Writers aren’t the only people out there who have pets that help them work! I recently sat down with publisher Deb Layne from Wheatland Press. Deb and I share an interest in health — she’s the person who pointed out the recent Airborne lawsuit that I wrote about in the Health Blog.
Aimee: What kind of things do you publish? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.)
Deb: Wheatland Press specializes in science fiction and fantasy short story collections and anthologies, although I have a couple of novels in the works.
Aimee: What kind of things do you read for pleasure?
Deb: My pleasure reading is a real mix. I love detective fiction series (Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, et al). Lately I’ve been getting into “urban fantasy” in particular the series by Patricia Briggs (the Mercy Thompson books) and Carrie Vaughn (the Kitty Norville books). I love the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. I like following characters across multiple books. Of course, I still read science fiction and fantasy, too! I read history of science and math and sports books for fun, too.
Aimee: What’s a day of work like? Do you have a set schedule?
Deb: Besides being a publisher, I’m also The Mom to a 12-year-old boy who has a busy schedule, so I spend a good bit of my day in the car. I try to get my publishing and writing work done in the morning between the time I take my son to school and lunch time, say. Then I have the afternoon for all the things that keep our lives going — housework, groceries, errands, and so on. Evenings I need to be available to nag my son about his homework (ha!) and generally hang out with my family. And watch sports, of course.
Aimee: What kind of pets do you have? (Past and present if you like.)
Deb: I’m definitely a cat person. Always lived with cats. Right now we have two, Toulouse and Storm, boys ages 10 and 5 respectively. Toulouse is beautiful, sweet and not very smart. Storm is cute, cuddly and much sharper. I call him the Head of House Security because he has the air of The Cat In Charge.
Aimee: How do your pets help you work? (And I use the term “help” very loosely… mine mostly work as a distraction more than anything.)
Deb: Storm is definitely my son’s cat. But, that said, when it’s just me and him here, he hangs out with me. He likes to sit in my lap while I work. Both cats give me a sense of company without requiring a whole lot of attention. They’ve been taking turns sitting on the pile of manuscripts I need to read, but of course, today they won’t sit there for a photo. I think they sit there to remind me that the stack isn’t going to get shorter on its own.
Aimee: Okay, I know you love all your Wheatland Press titles, but do you have a top 5 or a top 10?
Deb: Yes, it’s true. I love all my books. There are three that are extra special to me, though. Swans Over the Moon by Forrest Aguirre is a short novel that I read in its first draft and loved. Forrest is a good friend, so I was glad to do his first novel. Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth by Ben Peek is a novel in an experimental format. It started out as a Blog game. Ben had written about ten entries in the Ten Words that Start with the same Letter game when I emailed him and said “This is awesome! Do you want to make a book?” From there on it was pure serendipity. A cool story, cool format and we found this illustrator named Anna Brown who did exactly what the book needed. Even the cover is special. It’s real typewriter art — not computer generated. The hobby of a guy named Andy McCrae. And they’re all Australians! Finally, I have a novel coming out from Howard Waldrop titled The Moone World. I’ve been a Waldrop fan for at least a decade and it’s just a thrill to have his work.