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FAQ
Where can I get a copy? If you're interested in ordering your copy of this exceptional debut novel, you can go to and search for Conspirator's Odyssey: The Evolution of the Patron Saint at: http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/index.htm or you can search the world wide web for those competitive online retailers fighting for your business. Some of those retailers are listed below. The most widely utilized and recognized lead the pack.
The national/international publicity campaign for this project will kick off around 06/16/08 and then I'll be able to give an update on when the project will be available in stores, of book signings, tours, etc. What inspired you to become a writer? Well, I’ve always been a creative spirit and an avid literary enthusiast. I think I’ve always wanted an avenue that would allow me to express myself in a creative way and so I began to write. Thirteen novels (Eleven of which were sold while I attended college) later and after a grueling trial and error when it comes to all things industry—I found a way by which I could gain recognition as an author. In 2007 I was signed to a publishing contract with Publish America to publish the first novel in my Conspirator’s Odyssey series The Evolution of the Patron Saint and then I hired one of the strongest publicity firms in America (Author Marketing Experts) to promote my work and I. My overall inspiration is that of the creative talents (Author’s) the work of which I’ve enthusiastically indulged in over the years. How did you attain capital for this venture? Let’s put this into perspective! Writing is somewhat like painting the next Picasso! All the money you spend on materials (Paints, paint brushes, etc.) cost money; yet you haven’t even started the job. And who’s to say you're going to earn any money after the job is complete? This money comes from the artists’ own capital derived from their personal finances—wherever these monies are earned. The same can be said for authors! What steps or government licenses did you need to obtain in order to start writing for profit? That’s the best thing about being an independent contractor working from home. The overhead is low and theirs know licenses needed for startup, yet your goal is to one day profit from your business venture and that’s where you'll want to register with the IRS and obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) so that when you do earn from your venture, you’re well within legal limits because you recognize that tax evasion is a serious situation you want to steer clear of. What adversaries have you faced? As mentioned in the second question above, “after a grueling trial and error when it comes to all things industry”, I did experience a wealth of adversaries that would take about a hundred more pages to detail. I’ll simplify them with a list:
Please write a few paragraphs on how you came to write this book, including any interesting experiences in doing so or getting it published: On November 22, 1999, the day before my birthday, I experienced one of the weirdest nights I’ve ever been through. If you will indulge me! On this night, I was walking the small paved road leading from my mother’s boyfriend’s home. He lived in a double wide trailer just next door. I was eating a bologna sandwich when I took notice of a silent but extremely large shaped figure hovering above the trees adjacent to our trailer, which sat next to a shallow dike. I remember it as if it was yesterday! I had just taken a second bite out of my sandwich when I saw this thing. On the other side of this dike was a large cornfield that connected to another small community of trailers. I noticed this unidentified object only thanks to the location my family and I lived in at that time—a location those who know would refer to as country, characterized by rolling cornfields and an array of trailer communities. In mentioning this, I want to make clear that being that far out in the country, the one thing I loved was having the opportunity to gaze up at the huge consumption of stars magnificently flooding the night sky, dancing about the cosmos with flawless grace. Skies free of light pollution, pollution that now seems to plague our cities and communities, leaving some of us to hope and pray for a momentary widespread blackout in order to get a glimpse at the beauty of our extended universe. You know what I’m talking about—night skies without the bothersome array of light pollution that we, over time, have been forced to adjust to due to society’s constant demanding need for modernization. On this night, I noticed the figure and its shape only because when I looked up into the sky, I noticed in that particular location the stars were missing. I remembered that I must have gazed at it, in shock, for about two to three minutes before a wide—eyed