Ask and Ye Shall Receive Part the First

Thanks for the questions yesterday, even the ones from two smartasses who shall remain nameless. First off, some random trivia that no one asked about*: this post's title is adapted from chapter 7, verse 7 of the Gospel of Matthew ("Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.")

My faith is a fairly big part of who I am as a person, which I won't get into here because ... well let's be honest .. that's not why you read my blog. I also tend to not discuss religion with people -- not because I'm afraid of offending them (I really don't care if people get offended by my religious beliefs or not. They're my beliefs. Not yours) -- but because I've done so much independent study that my answers tend to be much longer and more detailed than necessary.

And now onto the questions:

From Susan:

I want to know if you write anything other than steampunk. If so, do you research as much for the other genre?

I do have an epic fantasy trilogy on the back burner (SON OF MAGIC is actually book one). I've attempted to write paranormal fiction though, so I guess you can count that. To answer the second part of your question, yes I've done a lot of research for those stories. There's reams of notes about Renaissance Europe, Imperial China, and the Vikings (yes, the Vikings) that I've made as the basis for several cultures on Haldor (the world of SON OF MAGIC).

It doesn't help that I'm fascinated by history and discovering new things. I very much suffer from over-researching something, but I still maintain it's not my fault that history is so interesting.

From Stephanie:

If you sold your first book and got an advance of $7,000 (which you'll earn through in no time since your book has landed on the NYT Bestseller List), how would you spend that $7,000?

As it stands right now, I probably wouldn't do anything with it. Well that's not true ... I'd use the after-tax income to pay down my student loans (I hate having debt with the fiery vengeance of a thousand supernovas). Then again, my wife would of course have her say in how we spent that money as well. So my opinion doesn't carry that much weight.

All things being equal though, I'm thinking a weeklong vacation to Ireland. The Irish are easily my favorite people in the world (after all, I did marry a woman who's an Irish/French-Canadian blend).

From Renee:

You work a lot, and you write. So, do you have time for any other activities/hobbies? How is married life? All that you expected? What is your favorite childhood memory?

About the only other hobby I have time for (and this is an uncommon occurrence) is playing video games with my wife. Neither of us have much time for them as of late, even though she's excited for several games that are already out and some others that will be released in February.

Married life is ... interesting is perhaps the best word. My wife and I spent our first two years living very different schedules (and we still do), but the difference now is I get to see her every night when I come home. Which is a very pleasant change. I'm also lucky enough to have entered holy matrimony without any pre-conceived notions of what it was going to be, so I didn't have any expectations to either be fulfilled or disappointed.

I don't have one specific favorite childhood memory that I can point to and say "that's the one." Rather, I'll go with all the Christmases before my older brother and sister moved away. Those were always a fun time around the Delman household.

Since I don't want this post to ramble on, I'm going to cut the answer goodness here. No worries for the other submitters though -- your questions will get answers tomorrow.

Thanks for making post 75 a good one folks! You keep reading and I'll keep writing.

Oh and L.T.? The square root of muffin is doughnut. Thought you'd want to know that right off. ;)

* People who know me in real life know my love of random trivia well.