Cornerstone Café

Cornerstone has the pleasure of interviewing today William M. “Coop” Cooper, the author of the popular collection of inspirational short stories, “Coop’s Corner Collection.”

Cornerstone:
Please tell us a little bit about your background.

Coop:
I grew up in West Texas during the oil boom years. My childhood was saturated with adventures and mischief. I was raised in a house of yesteryear, where the old school was taught. Dad was the absolute final word and he was an honest, hardworking man. My Mom slaved over us and existed for her children she loved supremely. A few years before the oil boom bottomed out, we moved to South Texas where I have remained since. In the course of time, I accumulated a number of certifications and degrees. I took a writing course to sharpen my skill in that area.

Cornerstone:
When did you start writing?

Coop:
I have always been a writer, even as an elementary student. My Dad used to write his mother complaining that I would never learn to spell. I question if I ever did actually learn to spell, for I still struggle with it all the time. Needless-to-say, creative writing always came easy for me and I looked forward to classes that required reports to be turned in.

Cornerstone:
Which writers might have influenced you?

Coop:
Believe it or not, the most powerful writer to influence me was not a writer at all, but a story teller by the name of Jesus Christ. I read the bible stories Jesus used to tell and I was amazed at how meaningful His stories were. His short stories or parables are still ministering to lives several thousand years after He first spoke them. I’d say that O’ Henry was a master at creating meaningful short stories. The way he would trick my mind with a twist at the end was a true delight and in so doing, he baited me to read more of his stories. I have tried to practice both of these writing styles in supplying both meaningful content and a surprising twist whenever possible.

Cornerstone:
What inspired you to write “Coop’s Corner Collection”? Could you briefly tell
us something about the book?

Coop:
If I were to isolate what inspired me to write, Coop’s Corner Collection, it would have to be a deep desire to see the underdog win where the circumstances in life dictated otherwise. When I become inspired, I find it impossible not to write and when I write, it must contain nobility or I have failed to reach my highest goal.

Cornerstone:
Is there a message in the book?

Coop:
There are many messages within the book, but the main message would be that of HOPE. Without hope, life is unlivable, but with hope, even the worst of lives, is endured patiently for the fruit of victory and betterment. The book is for those who don’t fit in and for those who are disadvantaged. It is also to those who have suffered great losses and those who have no direction for life. I contains every human emotion and deals with such an array of crisis that it transforms itself from a mere book of entertainment, to a real book of soul ministry. It is so versatile, that there is not one person who wouldn’t enjoy reading it and benefiting from its messages. I like to think of my book as a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, Chicken Soup for the Soul hybrid. The only difference being that every bit of my book comes from me alone.

Cornerstone:
How do you come up with ideas for what you write?

Coop:
I think about life and I watch people and because of such, I attempt to touch their souls by looking into their eyes. I study people’s motions and I sense the tones of their voices. I review their circumstances and I try to resolve their problems. I also reflect on my own childhood and remember the struggles and disappointments I had. I also ponder my sadness and defeats as an adult and attempt to reverse them in my stories so that there is victory at the end of every struggle. Only after my characters hit the bottom of the ocean called, Despair can I rightly bring them back up for air and a sure hope that land is not far away.

Cornerstone:
What advice would you give to someone who is considering going into writing?

Coop:
You must have quiet in your life. Without quiet, you will not be able to listen to your own heart or think very deeply about the world around you. Always journal your thoughts. Set goals and pursue them. Try to develop a large vocabulary so that you have more capability to communicate and describe. Learn how to describe things and feelings. Never use a Thesaurus to create words that are not mentally yours. When you write, use what is from your own abilities. Try to have something meaningful to say or teach. Always copyright your materials before sharing them with others. Never put off for tomorrow, because tomorrow always seems to bring with it another set of distractions that will keep you away from your goals.

Cornerstone:
What is next for Coop?

