Thursday, September 3, 2015

Featured Author: Robert Eggleton


Welcome Today's Featured Author 
 

Rarity from the Hollow

by
Blurb:
Lacy Dawn's father relives the Gulf War, her mother's teeth are rotting out, and her best friend is murdered by the meanest daddy on Earth. Life in the hollow is hard. She has one advantage -- an android was inserted into her life and is working with her to cure her parents. But, he wants something in exchange. It's up to her to save the Universe. Lacy Dawn doesn't mind saving the universe, but her family and friends come first.
 
Rarity from the Hollow is adult literary science fiction filled with tragedy, comedy and satire. A Children's Story. For Adults.
 
“The most enjoyable science fiction novel I have read in years.”
—Temple Emmet Williams, Author, former editor for Reader’s Digest
 
 
“Quirky, profane, disturbing… In the space between a few lines we go from hardscrabble realism to pure sci-fi/fantasy. It’s quite a trip.”
—    Evelyn Somers, The Missouri Review
 
. "…a hillbilly version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…what I would have thought impossible; taken serious subjects like poverty, ignorance, abuse…tongue-in-cheek humor without trivializing them…profound…a funny book that most sci-fi fans will thoroughly enjoy." -- Awesome Indies (Gold Medal)

“…sneaks up you and, before you know it, you are either laughing like crazy or crying in despair, but the one thing you won’t be is unmoved…a brilliant writer.” --Readers’ Favorite (Gold Medal)
 
“Rarity from the Hollow is an original and interesting story of a backwoods girl who saves the Universe in her fashion. Not for the prudish.” —Piers Anthony, New York Times bestselling author
 
“…Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find.” -- The Baryon Review
 



 
Buy Links:




Excerpt:
 
