Showing posts with label Grand Rapids Michigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grand Rapids Michigan. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2015

The "Great Lakes Authors" Sixlet talks briefly on why they write

Q & A with the GREAT LAKES AUTHORS 
who will be attending 
the GRAND RAPIDS COMIC CON this October.


1. Why do you write? I have always loved to write and find that I am much more comfortable with the written word versus the spoken word. I don't get as much time to write as I would like, so when I do write it is because I truly believe that I have something to say and want to share it with people.

2. When do you find is the best time to write? I like writing at night or in the evenings. I like to have the whole day to process what I want to say, or a whole day's worth of experiences to explore. Plus, I am absolutely not a morning person (even though I try to be).

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author? My end goal as a writer/author would be to share my thoughts, experiences, and passions with the world in the way I feel most comfortable. I have always written about topics that deeply matter to me, so my goal would be to try to bring awareness or discussion to some of those topics. And I would like to do so for as long as I continue to enjoy it.



Ingar Rudholm

1. Why do you write? As single parent, my mom worked odd jobs (retail stores, painting, traveling sales, etc) to support her kids. But her real passion was painting and art.  She always said, "When I retire, I'm going to paint and make arts and crafts."  Unfortunately, before she retired, she was diagnosed with dementia and she never pursued her passion.  So, I thought before I die, I want a few books.

2. When do you find is the best time to write? Between the hours of 11pm and 1 am.  Any time after that, I end up falling asleep hunched over my laptop.

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author? Inspire people to never lose their imagination.


Lawrence Heibel
1. Why do you write?   I have a pathological need to express myself in written words.  Like eating and breathing I have a need to write that must be exercised.

2. When do you find is the best time to write?  I can write any time any where but prefer the dead of night when the house is quiet.

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author?  I write for myself, but I do want to be heard.  My goal as a writer is to entertain myself.  My goal as an author is to entertain others.


Melanie Swiftney
1. Why do you write? I love telling stories. Always have. As a teenager I loved sharing my short stories with friends and that yearning to see people's reactions when they read something I wrote is intoxicating. Since publishing my first novel in 2012, it's been even more addictive. I just love entertaining people.

2. When do you find is the best time to write? My preferred time is first thing in the morning, before I've checked email or Facebook or turned on the TV.

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author? TO RULE THE WORLD! Well, to sell lots of books and be a full-time author. Isn't that every writer's goal?


Deanna J Compton
1. Why do you write?  Writing is a way to express myself that I find fulfilling.  It is my voice and I can't be silenced or interrupted or argued with during the process.

2. When do you find is the best time to write? I like to write in the morning before my other responsibilities take over and sometimes in the evening if I have any energy left at the end of the day.

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author? My end goal as a writer is to produce an entertaining story.


Peter Welmerink
1. Why do you write?  My therapist says it is therapeutic, then charges by $120 and sends me on my way. I wish she’d loosen the straightjacket though.

2. When do you find is the best time to write? I typically get up before the bird and the worm to catch some words, and place them in some form of order on the blank sheet.

3. What is your end goal as a writer/author? First, to get these stories out of my head. There’s a reason for them being here and wanting to be let out. Second, hopefully I can share with others, and hopefully they get a little form of entertainment from my ramblings.


 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

You're Not A Writer

Artwork by Frederic St-Arnaud (aka starno) www.frederic-st-arnaud.com
 
No one believes in you as a writer. Not until you hit it big time in the literary lottery it seems. You are just out there on your own, in your own little world, your own little insanity castle writing your fantastical shit. Most people you talk to wonder where do you pull this weirdness from, and why you feel the need to spill it all out on the blank page, perhaps pursue publication of it, maybe hope to make a little bit of a dime or two from it, maybe get a good review (justifying your insanity) or even a bad review (perhaps giving you a lessons learned on how to improve your craft).
 
But again, no one gives a shit that you are a writer. (Well, except possibly your other writer kin.)
 
But you know, I don't give a shit about those who do not see me as a writer, as a viable writer, as a bread-earner writer. If I was doing it all purely for cash and fame, I'd be saying fuck everyone and going off and living in my own little cave, by my own fucking little self, and writing and writing and writing...and probably playing Minecraft now and again.
 
But I don't roll that way. Being without peeps in life cuts part of your writer off from hearing stories and ideas of others who don't write like you do. You can have experiences by yourself, but a whole lot more when you drop and keep yourself SOCIAL.
 
But I'm not feeling so social because no one believes in me as a writer.
 
Unless I strike that literary pot of gold, make the NY Times Bestseller list, JJ Abrams and Michael Bay come running after me for film rights, and all that.
 
