Allan J. Lewis is a UK author living in South Wales, with his wife. He published his first book Get Out of My Dreams in 2014, and The Tale of The Inn Keeper’s Niece in 2015.
What inspired you to become a writer?
As a young man I read a lot of Wilbur Smith books, and in my mind I would think up sub-stories for characters in his books. That made me want to write, so I guess Wilbur Smith inspired me to become a writer. By the time I reached my fifties I had scores of stories in my head but never wrote them down, until my son gave me his old computer and said, “Dad, the computer’s got a spellchecker so there is no excuse for you not to write a book.” I started writing as a hobby. I wrote about five books before I came up with a psychological thriller called Get Out Of My Dreams. That story got me excited. My wife and son read it and they liked it and said we had to find a publisher.
How many books have you published?
I have only had two of my books published.
What are the names of your publications?
Get Out Of My Dreams and Tale of The Inn Keeper’s Niece.
What is “Tale of The Inn Keeper’s Niece” about?
It is a spin-off of Get Out Of My Dreams. Joe the Magic Man uses his gift of reading minds telepathically to get into people’s dreams. He has the power to hypnotize them while they sleep–mostly young women–and then he takes them on unforgettable erotic adventures in their dreams. Joe’s latest dream girl is Jean Thornton, a twenty-year-old beauty queen. Jean enjoys his nightly visits; she calls him her dream lover and welcomes him into her dreams every time he calls, but she thinks Joe is just a figment of her overactive imagination. In the adventure of Tale of the Inn Keeper’s Niece, Joe takes Jean back to 17th-century France, where her father is sent to prison and, with her mother pregnant, it is up to Jean to pay the rent and feed the family. Jean is courting her boyfriend Steve, who is very understanding when she tells him she has to go work for her Uncle Joe as a serving wench in his inn. Tale of the Inn Keeper’s Niece is an erotic adventure; Jean serves the famous Three Musketeers and the Cardinal’s spy. Jean learns a lot at the inn and knows she won’t be he same innocent girl when she goes back home. Will her love for Steve hold out?
Where did the idea for the book come from?
The idea came from my friends and readers who enjoyed Joe’s sexual adventures and the way he gets into people’s dream and manipulate them so easily. They suggested I write more about Joe’s forbidden dreams. I had a few adventures for Joe and Jean in mind but decided on Tale of the Inn Keeper’s Niece because it was more of an historical tale, and the series The Three Musketeers had just finished on TV.
Why did you decide to publish your book?
To write a book was my childhood dream. My family said my book was unusual and that they had never read anything like it. Although I know family’s opinions are bias, they encouraged me to chase my dreams, so I gave it a go.
How did you find out about Cavern of Dreams Publishing?
I was trying to get my manuscript out there and a fellow author, Thomas Knight, suggested I send my manuscript to his publishing friend, Mary M. Cushnie-Mansour, an editor at Cavern of Dreams Publishing. I did, and Mary read my manuscript and said it had potential. I let Cavern of Dreams Publishing edit and proofread my books, and they did a fantastic job on both. I would like to thank all the staff at Cavern of Dreams Publishing – if it wasn’t for them, Get Out Of My Dreams would be gathering dust and Tale of the Inn Keeper’s Niece would still be running around in my head.
What is the most important lesson you have learned from the writing/publishing process?
I learned that my books need to be professionally proofread and edited, which is exactly what Cavern of Dreams Publishing has done for me.
What was your biggest challenge/obstacle in the writing/publishing process?
My biggest challenge was to convince myself that my manuscript was good enough to send to a publisher. My main obstacle was my dyslexia. When you are thinking about the plot for your book in your mind, you don’t have spelling troubles, not until you start typing away–thank you, God, for the spellchecker on my computer! But I never let my dyslexia stop me. The publishing process is easy; I leave it in the capable hands of Cavern of Dreams Publishing.
What advice would you give someone wanting to publish their work?
Don’t hold back like I did, follow your dreams to become a writer.
Are you working on anything now? If so, what?
When it was suggested I should write erotic romance adventures of Joe’s forbidden dreams I thought no at first; I wanted to concentrate on Joe the Magic Man being a crime fighter, as part of the FBI’s special task force. But the more I thought about Joe’s erotic dreams the more it was like opening up Pandora’s Box: I had loads of adventures running through my head that Joe could take Jean on. I am currently writing a modern adventure for Jean with her friend, Alice Timberlake, who is a freelance journalist who works with the FBI – she is introduced in Get Out Of My Dreams. The FBI think a holiday campsite might be a religious cult, and ask Alice to investigate the group running it who call themselves “The Holiday Swingers.” Alice asks Jean and Jean’s boyfriend, Steve, to join her and her husband on a camping holiday. They do, and the four of them soon find out that it is a swingers and wife swapping holiday, with lots of fun and sexy games. Alice says she has to take part in the games to check the group out, but soon the four of them are participating in the games and, to their surprise, they don’t want the holiday to end.
What is your next writing goal?
I have written two follow-up books to Get Out Of My Dreams where Joe helps the FBI track down two terrorist brothers from Algeria that have come to America to kill a congresswomen that speaks out about their way of living; it is titled, Kill the President’s Bitches. The second book is titled, Serial Killers Incorporated; it is about a serial killer who abducts young women and uses them as sex slaves before killing them and wrapping the bodies in blankets. The FBI asks Joe to help them find the “Blanket Killers.” I would like to think that the books, including Get Out Of My Dreams, are gripping thrillers and would make a good trilogy.
Where can readers find your books?
Get Out of My Dreams: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, www.cavernofdreams.com
Tale of The Inn Keeper’s Niece: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk
