← Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
Living The Next Chapter: Candid Conversations with Authors and Writers for Readers Searching for a New Read
E680 - John Newton - Historical science fiction, a stone that heals anything, look-alikes, and time travelers losing their tools
00:43:39
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- [00:02]
John Newton
After Sharon finished her shift, she grabbed her abnormal psychology textbook and visited Mr. Hunan's room. He had turned off the light and crawled into bed. The hallway light bathed the room in an amber glow and cast long shadows. Mr. Hunan lay on his bed with his eyes closed, the blankets rising and falling with his breathing. She he reminded her of her grandfather with his wavy white hair and made brighter because of his tan face, deep smile, wrinkles, and big ears. The scent of mouthwash and lavender. Lavender filled the room. Instead of the typical Clorox or mothball odor, a quick glance around revealed a neat and simple life. His pants were folded on the dresser next to a row of notebooks. A well worn Bible lay on his nightstand and five new pencils, a glass of water, and a black, white, black and white photo of a young woman. Mr. Hunan had left the nightstand drawer open, and Sharon moved closer to close it. Inside were over fifty, maybe a hundred pencils scattered like straw. She might need to check his psych evaluation. Is he a hoarder? She wondered. Not likely. There's no clutter in the room. Is he like that patient of B Wing who can't live without his crossword puzzles? If so, where are Mr. Hunan's crossword books or newspapers? She examined the pencil. Broken, she thought. No wonder he wanted new ones. All I had to do was ask. We have a sharpener at the desk. Instead, he asked for new ones. The five pencils on the top of the drawer dress of the dresser had sharp tips once from the drawer. No, it's not broken. She fished out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight. When she shined the light down on the pencil center, the graphite channel was empty. There was no gray residue, only wood. And I'll leave it there, everybody.
- [02:00]
Podcast Host
Welcome back to Living the Next Chapter. The Author Podcast. And I love hearing from new authors, learning about people's journeys. It's. It's a lot of fun. And today's author's got a great book. He's got short stories. If you love sci fi and you're like, oh, and you've heard of somebody named Newton? Well, this is another Newton. John Newton's here. Excited to have him on the podcast. We're gonna be talking about a lot of different stuff and I'm sure you're gonna love this author, John, welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Living the Next Chapter.
- [02:34]
John Newton
Thank you for having me.
- [02:35]
Podcast Host
Excellent. Now one thing I noticed on your website, John, I love your site, by the way, is there's a little bit about you and there's something about high school, where you went to is where you graduate. Wait, there's like a huge number of schools you've been to growing up, but you graduated from high school in a place that I have never been, and it just seems so far from where we are today. You graduated from high school in Cyprus. Is this what's going on here?
- [03:05]
John Newton
Right, right. So this is the island of Cyprus. When I told somebody about this when I used to live in California, they'd say, oh, yeah, Cyprus, California, that's just up to five. You know, this kind of. And no, it's not. Not local. This is the island in the Mediterranean Sea. So how in the world did I get sent out there? Well, if you get detention enough times, they will send you there because they don't even want you in the. They're like extradition policy. No, that wasn't it. My dad was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia. He's actually here Stateside first. Then he went to install the system that he was working on with the whole group that he was working with. And that was in Saudi Arabia. This is back in the 80s, and for those who are like my kids, who want to give me a hard time, that's the 1980s and not the 1880s.
- [03:57]
Podcast Host
There was a 19.
- [03:59]
John Newton
There was a 19. Yes, yes. Believe it or not. So I ended. He ended up there, my brother and I. There's no American schools in Saudi Arabia. Oh, go figure. I guess they don't want a bunch of hooligans running around the desert trying to cause problems, right? So there was a boarding school in Cyprus, and so that's where I went. And there was a lot of other kids that had parents that were working somewhere in. On the Arabian Peninsula, usually because of oil or something else that they were out there for. So that's why I ended up there. I was only there for last semester, my senior year, but it was quite an experience.
- [04:42]
Podcast Host
Did you know where you were going when you went there? Like, I'm going to the other side of the world compared to where I'm from.
- [04:48]
John Newton
Like, they had me blindfolded, a bag over my head and.
- [04:53]
Podcast Host
Of course they did.
- [04:54]
John Newton
No, no. So, ah, gosh. The story. My. My parents were divorced and I. It wasn't living with my dad until my mom had cancer. She died of cancer when I was 16. My brother and I moved in with my father and we were with him a short time and he was working on the project here in the United States. And he asked if we wanted to go with him overseas and we would Go. We would be in a boarding school because we wouldn't be with him in Saudi Arabia. But that was the case. And we both said yes, because, you know, why not?
