Today I am interviewing Gary Vincent, author of Darkened Hills and Passageway.  Gary is also half of the team that created Burning Bulb Publishing’s latest creation:  The Big Book of Bizarro.  The Big Book of Bizarro is being released Aug 13th 2011 and a book signing celebration is scheduled at Eljay’s Used Books in Dormont, PA on the release date at 2pm.  Rich Bottles Jr., author of Lumberjacked, is the other half of Burning Bulb and The Big Book of Bizarro.  I had the pleasure of meeting both Gary and Rich at Pittsburgh Comicon this past April.  Gary and Rich were looking for writers to contribute to a short story collection, The Big Book of Bizarro, and I am proud to announce that my submission was accepted and will be added to the book along with numerous other authors.

 

How did you and Rich meet?  

Rich and I met in 2004, when we both got a job in the same department for the outfit we work for.  Coincidently, the job involved a lot of writing and working with books.

What inspired you to start Burning Bulb Publishing? 

I founded Burning Bulb Publishing in 2009 as an extension to my record label (Vincent Record Company / “VINCE”), which I founded in 1992.  Originally, I had released several independent music CDs and wanted to try and do something similar with the written word.  Burning Bulb Publishing started out with non-fiction titles, including an autobiography that I wrote to document my previous music projects, as well as, create the “Agelations” business development books and instructional CDs that I co-created with George Cunningham (from 2009-2011). Somewhere around 2010, Rich and I decided to take Burning Bulb Publishing in a new direction and start exploring creative writing. 

Tell me a little about The Big Book of Bizarro. How did you and Rich come up with the project concept and title?

In October 2010, we attended the West Virginia Book Festival in Charleston, WV.  While roaming around the venue, I bought an Appalachian Folklore Anthology that was very small, highly priced, and not very well done.  On the long ride back to our hometown, Rich and I discussed the book and why I actually bought it; to serve as a guide on what NOT to do. 

Rich describes the story behind The Big Book of Bizarro in detail in the book’s Foreword, so I won’t spoil it here, but let me just say that we wanted to do something special and different, and bring a lot of writers along with us.  Most importantly, it had to be better than the generic crap we had been seeing and it had to be truly unique and entertaining.  

What was the most challenging part about putting together The Big Book of Bizarro? How did you overcome your challenge?

The most challenging thing was reading the hundreds of incredible stories we received and picking only a handful to include in the book.  We kept expanding the size of the book by going from 20 stories, to 30, then to 40, and finally 50+ and decided to complete it.

Just how big is The Big Book of Bizarro?

538 pages and around 2 pounds.

What have you learned from The Big Book of Bizarro project?

I have learned that traditional publishing is leaving a lot of people behind and there is truly a desire to see different types of stories on the market; strange and different things that traditional publishers won’t touch. 

What is next for Burning Bulb?  Do you and Rich have another fantastic project up your sleeves? 

Rich will be releasing Hellhole, West Virginia later this year and I will be releasing Darkened Hollows, Book II of DARKENED: The West Virginia Vampire Series, that I kicked off in 2010 with Darkened Hills which, by-the-way won ForeWord Reviews Magazine’s 2010 BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD for best Fiction/Horror novel by an independent press.  As for our next group project, let’s just say that’s TOP SECRET.

What is the best thing about being a part of Burning Bulb Publishing?

Creating fresh and exciting content on our own terms, and working with creative and like-minded people.

What is the best thing about being an author?

Exploring strange and unique concepts and stories in my mind and bringing them to life on paper.  I like pushing the envelope on creative writing and invoking the reader’s emotions while getting people to think.

What book, if any, are you currently reading? 

I am currently reading Hellhole, West Virginia by Rich Bottles Jr.

If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be? 

I already did (it was Burning Bulb’s first book to market).  The title was “The Winner, The Loser.”  It was written right after I had turned 21 and documented my life up to that point.  In 2009, when I co-authored “Agelations” several sections of it picked up where the other book left off, filling in the gap of my life experiences up to my thirties.

 

Thank you for taking the time to participating in my Q&A.  I also want to personally thank you and Rich for including my short in The Big Book of Bizarro.  I wish you and Rich good luck in your future writing endeavors and look forward to seeing more of Burning Bulb works in the future.

To find out more about Burning Bulb Publishing and The Big Book of Bizarro, please visit Gary & Rich at: http://burningbulbpublishing.com/