Author Wayland Smith has worked in law enforcement, circus entertainment (as ring crew), and comic book retail, among other things. He’s also a black belt in Shaolin kung fu. While juggling all of that, he writes different types of fantasy.
Daily Dragon (DD): What inspired your first book?
Wayland Smith (WS): My first novel was In My Brother’s Name. The story came from an exercise at the Academy I was part of, but the push to do it came from a friend and fellow writer, Harry Heckel. He credits me with starting his career (long story I slightly disagree with) so he pushed me into actually taking my writing seriously.
DD: What is the Wildside series about?
WS: Wildside, Inc. is a team of superhuman mercenaries. They are NOT heroes; they get paid to do what they do. Cancel is the team leader and the one who founded it. Her power is the ability to turn off other people’s powers. In her civilian life, she’s a business woman and decided to lean on that background when her powers emerged. There are two books out in the series so far, and book three is moving along.
DD: Do you write mostly connected books or standalones?
WS: I write what the little voices tell me to, which sounds creepy but it’s pretty much true. I do standalones (In My Brother’s Name), series (Wildside), and whatever else comes to mind. I have a few more series, solos, and short stories in the works as real life and work (ugh) allows.
DD: Do you still read comics? If so, what’s your current favorite?
WS: Yes, I do. I’m a lifelong comics fan, and I don’t see it changing. Nightwing is my favorite character, and his series is really good, as is Titans, which he’s the leader of. On the other side of the aisle, I enjoyed the Iron Man run that just ended, and the current Thor is really good.
DD: I have to ask why you decided to work for the circus and how you ended up there.
WS: I was a stagehand as pretty much my only job from about ‘93 to ‘01. I saw an ad in the paper, believe it or not, and went mostly to get a tour backstage because I thought it would be cool. To my surprise, I got the job as propmaster and went on tour with the Big Apple Circus for a while. They’re a great show. Go see them if they end up near you.
DD: Your Amazon bio says you play several computer games. Do you have a favorite?
WS: I play more than I should, probably (my wife is nodding at me). My all-time favorite is City of Heroes, but I’m really into 7 Days to Die right now. What makes it unique is you can interact with everything you see. Cut down trees, dig holes, take down or build new buildings. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a game before.
DD: You’re participated in NaNoWriMo several times. What do you see as the benefits and drawbacks of that annual project?
WS: For benefits, it lets you focus on a project and, for beginners, lets them see what trying to write an actual book is like. Some great books have come out of NaNo, like The Night Circus, which is a gorgeous story, Water for Elephants, Cinder, Wool, and Silo. For me, it gives me a push to start developing new projects. There’s also a large amount of peer support at that point, which is always nice.
Drawbacks… I really don’t see any. If you don’t like the idea, don’t do it. Maybe I’m simple.
DD: How much of In My Brother’s Name came from NaNoWriMo?
WS: I wrote all of the first draft of In My Brother’s Name for my first NaNo. Then there was a LOT of polishing, editing, feedback, consulting with a few people, more research. I encourage people to try NaNo but at the end of it, you do NOT have a book ready for publication.
DD: Having worked as a private investigator and a law enforcement officer, do you notice any common errors in fiction involving investigations?
WS: So many. Glove discipline is horrible. You don’t handle evidence and then either shake hands or type on your computer. A clip and a magazine are not the same thing in a pistol. Deputy sheriffs and police officers do many of the same jobs, but the terms aren’t interchangeable. If you’re personally connected to a case, you will NOT investigate it. The supervisor wouldn’t allow it for the very good reason that any decent defense attorney would get it tossed out at trial. I could keep going, but I’ll stop there.
DD: Do you draw on your work background for your fiction?
WS: To an extent. I look at things I’ve done and then, like Marvel, ask “What if…?” for some of my stories. For others, it’s just background/detail work. And for some others, it’s wholly irrelevant. I’ve never been either super powered or a mercenary.
DD: What’s next for you?
WS: A publisher I was with went out of business, so I’m getting some books re-homed and continuing those series. I have a few other novels I’m waiting to hear back about from various publishers and working on a few more. I hope to have some announcement with more detail soon.
DD: Thank you for your time.
For more information about Wayland Smith and his work, visit his corner of Goodreads (he says he’s the one author who has a good time there) at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6571201.Wayland_Smith. Wayland is also on most social media under some version of his name, and his own website is currently under construction.