THEN, oh yeah ya bastards, then I'm a writer, baby.
 
....
 
....
 
Fuck that and fuck you naysayers.
 
I am a gourd-darn writer. Been doing it for years. Been doing it since I could pick up a pencil and put it to lined paper and spill my boiling brain down upon it.
 
I'm a work-in-process. I'm trying for bigger and better things. I'M TRYING.
 
This writing thing, it's always been part of me. It is part of what makes me, me, and what makes me the somewhat crazy, fun loving, fun natured, foolish and caring person I am. It has made me open my eyes to the world around me, absorb it, enjoy it. It has made me happy to be alive, to have a great wife, great kids (they actually believe in me...my oldest likes to go out for lone bike rides with me to find out what is on my writing docket) and step outside in the morning, even when having to go to the DAY JOB.
 
It's a strange stress to have a writer in the family, I am sure of it. But, ya know, this is a safe pastime, somewhat inexpensive pastime (I am making money on some of this, not gobs, but have to spend some to get myself out there, to be noticed). Better than going out with the guys and getting drunk and getting into trouble.
 
Anyway...
 
You're not a writer.
 
Fuck that.
 
You are a writer.
 
You are a writer. Believe in yourself in that, and write on.
 
#
 
Peter Welmerink writes shit, cool shit, Viking berserker shit and Post-Apocalyptic kick ass Military shit...and also some cool action-adventure shit based in the state and area he loves: West Michigan.
 
His current Post-Apoc Military series is TRANSPORT:
 
 
 
TRANSPORT (Book One)
Amazon http://amzn.to/1DOQNPl
B&N http://bit.ly/1xDXMck
 
TRANSPORT (Book Two) HUNT FOR THE FALLEN
B&N http://bit.ly/1titw5T
Amazon http://amzn.to/1vq0ORF
 
TRANSPORT (Book Three) UNCIVIL WAR (done, in publisher's hands and coming soon)
 
Publisher: Seventh Star Press LLC
Cover artist: Jason Conley
B&W Illustrations: Tim Holtrop
 
Trailer created by: Kylie Kerosene
Copyright 2015 Peter Welmerink & Seventh Star Press
 
 
 
Other places to understand my writers insanity:
grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com
peterwelmerink.com

 
 

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

HUNT FOR THE FALLEN (TRANSPORT Book 2) BLASTS IN...and 5 QUESTIONS ANSWERED

 
 
Captain Jacob Billet
Journal Entry - Sunday April 5, 2026
 
It’s raining, it’s pouring, the undead are roaring…
 
Amassed at the UCRA east end enclosure, the dead strain the fence line while soldiers keep watchful eyes, the survivors on the opposite side of the rising river about to lose their minds.
 
It’s a crazy time: nonstop precipitation; everyone's up in arms; paranoid city council members with an asshat City Treasurer. Water, water everywhere. Zees dropping into the churning drink. Troops afraid of being stitched up and thrown back into the fray as Zombie Troopers. Tank commanders getting itchy to head out on their own after drug-laden shamblers. Reganshire insurgents trying to extract our west side civvies for some unknown reason, possibly pushing the city into taking heavy-handed action against them.
 
Then there’s some black-haired dead dude staring at me through the fence, grinning like he’s off his meds.
 
And I thought Lettner was a headache.
 
All this sh*t might give me a heart attack.
 
 
#
 
 
1. TRANSPORT (Book One) takes place in September 2025, in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, 12 years after a viral pandemic has changed life...and unlife...as we know it. To protect and help rebuild some of the larger grottos of humanity "post apocalypse," the military has been restructured and dispersed to remaining large metropolis like Grand Rapids. The series is centered around Captain Jake Billet, his wily crew and their massive M213 Heavy Transport Vehicle, the HURON.
 
Where does HUNT FOR THE FALLEN...well...fall in the scheme of things?
 
Crazed author: HUNT takes place about 7 months AFTER the events in Book One. Billet and crew are back in the West Michigan area after avoiding the place for a while. The covert mission details of the late NSC High Commissioner William Lettner have gotten out to the media, the mission and those involved is not longer a secret, and Billet, the GRCC (Grand Rapids Central Command) and Grand Rapids are seen as both heroes and villians.
 
Though Captain Billet is seen as more a hero for doing what he did to bring Lettner to justice, he doesn't like that kind of spotlight. He wants to keep his head low.
 
And with loyalists of the Lettner out and about, still pushing for the eradication of Zombiekind, causing whatever kind of annoyance to people who do not think in those terms, as the man seen responsible for delivering Lettner to his execution, it might be a good idea for Billet to keep his head low.
 
