Book Title: Waking Wolfe
Book Genre:
Thriller (Political, Espionage, Technothriller, Conspiracy)
Book Audience: 17 and up, not suitable for middle school. Violence, Sexual
Situations, explicit torture in some cases with vivid descriptions from the
tortured character's point of view.
Book Description: This is the first volume in S.L. Shelton's
unfolding story of corporate corruption in the Scott Wolfe is a talented computer and electronics security specialist and an avid rock climber. He's a pretty typical twenty-something; he likes to party, he's bad at relationships, and he is a bit more adventurous than common sense would dictate.
He does have one trait that makes him atypical, though. That gift is the secret to his professional success—and it comes in quite handy when a rash decision turns his life upside down.
How much responsibility does a man have for the life of an ex-girlfriend? That's the question Scott had to ask himself when Barb Whitney, her father (a State Department Attorney) and twenty eight other diplomats and their families, were supposedly killed in a terrorist attack in Amsterdam.
When Scott gets a text message from Barb's phone after the explosion, he is propelled into an adrenaline charged operation, worthy of the intelligence agencies he is trying to avoid.
Dodging killers, organized crime, mercenaries, and the CIA, he struggles against a clock that even he doesn't know is ticking.
world's governments and the
adventures of a young Scott Wolfe, who is unknowingly swept into a secret war
of massive proportions.
How did you become involved in writing stories/books? What was your motivation to become a published author?
I've always loved
spinning stories. Since I was a kid I excelled at it. Unfortunately, I wasn't a
good student, so the idea of sitting down to write anything other than a few
paragraphs was not palatable. When I was in a young man in the military, at a
time of great upheaval in my life, I had a dream...a very vivid dream that
stays with me in amazing detail to this day. In this dream, my grandfather came
to New England to visit me despite having passed several years earlier. In this
dream, he took me in his car (which turned out to be someone else's car) to a
book store in the town I lived in at the time. He showed me a stack of books on
the display table, leading me to believe he wanted me to buy a particular book.
But when I looked more closely at the cover, I saw that I was the author. When
I asked him what it meant, without speaking, he led me back to the car and I
proceeded to get down low in the back seat, for fear of being seen by guards at
a checkpoint (I have no idea why). After driving for some time, he stopped in
front of a house, got out without a word and joined another older man before
disappearing around the corner.
The dream ends there. At no time did he ever say a word to
me and at no time did I discover why I was "hiding" from
authorities. My grandmother later
described the car, the house and the other man I had seen after I had given a
very vague description of the car...I started writing my first book after that.
Sadly, it was horrible. Over the years, I had started many first and second
chapters, but never finished any until I retired from the tech industry after
selling my company. Three months after retiring, I began writing the Scott
Wolfe Series.
What inspired you to
create your main character Scott Wolfe?
When you wrote the first book “Waking Wolfe,” did you have a master plan
for creating the series, or were you compelled to write more about Scott once
you finished?
Scott Wolfe is a combination of personalities; I'm in there a
lot, as is my son, who I must say is often more laid back than I was at the
same age. Physically, Scott's adventures are beyond me. But emotionally, I've
been through the entire range, so when constructing a character like Scott, I
have a lot of experience and observation to draw on.
When writing the first novel, I had no idea it would be a
series until I was almost half way through the first draft. But I realized
there was too much character depth and pent up emotion not to let it spill into
more books. I'm glad it worked out that way and the story arc for the series was
very easy to outline once I decided to carry it forward.
You have a technical
background in computers, which you have imparted upon Scott. How much of his technical expertise comes
from your experiences, and how much of it is based on research?
The basic
technical premise of data organization, flow charting, and the can-do attitude
of "yeah, I can get there from
here", is all mine. But my practical experience in hacking, system
security, viruses and fancy spy gadgets is nearly nonexistent. I wasn't that
kind of programmer. And by the time my tech company had grown to need that sort
of expertise, I had hired others to do the heavy lifting. The running joke in
my firm was that "your code better pass QA or Shelton would take a look at
it...he'll find the problem but it will take three times longer than it took
you to write it." So, yes. I had the technical background to do most of
it, but I was so excruciatingly slow at anything other than design, the techs
would hide their work from me when I walked by. I did, however, over my long
career, learn plausible "geek speak" to answer questions from clients
and staff when asked silly or demanding questions. Sounding confident in your
tech jargon usually is enough to shut down more penetrating questions and often
gives you the appearance of a wizard, imparting grand mystical secrets that
they couldn't hope to understand...usually with a reply from them of "Oh!
Okay then. Thanks for that."
Scott and his CIA colleagues
inevitably find themselves in the middle of dangerous situations, whether by
choice, or accidentally due to the nature of their missions. What are some of the difficulties in writing
an action sequence or a fight scene?
