Please welcome David Beem author of EDGER – audio book
David Beem will be awarding a $10 Amazon or BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter.
EDGER – audio book
by David Beem
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GENRE: Comedy, Action/Adventure
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INTERVIEW:
Q. How do you maintain your creativity?
A. Riding the wave! When the forge is hot, I’ve got my butt in the chair and hands on the keyboard every available second. When the forge fire is out, I don’t even worry about it. That’s the perfect time to read, paint the dining room, play video games, whatever’s needing doing, or wanting doing. If a “down” period feels like it’s going too long, or not according to production schedule, I consult a list of “tricks” I keep that work for me. Writers who struggle with maintaining creativity could consider creating a list like that for themselves, entering ideas or tips that are meaningful for them in times when the forge is burning hot. Why is it burning hot? What excites you about this project? What do you love so much about writing? Answering those kinds of questions in periods of intense creativity will guide you when the fire cools. But it’s natural to be spent, and it’s important to follow your internal signals. Forced motivation will never produce results as good as genuine motivation. Discipline is powering through with professional expertise when the fire is cool, and we all have to do that, but everyone prefers working in the hot forge.
Q. What elements are necessary components for this genre?
A. Tropes, thwarted tropes, and laughs. In the Edger series, it’s essential readers recognize common themes, as this the “stuff” of comedy. However, tropes can also come across as predictable, or unimaginative. When I was writing this series, I examined my writing closely to identify the trope I was hitting, compared some of those to other famous examples, and analyzed it for whether it should play “straight,” “thwarted,” or given “meta commentary.” Book one begins with the “wrong place at the wrong time” trope. I tried to make the trope fresh by branding the book’s humorous sensibilities to the concept. Instead of “in all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” Edgeropens with “the cow in the porn store,” and, “a frog man with a dart gun.”
Q. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
A. Ooh! I’m glad you asked. I’ve got a major pivot coming down the pike, a fantasy-sci-fi-horror piece. After toiling for three years on such light, almost sit-com-style prose, I’m rediscovering my “writing roots.” I wrote a sweeping sci-fi epic about eight years ago that’s finally coming out of the drawer and getting its opportunity to find readers. This new series will be released in multiple installments of novellas in the 40-50k range.
Here is the blurb for book 1, Last.
He has become a wolf of his own creation—
And he is marked: Last.
Last, the final, cataclysmic generation doomed to bear witness to the end of all things.
Following the massacre of his parents’ humanitarian outpost, child prodigy chess champion Jackmin Trik is tortured, orphaned, and left for dead. But when Jackmin discovers a mother and her newborn baby have also survived the attack, his primal instinct awakens. Now, it will either be Jackmin who rises to save all that can be saved—or his inner beast, bent on claiming its merciless revenge.
Embroiled in a genocidal conflict steeped in religious zealotry, Jackmin draws from his strategic brilliance to survive the elements, win the oath-pledge of the Last of the Tokahem Defenders, and forge a path straight into the Serpent Court of Skohl Sohmsaveel, the bloodthirsty authority responsible for the slaughter of millions. Armed with the means of seizing his revenge, will his darker instinct unleash a greater horror than the Serpent Court itself, or has the chess master played his most brilliant game yet?
This is the story of Jackmin Trik, Last.
Q. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
A. I plot, pants, then plot again. My first plot never seems to survive first contact with the manuscript. As the writing finds its voice in the first draft, the book sometimes veers off course. I pretty much just let that happen, if it’s going to happen, although sometimes I wrestle it back. I keep a “beat sheet” when I write and update it daily with my work. That keeps me from getting too far afield.
Q. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?
A. Boy, that’s tough. I love the ego-lessness of Fabio, Edger’s Samwise. I love Wang’s unbridled anger, as it’s a wonderful source of comedy. Also, Yourmajesty Fapa’fapa-Bal-buster is fantastic as this imposing Green Bay Packer who’s just trying to get a handle on how supervillains are supposed to talk, walk, and misbehave.
Q. Are your plotting bunnies, angels or demons?
A. They’re more like the first clown you meet coming into a new town. You slow your car down to a crawl, meet him at the curb, and that clown duck-walks over to the window you’ve rolled down, and you say, “Help a stranger find his way?” And that clown gives you a big shit-eating grin, points west when he knows damn well you’re supposed to go east, but west you go, and on your way you find all kinds of cool stuff, because that’s where all the cool stuff is, and by the time you make it back east, you’re wondering if the clown knew that too—or not.
