Interview with CS Yelle, Author of Taking Angles!!

My Interview with the AWESOME CS Yelle!!!

1.Who is CS Yelle, really??

CS Yelle is a dreamer, a romantic, and a sucker for happy endings after overcoming hardship and loss.

He believes in the incredible strength of the human spirit and sacrifice done for the greater good.

He feels there is good and evil in everyone and to a certain extent it is a choice which one we allow to rule us.

He loves books but is fascinated with movies that are able to take what is on the page and turn it into a spectacle before our eyes.

He loves well written stories of every kind no matter the genre and strives to write what he feels without considering the genre.

He believes in loyalty and integrity and strives to put these things into characters in his novels.

He is an immensely proud of father of four wonderful children and wrapped around the little finger of his adorable granddaughter.

He is in love with his beautiful wife more today than the day he married her and she is his connection to reality when he might drift away into the world of his writing and be lost.

CS Yelle is your average man who strives every day to be better and who writes down his daydreams to share with others in order to make room for the new daydreams waiting to develop.

He is still amazed that readers are taken by his stories and grateful at all the support they have shown.

2. What can you tell me about Taking Angels??

Taking Angels grew out of an idea that a very popular vampire story left me wanting more. I wasn’t about to write about vampires, a subject I never felt a connection to, but wanted to take the emotions that story stirred in me and add my style of action and plot to it.

Taking Angels shows us all sides of the human spirit. The beautiful and the ugly. I feel the characters show us that no one is immune to pain and suffering and no one is all good or all bad.

Britt starts out suffering with cancer and now is told she would ultimately lose the battle, she decides to check out early. Even though she rationalizes that she is doing it to spare her loved ones pain, she is doing it to spare her pain. Who can blame her?

Britt’s choice, which she tried to change at the last moment but failed, put into motion a chain of events that did exactly the opposite of what she was trying to accomplish. She wanted to choose her exit and protect the people she loved from pain, but now her existence puts everyone she loves and cares about in harm’s way.

This story touched me at various points and made me tingle as the words resonated with me. Her loyalty to those she cares about is noble, yet her logic is sometimes flawed due to that loyalty.

She now finds herself in the center of a conflict in a supernatural world she never knew existed until she went over the waterfalls. Her reality is now one of staying ahead of the enemy and protecting those around her from harm. Is she up to the task?

3. What inspires you to write??

My imagination has always been one where I see something and add…”what if?”

I let my story grow from there. That is why I ignore genre and go with the story as it grows. I love magic, so many of my stories contain magic, but that magic can come in different forms and avenues.

So to answer your question, the world around me inspires me to write.

4. If you could be any character you wanted, who would you be and why??

Geek Alert! I always wanted to be Thor. As long as I can remember, Thor was the character I wanted to be and I guess I still feel that same way.

Now as far as novels go, Dumbledore would be pretty awesome too. The greatest wizard of his time and a mentor to Harry Potter, who wouldn’t love that?

5. I know you have other books out besides Taking Angels, but do you have any work in progress that you are able to tell us about??

Other than the next installments to the series that are currently out, I have one that is written and in the polish stage.

It is the story of four teenagers who are genetically engineered to be “super” covert operatives. They have no knowledge of their abilities until the CIA “activate” them on their sixteenth birthdays. They now must struggle to reconcile their ideologies with their new roles and the demands of the CIA in order to keep their parents from being sent to Guantanamo Bay.

6. You are a published author with Staccato Publishing, can you tell us how that is going for you??

Staccato Publishing is my publisher for my current release, Taking Angels. My first series is published by another small publisher.

Staccato Publishing has surpassed my expectation in every way and will continue to publish my work as long as they are willing.

Not only is there a great sense of family with all the staff and other authors, but you know that they are there to help you build a successful and fulfilling career. They give me what is usually missing at every level of publishing and that is marketing and commitment to my efforts.

I feel that Staccato Publishing should become the model for the industry instead of the exception.

7. Who is your favorite author and why??

Terry Brooks, the author of the Shannara series will always be my favorite author due to the fact that his books were the ones that drew me into the world of writing. Without reading his work, I would never have felt the inner tug on my creative juices to venture into writing.

8. Is there a character in any of your books, that is based off of someone you know??

In all honesty, yes. I doubt that any author can answer no to that question truthfully. For me, characters are a fusion of many different people I have met in my life. I can tell you who inspired each character the most, but I doubt those people would realize it when they read it.

9. If you weren't an author, what would you be doing??

I guess doing what I’m doing now. I am a water treatment chemical salesman. I may sound a bit boring, but going to different places every day keeps me interested in the different aspects of how we use and reuse our water supply.

Without the travel involved in doing this job, the stories would never come to be since I develop most of my stories while I drive.

10. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why??

Europe. The history and culture fascinates me and a lot of my Fantasy novels contain medieval characteristics that resonate with England and France history.