4Q Interview with Author Lockie Young

Lockard (Lockie) Young is a published author having been featured on The Scribbler several times and it is a pleasure to have one of my favorite writers back again to participate in the 4Q Interview. Making the transition from plumber to author was likely not in his earlier plans but as a reader, I’m glad he did. He lives in Albert County, New Brunswick with his wife Trish and is the father of two adult sons. He has a vivid imagination.

 

 

 

4Q: Congratulations on the latest publishing news of the acquisition of your sequel to Ryan’s Legend by Morning Rain Publishing. Tell us about the novel.

LY: Thanks Allan. The sequel is called The Legend Returns and picks up, in the time line of the story, a couple months after the first book ends, as the clock above the school’s chalkboard signals the start of summer vacation. Ryan, the main character, hosts his friend Cory for a weekend sleepover while at the same time struggling with the secret he continues to keep from everyone, including his parents. He discovered a very real live Legend in the first book. Ryan teaches Cory about life as he knows it by the seashore, and Cory, who is a city boy, learns a lot of lessons about nature he never knew before. Things turn interesting when a giant sea serpent shows up in the harbor…or is it?

This sequel is a bit longer than the first book, but it still has the short easy to read chapters, with cliff hanger endings, and is considered at a middle grade reading level. 

 

 

 

 

 

4Q: In addition to the above, you have been recently published in Tim Baker’s compilation of stories featuring his character Ike called The Path of a Bullet. How did this come about?

LY: I met Tim Baker through a mutual friend of ours, Susan Toy. Tim was getting this book together and wanted to include some short stories from other authors as well as his own contributions. He set out a call for submissions, a contest of sorts. He would read the stories and decide which ones made the cut. It’s my pleasure to say that I was one of the lucky guest authors that Tim chose to be featured in his book.

In my short story The Light at the end of the Tunnel, my main character is a ‘Tunnel Rat’ who does a dirty job that no one else wants, but he needs to pay bills. He is soon to find that he will be delivering some very special merchandise to our hero Ike. And here is an exclusive just for you, Allan. I’ve been asked to submit another story for an Ike anthology that Tim is already working on for 2015. I’m busy mashing up a tasty story with Tim’s hero Ike in the starring role. I’ll give you an update on how that goes later this year.

 

 

4Q: Any plumbing anecdotes from your previous career?

LY: I swear, Allan. You are Psychic, man. I just started another project the other day. I always said I could write a book about the many different things I’ve retrieved from plugged toilets over the years, from cell phones dumped by irate girl friends, to mini prescription eye glasses belonging to a 3 year old that was being teased and called 4 eyes. So I started Diary of a Service Plumber. Each chapter will be a service call ‘of note’ that I’ve been on over the length of my 20 year career as a service plumber. I promise to keep it clean and tasteful, but light hearted, and hopefully comical, because I sure laughed at the end of most of them. 

 

 

4Q: We would be interested in your reading recommendations for 2015.

LY: What, you mean aside from your books? And I’m not kidding or sucking up…respect man. I’ve read so many good books lately, and I’m just waking up to the amazing talent we have here in the Maritimes. My recommendation is to read anything by a local author. The big guys like Stephen King and J.K.Rowling have lots of readers. Invest in the local talent and be amazed. Oh, and check out mine and Allan’s books. I definitely recommend those.

 

 

 

 

A sample of Lockie's poetry.

I wrote Do You Remember the Time as an experiment on what I thought it might be like to be slipping into a well known disease, Alzheimer's.

                           Do You Remember The Time

                                                    L.F.Young

 

Do you remember the good old days?

When the hot morning sun

Turned to afternoon haze?

Do you remember that glass of iced cold tea?

Making puddles on table top?

Beaded water drops catching light

Rainbow colors to see?

 

Do you remember the day a long time ago?

We borrowed your dad’s car.

Off to the beach we did go.

Like an old married couple

Windows full open.

Salty sea air blowing through your golden hair.

It seemed in those days we had not a care.

 

I remember these things…I remember them well

I remember the sights…I remember the smells.

I remember the past…but I feel I must tell

I just can’t remember yesterday well.

Do these keys in my hand fit the car in the drive?

I remember to leave, but where to arrive?

Will you please tell me your name?

I wish things would just stay the same. 

                                   

 

Thank you Lockie for being part of the Scribbler. We wish you continued success in the wonderful world of writing. Here are his links;

The Legend Returns:

http://morningrainpublishing.com/project/the-legend-returns-by-l-f-young/ 

Ryan's Legend: http://morningrainpublishing.com/project/ryans-legend/

Website:

http://poems-and-other-ramblings.webnode.com/

Blog:

http://lockardyoung.wordpress.com/

Please drop by the Scribbler next week to meet Guest Author Vashti Quiroz-Vega of South Florida and read her first-rate short story A Time to Live and a Time to Die