Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Author of the Week: Jeffrey B. Allen
I've always had an overactive imagination. I think this is why I am obsessed with reading. Seriously. It's like a drug to me. I can never have enough books and I always have so much trouble picking out what to read next because there is so much for me to choose from. This is probably why I love all genres. I try to mix it up unless of course I'm reading a series. Anyway, I love when a book totally amazes me. If an author can truly keep up with my imagination, then I move their name to the "must have every book they have written or will ever write. I've decided that "Author of the Week", my new Wednesday blog post, will be dedicated to those authors that I can't seem to get enough of.
First on my list is Jeffrey B. Allen. If you read my review then you already know that I fell in love with this book. Jeffrey led my imagination all over the place in his creative adventure story "GoneAway Into The Land". This is one of those books that you don't want to put down. I felt like I was actually in that Land. I was able to travel on this journey and meet all kinds of characters. I really think that if you like fantasy novels you should get this book. I also think that once this book gets the recognition it deserves, there will be a movie & it will be close the Harry Potter madness. Yes I'm a Harry Potter fan too:)
**Biography - (taken from here)
Born: New Bedford, Massachusetts, 1953.
Allen studied art at Bloomsburg University for two years before attending Boston University where he majored in history and minored in set design. An extended hitchhiking trip across the U.S. broadened his horizons yet at the same solidified many of his views about diverse cultures and their politics and religions. Later, Allen’s travels through Europe and Mexico formed strong opinions about foreign and American culture that now contribute greatly to the philosophical depth of his writing.
He graduated from Millersville State University in architectural design and taught for two years while also working toward his Masters degree at Temple University in Philadelphia. After a brief teaching career, Allen created his own architectural woodworking firm in 1980.
During that period, Allen continued to study creative writing. He wrote extensively within his field and became a varacious reader of science fiction, ancient history and fantasy novels.
“Although those subjects were my favorites, I also maintained a fascination with the great classical masters of the past. My ultimate goal was to create a novel with multiple complexities and depth of characters, all within the framework of an original storyline.” Having accomplished that goal with the novel GoneAway, Allen is well on his way to bringing forth a plethora of ideas that have been incubating for years.
“Writing a novel is a monumental task,” said Allen, during a recent telephone interview. “GoneAway took almost four years of not less than four to five hours per day, seven days a week, sometimes more. I never counted the hours.”
Today, Jeffrey B. Allen lives with his wife Carol, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His Architectural Design business has been sold. He is now devoting his time to writing.
To Allen, the challenge lies in the complexities of multiple plots that, in the end, tie themselves together . Each tentacle is unique; each story branch is a sorted mix of events filled with consternation and upheaval. Yet all are connected to a main trunk that ultimately is supported by common roots. The end of the story is a culmination of events, but it is also a closing out of personal truths that will touch the emotions of the reader. The end of the novel should be the beginning of an experience that the reader will carry with him/her always.
“A great novel floats around in one’s head forever. At times the notions may be disturbing; at other times enlightening; and still at other times they may serve as a gift to a friend or colleague so he or she may also experience the novel for themselves.”
Jeffrey B. Allen and his wife Carol are the proud parents of their daughter Sarah, 28, who works on Wall Street in New York City, and their son Stephen, a senoir in college, who enjoys a well-earned golf scholarship at the University of Delaware. Carol and both children act as the first line of editors for Allen’s work. I am a compulsive revisionist. In my mind my work is never done, but there comes a time to complete it and move on the next novel.
Today, Jeffrey B. Allen, at age 55, looks forward to utilizing the turbulent experiences of his life and the accumulation of useful and useless knowledge, as well as the God-given gift of an avid imagination to create novels that will entertain the reader. But Allen does not want to only entertain. He also wants to awaken the innermost feelings that we as human beings fabricate within the worlds we create for ourselves as we grapple with the unique knowledge of our own mortality.**
To read my review go here.
You can become a fan of Jeffrey on GoodReads here.
Jeffrey can be found on Facebook here.
If you want a copy of your own
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Thank you Bridget.
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