Synopsis:
Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of Appalachia, and then some. She lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's becoming very skilled at laying fiber optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop 'till You Drop): he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save the Universe in exchange for the designation of Earth as a planet which is eligible for continued existence within a universal economic structure that exploits underdeveloped planets for their mineral content. Lacy Dawn’s magic enables her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family.
Thank you for your consideration,
Robert Eggleton
Supporting Information
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About Robert:
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997. Today, he is a recently retired psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/
Public Author Contacts:
Interview:
Thanks, Vicky, for the opportunity to
tell your readers a little about myself, my debut novel, and how a science
fiction story helps to prevent child abuse.
- When did you first realize you wanted to be a
writer?
In the 8th grade, I won the school’s short story
contest: “God Sent” –a redneck semi truck driver became so obsessed with the
conflict between Jewish vs. Christian theology that he lost concentration on
the road and caused a terrible accident. While I had previously written stories
for entertainment, that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a writer and
dreamed of getting rich. As it often does, life got in the way.
During college, I wrote poems on scraps of paper. One was published in the state’s 1972 West Virginia Student Poetry Anthology. Another was published in a local zine. I graduated in 1973 with a degree in social work and received a Master’s degree in Social Work from
After college, I focused on children’s advocacy. I
got so involved in this emotionally charged work that for the next forty years,
I supplanted my need to write fiction by writing nonfiction: manuals, research,
investigative, and statistical reports about local children’s services systems
and institutions, many of which were published by the WV Supreme Court where I
worked from 1983 through 1997.
In 2003, I accepted a job as a children’s psychotherapist for our local community mental health center. It was an intensive day program for kids with very severe emotional disturbances. One day at work in 2006, during a group therapy session, I met the real-life role model for my fictional protagonist. Lacy Dawn had been severely abused, but was so resilient that it was inspired everybody who met her, staff and her peers alike, including me. She spoke of her hopes and dreams for the future: finding a permanent family to love and protect her.
Lacy inspired me to pursue my own children dreams and I started writing fiction again. Three short Lacy Dawn Adventures have been published in magazines. My debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow, was released in 2012 by Dog Horn Publishing, a traditional small press located in
- How long does it take you to write a book?
Rarity from the Hollow is my debut novel. It took about six
months after work and on weekends to write, but the story was based on over
forty years of experience as a child advocate.
- What is your work schedule like when you're
writing?
Before I retired, I would write every chance that I had to do so,
often staying up most of the night and going to work that morning. I would love
to say that now that I’ve retired I spend a lot of time enjoying the art and
craft of writing fiction. However, honestly, I’ve been so consumed with
promotion of the novel that it has been a barrier to finishing the next novel, Ivy, which asks the question, “How far
will a child go to save a parent from addiction?”
- What would you say is your interesting writing
quirk?
I don’t know if your readers would find it interesting, but my
wife thought that I’d gone off the deep end when I started role paying dialogue
out loud to edit scenes. She seems to have gotten used to it though, and now will
volunteer to play a role if she thinks that I’m doing a poor job with the voice
of a character. Don’t tell her, but I now mess up on purpose sometimes just so
I’ll have someone fun to play with.
- How do books get published?
I’m certainly no expert on publishing. Today, it appears that the
majority of books are self-published by people who have enough money to do so,
and the price seems to be going down. It is my understanding from participation
in a few book groups along the way that some books are not even edited before
having been published. I get advertisements almost daily from companies who
promise this and that with respect to book publishing. I’ve even seen
advertisements for products that will help people edit, recommend plots, etc. I
don’t know much about it, and I suppose that such represents advancement in
literature, maybe. Personally, I’m not skilled enough with technology to
self-publish on my own, and I don’t have enough money to hire a company.
Apparently, a lot of people do it, including my brother-in-law who spent a few
thousand dollars on a Christian autobiography that he can’t give away. Plus,
his book has spelling and punctuation errors that the company didn’t fix before
it was published – total waste of money, but he had it to spend. I’ve run
across authors on the internet that join a group in support of each other to
reduce costs and to promote their works. That’s another way to get
self-published, and such a company can make up a cool sounding name for itself
instead of the author using her own name as the publisher. It sounds better.
With rare exception like The
Martian by Andy Weir, the doors to traditional publishing houses appear to
have been chained shut to unknown authors for decades. I suppose that if an
author builds a big enough buzz on her own that the door would crack open a
bit. An agent might help, but again, I don’t know because I’ve never tried to
get an agent. I suspect that traditional publishers will continue to churn out
more books by the authors already under contract, so I’m not going to hold my
breath while hoping to be discovered like Elvis singing on the front stoop of
an apartment complex.
