Around the start of Ronald Reagan’s second term, I was born in the beautiful state of Colorado. Then, I was immediately carted off to grow up in the unique city of Midland, Texas – home of Big Oil and Big Football! After years of hot and dry, I decided I wanted to experience actual seasons, so I went off to the University of Wyoming. While there, I definitely got my share of winter! After six years and a Master’s degree, I headed back to Texas during the worst year of the Great Recession. At Texas Tech, I got certified to be a high school teacher. The spring of my student-teaching, while I was also working as a substitute teacher, I began writing. Right away, I was hooked! I landed a full-time teaching job that summer and, during my second summer off as a high school teacher, wrote my first novel, The College. After that summer, I have always taught summer school…but the novels just keep on coming! In the midst of launching a teaching career, I found the time to court and marry a beautiful artist and begin raising a bright and energetic son. Currently, I have completed eight novels, written over 2,000 articles and editorials, and am now the social studies department chair at my high school.
BANTER
– STUFF ABOUT YOU
Q: How would you
describe yourself as a color? Think personality here. Are you a light and airy
pastel person, or more of a deep, dark, sultry and mysterious color?
A: Definitely more of a dark and mysterious
color. Maybe dark maroon. I had a favorite sweatshirt once that was
dark maroon. The color was rich and hid
stains well. I frequently dress in all
black to hide sweat stains while teaching to the max…and to intimidate students. When you teach high school seniors, a bit of
fear can go a long way!
Q: Are you a morning
person, or a midnight candle burner?
A: I’d say I’m more of a morning person. There’s nothing like a good coffee buzz to
get me going. Sometimes I stay up late,
but I’m pretty unproductive after ten o’clock.
If you read any good writing of mine, it must’ve been typed during a
coffee blitz!
Q: Tell me one thing
about each of the four seasons you like. It can be anything.
A: Winter =
Snow. Snow in west Texas is as
valuable as gold! Well, not really, but
it is beautiful. Not too deep, though –
a good eight-inch snow that I don’t have to drive in is perfect.
Spring = When the grass
greens and the flowers bloom, and the afternoons get just warm enough.
Summer = Maybe trips to the beach, but summer in west
Texas is pretty brutal. If you like
getting tan, you can get as much as you can handle out here!
Fall = Leaves changing color, and when evenings grow
chilly. Autumn is my favorite season,
especially if there’s a late-autumn snow or two thrown in. Halloween and Thanksgiving are my favorite
holidays!
Q: Tell me something
you would like your readers (fans) to know about you.
A: Please feel encouraged to share your ideas
with me! I am a very collaborative
person. Oh, and I used to have a comic
strip. My original life dream was to be
like Bill Watterson and draw Calvin & Hobbes.
Q: If you could morph
into any creature what would it be?
A: A
grizzly bear.
If you don’t mind me asking,
why?
A: I would like to be big, strong,
simple-minded, and hibernate. Plus, they
love sugary carbs, just like me.
Q: When you think of
a garden, do you picture vegetables or flowers?
A: Vegetables. Flowers are pretty, but I’m more focused on
utility. When I grew up, my parents
tried to grow all their own tomatoes and peppers. My wife today has a beautiful garden, but we
get a lot of use out of our herb plants.
Fresh thyme!
Q: If you didn’t have
to clean them, how many bathrooms would you have in your home?
A: Two
and a half. I grew up in a house with
two and a half bathrooms, and that extra half bath came in pretty handy! I had a brother, so sometimes the bathroom
was occupied and I needed to go.
How many if you have to
clean them?
A: Two and a half. I’m pretty okay at cleaning bathrooms. Trust me:
An extra half bath is worth it.
Q: Bedtime, relaxing
so you can sleep sounds. Is your preference, white noise, TV, soft music, ocean
waves, forest or meadow sounds, babbling brook, or something else?
A: Either no sound or very soft TV. My wife sometimes needs TV to fall asleep, so
we watch Gilmore Girls at low volume and with the TV’s brightness turned
down. It’s a relaxing show, and very
predictable now that we’ve seen it so many times!
Q: What kind of music
do you listen to? Do you have an all time favorite song?
A: My radio presets are a mix of whatever’s
currently hot (rock, pop, light rap) and “classic” rock from the ‘80s and
‘90s. Sometimes, on the Sirius satellite
radio (only in my wife’s car), I will spend some time on the ‘60s and ‘70s
stations. Favorite song? “Eye of the Tiger,” which I play during study
sessions to motivate my students.
Q: If your life were
a movie would it be considered an action film, comedy, drama, romance, fantasy
or a combination?
A: Definitely a combination of comedy and drama
with a pinch of both action and romance.
