Clinton J. Boomer Interview

Welcome, Mr. Boomer, to Julie’s Book Review.

With this interview  BROKEN EYE BOOKS  is giving away _DIGITAL COPY OF The Hole Behind Midnight (EPUB, MOBI, OR PDF). To win check out the rafflecopter to the right of this interview.

OK, let's find out about Clinton J. Boomer, and The Hole Behind Midnight.

First, how about you tell us here at Julies Book Review about a little about yourself?

My name is Clinton J. Boomer ... and I'm a very silly, very strange, and very active professional writer. I'm the guy who pops up when you Google the name "Clinton Boomer": this is my website -- http://www.clintonjboomer.com/ -- and this is my Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/thatboomerkid ... and this here is my first novel -- http://www.amazon.com/The-Hole-behind-Midnight-ebook/dp/B005Z8G08S/ -- and this is my Tumblr, here: http://thatboomerkid.tumblr.com/

I've got some other profiles out there, too. I'm on Fark.com, and Goodreads.com -- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2925352.Clinton_Boomer -- and a few others that I'm sure I'm forgetting ... and I did a lot of design work for Hellcrashers, which I'm pretty proud of: http://hellcrashers.wikidot.com/

If you click on the word "byboomer" in the cloud there on the right, you'll see everything I created.

I've done work for Pathfinder, Sean K. Reynolds Games, Rite Publishing, Legendary Games, Wolfgang Baur's Kobold Quarterly (like these silly goblin-based stories here: http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/tag/thppgrg ) and several other companies.

Oh: and I have some truly, DEEPLY goofy videos on YouTube. They're here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CreativeJuices7

Basically, I'm a professional game designer and writer and film-maker and a lot of other stuff. Used to be an amateur stand-up comedian and a janitor and a flunky for an art-fetish-photographer; now I write and do conventions and make stupid comics on the Internet and preform freelance work on short-stories and articles and adventure-stuff for a bunch of different companies. For my "day" job, I'm a full-time bartender and assistant manager at a cool, slightly-hipsterish little blues-bar in a small college town in Illinois.

My life is pretty interesting.

What genres do you write? Can you tell us a little about your newest book?

My most-recently-published-book -- The Hole Behind Midnight -- is a very odd, funny urban-fantasy detective noir novel, full of cursing and nudity and violence, comedy and car-chases and gun-fights. It has been compared -- by Daniel O’Brien, Senior Writer of and Columnist for Cracked.com, contributor to the New York Times bestseller "You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News" and author of How To Fight Presidents (here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/04/16/exclusive-how-comedian-daniel-obrien-turned-one-joke-into-a-major-book-deal/ ) -- to Raymond Chandler meeting Douglas Adams by way of a fantasy nerds fever dream.

Other reviews suggest that it's the "Avenue Q" to Harry Potter & Harry Dresden's "Sesame Street."

If you follow the link to the novel (here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Hole-behind-Midnight-ebook/dp/B005Z8G08S/ ), you can read the first 50-some pages for free. If you don't like them, you won't like the next 500.

Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?

Nope. It's just good, solid fun.

Did you have any other authors that have helped you or have inspired your work?

I like to think that Warren Ellis, Joss Whedon, and Shane Black are my muses, but I have no proof that they condone my work.

On the other hand, Matt Forbeck and Richard Pett and Colin McComb have been HUGELY supportive of my writing and have gone out of their way to chat with me and to read my stuff and to be incredibly helpful in making me the novelist I am today.

Do you recall what got you into writing?

I've been writing since before I can clearly recall; my ever-patient mother still keeps copies of my earliest work, back when she would pretend that she "needed to learn to type faster" and would have me dictate sprawling tales of fire-monsters and ice-monsters throwing naughty children into garbage cans. I think I was about five at the time. Maybe twenty-five. I'm not sure. The point is that my writing, like my game design, springs from the most elemental, personal need to create: if I could draw, I would. If I could sing or dance or sculpt, I would. Hell: if I could do ANYTHING else to get these ideas out of my head, I would. As it stands, all I have is big dreams and a pen, and a need to write them down before they blow my eyeballs out of my sockets.

OK, how about some fun stuff?

I love fun!

Dogs, cats, or fish?

I love them all!

On the topic of dogs, I used to live with a wonderful little guy named Bfrd (his original name was "Buford," until all the vowels in his name were lost in a flood), who was half-beagle and half nobody-knows (probably mutt). We called him a "bagel," and he never seemed to mind. He was the sweetest, most chill, most wonderful little guy in the world, and I cried a lot at his funeral.

These days, I have two wonderful doggies in my life: my buddy Chaplain, who is a full-blooded English bulldog -- dumber than a box of hammers, but incredibly sweet -- and my adorable girl Ms. Penny, a very smart, very long-haired Dachshund. She likes to sit in my lap while I write, and is SIGNIFICANTLY better at doing tricks than Chappy is. She knows at least three "maneuvers," including one where she get up on her hind legs and pretends to be a bear, and does "rarr-rarr" moves, and another one where she shakes hands and then flops over like she has been shot, so it scares people. These maneuvers earn her treats.

On the topic of cats: I used to know a wonderful little kitty named Mama who hated all living things except me and my roommate (and bar-tending-coworker) Robby; she was a stone-cold killer of all animals ... except us. One day, the two of us came home to find her casually torturing a bat to death; we were very upset, and she was INCREDIBLY disappointed in us that we didn't want to take a few claw-swings at the bat she had caught. Mama loved only murder, belly rubs, kisses from me and Robby, and more murder. I miss her very much.

On the topic of fish: I have never met a fish I didn't like.

Sci-fi, fantasy, or paranormal?
(writing and reading)

All, and more ... and yes!

Favorite Book of all time? Why?

Oh, wow -- there a million good answers! Is it Eyes of the Dragon? Is it Princess Bride? Is it Jhereg? Or maybe on of the Chtorrr books? Or possibly The Scar by China Mieville?

Damn. So many great books!

I suppose that when it comes down to purely "most read," the answer is simply Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I've read it -- and re-read it -- pretty much once a year since I was 13. And it just keeps getting better!

There was a time, as a young man, that I identified with Hiro; later, I grokked with Y.T.; later, I clicked with Lagos, and then -- as an adult -- I identified again with Hiro, in a completely different way. I suppose that someday, I'll have the pleasure of understanding Uncle Enzo in a fashion I never have before, uniquely and totally ... and later, I'll comprehend Mr. Lee.

It really is a novel I can come back to again and again. And the joke about Fish-Eye -- the gun called "Reason" -- gets me every time.

Favorite Author of all time? Why?

 None. I don't like writers.

KIDDING!

I read David Wong, Eliezer Yudkowsky and John Tynes obsessively. Every time I click on something they've written, I feel like my brain is temporarily on fire.

It's awesome.

Where can we find your books? What sites can we find your work on? (any social media, blogs etc.)

My writing is available everywhere! The best place to find it, however, is at Broken Eye Books: http://brokeneyebooks.com/

It has been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Boomer. Readers don’t forget to check out the rafflecopter to the right. Winners will be announces on Saturday! Thanks again!

WOO! It was a pleasure to be interviewed!