Featured Interview With Stephen R Harlow
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born I West Virginia; we moved a couple of times when I was younger. We started out living in the country, then we moved to the city when I was 9, it was more of a small town than a city. Then we moved out into the country again, but in a different location, but all moves were in state and I still live here.
I do have a dog, black lab named Zorro; consequently, I would constantly address him as Mr. Puppy so he responds better to ‘Mister.’
It’s kind of weird though, he acts like a child: if I say Zorro he comes immediately because I never use his actual name.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I noticed my fascination with stories at a super young age. You know, my paternal grandfather would tell me stories all the time. On the other side, my maternal grandmother would read us stories all the time, she had a library of books back then, or so it seemed, anyway.
She used to also have us call the library: there was automated line where a pre-recorded voice would tell you a story. So, I got into stories at a young age. Fast forward to when I was 9 years old; I started writing my fiest stories after seeing how much my dad loved audio books. I would write little 4 page stories in a word app on our computer, and then record them onto blank tapes with me reading them.
It’s actually kind of funny to think back on because when I was in grade school, I was in slow learning classes for reading from kindergarten to 3rd grade. By the time I got to 7th grade, my reading teacher told me I was reading at a 10th grade level and then the next year, in 8th grade, my teacher and her assistant told me that I was reading at a college level.
So, I really owe a lot to that teacher that took the time to help me out from K-3rd grade. Her name was Mrs. Bennet, I never have known what her first name was.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
There are so many authors! 😂
Geez, there’s always a tough question and this is it. More or less I’m wondering how to do this and not be so long winded.
Louis L’Amour would be first, then James Axler, I’ve read some James Patterson before, Mercedes Lackey is a new one that I just kind of started… just really started reading her books but she’s awesome. I read the whole Harry Potter series as a child as well, those were actually some of the first novels I read.
Oh! I just remembered! I have to mention this one before I forget about it again! Loyd Alexander! I owe so much to that author for making reading fun for me. Honest to God, the very first novel I ever read was Time Cat, which he wrote, and that story still plays a big role in inspiring my writing, and inspiring me to write.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called ‘The Immortals.’ This is an awesome book on the western genre, it has its shootouts and action, drama, suspense: basically every aspect that makes a good story is in this novel.
It’s actually available for pre-order on Barnes&Noble, right now and releases on the 31st December 2024.
I had so much fun writing this book, honestly I was watching a ton of westerns at the time, mostly John Wayne movies: I used to watch the movie ‘The Searchers’ every single night for about 3 months. But the final inspiration for it was when I was playing Red Dead Redemption on Xbox One and I was wishing that I could be in that universe, so I went and wrote a western. A lot of my books are like that, it’s literally just me playing pretend in my mind and then writing it all down in Microsoft Word.
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