Check out this author spotlight for Wayne Turmel!

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!

My name is Wayne Turmel. I’m a Canadian living in Las Vegas. I started life in the small town of Mission BC, spent nearly 18 years as a professional comedian, then got a big-boy job. I’ve written 4 novels, a bunch of short stories and 9 non-fiction books. Did I mention I’m tired?

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!

Cat or dog? Cats are fine, but I’m allergic. No amount of love is worth itchy, watery eyes. (A good piece of relationship advice in general) My current office mate and harshest editor is Mad Max, Defender of the Realm and Most Manly of Poodles.

Tea or coffee?  Too. Much. Coffee. My Canadian mother would be scandalized at how little tea I drink. But when there’s a crisis, it’s genetically programmed that the first thing you do is put the kettle on. Tea is for emotional emergencies only.

Mountains or beaches? Mountains. Something about seeing mountains that keeps you humble. Plus, at my age the sound of all that water makes me have to go to the bathroom three times a night.

Pen and paper or computer/phone? I noodle and outline on paper with a pen, then pound out the words on my computer. Can’t write on my phone…. My thumbs are too fat, and I have to blow up the text to about five words per screen so I can read it. I’m a dinosaur, but hopefully one of the cute cuddly ones that make good stuffed toys.

Hero or anti-hero? I confess I don’t like my heroes too perfect. In the 3 Musketeers, Dartagnan is a bit of a jerk, and he’s my favorite.  Johnny Lycan is a bit of both—nice guy, wants to do the right thing, turns into a hairy rage monster at the slightest provocation.

3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

I’m a sucker for Fish out of water stories or anything where the main character is their own biggest obstacle (if I had a therapist I’m sure she’d tell you why) My favorite historical figures and book characters are all very complicated humans who would be fun to talk to at a party but you’d want them dead by the end of the weekend.

4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!

I live a split life. On the one hand I write business books, and the third in our Long-Distance Leader series is coming out in January. Then there’s my fiction. Johnny Lycan is my 4th novel and a complete change. I’ve gone from historical fiction to urban fantasy. At first I worried it would ruin my brand, but what am I going to do? Tick off both my readers?

5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!

After 3 Historical Novels,  I have written the first in the Urban Fantasy Johnny Lycan series, “Johnny Lycan and the Anubis Disk,” with the next installment coming in November 2022 and I’m working on the third.  Johnny is a normal 30=ish guy in Chicago with a sketchy past who’s trying to start up his own security and relocation business. He just happens to be a werewolf, which gets tricky. He thinks he’s the strangest, most awful thing out there, but he’s learning the world is way weirder than he ever thought possible. Some people have compared it to Dresden Files, and that’s flattering, but I think it’s more like Spencer for Hire if Spencer was a Lycan. Think gritty,  humorous, detective noir. With claws.

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! 

I am bibliographically promiscuous (so much nicer term than “book slut,” which I am)  I like historical figures that succeed or not despite their own failings. That’s why real people like Byron de Prorok (subject of my first novel, The Count of the Sahara) and Richard Francis Burton fascinate me. My fictional inspiration stretches from the 3 Musketeers (my all-time favorite novel) to Hunter S Thompson, to Mark Helprin (whose prose is so beautiful it makes me want to quit every time I read himi) and back to Jim Butcher and George RR Martin. Sometimes you want art, sometimes you need jelly beans. I hope to write art-flavored jelly beans.

7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

Because I still rely on the dreaded day job, weekdays are limited to my non-fiction work like blog posts and my business books. During the week I doodle in my notebook, writing down lines and working out plot points. It’s like all those ideas build up like a dam. Then, Saturday and Sunday I pull the cork and spend time writing the book. This way I can pound out thousands of words in a fairly short period of time.

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?

There are 3 buckets of feedback and advice you’ll receive as a writer. The smallest bucket is the gold… take it and use it and learn to get better. The second bucket is well-intentioned and might be the roots of something useful, so treat it seriously and give it thought, then decide on your course of action. The third bucket is huge, and it’s all the useless, just plain wrong advice you’ll get from people. Thank them and ignore it. The trick is to listen to all of the feedback you get and carefully decide what goes in each bucket.

9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!

My Amazon Author Page, where you can find both my fiction and non-fiction work

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KQHJQ7D/

Twitter @Wturmel  https://twitter.com/WTurmel

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/wayne.turmel/ My website https://wayneturmel.com/