To get us started can you tell us a little about
what you are working on or have coming out?
I am continually working. At the moment
just puttering around because I just released a novel called SOMETIMES IN
DREAMS and now I am getting ready to releas TRAIN WHEELS, FLYING SAUCERS AND THE GHOST OF
TIBURCION VASQUEZ. When I actually get
back to work, rather than all this necessary sales work I will be working on a
straight literary novel called SERPENTS AND DOVES.
How would you describe yourself using only five words?
Philosophical, observant, thoughtful,
loving, kind.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
TV. I am a rabid TV watcher. If I am in
the room with a TV it has to be on whether I am watching it or not. Sounds more like an addiction than a guilty
pleasure doesn’t it?
If we asked your muse to describe you using five
words, what do you think they would say?
Lazy,
Procrastinator, uncommunicative, talented, remarkable
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Hard to say. I’ve lived in a lot of
places, different countries and states and for the most part I have like them
all. I would have to say Italy I believe, but my wife and I are talking about retiring to Hawaii.
How do you get yourself in the mood to write?
I have great difficulty with this. I am
very much like Dorothy Parker. “I hate
writing. I love Having written.” Usually I get to work by scaring
myself. I have a sign above my computer that says, “Your time is running out.
Write something!”
If someone hasn't read any of your work, what book would you recommend that they start with and why?
That’s like asking a parent to pick his
favorite kid, but that being said I would encourage everyone to read OTHER
DOORS. It was my first book and is very close to my heart because of the theme.
It is about a man who can stop war by simply commanding peace. It came out in
1996 and I know for certain that it has gone to every war zone in the world
since then, because I have sold lots of them on military bases. It is available
from Rogue Phoenix.
Are your characters able to
love or do they need to be taught?
My characters are
born, not written. They have human capacity to love and to hate and they very
often do both, so I guess in a way, that since they have the capacity they have
to be taught like all of us.
When you begin your stories,
do you go with the flow, or go with an outline?
I very much go with the flow. I have a general
idea where I want the thing to go but I don’t let that get in my way. The
characters usually take the thing away from me after a couple of chapters.
Train Wheels, Flying Saucers and the Ghost of Tiburcio Vasquez
Comic Adventure Fantasy
Rogue Phoenix Press
Available at Publisher
“Big Dave Dodge and me seem to stumble into some very
strange adventures, including wind so strong it picks up train wheels, the
ghost of Tiburcio Vasquez, Walt Disney’s cryonically preserved body, and the
time machine from the 1962 movie, which seems to be cursed.”
EXCERPT— No Time Like
the Present
We sat and looked at each other for
a couple of moments, nursing at our drinks. I waited for Dave to lead in any
conversation about the time machine, but he just kept sipping his Jameson’s and
looking at me.
“Ol’ Kong is really how come I
bought this place,” Underdown said. “I
figured I owed it to him since he kept my brother out of Vietnam.”
I rolled that statement over in my
mind a few times, but finally had to say, “How’s that again?”
Frankie laughed. “See back in ’68 they were still drafting
people. My brother Billy was nineteen and not in school and mostly just hanging
around with a bunch of undesirables—“ he looked at Dave and lifted his jar with
a grin. “Anyhow, Billy decided that he didn’t want to get drafted and maybe
killed so he came up with a plan. He
knew that convicted felons don’t get drafted so he convinced a friend to help
him steal one of King Kong’s hands, so they broke in here—Kong was still
standing out in the yard at the time—and cut off his right hand. They didn’t try to hide it or anything. Took
it to my Grandma’s house over in Sun Valley and stuck it out of an air vent at
the front of her garage. Folded the
fingers up so that Kong was flipping the bird to everybody that came down the
street.” Frankie paused to laugh and
shake his head. “You know it took the cops two full weeks to notice that
gorilla finger. I think Billy finally
had to call in an anonymous tip, but
they finally came around to Momma Vella’s house and arrested Billy. Tried him and found him guilty of grand theft
gorilla fingers and sent him to jail for eighteen months.” Now we were all
laughing.
“So what did they do with the
hand?” I asked.
“Brought it back here. Forty years
later and I got it buried back in the warehouse somewhere. It’s a raggedy mess,
but it kept Billy out of the army so I couldn’t just cut it up and throw it
away. He’d kill me.”
“That’s a great story Frankie,” I
said. “You oughta write it up and maybe submit it to some producers or
something. Dave could probably help ya
with that. He seems to know everyone in Hollywood.” I looked pointedly at Dave.
“You could write it up G.”
Underdown said. “You’re pretty good. I
give you my permission. If you sell it for a million bucks you can give me ten
percent.”
That started my mind ticking over,
but then I remembered why we were really there.
“Maybe I’ll do that,” I said.
“And maybe you can tell me the story about the haunted time machine. I
betcha I can sell that one for sure.”
Frankie looked from me to Dave and
back again.
“Subtle G,” Dave said. “Like
hitting him with a hammer.”
“Serves ya right for that King Kong
stunt.”
“Later maybe,” he said with a big grin.
About the Author
Gary
L. Helm
Born:
4/5/48
Graduate Bethel University, McKenzie TN, 1970
G.
Lloyd Helm has been writing for 40 years, having published poetry in a wide
variety of magazines and newspapers including “The New York Poetry Anthology,”
“Stars and Stripes News,” “The Los Angeles Times,” “The Antelope Valley Press,”
and “The Antelope Valley Anthologies,” among others.
… Has published short stories and memoirs both in the US and in England in such journals as “Pligrimage” which published the
memoir “Football” in Spring 2005, and a second memoir “4 April, 1968” in the winter of 2008. He has published short stories in “Citadel”
the literary magazine of Los Angeles City College,” “Delivered Magazine,” which
is based in London, “Short Story Library,” The University of S. Illinois’
“Eureka Literary Magazine,” “Tales as like as not,” and London’s “Black Gate
Magazine.” Recently published “Even Up”
a Civil War Ghost story at www.ruthlesspeoples.com, an English on line magazine,(now defunct),The short
story “The Other Fellows Shoes,” Pulp
Empire III, Metahuman Press, Cedar Rapids, IA Nov. 2010. Is
being published in an on line experiment from Alfie Dog Publishing in England. May 2012.
…Has published three novels
in the F&SF field, 1) OTHER DOORS, From MousePrints Publishing, and
2) DESIGN from Publish America. 3) WORLD WITHOUT END from Rogue Phoenix Press, www.roguephoenixpress.com OTHER
DOORS, originally published in 1997, was published electronically by Rogue
Phoenix Press in July 2010. This book has been banned by the Federal Bureau of
Prisons.
Helm is also a publisher of
and contributor to “The Antelope Valley Anthologies” which are collections of
poetry, short stories, and essays from the residents of Southern California’s Antelope Valley. These have
been published for the last eight years. The seventh anthology THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK was released 28 October, 2009. The seventh Antelope Valley Anthology, HARD TIMES,
was released 26 October, 2010. DARKNESS
VISIBLE , the 8th Anthology was released 22 October, 2011.
…Is a former leader of the
Palmdale Playhouse “Writers’ Roundtable” and current facilitator of “The
Unknown Writers of the Antelope Valley workshop.”
LINKS—
Twitter-- @GaryHelm
FaceBook—Gary L. Helm
MousePrint
Rogue
Phoenix Press— www.roguephoenixpress.com
Sirens
Call Press – www.sirenscallpress.com
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