From chapter 13, Mom I’d Like to Introduce You to My Fiancé:
            …..…Jenny (the mother) walked up the hill to Roundabend. She called Lacy Dawn's name every few yards. Her muddy tennis shoes slipped and slid.
            I hear her voice. Why won't she answer me? 
            “Sounds like she’s talking to someone,” Jenny said to the Woods. 
            Nobody responded. The trees weren't supposed to since Jenny was no longer a child. Her former best friends had made no long-term commitment beyond childhood victimization. They had not agreed to help her deal with domestic violence in adulthood. She hugged the closest tree.
            I will always love you guys. 
Jenny quickened her pace, stopped, and listened for human voices. A few yards later, she stopped again.   
            Now it sounds like she’s behind me instead of in front. 
            Jenny looked to the left of the path.
            There ain't no cave Roundabend, but there it is. 
            She walked toward the entrance. The voices grew louder and she looked inside. Lacy Dawn sat on a bright orange recliner. Tears streamed down her face.  Jenny ran to her daughter through a cave that didn't exit and into a blue light that did.
            “All right, you mother f**ker!”
            “Mom!” Lacy Dawn yelled. “You didn’t say, ‘It’s me’ like you're supposed to (a traditional announcement mentioned earlier in the story)."
            DotCom (the android) sat naked in a lotus position on the floor in front of the recliner.  Jenny covered Lacy Dawn with her body and glared at him.   
            "Grrrrr," emanated from Jenny.  It was a sound similar to the one that Brownie (Lacy Dawn's dog) made the entire time the food stamp woman was at their house.  It was a sound that filled the atmosphere with hate.  No one moved.  The spaceship’s door slid shut.
            “Mommmmmy, I can’t breathe. Get up.”
            “You make one move you sonofabitch and I’ll tear your heart out,” Jenny repositioned to take her weight off Lacy Dawn.
            Stay between them.
            “Mommy, he’s my friend. More than my friend, we’re going to get married when I'm old enough -- like when I turn fourteen. He’s my boyfriend -- what you call it -- my fiancé.” 
            “You been messin’ with my little girl you pervert!” Jenny readied to pounce. 
            “MOM!  Take a chill pill! He ain’t been messing with me. He’s a good person, or whatever. Anyway, he’s not a pervert. You need to just calm down and get off me.”
            Jenny stood up. DotCom stood up. Jenny’s jaw dropped.
            He ain't got no private parts, not even a little bump.   
            “DotCom, I’d like to introduce you to my mommy, Mrs. Jenny Hickman. Mommy, I’d like to introduce you to my fiancé, DotCom.”
            Jenny sat down on the recliner. Her face was less than a foot from DotCom’s crotch and she stared straight at it. It was smooth, hairless, and odor free.  
            “Mrs. Hickman, I apologize for any inconvenience that this misunderstanding has caused. It is very nice to meet you after having heard so much. You arrived earlier than expected. I did not have time to properly prepare and receive. Again, I apologize.” 
            I will need much more training if I'm ever assigned to a more formal setting than a cave, such as to the United Nations.
            “Come on, Mommy. Give him a hug or something.”      
            Jenny's left eye twitched. 
            DotCom put on clothing that Lacy Dawn had bought him at Goodwill. It hung a little loose until he modified his body. Lacy Dawn hugged her mother…    
            …(scene of Dwayne, the father, overheard by those in the spaceship while talking to himself)… “Besides, the transmitter was part of Daddy’s treatment. There're a lot of other things that he did to help fix Daddy. DotCom is like a doctor. You can see that Daddy has gotten better every day. And no, there ain’t no transmitter in you. DotCom figured you out like a good doctor and the only things wrong are a lack of opportunity and rotten teeth that poison your body. You don’t need no transmitter. He just gave you a few shots of ego boost. I don’t know what medicine that is, but I trust him. You ain't complained since the shots started -- not even with an upset stomach.”
            "He's a doctor?" Jenny asked.
            “What's your problem anyway?” Lacy Dawn asked. “I know.  You’re prejudiced. You told me that people have much more in common than they do that's different -- even if someone is a different color or religion, or from a different state than us. You told me to try to become friends because sometimes that person may need a good friend. Now, here you are acting like a butt hole about my boyfriend. You’re prejudiced because he’s different than us.”
            “Honey, he’s not even a person – that’s about as different as a boyfriend can get,” Jenny said.
            “So?”
            Mommy's right. Maybe I need a different argument.
            A fast clicking sound, a blur of motion, and a familiar smell assaulted them.
            "What's that?" Jenny asked. 
            She moved to protect her daughter from whatever threat loomed. Brownie, who had been granted 27 / 7 access to the ship, bounded over the orange recliner, knocked DotCom to the floor, licked DotCom’s face, and rubbed his head on Jenny’s leg. He then jumped onto the recliner and lay down. His tail wagged throughout. Jenny sat down on the recliner beside Brownie and looked at Lacy Dawn.
            “But, you were crying when I first came in. That thing was hurting you.” Jenny shook her finger at DotCom to emphasize a different argument against him.
            “Mommy, I'm so happy that I couldn’t help but cry. My man just came home from an out-of-state job. I didn't talk to him for a whole year. Before he left, he told me that he wasn’t even sure if he'd be able to come home. I still don’t know what happened while he was gone. We ain't had no chance to talk. All I know is that he's home and I'm sooooo happy.”
            “Your man came home from an out-of-state job?” Jenny patted Brownie on his head, some more and some more…. 
            It's unusual for a man to promise to come back home and ever be seen again. Brownie likes him and that's a good sign. Maybe she's right about him helping Dwayne. Something sure did and it wasn’t me. It is a nice living room. They've been together for a while and I ain't seen a mark on her. That's unusual too. He ain't got no private parts and that's another good thing. Hell, if I get in the middle, she’d just run off with him anyway. I'd better play it smart. I don't want to lose my baby. 
            “What about his stupid name?” Jenny asked.
            “I’ve got a stupid name, too. All the kids at school call me hick because my last name is Hickman.”
            “My name was given to me by my manager a very long time ago. It represents a respected tradition -- the persistent marketing of that which is not necessarily the most needed. I spam…,” DotCom said. 
            They both glared at him. 
            "Dwayne is sure to be home. I don’t want him to worry. Let’s go,” Jenny said. 
            “Okay, Mommy.”
            “I love you, DotCom,” Lacy Dawn stepped out the ship’s door, which had slid open. Brownie and Jenny were right behind her. 
            “I love you too,” DotCom said.
            Lacy Dawn and Jenny held hands and walked down the path toward home. The trees didn’t smile -- at least not so Jenny would notice. On the other hand, no living thing obstructed, intruded, or interfered with the rite.   
            Jenny sang to the Woods, “My little girl’s going to marry a doctor when she grows up, marry a doctor when she grows up, when she grows up.  My little girl’s going to marry a doctor when she grows up, marry a doctor when she grows up, when she grows up….”
  



