Check out this author spotlight for Deston Munden!
You can find all his links furthest down the page, and don’t forget to check out his books!
1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!
Hello, I’m Deston J. Munden, author of Dusk Mountain Blues and Tavern. I’m an African American fantasy and science fiction author from the rural swamps of North Carolina. I’m a huge fan of Dungeons and Dragons, video games, and cooking. I also like to dress up as fictional characters and sometimes just dress in weird clothes like tie dye shirts, kilts and ninja shoes. I’m a weird fella.
2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!
Winter, spring, summer or autumn?
Summer, it’s a fun, it’s warm, I get to wear tank tops. Overall a good time. Also it’s my birthday season.
Cat or dog?
Both. Both are good. Cats are good because they don’t care about you much until they want to cuddle. Dogs are just loyal and good bois and girls.
Tea or coffee?
Tea, because my heart can’t take coffee.
Morning or evening?
Morning person! I like getting up in the morning, getting all I need to get done, and then going to bed.
Library or museums?
Library! How else am I gonna be a writer?
Hunter or gatherer?
Gatherer. I can’t see myself killing an animal and besides there are thousands and thousands of edible plants and resources.
Witches or wizards?
Wizards. Witches, at least typical witches, are terrifying.
Ninjas or pirates?
Ninjas! I dress like a ninja, I want to be a ninja, they are deadly and silent. Pirates are loud and full of scurvy.
Mountains or beaches?
Beaches. There’s something tranquil about the water of a beach against the sand.
Plotter or pantser?
Panster. I’m a kinda on the l fly type of person.
Pen and paper or computer/phone? Computer, I can’t read my own handwriting on a good day.
Standalone or series?
Series, I like seeing how characters develop over several books.
Book or ebook?
Book. For some reason, I have an easier time reading paperbacks and hardcovers than ebooks.
Hero or anti-hero?
Hero! I feel like the world needs more heroes that are complex and just want to do the right thing.
3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?
For me, it’s fantasy races. If a book has dungeons and dragons like races, I will legit eat it up. I feel like with the popularity of fantasies like Game of Thrones, we have been stepping away from stuff like this and it makes me really sad. I’ve always enjoyed the books where the dragons weren’t always the bad guys and there were elves and dwarves and other fantasy races living their best lives. In the same vein, if you have an old wizard mentor character, sign me up. That’s my jam.
4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!
I write science fiction and fantasy. I’m currently working on the third book of my fantasy series named Undergrove (the name might change). It continues the story of the first two books, touching base with some old characters and new. It has much more of a dungeons and dragons vibe than the first book with a cast of powerful characters fighting off a potential start of an all-out war. I hope to catch your interest.
5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!
My most recent release is my science fiction book, Dusk Mountain Blues. It’s a mixture of a science fiction meets space western that follows three generations of protagonists: the grandfather, the father, and the daughter. It’s basically space mutant hillbillies in space. Don’t let that fool you. It’s an emotional story about family but has a lot of fun that you would expect from a bunch of hillbillies on a planet fighting colonizers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085LQJH3K/
6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!
There’s quite a few sources of my crazy muse. Books are the biggest. I’m a huge fan of Robert Jordan, Patrick Rothfuss, George RR Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Nicholas Eames, etc. But I feel like a lot of it comes from films and anime. I’m a huge fan of the isekai genre in manga/anime and I have over hundreds of recommendations for that alone. When it comes to music, sometimes, I feel drawn to a certain genre that I feel that character would listen to. I remember when I was writing Blues, I was huge into bluegrass and country. I feel like an author’s purpose is to learn and get as much media within them as possible.
7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!
Wake up, get my breakfast/water, sit down, and write as much as I can from 9-4 (with mental breaks in between to do what I want). Before, I didn’t really have a schedule. But I taught myself to keep to a schedule.
8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?
I think the biggest piece of advice would be to let yourself make mistakes. Before, I was so hard on myself when it came to writing. If it wasn’t perfect, it was in the trash. That was not a way to live my life. Once I got rid of that feeling, I learned to let my first draft be first drafts Nothing is going to be perfect and something is going to be wrong, even in the final draft. Let yourself make those mistakes and learn from them.
9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
Remember that the books are available on audible too!
Website: www.djmunden.com
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Deston-J-Munden/e/B07Q2D6948/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SrBuffaloKnight
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authordjmunden/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/D.J.Munden/
