Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Author Biography: Pete Prellwitz was bitten by the writing bug at an early age and has never been cured. Starting with an awful (but produced!) Thanksgiving play in 4th grade, Pete’s writing skills fortunately have improved over time. With ten novels in print/ebook, as well as short stories in multiple anthologies, Peter also writes as H.K. Devonshire, Mars’ most popular Martian author, whose first Terran edition of Company A (2019) is now available, with three more Martian westerns in the next year.
Pete and his wife Bethlynne live in Jeffersonville, PA with one-and-a-half of their five sons and two dachshunds.
Wolf: If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Pete: A dachshund, without a doubt. In my Shards Universe, dachshunds are found on every Earth-type planet, are comfortable in space and make excellent companions for the humans who live, work, and travel through space.
Wolf: Those are cute dogs. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Pete: A Ruger Vacaro .45 single-six revolver. In fact, I own one now. I use it only for shooting targets, but the feel is just right. When I was younger, I could draw the pistol from its holster fast enough to have a half-dollar, resting on my gun hand, fall into the empty holster.
Wolf: That is really cool. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Pete: I’m a pretty nice guy to my protagonists… eventually. I believe that novels and novellas should conclude with a positive ending. (Why pay money to get depressed when you can do that for free?) Because of that, for as much as it makes a satisfying, well-constructed story, my protagonists fare well. For a specific example, one character goes from being a 31-year old successful man who “wakes up” suddenly 650 years later as a 14-year old girl. Talk about messed up! Things work out very well for her by the end of the fourth book.
Wolf: I read the sample of that one. Looking forward to reading the rest. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Pete: Yeah… that’s where the “eventually” from the previous question comes to play. I’m outright nasty to my characters. I believe the distance a character travels from the nadir of the story to the zenith should be as great as possible. And since nearly all my characters have good endings, well… let’s just say what I’ve done to most of them pretty much excludes me from being on their Christmas card list.
Wolf: That sounds about write for most of the writers I’ve talked to. If you could have a super power, what would it be?
Pete: Teleportation without limit. I’d pay the bills by working for NASA, gathering samples from various locations off-planet, and spending weekends with my wife pretty much anywhere we wanted.
Wolf: Great idea. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Pete: Though I love all my protagonists and more than a few supporting characters, Abigail Wyeth is my favorite. Horizons was my first published novel, but Shards was my first completed novel. Comprised of four books and nearly 300,000 words, Shards was written in 54 weeks. I lived with the protagonist, Abigail Wyeth, virtually every minute of every day during that time. And then again in subsequent edits, and its successful publishing. (The four books came out over a six-week period and held four of the top five ebook sales slots for a couple months at the time of release.)
Abigail was me, more than any other character I’ve written. Sometimes an author understands that; other times they deny it. Regardless, the author is always showing themselves in their writing. I understood that completely with Abigail, which made her a cathartic character in many respects, while also being her own person.
Wolf: So true. What is your favorite body of water and why?
Pete: Waters within 20 miles of about any tropical island. Bethlynne and I are both accomplished scuba divers.
Wolf: That takes courage. I never made It past the surface when snorkeling. What story are you working on now?
Pete: I’m under contract for four Martian Westerns by H.K. Devonshire. The first, Company A, is available on Earth now through Falstaff Publishing. The second, The Bombala Mines Fast Draw, was just finished and sent in for editing and production. I’ve started and am now writing the third novella, Dixie Gomez: Bounty Hunter, which I’ve been looking forward to, as most of my novels are from the female perspective.
Wolf: Nice. I’ll look for them. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Pete: I’m a big history buff, so that takes up a good bit of my time. I also enjoy the above-mentioned scuba diving, spending time with our dachshunds, and writing. (Yes, I like to write when I’m not writing.) Most of all, spending time with my wife doing anything is my favorite pastime.
Wolf: Thanks for stopping by. You can connect with Pete through these links:
https://www.facebook.com/peter.prellwitz
http://shardsuniverse.net/
http://hkdevonshire.com/
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