Author Interview: Dutch Henry

Dutch Henry is a freelance writer and novelist who resides in Virginia with his wife of 35 years, horse, dogs, cats and chickens. He is also a staff writer for the American Competitive Trail Horse Association (ACTHA). You can find Dutch on the Web at http://www.dutchhenryauthor.com/.

We'll Have The Summer: The doctors say she’ll be gone by fall, but they have one last summer. One hot summer to consummate a lifetime of love, to cry together, laugh together … remember together. When a troubled teenage girl and an injured horse turn to them for help, Mary and Sam Holt find enough room in their own large and breaking hearts to show the girl life’s glories and restore a champion’s will. We’ll Have The Summer is a magnificent story about life, love, and horses.


Welcome, Dutch! Thanks for stopping by. Everyone who has read We'll Have the Summer says the same thing--that it's a touching story and a box of tissues is required while reading it. As a male, how tough was it for you to reach deep down inside and write a compelling story about love and loss?

When I wrote We'll Have The Summer, I wanted to write a story about an uncommon love so enduring it could overcome insurmountable obstacles. I believe in the power of love. I really don't believe this is a story about loss. But it is about love. In her review Carole Herder (Owner of Horse & Rider Inc.) said, "Everyone who has felt the bitter sweet pull of love and loss should read this book."”So perhaps it is about loss as well, but I think my strength to write it came from the love between Mary and Sam.

I don't really believe the feelings about love and loss are gender specific. My love for my wife and our long wonderful life together certainly effected my thoughts as I wrote.We've had 35 years of experiences, good and bad, and I pulled from that ... And besides, I'm a very emotional guy ...

Horses play a big role in this story. Can you tell us a little about that role? And what role do horses play in your own life?

My passion for horses and the way they can enrich a person's life needed to be part of the story. People like me, who are deeply involved with horses, know the power of the spirit of the horse. There is a parallel between Mary, who is dying, and Comanche the horse she is nursing back to health. His spirit not only gives strength to Mary, but also helps the young girl to realize life is worth living. Chester, the old lesson horse, teaches Barbara that she can find challenges fun and worth pursuing.

My connection with horses started at a young age. As a foster child growing up on a dairy farm the first friends I ever remember having were the heavy work horses. As an adult I helped rehabilitate horses who had had a rough go of it. I've competed in long distance endurance racing. I currently have one mare who I ride for my own enjoyment and actually my physical therapy.

In We'll Have the Summer, one of the characters only has a short time to live. From your Facebook statuses, I know how much you love your wife, the Ravishing Robin. Was it emotionally trying for you to immerse yourself into a world where a man faces losing the great love of his life?

Well the power of our love helped me to write this story. There were times when writing this I had to stop because I couldn't see the screen for my tears. And even in the editing and revision process, those same scenes held their power over me. I never got used to them. Yes, Rhiannon it was very emotionally trying . We are all going to deal with loss. It is my hope that by sharing this story of such a powerful love readers might understand that a rich and unwavering love can see you through.

Dutch, can you tell us a little about your childhood?

As a very young boy I had a rough life. Then at the age of eight, I was Farmed Out. That is to say I was placed on a farm and worked for my keep. We had no electric or running water, but we did have a nice outhouse. There was no love, either. I fell in love with the horses. Oh I loved the cows, the chickens and my dog, too. But it was the horses who saved me. I didn't know it then, but I had been exposed to the "Spirit of the Horse."”

What did writing this book teach you?

How many wonderful folks are out there who are willing to pitch in and help! My goodness I’ve met some fabulous folks on this journey. Like yourself, Rhiannon. When I started writing my first novel, five years ago, I didn't know the difference between then and than. I thought every sentence had a quota of at least a dozen comas. I had never touched computer, still type holding a pencil, one letter at a time, but I'm up to almost twenty words a minute now. I studied agents and writer's blogs, made friends who read and critiqued my early struggles and taught me many, many things.

