Today we present everything you ever wanted to
know about author Guy D. Ogan and then some:
Author name(s):
Guy D. Ogan
Website and/or blog links:
Genre/genres you write in:
Paranormal-Romance with
very heavy military and political action. The first book has a great deal of
"explicit togetherness" not to be salacious but to show that even the
guardian vampires who protect humans and animals from the evil vampires/human
criminals/ and (most dangerous of all) would be dictators in government, don't
live (or love) according to human mores.
When did you realize you
wanted to write novels?
Being somewhat shy I've
always felt that I could express myself better in writing than in speaking.
While I'd written a lot of articles and professional works, first while in the
military and later in a second calling in psychology, I never thought
I would ever write a (somewhat) fictional book until I found the
photograph (a copy of which is on the second page of my first novel, Immortal Relations.) It proved
something my mother had said many, many years before about my father's exploits
while stationed overseas at the end of WW-II (he had a tryst as the
picture proved.) That night I couldn't sleep and went to my keyboard and typed
out what seemed to come to me as if I were "channeling." A rather
cathartic experience under the circumstances and then the second, Immortal Relations, Love and War, and
third, Immortal Relations Coming Out, both
continuing the story.
How long did it take you
to realize your dream of publication?
I'd had many articles
published while in the military and while working in psychology as
well as submissions to long-distance running magazines and automotive
magazines. My first (professional) non-fiction work published was a
treatise on helping children, adolescents and adults with ADHD, titled
"Can Anyone Help My Child?"
Are you traditionally
published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
Traditionally with my
articles, but Indie with my novels.
Where do you write?
When my father-in-law
passed away, we invited my mother-in-law to come live with us, and we added on
to the house with a bedroom on the first floor for her as well as a small sewing
nook and bathroom. Both were amazing people, much loved and sorely missed.
Now, I use the small sewing room as my writing area. It is just a few feet
deep and a few feet wide, but is more than sufficient for my writing.
Is silence golden, or do
you need music to write by? What kind?
Silence when I'm writing
or reading is not a common occurrence, but is GOLDEN and much appreciated
when found!
How much of your plots and
characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
The novels' main
character is Gary Logan vs. Guy Ogan, that should give you a clue that
there isn't a whit of difference. My military background and knowledge, as well
as the life lessons I put into the books, are all from my own real-life experience
and education. Of course, since I haven't had the pleasure of meeting my
guardian vampire ladies, that is from the "channeling" and
a very vivid imagination. I've never had "Writer's Block."
Describe your process for
naming your character?
Having spent a good deal
of time in Europe while in the service, almost all the names just came to
me; however, I did look up common names for Czech females for the main
female characters of Magdalena (Maggie) and Eviana (Evy.)
Real settings or fictional
towns?
Real world setting for the
most part, including cities and towns in The Czech Republic, England, The
Russian Federation, China, Japan, Germany, Canada and the U.S. The majority of
the action takes place in Europe (including Russia) in books one and two with a
little in China and Japan in book two. The third book's action
is primarily in Canada and Russia with some in The Czech Republic and a
little in the U.S. and Germany.
What’s the quirkiest quirk
one of your characters has?
My main male character
Gary Logan, after conversion to a vampire (a guardian vampire) still retains a
beating heart –unheard of before Gary. Also his progeny continue that trend due
to his quirky DNA. There are other quirks revealed in the stories including his
ability to sire children with his full vampire mates. On the distaff side,
a quirk of full vampire childbirth in less than a month of pregnancy is of
interest (the single human-vampire hybrid birth takes about three months)
but either way sure sound easier on the females than what human females go
through for nine months. (Anyone who considers women to be
the "weaker sex" is crazy; no way we men could handle that!)
What’s your quirkiest
quirk?
I can actually
dream in character when I've been writing my novels before going to bed.
Sometimes I will just get up and start typing my dreams because I don't want to
forget that particular part of the action. It (ab)normally only happens when
I've been working on the book before going to bed. I added (ab) since
some may see it as abnormal, but I've heard it said those who've worked
in psychology are in most need of treatment. LOL
If you could have written
any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be?
Why?
Any of Tom Clancy's
works (probably his Hunt for Red October
is his most known) but for me Debt
of Honor, Executive Decisions
and The Bear and the Dragon are his
seminal novels What a master story teller he was!
What was the worst job
you’ve ever held?
