Authors Not-So-Anonymous Week #18

Welcome everyone to the eighteenth Authors Not-So-Anonymous weekly meeting!! This weekly series is about authors from Twitter and Facebook!  This week, I would like to introduce Stephen Winterflood into Authors Not-So-Anonymous!

Stephen Winterflood is an Indie author who loves to take his readers on a wild adventure - "I would say the type of author I consider myself is one who tries to present tales of vivid imagination, that will take the reader on a wonderful journey regardless of age."  He began seriously writing about ten years ago.  "I was experimenting with an idea for a comic book and it suddenly occurred to me that in the time it would take me to do a single issue of the comic I could probably have written the whole series as a novel. So from that point on I abandoned the comic idea and began to develop various novels."  I wonder how many other novels were originally comics? (something to ponder)


When Stephen's not writing, he's dreaming up ideas for new video games or toying with digital painting.  "I believe you shouldn’t limit what you do, you should always try and push your imagination to new levels and never settle for a second rate finish. The world of our imagination has no budget so why limit what it produces."

Because of his visual background, the majority of Stephen's ideas begin with an image or painting.  "I tend to imagine the story as a film in my head, I can see the images unfolding and then it is just a matter of trying to come up with the words to put that image in the readers mind."  This backwards method has given Stephen's writing a unique touch that definitely stands out amongst the many Indie authors.

Stephen's favorite book is..."The Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my favorite novels and the only time I actually started to read a book and could see why they had got a publishing contract. It stands out with its great characters and a very dark, but entertaining story. It is a fun book that draws you into the world that is well crafted."

The Last Mask is a trilogy series that Stephen is currently working on.  Book 1 has been released on Kindle in the US and UK.  He hopes to have book 2 out in 2012, and the final book out shortly after.

Here is an excerpt from Stephen's novel The Last Mask - Tradition (book 1):

Dark tendrils of mirth crept out of the shadows and wove their way across the green fields towards the big top; the merriment of the show within the circus drawing them towards it like a bright flame

.

He was approaching. His black claws reaching out into this world like a slithering death, exploring this fresh realm that was full of new sensations, but also held many old memories for this ebony clown.

The Harlequin moved with a grace that was not a part of this world, his dance a thing of sardonic joy and his smile a sneer of pain. His every step brought dead flowers to bloom for the briefest of moments, restoring their life back to vivid colour, before withering them once more to dried dead husks. Death passed in his shadows for he was the master of their dark depths and none would escape his decaying gaze. No mind would be left whole again on this day.

Beside him crept silence, the pale shattered ghost of the twisted mime called Sile. Her face a distorted work of art that bore no resemblance to the beauty she once wore, a visage now twisted by the cruel humours of the Joke. Wisdom and madness lurked within her mind as her baleful eyes sought out their goal, broken pits of raven dark scanning the land with a hunger for this soul.

And before this grim pair trotted a dog wearing a big, frilly white collar, a pug whose face also bore the marks of the Joke. A snout made red and an eye circled in blue, highlighting the face of the one called Rex, a compatriot of the dark who knew where the true power was.

Across the fields they moved, this grotesque trio, leaving a wake of death in their path. The Harlequin knew their goal was now near, as this was the time and the place of which they had told, but the clown still remained out of reach, his face unseen by Sile’s dark eyes.

The music of the circus continued to draw the shadows near, but for others the missing of the performance would cost them very dear. (end)

Follow Stephen on Twitter.  Have an author to nominate?  Send me a message via Twitter or leave a comment with the author(s) name, Twitter name or contact information and the tag #ANSA.  I'd love to add new members!  Happy Reading!