AN INTERVIEW WITH ZASLOW CRANE

I’ve been telling stories since I was little…My folks called it “lying” but they didn’t have much imagination. I finally figured out that I needed to write some of them down and started a web based all high end audio podcast called “Smoke and Mirrors” (don’t bother looking for it. The site was attacked and destroyed after I went on hiatus). They didn’t even ask for a “ransom” they just destroyed it and it’s too much trouble to get it put back up, plus there are second-use issues I’d rather not wade into ATM.

Anyway, after being published in numerous magazines (online and physical) I eventually decided to self publish a few “collections” of these short stories. (The Future Is Closer Than You Think, Vol 1 & 2). Considering I was a virtual “nobody” and I had $0 for promotion, they sold fairly well (though I’m still having a heck of a time getting folks to leave a review! Everyone seems to think that they’ll look foolish and not seem literate if they leave a review. Just write what you think; what you feel. You thoughts are legitimate- heck even a simple Thumbs up is a review).

That “emboldened” me to self publish some more…9 books in total so far. I have 9 more finished but I’m waiting to find out if a cookbook which I’ve also written (ok, make that ten books!) will be picked up by a publisher in S.F. I’m currently working on a sequel to a well –received novella sent in Ireland 1100 AD. The research for this book was extensive and (god help me!) fun!
 

Well 1) To tell stories  2) To get PAID for telling stories…and here I don’t wish to seem money grubbing nor venal, it’s just that if people are willing to not only expend time on my work, but their hard earned money as well, then that speaks to the quality of my work and makes me feel good.

3) To see the future…The lead story in “The Future Is Closer Than You Think- Vol 2” is called “The Man with No Face”. It’s about a popular movie star who is tricked into signing away the rights to his own face because the movie studios have figured out a way to synthesize his face- so they no longer need him- nor need to pay his fees.

The lead story in “The Future Is Closer Than You Think Vol 1, is about a self driving car with AI, that is dragged into court to answer for manslaughter charges.

I have stories about humanity that has nothing to do; no purpose because the machines can already do the job(s) cheaper and better so there are people, but they are utterly unnecessary…what becomes of humanity when it has no purpose? This allows me to envision the future and imagine what it will hold in store for us.

I have a four book series set in the future with a strong but very flawed MC. In the first book, he is sent to a place he is not welcome amid a lot of unrest to solve a murder that has no clues and find the weapon that was used even though from what little he might glean from the “corpsicle”, the weapon simply doesn’t exist. In these books I envision how society changes as it moves out into the solar system; how greed and money stay the same “motivators”. 

The cookbook is a sort of “Cooking 101” for the noob in the kitchen (I work in commercial kitchens and have run a popular L.A. Food truck in my “other life”. I walk you through what equipment you need and what is…fluffy. “Fluffy” is death.I have a murder mystery set in the Los Angeles of the near future in which a dead man might still tell the tale of who killed him –IF you know where to look, technologically speaking.

In an alternate “present” I have a story of a gigantic cargo blimp, making a delivery but they’re not accounted for other things on board: a mysterious man from the Home Office, weaponized bio toxins, terrorists and a man “dropping in “ from outside” (at 10,000 feet!) who might have an answer to the situation.You can also Check out my publications on Amazon.com

There’s more but I’m sure that I’ve already come across as “peripatetic” as a writer (and as a thinker!) so, I suppose that’s enough, so your readers don’t think I’m too eccentric…

There’s NOTHING more daunting than a blank page. Write something. Then go back and “fix” it. I’ve found this to be far easier than fussing because you can’t start. Your first draft is going to suck anyway. Don’t sweat it. Just get in the car and drive! Often the destination will present itself after a while!

I’ve read about this extensively…TV, movie writers…If you have a real and looming deadline, while it is anxious-making it is also a great motivator. I’m struggling ATM with a block of sorts but just keep on trying…If one project continues to frustrate, then move to another and go back later to the first.

Just keep on writing. “Writing”/Imagining and getting it down on “paper” is like a muscle. Use it or lose it. Don’t allow writers’ block to stop you.

“Undercapitalization”. That is: no money to advertise. If the cookbook happens I’ll have to go “into pocket” to help publicize it, but I believe in myself, so I will. 

Also, “Anonymity”…with so much “product” out there it’s difficult to distinguish yourself. So do your homework.
Be diligent. Granted this is nowhere near as much fun as writing (“tedious” is a term I generally use), BUT it is ABSOLUTELY necessary. If you get someone’s attention, make darn certain that the book is well edited (professionally!) and that you have a cover that at least hints at what is inside the book.

This is a VERY difficult process, but if you actually get someone to give you time AND money for your work, it had better be the best you can produce, because if you embarrass yourself with poor story or grammar editing, you’ll never get those folks back.

I’m quite varied in my interests: a couple “Twilight Zone style books about “The Future”…A book with a very different vampire story…

Another very silly book about “mis using” a time machine” (My best seller so far – Dimple In Time- Or What Do You Wanna Do With My New Time Machine? Wanna Make A Movie?!”).
I’ve done 5 short story collections of creepy or macabre stories (That is: Creepy SH*T vol 1-5), plus the other stuff I’ve already talked about…

I have lots of interests and I indulge them all, because …”There Might Be A Book In It”! I’m in the planning stages of a trip to South America, so I’ll be writing there as well…Foodie tourism and accounts of my travels…There might be a book in that as well.  And I’m well into “The Future Is Closer Than You Think- Vol 3”.

Most days start out writing. It seems that when I’m fresh from sleep and before other concerns distract me I get more done and get it done better.

It is not unusual to get up at 2 am to write down a dream or write a phrase or idea out that might work in what I’m writing that day.

On Mail at – 1ZaslowCrane1@sbcglobal.net; or Google “Zaslow Crane” to see my other endeavors…a spice company, a Chef-for-hire business (On hiatus due to Covid), and A photo site (Vegetography.com) – close up shots of fruits and veggies well lit and photographed ( I was a commercial photographer in L.A. for 28 years, so this is not a stretch for me).

I hope to surprise and delight. Always. Almost all of the short stories (7 books) are set up in a sort of twist ending (like The Twilight Zone- one of my perpetual touchstones!) and so hopefully I will surprise them and – esp in the case of The Future Is Closer…ALSO give them something to think about which may have not occurred to them before.
The idea may be great, but if the story telling isn’t up to par…who cares? So I always try to find ways – different ways in each story to make it engaging and …hopefully new.


I talked somewhere else in this interview about in the future people won’t really be needed anymore to work. True, this frees them up to do things like…”Art”…But what if you’re not artistic? Mightn’t idle people just get bored and then get into trouble? There’s an “evil” little story called “Human Resources” in which the MC has been doing just that, but in order to qualify for food “chits” he has to work- for two whole weeks per year! But he can’t work if he’s been “misbehaving”. How does the human spirit; human ingenuity find a work-around? “Help” comes from a jaded and unexpected quarter.


There’s another story called simply “Cowboys”. It’s one of my favorites and a simple slice of life of two cowboys lives – in a post apocalyptic world. But people gotta be fed; so cattle need to be driven to market. It’s the journey that is utterly different.


And yet another story in which the very act of actually going somewhere “outside” is so completely, outlandishly foreign that the MC’s friends all think he is mad…He goes anyway and learns an important lesson.


I’ve been a contributing editor for a national magazine (non fiction) and have contributed to maybe a couple hundred other magazines over the years (non fiction or humor) this is the first time I’ve allowed my imagination to get out and create a bit of a ruckus. I hope to continue creating a ruckus with more new ideas gleaned from thinking about what awaits us all…In the Future.