Adam Fleming

 

Interview with Adam G. Fleming 

Author of 

The Satchel Pong Chronicles

 

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

I recently wrapped up a five-book steampunk fantasy series called The Satchel Pong Chronicles. 

I have three or four WIP right now, plus 2 ghostwriting projects. I am working on “Old Roads, New Friends”, which is nonfiction, essays around the theme of friendship based on my recent experience on the Camino de Santiago, a massive alt-history fiction project with multiple books called Zeppelin Zeke, and I’m working on audio books for the Stetson Jeff Adventures as I prepare to release books 4-6 this year.

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

The idea for the Satchel Pong Chronicles came from the work I was doing five years ago on Zeppelin Zeke; in this alt-history saga about a rock drummer from an odd Christian sect based on the book of Hosea. I wanted to have a fantasy book that the rock band’s lead guitarist/singer/songwriter was enchanted with, and so I wrote Satchel Pong and the Great Migration, beginning around 2016 and published it in 2018… then I moved to Egypt, then Covid… and in any case I finished the Satchel Pong project in late 2021 and now I’m back on Zeke.

 Do you write in more than one genre?

Yes, I have released regular fiction novels, action adventure comedies, steampunk, poetry, and nonfiction books on the topics of coaching and culture leadership. As a ghostwriter I’m working on challenging personal stories that my clients feel must be told and also business-oriented books.

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

The way I think of it is that I write like an acrobat along the tightrope stretching across the breadth of human experience. There is a fine line between the absurd and the sublime. Everything is at once hilarious and serious. People who enjoy satirical writers like Vonnegut, Twain and even Garrison Keillor will like my stuff. A friend of mine dropped by the house the other day and said he and another buddy were comparing me to Dave Barry. I’d like to think I’m a bit more highbrow, but hey, I’ll take that as a favorable comparison.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

Yes, I’ve done a lot of travel. At age 13 I moved from the cornfields of Illinois where I grew up in a Mennonite hippie commune where we grew organic strawberries and our family spent 3 months in France learning language and then a year in Congo. I’ve also lived in Ivory Coast and Egypt. A lot of my characters travel throughout their world– fantasy or real world novels– and I bring a multi-cultural sense of humor to the process too.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

My stuff isn’t real dark. I think the world is funny, beautiful and often random. There are typical patterns of writing that move the action along but I understand rules enough to break them, so you might be surprised now and then what happens in my books.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

Does this question imply that my own work is underrated? Haha. Thank you for that! I was inspired by the late Rich Foss. He only wrote one novel, called Jonas and Sally. Although it is out of print I have some copies on hand. I’m a fan of some philosophical books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and a lot of the work by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. 

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

Of course they’re all good, but I think when I got to book 4 in the Satchel Pong Chronicles, I think I really hit a grand slam. This one is called St. Kipstofer and the Miraculous Yarkarma, and it’s about a character who suffers a terrible defeat in book 3 and has a major change of focus, including changing his name, as a result of a miracle when he attempts to end his life. The thing is you’ve really got to read the first three books to get the context.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

I decided to hike the Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela last November and although I had published 12 books I had not made writing my focus. As I walked that 200+ miles in 15 days, it came to me that yes, my writing really is that good and it was time to give that priority and build my next career. When I came home from that pilgrimage I followed my gut and to my surprise I had a ghostwriting project that paid pretty well within just a few weeks. Sometimes you take that break to examine your life and realize it’s time to shift and it works.

 What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

Yeah, I think that it’s possible to have a purpose as an author, so I wish people would ask more often how I articulate my purpose. I think that everyone ought to have one good friend, and I believe that a great book can be a good friend and offer you hope when you don’t have any. So I hope that my humor and worldview (that this life is absurd and sublime) can offer my readers that gift of friendship.

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it? 

One of my favorites is from Tao Te Ching. “There is no calamity like not knowing what is enough.” I work really hard, but I try to be aware of the limit of how much to work and how much to consume as well.

I feel like this is a key to living a life that is both balanced and integrated. 

 

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Thanks to Adam for participating.

I attended a professional conference for most of the week and endeavored to complete a short story in my hotel room. Although I didn't finish the story, I did come up with something. I should say that I came down with something. I caught a cold. Notwithstanding the affliction, I'm close to finishing the tale. Meanwhile Book 6 in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series is paused at chapter 5 until the short story reaches its end.

Perhaps my ailment was a result my unwitting participation in a French duel. Mark Twain had this to say about those perilous events:

"MUCH as the modern French duel is ridiculed by certain smart people, it is in reality one of the most dangerous institutions of our day. Since it is always fought in the open air, the combatants are nearly sure to catch cold. M. Paul de Cassagnac, the most inveterate of the French duellists, has suffered so often in this way that he is at last a confirmed invalid; and the best physician in Paris has expressed the opinion that if he goes on duelling for fifteen or twenty years more, unless he forms the habit of fighting in a comfortable room where damps and draughts cannot intrude he will eventually endanger his life."

From: "The Recent French Duel"