#BlogTour - #Interview with Joab Stieglitz, Author of The Old Man's Request @joabstieglitz

Joab Stieglitz was born and raised in the Warren, New Jersey. He is an Application Consultant for a software company.  He has also worked as a software trainer, a network engineer, a project manager, and a technical writer over his 30 year career. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Joab is an avid tabletop RPG player and game master of horror, espionage, fantasy, and science fiction genres, including Savage Worlds (Mars, Deadlands, Agents of Oblivion, Apocalypse Prevention Inc, Herald: Tesla and Lovecraft, Thrilling Tales, and others), Call of Cthulhu, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and Pathfinder.

Joab channeled his role-playing experiences in the Utgarda Series, which are pulp adventure novels with Lovecraftian influences set in the 1920’s.

Website Address: http://joabstieglitz.com 

Twitter Address: @joabstieglitz

Facebook Address: https://www.facebook.com/rantingsofawanderingmind  

Title: THE OLD MAN’S REQUEST
Author: Joab Stieglitz
Publisher: Rantings of a Wandering Mind
Pages: 117
Genre: Historical Suspense

BOOK BLURB:

An Innocent Favor for a Dying Old Friend…

Fifty years ago, a group of college friends dabbled in the occult and released a malign presence on the world. Now, on his deathbed, the last of the students, now a trustee of Reister University enlists the aid of three newcomers to banish the thing they summoned.

Russian anthropologist Anna Rykov, doctor Harry Lamb, and Father Sean O’Malley are all indebted the ailing trustee for their positions. Together, they pursue the knowledge and resources needed to perform the ritual.

Hampered by the old man’s greedy son, the wizened director of the university library, and a private investigator with a troubled past, can they perform the ritual and banish the entity?

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Thank you for this interview!  I’d like to know more about you as a person first.  What do you do when you’re not writing?

I am an Application Consultant for a large software publisher. I write requirements for software implementations, test cases, and other documentation.

When did you start writing?

I have been writing all my life. I wrote stories for myself as a child. In college, I excelled at classes that had papers (as opposed to tests). In my various jobs in the computer networking world, I have gravitated toward writing tasks, such as requirements, training, and policies and procedures.

As a published author, what would you say was the most pivotal point of your writing life?

My writing career really started when I decided to hunker down a write a chapter a week. I was reasonably successful, writing and publishing my first three books in roughly six months each. The constraints of my day job reduced my time over the last year or two, so book four took about nine months, and book five is still in progress.

If you could go anywhere in the world to start writing your next book, where would that be and why?

I would probably go somewhere remote and quiet (with Internet) were I could write without distractions. Perhaps a cabin in the mountains.

If you had 4 hours of extra time today, what would you do?

Probably sleep. Barring that, I would dedicate the time to creativity, whether it be writing or something else.

Where would you like to set a story that you haven’t done yet?

I am currently considering a story that takes place in a fantasy world where dragons are the dominant species.

Back to your book, The Old Man’s Request, how did you publish it?

I have published all my books through Createspace, now Kindle Direct Publishing.

In writing your book, did you travel anywhere for research?

I based my books in places I have been.

Why was writing The Old Man’s Request so important to you?

Writing and publishing a novel was a life goal. I had started writing a Tolkeinesque journey tale in the 90’s in dribs and drabs “when the muse hit me.” Twenty-five years and 300 pages later, that story had changed in terms of plot, tone, and style. I considered revising or even restarting it, but instead I decided to start fresh with another idea that had been on the shelf all that time. So I sat down and wrote one chapter a week. Using that method, I’m now on book 5.

Where do you get your best ideas and why do you think that is?

I am a big role-player and have written numerous adventures, character backgrounds, and other material for a variety of genres. I took notes of the games I ran over the years, and ideas from some of those became the inspiration for my books. I am also a history buff, especially with respect to the 19^th and 20^th centuries, which provide source material as well.

Any final words?

My first three books, The Old Man’s Request, The Missing Medium, and The Other Realm comprise the Utgarda Trilogy, which are the first three books in the Utgarda Series. I am currently writing a second, as yet unnamed, trilogy featuring some of the same characters. My books are all available in Kindle, paperback, and audiobook formats on Amazon.