Which one of the stories in this book is his favorite? Where does he get his inspiration? What is his biggest fear as a writer? What is the name of his band? Note: This interview was originally published on The News in Books on May 13, 2014. Where do you get your inspiration for your…
Something strange is going on in St. Clair, Georgia. People aren’t acting right. One man escapes with his family and hides out in the hills, but will they be able to find safety there? In this book by Stephen Helmes, there are four stories. Three are tales of horror, and the other one is a…
I’ve written books that deal with serious issues: teen girl fights, youth suicide, sexual assault and being falsely accused. I’ve produced films that deal with girl fights and teen suicide. As I plan other projects down the road, I see myself producing other materials with equally gripping topics. The focus of my work is not…
Rape is a serious crime, and the guilty one needs to be punished. But what if the wrong person is accused? Remember Ahmed and Tashera from Retaliation? They are now students at Georgia State University, and Ahmed is a star with the basketball team. Life is good for them until Ahmed is accused of date…
Do you understand the definitions of hero, victim, survivor, and villain? When writing fiction, one needs to be aware of exactly what the definitions of these words are. Who is a hero? According to the dictionary, a hero is a man or woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his or her brave deeds…
This is a book that every young adult needs to read. Retaliation is avenging an injury or wrong a person has done to you by returning some injury or wrong to that person. Through an engaging story, this book explores how deeply violence exists in many communities and the measures some families will go through…
How can one abuse an adverb? An adverb isn’t something you can grab hold of and beat up, but you can use them so often in your writing that the person reading your book is traumatized to the point that he wants to throw it across the room. Seriously? Adverbs can traumatize? Do an experiment. …
