Guess what? Today, we have an AUTHOR INTERVIEW! *confetti* As you may have noticed on the sidebar, today we are featuring Allan Richard Shickman. He is not only an artist, teacher, actor, historian, gardener, and former Boy Scout, but the author of Zan-Gah! Donna at Lit Bites gave it a pretty good review, and everybody knows I take her opinions seriously.
Wondering what Zan-Gah is about?
A prehistoric adventure has only begun. Pressed by love for his brother and a bad conscience, the hero undertakes a quest which leads to captivity, conflict, love, and triumph. In three years Zan-Gah passes from an uncertain boyhood to a tried and proven manhood and a role of leadership among his people.
Y'all know the drill. Click read more to learn about what goes well (or, er, not) with vanilla icecream, the 22nd century, and counterfeiting.
Nicole: Welcome to WORD, Allen! Do you think you can summarize Zan-Gah in 140 characters or less, Twitter-style?
Allen: Ez s π: Z-G suffrs 2 find twin bro. Daels changd, trubld. Bludy escap. Z-G bcoms man, leadr, dfeats waspmen. Seql 2. (Is this a test?)
N: No, but good job. What is the weirdest combination of food items that you can think of?
A: Puree of raw liver over vanilla ice-cream. Why do you ask?
N: No reason. Though I'm now trying to picture why anybody would even think of eating that. What inspired you to start writing Zan-Gah?
A: Well, speaking seriously, the Zan-Gah stories begin with geography. I have always maintained that a change in geography is good for an artist or author. He sees things with "fresh eyes," and what might be ignored by a long-time resident can be dramatically new to a visitor. That's the way it was with me when I left the city of St. Louis to travel across the American West by automobile to California. Most of the territory I crossed is relatively arid and largely unoccupied. It raised in my mind the question: how did people survive here before air-conditioned cars and water faucets (or celll phones or automatic liver blenders)? It was over a year before I started typing Zan-Gah, but that is how the idea came about. The first book is largely a tale of survival in a bleak and arid land.
N:What was your favorite scene?
A: In Casablanca, there’s this scene where Humphrey Bogart tells Ingrid Bergman to go back to her husband because if she doesn’t, she will regret it—maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of her...Oh, you mean in Zan-Gah? I like where gigantic Chul jumps across a deep chasm, barely managing to hold onto a boulder on the far side—and then the boulder begins to move under the shock of his weight. It’s a real cliff-hanger.
N: If you could write in any other time period, what period would you write in?
A: I wish I could write in the 22nd century, but I doubt that I will make it through the 21st.
N: That's not quite what I meant. *laughs* You are "an artist, teacher, actor, author, historian, gardener, and former Boy Scout." Which is your favorite title?
A: I prefer “Your Grace,” but I will settle for “Professor.”
N: You've written in a gazillion and four - or, er, several - different publications. How was writing for each of them different? Did you use a different process for each?
A: Actually, I used the very same process for my scholarly publications as I now use for my young adult fiction, and I recommend it to students young and old. Whenever I get the least little idea, or grand one, or find anything usable or quotable in my research, I write it down on a 3 x 5” card. I’m a dreamer, and ideas come to me all the time in no order at all. Sometimes it is just a word or a sentence or a smart -alec remark I have learned to value these ideas and write them down on the spot. If I don’t, I will lose or forget them. After a while I have a big stack of cards. The great thing about cards is that you can put them in order. This goes in chapter 3, that in chapter 7, etc. Now I have several small stacks of cards, and I can put them in approximate order too. Nicole, from that point the book (or article) is half written. No writer’s bloc for me.
N:What prehistoric creature would you like to be?
A: What’s the use of wishing? Let’s change the question: What crime would you like to get away with? Counterfeiting. But what’s the use of wishing?
Thanks for stopping by, Allen! Don't forget to pick up Zan-Gah in your local bookstore - and if they don't have it? No worries! You can order directly off the Earthshaker Books website.