pale light slowly faded in off to the side of this object and, in a seemingly circular rotation, slowly began to move my way. From what I know, acting off pure fear and instinct once that light appeared, I dropped my sandwich and instantly began to run toward my mother’s boyfriend’s home, looking over my shoulder as I ran. Within seconds, I was at his door. I then noticed the light flicker out on this thing. I began to bang crazily at George’s door as I saw this figure lift further into the air, incline itself, and slowly begin moving further behind the trees headed out to the cornfields. I remember I wanted George to come and see this thing so I wouldn’t seem crazy, but when he finally got to the door, the thing had already disappeared. This very night I began writing a novel (with pencil and school paper) I eventually entitled Conspirator’s Odyssey: the Evolution of the Patron Saint, the first book in a speculative fiction series touching on conspiracies, politics, militarism, and philosophy. Oh, I forgot to mention that, upon further research, I found that I lost about two to three hours from that night when I could swear it had been no longer than ten to twelve minutes since I left George's home. TRUE STORY! What do your editor's think of your work? Well one of my earlier editors (Serenity J. Banks) had this to say about this particular project of mine: "In the trend of The Illuminatus Trilogy, Kuykendall paints an all-too-believable picture of interconnecting, power-hungry, conspiratorial madmen who essentially run the nation behind the scenes. But while Illuminatus is scatterbrained and nearly impossible for the average reader to follow, Odyssey gradually blossoms to reveal each new layer and fold at just the right pace." Are there groups to which your book would have particular appeal?
What basic points in your book are publicized?
Are you aware of or involved in online forums, bulletin boards, mailing lists, discussion groups, blogs or web sites? Only one that I've recently joined www.gather.com, but I'm not the type of person in liking with these types of discussion groups as I hate communicating online except for an occasional email here and there. I am trying, so I've set up a blog on this very site so that I may write interesting articles hoping to spark a conversation. Please list magazines, anthologies, periodicals to which you have been a contributor: www.poetry.com has highlighted a number of my poetic excerpts over the years in their many anthologies:
You're cute! I recieved my copy of your book today and have to say you're really passionate about what you write. What's your motivation? First, thank you for the comment on my look. I'm flattered! And you're right, I am passionate about what I write about. I wouldn't have been able to create it any other way. As too what motivates me; as I mentioned in the question second to the top, it is that of the creative talents (Author's) the work of which I've enthusiastically indulged in over the years. Where are you from? Albany, Georgia What made you think you could write a novel? Nothing really! I simply started writing one day attempting to mimic the writing styles of my favorite author's. The rest is history. Do you plan to write more novels? Yes I do. I've noticed that you don't provide a peek into your novel anywhere on your site. Could you provide at least an excerpt from the prologue? Of course! Here's an excerpt from the prologue: Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest surround the village of Estes Park, Colorado with spectacular mountain scenery, wildlife, miles of hiking trails, and scenic drives. Within this beautiful country, scenic byway Trail Ridge Road travels over the Continental Divide. For more than ten thousand years, people have visited this valley to enjoy beautiful mountain scenery, a moderate climate, and abundant wildlife. During an unusual cold spell, I sit here atop the historical glacial rock known as Sharktooth. I sit with my Medal of Honor in my palm, eyes fixed on nothing and everything on this December afternoon. I sit upon American soil, and Americans are now staging an all-out revolt. ‘Americans against America’ is written in the headlines of every major newspaper and spouted by news broadcasters from here to Timbuktu. Here I sit closer to heaven, letting my thoughts wander, for I feel the need to escape the upheaval of my country here in the land of the soaring eagle. A heavy-handed fist has fallen upon Americans with the rule of big government. Martial law now runs amok in the fifty states and it seems our government steadily tightens the noose. They’ve now tied the hands of American citizens who rebel against authority. On Tuesday, March 25, 2012, Americans succumbed to entrapment, beginning the slow but certain rise of a governmental superpower and the separation from what we as Americans held true: America, land