- [05:32]
Podcast Host
Why not?
- [05:32]
John Newton
How many times were you handed an opportunity like that? So that was, that was the idea.
- [05:38]
Podcast Host
Wow, that's just a, a very unique place for I, for two young guys to be and disconnected from like the normality of where you lived previous to this. And that just seemed like a little bit of an adventure as well.
- [05:54]
John Newton
It was in. And it was really interesting seeing the history here. I'm, I'm sure that you see it in Canada as well. There's not as much, I mean there's history here, but it's not persistent history. Like you have Indian mounds here in the Ohio area and there's, there's other things here or there that you might be able to find in, go down to Central America. You'll see a lot with the, the, the pyramids in there and so forth. But you don't have the persistent history like you do in, in Europe in other places. And so that was interesting. You think of Cyprus. Cyprus goes way back B.C. and further, maybe even before the age of writing some of the history that's there. So it's very interesting.
- [06:39]
Podcast Host
How did that experience being over there and going to school and all that, how did that shape you? How did that kind of impact you as an adult?
- [06:49]
John Newton
Well, some of the, I do have a love of history and it's because of being around to these different locations with history. Some people say, ah, it's a, it's a bunch of dates and names and stuff. No, it's stories.
- [07:02]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [07:03]
John Newton
And sometimes history can be more interesting than, than a novel because not as. Not only is it real, but it's. There's some twists and turns in there that you, you may not have expected. Just reading, reading what the history is going on. And then if you're at the location too, you, you, you get a see and taste. We had a chance to go to sail some of the Greek islands there too. And I'm not a rich kid or anything, don't get me wrong, but I did have that opportunity. And so we sailed some of the Greek islands there and you get to see Rhodes Coast, Simi and some of the other places there. And also having the history, a lot of that history I didn't realize until I got back.
- [07:41]
Podcast Host
Wow. Yeah, I love history. I love hearing the stories of what life was like and how people survived and how in like just how incredible they made what they made with what they had. And you're like, standing there, like, going, how could we even make this today? Like, yeah, how? There's no way. With all of our technology and tools and equipment, how will we even start to come up with this? And these people created this back then.
- [08:09]
John Newton
It's like, yeah.
- [08:10]
Podcast Host
And standing there and putting your feet on the same place.
- [08:13]
John Newton
That's right. Yeah, that's. That's cool. When you think there's so much that had happened in that spot you're standing.
- [08:19]
Podcast Host
I love it. Oh, I'm jealous. I'm super jealous. So anyways, I had to ask because it's right on your front of your website, under your about page, and I'm like, I gotta ask. But 12 schools, that's a lot of moving around too. Like, oh, my gosh. That's. How do you set down roots? Growing up? When you're moving around so much, that part is difficult.
- [08:40]
John Newton
I don't know if you really can set up roots to sit down roots. You. You learn to make friends fast. You learn to adapt, move into the situations. A lot of the. A lot of the trading. The different schools that I went to was either because of moving that we did. We didn't do a whole lot of them, but we did do some and then fill in the blanks with either some private school, some public schools. So switching back and forth between that and there was also desegregation busing that was happening in the LA area at the time. And so there was a lot of shifting around because of that. And it just all added up. It ended up being about. It was 12 schools from first grade to 12th grade. Wow.
- [09:20]
Podcast Host
Wow. That's a lot of change. That. That alone has to have an impact on you as an adult as well. Just adapting and learning new spots and being a different you every time I know when I moved, as my growing up, you'd walk into a new school, new environment. You could be anything you wanted to be because nobody knew you. Your other school, you could have been quiet and shy in this school, you could be out loud and excited and exciting, right? Nobody knows you. It's a clean slate every time you move, right?
- [09:52]
John Newton
Yeah, well, it's a clean slate. But, you know, one thing that you discover, I think when you do that, you do discover a bit of who you are. You do discover your nature because you are transplanted in these different locations. And even though the locations change, you find out what doesn't change. And there's certain parts of your personality that are consistent throughout. You're right. There's anything like past history or something like that that's washed out and you start afresh. But I do like stability too. There is something really to be said for that and that's having moved around so much when I was younger, there was a desire for stability to say, okay, enough said. Let's, let's lay down some roots.