Q. What or who inspired you to start writing?
A. Sleeplessness. The writing started in the ubiquitous middle-of-the-night nursing sessions all new parents endure. My son wouldn’t take a bottle, so I’d get up with my wife and write while that was going on, and when baby went back to sleep, so did we.
Q. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
A. I was inspired by the TV show Chuck, which had recently finished its run. I knew I wanted to write something similar but make it my own thing. There’s not a real comparable literary manifestation to the action-comedy tv show, but I began reading books like Hitchhiker’s Guide, and Good Omens, Dave Barry’s Big Troubleand Insane City, and a few less comparable books, namely rom-coms and one wonderful book by Jonathan Tropper called This is Where I Leave You, because in the beginning poor Edger was going to die! Also, this was around the time Marvel was really lifting off, and superheroes were an emerging hot topic. I shopped the idea for my manuscript to around fifty agents, none of them wanted it. But these books are so unlike anything out there, either someone is just going to “get it,” or they aren’t. Either way is fine when you’re self-publishing, if the goal is to write the book you want to read. One of these days I suppose I’ll write to market.
Q. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
A. Discipline from my musical career as a concert cellist. If you can sit alone in a room practicing Beethoven for seven hours a day, you can sit in a room alone for seven hours a day writing about a cow in a porn store, or any other crazy thing.
Q. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?
A. Yes. Advantage: You have larger editorial support. Disadvantage: Their ghosts follow you into the writing sanctum sanctorum.
Edger (2018) by David Beem
Edger Audiobook (2020) Narrated by Vikas Adam
BLURB:
Meet Edger (Ed-jer), a twenty-six-year-old gadget retail dork destined to become the world’s first superhero! His superpower: the ability to channel the Collective Unconscious, a psychic network connecting the living and the dead. In his arsenal are the skills of Bruce Lee, the strength of Samson, the wisdom of the ages...and the dancing chops of Michael Jackson—including that one twisty foot move, crotch grab, and fedora tilt. But there's a catch... Like every psychic super power to get administered through a hypodermic needle, this one comes with a prick. Someone seems to have misplaced the booster necessary for stabilizing his superpower. Without it, Edger has three days before his brain turns to pudding. Join our Dork of Destiny as he overcomes the world’s greatest butt, two rival Cluck-n-Pray gangs, an evil cow, a Green Bay Defensive Tackle, rifle-toting assassins—and a pair of stoners who inadvertently create the world’s first supervillain after a wild night on Twitter!
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EXCERPT:
Red letters scroll across the heads-up display.
PULSE ELEVATED.
Yes, I know.
RECOMMENDATION: ACCESS COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS.
Okay…
I focus on the red circle in the HUD labeled “Collective.”
Buh… anyone in the Collective got any bright ideas?
Roaring voices deafen my ears. Billions of lights streak past. I stagger backwards. Too much! The processors in my suit narrow down possibilities. Billions become millions. Thousands become hundreds. Finally… one. Gravity triples in my limbs from the fatigue of thousands of pull-ups, flutter kicks, push-ups, and sit-ups done in a single day. I’m shivering. Can’t stop. It’s hell week in BUD/S training. In and out of the ocean. Swimming miles against the clock. Cold… so cold. Face-down in the mud; holding my breath; lifting telephone poles; trembling muscles; falling painfully on my gun; moonless nights; stalking from the shadows; rescuing hostages; do I have what it takes to make it till morning?
Heard you could use a hand, sir.
The life behind the voice completes its fast-forward. It belongs to one Lieutenant Trevor Killmaster, Navy Seal. College champion swimmer. Fifteen deployments. Eighty-seven confirmed sniper kills. I’m breathless and sweating. My tired limbs get their strength back. I try to hold onto everything I’ve seen. Killmaster grew up in a little place outside of Santa Barbara, where he met his wife and bought a home.
He wears Old Spice.
Weird.
You’re telling me, sir, Killmaster replies.
I slide onto the barstool to gather my thoughts.
You know, I’m not really much of a… sir.
Killmaster replies: You are today. Sir.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
David Beem loves superhero movies, taekwondo, and flossing. He lives in Djibouti with his family and crippling self-doubt. To help actualize David’s inner confidence, visit his website and buy all the stuff: www.davidbeem.com
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/David-Beem/e/B005M4NEYI/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
PLEASE MENTION THE PRIZE THAT THE AUTHOR WILL BE GIVING AWAY:
David Beem will be awarding a $10 Amazon or BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3333
Thanks for hosting!
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ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Angel's blog. Hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteOooh sounds like a fun listen!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning! Your book sounds great and I'm glad I got to learn about it. Thank you!
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