About Robert:
 
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency. Today, he is a recently retired children's psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston , West Virginia , where he specialized in helping victims cope with and overcome physical and sexual abuse, and other mental health concerns. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/ Robert continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment.
  

Interview with Robert Eggleton:

1.      Can you tell us a little about your book?
 
Sure, but I won’t spoil it for those who decide to read the story. Rarity from the Hollow is my debut novel. It reads like Young Adult literature because of its use of adolescent voice, but it is not intended for children, the prudish, the faint-hearted, or anybody who is not open-minded. In the 1970s, Ursula K. LeGuinn coined the term "Social Science Fiction" and my novel fits within that subgenre.
 
My work utilizes SF/F cross-genre as a backdrop. It is not hard science fiction and includes elements of fantasy, everyday horror, a ghost – so it's a little paranormal, true-love type romance, mystery, satire, comedy, and adventure. The content of Rarity from the Hollow addresses social issues: poverty, domestic violence, child maltreatment, local and intergalactic economics, mental health concerns – including PTSD experienced by Veterans and the medicinal use of marijuana for treatment of Bipolar Disorder, Capitalism, and touches on the role of Jesus: “Jesus is everybody’s friend, not just humans.”

The protagonist of Rarity from the Hollow is Lacy Dawn. In this Lacy Dawn Adventure, she is an eleven year old who has evolved under the supervision of Universal Management for hundreds of thousands of years. Management believes that she is ready to assume her role as the savior of the universe. She may sound like a kid, but readers learn in the first scene of Rarity from the Hollow that Lacy Dawn is not an average eleven year old. She is already fluent in every language spoken on hundreds of planets within the universe, and language isn’t the only subject that has been downloaded directly into her brain. 
 
In Rarity from the Hollow, Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of  Appalachia , and then some. She lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's very skilled at laying fiber optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop 'till You Drop): he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save the Universe in exchange for the designation of Earth as a planet which is eligible for continued existence within a universal economic structure that exploits underdeveloped planets for their mineral content. Lacy Dawn’s magic helps her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family.
 
At first, this story feels sooooo serious, until……. Then, through tragedy, or perhaps because of it, laugh-out-loud comedy erupts to move the plot forward toward an outrageous closing scene.

Saving an entire universe is a big job for anybody, though. It takes more than just magic. Lacy Dawn needs a team and a very strong sense of humor. First, she motivates the android into helping her fix her family by putting her foot down and flat out telling him that she won't save the universe unless he helps her first. The android agrees to the terms.
 
After Lacy Dawn's father is cured of his mental health problems and stops being so mean to Lacy Dawn and her mom, Lacy Dawn next arranges for her to mother get her rotten teeth replaced, pass her GED, and to get a driver's license. The mother feels so much better about herself that she also joins the team. By this time, the android has fallen so deeply in love with Lacy Dawn that she has him wrapped around her little finger.
 
Add a pot head neighbor who sells marijuana and has a strong sense for business transactions, Brownie, a dog who proves to have tremendous empathy for the most vile occupants of any planet, and Faith, the ghost of Lacy Dawn's best friend who was murdered by her own father -- the team is ready to embark on a very weird off-world adventure.
 
Working together, the team figures out how a few greedy capitalists had made such a mess of the entire universe and how to prevent its destruction without intentionally killing one single being.

Rarity from the Hollow is a Children's Story For Adults. The content includes serious social commentary and mature satire. There are graphic scenes in the first chapters before Lacy Dawn's family is fixed. "…You will enjoy the ride with Lacy Dawn, her family and friends, but don't expect the ride to be without a few bumps, and enough food to last you a long time." -- Darrell Bain, Award Winning Author
 
2.      When did you know you wanted to write a book?
 
In the 8th grade, I won the school’s short story contest. “God Sent” was about a semi truck driver so consumed with theological debate that he caused a terrible accident. I began to dream of becoming a rich and famous author. As it often does, life got in the way. I worked and went to school, never finishing any more stories that I’d started, until recently when I incorporated some of those unfinished stories into Rarity from the Hollow.  
 
