Interview with Justin Bog

Welcome to my stop on the Sandcastle and Other Stories book tour, hosted by Virtual Book Tour Cafe.  Please enjoy the interview and check out some of the other sites on the tour..

  Sandcastle and Other Stories by Justin Bog

The ten literary, psychological, and suspense tales collected in Sandcastle and Other Stories are nothing short of an escape into a roiling sea of emotion. You will meet an old man twisted by fate and a lost love . . . a young girl playing on the ocean shore who becomes entangled in the nets of a mercurial god . . . a divorced man mired in his troubles who is pressured into taking a singles cruise . . . a Hollywood actor in a night time television drama who is always typecast as the bad boy . . . a family on the edge trying to live with a troubled daughter who they believed they'd never have to coexist with again . . . a young adult bruised and torn by a secret past who watches the world around her teetering on the brink of chaos . . . a new mother of twins who finds it difficult to say no to the pushy, energetic President of the local Mothers of Twins Club . . . a child kept awake by night terrors, and a woman who hides her secretive personality from everyone on the beach one sunny day. Upon reading, you will meet several more people who view life as a constant struggle, and others who resist this mindset, some with grace, some with humor, and others with acts of hubris. The genuine voices of the characters, mixed with a clear-eyed tonal simplicity, make this a series with mesmerizing psychological interplay. All of the stories span a broad depth of human understanding and build a bridge between the deepest chasms of pain and the highest portals of joy. Read Sandcastles and Other Stories and you will stand witness to unspeakable hate sitting with cozy wile right beside unconditional love -- a true fictional study of the human condition.
Publisher - Convenient Integration
Release Date - May 8, 2012
Website - www.justinbog.com
Purchase Link - Amazon

The Interview:

1) Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi, I am a writer living in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle. The weather is gothic most days of the year, which I love, and the atmosphere helps me prepare to write or edit. I live with my partner on a farm and take care of two long coat German shepherds, Zippy and Kipling, and two barn cats, Ajax The Gray & Eartha Kitt’n. I read a lot of books, see many films, and recommend the best, and hidden gems from the past, in pop culture for the e-Magazine In Classic Style. I swim three times a week and play tennis.

2) What inspired you to write Sandcastle and Other Stories?
All of these ten tales that make up the collection were written at separate moments. They were for fun, just for me to share finally with friends who love to read short fiction. I published them on my blog all last year along with a short holiday story (that is still there called Seducing Santa). In the blog world it’s all about the present, something I love, but this also means posts from the past pretty much stay there. With encouragement from a few writing friends, I decided to collect the stories and turn them into my first ebook. The subject matter throughout is similar. Characters search for answers. Some find epiphany, while others miss opportunities. I like to read suspense and tales of psychological drama, conflict between characters. I also tend to think of dark places. There is a lot of darkness in the book, but there is also hope.

3) When did you decide to be a writer?
I decided to become a writer a very long time ago . . . once upon a time fits, but it’s the toiling away at the craft, learning it, that takes up the most amount of time. I never sent my work out after awhile. Just did my thing, kept my head down, and for the longest time after graduating with an MFA, I didn’t even tell people I was a writer. Now, after I’ve built up a large body of work, I want to share it. Life’s too short, and a mentor told me why not? Risk it.

4) What are some of your favorite reads?
The first author that springs to mind is Shirley Jackson. The story? The Lottery. Also, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The Auctioneer by Joan Samson. Binstead’s Safari by Rachel Ingalls (and every story she’s written), Most of the novels of Margaret Atwood and John Irving. I also loved The Firm, the early works of Stephen King, and a little book called Pork by Cris Freddi. I enjoy reading the suspense novels of Harlen Coben and Linwood Barclay; usually, they take a normal suburban family and put them through outrageous situations. The one classic that I continue to bow down to is The Count of Monte Cristo.

5) Do you have a particular writing style (any quirks you must have/do while writing)?
I like to get lost in the writing. Play music in the background, all different kinds, rock, pop, classical, jazz, folk, so that it becomes white noise. I don’t outline. I usually begin with a character, a thought about what someone is doing, what this character thinks about someone else, or some situation, and let the character lead me on a journey. I don’t write a lot each day, but the writing gets done.

6) What other projects of yours are out there or coming soon?
A new suspense story called The Conversationalist will be collected in an upcoming eBook anthology tentatively titled Encounters. This anthology’s theme is “stalkers” and should be out by July or August. I have finished my first novel, a family drama, Wake Me Up, and it’s going through a few copyediting rounds before publication at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. I finished a suspense/contagion/horror novel, The Shut-Ins, and I am in the middle of an early draft content edit; I am writing a new psychological suspense story, The Volunteer, and only a hundred pages in. So, more books on the horizon, and I just got word that a small publishing house may be interested in publishing the print edition of Sandcastle and Other Stories so this makes me very happy.

7) Do you have any tips for the aspiring writers out there?
If you need to write, write. If you need to share what you write, share it. Learn the craft and tell your stories.

8) Let us know where all we can find you.
I can be found by email at justinbog@me.com.
I have a blog called A Writer’s Life: www.justinbog.com.
I am on Twitter @JustinBog. Link: https://twitter.com/#!/JustinBog
I have an Author Page at Facebook. Link: https://www.facebook.com/JustinBog1
My eBook, Sandcastle and Other Stories is available at Amazon. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Sandcastle-and-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B0081NXXO8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338412061&sr=8-1
To check out my work at the e-Magazine In Classic Style please go towww.inclassicstyle.com

Here's the other stops along this tour..
June 7 - Introduction at VBT Cafe' Blog
June 11 - Interviewed at My World
June 13 - Guest Blogging at The Book Hoard
June 15 - Guest Blogging at Reading, Writing, and More
June 19 - Interviewed at MK McClintock's Blog
June 21 - Guest Blogging at On Emily's Bookshelf
June 26 - Guest Blogging at BK Walker Books Etc.
June 28 - Reviewed at The Story of a Girl...
July 2 - Guest Blogging at AZ Publishing Services
July 6 - Interviewed at Mass Musings
July 9 - Guest Blogging at From The TBR Pile
July 11 - Reviewed at Books, Books, and More Books
July 13 - Reviewed at B00k R3vi3ws
July 16 - Interviewed at Reviews & Interviews
July 18 - Reviewed & Interviewed at A Book Lover's Library
July 18 - Interviewed at Brenda & Steve's Blog
July 20 - Interviewed at Unnecessary Musings