Coop:
Although my mind is always generating ideas, my primary concern is to see that Coop’s Corner Collection becomes popular and sought after. It is so important for this book to succeed for a number of worthy reasons.

a) Firstly, because Cornerstone Book Publishers invested their time and money to see that this book came into being. Thus, I have a fiduciary obligation to see that it succeeds.

b) Secondly, because everybody needs inspiration if they are to continue on in this struggle we call, life. There are so many people out there who are hurting, and others who are running out of hope. It is one of my goals with this book to remind them that there is an answer to their situations. Because there are people who have lost their connection with the human race and need a boost back to where they began. Because there are families out there who have lost a loved one and who need closure. Because there are people out there who just don’t ever seem to fit in, and who never seem to be understood by their peers. It is they who desperately need to hear that they are not alone and that these misunderstandings will improve if they don’t loose hope. Because there are those who need to be reminded that they are royalty and because of such, they can perform nobly.

c) Thirdly, I want to leave a legacy for my daughter. I want my child to say with pride that the stories I wrote were beneficial for this world and that she is proud that I am her Dad.

Cornerstone:
Is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Coop:
Yes, there is one area that I think many writers today seem to overlook and that is the area of responsibility. It cannot be stated too often that what we write effects others and often times those effect last a lifetime. No writer should see himself, exempt from the use of his words, especially when he cannot control the distribution of his product. Knowing that children are curious and capable of reading with surprising understanding, and also knowing that books are completely accessible to them, it should behoove all writers to be proactive in safeguarding their stories with language that does not accidentally or even purposefully corrupt or contaminate innocent minds. JRR Tolkien and George Lucas are a few examples of writers who refused to use the crutches of sex and profanity in their writings, for they had plenty talent to show off. And it isn’t by any luck that both the Lord of the Rings and The Star Wars series were masterpieces in their own rights. Because they were both morally clean products, they achieve great success. Thus a rule to learn is that the cleaner you make your product, the larger the target audience will be, and the smuttier the product is, the smaller the target audience will become.

Coop’s Corner Collection
by William M. Cooper
Softcover $15.00
ISBN 1-887560-36-X

To order “Coop’s Corner Collection” please visit www.cornerstonepublishers.com, www.lostword.info/coop or your favorite on-line bookseller.

Visit Coop’s MySpace site at: www.myspace.com/migraines_r_us

Cornerstone Book Publishers will shortly be releasing two inspired collections of poetry. The first is: “Poems for the Short-Term Memory” by Robert Fraser. Of this thought-provoking collection Adam Zagger writes: “Robert Fraser’s “Poems for the Short-Term Memory unveils the very threadwork of modern American life with a keen sense of current social conflicts and political agendas. These thrifted wisdoms display rhythm beat, and demand an awareness of truth and values achieved through struggle and personal enlightenment.” “Poems for the Short-Term Memory” will soon be on the Cornerstone website, but if you contact Robert and pre-order a copy directly from him, he will send you a free CD with poetry from the book read to music along with the book as soon as it is released. You can pre-order this work now by contacting Robert at his MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/poetrobertfraser.

Poems for the Short-Term Memory
Robert Fraser
ISBN: 1-887560-78-5
ISBN 13: 978-1-887560-78-8
Retail: $15.00
Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers
http://csmbooks.com/blog/www.cornerstonepublishers.com

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The Second work is “In the Twinkling of a Star” by Sis. Joyce Fuller, OES, PHA. This is a wonderful collection of OES poems collected by a Past Matron of the Eastern Star. This book offers selected new poetry from OES leaders as well as classics from the likes of Robert Morris and others. This work is sure to inspire and entertain all. This is a perfect gift for any new Star. “In the Twinkling of a Star” will also shortly be listed on the Cornerstone website, but pre-orders can be secured directly from Sis. Joyce now via e-mail at: fullstar@gtcom.net.

In the Twinkling of a Star
Collected and arranged by Sis. Joyce Fuller, OES PHA
ISBN: 1-887560-77-7
ISBN 13: 978-1-887560-77-1
Retail: $15.00
Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers
http://csmbooks.com/blog/www.cornerstonepublishers.com

 

Knights & Freemasons: The Birth of Modern Freemasonry

Edited by Michael R. Poll
Foreword by S. Brent Morris
Softcover $16.95
ISBN 1-887560-66-1
Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers http://www.cornerstonepublishers.com 

Legendary Masonic authors, Albert Mackey and Albert Pike take us on an amazing venture from the days of the Crusades and the Knights Templar to the creation of modern speculative Freemasonry in a collection of inspiring papers. Includes the rare, The Order of the Temple by Albert Pike.
Edited by Michael R. Poll with a Foreword by S. Brent Morris.

