J.C. Hutchins:

1. What is your least favorite word?

"Literally," as it is often misused in conversation.

2. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, emotionally?

I love brainstorming and collaborating with others. There's nothing better than a couple of creatives playing "what if?" and teasing out an idea.

3. What is the closest you have ever come to giving up writing?

I've never considered quitting writing. Not even close.

4. What is the strangest thing you have ever done while writing?

I probably make strange faces as I search for words, but I can't think of anything strange. Sorry.

5. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God (or Allah or Yahweh or Odin. Generally the Supreme Being of your choice.) say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

"There goes the neighborhood."

Thanks again to Mr. Hutchins for taking the time to answer these questions. If you would like to know more about J.C. and his work surf over to http://JCHutchins.net.

Thank you for reading and I'll see you again next time!