Author Interview: Samuel Ben White
This is a new feature for my blog. It's a service I hope to continue in the future. Hope you enjoy learning about the people behind the stories as much as I do. Sam has been kind enough to volunteer to participate in my first author interview. I've read the majority of the books he's written to date and enjoyed all of them. If there's any questions you've been dying to ask an author about the process of writing or what inspires them, feel free to pass it along and I will include it on the next interview.
Samuel Ben White
1) What possessed a Christian
Minister to write a series of science fiction/time travel novels?
I couldn’t help it. I have always loved reading (as a child, I wanted to
be read to) and was fascinated when I learned I could write stories that other
people would read.
The time travel angle was something I had always been interested in (probably
thanks to “Star Trek”) but I also realized we all have things we wish we could
go back and do differently. Whether it’s to change history in a big way
like saving a politician from assassination, or just to go back to last year
and stop that friend from texting while driving, we wish we could change the
past but don’t always think about what might happen if we did.
2) Were you afraid of maybe
experiencing backlash from both sides of the aisle for making Jesus one of your
main characters in your stories that take place in the future?
Oh no, you spoiled the surprise!! Wait, you didn’t tell them which
book. Whew! Seriously, I did wonder about that, but so far no one
has objected to that. I have, however, gotten a lot of
objections for allowing faith into my novels in general. I wonder if
Asimov or Tom Wolfe got these complaints for putting their beliefs in their
books? I did wonder about it, and could even see some objections I might
bring up myself, but once I got hooked on it as an element of the story, I
couldn’t let it go.
3) Who was the inspiration for your
private eye character, Bat Garrett?
Primarily, it was growing up watching “The Rockford Files” every Friday night
with my father. I wanted to develop a hard-boiled private eye like that,
but see him in the days before he’s beaten up by the world and cynical. I
have always loved James Garner’s sense of humor and that played a large part in
the creation of Bat Garrett. Stir in some James Bond, have a mix tape of
Randy Stonehill, Pink Floyd and John Williams playing in the background, and
out comes a Bat Garrett novel.
4) How do you balance your time as a
Minister, Family man, writer, and cartoonist?
My priority is serving God, which leads me to place my family first on the
priority list. Next, I am a minister and a hospice chaplain. The
others, I fit in around the edges. All the other ministers I know seem to
play golf or occasionally fish, but I like writing and cartooning. The
cartooning is the most fun, but it’s also the hardest because—drawing them for
the local paper as I do—I have to have three strips a week. The writing
is something I do when the mood hits me. These last few weeks I’ve been
in a very good mood and have spent almost every moment of free time writing the
first draft of a new novel I had never even thought of a month ago. When
those waves come, I jump on them. And when they go out, I don’t try to
force it. (I know the writer’s courses always say to “write every day”
but I figure I’m taking care of that by writing sermons, Sunday School lessons,
etc.) The great thing I’ve learned is: if I’m taking care of what God
wants me to do, he provides me with the time to do the rest; whereas if I focus
on these lesser things, all things fall apart.
5) Besides the Bible, what is your
all-time favorite book? And how about your favorite - movie, TV show, food?
Favorite work of fiction would be “Bendigo Shafter” by Louis L’Amour.
Favorite work of non-fiction would be “Mere Christianity”.
Favorite movie would be “It’s a Wonderful Life” with “Field of Dreams” a close
second.
Favorite TV show would be “The Andy Griffith Show”.
Favorite food is Mexican, especially a good enchilada.
(Today. Ask me tomorrow and some of these might
change!)
6) If you could go back in time, what
is the one event in history you would try to change?
I’ve thought about this so much—and for the sake of my fiction I’ve thought of
the ramifications—I don’t know that I would take this chance. If I could
just go back as an observer, I’d like to see Jesus walk on water, Washington
cross the Delaware, the Dolphins go undefeated, or my own children being born
(I was there, but I was in a daze).
If this is a set-up where I have to go back and change
something, I’d like to just pick the last time I hurt someone’s feelings
unnecessarily and go undo that.
7) If you could go forward in time,
but could only set the timer for one round trip and then the machine would
self-destruct upon your return, how far in the future would you go?
The day before the end of the world, to see if any of the prognosticators got
it right.
8) Of the standard issue sci-fi
technologies, which would you most like to have at your beck and call –
teleportation, anti-gravity, cloaking/invisibility, FTL, mental telepathy or at
least Jedi mind control, phasers, or a wormhole generator?
Teleportation, without a doubt. Every day off in the winter I’d beam
myself to Breckenridge, CO, ski for a few hours, then back in my bed by
nightfall.
9) In the final scene in H.G. Well’s
“The Time Machine”, the main character takes five books from his personal
library with him to the future. Which five books from your personal library
would you take with you?
The two mentioned above on my favorites list, a Bible, “The Lord of the Rings”
(in a single volume) and a book of Peanuts cartoons. Of course, if I had
a solar-powered Kindle …
10) In choosing a path to follow in
life, who was most responsible for pointing you towards it?
My parents.
11) If you were forced to leave the
Great State of Texas (heaven forbid!) and had the wherewithal to relocate
anywhere else in the world, where would you go?
Probably to Breckenridge. It’s our favorite vacation spot—any time of
year—so I have always dreamed of living there. I’ve wondered, though, if
the reality of day-to-day living (plumbing problems, flat tires, dreary days,
etc.) would eventually ruin it for me. What makes it great now is that I
never have to worry about any of those things when we’re there.
Sam’s webpage where you can find his
books: http://garisonfitch.com/
Sam’s “Tuttles” cartoon page: http://www.tuttles.net/tuttlesarchive
Thanks for the interview, Robert! I't great knowing someone has read my stuff and liked it!
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