Hail, fellow Romans! As my readers may know, I’m taking part in a wonderful Steampunk Author Promotion at the end of April, the Steamlit Extravaganza. As you may well know, I’m a fast reader, and occasionally, that means I do something silly! In this case, that silly thing turned out well in the end, as I scored not one but TWO interviews for you to peruse!
Today’s Interview is with Author Ichabod Temperance, Author of A Matter of Temperance. Here’s the blurb below.
After the near miss of a fateful comet, a young inventor and aristocratic débutante are among Earths strangely changed populace.
Thrust into mortal danger, these plucky protagonists fight inter-dimensional monsters to save a besieged world. This is a Steampunk, Paranormal, Happily Ever After Action/Romance told in a Humorous fashion. This novel contains NO graphic sex, violence nor strong language. However, there is some monster violence, but nothing ugly, and a light sprinkling of mild innuendo.
In case you couldn’t figure out from the blurb, Mr. Temperance is quite the character (in more ways than one), and it was an absolute pleasure to interview him – or perhaps it was just nice to find someone who seems to be on the same wavelength in the world of self-publishing!
D.O. – Greetings, Ichabod, and welcome to the blog! So far you’ve written three books in your Ichabod Temperance Series. Which one was your most favorite to write and why?
I.T. – Thank you, Daniel, for allowing me to be a guest on your blog. Each book is special to me in its own way. The first book is special because that is where I pop my cherry. I learned many things in that experience. I had never written anything before, and a definite style developed at that time. One thing I learned was that I liked to put my friends, as well as myself, into the story. I learned how to bring my friends to life via my characters. This is one of the things that I see myself improving on with each successive novel.
D.O. – What’s the most important thing a beginning author should know before trying to self-publish their own book?
I.T. – Find an impartial and brutal editor. I put out the first two books on Kindle. I thought they were ready. When I found out about ‘createspace’, and the ability to publish in print, I took publication more seriously. I got my sister to edit the first book for me. She is quite the firm editor, and that is just what I needed! I have done a lot of work on the books to get them cleaned up for availability in print format.
D.O. – What inspired you to write this series?
I.T. – I am involved with professional wrestling. Some independent filmakers I know brought me in to be a part of some fight scene work they were doing on a film. I had never heard of the genre, ‘steampunk’. The film is a sweeping, no-budget, steampunk epic. ‘Engines of Destiny’ was halfway through production when the director/prop builder extraordinaire, allowed me to upgrade my part to steam mech operator. In this role I wear a Victorian, steam powered exo-mechanical and beat the crud out of a young Teddy Roosevelt. A fellow cast mate turned me on to the website, ‘The Steampuk Empire’. Here he had a little blog series story. It was absolutely charming! I thought about doing one myself, since steampunk by its nature encourages all participants to develop their own backstory. Once I had that first line, ‘The rumbling purr of an impossibly big cat thrumms through my body’, I thought, ‘hey, maybe I can do this’. Now I can’t stop!
D.O. – What makes your work unique? How does it stand out from other works in the steampunk genre?
I.T. – I have a silly and whimsical approach to my stories. They keep getting funnier and funnier. Though they have plenty of action, they also have a few, sweet, tear jerk moments. They are not cheap, ‘killed your dog’ kind of tear jerkers, but sweet and heart warming moments. I hesitated for a half second before fully plunging into bringing humor to the books. Boy fights monsters, saves the World, and gets the girl is my general formula. I think a lot of authors in steampunk have a dark element in their stories. Though there are horrible monsters and the entire Earth is in peril, I do not like for there to be any graphic violence in my books. I also do not like to create an unremittingly bleak world in which the characters’ actions are ultimately futile.
D.O. – What is your number one guilty pleasure?
I.T. – Being able to capture my friends in print! To see them come to life and assist me in my adventures, or provide dastardly villains is absolutely decadent!
D.O.-You have the last work. What would you like to share with my readers? (D.O Note to self – proofread before emailing at 1 a.m.)
I.T.-When you say I have the ‘last work’, I assume you mean last word. Either that, or you plan on enlisting my help on some household chores. 🙂 Seriously, though, I would just like to share that I am thrilled and amazed at finding myself in the unexpected place of being a prolific writer. It has been barely a year since I got started and I have three novels on kindle; they will all be in print by the end of the week, and I am mostly done with novel number four. I would like to most humbly thank you, Daniel Ottalini, for being so gracious as to allow me this platform, and a big thank you to anyone willing to give my silly books a try.
Your pal,
~Ichabod.
As you can see, Ichabod is quite the character, and I look forward to checking out his books in the near future! You can purchase his first book, A Matter of Temperance, and his other two novels, from Kindle.
Ciao!
Modern Papyrus 