Website: Dave Folsom's Books
Author's Blog: Dave Folsom - All About This and That
Blog: The Independent Author's Network
Twitter: @davefolsombooks
E-Mail: dave@davefolsombooks.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
LinkedIn: Check Out LinkedIn
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest
Author Description: Born and raised in Montana, Dave Folsom graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Forestry and spent the first decade of his career working in and around the logging industry. This experience led to his first published short story entitled “Scaling Rexford” which won honorable mention in the 1992 Edition of the University of Oregon’s West Wind Review. This work eventually led to his first novel, Scaling Tall Timber.
Dave’s published works include Scaling Tall Timber, Finding Jennifer, The Dynameos Conspiracy, The Zeitgeist Project, and a collection of short stories and essays published under the title Running with Moose.
He resides in South Dakota with his wife, has three grown daughters and two grandchildren and winters in Arizona where there isn’t any snow.
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
The word is out: Sonoran Justice is coming soon? Can you tell us when we can look forward to it being in our hands? Give us a little tease about the plot?
Sonoran Justice brings back Charlie Draper, who is rapidly becoming my favorite character as I dig deeper into his complicated psyche. The story raps around the border wars on our southwestern boundary with Mexico. Draper is confronted with the illogical assassination of an Arizona rancher and the attempted killing of his law enforcement friend. Both appear to be the work of the cartels, but neither makes sense.
As Draper tries to unravel the reasons, he finds himself deep in Mexico facing a well-organized, violence-oriented cartel with a devious plan way beyond drugs and human trafficking. This new Charlie Draper thriller is nearly complete and will probably be in paperback soon. My drop dead dates are December 15th for the paperback and mid-January for the various ebook versions.
Several of your books have a setting in the northwest. Now you have switched to the Sonoran desert. What is next on your drawing board? Maybe a body found in the old Yuma jail. Are you working on another novel while you are finishing Sonoran Justice?
Like most authors, I have a log book of plot lines, many of which will never see the light of day. Right now I have enough research on border issues to write a half-dozen or more novels. The subject is an inexhaustible hoard of plot lines for a thriller novelist. That said I also have an interest in time travel and quantum mechanics so who knows what I might come up with next.
I understand you have a passion for Photography. That is a great combination: author and photographer. With the advent of color HD ereaders, have you considered making a picture ebook from some of your pictures and tell a basic story? Would you ever put more pictures in your ebook versions to enhance the reading experience?
I’ve just started in the HD realm after dabbling HDR photography. Both require an extensive knowledge of Adobe Photoshop which I’m working on, but haven’t mastered yet. I do try to make each book cover with a little more “pop” with each book, but I sometimes find it hard to balance the time between the two efforts, as I’m sure most writers do. I like the idea of adding more pictures to ebook versions. That sounds doable.
Tell us about the software you used for your book trailers and the process you went through to create it? Did you take the pictures before you wrote your book as part of your research? Or did you use the book as a map in creating the trailer? Where did you get the background music?
I stumbled on a software site called One True Media where you can upload your own photos and create videos for a very reasonable price. The software is very intuitive and walks you through the process. They also have great choices for background music, which is what I used. Like most photographers in the digital age, I have a bloated hard drive of pictures, some good and some repairable from which to choose. It’s a combination of both.
Has the timing of your book releases changed with the advent of ebooks and the online marketing that goes on? Will you publish the ebook or the hardcover first and why?
I’ve only published trade paperbacks which I do first simply because my formatting setup is for book publishing so it makes it easier. When I’m finished writing a book it is all formatted for a trade paperback and the conversion is fairly straight forward. I only have to run the edits and turn it over to my proofreader who appreciates it already being in book format.
Ebook publishing is a little more difficult because of the different multiple forms, Kindle, Nook, etc. I have found if I do Smashwords first, closely following their Style guide, Amazon and Barnes and Noble are fairly straight forward.
What is your main Marketing push? How much does social media play into your strategy? Do you do book signings, appearances and things like that?
I try to have my books on as many sites as possible, along with my own websites. I do extensive social media play simply because I think it’s necessary to build a platform and get your name our as much as you can. I haven’t done book signing or appearances but I do advertise where ever I can and this is my third blog appearance this year along with doing giveaways which seems to spike sales.
Do you enjoy blogging? Does it give you a break from storytelling? Is there an up and down feeling between blogging, writing and picture taking?
I enjoy blogging however time management seems to make it difficult on any regular basis especially when I’m working to finish a book. My photograph efforts do suffer as well. A good photography trip is always the highlight and a great break.
