Coffee & Convo welcomes a lovely husband and wife author team! Help me give a warm welcome to Greta Burroughs and Robert F. DeBurgh.
Greta has written a YA fiction/fantasy book titled Gerald and the Wee People.
Robert has written a Historical fiction/adventure/romance book titled Riders of the Wind.
Tell us a little bit about Gerald and the Wee People & Riders of the Wind.
Greta: Gerald and his best friend, Vernon discover a mysterious spot in the woods where Gerald visualizes a miniature village complete with wee inhabitants. He enjoys going back to that spot and watching the day to day activities until trouble starts in the village and he tries to convince Vernon that the "visions" are real and the wee people need help. While trying to prove that the whole thing is just Gerald's wild imagination, the boys literally fall into the new world and get caught up in a war. Then along with a few companions from the village, Gerald and Vernon embark on a quest to face down a deranged forest god in order to fulfill a prophecy that doesn't go exactly as planned. That's the story in a nutshell.
Robert: Riders of the Wind is a novel of adventure and romance set in the world of pre-WWII aviation. Loosely based on the lives of Charles and Doretta Cross, the book follows these two real characters from their meeting and courtship in the mid-1920s through the air mail era, the formative years of the infant airlines, through the great depression and prohibition until the beginning of WWII. Many scenes and stories in the book were told to me by my uncle, Charles Cross. Some are from my own experiences as a pilot, and some are just good stories. Many characters in Riders of the Wind are fictitious, depicting a cross-section of people in the pre war era, though many are historic figures such as Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh who are depicted as they would have interacted with the other characters. I've made every effort to portray the lifestyles, clothing, and attitudes of this fascinating period and to keep historic events accurate and in context with the characters.
What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
Greta: Gerald and the Wee People is an easy to read novel. It was written for teenagers but most grown-ups like to read fantasy as well and will enjoy the story. It is pretty fast paced and the main characters come up with some pretty wild ideas to help the wee people in their fight to protect the village. While writing, I tried to use detailed descriptions so that the reader can actually see in his/her mind's eye what is going on and that adds to the adventure.
Robert: I think that the reader will enjoy the action and adventure in Riders of the Wind from the Rumrunners of prohibition to the Cleveland Air Races, to the air surveys of the rivers of the Mato Grosso in Brazil. Many of my readers have enjoyed my giving a basic flying lesson as Doretta learns to fly and eventually becomes an instructor and one of the first female airline pilots. According to one of my readers who read the entire six-hundred pages in one sitting, "What a great book."
Where can we find your books?
Gerald and the Wee People:
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/39307
Riders of the Wind:
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61794
It will be on Amazon and B&N in a few weeks.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Greta: I have always loved to read. When I was a young teenager, my mother used to get very upset when I carried a book to read while we went visiting relatives every Sunday afternoon. She couldn't understand that the books were more interesting than listening to them talk.
Years later, as a teacher in a developmental center for handicapped kids, I discovered my love of making up stories. The children enjoyed being a part of the story and helping to write and illustrate it.
After Bob and I were married, I stopped teaching and we started our own business but my love of reading stayed with me. When we both developed medical problems and had to find another way to make a living, we both fell back on our love of books. Bob took the plunge and wrote Riders of the Wind. He encouraged me to write professionally as well so I became a freelance reporter for a local newspaper and started writing books on the side.
Wee People started as a way to remember my deceased father and uncle (Vernon and Gerald) and a little later my mother (Allison). It was a way to keep them alive and with me and it blossomed into a novel.
Bob and I have always been a team, doing everything together. Both of us being authors is just another way for us to work together and share our love of books and each other.
Robert: I was born and raised in the northeast US and learned to fly from my uncle, Charles Cross, when I was fifteen. I earned my private pilot's license when I turned sixteen and began writing an aviation column for a local newspaper when I was seventeen. It's mostly gone on from there, obtaining my commercial pilot certificate, my instructor's and eventually my airline transport pilot certificate. My career in aviation spans forty-six years and I still have the love of flying and still fly as a private pilot. I've also been a writer for my whole life, writing columns for several newspapers and contributing many articles to various newspapers and magazines. I've also been a contributing editor for American Roadracing Magazine. I've also written many short stories and poetry. At present I am a contributing writer for several overseas aviation magazines and do artwork for book covers for myself, Greta, and some author friends.
Why did you decide to become an Indie author?
Greta: It was less frustrating than trying the traditional route. Bob had good luck with POD publishing so I followed the same path and first published in paperback last year, then discovered Smashwords and published in digital format this year.
Robert: I first tried the traditional publishing houses and after deciding that I needed an agent set about finding one. Needless to say, being new to the book publishing scene I got grandly ripped off. I then decided to go with a major POD publisher who published Riders of the Wind and the second novel in the series, Winds of Fate, in paperback. This was quite satisfactory except for the publisher's poor cover design. Digital format however, seems to be the wave of the future of publishing and so I digitally published both novels on Smashwords.
Is this your debut novel?
Greta: Yes.
Robert: A qualified yes. Riders of the Wind is my debut novel, however Winds of Fate, book two in the series, was digitally published at the same time.
Robert, where can we find Winds of Fate?
Winds of Fate is book two in the Riders of the Wind series and follows the same characters through the chaos of WWII. It is also available in digital format on all readers and in paperback from Amazon and other online bookstores.
Winds of Fate on Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43773
Any future writing plans you wish to share with us.
Greta: I have written a children's chapter book called Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat (waiting for illustrations).
I also kept a journal of my experiences with ITP (a weird blood disorder that I have been fighting since 2005) and am in the process of writing that up. The title will be Heartaches and Miracles.
I also plan a sequel to Wee People called House on Bo-Kay Lane.
Robert: Book three in the Riders of the Wind series, The Winds of Kunlun Shan, will be in digital publication by December, 2011 and a mystery novel set in Old Kingdom Pharonic Egypt, Stairway to the Gods, will be available in Spring 2012.
I enjoyed talking to you both. Thank you so much for being with us today!
Lili Tufel