- [10:39]
Podcast Host
Okay. So, yeah, so when everyone heads over to your website links in the show notes, you will see what I'm reading and go, wow, now I know the story behind this and why John threw it on the site because there's, there's a reason. So I, I always like to read this kind of stuff and go, there's a reason why John put that there. I want to ask. So that's good. Excellent. Well, now I feel a informed. This is nothing to do with the podcast in, in the content when we do. But I had to ask. Let's talk about your journey as an author then, John. We have, we have authors that are listening to the show. They're, they're, they want to be where you are, they want to be published, they want to get to the end of writing and get to the point where they can talk about their books like you're doing today. But it seems like a far off journey that they'll never make it. Had you listened to a podcast or a conversation before you started writing, what would have been helpful for you to hear from a published author back when you first started?
- [11:39]
John Newton
I think the thing that helped out the most, and this is also something that helped out in college, is even though being an author, it's a task, it's a lonely task, it's a task that you do yourself right. And often you need to cloister yourself off into a place where you don't have too many distractions that you can focus on the story and hammer it out. But there's another aspect to that too, and that is if you are able to get involved with the writers group, in my case it was a local writers group and they have been fantastic. One of the things that they would do is the challenge. If you have regular meetings, you got to present something regularly. It's like I gotta write something. So now you've got an impetus to want to keep writing. You got that going, you get feedback, you've blind spots are taken care of. And also now most of the writers in our group are published and it's another part of the journey entirely while still trying to write at the same time. Now you've got, I've got to get out there with people, book signings. And it's not just enough to put your book on a distribution type like Amazon or something like that. You need to be able to do some form of marketing, which I am awful at. I don't do well on marketing at all. So having this group there to remind and stuff like that, it is, I say 100%. Try to find yourself a good group and stick with them.
- [13:12]
Podcast Host
Okay, how did you find this group?
- [13:16]
John Newton
Oh man, it's been so long.
- [13:19]
Podcast Host
Because that's one of the things I hear like people come on and talk about this and then the listeners like that's great. But how the heck do you find a group? I didn't even know where to go.
- [13:28]
John Newton
Yeah, well, I started off with one group. It was online. It was online DAO's online writer workshop. So this is a publishing company that had there. They had a place to kind of like incubator site to have writers do their thing. Well then they divested of and it just became online Writers workshop for science fiction, fantasy and horror. And you can look it up yourself. I believe they're still there because I've gotten back on there a couple of times but. And they do a critiquing system. You critique somebody else's, you get a certain number of points and once you have three points you can post yours. And that way everybody gets at least three reviews on their stuff. And that's good for shorter things. But if you can find a local group and the way that I did is I just looked it up to see, okay, it wasn't a library, it was in a center for the arts. And this is small town stuff. We still had it ourselves. And there's a writing group there, got involved and that's how I found them was just look in the local paper, look in the local website, see if you can find it.
- [14:32]
Podcast Host
So if you're an author and you can't find one, then maybe you need to start one. Go to a local bookstore, post on the bulletin board, hey, look, maybe authors to get together. We'll meet here in the bookstore, have coffee and talk about writing. Maybe that's up to you to create possibly if you can't find it.
- [14:49]
John Newton
Good point.
- [14:50]
Podcast Host
Yeah, there you go. Okay, well, we've just helped somebody hopefully with that. I love the idea of community. I think you're right. Like a lot of authors tend to write on their own. It's very, you know, it's on. It's you're just you and you're in your writing and there's no one else there with you. But I think you learn more and you're accountable in a setting when there's other people in the room, virtually or in person where they. They keep you on task. They're like, hey, John, how's the book? How's chapter three? Struggling. Right? Well, they keep coming next week. Hey, how's chapter three? Chapter three. It's just kind of nice to know there's somebody there to be accountable to. Right?
- [15:27]
John Newton
Yep.
- [15:28]
Podcast Host
Yeah, that's good. All right, so let's talk about your book then and what this is all about. Why is sci fi so important to you? It's so important. It's in the name of your website and everything. What's your passion and love affair with sci fi? Where does this start?
- [15:49]
John Newton
You know, it probably came back from some of the old shows I used to watch when I was a kid. And there's a classics that a lot of people. Other people that would have picked up on that too. You got Star Trek, Star wars, and for me, it was also Doctor who was in there. And then you had a smattering of others that were there as well. And story started generating. In my mind, it's not just fan fiction, not that type of thing, but other stories that would pop in. I said, man, I want to. How would that go? And I started hearing, like, the dialogue in my mind and the settings and the different technology that would be there. And that was back in high school, and it just kept developing from there.
