Syntell Smith Interview Published on: 16, Jun 2020

My best memories growing up in the heights would be visiting all the parks in the neighborhood, particularly The Cloisters. The very first time I went there on a class trip was very memorable. The history of the upper manhattan, from Washington Heights to Inwood is remarkable and rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Attending a high school in the south bronx was a challenge, you practically grow up overnight. The school taught me how to be tough, grow a thick skin, and never back down from a challenge.

I moved out on my own in 2000, it was a remarkable time filled with highs and lows, I was living the time of my life and then 9/11 happened and changed my life. My job that was located in the Wall Street area became an issue due to its proximity to Ground Zero so I took a similar employment opportunity out of the city to the outskirts of Yonkers, it was a drastic pay cut, but I felt safe, but my extravagant lifestyle at the time caught up with me and I suffered a setback that caused me to return living with with my mother. I recorded the humbling experience in a blog that drew in a sizable audience and potential following...which led to considering a career in writing.

Growing up in the 90's I'm a huge fan of the X-men titles. I was also favoring the Image Comics company when it first started. Independent, creator-owned titles, rebelling against Marvel and DC and changing the industry. I still respect the likes of Todd McFarland's Spawn and Rob Liefeld's Youngblood. I really respect the "Hand-Drawn" era opposed to digital comics of today. Don't get me wrong, some of today's works are nice, too, but the industry is very different. I find myself drawn to webcomics on Instagram and Tumblr for independent reads now.

I'm a PC gamer now, consoles went out of style after Playstation 2, everything from PS3, to the XBoxes, and even Nintendo Switch have been a disappointment. I'm a big fan of the first Watch Dogs game and High Moon's Deadpool. They're my two biggest plays until I upgrade my Gaming Rig (Which will be soon!)

Watching the show feels like opening a time capsule, the series captures the city at the perfect time when it was in its prime. You see landmarks and places that aren't there anymore or have changed and it was very well written. It's authentic New York City, which other shows that took place there really didn't show.

After receiving numerous compliments on my blog about my stream-of-consciousness narrative, I was inspired by The West Wing and Kevin Smith's Clerks film and drew into my first and memorable job in my life, working for the New York Public Library. I imagined what would happen if the Bartlet administration left The White House and worked for the Library of Congress? The discussions and debates that would go on, the difference in opinions and policies applied...and I started writing a television treatment and pilot script about a new hire arriving at a branch where a lot of drama happens. I entered the concept in several screenwriting contests and then sat on the project for 10 years to live my life, but I never forgot about it. In 2015 I came up with the idea to take part of the pilot script and turn it into a novella titled "Robin Walker's First Day". The project started to grow and I developed a few more characters and storylines...next thing you know, I had a full novel on my hands!

I'm a huge fan of Walter Mosley, his Easy Rawlings detective series was a big influence in developing my writing. I also like Janet Evanovich, Dennis Lehane, Robert B. Parker, and yes, even James Patterson. Despite being a fan of mysteries and suspense, I have a side of me that appreciates independent erotica and would love to collaborate with the likes of Shayla Black, Alexa Riley, Sylvia Day, or Aleatha Romig.

I met a lot of people who read excerpts I posted on Tumblr at first, the very first was a proofreader/editor named Sheree Crawford who encouraged me to follow through with trying to publish traditionally before I eventually opted to self-publish. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have still been doubting myself.

I was more active on Facebook when I first got into self-publishing, I followed several groups before finding my supportive collective. When the self-quarantine began I switched to improve my presence on Twitter after barely getting any followers in 2017 when I began re-working Call Numbers into a full novel. I started following certain hashtags and found comrades that I could never discover on Facebook, a different kind of writers and readers that really support each other. In three months, I went from 80 to 500 followers and my book sales took a spike. Now with the anticipation building of the second book in the Call Numbers series (due out in the fall), I find myself on Twitter more and more.

He's loosely based on myself at the time when I was working for the library. I started in my junior year of high school, continued while I attended college, working at several different branches in six years.

Libraries at the time were more relevant as opposed to now, the internet was a brainchild, barely used in universities. There was no Google back then so research was done in encyclopedias and periodicals, so like Law and Order, Call Numbers serves to be a time capsule of a time before the information age, before political correctness, at a setting where all cultures meet, the proverbial melting pot that is New York City.

Once I'm more established and have perfected my craft, I would love to branch out to mystery, sci-fi, or erotica. Like Mosley, who's dabbled in sci-fi with Blue Light and Futureland, then erotic works like Killing Johnny Fry and Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore...I don't like the idea of being pigeon-holed as "The Library Guy"

I have several other works outside the Call Numbers series in the works. While I did just start on Book 3, I have a standalone work called "Redeye" about a married couple that travels from New York to San Diego on their wedding anniversary and endure several mishaps.

This is an amazing website that's really helpful to indie authors, we need all the support we can get. The marketing promotion materials provided, the monthly Book Cover Contests, it's a blast, I would (and have) recommend the website to all my peers.