This month I interview up-and-coming writer, Ty Schwamberger.  Ty Schwamberger was born in 1977 in Troy , Ohio . He graduated with a BA in History from Heidelberg College in 2000 and is currently working in the legal field while he continues to work on his writing. He lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio with his wife and daughters.   Find out more about Ty by checking out his website at:
      http://tyschwamberger.wordpress.com.  
    
How long have you been writing? When did you first start sending out your work to be published?
        In truth, I have loved to craft words together as long as I can remember. Back in 5th grade, I wrote a series of stories called, In The Woods, for English class. So I suppose that is when it all started. Looking back at the notebook (which I still have), it was pretty scary for a kid to be writing about. I am just happy I am now able to contribute to something I have always enjoyed.
        I first started to send out material for review the middle of 2008 (the same year I really started writing). A short story of mine, called, 'Gnomus' was the first to be published in Orion's Child Magazine. That was followed up by my horror         novel, Night School, and it has just taken off from there.
    
I see that you've had your first novel published? What's it about and who is the publisher?  
        Yes, the name of the novel is Night School, and it was published and released by PublishAmerica in November 2008.
        As far as what it's about, I'll give it to you straight by using the synopsis that is on the back of the book.
        Mr. Ben Sanders has gone missing and his infatuated student Brenda is determined to find him. She and Ben’s friend Tim are concerned his disappearance has something to do with the screams that came from a house on Denison Street and the mutilated bodies that are popping up all over town.
        Things are about to become more complex in Brenda’s life. She uses the “skills” she has learned from being the community Peeping Tom to play detective and piece together clues to hopefully create a map to Ben’s location.         During the search for Ben, Brenda & Tim come face to face with seedy characters wandering the streets at night; drugs dealers, prostitutes and, oh yes, all those dead bodies.
        Who is this maniac running loose on the streets at night? Why does he do it? What does he want? Brenda and Tim will find out soon enough.  

Besides Night School and "Gnomus" what other work have you had published?
        My second short story, ‘The Ringmaster,’ will be published late winter 2008/2009 with Orion’s Child magazine. Another short story, ‘Thirst’, will be published in the January 2009 (#9) issue of Werewolf magazine. In addition, several other of my short stories are currently being reviewed by numerous magazines.
    
What authors do you feel have most influenced your work?
        The late, great Richard Laymon. I love the way he wove characters and tales together so you don't know what or when something was going to happen.
    
What do you do when you're not writing? Hobbies? Day job? Or do you write fulltime?
        My main goal as a writer is to entertain readers. Would I like to do this fulltime, sure, but more often than not it takes awhile for that to happen. In the meantime, I work fulltime in a legal office and use any free time I have to promote my writing, enjoy my family and read as many books as I can get my hands on.
    
What is your writing schedule? Do you write every day?
        I started writing Night School at the beginning of May 2008 and pounded out 100,000 words in exactly three months. That is pretty fast for any writer to do and I am extremely proud of how quickly the storyline came together. I then began writing another novel, got about 20,000 words into it, before finding out that Night School was accepted for publication. After that, I put the 'novel-in-progress' on the back burner, started writing several short stories and began the promoting process for Night School.
        Basically, from May 08 - Nov 08, I wrote pretty much everyday. Now that my book is off and running, I hope to have time to get away from writing short stories and delve back into my novel length manuscript.
    
How many conventions do you manage to attend a year?
        Besides the booksignings that are scheduled or in the works, yes, I do plan to attend a few conventions in 2009.
        I am scheduled to attend as a panelist; Marcon, a full-spectrum SciFi convention, in Columbus , Ohio on Memorial Day weekend 2009 and Context, a literary speculative fiction convention, in Columbus , Ohio the last weekend of August 2009. Though both of these conventions are of the SciFi variety, they both have a strong horror-fan following, so I am looking forward to them