- [16:29]
Podcast Host
Okay. One of the things I saw on your website too, is you have a whole bunch of short stories on your site now. Are these just like baby book ideas for you that you're playing with? Are these intentionally short stories that have nothing to do with what you want to be writing in a novel format? Like, is there a connection between your short stories and the future of what you're going to be doing as a writer as well?
- [16:58]
John Newton
That's a great question. One of them, at least, maybe more. One of them is directly related to the first novel. And it was a chapter that I kept trying to find. It was a really good chapter, but it never found a home within the novel. It always seemed like it was kind of forced. Okay, so they say in writing, be willing to kill your darlings. Oh, I like this one so much. And usually the way I handle it, killing your darlings, is I. I take that chapter or scene or whatever and I put it into a folder and say, okay, I didn't kill it. I just put it to sleep because I don't have the heart to kill it.
- [17:34]
Podcast Host
Timeout. Right? Yeah.
- [17:36]
John Newton
So this one, though, I thought, you know, this, this is self contained. It makes a good short story. It's life of flashback. And in the main story, there's a boy who. Who inherits a stone that can heal anything. And this is the backstory for that. It's about how his fifth great grandfather Juan discovered the stone and what he did with it. And it had a couple things with him, but it made a complete story in itself that could work as a short story. And so that's why I have it out there.
- [18:10]
Podcast Host
Okay.
- [18:11]
John Newton
All right.
- [18:11]
Podcast Host
So are you writing short stories at the same time writing a novel, or are they two different activities? Completely.
- [18:18]
John Newton
Every once in a while I'll break out and write another short story, have some others that are not published. We just have one that was published. I just had one that was published in an anthology that our writers group did. The same writers group that was just telling you about. The person who was a facilitator this year did a lot better than when I was a facilitator. And she had everybody turning short stories and we made an anthology for it. So this is about something about the holidays in Ohio, because we're a local group in Ohio, so it had to be focused on that. And everybody did their. They have their own little genres and stuff like that. Everybody put them in. It was pretty good, Little. Pretty good book, especially for this, this time of year. So that's where one came out, but most of the others are just hit mess as I go along.
- [19:04]
Podcast Host
That seems like a different story format than what you write in, though. Was it a sci fi thing that
- [19:10]
John Newton
you did for that was that project?
- [19:11]
Podcast Host
Was it like a sci fi thing?
- [19:13]
John Newton
No, I took historical. So. So, so the genre that I. The genre of this series, the the Shadows of Time series, is historical science fiction. Now let me ask you a question.
- [19:24]
Podcast Host
All right.
- [19:26]
John Newton
How do you get historical and sci fi together?
- [19:31]
Podcast Host
Well, that's. That's what I was gonna say to you. You stole my question. Yeah, because I know historical fiction, but historical sci fi, unless you're watching old reruns of Star Trek, that would be a version of historical sci fi. But I don't know, can you.
- [19:52]
John Newton
So historical would be something based on the past. Right?
- [19:55]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [19:55]
John Newton
And you try to make it historically as historically accurate, or it's based on real people or one of those things.
- [19:59]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [20:01]
John Newton
And sci fi is usually in the future because it's either spaceships or aliens or advanced technology or some other mechanism that's Going in there, that's just the window dressing for what happens. And sometimes the advanced technology itself is the impetus for the story. There's something that happens and it's not just window dressing. There's actually some substance to the story itself. So those are opposed to genres.
- [20:29]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
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John Newton
Well, the answer for it is a question in what happens when time travelers lose their tools?
- [20:37]
Podcast Host
Oh.
- [20:38]
John Newton
So imagine, imagine you're. You. You have a chance to go back in time. It's like, okay, I'm going to go back to. Do you have a. Do you have a famous or a favorite historical past that if you could go back in time, where would you go to?
- [20:53]
Podcast Host
Wow, let me think, let me think quick. It would probably be music related. So I would love to go back to like Woodstock, because that sounds like it was crazy. Sure, let's do that.
- [21:05]
John Newton
Okay, let's go to Woodstock. And you dress the part because you don't want it. You don't want to ruin time. I mean, you don't want there to be some kind of temporal anomaly or
- [21:15]
Podcast Host
doing some with my phone or nothing.
- [21:17]
John Newton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you take your phone. So let's say you take your phone and you got to kind of hidden down. You're kind of like taking pictures, looking around. Yeah. You're going to the bees. I'm going to record. Man, that's my favorite.
- [21:27]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
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John Newton
You know one of those things that people say you, you don't want. You don't want to cause a time paradox and, and whatever deal is going to happen with that.
