Start with the Facts with T David Lee

Tell us the book title and your author name. "108th Street" by T David Lee

What inspired the book? My own childhood experiences

What makes this book special to you? It gave me the opportunity to re-visit my own childhood and recall its grandeur and brevity. I've also been told by many readers that they could easily identify with the characters and situations, which validated my original intentions in writing it.

What makes this a book that other people MUST read and WHY? This is a very funny story. Times are very tough for a lot of people; the book will bring them back to a simpler time and give them a chance to smile at the story, take a fresh look at their own childhoods and perhaps be distracted from their own difficult circumstances.

What people NEED to read this book and WHY? Everyone who's been a child or has children needs to understand the viewpoint of the main character so they can balance their childhood innocence with what's become of it -- or what is left of it -- since.

What sparks your creativity? Any tips to help others spark their own creativity? Most important is the ability to frame a story or passage out of some mundane event, to be able to take something everyday ordinary and expand it into something memorable.

What has been the biggest stumbling block in your writing? Can you share some tips to help others get past similar problems? Time to write in a continuous stream. Life intervenes way too much on the writing process to allow people the time and focus to create the storylines and narratives they conceive but don't have the contiguous time to put to page.

What do you think motivates people to become authors? What motivated you to get into this unusual industry? I saw this as a challenge to see if could tell a story that would resonate with a large segment of the reading population. I wanted to see if I could bring strangers into my experience and have them enjoy it as much as I did.

Tell me about the most unusual things you have done to promote any books? Did a blind radio interview. I think there's a Braille version available.

FICTION - If there is a setting, tell us how you decided on that setting and what you did to create a complete and vivid setting for your readers? The book is set in New York City as I remember it in 1958. I tried to create an atmosphere that would immerse the reader in that time and circumstance so they would better understand the lifestyle as well as the distinct differences between then and now.

FICTION - What inspires you about the hero or heroine in your book? What makes them memorable for the reader? What motivates the hero and/or heroine? You can include information about both if you want. There is no "hero", just a typical boy growing up in the late 1950s. There's no shame in being ordinary. Great things happen to ordinary people without their becoming the least bit heroic. Readers will find the characters memorable because they will equate them with figures from their own past experiences.

FICTION - Is there a villain or something that causes friction in your story? Tell us about what or who it is and how that contributes to the story. Any details about conflict and friction is good information to know. There is a villain, and in a story about ten year-old kids it's got to be a bully, something we've all experienced at one point or another. This is another device to draw the reader into the story and make him familiar, if perhaps not comfortable, with the characters and the story. Even a broad comedy such as this has to have elements of drama or conflict to succeed.

There is a web site at which the book can be ordered. It is www.eloquentbooks.com/108thstreet.html.