Stephen D. Lalonde

I am back to swimming. I did a mile yesterday and another this morning. I have time while I am swimming to think about things. I usually review special events in my life, especially when I am on laps that number the years I remember, focusing on the events of those years. I also work on my stories. I can imagine character traits that I want to use and often draw on the memories I have of people I have known. All of this means that swimming provides physical exercise and mental exercise as wel...

As I promote and discuss my books, I find many people who ‘would like to write’. To them I say, DO IT! No, it is not always easy. In fact, it seldom is, but once started it does get easier. That old saying, the longest journey begins with the first step, is just as true with the writer’s journey. The story begins with the first word, phrase or sentence. Once you are down the road on the manuscript, those first words may get cut or edited, but they are how you start. If you a...

My wife is an avid quilter. She spends hour upon hour cutting and sewing to create blocks that are then assembled into quilt tops and then more hours with the long-arm machine quilting the top with the batting and back. Then comes the binding, and voila – a beautiful quilt. For me, writing is like that. I write various scenes that come to me, each being a ‘block’ of the story. Eventually, I ‘stitch’ the blocks together into a sequential storyline. She takes great...

My mind is busy working in the background on my next storyline, or more accurately, my next main character. I have been concentrating on filling the book orders for STRYMON and some for my other books, and spending time in the wood shop making things, but I keep seeing glimpses of the next protagonist. I am not sure yet of the time period or the exact setting, but I believe it will take place primarily or at least beginning in Egypt. It is nice to realize that much of ‘writing’ is...

I have great joy in my life; wonderful friends, loving wife and family, comfortable accommodations, more than enough food and drink. I get to swim and operate my radio station. I take great pleasure making things from wood and in writing and publishing books. Retirement is fantastic. Most of the things I had to put off for lack of time in my working days, I am getting to do every day WHEN I choose. It doesn’t get much better than that. I am very thankful for all of it.

STRYMON is going well. More than one third of the first print run is gone. It is still amazing to me to hold the printed book for the first time. After months of effort, seeing the finished product is incredibly satisfying. I love the cover that Kristi Stalder of Stalder Books and Publishing created for the book. It continues a graphic theme she started with the ANISSI cover. We are in the process of revisiting the covers of SINON OF KIRRA and MENTU THE NUBIAN to make a set of the four books ...

I am shipping another book this morning. I am very pleased that so many people who have read my previous books are ordering STRYMON. It is the second book that actually had a waiting list. Considering that I only promote on Facebook and by word-of-mouth, color me happy! There is no greater compliment to an author, in my opinion, than to have readers continue to order new books. I am hoping to begin receiving reviews pretty soon. Meanwhile the next book(s) seem to be forming in my imagination....

I am glad to be able to work in the wood shop again, but I am also in a state of creative chaos. I am planning to begin a new book or series of books in the fall that will develop a new set of characters, a different time frame, and an enhanced use of the Egyptian setting. The chaos comes from the fact that the characters I have been writing about keep coming back into my mind. For example, I wonder what happens with Amaros and Duwana, and what else happens in the lives of Mentu and Sinon? Th...

One of the attractions that writing these historical novels holds for me is the wonder of ‘being there’. Just as the characters come alive for me, so does the setting. My research is reinforced as I write these books and apply what I have learned. The stories play out in my mind like a movie and I become so involved that I have to remind myself that the reader needs me to write what I am experiencing so they can experience it too. With that said, there are parts of those times tha...

The June issue of HISTORICALLY SPEAKING focuses on Athena. Two pages on this goddess is not even a drop in the bucket of information about her. From her bizarre birth to the magnificent structures, statues and tributes afforded her, we see a complexity in the Greek goddess that represents the multiplicity of that ancient culture. The goddess of the brutality of war, and the sophistication of wisdom and handicrafts, she was a beloved figure to the ancients. The influence of her presence in the...

My fascination with ancient Egypt grows as I have studied about it for my books. I am considering making Egypt the central setting of my next book(s). I will enjoy describing the settings there. I have to give much thought to the dates that I will choose. I anticipate involving more historical figures. They will probably not be central characters as I want to focus more on the probable experience of the common class. All of this is brewing for now in my imagination. Meanwhile, I am spending m...

I have many of my books placed with readers, and they are spread across the states; South Carolina, California, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Florida (unless it got banned there. LOL.) It is not a significant number as publishing goes (because I don’t have access to a distribution system.) Word-of-mouth and Facebook are my only promotions, so I am pleased to have as many readers as I do. The reason for not pursuing a distribution system is that there is...

STRYMON is twice as long as the preceding books. I am receiving very positive comments, but no reviews yet as it is taking a while longer to read. I am hopeful that the reception of this book will be good. The comments so far lead me to believe that it may be the best book I have written yet. Strymon is certainly a fascinating character in the books of this set and because he is so mysterious, the book has a different nature in some ways than the other books. I am anxiously awaiting the revie...

Between sending books out and shipping wood items, I am a regular at the post office, as I go almost daily now. Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining. I am delighted to be sending out these things I have created for others to enjoy, and I am thrilled beyond words when positive comments are made about the books or woodworking projects. It keeps me motivated to do more. I knew what I wanted to do in retirement, and I am pleased to say that it is everything I hoped it would be and more...

I have been putting out a newsletter sharing the research I do for my books. So much of what I find doesn’t go into the books, so I share what I believe is interesting material in the two page HISTORICALLY SPEAKING newsletter. I have a list of people to whom I send the newsletter as a pdf attachment. If you would like to receive the newsletter, you can sign up for it here: https://ouranianpublish...

Right now, I am focusing on fulfilling orders for books. I probably won’t get started on the next book(s) until this fall. I am spending time in the shop, working on filling orders there as well. I am glad that I finally got a website that facilitates book sales (thanks to my youngest son.) I am hoping to get some book reviews on STRYMON pretty soon. I know that several people are reading it, but it is the longest book I have written so far, so it will take more time to get reviews, I a...

This weekend my wife and I attended a wedding. It got me thinking about weddings in ancient times and the fact that my books do not address that specifically. The relationships are present in the books, but weddings are not. A quick search for wedding traditions of the ancients Greeks and Egyptians yielded the following:

There are many ‘communities’ within the general community. Any definable group of people can be considered a community. The Spokane area has a thriving writers’ community, and it seems to me it is largely unknown to most citizens of the area. The writing community is made up of many sub-communities; some large like the Inland Northwest Writers’ Guild, the Spokane Fiction Writers, Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers and more. Others are small like the critique group to ...

The human condition includes all we experience; birth, learning, emotion, achievement, morality, conflict and death. Relationships touch on most or all of these. My books explore relationships in many ways. In SINON OF KIRRA, we see early on the unemotional physical relationship in Sinon’s experience with Polyxena and compare that with the love-based relationship with Femi. There is a very complex set of relationships involving Mentu. To Sinon he is a brother, to Sinon’s father he...

Hypnos (Greek god of sleep) and Morpheus (Greek god associated with dreams; son of Hypnos) play an ongoing role in my books. Sleep is a convenient way to end a scene or chapter. It also reinforces awareness of the exhaustion that comes from physically or emotionally stressful events. Dreams provide opportunities for foreshadowing, review of significant events, and deeper understanding of elements of the story. At times I may use sleep too much, but I believe it is appropriate from the realist...