SHAKING THE SIX DEMON BAG: Six Extremely General Questions With Don Gates

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

I’m a customer-service flunky, husband, multiple-pet owner, and hopeful graphic designer (just graduated!) who tries his hardest to write pulp adventures in his spare time.

WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT PROJECT?

Currently I’m working on “Challenger Storm: The Curse of Poseidon”, the follow-up to my debut novel, “Challenger Storm: The Isle of Blood”, which has been out since November from Airship 27.  In addition to continuing the adventures of global adventurer/troubleshooter Clifton “Challenger” Storm, I’m also plotting several other works featuring other characters that inhabit the same pulp-universe in the 1930’s (and beyond).  These other projects will run the gamut from espionage and urban-vigilante tales to lost-world, aviation, and possibly even super-heroic style tales.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?

I think I’ve been influenced by a little bit of everything.  Certainly reading Doc Savage influenced the creation of Challenger Storm, though I try to stay away from things that might make him a pastiche of Doc.  I’ll never forget reading my first Doc: home sick from junior-high school and laying on the couch... it transported me away and I always loved that about adventure pulps, and any pulp literature, really.  It’s just pure, fun escapism.

Besides pulps, I’m influenced by action films, comic books, video games, legends (both mythological and urban legends... I love that stuff).  Pretty much anything that gets my head into another world influences my writing.

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR STUFF?

Currently, “The Isle of Blood” is available at:

-IndyPlanet.com-http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6298

-Amazon.com-http://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Storm-Blood-Don-Gates/dp/1613420234/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321478583&sr=1-1

-Barnes & Noble-http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/challenger-storm-isle-of-blood-don-gates/1107311402. 

-The PDF version of the book is is available at Airship 27’s PDF hangar- http://gopulp.info/

WHERE CAN WE FIND YOU?

The Challenger Storm blog is at http://challengerstorm.blogspot.com/, and there’s a Facebook page as well- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Challenger-Storm/114871605204829.  I personally can be found- often all day long- on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1032036822 .

INDULGE IN SOME SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION-WHAT SHOULD WE BE BUYING OR READING OR WATCHING OR LISTENING TO WITH YOUR NAME ON IT?

Well, you should definitely go check out my book.  When I wrote it I set out to tell a fun old-fashioned pulp adventure tale, but I also tried to sprinkle a few modern-touches into the mix to keep it from being a tired old retread.  The book’s artwork doesn’t hurt, either: both the cover and the interiors were illustrated by none other than comic book legend Michael Wm. Kaluta.  The publication of this book is not one but two dreams -come-true for me, as I’ve always wanted to be a published author and have always wanted to work with Mr. Kaluta.  The feedback that we’ve received so far has been terrific, and people seem to really enjoy what we’ve done here.  Give it a shot, and drop me a line to let me know what you think!