Ask the Author: Tony Jordan
Answered Questions (7)
Tony Jordan
Edna, Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed "The Train." Re your question: I crafted the situation with the mother/grandmother and the football game to demonstrate that institutions and governments often put in faceless rules they believe are the right thing but, in fact, are not. Then they refuse to learn from experience and make no changes regardless. As Jack's father clearly explains to Jack; you will know in short order if your 'right thing' isn't correct and then you need to acknowledge your mistake and correct it. Re the feelings of Jack's father, his is somewhat conflicted because while, as an adult, he understands the (by then changed) law and the fact his mother was powerless to stop the state but he is also hurt that none of his extended family stepped in and took him from the orphanage. This speaks to the taboos and social discrimination that occurred in those days with bi-racial children. He finds himself in a metaphorical purgatory suspended between love for his mother and his family writ large.
As for another story, this theme and the traditions of the Choctaw grandmother et alia are woven into many of the stories I've written. For example the Choctaws/Cherokees hold a prominent place in the novella "Follow Me" where Three explains the origin of his hometown's name. The story "A Council of Crows" is also based on Native American lore. If you liked "The Train" I think you'll enjoy "Follow Me and Other Stories" but I think you'll really like "Breakfast with Faulkner."
Thanks for reading my books and please do a review on Amazon as well as Goodreads.
Tony Jordan
As for another story, this theme and the traditions of the Choctaw grandmother et alia are woven into many of the stories I've written. For example the Choctaws/Cherokees hold a prominent place in the novella "Follow Me" where Three explains the origin of his hometown's name. The story "A Council of Crows" is also based on Native American lore. If you liked "The Train" I think you'll enjoy "Follow Me and Other Stories" but I think you'll really like "Breakfast with Faulkner."
Thanks for reading my books and please do a review on Amazon as well as Goodreads.
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan
That's a tough question. Which recent book? I've written four books and thirty short stories in the past three years. Ideas come from observation. Look around you. Pay attention. In my case I've had a lot of things happen to me in my life as an Air Rescue pilot; a spymaster and a counterspy. Plus I've been in the private sector in a big technology company and I'm classically trained so there's a lot there to work with.
Tony Jordan
Not sure. It just happens. Sometimes I'll knock out a short story in a day and sometimes it will take a week or more. I don't always feel like writing so if I don't feel like it I don't do it. If I do then I'll churn out two or three thousand words.
Tony Jordan
I'm currently in negotiations with potential agents about an espionage novel "They've Crossed the Rubicon" which is the first of a trilogy about a conspiracy to break the U.S. into five separate entities. It's based on an actual statement made by a former senior KGB officer in an address to new Russian diplomats in Moscow. I have a collection of stories "Spies, Assassins and Such; Oh My!" currently being reviewed by the CIA Publications Review Board (which is required to approve much of my writing) and I have two novellas "A Christmas Carol for Grown Ups" and "A Poor Christmas" I hope to have published before Christmas 2017. I continue to work on my version of the great American novel "Breakfast with Faulkner" which I intend to submit to the Willie Morris Southern Writers' Competition in the spring.
Tony Jordan
Write what you know and feel. Do your research. Don't advise someone to fly under the radar in a book that is set in 1921 or have someone arrive in New Orleans in 1945 on the train "The City of New Orleans", it didn't start until 1947. Details are important. Context is important. Don't gloss over.
Tony Jordan
Getting to do things my way. I don't write for a commercial audience. I'm a story teller and when I come up with a story to tell I do so. So far people have liked the stories. I'm sure there will be some who don't like this or that but you can't please everyone all the time.
Tony Jordan
I've never had "Writer's Block" because there is always something to write about. I work on multiple projects and when I'm a little tired in one I move on to another.
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