Bill Lynam, author
I am always interested in the work of other authors and illustrators. Following is a bit from author, Bill Lynam:
One of my background’s is as an instructor in adult education in upstate New York, where I taught and wrote both fiction and non-fiction: short stories, instructor booklets, text books, video scripts and lesson plans.
Lately, I’ve focused on different genres. In children’s books I wrote Bernie, the Flying Squirrel, a soft-cover, full-color, illustrated children’s book for ages three to seven in 48 pages, published in 2018. Illustrated by Russ Miller, a former research librarian for the Prescott Library, his previous career was as an illustrator for Disney productions and Marvel comics. The book is on Amazon and Kindle. Soft-over price is $7.99 and $2.99 on Kindle.
My latest publication is Lucky Foxes, a chapter book for seven to ten years of age. Good for bedtime reading, it is also illustrated by Russ Miller with black and white sketches for the twenty-four short chapters in this 114-page book, published in 2018. The book was written by my grandmother, Eleanor Maroney about the adventures of two red foxes for my brother and me. As an homage to my grandmother, I revised and edited it with the assistance of readers. It too is on Amazon priced at $7.99 and $3.99 on Kindle e-book.
Two other books in my repertoire are: Steampunk Mashup, a Collection of Victorian Adventures.
This anthology of fifteen, illustrated short stories is in this sci-fi sub-genre, plus fantasy, a 110-page book published in 2017. Sketches are by Russ Miller. On Amazon at $12.99 and $2.99 on Kindle e-book.
Footloose Pilgrims, a Journal of Moped Travels Through Europe is a travelogue, coming of age book written in collaboration with my brother that details our adventures in hitch-hiking, bicycling and mopeding through Europe, then going on to North Africa, South America and Central America before returning to school. Photos and maps illuminate where we were or went in each chapter. Published by Xlibris in 2014, this 330-page book is also on Amazon: $29.99 hardcover, $19.99 paperback and $3.99 on Kindle.
Currently, I’m working on a historical fiction novel based on the life of my two times great uncle, Edward Lynn, a Canadian lumberman who came out of Ontario, Canada to Michigan, traveled down the Mississippi River to Natchez, Mississippi where in 1861, he became a Confederate Officer. Working title: The Confederate Canuck.
All of my books were researched, even my children’s books. For example, you need to know something about the habits and environments of the flying squirrel and of red foxes, if you’re going to write about them. However, you don’t necessarily have to be slavish about making your characters meet all the criteria of the of the true worlds of these animals. Bernie, the Flying Squirrel is a book in full color. We know that flying squirrels are nocturnal. If I had Bernie colored in his true context, I’d have either black pages or using night-vision goggles, all the colors would be in starlight green. Same with Lucky Foxes. Foxes are solitary, My foxes, Tommy and Tina, co-habit.
The fifteen stories in Steampunk Mashup take place all over the world back in the 19th century,
and each story had a different backdrop that had to be researched. One of the stories–Pacific Low– takes place on a Hawaiian sugar cane plantation. Heyhaole , what do you know about cutting cane? No much. So, that sent me into the archives to find out about cane planting and all the agricultural data about cane, machinery for processing, the people who cut the cane back then, where they came from, who those people were, which races, who brought them and who was discriminated against and why. With just an inkling of who I was dealing with, I could then spin my tale.
For the research on my current novel, The Confederate Canuck, my wife Maria and I spent three weeks in Louisiana and Mississippi following in the footsteps of my protagonist. We visited plantations, historic buildings, museums, visited chancery court to look up the records, took rides on steamboats, samples the food, looked at old photographs and anything else we could to suss out the period and the lives my characters led. And, not to mention, lots of reading about the Civil War, who was involved in our area of concern, and the aura of the times, such as the mortality rates, from what, state of pharmacopeia, travel modes, distances, businesses, what goods came down the Mississippi River, on what kinds of boats, etcetera and ad nauseum. I love it, but at some point, you have to start scribbling.
Bill Lynam
dba Puyup Publishing Company
www.bill-lynam.com
puyup@cableone.net
