Interview with Steve Kenny

Published 2014-02-21.
What do your fans mean to you?
What? I didn't know I had any fans.
What are you working on next?
Having been laid off from my job this past Friday, I am now working on getting some of my stuff published here at Smashwords. I have upwards of 100 pieces from which to choose. Currently, I am not writing anything.

I am also looking forward to going back to school for some job retraining.
Who are your favorite authors?
Joseph Campbell, John Muir, Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Cormac McCarthy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Poe, and a few others that I know I'm forgetting here...oh; Dava Sobel, Ross King, Elizabeth Jenkins...there's more, I'm sure.
I am a very, very slow reader.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
My daughters, my fiance, my love of the challenge of each new day; I am a true morning person. I don't care much for staying up late, nor do I care much for sleeping in. I'm usually out of bed by five-thirty or six every morning.
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
I spend my time thinking of new and cleverer ways of reaching people; you know; there's just not enough meaningful communication between people these days.
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
I surf, like everyone else, although not nearly as much as I would if I just let myself go and didn't keep my time away from home in check.
Surfing, and reading happens away from home, right?
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Yes. I was fourteen, or twelve, or something. As a matter of fact, I still have it.
What is your writing process?
My writing process is to just open up my mind and let it all in, or, perhaps, let it all out.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
My first reading experiences happened in the 1960's, and were very, very memorable events: 12 cent Marvel Comics. Those were the days.
How do you approach cover design?
My cover designs are pretty minimalistic, as you can see. I believe that they stand out because of their simplicity.
But hey; I know that my cover art style ain't for everybody.
Never judge a book by its cover, right?
What are your five favorite books, and why?
My favorite 5 books? I could never limit myself to just 5 favorites.
What do you read for pleasure?
What do I read for pleasure? Well, I truly love J. R. R.Tolkien's rhythms, consonance and alliteration, and also, his deep sense of the roots of the words [he was a philologist, you know]; I absolutely love the cadence of Martin Luther King. To my mind, listening to him is like listening to great music.
Describe your desk
My desk? A spiral bound notebook and a fifty cent roller ball pen. Blue ink.
What do readers get when purchasing one of your e-books?
Well, they get a little piece of me. But the cool thing about Smashwords, to my mind, is that the books that readers buy here may be added to, by its authors, at any time. An important feature given here at Smashwords is that once a book is purchased, the reader has access to every version, every revision, every new edition of that book. This is a very important part of the Smashwords experience, to my mind, because, as the initial effort to get all this stuff up begins to slow some, I plan on revising and adding to everything here, so that the book you buy - which may be ten, twenty pages long, whatever, may grow, in every way, over time, in a very good way.
Steve Kenny, thanks for stepping back into our studio for another round of questions.
Thank you.
We've received a few irate calls from anonymous bloggers from over at Open Salon - where you are, in fact, a blogger - that you have lied on a question in your Smashwords Interview.
What question?
The "What inspires you to get out of bed each day" question.
What's wrong with it?
Well, we've been receiving calls from bloggers -more than one - that you do, in fact, stay up later than you said.
What? I don't...let me see that. ...what inspires me to get out of bed each day....hhhmmm...my daughters...my fiance...my love of the challenge of each new day...I am a true morning person and I also I don't care much for staying up late....what's wrong with this?
It's not true.
It's not true? Yes it is.
No it's not.
Yes it is.
No it's not.
Yes it is.
It's, in fact, a lie.
No it's not.
Yes it is.
No, it's not.
It is.
Okay. It is. Is that it?
No,
Then can we at least step out of the cone of silence for a minute?
Why?
Because I have a feeling we are being listened in on.
This is an interview, Mr. Kenny. It is being listened in on.
By who?
We don't know.
Yes you do.
No we don't.
Yes you do.
No, we don't.
Yes you do.
Okay, we do.
Who's listening?
--There will be more with Steve Kenny, author of several highly successful swimwear books, after this.
What? Swimwear books?
Yes. Swimwear books.
Wait...I didn't publish any swimwear books.
Yes you did.
No I didn't
Yes you did.
No, I didn't.
Smashwords Interviews are created by the profiled author or publisher.

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