Oh, and it is April 2026, and has been raining nonstop for weeks. The Grand River, running between the big city and the area where her local undead are retained, is heading to major flood stages.
 
2. What's introduced in HUNT FOR THE FALLEN?

Insane writer: We see more of the GRCC, namely in another big military vehicle and its commander, a Abrams MBT (Main Battle Tank), the DEVASTATOR, and its TC (Tank Commander) Major Jeremy Pike.

We are introduced to the illegal drug trade of the times where you can buy any mind altering chemical you want, just have you handheld tracking device and search for the dead creature with your substance of choice sown into its empty abdominal cavity.

We get to peek inside the workings of the Butterworth Test Facility where mortally wounded soldiers are stitched up and brought back into service as ZiTs, Zombie Troopers.

The HURON has gotten an upgrade: a 25mm remote-controlled cannon and turret AND a new navigator who may not survive their latest excursion.

Oh, and Billet is feeling severely under the weather, both psychologically and physically, which may not bode well for his future functionality.

3. Would you classify the TRANSPORT Series as a Military Thriller or a Zombie Horror fest? L. Andrew Cooper, one of the reviewers for TRANSPORT Boon One, expressed it more as "zombie fantasy."

Twitchy Word Scribe: I would probably call it a nice mash-up of both, with leanings more towards Military Thriller and/or Action-Adventure.

TRANSPORT was always intended to be a story about the soldier and his/her armored vehicle dealing with the "new" world around him/her, about how they cope and maneuver in what I call this POST-post zombie apocalypse world the series takes place within. The zombies are there, in the background, shambling and lurking, while it seems the real menace is Humankind who struggles to get back on their feet...and pursuing it any way possible, often times not for the good of others.

Perhaps it should be called a Survival story wrapped in Zombie Fantasy sticky paper.

4. How long did it take you to write HUNT FOR THE FALLEN? Do you consider yourself a diligent and focused writer?

Non-diligent, non-focused writer: I started writing HUNT FOR THE FALLEN roughly May 2013 and, with a poppin' re-write I decided to do, capped it off June 2014.

The thing with TRANSPORT, I have a fairly good idea of where I want each book to go. It is easy to write, an easy map to follow, when you have a good idea of the route. In this way, I guess you could say I am a focused writer.

Diligent? No. Where TRANSPORT Book One was very easy to write because everything just flowed, Book Two sometimes slogged along for me writing-wise like the torrential rain and soggy lands within Book two's landscape. Book One hit me so hard and fast, Book Two was like OH SHIT, UMM, NOW WHAT?

Thus the re-write, self-re-polishing of HUNT FOR THE FALLEN after the initial writing. I feel the re-writing made Book Two really stand up on its own, shift into overdrive, and spin a big rooster of mud, action and zombie guts into the air. It POPS, enough so that when my editor (Rodney Carlstrom) got his hands on it finally, he said (in a good way): WOW!

5. What's the deal with the book covers? They seem to link together. And is the cover art and interior art done by the same artist?

Happy-as-a-clam author when seeing cover and interior art: I was very fortunate when my publisher, Seventh Star Press, hooked me up with Jason C Conley. I gave him the gist of the series, what it was all about, what I slightly foresaw on the covers, and next thing I know he does this FAN-EFFIN-TASTIC triptych cover montage that hit the thing wa-ay out of the ball park. The colors, the atmosphere, the pandemonium within the frames... Jason killed it in the best way possible.

The triptych cover pieces, all together, make a kick ass 24 x 36 poster.

Seventh Star Press typically works with one cover artist and interior artist who are one in the same. Again, I got extremely lucky to work with a separate cover artist and separate interior artist.

The very talented Tim Holtrop did the black and white interior illustrations. This was definitely a one-on-one work relationship where we dialed things in and, mainly, got great illos of Billet and his crew, and a few key scenes, fleshed out. I wanted to make sure the reader had good imagery of the main story characters, in some form of action pose, to bring them (the characters) to life.

Like Jason hitting it out of the ball park on the covers, Tim made another home run, crushing the ball over the stadium roof and miles above the city with his fantastic interior illustrations. (Again, kick ass poster quality work.)

6. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Unstable author: No problem. I'm Batman.

#
















 
HUNT FOR THE FALLEN: TRANSPORT Book Two is available currently in all ebook formats via all prominent online booksellers. The paperback will be available very soon.


TRANSPORT Book One is available in ebook and paperback formats at all booksellers. Ask for it by name and author, or go here to purchase:



 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

First MILITARY ACTION-ADVENTURE Short Novel Available

Hello all.