- [21:38]
Podcast Host
Right.
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John Newton
There's three different ways that those are dealt with in science fiction. We're not going to get into that, but with something bad's going to happen if they find out. So you get back home and it's like, oh, that was great. You know, and you relax and you. Where's my phone?
- [21:53]
Podcast Host
Oh, I. Oh, no.
- [21:56]
John Newton
Now imagine if the battery lasts, what kind of problems that would cause.
- [22:03]
Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [22:04]
John Newton
So now we have historical science fiction, something in the past. You've gone in the past and it's about you. That event. So now I've got to do research. I'm going to write about that. I've got to do research about Woodstock. Who was there, you know, what was going on, the crowd, what was the place, what was the weather like, all those kind of things going on with it to be able to paint the right picture for it. And the conflict here is you forgot your phone. Like that never happens. Right. So.
- [22:33]
Podcast Host
Yeah. Okay.
- [22:34]
John Newton
There you go.
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Podcast Host
Feels like a little bit like back to the Future. Kind of premise. A little bit.
- [22:39]
John Newton
There's some of that.
- [22:39]
Podcast Host
Yeah, there's a little bit of that in there too. Yeah. Yeah. Going back in time, the DeLorean, something happens. Right. There's a little bit of that too, I think, in that. Right in the description. Okay, so that's kind of the premise for what interests you as a writer, then?
- [22:55]
John Newton
Well, I guess I should make it broader than that. That's what it is for the series. But then as a. As a writer, there's usually the what if. That's the part of science fiction is what if? And then fill in the blank.
- [23:08]
Podcast Host
Okay.
- [23:09]
John Newton
And not like mystery is would be who done it would be. That's. And the science fiction. The answer is. Or the question is what if?
- [23:19]
Podcast Host
Okay, what's your big vision for this series as a reader? What are we anticipating? How many books in the series do you have an idea at all?
- [23:29]
John Newton
So there is at least six. I have actually more than that planned out because the main character in this is Francisco. He is a teen that's orphaned in medieval Spain. He inherits this stone that can heal anything. And so he is asking the same questions that anybody else would ask. What do I do with this thing? It ends up that he is one of six to do something. I gotta be very careful in what I say because I don't want to mess it up. But he is instrumental in doing this. He's not. He is the one. He. The chosen one or whatever, but he is instrumental in doing this. And the people that are involved in this realize he is, is. And there's somebody else that's instrumental in. In the empire of mali in Africa, 150 years later. So he is the one of six in 1212 A.D. spain, Ramada is the two of six in Africa in 1354, I believe. And then there is somebody else, and I can't say who because it'd be a spoiler. You have to follow the Aztec Empire. And it keeps on going like this. So they're looking for six all together that are going to be instrumental to do this thing. And they come in. You can almost think of it being like the Avengers, where you have each superhero has their own movie type of deal. Well, this is the first guy. Francisco is like an Iron Man. And then you get the next one and that develop that character and then so forth. And then there is something at the end, everything coming together.
- [25:03]
Podcast Host
So different time periods too.
- [25:05]
John Newton
In different time periods, yes.
- [25:06]
Podcast Host
That's interesting. Okay. All right. I. I hear a little bit of Cyprus in the Locations of what's going on here and history and age.
- [25:19]
John Newton
There's.
- [25:20]
Podcast Host
There's a few things in here.
- [25:22]
John Newton
Yeah. Yep.
- [25:24]
Podcast Host
Kind of relatable. Okay. All right, tell us more about this main character, about Francisco. Like who is this person? What do we need to know about this guy? For the first in the series, how would you introduce him to a group of people? And he's going to come up and address the group. You're going to say, hey, everybody, here's John Newton, everyone. John's coming up. He's an author. How are you introducing Francisco to a group?
- [25:50]
John Newton
Boy, that'd be a good thing. So is this modern day introducing?
- [25:53]
Podcast Host
Yeah, he's come on the show here.
- [25:56]
John Newton
He's jumped forward in time. He's now in our time, right?
- [25:59]
Podcast Host
Yep.
