Friday's Interesting People featuring Roland Yeomans

Today, please help me welcome Roland Yeomans, author of 44 books and counting and who also writes at Writing in the Crosshairs.
Roland was kind enough to appear on my (first in a long while) Friday’s Important People (FIP). Enjoy!

Before we get to my question/answer fest, let me point out a few of Roland’s more recent books.

A Sampler of Shadows "EACH of us is a Frankenstein’s Monster. A piece of us is in every person we will ever meet. Usually, we refuse to see those disturbing sides of us in others. The best stories lure us into facing them. Let us talk fear and the thin ice of living which can yawn abruptly to drop us into unexpected madness."

 

Next up for publishing will be Dark Hollywood Cycle, NIGHT SEASONS, sometime in the first third of 2020, which will include the birth pangs of the C.I.A.; shadowy enforcers for Swiss bankers; the ghost ship, S.S. OURANG MEDAN; Jimmy Stewart; Orson Welles; an insane actress/sorceress; and 3 former O.S.S. agents just trying to stay alive in 1947 Hollywood.

Other recent books and with a holiday theme are:

RAZOR VALENTINE

BEWARE THE JADE CHRISTMAS: A Christmas Ghost Story

Click on the titles to visit these books at Amazon.

NOW for Inquiring Minds- FIP Questions:

T.: You are a super busy writer, plus you have a regular life. What is your daily writing schedule like?  

Roland: As a rare blood courier, I have lots of time on the highways and out of the way country roads.  The kind of places you never stop in a horror movie!  I plot my novels then and try to amuse myself with clever dialogue.  Our 1^st job as writers is to entertain, right? 

T.: How do you describe your fiction? Does it fall under a genre?  

Roland: I’m a Tour Guide for Dreamers to places that should have been, could have been, and still might be.  I try to make the road trips fun but with moments of reflection. Genre? Science Fantasy is what my mentor, Roger Zelazny, called it. 

T.: If you could be an apprentice for a (past or present) writer, for one year, who would that be and why that writer? 

Roland: I got that dream for 3 years with Roger Zelazny until Cancer took him.  Read his THIS IMMORTAL and you will see why.  The books he autographed for me I treasure.  I would have loved for Harlan Ellison to have mentored me, but his sharp tongue would have flayed me alive! 

In tribute to him a few days after his death, I channeled his spirit, using mostly his own words in this blog post.  

T.: As a writer, what is on your bucket list to do that you haven’t done as yet? 

Roland: Get on the Bestseller List or have the movie rights for one of my novels bought.  Speaking of Mr. Zelazny: he sold the movie rights to DAMNATION ALLEY and when he saw the movie and they brought on the flesh-eating cockroaches, he eased out of the theater, hoping no one recognized him. 

T.: Is there a novel or movie that speaks to you as a writer that you revisit at least once a year? If yes, how does it speak to you? 

Roland: Lucky Number Slevin found here. It teaches how to write clever dialogue, spin a fascinating tale, and care about the characters, even the villains. On Blu Ray it is only $5.99! 

T.: If you were stranded for six months on an island with electricity (because electricity to me matters to me more than food) and you could only choose one “thing” to do during your exile, what would it be: Relaxing? Writing? Painting? Staring into space? 

Roland: I would read all the fascinating print books I have bought over the year, not available on audio, and not been able to read. The biography of the legendary Michael Curtiz I just bought would be top on the list, followed by the wartime sermons of Rev. Peter Marshall. 

T.: As a child, did you have an imaginary friend? If so tells us about him/her/it.

Roland: Yes, Cubby, my 1^st teddy bear. I loved all the fur from him, but he still loved me. Mother darned my baby socks on his arms and legs to hold him together. When my home burned, his loss really hit me. 

T.: What did you believe growing up that you found out later was not correct? 

Roland: That Life is fair. 

T.: Also as a child, were you a loner, leader, boss, follower or shy? Did you remain true to this or morphed into something else? 

Roland: I was shy and a loner.  Being frail on the streets of Detroit was not pleasant.  I still am shy, wishing I was more like my teen hero, Victor Standish. 

T.: What is something we don’t know about you that you want us to know? 

Roland: Long ago, I learned to play the Spanish Guitar for my fiancée, Kathryn, (which I placed on her coffin when she was buried) and even learned to dance the Tango so she could compete in the competitions she always wanted to. I talk of this a bit in my recent post here. 

T.: Finally, what is the best advice you can give to any creative person who wants to see their creation (art, writing, music, etc.) out there and loved by others? 

Roland: You are a storyteller.  Entertain and captivate your readers. Think solitary person not a mass of readers. In your mind, tell your story to one person: friend, lover, spouse, ill child.  Make them laugh, make them care, and make them glad they spent the time with you.

About Roland

 

Roland Yeomans was born in Detroit, Michigan.  But his last memories of that city are hub-caps and kneecaps since, at the age of seven, he followed the free food when his parents moved to Lafayette, Louisiana.  The hitch-hiking after their speeding car from state to state was a real adventure. 

Once in Louisiana, Roland learned strange new ways of pronouncing David and Richard when they were last names.  And it was not a pleasant sight when he pronounced Comeaux for the first time.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in English Education and a Master’s degree in Psychology.  He has been a teacher, counselor, bookstore owner, and even a pirate since he once worked at a tax preparation firm.

Now, he is a rare blood courier.

So far, he has written forty-four books.  You can find Roland at his web page: www.rolandyeomans.blogspot.com  or at his private table in Meilori’s. 

The web page is safer to visit.  But if you insist on visiting Meilori’s, bring a friend who runs slower than you.

“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”  – William Shakespeare

And finally, here is the link to Roland Yeoman’s many story options.  

Have you read anything by Roland? Did you have a childhood friend that wasn’t human (stuffed animal, imaginary friend, something else)?