Author Showcase / Interview and Review of “Desert Son” – Glenn Maynard

 
Glenn Maynard has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Connecticut, and a degree in Communications. After spending 4 years living in Denver, Colorado, he returned home to Connecticut and now resides in Wethersfield. He has a 14 year-old son named Andrew. He was a travel correspondent for three newspapers while traveling through the United States, Canada and Mexico during his one-year journey. He had a total of twenty newspaper articles published. His story was captured on the evening newscast upon his return.

 

 
1.    Welcome,Glenn Maynard. For those who might not be familiar with you, would you be a dear and tell the readers a little about yourself? How did you get your start in the writing business?
 
(Glenn) My writing career took off when I took off, which was after I got married.  We quit our jobs, sold our cars, bought a used RV and travelled through the 48 continental states for an entire year. I needed something to write about, so I created something. I was a travel correspondent for two local newspapers and published twenty articles along the way. I published my first book, which detailed the people and places along the way, entitled “Strapped Into An American Dream.”
 
Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, please share how you handle it.
 
(Glenn) If I have writer’s block, I will stop writing and do other things while I think of where I want to go next in my story. Sometimes resolutions come quickly and sometimes they can last for a day. I have a weekly writing quota of 5000 words, so no matter how you slice it, I know I have to resolve my block within that week, and I have
yet to miss my quota.
 
3.    
Contrary to what some people envision about a romance writer’s life, it’s not all glitz and glam. Well not for the majority of us. With that bubble sadly busted, when you’re not writing, how to do you spend your time?
 
(Glenn) I work at an insurance company for a full time job, and I get down to the business of writing at night. Writing is my main interest, so I am working extremely hard to break through. I have two published books. I am editing a third for a January release, and more than halfway through writing my fourth. I love the Rhode Island beaches, playing guitar, Red Sox baseball and travelling.
 
 
I know many writers, such as myself, keep their pastime/career a secret. Do those close to you know you write? If so, what are their thoughts?

(Glenn) Everybody knows I write. There are no secrets there. Books sell through word of mouth, so I’m not going to be quiet about that, and being an author is what I’m most proud about in my life.

 
5.    
Will you share with us your all time favorite authors? If you’re like me, it’s a long list so give us your top ten.
 
(Glenn) I can’t give you ten, but I do like Stephen King, Wally Lamb, James Patterson, and Glenn Maynard
 
6.    
If you could choose one book to go to the big screen, yours or otherwise, which book would you choose and whom would you love see casted in the parts?
 
(Glenn) I would like any of my books to hit the big screen, but “Strapped Into An American Dream” is my travel book that I first envisioned going to the big screen with Tom Cruise playing me. My wife will be played by Jennifer Aniston. However, since I’m not married anymore, I would play me and Jennifer would stay in as my wife.
 
 
Paperback
Hardcover
Kindle
 
7.    
Would you care to tell us what you’re working on now? That is if it’s not top-secret information. If so, just whisper it in my ear. I swear it’ll go no further.
 
(Glenn) create a wall with his hand on one side of his mouth as he whispers): I am currently writing my third novel of a trilogy, which has yet to have a title. This is part of the Desert Son series (Glenn’s hand drops from his mouth).
 
8.   Where can we find your stories and is there a particular reading order?
 
(Glenn) My first book is a Non-fiction travel book entitled, “Strapped Into An American Dream.” My second book is a Fiction book entitled, “Desert Son,” which is the first in the trilogy, so read that book first. My second in the series will be “Wayward Soul,” which is set to be released January 7th, 2016.
 
 
 
 
 
 
9.    
Would you please share how your present and future fans can contact you?
 
(Glenn) Facebook, website, LinkedIn or Twitter:
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Glenn/Maynard
https://twitter.com/usatraveler
 
 
10. Before we conclude this enlightening interview, do you have anything else you’d like to share? The stage is all yours.
 
