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MEET BLAINE C. READLER
by Bonnie O'Brian

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

Blaine C. Readler

I still have three paperback books that I bought through the township’s middle school reading club. Each of these I read so many times, the covers fell off the bindings. I had to reconstruct them using cut-out sections of cereal boxes upon which I trimmed and glued the original cover art. These are: KON TIKI (Thor Heyerdahl), THE HOBBIT (J.R.R. Tolkien), and THE PEARL LAGOON (Charles Nordhoff). THE GREAT ESCAPE (Paul Brickhill) came in a close fourth. To this day, my favorite books are two I read in high school: HUCKELBERRY FINN, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I remember that, after finishing TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD a second time, I was ready for more, but was devastated to discover that this was the only novel Harper Lee had written.

Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?

My story is pretty much the same as every other writer who isn’t already a celebrity. I have two short stories, and two novels published. To achieve this, I sent 437 queries to agents, book publishers, and magazines (included are two very bad early novels that should never be published). I’m not sure if I should be more embarrassed by the quantity of rejections, or the fact that I actually kept count.

What are the topics are some of your books?

Here they are for my most recent novels:

• a miniature spy drone controlled by a virtual reality helmet and special gloves,
• an ancient hyper-space transport gate hidden in Baja Mexico for centuries,
• the premise that the universe has indeed been created by intelligent design, but that humans are a mistake,
• a man sets out to find his wife who has purportedly been killed, and is aided by -- you’re getting the idea -- an alien artifact.

 Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

After I wrote two novels, I decided to try my hand at a non-fiction book. Two months and many sweat-soaked shirts later, I gave up and went back to making up stories. Writing non-fiction in a way that is both entertaining and informative is a skill that I may someday again try to develop. For now, though, I need a rest, so I’ll write a dozen more novels.

 What kinds of things inspire you to write?

A computer keyboard in front of me.

 Where do you get your ideas?

I go for walks around my neighborhood. I have one of these digital audio recording things I bought at Radio Shack, and my neighbors have gotten used to me wandering around talking excitedly at it.

 Have any of your books earned special recognition?

Well ... if I have to toot my own horn, my novel UNDER THE RADAR was awarded best young adult novel this year by the San Diego Book Awards Association. Another novel, A GOD FOR THE EARTH, was a finalist in the science fiction category.

 Do you like to include humor in your stories? Or adventure? Or mystery?

The stories our ancestors told each other for hundreds of thousands of years around the campfire were of adventure and humor. I see no reason to break the tradition. I think the hunger for these two story elements is in our bones (or genes). Okay, mystery too, but I like it subtly embedded -- I don’t want to spend the whole book working out who murdered the guy.