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 the pride alpha, I like to think so, though servant might be more accurate. Who is he kidding? His wife runs the pride; “I just try and stay out of her way.” He says.
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 book. This week,
Stephen B. Pearl steps into the Spotlight on Authors.

About writing …

When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
I think I started taking it seriously when I was twenty three. I was always a story teller.

What book(s) has most influenced your writing?
My writing, Marvel comics (many titles), The Harry Dresden Wizard for Hire books by Jim Butcher, the collective works of Frank Herbert and The Odyssey by Homer.  My life, Lord of the Rings by J. R. Tolken.

When and where do you prefer to write?
Is it warm? Yes. Is it dry? Yes. Does my laptop have power? Yes. I’ll write. Heck, I’ve worked on writing in a freezing car between teaching Mad Science extracurricular sessions.

What was your biggest challenge in writing your book?
This would have to be the fact that I’m very Dyslexic. If you saw the draft of this before I spell corrected it you’d run screaming into the night. The thing is, I have other strengths that aid me in my writing such as a strong sense of pacing and character voice. In anything, one must realize one will have strengths and weaknesses. One must work to capitalize on the former and mitigate the latter.

What advice do you have for other writers?
Get out while you can. Seriously, it is a hard road, little money and you have to schlep through all the promotional stuff. The days of the ivory tower writer are gone, if they ever existed at all.

If you have to write, not want to, have to write. Write from the heart. Put to the page the story that intrigues you, that would engage you as a reader. Edit, edit and edit and after you’ve done that edit some more. Get into an online writers group, Critters is a good one. Check it out, http://critters.org . Have people tear your work apart then you put it together better, stronger, faster than before. Unless you are ready to listen to criticism you will never grow. Look for habitual problems and eradicate them.

Learn to use your word processor well enough to let its tools help you. Trust me; a search command used with a little intelligence can vastly improve a book by bringing to light and allowing you to correct repetitive problems.

Removing the words suddenly and very where they don’t pull weight is one example of the search command’s use. Another from my own work is altering okay, which I habitually overuse. In Nukekubi, I went through and altered things so only Ray, my lead character, used okay, except for one instance. This made it an idiosyncrasy of Ray’s speech as opposed to being a bad habit of mine.

About you …

What do you like to do when you are not writing (other than reading, of course)?
Play with my cats, walk in the woods with my wife. Sleep would be a nice hobby to take up.

Can you share something that is happening in your life that would surprise us?
Let’s see. I just had a new sewer line put into my house, really most things that would surprise about me are private and they a very few. I’m pretty open about most things.

Do you have any unique talents besides writing?
I’m a good home handyman and back yard mechanic. I tend to be a jack of all trades. I was a lifeguard for longer than I like to admit and now that the pool at my gym is fixed I’m swimming again. Before the pool went down I was doing three kilometres, three times a week. I do videos, interviews, panel discussions, readings, by my fellow authors that are posted to my You Tube channel. Check it out if you like.

What can we expect from you in the future?
Let’s see. I’m trying to market a near future space novel called Deep Black Charter where we have a slow but effective interplanetary transport but no FTL. It’s a spy romance set in interplanetary space dealing with fanatical terrorists and a group of half crazed lead characters. The half crazed lead characters are the good guys.

I’m also marketing Cloning Freedom a far future space opera where humanity is an unimportant species in an interstellar republic and clones are considered property in the human sphere of influences. A retired space services captain liberates a clone who he must get to republic territory where she will have status as a person under the law. Its very cat and mouse.

Currently I’m editing Cats a cyber punk, romantic comedy and working on the rough draft of Revent the second book in the Chronicles of Ray McAndrues. The first book is Nukekubi available from Dark Dragon Publishing through Amazon

Quick hits …

Is there an author that you would really like to meet?
I’ve met most of them that are still alive. I guess Terry Pratchett and Laurel K. Hamilton.

What book are you currently reading?
A paper copy of Nation by Terry Prattchet.

Who designed your latest book cover?
Dawne Dominique.

What is your favourite quote?
“Humans need fantasy to human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.” Death from Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.

Where can new fans can follow you?
Website: www.stephenpearl.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/StephenBPearl
Amazon Author page: www.amazon.com/author/stephenpearl
You Tube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC14QVfS9kiuc6sK7P3-yOmg

War of the Worlds 2030
By Stephen B. Pearl
Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Nook | iTunes

Human hearts and human minds battle to survive against the hatred of a distant world of bigotry and despair. I am Doctor Richard Green. The Darmuks came across the stars pretending friendship. Humanity flocked to them. Ashley, Zane and I struggled to understand the technology they offered. Now war rages, Man against mutant beasts. Worse, the Darmuks have taken Ashley, made her a modem for their biological computer. Their mistake! I can defeat their science, and give my species a chance, but to do it Zane and I must join Ashley. We must sacrifice all we are and hope it will be enough.

Other books by Stephen:

Words on a Limb would like to thank Stephen B. Pearl for sharing his story. We wish you much success with War of the Worlds 2030 and future endeavours and … the pride.