AUTHOR STEPHEN B. PEARL

BIO OF STEPHEN B. PEARL

Gandalf taught me how to be a spirit wrapped in flesh. Aragorn taught me how to be a man. Frodo taught me of perseverance, and Samwise of loyalty. Along the way I learned of the power of the written word, the gift it could give by slipping past our defences to show us the best and the worst in ourselves. So who is Stephen B. Pearl? He is a lifeguard, husband, mystic, science enthusiast, home handyman, backyard mechanic, and writer. Like most of us the face he wears changes with the company and the season. His three cats know him as pride alpha, I like to think so, though servant might be more accurate. Who am I kidding? My wife runs the pride; I just try and stay out of her way.
At any rate, I am a man of middle years who lives in a house in Ontario, Canada with three cats, a wife and a sincere hope that you will enjoy my books. My presently available works are.

Tinker’s Plague: A post-apocalyptic, science fiction, medical and political thriller, ISBN 978-1-933157-30-6 available in paperback and e-book formats from Draumr Publishing: http://www.draumrpublishing.com/store/cart.php?target=main 

Slaves of Love: e-book: A futuristic detective story of love and madness. 

The Hollow Curse: e-book: A centuries spanning tale of love and obsession available from Club Lighthouse Publishing: www.clublighthousepublishing.com

Nukekubi: A paranormal, detective novel, ISBN 978-0-9867633-6-6 - eISBN. 978-0-9867633-7-3 available in paperback and e-book formats from Dark Dragon Publishing: www.darkdragonpublishing.com

For more information about Stephen B. Pearl or his works please visit: www.stephenpearl.com

What is the current project you are working on?

There are several. The central one is the rough draft of Tinker’s Sea the second book in the Tinker series of post-apocalyptic novels. I also have a space opera that I’m editing Smugglers’ War and a series of interrelated stories in the Sabbath series of the Pagan Writers Press then there’s promotional work. What am I forgetting? Oh yes, breathing. Must make time to breath. OK that’s enough, back to work. 

How do you define success?

Being happy and living with a degree of honor and dignity. For that you need to do something you like and you feel makes a difference.

How do you handle rejection?

Badly. The truth is being an author you will get loads of rejection. Editors are looking for reasons to get your work off their desks not reasons to publish you. You can’t blame them when you consider the number of manuscripts they see. One trick I use is I save all my paper rejection letters. Pile them up and every once in a while go out in the backyard and burn them. It’s very cathartic. I also have a file on my computer labeled “Their Loss” that is a black hole that I dump my rejections into. A stock rejection from a editor means only one thing. Don’t send that story to that editor again. A personal rejection with advice means that a very busy person saw enough in your work that they took the time to offer advice. It may be good or bad advice, but it is a minor win.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Since I was twenty three. Before that it was Astronaut, Professional SCUBA diver or Ambulance Attendant.

 What inspired you to become a writer?

Writers taught me how to be, how to live, how to think. They made me look at myself and see the good and the bad in the mirror of their words. I want to pay some of that back.

What is the best thing about being one?

When your book comes out in print and you hold it for the first time knowing that people will read your words. That you will touch them and if you’ve done your job they will gain pleasure and maybe, just maybe a new perspective from your work. That is a feeling that makes the months of blood sweat and tears worthwhile.

What is the worst thing about being one?

Poverty, It’s like acting, until and unless you make it reasonably big it costs more than it yields. This trend seems to be getting worse.

What is the estimated number of projects you have worked on?

Oh gods. Books maybe 20, books that have a chance of seeing print, ten short stories, blogs other things I wouldn’t hazard a guess. Lots.

Who is your favorite author?

J.R Tolkien, of living authors Jim Butcher, who is also a really nice guy. His wife Shannon, also a writer, is a sweet heart. One of the nicest couples I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

How has your life changed since you became writer?

I’ve been writing for 26 years I’ve been published, in any significant way, for 3. So not much. I still love my wife and cats. I still eat too much and have to force myself to go to the gym. I attend a lot more Science Fiction Conventions than I use to.

What is one piece of advice you can give to someone who also wants to be a writer?

