My special
guest today is Larry Higdon.
We’re chatting about this psychological drama, The Storms of Deliverance.
Bio:
Born in 1947
in Atlanta. Served in Vietnam as an English language instructor. I’ve traveled
abroad to Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Following my enlistment in the Air
Force in 1974, I returned to Atlanta, and I’ve lived here ever since. I practiced
law for the Department of Veterans Affairs for approximately ten years.
Subsequently, I worked as an elementary school counselor for approximately ten
years. I’ve been a writer since retiring from the public schools. The Storms of Deliverance is my first
novel. I’ve never married. I lost my last parent when my mother died in
December 2013. I inherited her cat, who was the joy of my existence.
Unfortunately, however, Missy died in August 2014 of kidney disease. I hope to
get another cat someday.
Welcome, Larry. Please tell us about
your current release.
An alcoholic
whom people call “Bad News” Johnson due to his violent temper wastes his life
after his incipient baseball career ends with a diagnosis of arthritis in his
pitching arm. Following a tragic automobile accident, Johnson believes that he
has leapt forward 27 years. But is it time travel or amnesia? Has he traveled
forward 27 years or lost 27 years of past memories? Either way he doesn’t like
the man he’s become. He doesn’t like “Bad News” Johnson. He sets out to try to
win back his ex-wife and daughter.
What inspired you to write this book?
Most of my
life I had a variety of scenes in my head that didn’t seem to fit together.
Then one day they did. Everything came together, and I realized that I could
write this book. Once I embarked on it, the book practically wrote itself. I
felt as though I were taking dictation.
Excerpt from The Storms of Deliverance:
Suddenly Ellen looked back at the
smashed vehicle. “Where’s Rags? Where’s Taffy?”
His words wheezed out of him.
“They’re in the car. I’ll get them. Don’t worry.”
“No!”
she wailed. She ran down to the car, waving her arms. “Rags! Taffy!”
“No!”
screamed Johnson. “Ellen! Stop!”
He wobbled to his feet and attempted to
run after her, but stumbled immediately, his legs crumbling.
Ellen scrambled through the front
window. The backseat burst into flames.
“Ellen!”
Johnson screamed again.
No voice, human or animal, emanated
from the Volkswagen. The only sound was that of the deathly lapping flames,
yellow tinged with red, sharply pointed wicked fingers reaching out of the
windshield and the small opening in the driver’s side window. Johnson stood up
again, and fell down again. “Ellen! No!
My God, no!”
The engine exploded. What had before
been a motor vehicle containing a little girl, a kitten, and a shaggy dog, was
now but a huge, roaring ball of fire, like a portion of a fiery meteorite that
had slammed into earth.
What exciting story are you working on
next?
Katy Nguyen,
Johnson’s ex-wife from my first novel, narrates The School from Hell. An elementary school counselor, Katy is
assigned to Horseshoe Farms Elementary School, a high poverty school in the
north Georgia mountains. Overhead pipes leak, forming pools of water in the
hallways, windows are busted out, the heating and air conditioning don’t work,
and the school is infested with rats. Moreover, Katy has demons of her own. She
suffers from Bipolar II and her daughter Zoe is addicted to crystal meth. On
more than one occasion Katy is tempted to take her own life. Her involvement
with a first-grade girl, however, leads her to a new perspective. Although not
exactly a sequel, most of the major characters in my first novel appear in this
one. It should be released within the next couple of months.
When did you first consider yourself a
writer?
When my
first novel was published.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?
I write in
the mornings. I go to Starbuck’s or a fast food restaurant, get some coffee,
and open up my MacBook. Sometimes I also write at my dining room table at home.
When not writing I’m reading. I consider reading to be Continuing Education.
What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
Writing
in noisy restaurants.
As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
A
baseball player.
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