Author Interview: Kenneth G. Bennett, author of EXODUS 2022

 Kenneth G. Bennett, author of the young adult novels, THE GAIA WARS and BATTLE FOR CASCADIA, talks about his new sci-fi thriller, EXODUS 2022. 

Kenneth, has made a living in advertising copywriter for 20 years, writing material for radio, TV, videos, the web, print, outdoor, etc., for clients such as Starbucks, Amazon, Volvo and Disney. Enjoy reading the interview with him...

D.O: Howdy Kenneth G. Bennett. Welcome to Authors Curtilage book talk.

KGB: Thank you. It’s great to be here! Thank you for hosting the interview and featuring Exodus 2022 on your site.

D.O: You are welcome. As the writer of "Exodus 2022" how do you feel about the story, the characters and their challenges?

KGB: I’m really excited about the story. I felt from an early stage that the idea behind Exodus 2022 was pretty fresh. I still feel that way and I’m hearing the same thing from ARC readers now. The feedback is very encouraging.

D.O: Okay. We all know that a theme is vital to every kind of story we tell, because it serves to explore an underlying truth or moral. What's the underlying theme of "Exodus 2022" about?

KGB:  The underlying theme is about the arrogance of the human race and the consequences of such hubris. We’re animals. We have the same DNA as every other life form on the planet, and yet we see ourselves as separate and “above” the natural world. We brutalize the planet and imagine that there are no consequences. But there are consequences.

D.O: Hmm. That's a very strong theme. So is "Exodus 2022“ meant to say something rather than merely entertain the readers?

KGB: Exodus 2022 is not a “message” book. It is (I hope!) a fast, fun, thrill ride that happens to deal with environmental issues. The publisher describes the book as an eco/sci-fi thriller.

"Joe Stanton begins suffering severe, unexplained hallucinations while vacationing with his girlfriend in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, the authorities blame drugs.
What they don’t yet know is that others, up and down the coast—from the Bering Sea to the Puget Sound—are suffering identical, always fatal mental breakdowns."

D.O: What happened to those other people, Kenneth? Without giving so much away can you tell us how they arrived with the fatal metal break downs, or should we just leave this as a mystery for the readers to find out?

KGB: No, let's give the readers some hint.

D.O: Okay then, go ahead.

KGB: Like Joe Stanton, the other victims encountered something in the environment that caused them to begin hallucinating—to suffer exactly the same hallucination. We learn what the “something” is later in the story.

D.O: Briefly tell us a little about Joe's background.

KGB: Joe is a 28-year-old Episcopal priest. He’s smart, funny, athletic and passionate about wilderness and the outdoors. And he’s totally in love with his girlfriend, Ella Tollefson. As the book begins, he’s planning to propose to her, but then all kinds of nightmarish stuff gets in his way.

D.O: Joe is the lead character here, right?

KGB: Correct.

D.O: What is Joe's assignment in the story "Exodus 2022?"

KGB: At first Joe is just trying to survive and figure out what the hell is going on with his body and brain—why he’s flipping out, experiencing violent “visions”. As the story progresses, and he begins to understand what’s going on—the meaning of the voices in his head—he becomes a more active participant in his own destiny, and in the destiny of the planet.

D.O: What personality trait did you give Joe to survive "Exodus 2022?"

KGB:  Joe is mentally and physically strong and also easygoing. He has a great sense of humor and a rock solid belief in a power greater than himself.

D.O: Hmm. That's good enough trait for a lead. What is the transformational arc of "Exodus 2022?"

KGB: Several of the characters in Exodus 2022 undergo dramatic transformations. The overarching arc concerns human characters discovering that people—homo sapiens—aren’t the only game in town.

D.O: Every kind of storytelling has an influence. What are the three elements you've woven into this book that will move the readers, and influence their growth positively?

KGB: 1) A love of wilderness and all that is wild.  2) The power of love (in this case, the love Joe and Ella feel for each other)   3) The idea that non-human life is sacred and that we need to do a better job taking care of the planet—or risk catastrophe.

D.O: Hmm. Those are sublime! What age and group does this book appeal to?

