Date Published: 2015
“Fate hunts us down in our sleep.” Clay Conover, retired Marine officer turned corporate trainer has successfully re-careered and has a long-term plan. A plan grounded in a sense of duty, loyalty, and tempered by clear-eyed realism. Unfortunately, Clay’s plan doesn’t account for the hiring of Sheera Prasad. Young, hungry and ambitious, Sheera has an agenda of her own.
In the collision of wills that follows, Clay is confronted with a choice that will define him, not simply professionally but personally. Will he take the ethical high road, or opt for self-serving rathionalization? West of Tomorrow is an intelligent romance, laced with corporate intrigue, betrayal and the undiscovered phoenix living in all of us.
Is There a Message
in Your Novel That You Want Readers to Grasp?
West
of Tomorrow is an intelligent romance
laced with corporate politics, betrayal, and misplaced love. In it, Clay Conover
a recareered Marine officer is confronted with an apparent choice between honor
or love.
Either
choice will bring loss and disappointment. And whichever he chooses, it will define
him for the rest of his life. So on the surface, this is a tale of difficult
choices. But at a deeper level, it is also about coping with change in our age
of rapidly shifting paradigms and discovering the phoenix that lives in all of
us.
Is there anything
you find particularly challenging in your writing?
I
usually struggle with the muddy middle. As an author, I’m a plantser—a kind of
hybrid between a planner and a pantser. What usually happens is somewhere in
the middle, I get this hair fire about adding a wrinkle to the original story
arc that wasn’t planned. When I do that, I tend to wander off and get lost, somewhere.
I’ve always been able to write my way back out and clean it up in editing, but...you
get the idea.
How many books
have you written, and which is your favorite?
I
have written and published four. Currently in print are West of Tomorrow,
Best-Case Scenario, Act I of Nyra’s Journey, Through the Windshield, and Tier
Zero, Vol. I of the Knolan Cycle. A fifth, Eryinath 5, Vol. II of the
Knolan Cycle is finished but is still in editing.
West
of Tomorrow is probably my favorite
because it’s most personal of my writings. It’s not strictly autobiographical, but
Clay and I have a lot of experiences in common. In addition, its nuanced
thematic elements were relevant when I wrote it and have only become more relevant
today. Reviewers usually comment on the thought-provoking nature of the story.
I like to think of West of Tomorrow as a thinking human’s romance with artistically
rendered erotic overtones most adults will appreciate.
If You had the
chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
I’d
probably opt for Mark Wahlberg or Matt Damon. Both do complex, nuanced
characters well, and Mark Wahlberg in particular has the build that Clay
Conover as I envision him has. That said, both would need to color their hair silver
and spend some time in a tanning booth to play the part. Clay’s hair is
prematurely silver, and he’s deeply tanned from an active outdoor life.
When did you begin
writing?
I
think I wrote my first fiction “story” in first grade. I continued writing short
stories and poetry throughout high school. And in college, I took a creative
writing series as part of my English minor.
Subsequently
as a Marine officer, then master’s candidate and finally a corporate trainer, I
wrote a lot of non-fiction. Some of it got published in various journals or
manuals. During that same time, I wrote a lot of fiction that I never finished.
After the financial collapse in 2008, the company where I worked as a corporate
trainer and training manager cordially invited me to leave and not return. Out
of options and excuses, I took early retirement and focused on finishing West
of Tomorrow.
How long did it
take to complete your first book?
Almost
six years. I started West of Tomorrow while I was still working and had
to write around work and business travel. , In common with many debut
authors, I wickered my writing around everything else I was doing and “everything
else” often pushed my writing to the background. West of Tomorrow finally
came out in late 2015.
Did you have an
author who inspired you to become a writer?
Technically,
no. My grandfather had a byline with the Associated Press, and it was he who
sensitized me to the potential impact of an elegantly turned phrase. But there are
many other authors’ whose writings have influenced me, each for their own
reasons. Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and John Scalzi (of Old Man’s War fame)
for science fiction. Each offer something in their work above and beyond good
stories. But I think the book that most made me yearn for self-expression was
Frank Yerby’s An Odor of Sanctity. Of all his novels, I’m not sure that
one wasn’t his best, not to mention one of the best historical novels I’ve ever
read.
What is your
favorite part of the writing process?
Would
you believe editing? No? Seriously, it’s actually a love-hate thing. It’s
incredibly time-consuming even and perhaps especially after the book comes back
from my editor. But without exception, she catches all my writing ticks and
twitches and challenges me to be better. It’s a lot of work, but there’s no downside
to the result, and once I get started, I catch myself enjoying the refinement
process.
Describe your
latest book in 4 words.
Nuanced,
thought-provoking and erotic.
Can you share a
little bit about your current work or what is in the future for your writing?
I’ve just finished the refinements to Eryinath-5, Vol, II
of The Knolan Cycle, the second book in the series beginning with Tier
Zero. It’s already been through peer review and beta, and I’ve passed it on
to my editor. It follows the career of Marty Tellus who becomes Hāthar-Tahk midway
through the first volume. It continues his journey and sets up the titanic struggle
between the Knolan Concordant and the Valdrōsian Empire, with Earth being one
of the chips in the game.
I’m also twenty-one chapters into the first draft of The
Year of Maybe, Act II of Nyra’s Journey. It’s the sequel to Best-Case Scenario.
In it, Nyra Westensee continues to grow as a woman and human as life forces her
to adapt to changing times and her own evolving philosophy of life. And I’m in
the process of planning Volume III of the Knolan Cycle, title to be determined.
About the Author
Dirk came within a cat’s whisker of never publishing. Through two frenetic professional careers first as a Marine officer and then as a corporate trainer, he started way more stories than he finished, until full retirement left him with the focused attention he needed. West of Tomorrow, his first novel draws on his experience with the military, corporate America and the unpredictable nature of life.
Since then, he has published Best-Case Scenario, Act I of Nyra’s Journey a New Adult romance, Through the Windshield, Drive-by Lives an anthology of short stories and Tier Zero, Vol. I of The Knolan Cycle. He currently lives in Laguna Niguel where he surfs, snow skis in the winter and facilitates an author’s critique group.
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4 Comments
great interview, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your author interview and book details, I have enjoyed reading about you and your work
ReplyDeleteHello! Thanks so much for sharing your book with us. Always fun reading about another book to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteLooks like it's going to be a very interesting read, thanks for sharing.
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