Author Ryan Schneider's Blog

This Author Spotlight features Thriller Writer C.W. Lemoine Author of Fini Flight C.W. Lemoine is the author of the military/espionage thriller novels SPECTRE RISING , AVOID. NEGOTIATE. KILL. , ARCHANGEL FALLEN, EXECUTIVE REACTION , BRICK BY BRICK , STAND AGAINST EVIL , ABSOLUTE VENGEANCE , THE HELIOS CONSPIRACY , I AM THE SHEEPDOG and FINI FLIGHT. A Louisiana native, Lemoine is a graduate of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduating college, Lemoine joined the Air Force Reserve where he flew the F-16 and accumulated one thousand hours including a combat tour in Iraq. Lemoine later transferred to the Navy Reserve where he flew F/A-18A+ Hornets for four years. He currently flies for a legacy U.S. airline and is a POST-1 certified reserve deputy sheriff. 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? It started as a coping mechanism after my mom passed away when I was twelve years o...

This Author Spotlight features Steve Bivans Author of Anno Draconis Steve Bivans is the author of Vikings, War, and the Fall of the Carolingians ; Be a Hobbit, Save the Earth ; The End of Fear Itself , and the Viking saga, Anno Draconis: Dawn of the Dragon . He is a trained historian of the Viking Age. He lives in St. Paul, MN where he smokes meat, drinks bourbon, and throws axes at things. 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? Short answer? I don’t remember, lol. Long one? I suppose I’ve always been a decent storyteller (translation: accomplished liar). As far as actual writing, I spent years in college and graduate school writing hundreds of pages of academic stuff. I studied medieval history at the University of Minnesota until around 2011. My focus was Viking military history. 2.What do you like best (or least) about writing? I love brainstorming ideas. This is true for both non-fiction, which is what I began writing/pub...

What makes a book a candidate for a good film? Answer: it depends. On many things. Sometimes, it's the visuals; the story is quite cinematic, begging for a visual representation.   Blade Runner certainly comes to mind. Also, a thoroughly-visualized world (one perhaps not recently seen) is important. Think Harry Potter (the novel manuscript of which, you'll recall, was roundly rejected by all publishers for over a year; oops). For other books, it's not about the visuals so much as it's about the story, the theme, the message, whether it be serious, quirky, or otherwise. Cohen Brothers films come to mind. You always know you're going to get something wacky yet thought-provoking with them. No Country for Old Men , for example; which, interestingly, began as a screenplay, became a novel, and then became a movie; so, there are no rules; like William Goldman said: If it works, it's right. And, finally, it is very muc...