Writing this novel has given me other opportunities, as well. It was the constant drumbeat on blogs of, “Platform”, that caused me begin writing for the American Competitive Trail Horse Association. (ACTHA). You know, build a platform to sell your book. Because of that I contribute regularly in a column in a national magazine, and have had feature articles published in five others. I also have a page on their website ACTHA Spotlights by Dutch Henry,”with a link to my novel, where I write stories about People and Horses Helping Horses and People. You can check it out here.

http://www.actha.us/index.php?option=com_association&view=guest&area=content&id=124

What's next?

I suppose the immediate next is to try to sell books! I'm having fun right now with a lot of friends on Facebook about it. I'm going to continue to write for ACTHA, and now also Best Of America By Horseback.”

I have two novels started, one I like more than the other. I like to write about love and horses, so we'll see where these characters take me! And of course I'll spend as much time as God allows loving my sweet wife,the Ravishin' Robbie, riding my mare, Kessy and birdwatching.

THANK YOU, Rhiannon for this opportunity!

Gitty Up
Dutch

Check out Dutch's touching story about love, life and horses! Available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon, also in e-book formats on Smashwords.

Author Interview/Review: Cole Alpaugh

Cole Alpaugh's newspaper career began in the early 80s, starting with small daily papers in Maryland and Massachusetts, where his stories won national awards. His most recent job was at a large daily in Central New Jersey, where his "true life" essays included award-winning pieces on a traveling rodeo and an in-depth story on an emergency room doctor that was nominated by Gannett News Service for a 1991 Pulitzer Prize. Cole also did work for two Manhattan-based news agencies, covering conflicts in Haiti, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Thailand and Cambodia. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines, as well as most newspapers in America. Cole is currently a freelance photographer and writer living in Northeast Pennsylvania, where he also coaches his daughter's soccer team.

What inspired you to write this book? Years ago, I’d taken my oldest daughter to see a traveling circus. It was an old, broken down troupe with license plates from down south, but they had an enormous African elephant with a headdress made of pink ostrich feathers. We were walking through the maze of animal cages when we noticed a bird had landed on the elephant’s head and was picking at the feathers. The elephant was prodding it with the tip of her trunk. My six-year-old daughter was amazed by the interaction, and we stood watching the bird trying to steal feathers, perhaps for its nest, while the elephant tried gently coaxing it away. Then, one of the circus workers walked up and, for no apparent reason, cracked the elephant across the side of its head with a long wood bullhook. The bird flew away, and the elephant began to cry, as did my daughter. It made me want to tell the story.


I spent a good chunk of the 1980's and early '90's as a war correspondent for two Manhattan picture agencies. Maybe a glamorous sounding gig when trying to pick up girls in bars, but it was sweaty, awful work most of the time. For what came out to be about a buck an hour, I went on at least a hundred patrols, basically trying to get shot at on three continents. If the patrol you latched onto got into a firefight, you might make four bucks an hour from photo sales. We learned to supplement our income by shooting feature pictures during downtime. Some of the most amazing people are traveling performers in third world countries. In Asia, the circus is revered, even the ragtag bands crisscrossing the most impoverished regions of Burma, Vietnam, and Cambodia. My story -- BEAR -- is set along the New Jersey shore, but most of the roustabouts and performers were based on these people who made their way from village to village, often sending kids ahead to scout whether there'd been any recent fighting. In BEAR, I tried to convey the obvious pride carried by these folks, from the aerialists to the congenital twins in the "freaks of nature" tents. I've seen real magic, the transformation that happens when an eighty-year-old man takes off his rags and puts on a glittering, handmade costume and leads a bear in a dance.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? I suppose it's a message about hope. How important hope is, yet all the dangers that come from opening yourself up to it. In
GARP, John Irving wrote about the sinister Under Toad lurking just beneath the surface. I suppose I'm just another writer who stole a bit of the Under Toad for my characters to deal with. But in every traveling circus I've encountered, sad stories easily outnumbered the good. One of my roustabouts in BEAR spent years perfecting an awesome defense against things that sneak up and cause pain. He learned to sit real quiet and still -- until he became invisible. If they can't see you, nothing can get at you.

