Featured Interview With Blaine Coleman
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
A lifelong resident of Virginia, I grew up in the rural southeastern part of the state with a large extended family. I majored in Religious Studies and minored in Creative Writing-fiction at Virginia Commonwealth University. I now live in a rural area near Richmond where five year old beagle, Leah, and her new companion beagle, Sage, have room to run. I spend my free time with my favorite activity, gardening, participate in Midlothian Wordsmith’s Workshop, and read and write as often as possible. At university, I was fortunate to have many incredible writing teachers, the most recent being authors Clint McGown, and Sheri Reynolds, bestselling author of “Rapture of Canaan”, among others. I learned from Clint McGown that prose can be as beautiful as poetry and I gained a love of southern fiction from Sheri Reynolds.
Among other projects, I’m currently working on an “alternate-earth” science fiction novel that I hope to complete in early 2017.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As with many people growing up in the south, the first book I read was the Bible. The first fiction book I purchased, at age twelve, was Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” and then I read every science fiction or horror story I could find. I wrote some in high school, but didn’t make a serious attempt until college. In the past ten to fifteen years, I’ve written essays and short stories in journals I’ve kept (often nothing more than spiral-bound notebooks). I read and write every day, usually in the evening which is my only real free time. Coffee is a lifesaver!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and many newer writers. Science fiction is my genre of choice, but “southern literature” has a certain appeal, as well.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Falling Water: Stories & Poetry
This collection takes an incisive, penetrating look at life and that offers an insightful look at the realities we all face- the highs and the lows, hope, happiness, joy and the inevitable grief and suffering that must accompany the good. These vignettes are from handwritten journals I’ve kept for several years. There is sadness, as in life, but also hope in the redeeming goodness it offers.
The title story, “The Waterfall”, is a powerful study of loss, acceptance, and growth. In “Butterflies”, a young boy learns a lesson about acceptance and appreciation of what he has been given. “The Lighthouse” is a moving tale that’s as close to poetry as prose and offers a beautifully upbeat ending. “Grandma Brown” is a nostalgic and emotionally moving tale of familial love. “A Boy and His Dog” tells the story of a young boy learning to accept loss and the realization that nothing is ever truly lost. “Waiting” is an incredibly powerful and moving tale of a man’s love and acceptance in the face of the finality of dying. “The Source” is a classic short horror story. “And When I Got Home” features a young man finding his own path to spiritual enlightenment. A short collection of poems range from the unusual to the more traditional and beautiful. The closing story, “Wisteria”, is an emotional tale of a man visiting his now abandoned childhood home and realizing that nothing ever truly dies.
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