I started college in 1969.  Except for a poem published in the state’s student anthology and another poem published in a local alternative newspaper, my creative juices were spent writing handouts for civil rights and anti-war activities, and on class assignments. I graduated in 1973 with a degree in social work. Some of the real-life people that I met back then later became role models for characters that I use in my stories. One of them was used in Rarity from the Hollow, the pot-selling neighbor. The other characters have been waiting in the wings, anxiously, to try out for roles in my future stories.
 
I worked in the field of adolescent substance abuse treatment as I attended graduate school. My creative writing was still on hold. After earning an MSW in 1977, I focused on children’s advocacy for the next forty years. My heartfelt need to write fiction was dissipated somewhat by the publication of social service models, grants, research, investigative and statistical reports about children’s programs, child abuse, and delinquency.
 
I recently retired as a children’s psychotherapist for our local mental health center. It was an intensive day program Most of the kids in the program, like myself as a child, had been traumatized, some having experienced extreme sexual abuse. One day at work in 2006, it all clicked together and the Lacy Dawn Adventures project was born – an empowered female protagonist beating the evil forces that victimize and exploit others to get anything and everything that they want. Rarity from the Hollow is the first full-length adventure in a prospective series.
 
While my protagonist is a composite character based on real-life kids that I’ve met over the years while working in children’s services, one little girl was especially inspiring. Her name is Lacy Dawn. Rather than focusing on her victimizations during group therapy sessions, she spoke of her dreams – finding a loving family that respected her physically and spiritually. She inspired me to make my own dream come true -- to write fiction -- and I haven’t stopped writing since. That little girl, unknowingly, prompted me to write Rarity from the Hollow.
 
3.      Do you ever experience writer’s block?
 
I experience barriers to writing that are annoying, but I don’t think that I experience classically defined “writer’s block.” I will sometimes put off doing chores, like mowing the lawn, because I’m busy writing. That strategy typically backfires. When I don’t take care of my practical responsibilities, it eats at me until I stop writing and do what needs to be done. Afterward, my writing flows much more smoothly.
 
Another thing that is particularly annoying is that I get insomnia if I try to go to bed before I’ve reached resolution of a scene. If I force myself to go to bed, I’ll just lie there with options bouncing around until I get back up and achieve scene closure. I don’t experience this dilemma because of writer’s block. It may be the opposite – over-creativity and it may be a worse condition because it also stalls productivity.
 
4.      Do you work with an outline, or just write?
 
I don’t use a formal outline, but I always know where I’m going with a story. I will sometimes scribble notes that serve an outline function, but I use them for reference instead of for control of my writing. I have pens and notepads handy in every room of my house, and even take something to write with when I go out, such as to a restaurant. I start a story with one very general outline consisting of three parts: beginning (bunch of blank space), middle (more blank space), and end. My scribbles fill in the blanks. 
5.      Do you have a favorite spot to write?
 
Since my ideas erupt without notice or planning, I don’t have a favorite place to write. I hope to never become a “formula” writer because that would take all the fun out of the writing experience. I type in my living room where the desktop is located. As I mentioned before, I write almost anyplace, and then type my scribbles into first drafts when I sit down in front of the monitor. All my tweaking has been done while sitting in the same old office chair. I’ve never had a private den or a personal office (except on the job) to use for writing and I don’t know how such would affect my creativity and productivity.
 
I grew up in noisy ghettos and housing projects. Today, I live in a small house in a low income neighborhood, with kids playing and occasional late-night gunshots outside. I remember one time a few months ago when the 911 operator asked me, “What took you so long to call?” I didn’t tell her that I had to finish a paragraph first before I could report that I’d heard gunshots.
    
