Title: What Casts the Shadow (The
Edge of the Known, Volume I)
Author Name: Seth Mullins
Welcome
to BK Walker Books Etc. I'm so happy you could join me today at The Virtual Cafe.
BK:
Looking out the nearest window, describe the scene you see.
A
mess! We had a snow storm last night – seriously the biggest flakes
I’d ever seen, like the size of figs – which then turned to rain
in the night; and of course, in true Vermont fashion, the temperature
will now drop and turn it all into a skate rink.
BK:
Tell us about your office. Is it a mess like mine, or is everything
in its place?
I
write in motion – that’s the way ideas percolate best for me –
so my ‘office’ is the kitchen table one moment, then my bed, then
a picnic table outside, etc. But I am fairly organized and clean. My
mind swirling within an ordered environment: that’s my preferred
way to work.
BK:
What is a must-have, such as coffee or a favorite pen, that you need
to write?
Well,
I must have coffee in my day,
but not necessarily to write. ;) I used to be more superstitious
about the creative process and would have lucky pens, notebooks,
writing spots, etc. But now I seem able to do it under virtually any
sort of condition so long as I don’t sit still for too long. I
might write for four hours in a day, but it’ll be broken up by
dishes, hikes, music, errands, stepping out for lunch…
BK:
Do you like to write in silence, or do you need music or background
noise?
I
almost always write to music. I’ll anticipate a certain scene
sometimes and then compile a playlist that fits its distinctive mood
so that I can just roll along in that emotional space until I’m
through. And of course I’ve been writing about the adventures and
misadventures of a struggling band anyway, so this approach is
fitting.
BK:
Tell us a bit about your hero/heroine, and their development.
Brandon
Chane begins his quest as a young musician both brilliant and
self-destructive. He belongs to that pantheon of artists who live
deeply but also feel life more intensely than they know how to
deal with. I wanted to explore the question of whether or not he
could ‘make peace’ in such a way that he could achieve a balanced
and happy life and yet still retain his vision. ‘Live fast, die
young’ has been a credo and cliché of rock'n'roll since the ‘60s.
Luckily,
Brandon finds possible salvation in the form of Saul Mason, a
middle-aged man who works as a counselor to people in crisis. Saul is
a mystic thinker, an intuitive healer, an ancient medicine man in
therapist guise. And he tries to demonstrate to Brandon how his life
is his own creation. He has the power to choose a new path.
BK:
As a writer myself, I'm always curious how other writers get through
stumble blocks. When you find a story not flowing, or a character
trying to fight you, how do you correct it?
It
usually resolves itself if I’m able to recognize, in the moment,
that things are in a stuck place and then just let it go and do
something else. Any time I sweat my way through a scene it ends up
reading like that in the end: It sounds forced. I’ve learned to
trust that my stories have their own inner logic and emotional force,
and so it then becomes more a matter of letting things unfold, of
stepping out of the way, rather than wrestling with the prose.
BK:
Using the letters of your first name as an acronym, describe your
book...
Shamanic
Energies To Heal
BK:
How did your writing journey begin?
The
earliest catalyst that I can remember was my discovery of epic
fantasies like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Thomas
Covenant when I was in grade school. These worlds felt ‘real’ to
me, and I wanted to explore what that meant. Later on, the Beat
writers convinced me that one could use metaphor just as effectively
in what most people would consider more ‘real life’ scenarios.
And Surrealism was a bridge between those two worlds. Basically, I
just got really excited about the idea of evoking inner realities
through story, of crafting something that could have a healing effect
upon readers.
BK:
Using the letters from the word, Summer, how would friends and family
describe you?
Somewhere
under moonlight, musing everything relentlessly.
BK:
What is the craziest thing you've ever written about, whether it got
published or not?
This
series, actually. It contains a lot of subject matter that I’d been
afraid to approach before now. I worried that I might go so far in
evoking Brandon’s self-destructive tendencies that people just
wouldn’t care about him. I also worried that readers might assume
he was me.
BK:
Tell us one thing you've done in life, that readers would be most
surprised to know.
The
whole Edge of the Known trilogy was written over a period of fourteen
months. I don’t often advertise this fact because I tend to worry
that people might think, “Oh, it must not be very good if it came
through that fast.” But it was just a feverishly inspired time,
such as I’d never experienced before – and for reasons which I
don’t fully understand.
BK:
What can we expect from you in the future?
I’m
actually not sure at the moment. I’m in the midst of a sort of
‘grieving process’ (dramatic description, I know) over these
characters who I’ve been writing about and living with so
intensely, now that the trilogy is completed. It’s almost like
having to decide whether to remain alone or get back on the horse in
the wake of a romantic breakup. I need to take time.
This
or That...
Coke
or Pepsi? You mean to clean floors with?
Night
Owl or Early Bird? Both, actually. I stay up late, rise fairly early
and then nap in the afternoon, typically.
Fantasy
or Mystery? Fantasy.
Pen/Paper
or Computer? I usually begin with a handwritten draft, “Humanity’s
Way Forward” being an exception.
Pizza
or Burger? Love both, can’t choose.
Rock
or Country? Rock.
Chocolate
or Vanilla? Love both. Would depend on my mood of the moment.
Beach
or Mountains? I’ve had the privilege of living close to both in my
life. There’s no way I could choose. Too long around one and I’d
miss the other. I realize I’m doing a lot of cheating here ;)
Thank
you so much for having us as one of your stops today. It has been
great getting to know more about you and your book, and wish you the
best of success!