As you know, I've had the pleasure of reading your work and feel there's a unique quality to your writing. How would you describe your writing style/voice? Thank you! Well, I had a tough time coming up with a family-friendly passage for readings. I was a little surprised when I noticed how often I used the word fuck and how often my characters fight and piss on each other. In some countries, whacking someone with your shoe is the ultimate display of contempt. I guess those people have never been pissed on.

You wear many hats--husband, father, coach, photographer, writer. Do you plan to make a long-term career out of writing novels? Would you care to buy five thousand copies of BEAR after this little talk? When my now 10-year-old was born, we moved to our vacation home full-time. My wife, Amy, left her job as a bio-chemist, and I went from staff photographer to freelance. We
simplified and downsized our lives so we could concentrate on things more important than paying a huge mortgage. Writing is incredibly satisfying and provides a daily dose of validation. It's the same feeling at the end of soccer practice, when I huddle up my eighteen girls and everyone puts a muddy hand in the middle. I hope to do both until I'm really old. Uh, oh, there's that word hope. I should edit it out.

What's next? My favorite story -- THE TURTLE-GIRL FROM EAST PUKAPUKA -- has entered the query-go-round. I'd love for it to find a home. It's about a tsunami that sweeps across a remote island in the South Pacific, the lone survivor being a young girl clinging to the back of an old sea turtle she'd been caring for. It's a story about trying to find the way back home. There's cannibalism, Fijian coke thieves, and a drunken salvage boat captain named Jesus, who hums Verdi's Rigoletto while blissfully peeing into the wind. To sum up what's next: more piss and hope, I suppose.

You can visit Cole at his website. The Bear In a Muddy Tutu is available in print, on Kindle, or ebook.

A deftly written story driven by raw and vivid characters and rich with evocative language and colorful descriptions. With every page another layer is peeled back as this fascinating, magical tale unfolds--sad or humorous, but always thoughtful. Alpaugh's writing does not rely on cheap tricks or predictable plot points, but slowly pulls you in and compels you to stick around for a while. Rest assured, in The Bear in a Muddy Tutu, you will constantly be surprised by what happens next.

--review by Rhiannon Ellis

Author Ami Blackwelder

Ami Blackwelder is a forbidden romance writer in the paranormal and historical romance genre. Growing up in Florida, she went to UCf and in 1997 received her BA in English and teaching credentials. She travelled overseas to teach in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. Thailand is considered her second home now. She has always loved writing and wrote poems and short stores since childhood; however, her novels began when she was in Thailand.

Having won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central Florida (Yes, The Blair Witch Project University;), her fiction From Joy We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary magazine: Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University libraries around the country. Later, she achieved the Semi-Finals in a Laurel Hemingway contest and published a few poems in the Thailand’s Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s People newspaper. Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM magazine, the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine.


Be sure to stop by Ami's website!

Eloquent Enraptures and author Ami Blackwelder proudly presents the six part science fiction/paranormal romance saga! Like nothing you have ever experienced!

Shifters of 2040:

“I’m pregnant. Her eyes peered over the edge of the cloth and confronted her mirrored reflection with that truth. I’m pregnant…by a SHIFTER. Oh, god!”

In “The Shifters of 2040,” Scientist Melissa Marn finds her world swirling on its axis with that one revelation. Shifters — a sentient alien species of light — look to Earth for refuge. In doing so, both shifters and humans are forced to confront prejudice, betrayal, adversity and oppression.

Methodical scientist, Melissa Marn, and her coworker, Dr. Bruce Wilder, conduct experiments on the shifters. Through her pregnancy, she becomes more compassionate and humane and finds herself defending the very species she’s supposed to eradicate.