KGB: Older teens and adults.

D.O: Okay. I must confess, I love the way you've written the story "Exodus 2022." Writing a book or a screenplay without formal training can be an uphill struggle, without support. Do you have any writing tips for the beginners?

KGB: I’ve made my living as an advertising copywriter for 20 years, writing material for radio, TV, videos, the web, print, outdoor, etc., for clients such as Starbucks, Amazon, Volvo and Disney. Creating and perfecting an ad campaign is hard but writing novels is way, way harder. It’s also way more fun. The best advice I can give:

-          Read as many different great authors as you can.

-          Read as much fiction as you can.

-          Read Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Elmore Leonard’s TEN RULES OF WRITING

-          Once you start work on your story, don’t stop. You’ll lose your momentum and passion.

-          Realize that the first draft is just the beginning and that much of the work happens as you edit, revise and rewrite.

-          Find a great editor.

D.O: We are glad to host you here today Kenneth G. Bennett. Thanks so much for choosing Authors Curtilage for your book promotion. I hope you'll come back again.

KGB: Thanks for having me! This has been a blast.

D.O: I'm glad!! [SMILES]

EXODUS 2022 is Available:

Amazon

Find Kenneth G. Bennett Online:

Kenneth's Website 

 Kenneth on Twitter

 Kenneth on Facebook

 Kenneth on Amazon

Author Interview: Philippe de Segur, author of MARVELOUS AFTER LIFE

It’s time to read about how another author worked hard and got their book published. Our guest today is Philippe de Segur, author of MARVELOUS AFTER LIFE. A major advance in how we see the afterlife through extraordinary paranormal narratives and 83 photographs of hereafter.


Phillipe de Ségur has always seen ghosts, but he had to nearly die before he found his true vocation as an effective and successful medium. Now called the ‘Medium-Photographer’ by television presenters, he saw his first dead person while still a boy. Had it not been for his own near-death experience in his early 40s, this ghost hunter might have continued in the safe but confining life of a French civil servant. Instead, he lost his fear of death and found his 'real' purpose, the missing element of his life.


In Marvelous Afterlife, he explains that he needed that brush with death to place his ‘sixth sense’ at the service of humanity. Calling himself a rational man who believes only in what he can see, he says technical advancements in sound and photography could help expand the little understanding the average person has about the paranormal. In ‘Marvelous Afterlife’, he shares with you his experiences and ‘paranormal adventures’ with his ability to photograph spirit entities in haunted chateau and houses.


D.O: Welcome to Authors Curtilage book talk, Philippe de Segur. I am pleased to have you with us today.


PS: Hello to Authors Curtilage book talk, Thank you, it's a pleasure , I am very pleased to share today on this subject with you.


D.O: Please tell us briefly about your book, "Marvelous After Life" and how it is different from other paranormal genre.


PS:  This is a book talking about my relationship with the deceased since my childhood. My life change due to a heart attack . Some reports highlighted me  "Marvelous After Life " brings photos to complement my stories and my testimony.


D.O: Mmm. Fascinating! What event had the most strong influence on your life that encouraged you to give this story a voice? 



PS: Probably my heart attack , my heart dropped as a result of muscular effort. I found myself over my body , I saw my wife doing a cardiac massage , my daughter phoned for help, my dog ​​pacing in my backyard . I was floating above it all. I felt good , relaxed. When I returned , I knew my life would be different.

D.O: Mm. Unusual. What obstacles did you face in trying to tell this story?

PS: The main obstacle, being in nature very Cartesian , I was afraid of being taken for an illuminated . I had the chance to have always been supported by the media who always congratulate me and highlighted me.

D.O: What was the time frame for writing this book?


PS: It's strange but It's take me only six days to write this book, Like I was guided to write . Since then I have written others but the delays are much longer and have to this day a little less success than the latter.


D.O: I understand you. I'm always guided to write even to act  sometimes. So I can imagine you whose gift is very awe-aspiring.

"Even as a child I saw things that few others could even imagine.
At any time of the day I came across people who were invisible to others, I saw them, but didn’t communicate with them at that time."
D.O: You see the dead. Don't you see this kind of gift as a load, typically a heavy one?


