General Questions / FAQ

What books have you written?

Which publisher do you use?

Where can I buy your books?

What qualifies you to write books?

What LDS authors do you recommend?

What other authors do you recommend?

Where does the name 'Robison' come from?

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Why can't I comment on your blog?





What books have you written?

My first attempt at writing was a long meandering fantasy/sci-fi thing that still needs the last half of the last chapter (about 8 pages, I figure). I stopped writing it because I hated it so much.

One problem with it is that you can’t read straight through it in its present form. I wrote it while attending a writing group —- each week they would read a few chapters, and I’d listen to their comments, and then I’d go home and write the next chapters, assuming that the changes they’d suggested had already been made. I figured that I would eventually go back and revise everything to match. I didn’t.

There’s actually a very prominent character who got written out about fourteen chapters into it, just because I didn’t want to follow his storyline anymore.

The next project was On Second Thought, which was published in March of 2004.

After that, I continued on in the LDS fiction genre. I wrote a straight mystery (no humor) called Turquoise House, which is kind of a ‘Survivor’ meets ‘Lifeboat’ kind of thing. I actually like this book quite a bit, and intend on submitting it to Covenant at some time in the future. It needs a hefty bit of polishing, but I think it could also do with some serious sitting-on-the-shelf for a while.

I wrote Wake Me When It's Over. This goes back to the humor idea, although it is more realistic than On Second Thought. If anything, I think it would be qualified as an action/adventure. It is the first book in a series of three. Wake Me was released January of 2005.

The sequel to Wake Me When It's Over, which is currently untitled, is in the editing process right now, and we're looking toward a Summer 06 release.

Wait a minute… You’re published through Covenant? But I heard a rumor that 51% of Covenant’s stock is owned by none other than Lucifer himself.

That’s not entirely true. For one thing, Covenant is not currently traded on the stock market.
Seriously though, I have heard this from several people in many different walks of life: that Covenant is evil. My writing group friends from BYU have informed me of this in no uncertain terms, and I’ve heard of other authors bad-mouthing them as well (bad-mouthing Covenant, not bad-mouthing my writing group friends--although that wouldn’t really surprise me either).

Frankly, I have had nothing but good experiences with Covenant. My editor, Angela Colvin, has been fantastic. The Managing Editor, Shauna Nelson, is great. Of course, there are quirky things about Covenant (mainly their non-traditional contracts), but, on the whole, I’ve had no troubles at all working with them, and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending them to other aspiring authors.

Where can I buy your books?

You’re welcome to buy it anywhere you please, and you’re certainly free to buy as many copies as you’d like. If you buy it at Seagull Book and Tape, it will be cheap, but if you buy it at Deseret Book, then you get magic reward points or something. If you buy ten books then I understand you can cash in your points for a Scout-a-Rama patch and a flashlight.

Seagull: “Where you never pay full price for anything.”

Deseret Book: “What matters to you matters to us.”

It’s your choice. Links to both of their sites are on the links section of this website.

If those options don't appeal to you, visit the various locally owned LDS bookstores in other parts of the country. If they don’t carry it, they can easily order it for you.

What qualifies you to write books?

Ah, the glory of authorship!

Nothing really qualifies me, other than the fact that I spend excessive amounts of time in front of a computer.

I went to college, and I even have a degree (I don’t have a diploma yet, because I’m too lazy/cheap to pay the four dollar fine I have at the U of U’s library). My degree was Bachelor of Science in Political Science, with an emphasis in International Relations. My minor was History. Neither of these things really qualifies me to write, although they both required a lot of paper-writing.

I did take a creative writing class my last semester at the U, but it was after I’d already been accepted at Covenant. In high school, my English teachers and I didn’t get along very well.

So, I guess, nothing really qualifies me. Too bad really.
What other authors do you recommend?

As far as LDS fiction goes, I’m a big fan of Dean Hughes’ stuff. His Children of the Promise books were amazing. The later series (the children of the children of the promise) weren't as engrossing, unfortunately (although I admit that I’ve only read the first book of the second series).