of the once free--home of the once brave. Once they knew the truth, Americans began an uprising never seen before, including Democrats, Republicans, the religious, the not-so-religious, the poor, the rich, the young, the old, the dying, and the enlisted. Together they rebelled against a government that based its evolution specifically on deception, corruption, and death. Northern Colorado dims in reality as the continued evolution of the Rocky Mountains lays heavy the land. Glacial erosion is an ongoing process lasting hundreds of thousands of years. I sit here with a sharp realization: the world is changing drastically. This particular December day is a desperately needed vacation from the rigors of day to day life. Here in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, the land seems peaceful; with snow peaked mountains as far as the eye can see. It’s amazing to think these huge peaks were formed by glaciers, and I can’t help thinking--if our climate cools, the summers will no longer be warm enough to melt the winter snow. Amazing! Glaciers form when snow accumulates, compacts under its own weight, and forms an icy block. Glaciers are commonly a thousand feet thick--even thicker in places. I sit at the peak of this mountain because I desire to witness this marvel, for glaciers like to flow downhill. As a glacier moves, it picks up loose boulders and carries them. These boulders scour the underlying rock, grinding away like sandpaper on wood. After thousands of years, large gorges are carved out and a glacier carries away the rocks. The rocks and boulders a glacier carries are called tills. Behind the glaciers, this wilderness flourishes and life seems to return to a time when the land was wild and corruption wasn't even a word; a time when the red men and women praised the spirits and lived free. A time before Europeans set foot on foreign land, arriving on huge floating vessels the Indians referred to as ‘winged canoes of the gods’. These white-fleshed strangers were greeted with hospitality tempered with understandable caution by the warriors. In time, the white-fleshed strangers punished the Indian people for their kindness, judging them weak. They were butchered by the tens of thousands and stripped of the lands the Indians never proclaimed to be theirs in the first place. The Indian people lived close to their gods and the land that fed, housed, bathed and loved them. They never took the gifts of the land for granted. But these foreigners, these white-fleshed strangers, didn’t share or respect their beliefs. America began its evolution when Columbus boldly claimed this country for his queen, having discovered a new land to conquer. Although the new land was already inhabited, Europeans felt the Indian people were a minor hurdle--a wild yellow race who wore damn near nothing, spoke a language never heard before, and lived in pristine peace, free of detrimental politics. A race that felt no need to compete for a living and lived off the very land they walked upon. A race that prayed to their environment, not a Christian God. But the Europeans thought of the Indian people ‘savage blasphemers’. No way did they deserve this vast land. No way were their lives worth anything. Nope, not a problem to conquer at all! This is what my surroundings make me think of--the unflattering development of our country, America. And so I sit upon this rock, having freehand climbed Sharktooth Mountain, high above Lake Andrews Tarns' rushing streams of melted snow and deep blue, sparkling water. I sit, quiet and alone, with one ear to the frosted wind, attempting to escape the turmoil that has befallen the United States. I sit with a simmering vindictive smile upon my face, for I played an essential role in causing this revolution. Staring off into the distance, I think about my past. My cabin is nestled on a hillside behind me, only sixteen yards from the lake, and there I find some measure of peace. I can smell the hickory that burns in my fireplace, and the chimney spews white smoke that catches the wind and elevates to higher altitudes. My life is a twisted riddle that even I don’t understand from one day to the next. Nevertheless, what has me sitting in this chilled environment is a calling. I sit here enjoying the crisp negative two degree weather wearing only a windbreaker, a T-shirt, tube socks, sweat pants, and Nike sneaks. The dark blue haze I see in the Eastern sky this eleventh hour on Friday, December 12, 2015 is fast approaching. But I relax, because the environment won’t affect me here--brisk winds from the snow-peaked mountains will protect me. This is a vacation for me. I've chosen to take time and reflect on the hell that befell me both psychologically and physically. Several years ago, I wouldn't have guessed that I could lift a boulder weighing more than six hundred thirty plus pounds. Yes, with one hand I can elevate