Interview with Adventure/Romance Author Larry Hammersley

Larry is 75, married to Sue for 51 years, has two children and five grandchildren. He has a BS in chemistry from Purdue University and MS in chemistry from Indiana University. He enjoys jogging, amateur radio, astronomy, occasional woodworking, is a teacher and song leader in church and has been writing for 38 years. He has several short romance stories at various sites on the Internet. He started out writing short science fiction stories and more recently sweet romance stories. His first accepted novel is a sweet romance, A Change of Heart, and his second novel is a science fiction entitled Higher Mission.

Welcome back to my blog, Larry. Your new book sounds very interesting. It’s a science fiction/romance thriller. This is what the novel is about:

Joe Cramer, a widower, takes on mining jobs in the solar system to finance medical treatment for his sick daughter, Cindy. Cramer, in his early 50s, is paired up with 35 year old Mona Watson who is already experienced in space missions herself. She is beautiful, arrogant, inconsistent, inflexible and argumentative. Despite that, Cramer’s feelings for her grow. They serve on several missions together and get into some “hot spots.”

Where did you get your inspiration for this novel, Larry?

I wrote a short story, which occurs in the novel as chapter one. I decided to expand it into a novel, and also, my love of astronomy and the writings of science fiction authors of years gone by. The main plot of this story, the protagonist’s Higher Mission for seeing to the needs of his permanently ill daughter, was inspired by mine and Sue’s first born child, Tisha, who was permanently ill and lived for fourteen years. Unlike Tisha, Cramer’s daughter, Cindy, is finally healed. The novel is dedicated to the memory of Tisha.

Wow! I bet this part of the story was quite emotional for you as an author. What kind of research did you do for this book?

I have an abundance of astronomy books and was able to access the Internet on the particulars of the planets, their moons and the star Sirius. I’ve done much reading in the past and have retained that. The earth scenes from the Ohio resort were easy as I’ve been there several times. Much of the artist’s paintings are accurate and my descriptions are based on that as well as space probes and telescope findings.

My husband is very interested in astronomy, also. In each of your books, you enjoy adding a sweet romance. What intrigues you most about writing “clean” love stories?

I enjoy the challenge of writing sweet romance stories because so many stories today are based on the physical aspect, something I don’t feel is long lasting. I believe the relationship between the hero and heroine is stronger when based on a “clean” interaction between man and woman.

I totally agree. That’s what lasts in a relationship. I hope my followers will check out this book. Thanks for this wonderful interview, Larry.