Dragon Soul Press had an opportunity to interview Ed Ahern, an author featured in the Soul Ink: Volume 2 anthology.

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1) Introduce yourself!

I came very late to the writing game- in my late fifties when I started taking writing classes and churning out fiction and poetry. Up till then I’d been straining to satisfy my bucket list and make enough money to retire. I mostly sated my urges: BS and MBA, naval officer and diver, reporter, intelligence officer living overseas, sales executive selling overseas. But I’d always wanted to write, and figured I’d better get going before lassitude and senility took over.

2) What prompted you to begin writing?

I could lie and present uplifting fictions about my muse, or wanting to tell meaningful stories and poems, but really, I just enjoy playing with words. My benchmarks for playing well are publication and reader enjoyment.

3) Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?

My favorite pieces of writing depend on my mood. My harem of beauties is a little over 500 strong and just remembering them is getting to be a chore, let alone picking an all-time favorite.

4) How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.

I write three or four poems and two or three stories a month, so more a process than a project. I do have a thriller novel that, if rejected in its present form, will be torn apart and reconstructed, titled The Will of the Wisp.

5) What is your writing process like?

Swamp ooze. I do write poetry to prompt, but almost always vary from the topic. Mostly I let the greasy bubbles of ideas just explode into existence.

6) Where do you draw inspiration from?

God only knows.

7) Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?

There’s no one author I can point to in fiction. The books I’ve reread most are fantasy, probably because subconsciously I want to steal ideas. My favorite poet is Mary Oliver, who I reread frequently, and who infects my own poetry for days after reading her.

8) What is one goal you have for your writing future?

Get better at it.

9) What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?

Reading is an opening into interesting, maybe even enjoyable realms. I like to think that my stuff provides that reader self-satisfaction that comes with tasting a new and piquant morsel.

10) Where can readers learn more about you?

I’m hijacking this question to talk about editing, which I do for Bewildering Stories and Scribes Micro. Editing forces me (gasp) to read and evaluate other people’s writing, and in the process hopefully get a little better myself. And to talk about answering questions like these, which force me to reflect about where the hell I am as a writer.