Look and Listen

Biography

I currently live in Michigan, where I was raised, but I've spent most of my life in the West from Texas to New Mexico to Colorado to Arizona and California. Two of my books (RISING SUN, DISTANT MOUNTAIN and COME DANCE WITH ME) are significantly placed in SW Colorado. I have to admit, I'm more than a bit solitary, independent (I'm on this site, right?) and insist on following my muse as consistently as I can. One experience told me something important about my writing: In 1992, I self-published my first novel, TIGERLAND, a Viet Nam war story. Seven years later, it appears as a Hollywood movie by the same name! And, of course, I knew nothing about it. Beyond the legal issues, I eventually took some comfort knowing I was capable of writing something others would steal. That 'back door acknowledgement' keeps me working. My work is currently posted at WWW.Lulu.com/Hobopoet and WWW.AuthorsDen.com/HowardAlanLantzer. Signed copies can also be ordered directly from SECOND CIRCLE PRESS, PO Box 14, Bath, MI 48808, USA.

Inspiration

It's always a mystery to me where my story ideas come from. Years ago, I was successful in a short story contest sponsored by the Southern Ute Indian nation. I completed a piece, THE STORY OF ACHILLES AND HECTOR GOODEYE, by meditating on a newspaper photo of an orphaned fawn trying to escape a wild fire. As I suggested above, I try to guide myself by non-linear realities, a process that seems to support my creative and expressive impulses.