You can post
stories at these sites using 6 to 1,000 words. They could be useful in
promoting your longer-format works, such as books.
PANK: www.pankmagazine.com
WORD RIOT: www.wordriot.org
100 Word Story" www.100wordstory.org
SIX –WORDS: www.sixwordmemoirs.com
MONKEYBICYCLE: www.monkeybicycle.net/one-sentence-stories.com
ECLECTICA
MAGAZINE: www.eclectica.org
THE COLLAGIST: www.thecollagist.com
NANO FICTION
(stories up to 300 words): www.nanofiction.org
SMOKELONG: www.smokelong.com
FICTION
SOUTHEAST: www.fictionsoutheast.org
Interview
With An Author Whose Art Comes To Life
Imagine
paintings that hold the secrets to the meaning of life, and death—or scribbled words
that can alter past and reshape the present. We know art imitates life but in
Michael B. Koep’s thriller fiction trilogy, the author brings the arts to life
in an action-packed tale spanning seven centuries.
A new book, The Newirth Mythology: Leaves of Fire (June, 2015), tells of how a
journal has inadvertently created real lives off the page, changed history, and
made myths and their characters real. There is a battle for life on Earth – and
the Afterlife – and the fate of existence itself hangs in the balance. The war
of the immortals has begun. Koep’s latest installment entwines seemingly
unconnected lives from different time periods and deeply explores myth, memory,
revenge, and the hope of forgiveness.
Koep’s creative writing offers insight into these
questions:
·
Is
art influencing life and shaping it?
·
Can
we create a new mythology?
·
Are
there immortals among us?
·
Will
we discover a way to genetically alter ourselves so that we can become
immortal?
·
How
do we come to terms with the darker elements of the human condition?
·
Why
are we fascinated with the notion that supernatural power and other worlds that
could exist?
·
Could
one’s imagination create real people – and if so – what would we do once
confronted with such a reality? Could we accept the world we have authored?
·
How
would our lives be lived if we were convinced an afterlife existed?
·
Are
we living in a volatile time, where the fate of mankind hangs in the balance?
·
What
is real – what is not – and how do we know the difference?
Koep’s
writings offer probing philosophical insight into humanity’s purpose and
limitations. He provokes us with non-stop action, witty dialogue, and a
challenging premise.
“I have always had a love for myths and how
myths frame a culture’s narrative,” says Koep, “and ultimately, I wanted to try
my hand at my own mythology.”
Amid
swordfights, shootouts, betrayal, secret guardians prone to poetic monologues
and murders – in a milieu of fine art, fine food, secret lovers, myth, mafia,
ancient languages, and the loud music of classic vinyl LPs, Koep’s trilogy will
leave the reader questioning what it means to be human and what lies beyond
this world.
Here
is a Q & A with the author whose book is now being promoted by the PR firm
I am employed by:
1. Michael, what
inspired you to launch your thought-provoking, supernatural thriller series?
A number of things inspired the writing of Part One of the Newirth
Mythology, The Invasion of Heaven, for the story has been haunting my
notebooks for a little over fifteen years. Looking at the book now I’m thrilled
to see that I managed to fit nearly all of my obsessions into the story: music,
painting, poetic monologues, sword fighting, bits of psychology, poetry, mafia,
international travel and mystery. I even got to explore the big why are we
here questions.
I dedicated Part One to my mother. She has
suffered from depression for most of her adult life,
and growing up watching her battle the illness was a
confusing and helpless experience.
Reading helped me through those years. Psychology
became a poignant interest, as did escape
vehicles like fantasy and science fiction-- and because
I didn’t have the kind of mind to become
a psychologist myself I felt that the best way in which
I could help my mother was to entertain
her with stories and music. The character of Loche
Newirth appeared in my journals very soon
thereafter-- and as a mental health professional, Loche
could explore not only the difficulties of
being human, but he just might discover a cure to the
darker parts of our nature. Maybe even
depression. Of course, he hasn’t yet become the kind of
hero that I had imagined, but he’s
trying.
As a touring rock musician, my travels influenced large
parts of the story, too. The Middle East,
the Mediterranean, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Crete, Egypt
and many other places-- all steeped in
myth and mystery-- so how could I not resist their
beckoning to be included in the tale?
2. Your story
involves mythology. Could there be truth to our mythologies? Is there a need to
create a new mythology? Certainly
mythologies contain truth- human truth. Consider the term mythos: the
pattern of basic values and historical experiences of a people
characteristically transmitted through the arts. Or, made up stories to make
sense and express the inexpressible. Myths tell two stories at once. On the
surface they are usually straightforward, plot based narratives with symbolic
characters facing fantastic circumstances--very often supernatural at their
core. Simultaneously, these stories can provide transformative insights and
footholds of understanding about the mysteries of existence and the human
condition. Mythology can change not only the behavior of the individual, but so,
too, an entire culture. It is this transforming characteristic of storytelling
that is of great interest for me-- and it is the central theme of The
Invasion of Heaven and Leaves of Fire. I am fascinated with the deeply held
beliefs that people have for stories--and how those stories dictate both love
and fear.
