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“I have a story that I wanted to share it with others,” he said. “I just wanted people to enjoy the story that I wrote.”
Martin resident Bob “R.S.” Hamilton has worked tirelessly to write fiction books to entertain readers, and he’s coming out with some new literature.
The Stories of Evergreen: The Life of Billy Blaine took several years to write, and Hamilton, who is the son of one of The Press’ photographers, Harold Hamilton, talked about the book.
“The Stories of Evergreen, I’ve been working on for several years, and once I got it done, it just felt like it was something people could read instead of typed-up papers in a box, so I self-published it,” said Bob Hamilton. “I’ve been writing for decades, and I felt like this was the best I’d done.”
Hamilton discussed the premise, which is quite unusual, but still very entertaining and engaging.
“Billy Blaine finds this door in his basement. He lives in 1962, finds this door, and it takes him to a magical place where you can do whatever you want, and there are different portals to different worlds,” said Hamilton. “Josh Collins also sees a door, he is from 2012. Josh and Billy are both 12 years old, they meet in this world, and figure out the place is called the in-between. Billy gets lost, they can’t find him, and he disappears for 50 years. Josh figures out that they have to try and find Billy. They find another portal, it takes them to Evergreen, which is a more primitive, simpler world. There are no vehicles or guns or anything like that. Then they meet a core of other people. It’s an action-adventure kind of story. They trek through Evergreen to find the right path and get home. There are some dragons, magic, sword fighting and, ultimately, they have to find their way back home. That’s the premise of the first book.”
The Stories of Evergreen is the first in a 3-part series that will be published by Anatolian Press. It is also available through Amazon and is also sold at Makers on Main at 624 Main Street in Genoa, which is owned by Gail McWatters.
“(The owner) agreed to carry my book,” said Hamilton. “They’re a craft store with candles, soap, woodcarvings, engravings, clothing and flower bouquets, people that sell their stuff in the store. My book is available there.”
The Stories of Evergreen: Book II will be released on Dec. 5.
Hamilton talked about the work Anatolian Press is doing on his behalf.
“For the three novels, they basically take care of everything. The publisher has its own service. We work together for advertising and things like that, and (then) the book is published. This allows me to get it out on the market, it’s a good publisher to be with. I’m very proud of this.
“Self publishing is pretty difficult. I learned a lot from my mistakes. The authors have to pay for a lot of things.”
Hamilton also wrote a short story called “October Dance,” which includes other short stories in the book Autumn Tales: A Horror Anthology. There is a charity called Collective Liberty that will be receiving donations from the sales of the book.
“The book is published for free, the authors are donating their stories, the editor is editing for free,” said Hamilton. “The charity tries to fight human trafficking. My publisher, Micah Campbell, did some research, and he felt the best about the charity. This is the best we thought we could do with the money.”
Hamilton talked about his frame of mind when it comes to writing.
“It’s just a matter of relaxing and letting your mind wander. I’ve been reading for years. Mostly, I’m kind of a contemporary literature,” he said. “My publisher labeled it a coming of age story. I thought he put it pretty well.
“I read and where I get my (other) ideas are going for a walk and kind of forgetting about everything for a while. Ideas pop in my head and I came up with the Stories of Evergreen. It took a while for it to become a novel. When I first did it, it was pretty short.”
Hamilton’s ideas started to come out when he was a student at Genoa High School.
“My comp teacher, Mr. Miller, told me I was a really good writer and that I should focus on writing in college. Really good literature made me fall in love with writing, too,” said Hamilton. “I went to Bowling Green State University and studied creative writing and literature, but didn’t graduate. I got my associate’s degree in arts in Cuyahoga Community College where I studied literature.”
Hamilton’s day job is working as a union carpenter at the Northwest Ohio Carpenters’ Joint Apprenticeship & Training Committee in Rossford. It’s part of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Union.