- [25:59]
John Newton
Okay, so I'm going to say, hey, this is Francisco. He grew up in Toledo, Spain. He was involved in some wars, some other things were happening. And he's got some certain abilities. I can't tell you what they are because that's where the sci fi part comes in. And he'll surprise you when he, when he, when he does it, if he does any of it. So good character, he's loyal, he's got a good sense of humor, very persistent, strong, big kid. And that's the bad part too, because when he inherits a stone, he becomes an orphan. And his father, before his father dies, tell him, do no harm, lest you break the charm. So Francisco thinks, I can't hurt anybody or the stone's abilities won't work. Now, the stone heals people directly, just one person at a time. Anything. It could be broken arm, it could be some disease or anything, but it has to come in contact with the person. And so Francisco has to guard this. He can't let anybody else know about it because it'll be taken away from him. So he's an orphan on the streets, hiding this thing, trying to heal as many people as he can, but he can't let other people know about it and he can't fight back. He gets beat up all the time, but he heals himself afterwards in private. So that's how he starts. It's not how he ends.
- [27:25]
Podcast Host
You're saying so much without saying anything, which, what I love, because then the readers are like, dang it, I gotta buy this book.
- [27:32]
John Newton
That's right.
- [27:32]
Podcast Host
I like how you're doing this. Okay, what, what other supplemental characters are we going to come across through Francisco that are, that are key to the story that maybe we just need to know about in advance without Giving anything away, obviously. But there's other people that kind of come through and interact with Francisco that, oh, I think are noteworthy that we should mention.
- [28:00]
John Newton
Okay, so first of all, Francisco is put into the world of 13th century Spain. So the early 1200s. Yep. And there's a conquest that's going on, a reconquest, the Reconquista in Spain. So the Moors have come out since 711 had advanced and taken over most of Spain. The Spanish are then pushing him back. There's different Spanish kingdoms are not all united at the time. And Francisco's right smack dab in the middle of it. And he gets caught up in all this. He also gets caught up in another war that's going on. The original owners of the stone come looking for him. And it's not some magical device, but I will tell you without breaking too much of what it is, is that the original owners, that's where the time travel comes in. And you have a pair on one side and a pair on the other side. There's two factions, two major factions within these time travelers. They have been lost in time, they have been lost back in time, I should say not able to return home. And there's a whole reason for that. And in the group that is pretty much the good guys, you have Angelo, who was recruited way back in 3500 BC. So and he's, he looks old, he's, he's 50, he's, he looks like he's in his 50s, but he's actually past 90. They have ways to make them regenerate the body and so forth. And then you have Mayuki, who is a female samurai, and there were a couple of female samurais. If you look up in history, there were just a couple. So she is with him and they're trying to recruit Francisco. And you have others on the other side, including a former Anglo Saxon warrior who are trying to do that. So each of these people are coming through their own points of history.
- [29:55]
Podcast Host
Right.
- [29:55]
John Newton
And they had different technical abilities, implants that give them special abilities that will allow them to hopefully recruit Francisco.
- [30:09]
Podcast Host
Okay. All right. Your ideal reader, who do you envision is going to fall in love with this story and your characters, age wise, kind of unpack for me a little bit more for the reader. I want them to be, want them to leave this conversation going. This book is for me and I know somebody else is going to love this. So explain who's your reader.
- [30:33]
John Newton
Okay, so, and this is difficult because I've had readers across the board, all ages, male, female. It doesn't matter. But it seems like the ideal reader would be between even down to 16, but 18 through 35 or older male. And I don't have it yet. I'm struggling to get it done. But I will have it done soon. Audiobook listeners, that seems to be a big thing for somebody sitting down, just chugging through, especially when the whole series comes out. You'll just be able to binge the whole thing. And that's, that's the ideal.
- [31:12]
Podcast Host
So this is an awesome segue. You just set me up right there with a nice pitch across the plate. You're going to be voicing your own audiobook.
- [31:23]
John Newton
That's the plan. Now, there are a couple of. There's at least one other character that I'm seeing. If somebody else could do that. She's agreed to it. It's a female character, I think that frames and sets it off well. But the others would be me.
- [31:36]
Podcast Host
Okay, now we pre arrange this, but can you read us a little portion of the book in your best audiobook voice as the author? Because I'd love to kind of share with the audience a little bit, a little taste of the book and if you could kind of set it up for us so we kind of know where we are in the story roughly, and anything that kind of leads up to what you're going to read to us.
- [32:02]
John Newton
Okay. So this is the very beginning. It's, it's, it's actually modern day where it starts.
- [32:07]
Podcast Host
Okay.
- [32:07]
John Newton
Oh, okay. And this is, this is the part that I would have someone else read for me with the female voice because it is from the point of view of a nursing, a nurse who is at a nursing home. And there's this character that's there that he's a John Doe. No one knows who he was or where he's around, but he's, there's some mystery involved with him and he sets it off. So.
- [32:32]
Podcast Host
Okay.