(Glenn) I hope you enjoy my fictional interpretation of the out-of-body experience, dying, and the process of coming back to life. Everybody wonders if there is an afterlife, and I take you there. Some of my readers, who have lost close relatives, really enjoy the thought of what it would be like to reconnect with them one more time. One reviewer stated: “Well written, with a tight plot and characters you can really relate to, this book will have you questioning your beliefs. Reincarnation and a near death experience are just part of this gripping story. It’s a romance that reaches out from the grave and grabs your heart. Love, devotion and friendship will make people do many things. I recommend this book to everyone.”
 
 
Now that you’ve met the man behind Desert Son, let’s check out his creation, its first chapter, Youtube trailer, and of course my thoughts on it. 
 
 
 

Carter Spence is a 26 year-old accountant out of Boston who has an out-of-body experience following a car accident that kills his parents. He views the chaos from above the scene of the accident, then passes through the tunnel and reunites with relatives who have long been dead. A woman he does not recognize approaches him and says, “Welcome, son.” Her message to him is that he needs to be aware of his true identity and should follow signs that will lead him there. She mentions mountains, but Carter is jolted back into his physical body before she can finish. After burying his parents, Carter heads west and meets a free-spirit named Brenda, whom he is drawn to on many levels. She becomes his travelling companion and leads him to Boulder, Colorado, and to an old white house of an old man named Martin. Diaries, hypnosis, and past-life regression reveal a bizarre connection between these three. Carter discovers that the truth to his identity can only be found by pursuing the answer to whether he is the reincarnation of his biological father in what is shaping up to be a love affair rekindled beyond the grave.

 
BUY NOW @ AMAZON —–> Paperback – Kindle

 

Warm weather streaked through Boston for a cameo on this late March afternoon. Mid-70’s usually did not emerge from hibernation until April, but none of that mattered much for Carter Spence. No temperature could affect him now. Temperature usually made all the difference in the world to Carter, but now springtime’s rebirth seamlessly transpired.

Carter’s mood elevated, but temperature played no role. For a split-second, he thought perhaps his mood had a calming effect on his body, but only because his 175 pounds felt fluffy, like he’d been influenced by helium. Just to contradict this sensation, he remained still. He felt silly even testing. This feeling had only captivated him while running around the bases at the baseball fields near his home, or even when he was a tad tipsy at the bar, but this still overpowered those other times.

Carter questioned reality. As a recent college graduate, he’d dabbled in binge drinking, even though not nearly as frequent as his “crowd” did. In fact, every so often, Carter would be the one strong enough to volunteer himself as designated driver. Carter was able to glance beyond the average college student in an attempt to supersede peer pressure, and assume responsibility for his actions. He always was the responsible type.

As Carter found himself suspended in a position enabling him to oversee earth, he knew this transcended a typical mood swing. He unquestioningly went along with whatever life threw at him, even in this extreme case, surprising even himself.

Surveying the earth below, feeling not an ounce of care in the world, Carter continued wafting like a loose sheet of paper in the wind, drifting inch by inch, contentedly, as he began keying in on an object. He seemed more preoccupied with this new attraction than with his sudden participation with the solar system. It would have been cataclysmic had both his feet mixed with the earth’s dirt, but that wasn’t the case.

As much a presence that this altered state should have been, Carter began battling a continual attraction to the object. This diversion was enough to cloud the reality and incomprehensibility of the situation. He finally stopped moving, involuntarily; no further elevation. He awaited the presence of normalcy, but this delay only lengthened his journey.

He sensed that he had no encasing. He felt that he was just a feeling, or that his existence was just a thought. He couldn’t see his body, but never really cared to check, either. He just had a gut feeling that his thoughts were in a mind of their own. He felt like a breadless sandwich. However, he did not care one way or another.

Carter astonished himself when his focus zoomed in like human binoculars. This felt so empowering, so controlling, so consuming, and he felt that the sky was the limit. For a 26-year-old guy who had felt so powerless in the city of Boston, this certainly boosted his confidence, but he only wished he could have this focus and earth simultaneously.