I know I save this blog space for all things FANTASY, but just wanted to let you know that my first solo gig, a Military Thriller/Zombie Apoc short novel (in a 3-part series) is now available for all ebook formats and in paperback.

THRANSPORT Book One tells the tale of Captain Jake Billet, his crew and their 72-ton armored transport, the HURON, as they battle their way the hostile landscape of both living and the unliving inhabitants of Grand Rapids and West Michigan circa 2025.

Cover art: Jason Conley
Interior Art: Tim Holtrop
Publisher: Seventh Star Press
Book One available: May 2014
Book Two available: tbd (suspecting it will be Fall 2014)
Book Three available: tbd (suspecting late Winter/early Spring 2015)

Ebook format can be found at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and any fine ebook online store.
Paperbacks can be ordered through any walk-in physical bookstore.


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Interview in MAHLE NORTH AMERICA COMPANY NEWS MAGAZINE

As part of MAHLE INDUSTRY, they put out a company "newspaper" every quarter. Each facility picks an employee to interview and show what they do outside of work, hobbies, etc.

I was chosen for the April issue.

The interview article is below: (As found on the back cover of the magazine. How cool is that?!)

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Happy Holidays and CHECK OUT THIS BLOG

Happy Holiday Folks!

I just posted a little ditty on my other blog featuring tales and updates on everything relating to an alternate history Grand Rapids. It has some info on current short stories available on the subject. Great action-adventure tales anyway you slice it.

http://grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-altered-grand-rapids-begins-here.html

Latest offering is SIGNAL IN THE DISTANCE...


“The Red Scare was reality. Small nuclear devices had cratered Michigan’s northern and southern military installations, and across Lake Michigan, the same had occurred at bases in Wisconsin. The emotional shockwave and fear created an exodus of citizens from the state, while others held out in fall-out shelters and adequately shielded structures. As dire as all appeared, unseen by human eyes, 900 feet at the ebon bottom of Lake Michigan, the earth-rending shockwave had awakened something ancient and ominous, something that cared little for the human populace other than vile sustenance and to become Mankind’s new overlord.”

--Excerpt from Sebastian Wells THE LAST HISTORIES

Siste-Dager Publications copyright 1958






Saturday, August 18, 2012

FADING LIGHT Teaser 3

Hello Friends. The FADING LIGHT anthology is right around the corner. September 1st to be exact. It is a great book and has some great writers and tales within. From what I understand, the review copies that have been sent out, it is getting some really good reviews.

I will post a link to where it can be purchased in a forthcoming blog.

As a preview of my little contribution to the book, I give you another little snippet of my FADING LIGHT short story FINAL RIGHTS, including another little chunk of a black and white sketch the very talented Mr Tim Holtrop did for me.

Enjoy.

#

The giant black bear stood upright as tall as a vertically standing semi-trailer resting on its tail end. Forearms like tree trunks, it bat the air, roaring its challenge at the glare of the cityscape. Johnsson heard of bear upstate but nothing of this dimension. If this creature had other mutated brethren, his city would need whole new fortifications and safeguards for certain. 

A moment of static, and then Clint heard Lafayette say: “…in my sights. Light it up. If it doesn’t turn back, I’ll nail it.”

The terrible black maw in his sights, the sweeping spotlights blanked out Clint’s target. Not wanting the older marksman to gain boasting rights to another kill, he squeezed the trigger. The big rifle roared and the bear roared back as the HE round slammed home.

“What are you doing?” Lafayette and Fitzgerald screamed in his ear almost in unison.

Johnsson pulled his eye from his scope and watched in horror as the monster’s head didn’t explode. It didn’t seem to hardly phase the creature as it roared in rage and charged the bridge, shaking the ground so hard the marksman felt the balcony shudder underfoot.

“Jesus. Jesus. Jesus,” he swore as he quickly pressed his eye to his sight again. He started to squeeze back on the trigger when a fit of coughing overtook him and he had to turn his head, coughing blood onto his sleeve.

Wiping the corner of his mouth, he looked down the line of the barrel. He was just as accurate without the scope. He had once shot the white of a radish at 1000 yards; the bear was just outside that distance but as big as an old yellow school bus.

The men in the bridge bunkers scrambled for escape as the huge bear ran with thundering footfalls onto the span. Just rear of the center span near the second line of machine gun nests, Captain Fitzgerald fired with his service pistol at the thing though his bullets, real as they were, were lost against the thick bristled fur.

Targeting the same spot he had zeroed in on during his first shot, still not sure why the HE round hadn’t gone off upon impact, Clint went to fire again.

