Meet another one of Lockhart’s local writers, Phil McBride, who writes civil war and early Texas historical novels. With lots of battle scenes!

What drew you to writing novels?

Curiosity. As a reader of novels, for fifty years I was in awe of those who could write hundreds of pages about people they created, and figure out wheels within wheels of plot. All my adult life I wanted to try my hand at it. Now I regret I waited so long to start.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am in no particular order a husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, Christian, friend, volunteer for a couple of worthy causes, and compulsive writer. I am a retired public school educator. My 38-year career as a public servant started as a night janitor in Austin while a student at UT, and finished as assistant superintendent of schools in Lockhart, TX, where we still live.

Being principal of Lockhart High School for nine years was the hardest and second-most gratifying job I’ve had. Writing novels is the second- hardest and most gratifying job I’ve had. I have to admit that as a writer, nobody gets mad at me over things other people did, which happened a lot when I was a school principal. But I certainly earned more money as a high school principal than I do now as a novelist.

What is one piece of advice you’d give beginning writers?

It’s all about the characters you create, and we’re all human, even our paper people. So put your own soul into your words, and a heart into every character, even the stinkers. Put at least a hint of a dark side into every character, even the sweeties.  

Tell us about A Different Dragon Entirely,   

I love dragon lit. I grew up with Ann McCaffrey’s fantasy dragons and Tolkien’s Smaug and now writer Naomi Novik’s Temeraire, the Napoleonic War dragon. I wanted to try my hand at dragon lit, but I wanted my dragon to be a Texas dragon, a critter set apart from all other dragons.

ADDE is historical fantasy about a teeny weeny female horny toad who lived on the Texas frontier in 1840. One memorable day a very old and very odd priest laid some Druid magic onto the little lizard, enabling her to grow to house size and fly. She became a Texas-esque dragon named Leine who lives a hundred years on the prairie in solitude. Then she meets Mally, a saucy fifteen-year-old farm girl. After a bumpy start, a girl-meets-dragon bromance begins. Mally’s family worries that Lien is more demon than dragon, and Leine herself can’t decide how human she wants to be. The pair get pulled into the Great Comanche Raid of 1840 and the historical Battle of Plum Creek.

I confess I had more fun writing ADDE, my sixth novel, than any of the others. There is a freedom in creating a main character who is a dragon, a license that is missing when all your characters are excruciatingly human. Maybe that’s why all those superhero movies and vampire and werewolf novels are so popular these days. 

I know you are a re-enactor. Tell us a couple of your experiences being one.

I’ve been a Civil War reenactor for twenty years. It’s an odd hobby involving military history, old-style camping without modern gear, wearing wool uniforms during a whole weekend even in the southern summer, and messing around with muskets.

Over the years I’ve had a few magic moments where my immersion into the role of a Civil War soldier transported me back in time, if ever so fleetingly. My biggest surprise learned in my first sham battle was that when the shooting starts, a soldier’s world immediately narrows down to his own tiny slice of the battle. You become intensely busy loading and firing your musket. Doing your job becomes all consuming. There’s no time to gaze around to sort out what’s going on, to see how others are doing.

My reenacting experiences and reading the memoirs, letters, and diaries of real Civil War soldiers jointly spurred me into writing my first novel, Whittled Away.

Do you have a book signing coming up? If so, where and when? 

Sorry, no book signings on the horizon.

NOTE FROM GRETCHEN: Phil’s books are available through Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Philip-McBride/e/B00HPM46A6/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

And he writes a consistently entertaining and informative blog you’d enjoy http://mcbridenovels.blogspot.com/

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK:  FantasyLife by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

San Antonio Zoo Lights.

Where you can ride a camel. And the bears might stand up for you. And some of the elusive cats hidden in those artificial little caves reveal themselves. (I believe we’ve seen each of these animals at least once. Several we don’t see for years at a time, but they’re there.)

My sister rode a camel. I watched. Those camels are fine! But I rode an elephant once. I’ll give the camels a pass.

You can roast marshmallows over a real fire (then add the graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate for a s’more). Alas, we were too stuffed by the meal event listed below to even look for this.

And listen to a mariachi band while eating a great Christmas buffet of Mexican food at Mrs. Claus’s Cocina/aka the restaurant nearest the hippo building. We made a new friend, the food was delicious, we decorated cookies with Mrs. Claus, and got our picture taken in a snow globe. Let me repeat. The food was delicious. Children danced around between the tables (after we’d finished eating). The mariachi music was fun.

If you’re interested in the dinner, for some reason I can only find it by Googling it. Here’s the link. https://sazoo.org/experiences/mrs-claus-cocina/

Afterwards, walk around in the dark looking at the zoo’s Christmas lights. Lots of lighted trees, a musical light show near the carousel. Riding the carousel in the dark!

It was cold. And I mean cold. Tolerable, though. Several places to warm up.

CAVEAT: This photo has nothing to do with the San Antonio Zoo. It’s the Houston Zoo. I just wanted to show it off.

And I’ll tell you a secret.

I’m a writer. I write novels. And I’ve incorporated a small bit of the San Antonio Zoo experience in my newest book, a mystery novel whose title shall remain a mystery until it’s ready for publication. I just wrote THE END. I  have a few mistakes to correct. It’s a really fun book. But back on topic:

Go to the zoo. Make some memories.

And take the time to visit the birds, and the fish. If you’ve never seen a Moray Eel, here’s your chance to see a huge green one. We drop in to say hello every time we visit. It’s ginormous! You want to hug it (but don’t!).

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK: Funerals for Horses by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Hell House by Richard Matheson.

You can find my books at https://amazon.com/author/gretchenrix