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?
Any other links?
My website is Dancaster Creative -
http://www.dancaster.com
, the third book in my Cobbled Court series, takes readers back to New Bern and the wonderful women who gather at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop. 
. This is a book for any baseball fan, but what I’ve found recently is that non-baseball fans have also enjoyed it. This novel is about Greg Patterson, a Red Sox fan, and his quest to end the Yankees’ dominance over the Olde Towne Team. He gets the idea to build a time machine after watching the Yankees steal victory from the Red Sox in the 2003 American League Championship 
is about learning that life can not be completely planned out, but sometimes when you are thrown an obstacle, your rocky path might lead you somewhere wonderful. It is also about finding that one amazing person to share your life with!
by Liz Carlyle. 
for the Kindle and 
in Paperback
is a rights-reverted print novel new to ebook, a Mediaeval historical romance set in 1066 on the eve of the biggest invasion the British islands have seen. With the militia away countering the threat, the balance of power shifts along the disputed English/Welsh borderlands. Rhodri ap Hywel reclaims by the sword lands taken from his kinsmen by force, and with them the Saxon Lady Dena, sacrificed to slow the Welsh advance. But Rhodri harbours dark secrets, and when the fortunes of war turn, Dena can either stand by her faithless kin, or by her own integrity and the beating of her heart.
and it's a dark, historical fantasy. 
It's also available in paperback at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
did I really consider myself a professional. What's the difference? Dozens of rewrites, critiques from a handful of proofreaders, and a writer's pride after ten years of work to present my best product. While writing the novel I worked as a Pilates instructor at a federal research institute, among other interesting (and some not so interesting) ways of making a living. I have published several hundred newspaper articles for a variety of small publications, covering everything from regular news to sports to music journalism to essays on culture and politics. A personal highlight of that time was interviewing two of my favorite guitar players, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson.
will benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital. Click on the link above to see the official rules for entering the gift card giveaway.
, which is a Suspense/Thriller about an accountant who's forced to go on the run. 
, a straight Western, about a town sheriff who's unable to get any help in holding a prisoner until a stranger rides into town. I also have 
, another Western, about a bounty hunter who takes on an apprentice while on the trail of a gang of outlaws.