this boulder, and with the slightest jerk of my brachioradialis, forearm flexors, and the brachialis, toss this solid mass of rock forty feet without so much as a second wind. How is that possible? Well, I’d like to say I'm one of those comic book heroines like Super Girl, Hawk Woman, and Wonder Woman. I’d like to say I'm some sort of anomaly, born with mutant DNA. That others like me are out there, fighting for a place in this world among the human race. I wish I could say I'm an extraterrestrial sent away from my planet Krypton by my mommy and daddy, that the yellow sun of the planet Earth elevates my natural strength and prevents me from harm. Yeah, I wish I could say that, but the fact of the matter is; this super-empowered humanoid speaking to you is a product of man’s insane drive for absolute power over his own species. I’m the first of a breed of superhuman soldiers. Yet in my case I lifted that god-awful syringe toward my pulsing vein. With eyes closed, head back, and face scrunched in fearful anticipation, I slowly pierced layer after layer of my skin, revealing the connective tissue of my median cubital vein. With a slight thrusting motion, the needle burrowed into the smooth muscle layer and elastic tissue; then the endothelium. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, I plunged the vertical tip of the syringe past this layer, pushing DNA swiftly into my bloodstream. Although the process was slow, I took pause; fearing the worst. My trachea shifted upward then back down again in nervous anticipation of what this serum had in store for me. Why was I salivating? Who knows! Instantly my body rocked something fierce, it hit me so hard I shuddered and clenched my teeth. Grasping the lab table, I held on tight until the process was complete. Pain surged throughout my body like the liquid heat of concentrated acid. Every vein in my arm seemed to be affected instantly. This feeling moved quickly to the major veins and arteries of my body as the magic elixir strengthened my muscles and bones, tightening them into impenetrable iron. My blood flowed more smoothly and freely than it ever had. I could feel every bit of this change. A floating sensation somehow made me feel light and heavy at the same time, like I’d just consumed three gallons of expresso, a huge dose of amino acids, and fourteen capsules of Viagra all at once. This stimulated every faction of every inch and square foot of my body. The sensation was overwhelming! Unbelievably, the excruciating pain lasted a total of one hundred and twenty minutes and came in three stages. The first lasted fifteen minutes, the second, an hour, and the third, a total of forty-five minutes fifty two seconds. The rest was downhill, a sublime sensation like my favorite fruit-flavored Popsicle upon my tongue on a sweltering summer afternoon. I had vivid memories of childhood when, after a day of tree house tea parties and running amok in the woods, I’d lie under a shade tree with my childhood friends and suck on grape Popsicles. For a while I lay on the table babbling to myself, like a drunk. The marvelous transition I underwent that day made me a subspecies of humanity and promoted this American pawn to the rank of a royal guardian in the thriving hierarchy upon the chessboard of life ... Sir, do you have any interviews we could look at and/or read pertaining to your work? Of course! If you type into your favourite search engines 'A.K. Kuykendall' you'll be linked to many versions of the interview listed below. This particular version I have linked to my website I like the most:
To read Norm's Interview CLICK HERE I've read your book Mr. Kuykendall and I'm interested to know what catipulted such a fantastic storyline? What was it in history that made you choose to tell of such a grand adventure? To answer both questions; the motivation for the project Conspirator's Odyssey: The Evolution of the Patron Saint was based off of former United States president Dwight D. Eisenhower's last address to the nation. If you'll visit the 'VIDEO' link on this site you'll see a small reel of what I consider a fearless farewell. The contents of which is simply a snap shot of his address, but you must do as I request: read between the lines; to fully appreciate the vastness of my discovery. In this address to the nation, Mr. Eisenhower was speaking to more of a nefarious plot that couldn't be divulged outright or he would have met the same fate as did John F. Kennedy who was planning to tell all and let the cards fall as they may. Dare you begin! More questions to come ... You may contact Aaron at questions@thewriterofbooks.com if you would like to post your questions to be answered for the FAQ's page. Attachments will not be opened, so please place your questions in the body of your email. For this page, you'll remain anonomous. |
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