"OBSIDIAN!!!" The Mystic Poet Takes New York

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

More About the Author

As I promised, I will be posting from time-to-time my interview by Smashwords, which I hope will shed some insights into the creation of the two books, The Shaitan and Hobo Handbook: Memoirs of a Homeless Poet in New York, I published through their online Ebook distribution platform. So, once more here it is! As always I welcome your thoughts.

B-What motivated you to become an indie author?

After having submitted my works to numerous literary agents who, though assuring me that I was a terrific writer and had a good story, informed me (in the words of one agent: "I wouldn't know how to market it") that they didn't know what audience to target with the type of story I was writing. Well, after this debacle, I decided to seriously explore the world of Indie publishing.

Though, it has been a learning curve and a challenge, to be sure, I enjoy rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty in the actual day-to-day process of reaching out to a new audience and spreading the news about my writing projects.

I'm having a lot of fun.

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?

I grew up in the Bronx, during the 70s and 80s. Growing up in the Bronx at that time provided me with many rich and tragic experiences, which I believe fueled my writing imagination, in that I used to write a lot as a means of escape from the tough and challenging surroundings of my neighborhood as a boy. I’m glad of that now, seeing what it’s produced.

Another positive thing that came out growing up in what was labeled the South Bronx is that it allowed me to go to Alfred E. Smith Vocational High School, where I was further encouraged to pursue an amateur writing career by a very influential English teacher, Ms. Orge (pronounced "Or-hey").

“THE SHAITAN” & “HOBO HANDBOOK: MEMOIRS OF A HOMELESS POET IN NEW YORK” ARE CURRENTLY BEING SOLD AT THESE LOCATIONS:

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/573076

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/655627

Barnes & Noble Bookstore: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-shaitan-daniel-canada/1123886050?ean=2940152342888

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hobo-handbook-daniel-canada/1124340542?ean=2940153669205

Kobo Bookstore: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-shaitan

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/hobo-handbook-memoirs-of-a-homeless-poet-in-new-york

They are not being sold on Amazon.com at this time.

To view a few sample pages or to purchase the books visit:

https://smashwords.com/books/view/573076 (Note: You must 1^st remove “adult content” filter from top right hand corner of Smashword page to access the books, by clicking the “Adult Content” button before searching for the titles titles in search field).

If you want to view my Smashwords Author Profile visit:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ObsidianBlade64

You can also check out the comments I will be posting on these social media sites:

My Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.canada3

My Twitter account: https://twitter.com/lordlumiel

If you wish to shoot me a personal note, this is my email address: lordlumiel@yahoo.com

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Smashword Interview

Smashword: Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?

Daniel Canada: The first story or stories I ever read were from the Bible with my mother. I must've been at least three years of age. After which it was difficult reading the required books given to me by my elementary school teachers. Stories such as Jane and Dick, and See Spot Run.

The first story I ever read that influenced me as a child in some way was the book Where The Wild things Are, by Maurice Sendak. That book not only caused my imagination to run amok, but made it easier to embrace the unimaginable.

Smashword: How do you approach cover design?

Daniel Canada: To be sure, this process was very difficult and a huge learning curve for me, since I primarily am a writer and not a graphic designer. Fortunately I discovered a website and program called Canva. The instructions were simple enough for a design novice like myself and they even offered a tutorial.

I had several initial ideas of how I wanted my book cover for The Shaitan in particular to look. Though I ran into a problem at the beginning with selecting the proper images, being that the ones provided online were a bit costly. I resolved this challenge by taking my own photos with my cell phone and using these. At the advice of a trusted friend I decided to change the original book cover's images and replace it with more subtle ones.

For the Hobo Handbook: Memoirs of a Homeless Poet in New York I used a copy of a photo taken of me and gifted to me by my former homeless partner, Hobobob. These I felt would be attractive to the general audience and denoted more accurately what the two books were about.

Smashword: When did you first start writing?

My writing career began when I was in Alfred E. Smith Vocational High School and wrote editorials for my school's newspaper, The Smith Chronicles. After being further encouraged by an English teacher to enter into and submit an article in the city-wide NBC competition for amateur journalists and later being notified that I had won, I realized that at least an amateur career as a serious writer was a possibility for me.

My first major writing undertaking was co-authoring an historical fiction novel entitled Hegemony, with a friend of mine, which is yet to be published. After that time I've gone on to writing and self-publishing my own works The Shaitan and Hobo Handbook: Memoirs of a Homeless Poet in New York, both sold on Smashword, Barnes and Nobles and other ebook sites.