Author Glenn Maynard Steps into the Spotlight

Earlier this month I read and reviewed a fantastic paranormal romance novel named Desert Son.  Today I am pleased to acquaint you to Glenn Maynard, the author of Desert Son.

Welcome into the spotlight, Glenn.  Before we get started, I’d like to provide readers with a brief synopsis of Desert Son.

Carter Spence is a 26 year-old accountant out of Boston who has an out-of-body experience following a car accident that kills his parents.  He views the chaos from above the scene of the accident, then passes through the tunnel and reunites with relatives who have long been dead.  A woman he does not recognize approaches him and says, “Welcome, son.”  Her message to him is that he needs to be aware of his true identity and should follow signs that will lead him there. She mentions mountains, but Carter is jolted back into his physical body before she can finish.

After burying his parents, Carter heads west and meets a free-spirit named Brenda, whom he is drawn to on many levels. She becomes his travelling companion and leads him to Boulder, Colorado, and to an old white house of an old man named Martin. Diaries, hypnosis, and past-life regression reveal a bizarre connection between these three. Carter discovers that the truth to his identity can only be found by pursuing the answer to whether he is the reincarnation of his biological father in what is shaping up to be a love affair rekindled beyond the grave.

When I first started writing, I feared mental illness.  Only another writer would understand the voices and scenarios that haunt my mind.  What interesting writing fact are you willing to share?

When I immersed myself in scenes such as my main character, Carter’s out-of-body experience and ultimate walk through heaven, I closed my eyes and visualized the scenes. I had actually been in a near-fatal car accident when I was 16 years old, and I broke my neck, pelvis, shoulder, ribs, and hand, and suffered third degree burns. I was in and out of a coma for three days and hospitalized for two months. I had a pretty good base for the intensity of the scenes I described. Did I have an out-of-body experience? No. Was I qualified for writing such a scene? I believe so. I spent the majority of my time in the hospital receiving treatment for my burns. They would lower my body into a boiling hot whirlpool while I clenched the bars above me and screamed to high heaven, three times a day for several weeks. Maybe I didn’t go to heaven, but every time they dunked my body, I felt like I was very close. Believe me; I was ready to create these scenes.

What can you tell us about your main characters?  

Carter Spence is the main character of “Desert Son” and he gets his world yanked from underfoot when his parents are killed in a car accident and then he finds out that they may not be his biological parents. His world is turned upside down, as his lack of identity pushes him to find out who he is. What’s in a name? Carter is hell-bent on finding out, and he meets Brenda en route. She has what it takes to team up with Carter to search for his truth, only to find that there is more to this story than she could have dreamed about.

 How did you begin your writing career?

My writing career took off when I took off, which was after I got married.  We quit our jobs, sold our cars, bought a used RV and travelled through the 48 continental states for an entire year. I needed something to write about, and boy did I get it. I was a travel correspondent for two local newspapers and published twenty articles along the way. I published my first book, which detailed the people and places along the way, entitled “Strapped Into An American Dream.” The marriage lasted five years, but the first year was a dream. We were pretty close that year. After all, it was only a 23-foot RV.

You lived my husband’s dream.  He’d like to travel the country in an RV after he retires.  Who published your books?

Strapped Into An American Dream was published through Strategic Book Publishing in 2009 and Desert Son was published through Black Rose Writing in 2014.

Where did you get the inspiration for Desert Son?

I read a book entitled Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation by Ian Stevenson. This book investigated children in impoverished countries who claimed to be other people. The researchers tracked down the people they claimed to be and discovered that they had died. The children displayed characteristics of the deceased, even speaking fluently in the language of the deceased. They had no possible way to connect with these people. Some of the children even had similar birthmarks. I was so blown away by the stories that I was off to the races to create a fictional account of reincarnation.  As one reviewer put it: “The author has given a new perspective on reincarnation and life after death.”

I am a big fan of Desert Son and hope you are writing a sequel. 

I have begun writing the sequel to “Desert Son.” The plot is as bizarre as the first, with even more twists and turns. This reincarnation tale will take a drastic turn.

Did you conduct any kind of research in order to write this book (visit certain locales, etc.)?

The book starts out in Boston and moves across the country to Boulder, Colorado. I lived in the Denver area and walked through my setting, right down to the description of the cemetery, which I visited. I walked the walk of Carter Spence.

What would you say is the most challenging part of writing a book? 

Marketing is the most challenging part of writing a book. I found this out after publishing my first book and realizing that the only one who truly cares about the success of my book is me. Then there is the balance of misusing or abusing social media to try to sell your book, and creating relationships with your target audience, who, sadly, is not every person who walks the earth. The most disheartening realization was that when publishers say they will make your book available to all the major book chains in the country, it does not mean they will place your book in any of them. The authors must do all the work, but the publishers publish and make your book available via online vendors.

I agree.  It makes it difficult to write when your days are spent marketing.  I struggle every day with that aspect of the job.  I’d like readers to meet the man behind the book.  The next few questions are a bit more personal.  I promise they will be fun.

Share a pet peeve of yours (related to writing or otherwise).  

People who are addicted to their cell phones. When I grew up, there was a landline. It was a phone with an actual cord attached to the receiver. That’s the way I like it. My favorite part of it is that you can’t get hit by a bus when you’re talking on it.

Every day I swear to limit my phone and internet use. It is sad how dependent to electronic gadgets.   Speaking of growing up, as a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to play for the Boston Red Sox. I still do, but my blistering 18 mile-per-hour fastball would not fool even the opposing batboy. Also, my shoulder and its multiple dislocations would not hold up to the grind of a full major league season. Oh, and I’m also pushing 50. Maybe I won’t try out.

If your dream of playing in the big leagues doesn’t work out, you can always play a ballplayer in your next book.  What would you like to say to your readers?  

If you ever wondered about how reincarnation works, or what an out-of-body experience with a walk through heaven would be like, give my world a shot and walk into it. As another reviewer put it: “This book will have you questioning your beliefs. It's a romance that reaches out from the grave and grabs your heart. “

Below please find links to find author Glenn Maynard and his book, Desert Son.

http://www.glennmaynard.weebly.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Son-Glenn-Maynard/dp/1612963129

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/desert-son-glenn-maynard/1118627014?ean=9781612963129

http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/desert-son

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To step into the author spotlight or to learn more about suspenseful-romance novel, Secrets Revealed, visit Katie McKnight on Facebook at www.facebook.com/katiemcknightauthorpage or visit her website at www.katie-mcknight-author.com