Bear Attack snippet from sketch by Tim Holtrop copyright 2012


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

FADING LIGHT Teaser 2

FADING LIGHT: An Anthology of the Monstrous comes out first of September. Edited by Tim Marquitz. Cover art by the very talented Jessy Lucero. Published by the great folk at Angelic Knight Press. This antho is going to ROCK, folks! 

My short story FINAL RIGHTS short story is part of the FADING LIGHT COMPANION TALES that you can get access to when you buy the print version of the book, and also if you buy the electronic version you get the whole sha-bang...that's 25 tales in the main book, and 5 additional as part of the companion piece. 30 great stories by some stellar writers.

To let you in a bit of my tale in the book, here is a small snippet from the actual story including a teaser section of a larger black & white sketch the talented Mr Tim Holtrop did for me after reading and enjoying FINAL RIGHTS.

Enjoy.

* * * * *

“After the Great Middle East War of 2025, the night almost consumed Mankind all around the globe. Though decimated, he stayed resilient to survive even as the leaden skies kept him under its dismal canopy. Darker things had come to pass from the post-radioactive rains and dreariness of constant dusk. Though he hid in the brilliance of the last vestiges of once large cities and towns, chances appeared bleak when those terrible overlords of the dark thirsted for Mankind in the very shadow he cast?”

Excerpt from Sebastian Wells THE LAST HISTORIES
Siste-Dager Publications copyright 2113



They had just passed the dilapidated Hudsonville depot, the halfway point between Grand Rapids and New Holland, when the attacks came. Though it was just passed noon, the land appeared on the edge of night. The wolves came up out of the darkness like fanged fish from some deep ocean trough. Clint’s earbud throbbed with the shout of Brecktel in the two-way: “Steady, lads. We got a whole pack of them.”

The gunner’s in the boxcar side cupolas and men on the rooftops picked their targets and opened fire. The big furry masses of muscle and teeth met a bombardment of biting and tearing lead.

A wolf as black as midnight came charging towards the front of the train, loping with enormous strides towards the engine. Clint scoped him, swiveling the big gun along the rail of his gunner’s nest as the animal ran headlong into the rumbling engine. Short steel planks with machine-serrated edges had been welded along the skirt of the big steam locomotive. They were lovingly referred to as “cow eviscerators” versus cow catchers, and they did their job quite efficiently on man or beast getting too close to the speeding loco.

The snarling and snapping creature leapt. Its upper body cleared the serrated skirting only to be run through as its abdomen slammed into the blades. It emitted a pained bark, retching up a wave of blood and bile against the hot boiler. A guardsman who had been standing behind the engineer bellowed his surprise and outrage as he was doused with the steaming juices.

Over the roar of the wind, the train and the attacking wolves, Brecktel broke in over through Clint’s earbud issuing commands and asking for updates from each sector of the train. “Keep firing! Mow this group down and it will make the others think twice in getting this close,” the Captain said.

Clint scoped a white and black-pepper furred beast running along the third box car down, looking up at the gunner’s basket as the soldier within tried to fire at it. His gun couldn’t angle down as far as he’d needed and Clint could see the worried expression on the guardsman’s face.

The wolf’s head disappeared in an explosion of blood, bone and brains.

Clint watched the mouth of his rifle smoke and received an approving nod from the relieved gunner.

“Something big coming up behind us,” came the voice of a man named Langeley manning the last car. In the background could be heard the anxious conversation of the other men trying to talk over the wind and continuing gun fire.

Snippet of FINAL RIGHTS sketch by Tim Holtrop

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

FADING LIGHT Antho: My Story Teaser 1

In anticipation of Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous (edited by Tim Marquitz, published by Angelic Knight Press) and my short story within entitled FINAL RIGHTS, a very talented illustrator, Tim Holtrop, has done a rough sketch of a scene from the story. For the next few weeks before the September 1st release date of the book, I am going to post snippets from the larger sketch with a few lines of my story.



I have been able to preview some of the other tales in the anthology. Some stellar writers are within for sure, and it is going to be a really fantastic book. Will post more on the overall book (with links) in follow-up posts. (You can also find FADING LIGHT on Facebook.)



If you would like more info on Tim Holtrop and his incredible work, please check out his website: http://www.timholtrop.com/




"The world has been cast in the chill embrace of a Nuclear Winter and slowly withers towards its dreary demise. The once-glorious daylight hours have turned to a dismal display of perpetual dusk and the last bastions of humanity hold out in the brightly-lit but slowly dying vestiges of the larger cities.  On the perimeters of the cloud-cloaked countryside, where light succumbs to deep shadow, the tattered and mutated dregs of beast and man hungrily wait for the brilliance of the civilized world to wink out." FINAL RIGHTS by Peter Welmerink