As long as there are questions about our existence,
there will always be stories reaching for
answers. The historical cannon of myth over thousands
of years has changed along side our
ability to reason and adapt. Though we still worship
the sun (at the beach, mostly these days),
our little star no longer holds the divine nature it
once did for the ancients. The Sumerian gods
fell to the Greek gods-- and they to the recent cast of
divine characters that hold their place on
the current metaphysical and religious stages. When a
new evolutionary burst of thought
happens for humankind, it is to be expected that
another system of belief flourish.
In The Newirth Mythology I wanted gather all
mythological narratives, the stories themselves,
the events and characters and their metaphorical
values, and pronounce, simply: they are all
true-- they all happened-- it is all very real. What main character Loche Newirth discovers,
however, is that there is always more to the story.
3. You explore
the question of reality: what is real and what is not? For the pragmatic and conservative
psychologist, Loche Newirth, knowing the difference between what is real and
what is not is vital to not only his vocation, but his identity. He wonders
throughout the journal he writes in The Invasion of Heaven, “This is
really happening, isn’t it?” In one way he uses the question to balance himself
as he teeters on the edge of sanity (for after all, he claims that he’s seeing
things that no rational person would believe), but also, he asks as if there is
an answer--hoping that other characters in his journal are experiencing the
same things. More importantly however, he asks the question to his readers so
that they might be prepared to accept that his writing is factual and true. The
distinction between what is real and
what is imagined is another root theme for the book.
4. How would we know the
difference? Loche might use Socrates’ Cave Allegory to start toward
answering the question, or a number of other philosophical launching pads, but
ultimately
storytelling is at the root of Loche’s quandary. Loche
counts on his story to be believed in order
to achieve his goal. At the end of The Invasion of
Heaven we learn that his words turn out to be
more than a mere suspension of disbelief.
5. The balance
of good and evil is weighed throughout your story. Can we know one without the other?
With volumes written on the problem of evil, I’m not sure that I can add
much other than providing another story to hopefully keep the discussion going.
Unlike classical myth, The
Newirth Mythology leans
away from the black and white nature of morality. I am more interested
in the many sides and emotional levels of characters,
their pasts, their fears, their hopes and
what motivates their actions. The character of Helen
Newirth, for example, has been called evil
by some of my readers in emails and letters. In fact,
I’ve been asked more than once by readers
at book events, “Why is Helen such a bitch?” I have to
agree because the story paints her rather
unfavorably, but I often add laughing, “You don’t know
Helen like I know Helen.” In other words, there is more to the story. Her past
is dark. Her upbringing was a horror-- and how she survived is touched upon in Part
Two, Leaves of Fire. In other words, Helen operates out of what she knows
and out of the environment she has been dealt. Does that make her evil? I’m not
sure. I
tend to agree with Plato’s idea: “Ignorance, the root
and stem of all evil.” It is my hope that
Helen will find redemption by the end--and hopefully
not continue her spree of bad choices.
6. In your
series, art comes to life. Pictures influence behavior and a journal’s words
create real people out of the writer’s imagination. What role should art play
in our lives? Art is transcendence. It is a time machine. It is the shiny
thing. It is the mirror. I had intended
to use art as a sort of character in the trilogy, though, it didn’t quite work
out that way. Instead, art became the environment and setting. It surrounded
the story.
Like most artists and writers, I walk beside my
characters, I live with them, I see what they see
and I (safely) experience their joys and horrors. I’m
often thankful that I am able to leave them
on the page and escape. I remember thinkingwhen I was
creating the writer/psychologist Loche
Newirth: wouldn’t it be nightmarish if he couldn’t escape
his creation--his art? If what he made
came into being?
From that point dominos tumbled, and a huge pile of
notes with “what if?” (my favorite question
of all) scribbled at the topn of each began cluttering
my desk. What if Loche changes history?
What if God couldn’t escape his own
creation? What if all myths and gods exist in reality? What
if art is the vehicle between this
life and the next?
Art’s role in The Newirth Mythology is just
that--a vehicle to the unknown--to what if. But hasn’t
art always been just that? Art transports us beyond
ourselves and guides us out of ignorance to
empathy and knowledge. To me, art is the singular proof
of a soul.
7. You are a bit
of a renaissance man- educator, world traveler, poet, artist and rock musician-
as well as a novelist. Do you hope your books further the arts and inspire
others to create new worlds- and nourish ours?
Art should knit us all together. It should inspire, elevate and
excite. So yes, it is a humbling delight knowing that readers are identifying
with my work. Learning that what you’ve created resonates with others and
inspires is the primary aim--and better still, the connection invigorates the
entire process--from wanting to continually pursue improving one’s craft, to
new approaches, reaching further, and dreaming wider and longer. I like to think
of art as a good conversation that you don’t want to end--so you order more
drinks.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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