One of the hybrids, Diamond, falls in love with Keenan, a soldier trained to kill her. Between the four, the reader is led from conflict to resolution, from despair to hope, from loneliness to love.

Much of the book’s originality lies in the shifters, common characters in science fiction, but whose origins are rarely explained. In this series, their alien DNA allows them to metamorphose into not just wolves, but a variety of animals. As the plot unfolds, the shifters discover they can have children with humans — hybrids.

Strengths of the novel include the complex characters, its writing style of poetic prose and rich description, and the well developed, thought-provoking, yet highly entertaining plot.
This fast paced book will appeal to the young adult and adult market. It fits nicely into the paranormal romance and science fiction romance genres and would make a great movie, a captivating TV series and an intriguing video game.

Readers will enjoy the fresh approach and original concept of the world thirty years from now, and will find the characters come to life in their minds long after they read “The End.”

Purchase options at her website.
http://amiblackwelder.blogspot.com/

Character Interview: This interview will be conducted for the characters of the Shifters of 2040. Scientist Melissa Marn and the hybrid Diamond.

Do you always love what you can’t have?
Melissa Marn: The Smithsonian, Bruce Wilder. I guess I do. But my life is controlled by the SCM now, by my father and General Raul. They decided this fate for me. If I had my way, I’d run off with Bruce somewhere far away...
Diamond: I fell in love with the enemy on accident. I didn’t plan to love Keenan, the military soldier sworn to kill me and my kind. He didn’t plan to love me. We just happened.

If you were a quality?
Melissa Marn: The River. I am methodical like waves. I do the job needed to be done, whatever the cost of erosion, and flow continually. Close to the Earth, but I am cold, because the SCM coaxed me since fifteen, and trained me since twenty-five.
Diamond: The Hawk. This is my other half, the beast inside of me, that the humans fear. I fly above the world and watch. Silent, and steady, but strong.

If you were a flaw?
Melissa Marn: Ice. I am cold, and hard. And too easily I melt and conform to the shape I am enclosed in, that prisoner the SCM has built around my life.
Diamond: The Heart. I feel too much. Emotions explode inside of me, and I sense my heart will be the end of me one day. If I could only feel less...

Do you always walk on the moral slippery slope?
Melissa Marn: It’s my job! It’s all I know. And if I didn’t do it, someone else would. What then? I know the shifters are more than the SCM tells us they are. They must feel something. But what? My curiosity and scientific training drives me. I have to find answers to my questions. I have to perform my duty!
Diamond: But I love him! I know being with him draws danger to my kind, to my family. My sister. But he would never betray me, willingly. I know he loves me too. And though I am sworn to stay away from him, from all SCM, my heart dominates my head.

Favorite food?
Melissa Marn: The Italian restaurant Little Milan. Bruce and I have shared many discussions, heated arguments, and romantic memories there.
Diamond: Mice...I am half hawk.

What's Next?

The publishing contract has been signed by all parties. Big sigh of relief. I feel as if I can relax now...almost.

Truth is, I rarely relax when it comes to writing. Each time I reach a goal, I immediately think what's next?

So, imagine my joy when I received a list! My very own here's-what's-next list. Some people cringe at lists, especially lists given out by other people. Me, I love it. Making decisions has never been something I'm good at, so tell me what to do and I'll do it has always been my attitude. I just. Need. A task.

The items on the list were not unexpected. Matter of fact, I'd already begun working on a few of them. One, however, makes me feel like sulking, pouting, and a number of other behaviors my two year old would gladly slap his toddler endorsement on.

"The author bio," I whine. "What bio?"

I'm not that interesting. I'm not an expert...on anything. I don't have a world-class education--no offense, Mom. You homeschooled me and did a great job. I have no previous publishing credits, no extraordinary accomplishments, except for the birthing of two human beings which seems pretty damn miraculous, if you ask me.

I'm just normal. To quote Christine O'Donnell, "I'm not a witch; I'm you." And we see how far that got her.