Stephen Roger Cowan

THE INTERVIEW

CarolCastellanos: Hi, How are you?

Steven: I'm good Carol.

CarolCastellanos: What genres do you write?

Steven: I'm pretty well dug in to the Horror and Dark Fantasy genres.

CarolCastellanos: What genres would you like to write?

Steven: I suppose one day I might shift into something else, but Horror and Dark Fantasy are where my heart is. I don't see that changing.

CarolCastellanos: Where do you get your ideas?

Steven: A lot of it probably has to do with an overactive imagination, and a lot of drugs done as a child…J. Seriously though, some of my ideas for my novels are inspired, while some I purely conjure from the cobwebbed recesses of my mind. My first novel (unpublished) was inspired by a nightmare. My second novel (Gothica: Romance of the Immortals, which is my first published book) was inspired when I got my first real computer and jumped into the Interned and subsequently stumbled into Chat Rooms and RPG's.

CarolCastellanos: Do you pattern your characters after any real people?

Steven: It depends on the novel, but I would have to say, that there are at least one or two characters in each of my books that are patterned after real people or a combination of real people. Every one of my characters, even the female ones, has a slice of me in them. You just never know how big that slice is or, which part of the character is me.

CarolCastellanos: What authors do you admire?

Steven: There are so many. King, Koontz, Rice, Crichton, Benchley, Homer, Virgil, just to name a few.

CarolCastellanos:What authors do you read?

Steven: I do read a bit of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Ann Rice, although I'm fascinated by Michael Crichton.

CarolCastellanos: What genres do you read?

Steven: Horror, Dark Fantasy and non-space science fiction, and some non-fiction

CarolCastellanos: What other genres do you see yourself writing?

Steven:Deep in the night is my favorite time to write and it always takes me to the Horror and Dark Fantasy Realm. I don't really see me writing in anything else.

CarolCastellanos: What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

Steven: Writing full time…writing savagely full time.

CarolCastellanos: Do you see yourself ever not writing?

Steven: I have actually tried to quit writing before…but it's just not possible. It's in my blood, my bones and my soul.

CarolCastellanos: What books do you have planned in the near future?

Steven: My second published novel will come out September 2001 with Southern Charm Press. I'm writing a book now about a shape-shifter, but I may stop and go back and edit the first novel I ever wrote. It's a good story, I think, but because it was my first, needs a lot of editing and rework. I'll probably change the title to Where Demons Dwell.

CarolCastellanos: How did you get started writing?

Steven: I started keeping a journal of our family's vacations and adventures 15 or so years ago. My wife loved the way I wrote and tried to prompt me to write. I told her that I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in writing. Then, in the late summer of '89, I had been working nightshift. I awoke in the middle of the day as pale as a ghost and sweating profusely. I had been awakened by the most horrific nightmare I'd ever had. My wife is a rabid Stephen King fan and reads everything he puts out. In the dream, my wife was reading a book with a black and red cover called Mindset. The book took control of her mind and soul. That mind control was done through the way the book was written and intentionally written that way by the author.When I told the dream to my wife, she said, "You've got to write a book about that." Finally I listened…and so began my writing career.

CarolCastellanos: What age were you when you started to write

Steven: 35

CarolCastellanos: Was there any author or authors who helped you get your start in writing, or helped you break into the field?

Steven: No. Kathy Williams of Southern Charm Press was the first person to ever give me a shot. God bless her.

CarolCastellanos: What do you feel makes your books unique or stand out from others in your genre?

Steven: Let me answer that by saying this. Gothica: Romance of the Immortals is a love story that begins in an Internet Chat Room between a vampire and an immortal that is born of a mortal man's mind. Time travel, vampirism, faeries, and explicit passion all meld to make it unique. Dark Eye (September 2001) is about an African-American witch in South Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp. She was raped by the Klan, saved by a Seminole medicine woman and comes back 126 years later (modern day) to end the bloodlines of the men who raped her in 1872. The above is about the best answer I can give to what makes my writing unique. Like the song says…. "It was just my imagination…once again…runnnin away with me…."

CarolCastellanos: What made you choose the genres you write?

Steven:The nightmare in late '89 kicked me in that direction. It just feels comfortable more than anything and it helps exorcise my own demons in a way.

CarolCastellanos: Do you have a special subgenre?

Steven: I almost always manage to splash my stories with passion-or at least sex…so, yes. Romance is almost always a subplot.

CarolCastellanos: Do you have a favorite place you like to write?

Steven:In my bedroom, late at night.

