Gypsy Shadow Publishing Author Ed Ahern
Fascinating individual describes Ed Ahern. His modern fairy tales overflow with the vividness of his imagination and his talent as a storyteller. Gypsy Shadow’s Fireflies, New Springs, Legends and Wee Folk Genres feature young adult and children’s stories, folk tales and fantasy. His The Witch Made Me Do It fits nicely in each of these categories. As a result, you will find something to enjoy and hopefully share with others in this collection of modern fairy tales!
Interview with children’s fairy tale and fantasy author Ed Ahern:
How old were you when you first started to write?
Ahern: At sixteen, I started out writing obituaries for a weekly newspaper; my first paying job writing. About the same time, I completed my first fiction story, a shoot-em-up bodice ripper that never got published, and which I fortunately lost many years ago. Additionally, my junior year in high school, I wrote my first poem, a stinker about ants that got published in the school newspaper.
What motivates you to write?
Ahern: My motivation varies with the type of writing, and where I am as a writer. My non-fiction is limited to articles about fly fishing for Atlantic salmon, written to help other anglers and show off what a hot shit angler I am. An initial goal when I resumed writing fiction and poetry was publication. But now, some three hundred published pieces and reprints later, I write what I hope is decent and not what I think an editor will like. 
I write really because I like telling prose stories and conveying poetic thoughts and emotions. Like probably most performers I live for the enjoyment and appreciation of an audience.
What’s your favorite non-writing activity?
Ahern: In order of personal importance: family first, then reading, fly fishing, shooting, online diversions like Facebook and Twitter, and exercising.
Are you an activist, or is there a particular area of conservation or compassion you are passionate about?
Ahern: Activist is probably too strong a term for me. Nonetheless, I’m a conservationist and support organizations like Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the Atlantic Salmon Federation. I no longer support the NRA, their views on gun control are not mine (nor the majority of NRA members)
Do you have pets?
Ahern: No pets at present, but a past with, serially, one cat and three dogs. I’ve spent over forty years living with household animals, and I’m not counting the gerbils and goldfish.
Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
Ahern: I’m the first of three, with a sister and brother lined up behind me.
Are you married—and do you have children? What do you love about your relationship?
Ahern: Married forty-nine years in November, 2016. My stock line in the bio is that I have my original wife, but that after so many years together we’re both out of warranty. Two children, five grandchildren. We’re very close emotionally but not geographically.
What is the most significant thing that has happened during your lifetime?
“I survived.”
Ahern: I survived. I was a sport diver as a teenager and a Navy diver and bomb disarmer while in service. Then almost ten years living overseas as an intelligence operative, then another quarter century avoiding the conflicts and disease in second and third world countries. Almost swept away twice while wading where I shouldn’t have in turbulent rivers.
What do you read and what is your preferred medium?
Ahern: Two part answer. Pro Bono I handle a stable of review readers and sit on the review board for Bewildering Stories, which entails reading and evaluating around 25,000 words/week. My leisure reading alternates between literary fiction, genre fiction and nonfiction. The leisure reading is almost always from a physical book.
What are your favorite books?
Ahern: There are too many to list. I tend to keep or buy a book I really like, and there are well over a thousand books squirreled away in the house. And my tastes have changed over the decades. The Tarzan and Tom Swift books I read as a child seem pretty awful now, although I loved them then. I continue to make dedicated efforts to plow through Ulysses and Infinite Jest. I love the writing but get so frustrated that I put them back down for awhile. I do reread Tolkien fairly frequently.
Who are your favorite authors?
Ahern: Another “it depends” answer. Some authors are comfort food- George R. R. Martin for example. Some authors are annoyingly good—the short stories of Flannery O’Connor and Andre Dubus. Some authors recompose English into brittle brilliancy—David Foster Wallace.
If you had a gift certificate for $100 worth of books, where would you begin browsing and what would you buy first?
Ahern: No hesitation. Collectable books on Atlantic salmon fishing. I’d need more than a hundred dollars though.
WEBSITE: www.swampgasworks.com
TWITTER: @bottomstripper. I write almost daily about writing.
FACEBOOK: edward.ahern.39
KEYWORDS FOR YOUR BOOK(S) AND YOUR INTERVIEW.
fairy and folk tales, children’s books, Christmas books, reading to children
Thanks, Ed. We are honored to have you as one of our authors!
Have a great day and READ!
Gypsy Shadow Publishing
celebrates its seventh year in business in September of 2016. Primarily an eBook publisher based online, we have almost 50 books in print! Drop by, check out our more than 250 eBooks by almost 100 authors and pick out something to read!
Denise Bartlett is Gypsy Shadow Publishing’s Chief Editor and acquisitions editor. She delights in working with established authors to tighten up their manuscripts and their messages and with brand new authors to bring their dream of being a published author to fruition. Visit her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/DeniseBartlett.ChiefEditorGSP/