Did you read the CSR feature this month, La Tambola? This story tells all about how humanity does... and doesn't, manage new beginnings. Before you share your thoughts below, check out my interview with drsawzall. 

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?

I do make my bed in the morning 75% of the time.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

A clone of dabeagle who has to be among the best crafters of written dialogue, he constantly stuns me with what comes out of his head.

Now if you had asked what kind of inanimate object I would like to be, I would have to go with Geron Kees, for the very same reasons.

What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story?

Machu Pichu hands down.

What brought you to GA?

A never-ending search at the time, for another quality gay story site. I’ve found a home here, I am amazed at the response to my work, the encouragement, camaraderie, and the shear number of stories encompassing nearly every possible genre. I love the ability to comment and to have my work commented on, so much I became a proud premium member. This story site stands head and shoulders with the best of them out there.

If you could give advice to yourself when you first started writing, what would it be?

Spell and grammar check are critical must haves, and an editor/coach in the fine art of crafting dialogue. It is something I struggle mightily with even tho my friends tell me I have the gift of gab.

What is one thing you enjoy about writing a story in the scifi genre(s)?

The ability to create a plausible world reflecting the struggle of life.

If you had to leave Earth to colonize another planet, would you like to be part of a pastoral planet or a more technological planet colonization team?

That’s a tough question, I would prefer some sort of mix where both sides keep each other in balance.

How did you come up with the idea for your native species in La Tombola?

I read a reprint of Shirly Jackson’s short story called the Lottery circa 1948 or so. So much was packed into that short story that it stuck with me for some time. When the voice in my head became insistent that it had something to share with our fellow readers, I sat down and wrote the first part that afternoon.  

For some time, I had a vision of a world, for a different story, that featured the Gnos, it was to be set in a post-apocalypse world. Where conflict would arise between the survivors, those from the cities/urban against the rural/woodland areas.  The need for food was to be the crux of the story and the impetus of conflict between the two ‘societies’. Neither side being able to get the upper hand over the other, the city/urban dwellers derogatorily referred to their ‘enemies’ as the ‘Gnos’ as a derivative of oregano, a valuable spice at the time, much in demand in the urban/city areas, as growing food is a struggle.

I could never do that story justice, and at the time I was writing La Tombola, the Gnos insisted that I include them, they were very tired of being cooped in the further recesses of my cranium.

What is your favorite scene or line from La Tombola?

I’m torn between the fifth chapter, I struggled mightily with it as it was so crucial to future events, In the writing, the chapter was touching some difficult areas and it needed the right touch for such a sensitive subject matters. Then when Ned Boone finally being reunited with Peter for good in Chapter 13 and Epilogue. I believe the following was a decent distillation of the arc of the story…

And then, there was his last meeting with Mithras, the details still vividly clear in his mind. “You have done me great service Ned Boone, not once but several times. I have not forgotten the gift of what was most precious to you, nor the promise that you would be together again, for your unselfish sacrifice and service.”

Continuing, “Yet you have something that is mine, and as you say, I have something that is yours, what is it you seek in exchange for that cloth you carry always?”

It was with temerity Ned thought that he had asked, it had to be, the shear boldness…audacity of it all, as he remembered the rest of that engagement with Mithras. One does not bargain with the gods after all, and yet as he ran his fingers through the few graying hairs on a sleeping Peter’s chest, watching it rise and fall with his sleepy breathing, his plea had been listened to and granted.

Will you share something about your current or upcoming work with readers?

I’ve been reading, something I love to do, a couple of alternate history books, you know, what would have happened if the Allies lost WW2, that sort of thing. As a history buff it tweaks my interests. I’m thinking of something along the lines of Lincoln losing his reelection bid in 1864. In many ways it is a rich vein to mine.