galdrin

These interview questions from

user. Feel free to submit your own questions, or ask me to interview you! Anyway ...

1. I love your descriptions of Texas - have you always lived there? Is it where you want to be?

I was born in the small town of Geneva, NY at the head of Seneca Lake. My G-father, for whom I was named and a successful businessman, had heard for years that Texas was the land of opportunity and was growing like gangbusters. So he and my G-mother came down to scout it out, bought a company in Fort Worth, TX, and moved down here permanently. Shortly thereafter, my parents packed us up and followed. After that my youngest uncle moved his family down to Ft. Worth. I still have one uncle and family in the Geneva area.

For us though, that was 1960 so I have been a Texas resident for 43 years now and while I may not be a Native Texan, I might as well be. I used to have a certificate, signed by the Governor at the time, stating I was a Texas Compadre. A native Texan would say I was a "damn Yankee" 'cause I came and stayed. Anyway, I love this state with its wide variety of cultures, countryside, and wildlife. We have beautiful pine forests in east Texas, a gorgeous coast along the Gulf of Mexico, the scrub oak covered Hill Country, the rolling plains in N. Texas, and the Chihuahuan desert and mountains of West Texas-Big Bend country. We may not have the Rockies, or Laguna Beach, or the Great Lakes, but we have a lot of what we have and we love it. Interesting – make fun of it as you will, the laid-back, easy going, good old boys attitude of Texas is for real. Everybody helps their neighbor and are friendly to strangers – we say howdy and mornin' to just about everyone. Heck, some of us still open doors for ladies and tip our hat. There are exceptions, obviously, but the real Texas is everything we say it is – even the bragging, exaggeration, and fierce pride in our State. If you had a bad experience in Texas, that was the exception to the rule – come on back and give me a chance to change your mind.

Not that I haven't spent time wandering around this country (and out of the country when the opportunity presents itself.) My grandparents were big on hauling the grandkids off during summers so I've traveled through most of these United States, some of the border towns of Mexico, and the eastern half of Canada. Some places I have yet to see include the Pacific Northwest (not counting Calif.) east to Minnesota, and I haven't seen New England yet (that area north and east of New York State.) Outside North America I've been through London briefly, UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Of them all, I found the Brits (the common man) to be quite friendly – so are the Canadians.

You ask if it is where I want to be. I have three(3) places on my list of Places to Live. Number 1 on the list is either Alpine or Fort Davis TX, out in the Big Bend area. Number 2 is the Adirondacks of upstate New York state, either Big Moose, Inlet, or Eagle Bay. The 3rd place on my list is Durango, Silverton, or Ouray, in southwestern Colorado. But West Texas is my favorite – it's gets downright cold in winter (even some snow), hotter'n hell in summer (but it's a dry heat), and the wildlife is to die for. Of course, I haven't seen Montana or Wyoming yet … or Oregon … or Maine … but yeah – I love being in Texas and can't imagine living anywhere else, given the people, the cost of living, and the wide open spaces.

2. What's on your bedside table?

Let me think.

a small bedside lamp.
three(3) small wooden boxes, about hand sized, with my jewelry.
an electronic alarm clock boasting a picture of the album cover of Jethro Tull's The Broadsword and the Beast.
two(2) promo cards from Image's Wildstorm - one featuring Michael Cray/Deathblow and one featuring Jackson Dane - my two favorite characters from that universe.
(currently) The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy.

3. Describe the perfect vacation.

June, July, and August at The Waldheim on Big Moose Lake, traveling around the Adirondacks and sightseeing.

4. How did you and Joyce meet?

Oh hell. 10 years ago, I'd divorced my first wife and was living in NW Houston. At that time the internet wasn't as publicly accessible as it is today, so people subscribed to things like VideoTel and things like that or logged into local BBS's and chatted – exactly like ICQ or AIM today. One of the local BBS's in Houston was called Chatterbox and I was a member. I liked it because they held (what I call) a RealSpace every Saturday night at local hotel clubs and I got to meet a lot of really nice people.

Anyway, one evening a user with the handle ForYourEyesOnly logged in, so (as was my habit) I sent her one of my ascii roses, and we started chatting. We talked quite a bit over a period of several weeks, though on some evenings I went missing because I umpire little league baseball. Well, one night she asked me what my umpiring schedule was for the next few days and I said that I was calling a league championship game the next afternoon. She said she might show up, and sure enough, she arrived with her 2 boys (she figured something as public as a kids baseball game was about as safe as as anything), watched the silly things the umpire did with the kids, and then we went out and had pizza afterward. We started meeting at the RealSpace's, then meeting halfway between us for coffee and conversation (she lived on the opposite (SW) side of Houston from me), and the relationship just blossomed over time.

5. Have you written any more of the Maria story?? Can I beta it??? Please?

The Maria story? What Maria story?? I think you have me confused with someone else. The only thing I've worked on recently was Darke Elysium back in November. Refresh my memory.