- [32:34]
John Newton
Nursing assistant Sharon Lazarus stopped processing insurance records when she heard a squeak, squeak coming down the dark corridor. She peered into the darkness for the source but saw nothing. The residents had gone to bed an hour ago. No one should be up. Gnarled fingers reached over the countertop in front of her. Sharon flinched. The fingers snatched a pencil and disappeared over the edge like a trapdoor spider. The thin, wrinkled fingers re emerged in search for something else to grab. Sharon shot a look at Tamika Jones, who everyone called Pixie, a heavyset black nurse sitting beside her. Pixie rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. She glanced at the clock. Uh huh, she said. It's 11pm she opened the drawer, took out a handful of pencils, and placed them on the counter. That's all you get, pixie said. Lord knows you should. I shouldn't support your addiction. The fingers with neatly trimmed nails retreated, and the hall echoed with the fading squeak squeak. Sharon watched the old man push himself back into his room. She stood to walk around the corridor, the counter when Pixie held her back. Let him go, pixie said. But he's not feeble. He needs the exercise. Sharon sat down. You've never worked nights here before, have you? Pixie asked. Sharon looked, shook her head. No. Only second shift, and I'm hoping I don't have to work every night. Well, honey, let me tell you, if you do every evening before 11, you better have at least five pencils ready or you'll never hear the end of it. Why? He's our John Doe, pixie said. Government support. Three months ago he shows up at County General. Can't find anything wrong with him, so they sent him here. Don't even know his name. Kelly called him Mr. Hu Nun because they don't know who he is and none of them will tell us. She flashed a smile. The name stuck. Better than John Doe. The government won't pay for long term hospital since his he's he's healthy for his age, other than he can't walk or remember his name or where he came from. Sweet old man. Gentle is a breeze. Except you better be ready with the pencils or he'll be following around all night. After Sharon finished her shift, she grabbed her abnormal psychology textbook and visited Mr. Hunan's room. He had turned off the light and crawled into bed. The hallway light bathed the room in an amber glow and cast long shadows. Mr. Hunan lay on his bed with his eyes closed, the blankets rising and falling with his breathing. She he reminded her of her grandfather, this wavy white hair and made brighter because of his tan face, deep smile, wrinkles, and big ears. The scent of mouthwash and lavender filled the room. Instead of the typical Clorox or mothball odor, a quick glance around revealed a neat and simple life. His pants were folded on the dresser next to a row of notebooks. A well worn Bible lay on his nightstand and five new pencils, a glass of water, and a black, white, black and white photo of a young woman. Mr. Hunan had left the nightstand drawer open, and Sharon moved closer to close it. Inside were over fifty, maybe a hundred pencils, scattered like strawberries. She might need to check his psych evaluation. Is he a hoarder she wondered. Not likely. There's no clutter in the room. Is he like that patient? A B wing who can't live without his crossword puzzles? If so, where are Mr. Hunan's crossword books or newspapers? She examined the pencil. Broken, she thought. No wonder he wanted new ones. All he had to do was ask. We have a sharpener at the desk. Instead, he asked for new ones. The five pencils on the top of the dresser had sharp tips. Once from the drawer. No, it's not broken. She fished out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight. When she shined the light down on the pencil center, the graphite channel was empty. There was no gray residue, only wood. And I'll leave it there.
- [36:53]
Podcast Host
Oh. Oh, gosh. Oh, come on, John. That's okay. See, I. I knew you were gonna do something like that. That just makes everybody lean in and go, I'm holding a pencil.
- [37:06]
John Newton
I'm like, how do you get it out of there?
- [37:09]
Podcast Host
Good visuals.
- [37:10]
John Newton
Wow. Thank you.
- [37:12]
Podcast Host
I want to know who's in that photo. I'm like, here's so much. I have so many questions. But no, we can't. We can't give it all away. We gotta buy the book. That's why it's there, right?
- [37:21]
John Newton
That's right.
- [37:22]
Podcast Host
That's right. Okay. So what are you most proud of for this book? As you think of the audience, as you think of who's going to be reading this? What brings you joy when you. When you see that this is complete and that it's leading to more stories in the future? Your proud moment as an author for the Healing Stone.
- [37:45]
John Newton
Wow. That is a tough question. I don't know if I have a good answer. Well, when I do book signings, it's good to see when someone's interested and it goes from there, but then to have a response back. Sometimes I'll get emails back, people that have responded to it. And that gives me great satisfaction when we see it, because there are deeper messages to this story that are there, but it's not done in such a way that they drive or ruin the story. I think they're just. They just naturally flow out. And when someone catches something that's going on behind the scenes, I think that's. That's where I feel like, okay, we did it. That's good.