I like Gerald Lund. I tried reading all the Work and the Glory books straight through once, and got thoroughly burned out by number seven. I haven’t gone back since -- I recommend reading them in small doses. I like his early stuff too—The Alliance and others.

My biggest influence for On Second Thought, however, was Robert Farrell Smith. I knew him personally for a little while (he owned the LDS bookstore in Albuquerque while I was on my mission there), though I doubt he remembers me. His best works are definitely Baptists at our Barbeque and The Miracle of Forgetness, although all of his stuff is fun.

Of course, there’s also Chris Heimerdinger. I’ve read six of his books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. The Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series is really well done, although the two books of his that I’ve read that aren’t Tennis Shoes books (Eddie Fantastic and Daniel and Nephi) don’t pack the same punch (but they're still good). My personal favorite of his is the second Tennis Shoes: Gadiantons and the Silver Sword. I think I read the entire book in six hours one P-Day.

Kerry Blair is another favorite. Her recent comedy This Just In is hilarious, as is Mummy's the Word.

You may also want to try the humor of Matthew Buckley and his great first novel Chickens in the Headlights.

As for non-LDS stuff, I haven’t had much time to read for the last few years, what with school and all. My favorite textbook, though, was Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal by Terrence Ball and Richard Dagger. Not that you care.

I really dig Bernard Cornwell, for historical fiction. He’s also done some good fantasy/King Arthur stuff from what I understand, and it’s supposed to be excellent.

If you’re looking for something a little more deep, try Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I love it. I read it over and over.

Along the same lines: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. I’m generally not a fan of New Western History, but this is really tremendous.

Tom Clancy’s great, although his later books aren’t nearly as good as his earlier ones (and he swears a lot more now than he used to). My favorites are Red Storm Rising, Cardinal of the Kremlin, and Sum of all Fears. If you’ve seen any of his movies, rest assured that they have nothing to do with the books whatsoever (The Hunt for Red October is a notable exception).

I’ve read several of Tony Hillerman’s books, and love them all. They remind me of New Mexico and living on the various reservations. If you ever catch them, Robert Redford has made a few TV movies for PBS, based on Hillerman’s books. They’re quite well done.

And of course, I'm a Tolkein nerd.

I wondered where you got the name Robison as it is my last name--maybe we are related?

Submitted by Alene Robison

My name actually comes from a last name. My great-great-grandpa was Daniel Hanmer Wells (he was in the First Presidency with Brigham Young). One of his seven wives was Eliza Robison, and their son was named Louis Robison Wells. I was named after him. I never go by Robison in real life though (everybody spells it wrong and thinks it's supposed to be Robinson--I'm sure you get that a lot too). I usually go just by Rob.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Submitted by Allison Hill

Are you kidding? I'd never wanted to be a writer!

Sometime in 2001, while watching a documentary on TV, I got an idea for a book. My brother, who is a far better writer than I'll ever be, was an English major at BYU. When I told him about my idea for the book, he encouraged me. He said (and I can't remember the exact wording) "Everybody in the world has an idea for a book. The difference between writers and everybody else is that writers actually write."

So I wrote. I wrote two chapters and gave them to my brother, who recommended that I should join their writing group. Every Thursday I would drive down to Provo, and the writing group would be aghast at my writing naivete.

Thus began my writing experience. I never had even thought about becoming a writer prior to 2001. I hated my English classes. I actually started college in the architecture program, before finally settling on a political science degree.

You aren't getting a 'comment' feature on your blog any time soon, are you? Anyway, you have a great blog, and I wondered if you had ever considered enabling comments so your many fans could chime in.

Submitted by Marion Jensen

There are two reasons: First, for a long time I didn't like to refer to it as a blog. I don't know why, but I always called them mini-articles. That all changed in early 2005 when I redid the look of the site.

Second, and more importantly, I have a very fragile ego, and I don't want people to talk back to me or, worse, not comment at all. I'd cry and cry and cry.

If you have a question you'd like me to answer, email it to me at robisonwells@msn.com. I will answer all questions promptly, and, if it's the kind of question that other people would be interested in, I'll put the question and answer up on the website.