A Few Minutes with Writer and Editor David Lee Summers

With such novels as Vampires of the Scarlet Order and The Pirates of Sufiro as well as editing Tales of the Talisman magazine, writer, editor, and astronomer David Lee Summers has been able to carve out his own niche in the literary world. Mr. Summers was gracious enough to take time away from his busy schedule of working on his next writing project and preparing the next issue of Tales of the Talisman to answer a few questions about himself, his many works, and the literary world in general.

Could you tell a little about yourself?

I have a degree in astrophysics. After college I worked for 14 years at observatories around the Southwest as an observing assistant and telescope engineer. During that time, I published a handful of papers about variable stars - I'm even credited as the co-discoverer of a variable star.

During this period, my wife, Kumie Wise, went to the University of Arizona where she earned her Masters of Business Administration. I worked at Kitt Peak National Observatory at the time. On the way to her degree, she developed Hadrosaur Productions, a small press that was originally devoted to publishing audio books. To show proof-of-concept, we recorded my first novel, The Pirates of Sufiro, as an audio book. We then came up with the idea of having an annual anthology to help make people aware of our company. We called it Hadrosaur Tales.Hadrosaur Tales eventually became the focus of the company and ten years later it evolved into Tales of the Talisman magazine.

Soon after Kumie finished her Masters degree, we moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. I went to work for the astronomy department at New Mexico State University as a telescope engineer and Kumie started building her bread-and-butter business, Wise Bookkeeping. Our first daughter, Myranda, was born shortly after we moved to Las Cruces. She's now 11 and about to start middle school.