PS: Somehow I did. But, I don't think it is a choice. I have considered this gift as a burden for a long time when I was young, because I was afraid of what I was seeing.


D.O: So you are telling us on Authors Curtilage that this book is a true story and not a work of fiction?


PS: This book is totally true, as all the ones I write. I retransmits today the full stories I have lived always remaining as close as possible to reality. What I felt and lived totally and truly . There is no fiction in what I write , but I was contacted by some series designers for paranormal subject.


I understood it had been a ghost
"I had already experienced some emotional moments due to contact with them. When I was sixteen, my mother’s sister, Françoise, succumbed to a rare type of cancer and passed her last days in the terminal ward of a Marseilles hospital.
The two sisters were inseparable and my mother, who sensed her pain, spent every day with her. One evening, lying on my bed reading a comic with the door open to the landing, my eye was drawn to it as if something was about to happen. Even at that age, I was attentive to the slightest vibe.
At the exact moment when I least expected it, I saw my Aunt appear, she seemed to be heading for my parent’s bedroom.

It took a moment to sink in before I realized it was her ghost. I was petrified but stayed calm. I felt my heart beating and an instant later I saw her come out of the bedroom followed by my mother who, no doubt drawn by the expression on my face, stopped and said to me in a calm voice “did you see her?”
I replied “like I see you”, and she said to me “she came to tell us goodbye”.
An instant later the telephone rang, Françoise had died.
My mother had always been a medium although she never really practiced it; those were the only words we exchanged on the subject in thirty-nine years."

D.O: Mm. So your mum is a medium? Does that mean the spirit communication gift runs in the family?


PS: Yes, you may say that. My maternal grandfather and my mother were also medium, but they never exercise such as and I have live "normal " lives.

 I am the only one of three brothers to have inherited this "gift" . Yes, it is , I guess a birth gift.

D.O: What do we call you Phillipe, a psychic or psychic medium?


PS:  For me, there is only one definition which corresponds to a medium, he is a person who communicates with the deceased .


D.O:  In that case, I'm going to send you to my Grandma. [Smiles]


PS: No problem Darmie. [smiles]


D.O: Psychics and psychic mediums are souls that have come into this world to learn and grow just like everyone of us. It's the same for our books and screenplay characters. How did you grow emotionally in the story Marvelous After Life?


PS: I think you can live  several lives in the same . I had a turning point in mine. Today , it is true , I see things differently. When we pass closely near death, we go to the essentials. All this has actually made me grow, evolve and understand that an invisible world but real world is present all around us and has much to tell us....

D.O: By the end of the story Marvelous After Life, was Phillipe's emotional responses and personal values altered?


PS: I am more than just the usual protagonist. I tell this story in a way that the readers receive an intimate description of my life under my gift.

The book is concerned with the emotional truth about my gift, as experienced by me in various stages of my life.

D.O: How did you find your agent?


PS: I met him haphazardly thanks to a friend who had entrusted his books. My editor is now a friend who struggles to promote my books abroad especially in the United States because like me, he thinks he can meet the same success as in France .

D.O: Looking back, what are the elements you weaved together that helped you write a compelling story as Marvelous After Life?

PS: No literary is invented in this book, I simply relate my experience and in this case, it is easier to put words on paper then to write a novel. I share with MEM editions, the same focus. We want to actively participate in "seeding awareness" with respect and freedom for everyone. 

D.O: Do you have any final thoughts to share with us today?

PS: I would like to press the special feature of this book that highlights photos expertise by many scientists and research groups on the paranormal. This shows us that whatever the life we ​​lead, no matter where we are, who we are, we are never alone and  we can communicate with the world of the afterlife. 

D.O: It's be an honor hosting you today. Thanks for choosing Authors Curtilage for your book promotion.

PS: The honor is mine. Thank you for your interest in this book and the confidence you have shown in me. I wish to the Authors Curtilage readers  to find in this book answers to their questions. 

Get your Copy Now!

Find Philippe Online