This leaves traditional small presses. I don’t think that there’re
many of them left. I got lucky by drawing the interest of Dog Horn Publishing
in Leeds . The advantages are that the author
gets free editing and design services, and that there are no upfront costs such
as associated with self-publishing. Your work is professionally edited and the
press is selective about what will be accepted for publication because the
press is spending its own money. This helps authors because we strive to put
forth our best products to impress the editors, and it ensures that readers
spend money on books that have been vetted through an independent process. The
down side is that small presses don’t seem to have money to promote the novels
that it publishes, and the marketplace is busting at the seams with new
books.
Today, its easy to get published if you have a little bit of money
and want to spend it that way, but having a book published is the easy part of
becoming a successful author.
- Where do you get your information or ideas for
your books?
I write what I know. I’m full of information, and everybody has a
few good books in them. I have over forty years of experience in child welfare,
so I’ve encountered a lot of poverty, mental health concerns, substance abuse,
child maltreatment, homelessness, as well as, unconditional love,
determination, grit, heroism, and resiliency in both my personal and
professional life. The characters in Rarity
from the Hollow are based on real-life people with accentuated attributes,
and personalities. I’ve already told you about meeting Lacy Dawn at work and
how her resiliency was so inspiring that it regenerated my childhood dream of
becoming an author. That skinny little girl can also be credited for giving me
the idea behind Lacy Dawn Adventures: a female protagonist empowered to face
and overcome the evils of the universe without the need to intentionally kill a
single sentient being.
- When did you write your first book and how old
were you?
I was in my early 60s when the first version of Rarity from the Hollow was finished.
Looking back on my life, not starting to write for publication when I was
younger is one of my biggest regrets. Before self-publishing technology, it
felt impossible so I didn’t even try to finish or polish the stories that I did
write over the years. If I could go back and know what I know now….
- What do you like to do when you're not
writing?
I enjoy reading, gardening, building construction, working on
cars, movies, and a bunch of other “stuff.” I played basketball on various
school, city, or church teams for years, and I’m a devoted West Virginia
University football and basketball fan. Most recently, however, I’ve neglected
recreation to spend time promoting Rarity
from the Hollow. Right now, it’s 10 degrees outside, so it’s a good time to
be inside and reading, writing, and promoting my fiction.
- What does your family think of your writing?
Rarity from
the Hollow has received a lot of glowing reviews. However, no book is
for everybody and the story is not a good fit for reviewers who expect a
mainstream and quick-to- review titles because mine is literary – it takes time
to digest and to soak in before it “hits.” Nobody is likely to see all of the
metaphors and parodies on the first read. That’s my error. It was my first
novel and I crammed too much into it like it would be the only one that I would
write: “…It is one of those books that if it does
not make you think, you are not really reading it….” http://www.onmykindle.net/2015/11/rarity-from-hollow.html
My family is one hundred percent supportive of my writing, but they think that
I take it too personally if a reviewer criticizes something about the book that
I believe should have been obvious. Here’s an example of a negative comment
that upset me a little: a reviewer criticized my use of a small lump of coal as
a fuel for a futuristic spaceship in the story. Of course such is a silly
proposition, but so is clean coal technology as a solution to global warming.
Duh. My family thinks that I should just go with the flow instead of being
self-critical when a reviewer misses something in the story that I felt was
obvious when I was writing it, but was not as clear as I intended it to be.
- What was one of the most surprising things you
learned in creating your books?
The number one thing about writing a book that surprised me was
how easy it was to do, first draft. The second most surprising thing that I
learned was how hard it was to edit out a great scene because it didn’t fit the
story.
- How many books have you written? Which is your
favorite?
Rarity from the Hollow was my debut novel, so it was my
favorite. When Ivy is published, I’m
confident that it will become my favorite. I’ve learned a lot, mostly how to
keep the story line simple yet literary.
- Do you have any suggestions to help me become
a better writer? If so, what are they?
Again, I’m sorry but like the question that you asked me about the
publishing industry, I’m not an expert on writing either. I took a couple of
creative writing classes in college, but it was the early ‘70s and I think that
the professor, who I though was a wonderful person, was stoned most of the
time. He mostly taught us about the process, the self-discipline, and the
enjoyment of the product. I’ve read a few books on writing but I don’t have any
to recommend – “show don’t tell” is a recurring message, open to
interpretation, for me anyway, because when the authors seem to think that they
are showing I think that they are telling. I don’t mind. I’m a good listener to
a good story. I got a book on writing for Christmas. It was written by a famous
filmmaker. I’m studying rhythm in dialogue, but so far I haven’t found a single
line in Rarity from the Hollow that I
would change the rhythm of because of its lessons. I think that role playing
scenes has been beneficial to my writing, so I do recommend giving that a try
if you have a willing accomplice. Did you know that Jimi Hendrix didn’t know
music theory and had no guitar lessons?
- Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds
of things do they say?
I get occasional comments here and there, like on Facebook. Yesterday, my son helped me
start updating the Lacy Dawn Adventures webpage, http://www.lacydawnadventures.com , and it has a link to my personal email, so I may get more
comments, maybe more than I can handle. The most common theme of comments has
been: I missed it the first time that I read it but now I’m reading it again
and ….
- Do you like to create books for adults?
I love to write and I suspect that I would censor myself out of
that enjoyment if my punch lines had to be for kids only. I wouldn’t want to
write some types of books that some young adults read, such as blowing up stuff
and simplistic good and evil. I find teenage angst annoying, so I’d probably
murder the monitor if I tried to write that kind of story. I have a couple of
children’s books in draft if I can recruit an illustrator, and a couple of
nonfiction books in the works. I don’t think that I would be very good at
writing erotica or romance novels. Maybe I’m too old, but I just don’t have the
feel for it, although I’ve enjoyed reading a few romance novels. Before she
died, my wife’s mother was addicted to them and my wife bought a ton of them,
perhaps literally, from Goodwill. You could read two or three a night. Rarity from the Hollow is being marketed as adult literary science
fiction. Many educated teens with literary interests would be fine with the
content, but many adults who are prudish, faint of heart, or easily offended
might be shocked. Rather than age grouping, I think that I most like to create
books for people who want more than mere recreation out of a book. Enjoyment of
the read is critical, but as a springboard for thought and longer lasting and
deeper appreciation regardless of the age grouping or maturity level. Given the
marketplace, I probably won’t create any young adult books at meet the
cookie-cutter model that’s popular at this time.
- What do you think makes a good story?
I think that an essential ingredient of a good story is to have a
beginning, middle, and end. Yes, I realize that this sounds corny, but so many
books nowadays seem to be in series. I guess that it’s a profit gimmick. If a
story doesn’t stand alone one hundred percent, with no background information
needed, including no mandatory-to-read prologue, and doesn’t end with complete
satisfaction of it having been read, I won’t think that it was a good story
regardless of any other measures. I read a lot of book reviews. I’m on the
lookout for more reviewers of Rarity from
the Hollow. If I read a book review that relies on a prior work in the
series, or that concludes with something like, “I can’t wait to read the
next…,” I pass on reading that book because I know it will be a bad story for
me.
- As a child, what did you want to do when you
grew up?
I was a weird kid. My family was very poor and I went to work as a
child to help feed it. I was paying into the U.S. Social Security fund by age
twelve. My long-term career goals didn’t extend much beyond finding the next
side gig that paid in cash. The only dream that I had similar to “mommy, when I
grow up I want to be a…” was to become a preacher. I started memorizing Bible
verses and listening more closely to television and radio preachers. I was a
fan of Billy Graham, especially impressed when he spoke on behalf of civil
rights and bailed Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., out of jail in 1963. I lost
faith in Rev. Graham, however, when he later advocated for escalation of the
Vietnam War. It’s possible that my disillusionment with Rev. Graham as a role
model affected my view of preachers in general, I don’t know, but somewhere
along the way I my career goal changed to social work.
- What would you like my readers to know?
First, thanks again for this opportunity. We’ve talked about a lot
and there’s a lot more that I could say about my novel and the importance of
preventing child abuse. I guess that one thing that I want to emphasis is that
you should not read Rarity from the
Hollow if you are prudish, faint of heart, or easily offended.
Lacy Dawn, the protagonist, occupies the body of an eleven year
old girls and most of the time she sounds like one, but she is actually
hundreds of thousands of years old in the story, and has been schooled in every
human subject via direct download into her brain.
The story starts out in harsh realism, magical realism, but
becomes increasingly satiric and comical. The tragedy of early chapters
amplifies the humor that follows. I recommend that your readers stick with the
story rather than becoming so saddened by early scenes that they quit reading.
It is a story of victimization to empowerment, just like the real-life Lacy
Dawn that I told you about earlier.
Last, I want your readers to know that author proceeds have been
donated to child abuse prevention services provided by Children’s Home Society
of West Virginia. This is an eighty-seven year old nonprofit agency that I
trust to spend donations wisely. It serves over 13,000 children and families
each year. I worked there in the early ‘80s as the Director of Emergency
Children’s Shelters. Your readers can find out more about this agency by
visiting its website at http://www.childhswv.org/
Take care, everybody.
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