BK
Walker
Author Bio:
Seth Mullins writes visionary fiction, stories
that seek for a marriage between the invisible inner landscape from
whence our dreams and deepest inspirations come and the waking world,
the world that we call ‘the real’, which sorely needs those
life-giving forces. The result is fiction that seethes with surface
drama and conflict while at the same time revealing aspects of the
deeper mysteries of reality and of our own souls. The Edge of the
Known series, his most recent project, is also inspired by years
spent as a songwriter and performing musician. Seth has spent part of
his life in Connecticut, New Mexico and Oregon, and currently lives
in Vermont.
Author Links -
Website (Humanity’s Way Forward)
http://www.humanityswayforward.com
| Blog (The Edge of the Known)
http://frontiersofconsciousness.blogspot.com
| Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/WhatCaststheShadow
| Twitter @SethMullins1
|
Book Genre: Visionary Fiction
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: January 4, 2014
Buy Link(s): What Casts the Shadow?
(The Edge of the Known, Volume I) http://amzn.to/1rkhffS
Trust in the Unseen (The Edge of the
Known, Volume II) http://amzn.to/UBw3bw
Book Description: When an altercation
outside of a performance venue nearly proves fatal, Brandon Chane
begins to realize how far his life is spinning out of control. His
efforts to channel his pain, frustration and thwarted loves into his
music may not suffice to save him. Then he meets Saul, a crisis
counselor with the soul of an ancient medicine-man, and a
far-reaching journey of healing - one that may teach him how to steer
away from the very edge of the Abyss - begins.
Excerpt:
1.
The
Edge of the Precipice
I
suppose you could compare it to driving on a high mountain road. You
don’t realize how close you are to free-fall, or how sheer and far
is the plunge, until you go around a bend where one side is exposed
to open air and then there it is: The Abyss.
There’s
this edge that you can come to – I imagine it’s a different place
for each of us – and you just know that once you get swept over it
you won’t be coming back. By the time you’re close enough to see
it it may already be too late. You could find yourself teetering,
suddenly hearing the warnings that life had been giving you all
along, knowing that it’s become impossible to step back; because by
that time, those other forces – the ones pounding like the rapids
at your back, always trying to push you towards that edge and then
over it – have grown too strong.
Tommy
and I first talked about forming a band together before either of us
had learned to play an instrument. We both perceived music –
particularly, its heavy, extreme underside - as the ideal vehicle for
our personal salvation. The first guitar that I purchased, a Fender
Telecaster that I immediately spray painted black to my father’s
horror, became my refuge. It was my best friend and confidante. It
gave me a convenient excuse to avoid social situations that, more
often than not, would only remind me of how far off the beaten path I
really was – and, oftentimes, land me in one merciless scrap or
another. Instead, I could just sit in my basement room for hours,
listening to my various hardcore underground cassettes while trying
to trace the riffs I was hearing along the frets of my
charcoal-colored axe.
That’s
how I learned to play so well within just a handful of years. I gave
up on the romanticized notion of a normal social life and focused on
practicing and creating. Tommy, meanwhile, had picked up the bass.
Somewhere along the line we discovered that we each had
halfway-decent singing voices as well, at least for the kind of
abrasive music we were writing.
Schedule
December 7 - Introduction at VBT Café Blog
December 8 - Guest Blogging at Mythical Books
December 10 - Spotlight at BK Walker Books
December 10 - Spotlight at Indy Book Fairy
December 12 - Spotlight at IndieWriterReviews
December 15 - Author 2 Author Marketing at BookIt BK Walker
December 17 - Interviewed at Bikers With Books
December 19 - Spotlight at Black Lilac Kitty
December 22 - Interviewed at Ghost Rider Book Promotions
December 24 - Interviewed at BK Walker Books Etc.
December 26 - 5 Things I Know For Sure at CAT Magazine
December 29 - Spotlight at My Life, Loves and Passions
December 31 - Guest Blog at Lori's Reading Corner
January 1 - Reviewed at Tea and Book
January 1 - Spotlight at My Tangled Skeins Reviews
January 5 -Guest Blogging at Debbie Jean Blog
January 7 - Review & Guest Blogging at Platypire Reviews
January 9 -Spotlight at Black Lilac Kitty
January 13 - Reviewed at Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
January 13 - Spotlight at 4 Covert 2 Overt A Place In The Spotlight
January 13 - Spotlight at Books & Tales
January 19 - Reviewed at BK Walker Books
December 8 - Guest Blogging at Mythical Books
December 10 - Spotlight at BK Walker Books
December 10 - Spotlight at Indy Book Fairy
December 12 - Spotlight at IndieWriterReviews
December 15 - Author 2 Author Marketing at BookIt BK Walker
December 17 - Interviewed at Bikers With Books
December 19 - Spotlight at Black Lilac Kitty
December 22 - Interviewed at Ghost Rider Book Promotions
December 24 - Interviewed at BK Walker Books Etc.
December 26 - 5 Things I Know For Sure at CAT Magazine
December 29 - Spotlight at My Life, Loves and Passions
December 31 - Guest Blog at Lori's Reading Corner
January 1 - Reviewed at Tea and Book
January 1 - Spotlight at My Tangled Skeins Reviews
January 5 -Guest Blogging at Debbie Jean Blog
January 7 - Review & Guest Blogging at Platypire Reviews
January 9 -Spotlight at Black Lilac Kitty
January 13 - Reviewed at Paranormal Romance and Authors That Rock
January 13 - Spotlight at 4 Covert 2 Overt A Place In The Spotlight
January 13 - Spotlight at Books & Tales
January 19 - Reviewed at BK Walker Books
