Interview with Sweet Romance Author Larry Hammersley

Larry has been married to Sue for fifty years and they have two children, Eric and Lisa, and five grandchildren. He graduated from Purdue with a B.S. in chemistry and from Indiana University with an M.S. in chemistry. He has five short romance stories, a contemporary short story. Due out in October is a science fiction novel. He is still trying to find a home for some of his many short science fiction stories.

Hello, Larry. Please tell us about your romance, A Change of Heart.

Leroy and Jody have had unhappy experiences in grade and high school. They both resolve to avoid further relationships when they get to college. Leroy scraps that idea when he meets Jody but she refuses to let him into her life as he wants. She insists that her college and work career leave no room for a man in her life. Leroy pursues her for four years in college and two years in the work place where Jody is his supervisor. As the cover shows, Jody’s heart is iced over. She finally wakes up, but is it in time? Leroy has quit his job and left.

Where did you get your inspiration for this book? Do you get any ideas from real life experiences?

The novel is based on my first accepted short story on the Internet entitled Lab Partners. I used the characters Leroy and Jody from that story and expanded it into a novel. Although I had no lasting romances in college, I used experiences from my chemistry major studies at Purdue to write some of the lab and study scenes. I did actually hook up with three guys to study physical chemistry such as in the novel but we didn’t discuss women. The ice skating rink incident where Leroy was hurt actually happened to me at the ice rink at Purdue. A girl helped me off the rink and checked on my well-being a time or two but no romance occurred as a result. Sigh! I have a free-read short story called Ice Rink Romance on the Internet.

What kind of research did you have to do for this novel?

The chemistry end of the novel I already knew. I had to check the internet to see if Purdue students had a place to go for milk shakes and it turns out they do. I use the actual name for that Sweet Shop. I had to do that because editors have given me a hard time and insisted its Starbucks now and going for a milk shake isn’t done anymore. I learned the intricacies of the Lutz maneuver in ice skating from the internet. Jody does a double Lutz near the end of the novel.

You write science fiction. Was it hard to change genres and begin writing romance?

Actually, I still write science fiction (SF please and not sci-fi) and have my first accepted SF novel coming out this October called The Higher Mission. The transition, if there was one, was easy for writing romance stories because I almost always had romance in my SF novels and short stories.

That’s awesome. In other words, it just came naturally for you. Now it’s time to tell us something about the real you that we’ll never forget.

I enjoy listening to classical music, mainly Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Youtubes are great for that. Ten years ago I competed an International Foxhunting Championship which was based in Ohio. Mind you this isn’t the furry creature but refers to hidden transmitter hunting, in this case in the deep woods of Ohio and Indiana. The rules were strict and walking through the woods netted me two falls. The briars were vicious. For one of the frequencies I borrowed a Russian receiver to carry. I earned four bronze medals, which included International and U.S.

I enjoy amateur radio and use Morse Code to talk to foreign countries. I’ve been jogging since 1975 and compete in weekend road races although I’ve slowed so much at age 75 that a couple of competitive men walkers beat me now. I am active in church as a song leader (vocal music) and teacher. On rare occasions I may preach.

Wow! Now that’s really a fun list of things. Thanks, Larry, for this wonderful interview. I hope my followers will check out your books.