Reviews

“Brother Poll is well known in scholarly Masonic circles as a writer, editor, and publisher. Dr. Morris is, of course, the editor of the Journal and of Heredom, the transactions of the Scottish Rite Research Society. His foreword is excellent, a clear capsulation of the historic and traditional approaches to Freemasonry and how great men change their opinions as their knowledge and understanding change. And the concept of the book is brilliant (wish I had thought of it): bring two of the greatest thinkers and students Masonry has ever produced into the same room (so to speak) and let them slug it out by seeing what each had to say on the topic.

In this case, the topic is the Knights Templar and the origins of Masonry. We put this under the something old heading, because neither the question nor the opinions of Pike and Mackey are new. But the approach is, and I find new insights just in the juxtaposition. This is a good and comfortable book, crafted in an age when men knew words should glow like jewels in their settingsand both Pike and Mackey were master jewelers.”

-Jim Tresner,
The Scottish Rite Journal

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“This is a good book to read and to have on hand in your library. The scholarship is excellent, and the work that went into compiling the information must have taken quite some time. What Brother Poll has done is to pose the question of what did Albert Pike and Albert Mackey have to say on the origin of Freemasonry? And then he proceeded to find the answer to his question by searching out their writings and compiling what they wrote so that we, decades later, can read their thoughts on this question without searching all this out for ourselves. By him doing this he saves us much time and effort even if we have all the writings of Pike and Mackey in our libraries, which most Masonic students don’t; because of the difficulty in locating the used volumes and then the cost of purchasing them.
Brother Poll has hit on a great idea and I can see him doing this with other questions and possibly other writers from the past as well.

This book has the forward written by our good Brother S. Brent Morris, who is one of the best Masonic Scholars we have in Masonry today.

In this book you will find interesting information on the Crusades, the Knights Templar, and many names connected with the Templars you will recognize and enjoy learning about. This book also has information on the organization of the Grand Lodge of England and the transition from Operative to Speculative Freemasonry.

I think you will like reading this book, and I recommend it to every serious Masonic Student. It is not what I would call light reading, but it is well worth the time it takes to read. I can see using this book off and of for a reference book for years to come.”

-Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
The Grand Lodge of MN

Ron Fortier, writer of POPEYE and THE GREEN HORNET for Now Comics, and PETER PAN: RETURN TO NEVERLAND for Malibu Comics, has written a new review for Kevin Olsen’s new book, “Eerey Tocsin in the Cryptoid Zoo.” The book is available at most on-line book stores.

——————————-
EEREY TOCSIN IN THE CRYPTOID ZOO
by Kevin Noel Olson
157 pages

Available from.. (www.cornstonepublishers.com)

One of the privileges of writing a review column is being able to break your own reviews. You see, this is a column devoted to modern day pulp fiction and this title is certainly not that. It is a wonderful, exciting, extremely original children’s book by the very talented Mr. Olson.

Having had the pleasure of reading the manuscript before it went to the presses, I was only to happy to contribute a small cover blurb for this terrific story. And now that the book is out and marvelously illustrated by Debi Hammack, I want all you Harry Potter fans to go out and buy this. Eerey Tocsin is one of the most charming, amusing and daring heroines to come down the literary highway in years.

This adventure is fast-paced, dark and mysterious and a through joy to read. Just when you think the wonder and magic have slowed down, you turn the page and wham, it jumps right back at you. I really, really hope this is on the first in a series. I am now an Eerey fan and I want more. Lots more.
by Ron Fortier
http://pulpfictionreviews.blogspot.com

—————————-
“Eerey Tocsin in the Cryptoid Zoo”
Written by Kevin Noel Olson
Illustrated by Debi Hammack
Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers
Softcover $15.95
ISBN 1-887560-72-6

www.cornerstonepublishers.com

“The Temple That Never Sleeps”
By Josh Heller and Gerald Reilly
Cornerstone Book Publishers

“The subtitle of this book is “Freemasons and E-Masonry Toward a New Paradigm,” which is a hopeful prediction, but one that honors the gift of instant global communication. This book tells the story of Masonic Light, an internet meeting place for, at the time I write this, 859 Freemasons hailing from 162 jurisdictions. Some of these jurisdictions you’ve heard of and others you might not believe exist. You can learn more about ML at masoniclight.org.