Back in my teenage years
I served as a part-time janitor at a beauty shop. After they closed for the day,
I would clean up the place and the noxious fumes lingering in the air from the
stuff they used on the hair would almost knock me unconscious when I breathed.
When I went into the service, they put us through a room full of teargas and
while everyone else was coughing and tearing up, I had no problem as I'd
gone through far worse surviving the fumes at that job.
What’s the best book
you’ve ever read?
Oh, that is a tough one!
It all depends upon the genre, and I've already remarked on Tom Clancy's
action novels. There are some really outstanding young authors in my vampire
genre coming along that I enjoy reading, such as Michele Drier's The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles and
Augusta Fern's Morte' Series: Revelation
of Cian and Babet's Epiphany.
These authors show that while there certainly are evil vampires, they also
show there are vampires who have evolved and can behave in a civilized
manner even protecting humans from evil. I do shy away from the old
Bram Stoker type of vampire books where the vampires lurk in shadows waiting to
attack young maidens to drain them of their blood. These are the type of
vampires MY vampires are dedicated to destroying!
Ocean or mountains?
While I've spent a good
deal of time on and around beaches and enjoy them, mountains are so majestic
that if I could, that is where I'd want to live.
City guy or country guy?
While I can appreciate
the style and sophistication of the city, I prefer the down-to-earth
common sense can-do attitude and strength of those from the country. I
married a country lady and am glad I did. The Army used to have an
advertisement that said something to the effect that in the Army they do more
by 6 am than most people do all day, and I'd turn that around and say,
"By 6 am most country gals have done more than most men will do all
day!"
What’s on the horizon for
you?
At my age I don't buy
any Green Bananas, but if the Good Lord lets me hang around, I'll write
a few more in my Immortal Relations series. But my current writing
assignment (self issued) is to finish a book on time-travel back to the age of
dinosaurs.
Lily, my five year old
Granddaughter LOVES dinosaurs so I'm writing a book, and she is one of
the main characters along with her Pop-Pop (me) as well as a friend who is
curator and owner of a Museum of Pre-History with various dinosaur
skeletons. We construct a time machine and the title is, Lily and the Time Buggy. After saving
our friend’s life along with keeping the Time Buggy out of the hands of
would be terrorists, we are propelled back in time (that's about all the teaser
I'll give, other than there are close encounters of the running and screaming
kind with dinosaurs.)
For those who like their
action a little closer in time, my fourth novel will be Immortal Relations, Revenge. The teaser for it is the mates of
the evil vampires we helped destroy are none-too-happy with us and seek
revenge. Were that not enough of a threat, the regime in Washington D.C. is
also not our fan because we helped foil the Chinese Communist
invasion of Siberia (probably preventing a nuclear war in the bargain.) Had China
succeeded they'd have gained huge oil and tracks of minerals, including
huge gold reserves. The Marxists in Washington, who were
in collusion with the invasion hoped to get a break on the massive debt
owed to China if the invasion was a success.
Immortal
Relations Coming Out
the third book in the Immortal Relations Series
Having
saved mankind from a nuclear war and the results of terrorist acts as well
as potentially catastrophic ecological nuclear disasters, our guardian
vampires consider "coming out" to the human world so as to form a
stronger symbiotic relationship with them. A young shape-shifter werewolf, who
had only just found out what he was, helps the vampires as they assist his own
development (and love is in the air). Realizing the threat to world
stability by the perceived collapse of America, the good vampires establish
a new coven in Cayuga, Canada in order to monitor efforts by the power-mad
politicians seeking to destroy the Constitution and Bill of Rights in order to
gain ultimate power. This isn't the only threat to world peace, as a huge
asteroid is heading toward Earth, yet one of the major powers seems totally
disinterested and the resources for such a long range mission to change the
trajectory of an object the size of India seems lacking.
5 comments:
Thanks for having me on your blog I look forward to someone asking a question on characters or whatever.
Hi Guy
Great interview.
I've notified all my E-Mail list about the blog as well as my MARSocial group on Yahoo about the blog.
I really enjoyed the interview. What a fascinating life you've had. I am so jealous that you can dream as your characters. What a blessing. Best of luck with your books!
Thanks Alicia, you are so kind! I hope everyone will also look up your many books as well! I'm a BIG FAN of the "Isle of Fangs" novels and am jealous that you have written "Vampire Diaries" novels...that has long been a favorite show for my wife and I!
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