- [38:29]
Podcast Host
I like it. So, timing wise, for the next book in this, in the series, do you have kind of a rough date for us as readers that when we. Once we go through Healing Stone, the next book is coming soon? Like, do you have Any kind of guide?
- [38:49]
John Newton
Yes. May next year.
- [38:51]
Podcast Host
Okay.
- [38:52]
John Newton
It is pretty much finished. I'm working on a final draft. It actually was already finished but I thought of some things afterwards I need to make some changes to. Okay, so it was previously edited and everything. I didn't have a cover for it yet, but then it's that close where it's just a matter of polishing it off. But May is the date and then the third book, which is already the third draft of that has gone through is follows that.
- [39:18]
Podcast Host
So wow.
- [39:19]
John Newton
They're pretty much already laid out. It's just a matter of executing it.
- [39:22]
Podcast Host
All right, so before I ask my last question, wrap up. I really appreciate your time, John, to make time to do this. Your website I mentioned at the beginning. I love it and there's lots of great links here. Talk about your website. Where are we sending our listeners to come and check you out and follow your journey as an author? Take us through the website quickly.
- [39:42]
John Newton
Okay, so there's is fairly simple. You've got novel, short stories. I also have a YouTube channel, Newton Sci Fi. So that's Newton N E W T O N S C I F I no Dash that's also current. That's works being done with that and then just. Just an about page and sign up for a newsletter. So if you want to find anything else, if you want to find out when the story is coming out next or anything like that, sign up for the newsletter. And there may be a way that you can contact me directly if you want as well.
- [40:17]
Podcast Host
Okay, your. Let's. Let's part out with this then. John, your love letter to the audience, to the reader. They just bought the book. It arrived at the front door. They haven't opened it yet. Sitting there and they got their coffee or whatever. They're going to sit down and start reading before you're like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Before you open the COVID My message to you from the author to the reader beyond. Thank you for buying my book and leaving a great review. What's your message?
- [40:46]
John Newton
I hope you enjoy it. It's just that. That simple. I hope you enjoy it. You kick your feet up, get immersed. I don't think you're going to be disappointed. There's is. There's an entire world that's there. You can easily delve right into that. And there's a lot of depth. Historically accurate as far as I can tell. I did research on the region and the times and who was who was who, what kind of armor they used and so forth like that. Everything's in there. But just enjoy it. It's a world for you.
- [41:16]
Podcast Host
Excellent. It's great. John. Come back in May next year. Love to be back and let's celebrate book two and just keep having you keep writing. I'll just keep having you back. Fun to talk to and it's, it's, it's really, really an interesting story. Very excited. The the Healing Stone, everybody from John Newton links in the show notes. Go grab a copy. Like I mentioned, when you buy it. When, not if, when you buy the book, tell other people about it as well. Buy an extra copy for your friend, your neighbor, your enemy, whatever you like and leave great reviews. And also just, you know, share this episode as well so that people can come and find John and be a part of his world. John, anything we missed before we go?
- [41:59]
John Newton
I would say one other thing. I'm glad you asked. It is on sale this week, so if you can grab a copy this week, you will be in good shape. So keep your eyes open for it.
- [42:10]
Podcast Host
Excellent links in the show notes. John, thank you so much for doing this. Look forward to having you back in the future.
- [42:15]
John Newton
Thank you.
- [42:20]
Podcast Host
Hey, thank you so much again for pressing play. As you've heard, great guests on the show and one thing you didn't hear in this conversation is what? What did you not hear? Think about it for a second. That's right. Not a single solitary commercial for a mattress or a supplement or whatever you call it.
- [42:40]
John Newton
No.
- [42:41]
Podcast Host
Why? Because we don't want to break up the conversation with commercial commercials. So the fact that you're still here means that you are a fan of the show, I'm assuming. So if you want to help to keep the podcast going and to make me feel really happy, all I really care about is coffee. Okay. I just got to be honest. I love coffee. I'm drinking one right now. Starting to get cold. I need to warm it up. Helping us with our Buy me a coffee link over at living the next chapter.com and also the show notes helps kind of keep the lights on around here. Remember, I'm doing this for free. I. I'm paying for everything. So I would love to have a little coffee donation. You know, even five bucks kind of fills up my cup and I would love to enjoy a coffee from you. So if you're interested, again, thank you for listening. But you can use our Buy me a coffee link and fill up the cup. Thanks for being here.