“Much the way internet shopping poses indefatigable competition to our local “brick and mortar” retail stores through incomparable convenience and limitless variety, this “emasonry” model gives Masons instant access to brethren around the globe for the enjoyment of eye-popping scholarship and jovial chat alike. For the education Mason, the value of this convenience and variety can be more attractive than what’s in our lodges. The book quotes one anonymous Brother saying “With 50+ years as a Mason I have discovered things about the Craft that I never dreamed existed.” Imagine that: a Gold Token Mason with the wideeyed excitement of a kid in a candy store… and the store is open 24/7.

“It is difficult to say how the internet will shape Freemasonry’s future. With most jurisdictions still fumbling with amateurish websites devoid of content while the non-recognized jurisdictions prefer privacy over publicity, there is an actual need for individual Masons to employ the web to find each other for intelligent conversation. This book is an account of one forum where ideas like regularity and recognition are exposed as the naked emperors they’ve been for the past 250 years. Identities like race, religion and sex are as unimportant as the time of day in “The Temple That Never Sleeps.” The ML adventure is not for everyone, but if you’re a fit, then the experience can be highly rewarding, as this well written book documents.”

- Jay Hochberg, WM
New Jersey Lodge of Masonic
Research and Education

———

The Temple That Never Sleeps:
Freemasons and E-Masonry Toward a New Paradigm
by Josh Heller and Gerald Reilly
Softcover $16.95
ISBN 1-887560-68-8

www.cornerstonepublishers.com

Cornerstone is happy to share this interview with Evelyn Klebert. Evelyn is the author of: A Ghost of a Chance and Dragonflies: Journeys into the Paranormal, as well as the soon to be released, An Uneasy Traveler. Evelyn holds a Master’s Degree in English Literature and has also authored a number of articles and short stories published in literary and scholarly journals.

Cornerstone: Hello Evelyn and thanks for participating in our interview. Can you tell us a little about your background?

Evelyn: Well as a writer I suppose it all began very young with journals. I remember as a very young teenager keeping journals, not really what you’d call diaries because instead of chronicling events I’d chronicle impressions, feelings, and thoughts. And of course this flowed into writing stories and poetry. In the early nineties I earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature and not much later than that settled in Virginia for some years with my husband and two young children. It was during this time that I started writing in earnest. I completed A Ghost of a Chance, Dragonflies: Journeys into the Paranormal, and more recently An Uneasy Traveler which will be published within a few months.

Cornerstone: All your writing undeniably has paranormal overtones. Can you explain your attraction to these themes as well as a pronounced public interest in such subjects?

Evelyn: Interesting question. Well from my viewpoint a fascination with the paranormal started out quite young. I suppose we all in some way or another have a draw to the spooky, ghosts, or perhaps just the unknown. On a grander scale the idea that there is more to life and living than what is readily explainable has its own fascination. Throughout history there have been stories of the miraculous and other worldly happenings. It is quite a compelling subject. As spiritual not just corporeal beings I think we all have an innate feeling that what meets the eye may only be the tip of the ice berg. At least I sincerely hope we do. Perhaps, on a larger scale I personally believe that the growing interest and acceptance of the paranormal could be linked with the escalating violence in the world. People seem to be looking for answers in more non-traditional spiritual avenues in response to a mounting anxiety in what they perceive in the world. In other words the status quo is not providing answers to what is happening around us now. And of course I also think there is the big question that accompanies all of us in life which is what happens after death. No religious imagery of the hereafter seems concrete enough to answer those questions about what happens next. And just a permanent and abrupt cessation of living once the body dies probably doesn’t sit well with most. Death is as concrete a part of living as anything and yet nothing is given to us in enough of a concrete manner to comfort our hearts with substantial certainty about what really happens to us afterwards.

Cornerstone: Are there any particular writers that have been inspirations to you?

