Today’s interview is with author Ahmad Taylor. Ahmad is a great guy and has written a book that I must say has me very interested. As soon as I’m back to accepting new reviews Dark Side Of The Moon will be on the must read list.
Here is blurb on Dark Side check it out and please say hi to Ahmad. I really enjoyed this interview and hope Ahmad will be back on the blog soon.
Government agent Derrick Thomas awakens from a disturbing dream
to find a message from his father asking for help. As he sets out to
lend his assistance he quickly discovers that not only has his father
gone missing, but that a clandestine government agency is out to derail
his search before it can begin. After the murders of two of his father’s
colleagues and the further disappearances of his mother and sister,
Derrick is thrust into a battle for the lives of his family while
attempting to uncover details of a secret government program which may
hold the key to his family’s whereabouts. Will he be able to save them
and uncover the truth before he becomes the next victim of a government
bent on keeping him silent?
Please tell us about yourself –
Hi Jessica. I am a Leo, I like long walks on the beach, the
wind blowing through my hair, and champagne bubbles that tickle my
nose.
Truly a “LOL” way to start things off. I am actually a 35-yr old former NYC police officer who has taken his “talents to S. Beach” (see Lebron James for shady reference).
I am a writer by day, writer by night and hanger-outer by weekend.
I love watching and more importantly playing sports, all
except soccer and NASCAR which I don’t even consider a sport, and if any
of your readers saw the shenanigans that went on at the Daytona 500,
they will understand that the “sport” makes no sense whatsoever and
simply manages to put the drivers and public in extreme amounts of
danger for no real benefit. However; now that I am reading what I just
write I can see that the last part of my statement is exactly why it is
so popular.
Please tell us about your book Dark Side of the Moon –
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (DSOM); is the story of a former
government agent who stumbles upon a 40-yr old cover-up by a clandestine
organization. He must piece together clues about this cover-up in order
to help him find and save his family who are somehow involved in the
cover-up and have gone missing.
This suspense-filled, action-driven, thriller takes you on
the journey with Derrick Thomas to rescue what matters to him most. Will
he find them in time? Will he sacrifice his sanity and his safety to
save them? Only one way to find out…
You self-published, did you try to publish through a publisher if so what was that like and if not why not?
When I first wrote DSOM, I was extremely excited and full
of naïve expectations concerning the publishing process. I had wild
ideas that “if you write it, they will publish it”, I could not have
been more off-base.
The “traditional” publishing industry is what you might
call a “club”. It has very regimented rules for admission, and it does
not allow for much innovation. The major publishing houses, “Big 6” as
they are known, have a very tight hold on the literary industry and they
decide who and what is allowed in and eventually out. Literary agents
also play a major role in vetting who may or may not have a seat at the
table so to speak.
When I was done, or what I thought to be done, with
writing, and had a few rounds of edits, I read up on the processes for
admission into this club. I began ferociously writing and sending
Queries to agents everywhere. I was driven and motivated and I just knew
that I was the next “big thing” to come out. So I sent a couple hundred
queries out and then sat back and waited patiently for the flurry of
responses. Dot, dot, dot: no responses. I then went back to the well,
and got out my formatted letter, made a few tweaks, and sent out another
slew of invitations to agents asking for a chance to submit a “partial”
of my manuscript. Dot, dot, dot: no answer.
This went on for the first 2 1/2-months after I had
finished writing, all with no response. I then chose to try and go
straight to the source, so I sought out the very few houses that allow
writers direct access. I formatted according to their requirements, sent
out the packages of partials, and waited once more. Dot, dot, dot:
nothing.
It was at this point that I had reached my capacity for
silent rejection and decided to sit on my novel ‘til I could muster up
more strength to try for rejection once again. So DSOM sat on “the
shelf” for the next several months, not seeing the light-of-day.
Somewhere around Christmas of 2011, a friend gave me the
best gift I could ever have wished for. He sent me an email. This was
not just any ordinary email. This email contained information that would
essentially pull DSOM off the “shelf” and finally get it out into the
hands of those who should have had access to it all along: the reader.
In the email, was a link to a story about a woman who had been writing
for several years with no publishing deal to speak of.
At the time of the article she had written 6 books, been at
the “game” for 7-yrs, and had accomplished nothing in regards to
getting an agent much less a publisher. The article went on to talk
about her foray into the world of self-publishing. It told her story, in
great detail, about the steps she took, the barriers she came up
against, and her eventual extraordinary success with it (she had sold
tens-of-thousands of books at that point). I read the article, marveled
at her success and started to wonder to myself: “Was it truly possible?
