Featured Author: Douglas Carlyle
- Please introduce yourself. Tell us a little about the person behind the pen.
First of all, let me thank you, Lori, for taking the time to include me in your blog interviews.
I am an electrical engineer by degree. By trade, I spent 26 years with companies making integrated circuits such as the brains within your laptop, iPad, or cellphone.
However, early on, I knew I could write. English teachers in my high school entered several of my short stories in contests where they achieved great acclaim. In college freshman rhetoric, I had a very difficult professor. I got an ‘A’ in the class. He taught me a great deal about ‘how’ to write.
I began writing over a dozen years ago to pass the time during extensive business travel. I started writing a journal of sorts. I am never at a loss for words so the entries took on more of a story form. Then I introduced characters and a plot. Next came some fictional characters. I encountered dippin’ dots for the first time at the Brookfield Zoo in 2006. That was my epiphany. One finds inspiration in the most unexpected places. Suddenly, I had a piece that was missing to my story. That story became my latest novel, BOUNDARIES.
2. What made you decide to write (the genre of your book), were there any influencing factors, or were any of the stories based on true events.
My mother died of cancer in 1986. She was an incredibly important person in my life as you might expect. My mother’s last written words in her journal were “Fuller Brush Man.”
Then around 2003, my high school girlfriend was diagnosed with breast cancer. She lost her courageous battle in 2010. She had been a journalist. She began a novel when we were dating in the early 1970s. Though she worked on it for thirty-plus years, she never finished it. I took the story of the unfinished novel started by my dear friend, mixed it with the last words my mother wrote before she died, and wrote IN SEARCH OF THE FULLER BRUSH MAN. The novel is a memorial to those two fabulous women who were such an influence upon me.
3. How do you promote your book, and do you find that difficult or just par for the course.
I enjoy writing. I hate marketing. I love doing book signings where I can speak with my readers. I sell my print books at all of the large indie bookstores in Texas. I loathe shopping my stories on the internet. I love print books. I dislike technology. Within those parameters, I have a website. My books are all available in print as well as on Kindle and Nookpress. I begrudgingly joined Facebook. I don’t do Twitter. Sum total, I have ever an increasing base of readers with whom I have a relationship.
4. Do you remember your first review and how it made you feel? (If it was a bad one, also tell about your good one too).
I absolutely enjoy each and every interview. My first was no different. I am not bashful. I speak my mind. This is the link to that interview. I encourage anyone who is reading this to take the time to read it.
http://christopherbunn.com/indie-author-interviews/author-interview-archives/doug-carlyle/
5. Tell us about your books and if it’s a series and how the public is reacting to this book.
My first published novel is IN SEARCH OF THE FULLER BRUSH MAN. Readers love it. The Book Readers’ Appreciation Group gave it their BRAG Medallion in April, 2012. I couldn’t be happier about it.
My second novel is the romantic fantasy VINEGARONE. A smaller audience has enjoyed it. Part of the problem is that marketing that novel took a back seat to finishing my third novel. The sales numbers reflect that. I could reach a much wider audience with a few investments of both cash and time. With two daughters in college, I have neither to spare at this time.
My latest novel is the first one I wrote, BOUNDARIES. It is a long novel at 208,000 words. It is my first (psychological) thriller. Agents and editors beat on me to finish it and put it on a shelf, or cut it down to something closer to 80,000 words. I tend to do my own thing. As you might guess, I have no agent. I released it last month in its beautiful entirety. I’m getting great feedback. I consider it a success.
My work in progress will be the first of a series I am calling the “Cat Kavanaugh Series”. She is a tough, and beautiful, former Army CBRNE Captain now FBI agent. The first book is half done. The title of it is BOOK REVIEW. I have the plot and title for the second in the series. The title will be EIGENGRAU.
6. Can you share any and all links that are important to you as a person and the book? (You can relate more to a book if you know more about the author).
My website is www.dbcarlyle.com . You will find all you need there.
7. I’ll wrap it up with this question since “7” is a lucky numberJ. Can you share an excerpt from your book, and I’d like to thank you so much for taking time to share your book with me. Please share as much as you’d like.
Here is a link to an excerpt from BOUNDARIES.
http://www.dbcarlyle.com/media/8ec07822bf2141f4ffff9a2affffe417.pdf
* I want to thank you for allowing me to interview you and showcase your book. Your a very humble man, I can tell, and to me that equals CHARACTER which one should be fond of and learn from :)
"Lori's Song" 