Evelyn: Now that’s a tough one. There are so many. Going way back the Bronte sisters and the brooding gothic overtones of their novels. Jane Austen, oddly enough, and her quick wit and priceless repartee between characters. I find humor and dialogue key in writing, and she was a master of both. The works of Richard Matheson, Bid Time Return, and What Dreams May Come. And I’ve also enjoyed some good horror novels by Stephen King and Anne Rice. It’s sort of a mixed bag.

Cornerstone: What inspired you to write your first two books, A Ghost of a Chance and Dragonflies: Journeys into the Paranormal?

Evelyn: Well in terms of inspiration it’s sort of odd. Ghost started out rather strangely I suppose with a rural house that my husband and I were living in out in the country. The odd feeling of peacefulness, yet isolation sort of took root with me. And so I began writing the story of a writer who deliberately out of personal pain chose her own exile. Then of course there was the other thread of my hero, Jack Brennon, who was vexed with his own sort of complicated life that he’d chosen and yet had also become consumed by. The idea that life is not random but rather a blueprint that we’ve chosen to learn from is an interesting concept to me. But if you’re so stuck that you’ve ceased to learn, how do you learn any longer? Perhaps something drastic happens to you, like becoming a ghost!  In terms of Dragonflies it actually is a collection of short stories that cover a span of many years. A friend of mine, another writer, and I have an ongoing arrangement to produce a short story every Halloween, and many of the stories in the book come from that particular pact. As with Ghost, many of the stories were inspired by place. “The Sojourners” came from living along the coast of Virginia in a small town for a year in a house where we were more than sure unhappy spirits walked. “The Tear” came from an early time living in New Orleans, a beloved city, and all it’s very unique paranormal vibes. The premise itself for Dragonflies, drawing together stories of people on their own paranormal journeys of self-discovery was actually one I’d been carrying around for nearly twenty years. That same friend, the Halloween story writer, told me a parable once about a dragonfly that I included in the book. In it, she uses the symbol of the dragonfly to represent me, one given the duty to warn other dragonflies about the dangers that lie in the depths of a beguilingly, beautiful pond. It’s something that stuck with me and that I knew I’d use one day.

Cornerstone: You’ve mentioned locations. Are there any other things that help inspire the ideas in your books?

Evelyn: Yes many things. People, actually talking to and watching people. Sometimes I’ll see someone, or hear of a situation that simply triggers an idea in my mind. And of course bantering ideas back and forth with my friends could inspire the germ of something that hopefully will take root. Music as well, moody music, sometimes classical pieces I find to often spark something creative. It’s odd sometimes I’ll begin writing a few lines odd a piece then drop it and come back years later and pick it up again.  That’s what happened with An Uneasy Traveler, my new book. I wrote the opening intro a good three years before I picked up the piece again and began writing on it. Of course it took an entirely new direction but that worked well for me. I don’t believe in being married to a plot.

Cornerstone:  Tell us a little more about your next novel, A Uneasy Traveler.

Evelyn: Well Traveler is a bit of an unconventional love story. It tracks the life of a very special psychic, a sensitive I call her who is wrestling with the dilemma of fulfilling her path, using her gift, at the expense of having a life of her own. As many of my characters, it seems she is on the reclusive side, keeping parts of her life involving psychic mentors, spiritual guides, and extraordinary paranormal experiences very much on the QT. And as happens with most recluses, her life is interjected with a dynamic and powerful presence, a gifted local artist named Jacob Wyss. Jacob himself is a veteran of a painful and disillusioning divorce, finding his creative inspiration running at a low ebb, until he stumbles upon this very compelling woman on a cold wintry afternoon in a bookstore. This novel while being heavily laced with the paranormal is also the story of two people trying to heal their own wounds from the past, and past-lives, to carve out a life together. I’m very excited about it and am looking forward to its release.

Cornerstone: Is there any advice that you’d give someone who is considering writing as a career?

Evelyn:  Just that we all have stories inside of us, and if you feel writing is something that you should do, then you should. Those inner voices should never be ignored in any context of life. It is the spirit that guides us. I think we were all put on this earth to learn from each other and telling our stories is one of the great ways to do just that.