Meet Ed Patterson

Today I'm happy to introduce Ed Patterson, Author of 15 books with more in the pipeline.  Remember, every comment you leave for an author during my author party gives you a chance to win the $50.00 Amazon.com gift card.

On a personal note, I'm home from the hospital now, after an unscheduled visit to the cardiac ICU in addition to my surgery.  I appreciate your support of my blog and these authors while I recuperate.

Tell us about your book

Look Away Silence. Martin and Matthew are an unlikely couple - as different as you can imagine. But when Matthew is struck down by the ravages of AIDS, Martin finds himself on an unimaginable journey of the heart. Written from my own experiences in health services and caregiving, this one will move readers in ways that can only be guess. Bring your own Kleenex. It centers on the life of a self-centered gay man in the early '90's who hops from holiday to holiday and hobby to hobby until he settles down unexpectedly as a caregiver. The book is dedicated to the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation and to my eighteen fallen friends, who hovered over me while I wrote the book. I sleep better at night now.

What inspired you to write this book?

I'm a veteran of AIDS volunteer services, having been in buddy services and fund-raising for years. The book is fed by my experiences and the people I knew, both patients and caregivers. Specifically, I was inspired by a couple who were torn apart during this period, Their story moved me first to poetry and then to a full length novel.

Do you have a favorite character?

The protagonist, Martin Powers is a favorite, and one of my favorites from my fifteen published works. I became close to him and imbued him with humor to keep the work emotionally steady. He is the only 1st person character I have ever rolled out, so by the end of the work, he sat on my shoulder like Jimeny Cricket.

Are any of your characters based on people you know in real life?

All my chaarcters in every novel are based in part on people I know and myself. That blend helps me secure them in the reader's imagination.

What kinds of things did you research to write your book?

I already had much of the knowledge for this one, both in AIDS services (training) and, for the depiction of the Gay & Lesbian Choral Association (GALA) Festival in Colorado, I had founded a GALA Chorus (The New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus) and attended the big Denver event myself. I am also intimate with the NAMES Project and attended the full AIDS Quilt display in Washington, DC.

I have a lot of very creative readers.  Do you have other hobbies or creative pursuits besides writing?

I've been writing for 50 years and, until I began to publish, it could have been considered a hobby. However, I also have degrees in Chinese History (Sinology) and have a life long passion for things Chinese. In fact, most of my other works have Chinese themes and historical Chinese settings. I love language and know seven , including Mandarin and Cherokee (I'm a native American), and I also sing (a tenor) and studied opera at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. I'm also a proud veteran and the founder of Operation eBook Drop, providing a conduit from over 400 Indie authors to our brave men and women serving overseas. I keep busy for an old Queen.

What’s on your nightstand (or kindle) right now?  

Besides my Kindle, chock full of my fellow Indie author works, I have the Cambridge History of China: The Ch'in and Han Dynasties, the first of several volumes each over 1,000 pages. Nothing like a little light reading to cut the insomnia.

Do you have any upcoming titles you’re working on?

I have 15 titles out and 10 in progress. My next published work is the 4th installment of my flagship series, The Jade Owl  entitled The People's Treasure. It should be out in September, but these 700 pagers take time, especially in the editing department. I also have the next book (Book III) of the five part series Southern Swallow called Swan Cloud. A gothic thriller called The Road to Grafenwoehr should be out in the first quarter of 2011, and the first book of a SciFi series called Belmundus should make it out in 2011 also. As I said, I'm a busy Queen.

What else would you like to add?

Here's an excerpt from Look Away Silence

I spent the week before Christmas rushing between work and Long Branch. The place needed a Dutch Cleanser scrub. Hank helped by covering Matt’s meals and meds. Fortunately, all these days were good days, so Matt didn’t miss work. I had also planned to squirrel over one of the computers, but decided against it. I didn’t know one end of the thing from another. I would surely screw it up and lose data or break a mouse. So I just decided that I would need to be Matt’s favorite pastime for the Christmas weekend.

I set up the manger and the holly and frosted the windows, although it looked like we might have a white Christmas. In fact, I prayed we would have a white Christmas. That would set my cowboy on the pinnacle of joy. There was something about the white stuff that electrified him. The only thing I didn’t do was buy the tree. I promised him that we’d pick it out together and decorate it on Christmas Eve. Hank was going to spend time with us then and help. However, Hank had no family, except us now. He had three other buddies, but decided he would make pit stops at their places and end up with us to help decorate the tree.

“Are you cold?” I asked Matt as we strolled through the nursery between the cut evergreens.

“I’m fine.”

He didn’t look fine. He smiled and his eyes were bright, but he was bundled up, his green plaid scarf high to his chin. I could hear his teeth chatter and his bones rattle.

“You could sit in the truck,” I said. “I mean, there’s no need to overdo it.”

“I’m fine, Pumpkin. Let’s just pick out a . . .”

He stood still, his eyes opening wider. He pointed.

“That one?” I asked.

“Perfect.”

It was perfect. Pyramidical. Full needled and ample. It wasn’t gargantuan either, which was a good thing. I inspected it.

“That one’s taken,” said a man who stood nearby. He was dressed in a flimsy jacket, had a red plaid hunter’s cap with the flaps askew. He needed a shave. “I spotted that one and have decided upon it.”

I frowned, and then looked for a tag, which would indicate a reservation or a SOLD. There wasn’t one.

“Well,” I said, “There’s no ticket on it.”

“Don’t need one, feller,” he said. “I’m here. I’m taking it. Don’t need to tag it.”

I perused him. He was a mean looking character, the kind that ate bullets for breakfast. Matt turned away.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’ll wait in the truck.”

Nice. It was like another session over the toilet bowel. Suddenly, my hand inexplicably latched onto the tree.

“Didn’t you hear me?” the man barked.

“I heard you fine,” I said, my Mary voice quite the airy-fairy. It was an out of body experience. My body said, run away. Hide behind the big blue conifer, but my soul said forget you, bully. I‘ve been pushed around by a retrovirus. So you’re not so muckin’ fuch. “The fact is, my lover wants this tree and this tree he shall have.”

I pulled the tree toward me, and then waved to the nurseryman, who was prompt.

“How much?”

“Twenty-eight,” he said.

Highway robbery, I thought.

“I’ll take it. Bale it up, and could someone help me get it to my truck?”

The tree disappeared into the building. The bully snorted, but didn’t contest it. If I didn’t know better I would say that he was put off by the twenty-eight. If the nurseryman had said fifteen, I would have been pounded to a pulp. I marched to the truck, where Matt rolled down the window. His face was bluish.

“Roll the window up. I’ll put on the heat.”

“Did you get it?”

I smiled.

“Nobody messes with this girl once I get my dander up.”

Matt laughed, coughed and rolled the window up.

Where can we find your book?

Amazon.com   for the Kindle  and here in Paperback

Any other links?

My author's page on Anazon is http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BMI6X8

My website is Dancaster Creative - http://www.dancaster.com