He began reflecting on the bullying that he’d received as a child on his school playgrounds. He wished he could find those punks now, even though he since had learned to defend himself fairly well. Nobody much messed with Carter once he hit the 10th grade and began pumping weights vigorously. Nobody was going to offend him, and in the city it was sink or swim. He had taken it upon himself to get in a position where he could defend himself. He looked at it as survival of the fittest.

He did not get revenge by beating the hell out of those bullies who had previously roughed him up. No, that was not Carter’s style. Rather, his presence became his revenge. And with this new image came a certain macho sex appeal that ushered in his debut in dating. He discovered that the two scenarios were intertwined, and that did not pose a problem for Carter Spence.

Carter did love women, but he could not be in love with them. He believed that he had just never found the right girl, but deep down wondered if he even had the ability to love. This disturbed him greatly, making him, for the most part, uncomfortable around women. He had convinced himself that he was just very picky when it came to women.

During his peak conditioning, the one-time bullies would look up at Carter in the high school hallways, acknowledge his presence with a nod, and then humbly mumble, “What’s up, Carter?” Although Carter considered this sufficient sweet revenge, the thought of toying with these bullies from above did tickle his imagination.

Carter eventually determined that the object on the ground resembled a body, but it wasn’t moving. Then his focus zoomed in some more, and quickly the body took on an eerie familiarity to him. The scene below grew chaotic. Cars jerked to the highway side. Doors swung open, remaining that way while people flocked to this object, which was a body lying face down in an embankment. Carter watched this scene unfold before him as if he was watching a movie on television.

The first man to arrive shouted in panic to an unresponsive body. He carefully turned the body on its back, eased down by the second and third man to arrive. Carter continued to zoom in on the victim because he felt as if he knew this man. He recognized the strong face attached to the muscular frame. He recognized the worn denim jeans with the oddly-shaped tear just above the knee, and even the tan polo shirt, which by now had absorbed blood. The shoes that had detached from the man’s feet were familiar, as were the blue Gold Toe socks on his feet. His eyes moved back up the body to the face, and saw that it was his body.

Carter felt indifferent while observing his poor, lifeless body. I look so pale, he thought, aside from the streaking blood on his face. Carter couldn’t believe it was really him. He would have been hard pressed to select that body out of a lineup if asked to identify him. However, he barely was able to recognize his own facial features below. Just how observant and aware of his own self was he, Carter pondered. It seemed interesting to Carter, more than anything else, to see himself from another vantage point, yet treat the situation so matter-of-factly.

Between the lanky frame and the short, light brown hair, he thought that it had to be him. But why, he wondered, confident that there would be no dream to awake from, or no Allen Funt to emerge out of nowhere to tell him about a camera. Besides, if this was a dream, he wouldn’t be wondering if it was a dream. He didn’t think he’d be wondering if it was a dream, but what he wouldn’t give to test this theory of his.

Carter zoomed to within about a telephone pole’s length away, even though he felt like a satellite in space. He noticed the traffic really starting to jam. Cars could no longer pass by. One woman screamed hysterically after discovering an upended automobile streaming fuel onto the ground. She placed both hands on her head and let out a series of chilling wails. Carter watched emotionlessly.
 
Some good Samaritans flocked to the car to help, while others ran from the danger. Most drivers rubbernecked their way past. Carter shifted his attention to directly above the car, where a solid oak shook off contact. A penetrating scar splintered the tree, which was evidence of a speedy impact. Carter faced all four wheels, witnessing the last tire as it finally slowed to a stop. This all happened so suddenly that this new scene before him appeared almost before the previous scene had ended. A dirty, scraped arm flopped outside of the car, limply touching the ground, and a thin tornado of smoke rose through Carter.