You belong to several writers groups. I am a follower of the authors in the group: The Independent Author's Network(IAN). What is your goal with the groups: Support, Knowledge, Marketing or social? Do you find that you run out of time trying to keep up with social media and groups and get your writing done?
I’m a big fan of IAN and a couple of similar groups, as they are supportive, give me access to the efforts of fellow writers and help with marketing. One can’t ask for more than that. Time management is always a problem for me. I suppose it’s because I have so many interests that it’s easy for me to get sidetracked.
Author's Book List
Coming SOON
The killer stood behind granite boulders high above the surrounding landscape. His custom-built M98B Super Magnum sniper rifle, chambered for .338 Lapua, rested on a wool blanket cushion spread carefully over the granite table. The finely-crafted rifle cost just under five thousand dollars, had a two and half pound trigger pull, a customize barrel with a muzzle brake, a 4x16 power high optic scope, a built-in biped in front and desert camouflage. The two things Damián Sanchez learned during his years of contract killing included: use a precision weapon and be patient. His specialty, killing at distance, ranked as his only employment. Demanding complete anonymity, and working only through a broker of such things, he required fifty percent payment up front. The drug cartels kept him busy and made him rich….
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finding JenniferCharlie Draper only took the job of finding the missing girl as favor. He approached it convinced that the hot desert sun had likely eliminated another unprepared hiker rather than a part of the Border Wars. It didn’t take long to realize his error.
Then it became complicated. In less than a day he discovers that drug cartel members shot her and threw her into a volcano vent. The resulting trail leads into Mexico where his actions bring on the wrath of the cartel. The bodies start to pile up with a vengeance as he and his helicopter-flying Apache friend attempt to rescue the young women and prevent the revenge determined drug alliance from killing them all.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Trailer: Finding Jennifer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon Buy Page
-- Barnes and Noble Buy Page
-- Smashwords Buy Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Dynameos ConspiracyFormer government operative Lee Trainer, living quietly in Montana, finds a dead man on his doorstep with mysterious computer chip in his pocket. The killers, desperate to retrieve the chip make several attempts on his life and open a trail of deception and murder.
Following leads from Montana to the Cayman Islands, Trainer and a couple of old friends hunt down an elusive killer with a deadly agenda. While electrical blackouts plague the country, Trainer's best friend is ambushed by hired assassins entangling him in a widespread conspiracy to destroy the national power grid.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon Buy Page
-- Barnes and Noble Buy Page
-- Smashwords Buy Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scaling Tall TimberRecently injured in a vehicular crash that killed his girlfriend, a young forester is assigned to a new job in a remote area of northwestern Montana. He is befriended by an alcoholic logging truck driver, whose efforts to help enable both to grow into recovery helped in no small way by two women who guide them into recovery.
Centered on the western logging industry, the story focuses on events that bring sudden change to an ideologically resistant area and men's unwilling involvement. Upon arriving, he confronts his hard-driving boss rebelliously, but soon learns that finding what he's looking for will require a major effort on his part. The locals, a hard-working, hard-living, idiosyncratic lot take on the task of educating their new co-worker in ways he could never have imagined. Learning lessons that teach him about surviving the horrific, he finds himself melding into the eclectic area when changing times force the locals to rely on his assistance. Just as he becomes attached to his new surroundings and the quirky inhabitants, new technology threatens his job followed by news of a hydroelectric dam construction effort planned a short way downstream that will destroy the entire valley.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Trailer: Scaling Tall Timber
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon Buy Page
-- Barnes and Noble Buy Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Zeitgeist ProjectTheir planet slowly dying, ravaged by two hundred years of environmental carelessness and governmental greed, a select group of elitists plot to send unwitting crews on what will be a suicide mission. A young Command Pilot and one of her crew survive and find themselves in a strange world in which they are unprepared to cope. Two more missions follow before help comes from an unexpected source.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon Buy Page
-- Barnes and Noble Buy Page
-- Smashwords Buy Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running With Moose and Other StoriesThis book is all about people and how different we are, especially about life and how we deal with its mysteries. The stories include a little about death and an occasional encounter with animals and a lot about some of the colorful and interesting characters I've met told with a touch of humor, some adventure, and a little pathos. These fictional accounts are sometimes based on real people with the places and names changed to protect especially the moose
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazon Buy Page
-- Barnes and Noble Buy Page
-- Smashwords Buy Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the HBS Author's Spotlight plus the blog: eBook Author’s Corner. Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.
No comments:
Post a Comment