Gábor Eichammer (the Oakhammer) is an author, illustrator and occasional stand-up comedian. He’s won several short story writing competitions, and his stories were published in three separate compilation books in Hungary. This is his first book written entirely in English.
No Happy Endings contains seven short stories all of which were written and illustrated throughout a single year. The stories cover a wide array of genres such as horror, fantasy, suspense, introspective thrillers, and even a personal myth.
A lover trades in his heart and skin for shapes of wild animals while aiming to escape heartache, baldness itches another poor man’s soul. An unwilling accountant gets dragged aboard a shoddy vessel to oversee a trading mission with casually cannibalistic islanders. A tattoo on a girl’s arm portrays a serpentine green dragon, which spirals its tail deep into drug abuse.
A couple revives their marriage by spicing things up both in the kitchen and the bedroom. The husband mixes the sauce, and the wife blushes plenty at his hairy forearms. A powerful entity in a mist ridden magical landscape splits himself into many personalities and bodies to combat loneliness. A misanthropic loner guards a blonde boy against a scruffy old wolf, but does he?
Hello book lovers! Today is a day where I will be writing another author spotlight for a well-accomplished author whose work I have loved. As you know book lovers I love learning about authors and the inspiration behind their work, it fascinates me and adds to the depth of the book because the reader will be able to better understand it. That is how the author spotlights were created because I soon discovered that you lovely readers ALSO love learning about author’s, so I am excited to tell you a little bit more about author Gábor Eichammer whose book No Happy Endings compelled me from beginning to end. I personally would recommend this book to all of those that love anthologies but really the book can be read by anybody as it is flawlessly written and highly enjoyable. With today’s author spotlight for Gábor Eichammer, a biography of the author and an interview between us both will be shared, and I hope that you book lovers enjoy reading it! To kick this off here is an author bio about the wonderful Gábor Eichammer
I have been writing since middle school. First only for the drawer and to amuse myself. I learned writing properly with specialized forums and by entering short story writing competitions. I won a few of these and had gotten published, but all of these writings were in Hungarian, my native language. I started writing in English three years ago, since on a normal weekday I speak more in English than in my mother tongue, which is a requirement for my day job. I quite enjoy writing this way, it’s a much greater challenge and a good motivator, that people around the world can read my writings now. No Happy Endings is the first published book of mine and hopefully more will follow.
Now, how wonderful does Gábor Eichammer sound?! The author is a truly exceptional writer and I hope that you lovely readers have a read of the author’s work because you will not regret it! Please see below an interview between us both, I hope that you enjoy the author’s answers to my questions, they are incredible and provide some great advice too!
Thank you for joining us today at Red Headed Book Lover! Please tell us more about yourself
I’m Gábor, I’m 32 years old, in a relationship. I work in IT but since I’m only a mediocre software engineer I work more in people management. I get easily bored, I need several hobbies so that I don’t suddenly fall into apathy. I do standup comedy and improvisational theatre, as well as writing, and I’m also an illustrator.
Could you please tell us readers about your book and what inspired you to write your book?
I love short stories! I’ve read a bunch from Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and other various horror and fantasy authors. I like writing short stories since it doesn’t take a year to finish one and you can work on them episodically. I got inspired by songs, movies and other forms of art I’ve seen around me. Some of the stories in the book have been floating around in my mind for years. Some I specifically came up with during the writing process. The main influences are werewolf legends, sailing, doomed relationships and the duality of man.
What would your advice be for aspiring writers?
Start small, write incrementally. Set goals for yourself and achieve them. Always have someone in your mind, who you are writing to (sibling, significant other, etc.); don’t just write for yourself, write for them!
In your opinion, what is the most important thing about a book?
I think the most important part of a book is the very beginning, if it fails to keep the reader’s interest then you might as well just leave the rest of the book blank, since they will drop it and spend their time doing something else.
What is your writing process like?
I write out a general draft as quickly as possible. Writing 10.000 – 17.000 characters a day. Then I go trough it three times to restructure sentences and fix spelling errors; then I let is sit alone in the corner and go back 2-3 weeks after; it’s like a different person had written it and you can see it with a new set of eyes.
What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
That varies extremely, some stories require no research; for some I do more extensive. Once I had to find an island near the coast of Britain that is uninhabited but is used for cattle herding (I found one on Wikipedia); I also read up a bit on sailing traditions in the Victorian era.
Do you have a set schedule for writing, or do you only write when you feel inspired?
Waiting for getting inspired is a waste of time. You need to separate the two. Wait to be inspired by the premise, write the outline by quickly scribbling it down, but then the actual elaboration and writing needs to be structured and organized, at least for me.
Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?
I have read a lot, and I do mean a LOT during my life. Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Cormac McCarthy – I have read almost all of their works, including comic books from Mr. Gaiman. I have far less time for reading nowadays, I tend to read other self-published work on Kindle for fun!
Lastly, when can we readers expect to read more wonderful books from you?
Hopefully at the very end of 2019 or the beginning 2020 I will have a new book out!
Its official book lovers, I am obsessed with Gábor Eichammer! If you have liked what you have read about the author and are interested in learning more about Gábor Eichammer, then please do have a browse of the links below and be sure to have a read of the preview too! You will not regret it.
Goodbye for now book lovers,
