As I anxiously await the release of my first novel, Dragon Lover, I’m reminded of where I started and the moment I fell in love with the written word. For me, it came later in life (I was 18 before I realized I could lose myself in a book) and my first novel was gifted to me by my eldest sister. It was a romance, go figure, and I’ve been hooked ever since. So I started thinking, I know where I got my inspiration. I know the moment I realized I could be a writer myself. However, I’m interested in when others have made that monumental decision. So I've asked Muli-Published Author Teel James Glenn (and fellow Gypsy Shadow Author) to answer a few questions.
Who first introduced you to the love of reading?
I learned to read from comic books! I would sit and have my mom read the captions to me on the Sunday papers and then Batman comics.
I jumped quickly to the Hardy Boys, the Alfred Hitchcock & Three Investigators, the Tom Quest books and the last but not least the great Doc Savage series excited me. I read two Doc books a day at one point in grammar school. I was hooks….
Who influenced your decision to become a writer?
I don’t know if there is any one writer, per se but Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hard luck journey to success has been a constant inspiration to me. When I discovered his Mars books and the original Tarzan novel I was inspired to work on my first books.
Finish this thought. “If not for--------I would be-----------“
Mister O’Donnell my high school English teacher who was also a fan of old pulps and fantasy books I would not have had the world of pulps, Burroughs, Conan, old radio and movie serials opened to me. He is whom I think of when I teach my sword classes in hopes of inspiring the next generation…
On that all important DEDICATION PAGE who did/will you thank?
The first book I wrote (mostly in secret for fear it wouldn’t be very good or people would make fun of me for writing it) was eventually published as Vision Quest Factor. It didn’t’ make it into print until after I’d sold three other books to the same publisher, ePress Online. The first one that was published (accepted by an amazing lady Joan Mc-Nultly Pulver who nursed me through the whole process) was Death at Dragonthroat. It is the first in the Altiva world series and harks back to those Burroughs’ interplanetary tales but with a more adult, sardonic twist.
I wrote the dedication to my daughter Aislin Rose, the best and brightest moment in my life who hadn’t even been a possibility when I wrote the book. I hope to leave her a legacy of fun stories to be able to read someday and it wouldn’t be terrible if I could pay for her college eventually with some book sales. ( I have four years to go so everyone get out there and buy my books!).
Later I was able to dedicate The Traveler’s Tale, an all age fantasy romance book from Eternal Press which she got to read and enjoy! I hope to dedicate many more to her and someday her children…
A biography:
Teel James Glenn was born in Brooklyn though he’s traveled the world for thirty years as a stuntman, fight choreographer, swordmaster, jouster, book illustrator, storyteller, bodyguard, and Actor. As an actor he has appeared on all the new York soap operas, Spenser for Hire and the Equalizer plus over 100 genre SF/horror films.
His stories and articles have been printed in scores of magazines from Mad to Black Belt to Fantasy Tales as well as a number of books and anthologies. In the ensuing years he has sold a score of short stories (while continuing to teach and perform) and has written and contracted over two score novels with a number of publishers in many genres including Steampunk, westerns and mysteries including the SF thrillers “The Exceptionals’ series. One of the novels in the Altiva fantasy series “Sister Warrior” was named one of the hundred best fantasy novels of all time by Fantsybookreview.uk.
To learn more about Teel, visit
http://www.gypsyshadow.com/Teel.html#top
his author page at
Oh, the honor of being first to post! Teel is a prolific writer dedicated to his craft. Sometimes I wish I had his drive to produce more of my own fiction.
ReplyDeleteNice interview, Teel and Jeanne!
Sorry I'm late to the party! Great interview, Teel and Jeannie.
ReplyDeleteSeems like I've alway read, but if I had to decide who got me started, I'd say my history teacher in highschool.
Much luck and many sales to both of you.
I enjoyed reading this post. Good luck with the book
ReplyDeleteSwordfighter! Okay, that's the most interesting bio so far! :) I enjoyed "getting to know you" here and I totally understand the not telling anyone about your writing when you first did it--I did the same thing! Congratulations and good luck!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post! I wrote a bit in high school but it wasn't until after I turned 54 that I really had the time or the drive to forge ahead and write!
ReplyDeleteI remember loving Brenda Starr in the comics. Thought for a while I'd be a designer cause I make clothes for her out of paper. And here I am writing. See where things lead us. Interesting post and good questions.
ReplyDeleteI like your interview questions. I wanted to be a trapeze artist when I was small, but I was totally uncoordinated, so I decided I'd like to write about trapeze artists, and others, instead. Then I became a mathematician :( Glad I'm back to writing now.
ReplyDeleteInteresting Post!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Jeannie, could you e-mail me (Kathryn Meyer Griffith) at rdgriff@htc.net...I'd love to see if I could guest blog with a backstory essay about my new EP release Egyptian Heart? Thank you.