Happy Monday!
Each Monday I would like to take some time to get to know some of our favorite authors. My hope is that this will help readers connect with the authors.
Today I would like to introduce you to: Shawn Smucker!
The books that Shawn writes are in a class of their own. I can’t even begin to describe them. You just need to read them! I highly recommend his newest, The Weight of Memory. More about that one at the end of the post.
Author bio:
Shawn Smucker is the award-winning author of Light from Distant Stars and These Nameless Things, the young adult novels The Day the Angels Fell and The Edge of Over There, and the memoir Once We Were Strangers. He lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at www.shawnsmucker.com.
To help us get to know him, I have given him some questions and here are his responses:
Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I’ve been fascinated with stories since I was a kid, and I remember writing a bit when I was in middle school, but my writing life really kicked off in college, when it became a serious hobby. I think it remained a serious hobby for me until my early 30s, when I began co-writing and collaborating on books for a living, which I’ve done for the last 11 years. I began writing fiction seriously (and by that I mean working on a novel just about every day) around 2013.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I’m working on a mystery that takes place in the area where I grew up, Lancaster County, PA.
Q: What are some of your writing must haves? (Drink, snack, supplies, etc.)
A: Oh, good question! Music is a must have for me when I’m writing, something quiet and melancholy. Besides that, not too much (although I do have a bit of a sweet tooth).
Q: What is your favorite time period to write about? Or read about?
A: I do enjoy writing stories that take place in the 80s and 90s, my growing up years. There’s something about those two decades that reside in my memories. On the other hand, many of my favorite books to read take place during or in the years leading up to Vietnam.
Q: What are some of your favorite books?
A: This is an easy one for me to answer, although the list could get long: A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Brothers K, All the Light We Cannot See, Gilead, East of Eden, I Am the Messenger…my kids and I each keep a running top ten list of our favorite books, and all of these are in my top ten right now.
Q: If you could spend a day with one fictional character, who would you pick and what would you do?
A: I think I’d want to spend a day with Kincade from The Brothers K, just to find out how their family is doing, how Irwin is doing, what they’ve all been up to since then.
I have saved my favorite question for last!
Q: What would you like readers to take away from your books?
A: I want my stories to raise questions in the readers mind about life, faith, death, love, friendship…all the good stuff. I want readers to explore difficult topics with me but walk away from my books with a sense of hope. Most of all, I want them to get caught up in the story.
To connect with Shawn, please click on any of the following links: his website and Facebook.
I’m also featuring his newest release, The Weight of Memory. I couldn’t put this book down! It has become my favorite of his! Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf!
About the book:
When Paul Elias receives a terminal diagnosis, he leaves his physician’s office in a fog. Only one thing is clear to him: if he is going to die, he must find someone to watch over his granddaughter, Pearl, who has been in his charge since her drug-addicted father disappeared. Paul decides to take her back to Nysa–both the place where he grew up and the place where he lost his beloved wife under strange circumstances forty years earlier.
But when he picks up Pearl from school, the little girl already seems to know of his plans, claiming a woman told her.
In Nysa, Paul reconnects with an old friend but is not prepared for the onslaught of memory. And when Pearl starts vanishing at night and returning with increasingly bizarre tales, Paul begins to question her sanity, his own views on death, and the nature of reality itself.
In this suspenseful and introspective story from award-winning author Shawn Smucker, the past and the present mingle like opposing breezes, teasing out the truth about life, death, and sacrifice.
All The Bookish Adventures 