Could I, and should I, even dare to try it this way?” I sent the link to
a friend who was also very amazed: amazed that I had not started to
process already. We talked about the idea several times and he basically
shot-down every excuse I had for not doing it. So after another week of
being doubtful, I finally woke up one morning and said; “To hell with
it, I’m gonna’ publish”.
I won’t bore you with all the steps I took, but on January
24, 2012 Dark Side of the Moon became available for purchase on
Amazon.com.
Is writing a new interest? –
I’ll start by saying that I have not always enjoyed
writing. I was not an avid reader when I was younger. I liked school,
and always did very well in my subjects, but I was not big into
book-reports or reading novels at all. My mother used to make my sister
and I read one book every summer and write a book-report for her while
other kids were outside playing and having fun. My sister loved it, as
she would go through several books in a few weeks. I always struggled to
get through just the one, and would write the briefest synopsis I
could.
Once I got to college, I became intrigued by poetry and
what I assumed to be the complete “lack of rules and structure” that
poetry allowed the writer. As any poet will tell you, and as my teachers
had to explain to me many times while I was debating my grades with
them; “There are certainly rules to writing poetry, and it is only after
you know these rules and their importance that you can consciously make
the decision to break them for your desired effect”. I fought tooth-and-nail, but I eventually
saw their logic and began to write both structured and free-verse
poetry. I was published in a poetry anthology in the early 2000’s and
that was it for me, I wanted to write and more importantly, I wanted to
be read.
What are you reading now? –
I am in the middle of: Martin Little, Resurrected, a light
fantasy novel written by a talented author named; Ella Medler. It’s
quite sarcastic and has many intriguing characters. I’ll be writing a
review which may be posted by the time the interview is live, so check
it out.
What do you do when not writing? –
I worked as a security specialist for several years, and now I do off-and-on consulting in the same industry.
However, since publishing my book, I have been spending
large quantities of my days marketing and promoting, trying to get the
word out, and trying to build sales.
What has your experience been like since publishing your book? –
Emotionally it has been one of the most rewarding
experiences I have ever gone through. It’s an old cliché that says:
“enjoy the ride”, well I have truly been trying to enjoy this ride. I
have never had a greater sense of pride over what I have managed to
accomplish, both writing and publishing my novel. This particular book
is very personal to me because the characters, while fictional, are
drawn from people in my life, so to have been able to tell the story
that I wanted to tell, the way that I wanted to tell it, has been very
fulfilling for me.
The flip-side to all of that satisfaction is having to deal
with negative criticism, because no matter who you are, and how well or
long you have been writing, there will always be someone out there who
does not “get it”, or who just doesn’t like you work. I was warned about
this many times once I had published. That being said; when I got my
first “less than positive” review, I was close to tears. It was as if
this person, whom I had never met, and who knows nothing about me, my life, or my motivations,
decided to kick-in my front door, enter my unannounced and uninvited,
take a dump on my living room floor, steal my most prized possession,
and then spit at me as they were leaving. Now that is a bit
over-the-top, but believe me, the feeling of someone taking something
very personal to you and criticizing it is not a happy feeling at all.
What do you have planned for the future? -
I am of course still promoting DSOM, which I have so much
passion for, but am also currently working on the sequel. Spoiler alert,
the first story leaves our main character in a very precarious
position, and while I love “cliff-hangers”, there must be an end to it
all. So I am working to get #2 out to the readers by mid to end of 2012.
I am also working on a project with a writer friend to
create a blog-series where we will have several characters interact
across our separate blogospheres, engaging in whimsical dialogues,
having extraordinary adventures, and just living out their lives in the
most comically inappropriate ways possible. I invite all your readers to
check it out sometime towards the middle of March 2012.
Followers will also have the chance to post comments about the current storylines and vote for future events as well.
Where can my readers find out more about you and your work? -
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON is currently available at:
Also stay tuned for the upcoming paperback version to be released end of March 2012.
Also check out and feel free to follow my webpage:
- AhmadDarkside Live: http://www.ahmadtaylor.com
There are Free giveaways there and a schedule of my upcoming events.
Friend me and “Like” my FB page:
Friend me and “Like” my FB page:
Follow my weekly musings:
- Ahmad Darkside’s Musings: http://ahmaddarkside.blogspot.com
And follow me on Twitter:
Thank you Jessica for having me, and thank you to your
readers for their time and interest. I certainly look forward to hearing
from you all here as well as on my various outlets. I promise to try
and entertain you at every step of the way.
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