The comedy-to-drama ratio depends on my rapport with my classes.
Q: Tell me one thing
that your spouse does that really endears him/her to you. One thing that annoys
you. These can be tiny little things, actually the smaller the better.
A: My wife is always learning new things, which
is extremely impressive and endearing.
If I don’t know how to do something, I will try to stick with what I
know. My wife will research and
learn. She’s amazing! As for annoying? Sometimes she’s a night owl and does not want
to come to bed.
Q: Did you like
school when you were a child?
A: I did.
I was pretty good at school. As a
high school sophomore, I finally found my niche in speech and debate. My junior and senior year, I went to the
state championships. My senior year, I
was the winningest member of the Lincoln-Douglas debate squad.
Q: Snack of choice –
chips, pretzels, popcorn, or cookies, cake, candy? Or maybe you’re a healthy
snacker - fruit, yogurt, nuts, raisins?
A: I’m more of a chips and pretzels guy – savory
snacks rather than sweet! But I tend to
stick with “real” food like sandwiches for snacks. For dessert?
I’m partial to a bowl of sugary cereal like Reese’s Puffs or Frosted
Flakes.
Q: Have you ever been
too embarrassed to promote any certain titles to friends or family?
A: Hmmm…not really. But I do limit the sex content of my novels
for that reason. Before long, I’m sure,
things will be more R-rated. At first, I
was afraid that everyone I knew would rush to read my novels, and that
inhibited my writing. As a high school
teacher, I was also worried that anything PG-13 or more risqué would be
discovered by all my students! It turns
out that most relatives and students either don’t have the motivation to delve
that deeply into anything I’ve written, or have been too polite to bring up the
inappropriate stuff.
Q: Favorite color?
A: Blue.
Q: Dress up or dress
down?
A: Dress up. It’s usually too warm to dress up in west
Texas, so I relish the chance. When I
wear a nice button-down, I get compliments!
If I add a tie, I feel like a CEO or James Bond.
Q: Dine in or dine
out?
A: I prefer to dine
out, but I’m on a budget…so it’s mostly dine in!
Q: Coffee or Tea?
A: Coffee. Heck, espresso.
Q: How do you feel
about exercise?
A: I used to exercise
six days a week when I was in college, both cardio and weights. Now I try to jog twice a week. I have a pull-up bar, but haven’t touched it
in a few months. Maybe tomorrow…
Q: Texting, love it or hate it?
A: I’m a late bloomer when it comes to texting, and
didn’t send my first text until the spring of 2008. I don’t hate it, but it’s a chore.
BOOKS
– ABOUT THE CRAFT
Q: When did you start
writing and why?
A: I started writing
in elementary school, when I penciled a close copy of Jurassic Park that
involved prehistoric mammals. I just had
stories to tell! I wrote a book in a
spiral notebook in late elementary school (5th/6th
grade?), and then wrote a novel of sorts in WordPerfect 5.1 when I was in
junior high. I made a few high school
attempts, and then abandoned novelizing until 2013, when I wrote The College.
Q: Where do you get
your ideas?
A: Probably when I jog. The extra blood flow to the brain unlocks
hidden idea areas. That, and reading the
news every morning.
Q: How did you come
to write your genre of choice?
A: I like to imagine how crazy the world could
be with tomorrow’s technology. It’s
always fun to imagine what I would do when faced with a dangerous and
outlandish scenario.
Q: What do you think
is the hardest part of writing a book?
A: The middle. I know how I want it to end, but how do I get
there? I’m also very weak on character
development. I try to make every character
a “blank slate” everyman, which can backfire.
Q: Which element of
book writing is most difficult for you?
A: Character development.
Q: What is your
favorite part of writing?
A: Making good, quippy dialogue that makes me
laugh. There’s something beautiful about
good comic relief.
Q; Now your least
favorite part?
A: Editing. I’m a hard-charging rough-cutter of a writer!
Q: Describe your
favorite heroine? (This doesn’t have to be one of yours.)
A: Hermione Granger
Q: Describe your
favorite hero? (This doesn’t have to be one of yours.)
A: James Bond
Q: Who's your
favorite author?
A: All-around favorite is Stephen King.
Q: Your favorite
title?
A: I Was an NKVD
Agent
Q: Would you ever
consider a joint project?
A: I would…as long as I either did the vast
majority of the writing or was doing a sort of independent literary cameo.
Q: Which of your own
releases was your particular favorite?
A: The
Socialist. Quick, snappy, and had good
character development.
Q: How do you handle
a writer's block?
A: Beer, pizza, and Wikipedia.
Q: Do you write long
hand first, or does it go straight into the computer?
A: Straight into the computer, usually in Google
Drive.