Get out before the addiction becomes to strong. Really, if you think it is going to be easy, if you think you’ll self-publish your masterpiece and suddenly have fame and fortune think again. There are thousands of people at the same level you are all competing for the book Buyer’s dollar. If it’s too late for you to save yourself, if you just have to write, if your characters keep you up at night then live. Experience everything you can, without being stupid of course. If you want to write fantasy join a group that recreates the middle ages. If you want to write about magic, crack some books and find some public circles of local mystical religions to attend. Be respectful, these are religious ceremonies and the faith of the people attending deserves respect, but learn from the experience and bring that to your writing. All great fiction is based on a network of facts.

What do you like to do besides writing?

Walk in the woods. Cross country ski in the woods, swim, skin and or SCUBA dive, play with my cats, attend sf conventions.

Have you had any other jobs before you decided to become a writer?

Before after and during. Lifeguard has been the most persistent. I’ve also been a laborer on a loading bay, a shipping and receiving clerk, worked for a short time in a balloon factory, that came in handy when I wrote Nukekubi, among other things.

How would you describe your education?

Collage graduate with some university. Up here in Canada Collages offer practical hands on programs with diplomas. Universities offer the BA, Masters, Doctorate stream and tend to be more theoretical. I am also very well read and at least marginally knowledgeable in a verity of fields. A man should not have an opinion unless he can back it up with at least a basic understand of what he has an opinion on.

What are some of your favorite American films? Foreign films? Television shows?

Films, The three original Star Wars, The American Pie movies, Alyson Hannigan be still my heart.

TV, Forever Knight, Farscape, Sanctuary, Babylon 5, How I Met Your Mother, so what it’s a harmless crush were both married and met once for about two minutes and I’m sure she doesn’t even recall the incident. I’ll say this for Alyson, she was a class act all the way when I did meet her. She made up for the horrible week I’d had in less than a minute.

How has social media changed the publishing industry?

It’s given everyone a platform to promote their books. The competition has skyrocketed and the quality control has all but vanished. Frankly, things are a transitory mess and I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I suspect that a few reviewers will develop reputations for doing a good analyses and they will become the king makers in a new literary landscape. It has also shifted the responsibility for promotion away from the publisher and onto the writer. I feel this is a less than ideal situation since the personality that often makes for a great writer tends to be exclusive from the one that makes a great promoter. I know many authors that hate doing readings, cringe at having to “plug” their work but these things are now essentials.

How does independent film differ from the mainstream?

Budgets, desperation, risk taking, pay.

 You could have any first edition book. Which book would it be and why?

A Gutenberg Bible because I could sell it and buy a place in the country. For practical purposes what added value does being a first edition give. The words are still the same and the story doesn’t change.

What's your favorite movie quote and why?

Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather: Death, “Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.”

This speaks to the core of what it is to be human, to strive for that which is worthy and unreal and by that striving to make it real. To become a creator in the universe shaping it into something more grand than it could ever be without us. It is about will, desire, striving, and our ultimate evolution. In a sense it is a way of restating a quote from the Book of Coming Forth by Day. “I am not a man perfected, I am a man perfecting.”

What is your opinion on movie remakes and sequels?

It varies with the movie. The first four Alien movies were a rare example where the sequels lived up to the original. The Jurassic Park franchise on the other hand tanked after the first movie, aside from the CGI. So it’s a case by case basses.

What is your opinion on book to movie adaptions?

Much the same as above. I will say this, usually if the movie is better than the book it means the book needed a good compression edit to start with.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just a thank you for having me and a list of some sights where people can learn more about me and my work.

My personal website: www.stephenpearl.com

Blog: www.draumrpublishing.com/forums/blog/stephen_b__pearl.
Website:  http://www.stephenpearl.com/
YouTube Readings: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlMDmlb-Los

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Stephen-B-Pearl-writer/172076419488163
PolkaDot Banner: http://polkadotbanner.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=528
Author’sDen: http://www.authorsden.com/stephenbpearl
Good Reads: http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=Good%20Reads&mkt=en-ca&setLang=en-CA

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Thank you Stephen for doing the interview. I think that's really awesome that you met Jim Butcher and his wife. You've got a lot going on. I wish you all the best with your projects.