CarolCastellanos: In what order do you write? For example starting beginning to end, combining parts, in random order or in development cycle?

Steven: I have an idea and I start writing. As the characters develop, they tell me where we're going. It's like Stephen King said in On Writing. You write…and uncover the fossil as you go. That's how it works for me anyway. I never have near the whole story when I begin writing. I just start hammering the keys and see where it takes me. It's wonderful because I get to go on an unknown adventure every time. The characters talk to me and even scold me if I head down the wrong road.

CarolCastellanos: Do you feel that the e-books afford authors a bit more freedom of expression in their books?

Steven: I never rein myself because of what's politically correct, if that's what you mean. My publisher has been great in not censoring me, thus far. Perhaps e-books do allow that, I couldn't really say. I write what I write and it will either be accepted or it won't be. Writing is about creativity and I push the envelope a bit in terms of expression. So far, it hasn't done me in.

CarolCastellanos: What do you feel is, or isn't being done to promote authors?

Steven: Sadly, big publishing houses have so much invested in their stars, Clancy, King…whoever, that there is little room for an upcoming author to get his or her name out there because the big houses just can't afford to take on and promote a new author. Thank God for Sime-gen and a few sites like this, where upcoming authors can get their work reviewed and be given a degree of legitimacy. It is a huge help in getting your foot in the door. Also, I think new authors need to understand that they have to promote the hell out of themselves. Writing and publishing are savagely competitive business and you not only have to write your ass off, you also have to promote yourself to the ends of the earth. It's just the way of the world these days.

CarolCastellanos: Do you feel that the marketing departments have their finger on the pulse of readers?

Steven: I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing not. I had a hell of a time getting Gothica published and out there to the world. Sales are doing very well in just the first month, so I have to think there is a lot of old-school thinking out there that may be antiquated.

CarolCastellanos: How do you feel about review rating systems?

Steven: Assuming you mean a numerical value, I don't really like them, even if it worked out to my benefit. I've posted a few things at a site, whose name I won't mention. When my articles first came out, I got high scores, but there are mean spirited people out there that will "spite" vote, for whatever their reasons are…just to bring the score down. Besides, it's pretty subjective anyway. A review should state what is good or weak about a book, and a numerical value gives the person looking at the review absolutely no idea why the book is good or not so good.

CarolCastellanos: Through what venues do you feel most of your books are being sold?

Steven: I can't be sure, but I know that at least a couple of reviews have been posted by the reviewers all across the Internet. I think that's really helping, plus the local book store chains are signing me up and promoting my book signings. Also, surprisingly, I went to the Texas Library Association Conference in San Antonio in March of this year. I have been amazed at the mileage I've gotten from that. Also, my publisher, Kathy Williams of Southern Charm Press works her tail off promoting her authors, so I'd say all of the above have served to help sales.

CarolCastellanos: What do you feel is the best part of the publishing industry?

Steven: Albeit difficult, good writing still can find a way to rise to the top. It's tougher than it ever has been in the business, but with hard work and a little luck, you can become a published author, and even a successful author.

CarolCastellanos: What do you feel needs to be changed about the industry?

Steven: Most publishers and agents are inundated with query letters and unsolicited manuscripts. They do not have enough time to give submissions the attention they may deserve, and a lot of good writing stays hidden in the shadows of obscurity. Also, I get a real sense that if you're not successful and even famous already, they wouldn't pee on you if you were on fire, which relates to the next question below.

CarolCastellanos: Do you think small press and e-books will be the wave of the future?

Steven: I do think small presses are going to give the big boys and girls a run for their money, because they do take the time to look an no-name authors and they do recognize talent, whether it's got a known name behind it or not. My experience has been precisely that. I'm skeptical about e-books. I went that route a few years ago. The drawbacks to e-books are these (my opinion). 1) Marketing and promotion are limited, and 2) I will always believe that most people prefer to hold a bound book in their hand and lay back in a recliner, or chaise and read in an environment they choose. With e-books, you either have to sit at the computer and read, or print off a cumbersome manuscript and pay for paper, toner, etc. Then you have to deal with the loose-leaf pages. If you're at the beach, the story could literally be swept away by the wind. But, as Dennis Miller says, "Hey…I could be wrong."

 

 

Recent Or Upcoming Stephen Roger Cowan titles:

GOTHICA: ROMANCE OF THE IMMORTALS, at Southern Charm Press Dark Eye, at Southern Charm Press (Review to be posted soon)   See a problem with this page?  Email:carpathian@simegen.com