Q: Are you a sit down
and play it by ear kind of writer, or do you need a structured guideline, or
maybe a little of both?
A: Play it by ear. Always.
Q: When crafting the
story do you go from beginning to end, or do you jump around writing the scenes
that are pushing themselves forward in your brain?
A: Beginning to end. When I need a good scene, I trust my neurons
to create it in the moment!
Q: Do you always know
how a story will end when you begin writing it?
A: I don’t always
know. The “movie in my mind” can change.
Q: Have your
characters ever taken the story in a different direction than you had
originally planned? Do you have a for instance, for us?
A: They have.
Minor characters have become more prominent because I thought they added
good stuff to the writing. My characters
of Roger Garfield, the criminal justice professor (unnamed), and the man in
black (identity revealed in The Six) went from being bit players to
being main characters in my last two novels.
Roger Garfield is a grizzled FBI agent, kind of old-school, and I liked
that. The criminal justice professor, a
big jovial ex-cop, provides excellent comic relief…and was based on my favorite
college professor. As for the man in
black, I needed a new antagonist who was very different from both Adam
Pastorius (Syrian terrorist extraordinaire) and Ben (codename of a corrupt Russian
spy).
Q: What geographical
locations are your favorite and why?
A: I like mountains, because I grew up visiting
the mountains. I am a former backpacking
guide! The accomplishment of climbing a
peak cannot be beat, and nothing is as beautiful as a valley view or a mountain
stream.
Q: Which holiday
celebrations do you like to incorporate into your stories and why?
A: Most of them.
I like to have a holiday season occurring as a subplot. I think it makes the story more relatable.
Q: Generally speaking,
is your work based on real life experience? If it's not would you want it to
be?
A: My primary
protagonist, Hank Hummel, is loosely based on myself. He is a former high school teacher and
writer, which hits close to home. As for
the action he finds himself in broiled in?
Not very realistic! When I was a
substitute teacher, I did have to break apart two eighth-graders in a
fistfight…is that action-packed enough?
Q: How long does it
take you to create a novel?
A: About four to
eight months.
Q: Do you like to
read the genre that you write?
A: I do. I like to see who writes it best, and how
their ideas compare to my own.
Q: How does the man
in your life feel about the genre you write? Has he read any of your work?
A: Well, the woman in my wife like the
genre well enough. I think she read my
first novel, but then only parts of the other ones.
BOOKS
- NOW LETS PROMOTE – STRUT YOUR STUFF
Q: What are you
working on now? Would you like to share anything about it?
A: I just finished the sequel to The
Singularity and put it on Smashwords.
It’s called The Six and runs just over 80,000 words. It’s got a good plot, lots of energy, and
doesn’t rush the ending! Compared to
some of my earlier writing, I would say it’s an improvement. And I like the cover I designed! If you need something to heat up the cold
winter, you should read The Singularity and then The Six. Heck, start with The College and work
your way through the series!
Q: Do you have a new
book coming out soon? Tell us about it.
A: The Singularity comes out on November
25, and it explores the marvels of nanotechnology integrated into the human
body. The good guys discover they’ve got
the stuff in their blood…and the bad guys want every precious drop! The corrupt government wants to control the
situation, and the innocent protagonists get branded as enemies of the
state. Will they escape their pursuers
and clear their names?
Q: How can we find
you? Do you have a web page, FaceBook page or any buy links?
A: Yes, I do.
Here are the links.
Author Links:
http://calwolf.hubpages.com/
https://twitter.com/calvin_wolf
https://www.facebook.com/calvin.wolf.author
Buy Links:
AMAZON US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LX4DA8Z
AMAZON UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LX4DA8Z
AMAZON CA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LX4DA8Z
BARNES & NOBLE:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1124778318;jsessionid=D7E736412476DC27BA33434F3F862A19.prodny_store02-atgap05?ean=2940153510316
KOBO:
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-singularity-3
IBOOKS:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1162740395
CREATESPACE:
https://www.createspace.com/6604787
Months
after a devastating terrorist attack on the Human Capital Market
servers on the University of Wyoming campus, a corrupt administration in
Washington is looking to maintain its grip on the future by any means
necessary. After a grieving father unleashes powerful forces the
president would rather keep hidden, two falsely accused men struggle to
find their families and clear their names while being hunted by the full
force of the United States government…and two vicious ne’er-do-wells
whose grudges run deep. As a desperate White House tries to track down
its prized fugitives and keep a discontent public under control, new
technology offers wonder and horror in droves. From omnipresent
surveillance to secret prisons to trading equity in citizens’ wages on
the new stock market, The Singularity is a fast-paced ride into a near
future where anything is possible.
