Welcome to Inside the Mind where we here at The Faerie Review interview authors and creators.
Our guest today is Paul Lonardo, the author behind The Goblin Pitcher

Lily: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview Paul, I enjoyed The Goblin Pitcher. Goblins and baseball are a unique combination. What inspired you?

Paul: Thank you, Lily. I appreciate this opportunity to converse with you about my book and share it with your followers. I hope to reach young people who will find my book as much fun to read as I had writing it. As a father who became involved coaching baseball when my son began play, watching him learn the game and develop his skills is what inspired me to this The Goblin Pitcher. As a writer, I wanted to foster his interest in reading by writing a book about baseball and mythical creatures who also enjoyed playing the game. There were two things I knew he was interested in, baseball and monsters, so combining the two in developing a book for him, and all young readers alike, seemed a natural thing to do.

Lily: That’s a wonderful reason! Did you have to do a lot of research for this book?

Paul: I can honestly say that I did more research for this book than I did on any book I wrote. It is also a fact that it was a process I thoroughly enjoyed. I read a lot about the myths and legends surrounding the supernatural world and the beings who occupy it, namely fairies and goblins, and I came away truly amazed by the diversity of the lifeforms and the many ways the realms they occupy are depicted by other authors. I kept picking up book after book, and reading the content on innumerable blog sites and webpages that discussed anything that had to do with these amazing creatures. It almost reached the point of information overload, but this deep dive allowed me to fully understand the most important thing about the mythical world and the inhabitants; not everything is known about them, so the exact nature of these beings and their existence lends itself to individual imagination. You can create your own world and make it exactly the way you envision it. In the context of my story, that’s what I did. The Goblin Pitcher combines a goblin world and the human pastime that is baseball. Or are the origins of this sport not a mortal invention, after all?

Lily: Hehe I think you did a great job, and I’m glad you enjoyed the research! Have you ever played baseball?

Paul: Oh, yes. I played baseball from the time I was a child and I played well into my adulthood. I only stopped playing when I got married and became a father. I have friends who still play in adult summer leagues, and I would be temped to get onto the field myself if my son hadn’t developed a love of the game himself, which I encourage, of course. My son has been playing since he was six years old, and I have also been actively involved as a coach on his teams. He is thirteen now, and I am in the dug with him. There is nothing better. And nothing I’d rather be doing.

Lily: Sounds like a great way to share the love of the game! I’m glad you enjoy coaching as much as he enjoys playing. Was Jake based on anyone?

Paul: Jake is the name of the protagonist in The Goblin Pitcher, and Jake is also my son’s name. Both are pitchers. So, you could say that the fictional character is loosely based on my son. Jake in the book also loves baseball, but that’s where the similarities between the two Jakes stop and the fiction begins.

Lily: Hehe I wonder how your Jake would handle finding out he’s part Goblin! Now we’d like to talk about you as a writer. What’s your favorite time of day to write?

Paul: I feel I am at my most creative in the evening, and late at night. When everything is quiet and the day is done, I can focus better on a creative project. The daytime hours I usually spend doing promotional work and research, as well as reading.

Lily: I’m definitely a night owl myself. Do you have a designated writing space?

Paul: A comfortable place to write is important, and I actually have two places I can work. Which location I use depends on the time of the year. Besides the quiet and still of the night that I prefer, I also require cooler air temperatures. In the summer, I have a basement office area that is always cooler than the rest of the house. In the winter, the upstairs living room is where I’ll be working, with a window air conditioning unit at the ready if the heat is set too high by one of the other goblins that occupy the house.

Lily: I find it hard to work when it’s too hot out, so I can understand why you’d want it cooler. Do you prefer to make an outline or write on the fly?

Paul: With book-length fiction, I prefer to devise a basic outline to follow, just so I know that I am on course with my storyline and not straying too far. I give myself some leeway to allow for creative impulses, but I usually know my ending, and that is always a big help. What’s in between the opening plot point and the ending is always an adventure, and that’s where the magic lies. That’s what makes it fun for me. And the reader.

With most fiction, it is not unusual for a story to “write itself.” That does happen, but it only works if you have a character that is fully developed, one you completely understand. That character will take you on journey that you as the writer may not know, at least not consciously. I say go with these characters, trust them. If the story gets pulled in some inexplicable direction, then I can always pull back, find out more about the character, and continue onward.

Lily: Sounds like a fun adventure with a set start and finish in mind, like a road trip that may have some detours. Let’s finish up with some fun questions and get inside your mind. What’s your favorite fair food?

Paul: Favorite “fair” food. Simple. Doughboys. Deep fried dough topped with powdered sugar. Not good for you, but soooooo good!

Lily: Definitely one of my favorites! Would you rather have all your thoughts appear above your head in a thought bubble or have your skin change colors with your mood?

Paul: Interesting question, Lily. Being a kid at the time when “mood rings” first became a fad (I know this reference may date me, but I’m okay with it), I think it would really be something to be able to read a person’s mood by a subtle change in hue. Of course, those rings only reflected the temperature of the wearer’s finger, so I suppose I would be some shade of blue most of the time as I sit working in the basement or in my air-conditioned living room. But that would still be really cool.

Lily: Hehe I remember mood rings (I wonder if any of the people reading this will). If anything is possible, should it be possible for anything to be impossible? Why or why not?

Paul: That’s a question worthy of some philosophical thought, like that tree that falls in the forest. However, it seems to me that if anything is possible, nothing is impossible, except trying to answer a riddle that is impossible to answer.

Lily: That’s a good answer, and definitely a fun question to mull over. What are your favorite and least favorite colors?

Paul: When it comes to colors, I don’t have strong opinions one way or the other. Had you asked about smells, well that would have gotten quite a different response.

Lily: Maybe that’s something we should ask people – favorite smell instead of favorite color…Where’s one place you want to visit that you haven’t yet? What would you do?

Paul: By coincidence, this time of the year is when I most often find myself thinking about one day visiting Normandy, and the beachheads where the Allied troops landed on D-Day, June 6. 1944. It would be an amazing experience to step foot on the same stretch of ground where nearly eighty years ago such a consequential battle took place, changing the course of WWII, and the history of the world. There are a lot of other destinations and sites to see in that part of the world, of course, but Normandy is one of those places I put at the top of the list.

Lily: I think that would be an amazing experience. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten (or want to eat someday)?

Paul: I’ve always been a bit finicky about what I eat, and not given to take culinary risks. I haven’t eaten bugs (at least not intentionally), and hopefully the state of things won’t bring us to that, but I did have eaten snake meat. That was intentional. It was surprisingly good. Not surprisingly, it tasted like chicken.

Lily: I’ve heard snake is good, but I don’t think I’ve had it yet. I have had snails, and prepared correctly they’re pretty good. Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

Paul: Well, I am often asked what advice I have for someone who wants to pursue a career in writing. My response is always the same. It may sound clichéd, but the simplest things are sometimes the solutions to biggest dilemmas. If writing is something you really enjoy, don’t let anything stop you, no matter how little time you have to devote to it. Always write for you first, write what interests you, and the readers who find you will be lucky they did.

Lily: That’s great advice! How can readers discover more about you and you work?

Paul: I belong to a host of book and author sites. You can find my books and information about them and myself on the book website and at the links below.

Website | LinkedIn | Goodreads | LibraryThing | AuthorsDen | BookBub
The Author’s Guild | Barnes & Noble | Amazon