Carter could see that tire marks had blackened the highway, and then dirt marks continued off the side of the road to where the car rested. He did remember getting into his parents car, but he could barely make a positive identification of that car. It had rolled and wrapped itself around the tree at the roof. The smell of gasoline enveloped the air and the potential danger was incalculable. However, good people still stopped.

Gas dripped at a steady rate from the gas tank vicinity. Streams of smoke billowed from under the hood. Carter hoped the smoke and the drips didn’t merge, but when there’s smoke, there’s fire, and within minutes the car flickered flames. Carter felt helpless to try to save those inside. He wondered if it even mattered as he saw that the car’s front bumper meshed with the dashboard and the roof the car rested on met up with the bottom of the windows, which were smashed all around.

He knew those inside hadn’t a chance, and then Carter positively identified the car as his parent’s car, so it was his parents who were trapped inside. My God, Carter thought. This isn’t happening. They could die. This thought flashed through him, but he was emotionless.

Emergency vehicles nudged a path to the wreckage, and a few heartless people took advantage of this path to better their positioning. This was the city life, and nothing was going to spoil the day of some people. Cars edged closer to neighboring cars on the left, while cars in the far right lane eased off the road, some entirely. Sirens blared, while red and blue lights flashed through the light of day. Carter took notice of numerous police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.

Carter knew his parents had expired, but what about his body? Where was he now? Was he dead? Paramedics swarmed his physical body below, and he wondered if he would ever be reunited with it. He wanted badly to be able to help himself, but he could only watch, unsure if it was his unwillingness or inability to intervene. He felt like an actor watching his own movie, but he certainly possessed more peacefulness above than what was being transmitted at the chaotic scene below.

Firefighters in yellow coats squelched the flames with foam, but the people who had jumped from their cars to throw mud at the flames controlled the spreading. These people will be the ones dubbed heroes, but will refuse the tag on the local newscast. Carter could envision this before it even happened. He wasn’t being disrespectful to those trying to help his parents, but he felt his folks stood no chance by the looks of things. Maybe the car wouldn’t burn to a crisp, but if they did survive the impact, any fire would be enough to finish the job.

Carter believed his ejection from the car came prior to impact because of his distance from the vehicle, and then it occurred to him how he had gotten into the situation he found himself in. His thoughts moved away from the chaos momentarily, zooming out of that scene and into another.



(review request submitted by the author for an honest critique) 
 
Many scenes were so vividly written it felt as if I wasn’t just reading a story but actually there, living the ordeal with Carter. Case in point, the wreck – out of body experience – the reemergence into his body, watching his parents’ spirits float onto Heaven. 
 
Those of us who believe in Heaven and Hell assume Heaven would be beautiful so it didn’t surprise me Glenn described it as such. I did like the idea of being able to think of a loved one left behind and POOF you can see them in real time. Interesting concept and one I hope proves true when I reach the great beyond. 
 
As good as the beginning of the story was though, I have to point out it begun to drag after the funeral of his parents. It really didn’t pick back up until close to the end (during the hypnosis section). 
 
As for this section, I didn’t really believe a person could learn to hypnotize a person within minutes or it was as simple as following an instructional sheet. Man if that is the case, why aren’t there more hypnotists in Las Vegas and where the heck is my cheat sheet. 🙂
 
I will say this and only this about that scene, Glenn created a nice twist and really didn’t see coming at all. 
 
I think you’ll have to have a bit of faith to believe what he suggests is plausible. 
 
 
Heart Rating System:
1 (lowest) and 5 (highest)  
Score: ❤❤❤1/2
 
BUY NOW @ AMAZON —–> Paperback – Kindle
 

9 Comments

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9 Responses to Author Showcase / Interview and Review of “Desert Son” – Glenn Maynard

  1. Anonymous

    Looks interesting. Diff from my normal reads. Thanks for sharing Kam

    Tanya S

  2. Anonymous

    Great feature. Added to my list.

  3. Thanks for adding!

    Glenn

  4. James

    Another good interview and review. I liked the YouTube video. Those are always a nice touch.

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