6.      What do you do when you are not writing?
 
Since I don’t have very much money in my personal budget for recreation, I’m so fortunate that my favorite things to do in my spare time are very cheap. I enjoy writing.  I enjoy reading. I read and write in all genres, except extremely technical nonfiction. Every scene that I closed when writing Rarity from the Hollow was a thrill, and, all in all, that adds up to one heck of a lot of fun times that were shared with friends and family.
 
 
Maybe it sounds a little warped, but I also enjoy getting practical things done, especially things that have longer life-spans, like semi-permanent home repairs, building construction – I love working with concrete, block, and stone because it lasts so long. And, if you accomplish building something with those materials, every time that you see it brings back a sense of accomplishment. This attribute was assigned to Dwayne, Lacy Dawn’s father, in Rarity from the Hollow. There were scenes of home improvements after the father’s mental illness had been cured with the help of the android. My favorite scene was when Dwayne hung the family’s first door on their bathroom.
 
I enjoy video games, but I try to stay away from them because I’m easily addicted, and I hate that feeling – addiction. I enjoy vegetable gardening, but I never could get into flower gardening, probably because flowers don’t taste good – after all that work, they just wilt. I enjoy a good movie, but it has gotten so expensive that I get bummed out if the movie sucks. “Lacy Dawn Goes to the Movies” was the name of one of the chapters in Rarity from the Hollow. It was a documentary about her role during human evolution toward development of savior attributes, but she really wanted to go to the movies to see her first Harry Potter film, like the other kids at her school were talking about.
 
I enjoy a lot of music, especially if I discover a new band that sounds like one from when I was younger, such as folk or psychedelic rock. You might be amazed at how much new music, especially Indie, sounds so much like the music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Metallica was the feature band in Rarity from the Hollow. A very well-known and highly respected science fiction book critic noted the significance of the selection of Metallica as the featured musical act in his book review:
 
“…Eggleton has crafted a novel that deals with social commentary mixed with some eerie science fiction and a strange problem that Lacy has to solve to save the universe with the help of her family and her dog, Brownie. I can almost hear a blue grass version of Metallica while reading this. I expect to see more from Eggleton and Lacy Dawn. Good satire is hard to find and science fiction satire is even harder to find."
 
 
 
7.      What is your favorite genre to read?
 
I have eclectic reading tastes. I believe that there are plenty of examples of both good and bad writing in every genre. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel a need to switch around among genres. As long as the story is character driven and not too “flowery,” the genre is not of concern with respect to my appreciation of a story. I don’t read technical nonfiction and I don’t read “preachy” type material, but other than those, anything is fair game. I even read an occasional Romance novel. But, for me, and maybe it’s my age, the basis for romance has to be true love, real or imagined, for it to feel right.
 
I recently read a YA debut novel by a young woman as a favor. She wanted a critique. It was a pretty good story, but the descriptions of the types of dresses worn by the protagonist in every scene just about wore me out. By the time I’d finished that story I wanted to climb inside it and mess up the protagonist’s hair, make her eat a bowl of pinto beans so she would pass gas at least once, donate a box of tampons to place in the medicine cabinet beside the make-up….  Regardless of genre, the characters must be feel real, including (gasp!) taking at least an implied toilet break.   
 
8.      What writing projects are you currently working on?
 
I always have several works in progress at the same time. Since I’ve recently retired, the difference is that I’ve become productive. Instead of ideas, partially developed and then abandoned because life has gotten in the way, I’m reaching closure on a ton of older half-baked stories. A new short story just got rejected by a major science fiction magazine, so I’ve got some work to do on it, especially since I agree that it was prematurely submitted.
 
Ivy, my next novel, is almost ready for professional editing. I’m holding off, trying to build name recognition before I submit it to the publisher for consideration. My dream with respect to writing fiction is to get to the place where I no longer need to request book reviews, but instead book reviewers ask the publisher for a copy of my work to review. I’m hopeful that I’ll get to that place with Rarity from the Hollow and then have the release of Ivy perfectly timed so that I can concentrate on writing instead of promotions.
 
I’ve submitted and am awaiting decisions on two poems, another short story, and a satirical essay by three magazines and one journal. I am prolific if not too distracted with promoting my works. That’s what is slow and drawn out – self promotions, the hardest part, by far, of the role of “writer.”
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