Tales of horror, terror, mystery, suspense, romance and pure comedy await you dear reader. Vampires, Big Game Hunters, Intergalactic Smugglers, Escaped Murderers, Village Idiots and Curious Children are waiting to meet you. So why stand outside, hungry in the cold? Why not step inside my world of amazing fiction, and eat my shorts?
Today I’m chatting with Dean Baker, the author of ‘Eat My Shorts’ an award winning collection of stories. Dean, thanks for setting some time aside to chat with me today.
What motivated you to start working with such a varied array of creatures?
I had quite a few short stories from a while back when I was submitting to E-Zines in the early noughties. One even won a prize. I really wanted to bring them to a wider audience, and so decided to publish them as an anthology on Kindle.
How many years of your life does these stories represent for you?
The stories were originally mostly written over a two/three year period.
And, did you enjoy revisiting the old stories?
Yes, I forgot how much fun I’d had writing them. Putting together the anthology brought the fun back to me.
Who were you favourite character that you got to meet again while working on the anthology?
Little Cloud and Uncle Running Bear from ‘Always remember your dreams’ were my favourite characters. A sheer pleasure to write.
If any of your characters could come to life, would there be one that you’d like to socialise with?
I’d like to go for a beer with the Gonzo reporter, as long as the drinks were on his press association expense tab!
I’m sure they would be. Does the characters like the Gonzo reporter, Running Bear or Little Cloud come to you from any specific processes while you are writing?
Either composites of people I know or sheer inexplicable inspiration.
Did you contribute your own life experiences for the stories in this collection or did you rely on that inexplicable inspiration?
Some of the stories drew on personal experience, yet most were complete flights of fantasy.
You gotta love a flight of fantasy. To make sure that you books did have something realistic groundings did you choose to weaves themes into the plots of some of the tales?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I do appreciate themes in books a lot though.
How about research, did you temper your fantasy with a bit of solid facts?
Some. Mainly historical research.
What is the main approach that you use for writing?
Depends on circumstances. I was single when I began writing. Now I’m married with a child so that ate into my writing time. However, I’ve recently been laid off at work, so I have had a couple of months with some spare time to write (whilst applying for jobs!).
Good luck finding a new job. Do you have any tips for going through the editing process?
I’m poor, so I do all my own editing, and my wife helps out with proof reading.
As you are doing your writing on a budget, do you also create your own covers?
I will create my own covers until I receive a substantial financial windfall!
Good luck finding that windfall! Do you have any other self-publishing tips for authors on a budget?
Don’t ever give up trying!
Simple, short and apt advice. And did you feel awesome when you received your first feedback from an unsolicited review?
No, relieved!
There’s a bit of that too when you’ve reached the end of a project. Are you currently working on anything else that the readers can look forward to?
I’m currently working on the sequel to my debut novel (The Big R), called Mr 80’s.
Good luck with your new novel I hope that the writing process goes well for you on this book. Dean, thank you again for setting aside time today to chat with me and I wish you the best of luck for your promotion of ‘Eat My Shorts’ and I hope that can made a solid contribution to the 2016 Vampire Books for Blood campaign.
Want to connect with Dean? You can find him here: