Featured Interview With Benjamin Westbrook
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Germany and raised mainly in Texas. I left Texas for Colorado and now live in St. Louis, Missouri.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
When I was twelve years old, my parents gave me all of the S.E. Hinton novels in paperback for Christmas. I read “The Outsiders” in one day and has finished the collection within a week or so. I began writing shortly thereafter and have been doing so ever since.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author is Tolstoy. He had a gift for picking up on people’s motivations. My favorite character is Levin, from “Anna Karenina”, because of his humanity. I also love Chekhov, Somerset Maugham, Michael Chabon, and Raymond Queneau. Each exhibited an ability to see people and to capture the simple complexities that make us who we are.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My debut novel, “Infringement”, was released on Amazon in December. I began writing the novel after reading about the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. I wanted to examine evil and, more importantly, faith. After spending a few months researching and coming up with a general path for the story, I wrote the first chapter in April 2013.
During the course of writing “Infringement”, one of my children was diagnosed with leukemia, and I was faced with the darkest time in my life. Through that journey, I came to a better understanding of what faith in all circumstances entails and was able to use that experience in my writing. The journey of my main character, Declan Parker, is reminiscent of my own in that Declan is faced with darkness and evil, but finds a way through it by faith.
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