I've never found it difficult to write
action or fight scenes. Like much of my "design" success, I am able
to visualize in great detail. In my younger years, I also studied various
fighting styles ( some are mentioned in the books) and at one brief period in
my life, I was prone to fights...okay, maybe not brief, maybe it was most of my
young life...Okay, I was a fighter from an early age and continued to fight
well into my twenties...maybe my early thirties. Alright, alright, I'm a bruiser and like to
kick ass...okay, are you satisfied? ;)
With the release of
your fifth book, “Harbinger,” do you look back on your previous books to see
how you have grown as a writer and a storyteller? How is this book different from the previous
ones from a writing aspect?
YES! Oh my God! I'm almost embarrassed by my
first release of Waking Wolfe (Then it was called "A Lamb in Wolfe's
Clothing") I've taken on a ritual of going back and revising each novel as
I release a new one. I'm still very much developing as an author and since I
did so poorly in school, am not the most educated writer. I'm very happy with
the stories themselves, but the writing style has been updated in the early
books a couple times...including recently with the release of Harbinger.
I look back at some early changes and cringe. For example; I was once given advice from an author friend I respect, who told me that dialog tags could be more than just said or replied, so I went back and updated to exchange nearly all occurrences of "said" and "replied" with other, more flowery tags. MISTAKE! It made the dialog (something I'm usually very strong at writing) difficult to read through, clumsy and forced. I've scrapped that whole premise and have rewritten all novels in my original style of dialog.
Some readers have
commented on the fact that you write in both first person and third person
throughout the books. It seems to
confuse some readers while others adapt quickly to it. What made you decide to use both points of
view?
That was a tough choice and I agonized over it for a long time. I
initially had intended for the stories to be multi third person POV. But when I
started to put Scott alone and with his "voice", I decided the flow
would be much better if the camera was lodged directly in his skull. After
rewriting the first few chapters in that style, my early beta readers liked the
change of perspective. Unfortunately, I also had much back story in the form of
other characters that I wanted to include in the stories. I've tried to keep
the separation clear and given plenty of warning to the reader when they start
a new section from another point of view, i.e. "NICK HORIATIS slammed his
fist into the..."
I have to say, I'm much happier with the story that way and
have come to look at it as simply "bonus footage" of events outside
Scott's line of sight.
Looking ahead to the future
of the Scott Wolfe Series, what can we expect to see? Are there more books planned, or is
“Harbinger” the end of the series? What
do you hope readers take away with them after reading your series?
There
are a few more books in the current Wolfe incarnation. I haven't decided if I
will take the series further than the "epic" conclusion of Scott's
first year in his new life, but I foresee two or three more books in the current
Arc. As for what my reader takes from the series, I hope they are, first,
entertained, and second, inspired to examine the world around them more
closely, looking at all the subtle, hidden meanings in life and becoming
curious enough to question them and pry further. But mostly to be entertained.
:)
Books in the series:
Waking Wolfe, Unexpected Gaines, Danger Close, Wolfe Trap, and Harbinger (released May 2015)
Start the Series Now! Purchase "Waking Wolfe" at Amazon.com (exclusively)
Author Biography:
S.L.
Shelton is a passionate, fact spouting former techie and soldier who is
constantly at odds with his need to kick the legs out from under those who
abuse their power (Political, Economic or Super). He lives on a tiny little
farm on the banks of a tiny little river in the northwestern part of Virginia,
where his semi-secret identity is somewhat protected on three sides. Despite
deep misgivings about writing on subjects close to his own life, he has penned
a series of books about a similarly broken, similarly gifted young man who
similarly doesn't have a clue when to stop and re-evaluate life decisions.Before building his career in the computer field for nearly two decades as a developer, designer, trainer, and a CEO, he had the honor of serving in the US Armed Forces in several roles, most involving explosives of some sort. After selling his successful micro empire in 2011, Shelton retired to his study which he hasn't left since. On most days he writes, but when left alone and to his own devices, breaks his troll like existence long enough to sneak into the sunlight and fire a weapon or two, snap a few pictures or pick some vegetables from his wife's prized organic garden beds.
Though his climbing days are behind him due to injuries (several to the head), he was an avid rock climber, having climbed for decades since his teen years. His three children are grown and living very adventurous lives of their own.
Waking Wolfe is his first published novel and the first novel in the Scott Wolfe Series, followed by Unexpected Gaines, Danger Close, Wolfe Trap and Harbinger. Predator's Game is scheduled for release near the end of 2015
To learn more about SL Shelton's
"Scott Wolfe Series"
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Website: http://www.boldsteps.com
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