W. Caine Maher is the proud husband of Colleen and the father of two girls, Sophie and Lucy. He served as a firefighter and EMT for the Philadelphia Fire Department for eighteen years. He coached girls’ varsity soccer while being a high school teacher in Philadelphia for five years. Maher was inspired to write Lucinda the Brave by his own talented daughter, Lucy, and her desire to stay out of the spotlight when she was young. Now, however, Lucy has overcome her fears and come out of her shell—she even played the starring role in her school’s production of B_eauty and the Beast_.
Q: What inspired the idea behind your book?
The inspiration is my daughter, Lucy. She is a shy but very talented and caring teenage girl.
Q: As an author, what tips would you give anyone who wants to get into writing?
A: My first tip would be to just write! I use the Pages app on my phone. I love that I can add/edit anytime. My second tip would be to use Blue Balloon Books/Ballast Books. They’ve been wonderful. Before working with them, I had sent my manuscript to countless literary agents and gotten zero responses.
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: My favorite book is The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen. He really puts you in the mind of the main character.
Q: Was your main character modeled after anyone in your life?
A: The main character was molded after my thirteen-year-old daughter, Lucy. She’s a shy, talented girl who hates attention. The story in the book about not wanting to be sung “Happy Birthday” to actually happened on her third birthday.
Q: What is your favorite part of the writing process?
A: It’s too hard to pick my favorite part of writing; the whole process is a joy. It’s like planting a seed and watching it grow.
Q: Do you believe that being a “good writer” is a developed skill or a natural talent?
A: I’m very new to writing. I just hope to become a “good writer.”
Q: Do you have a favorite book, poem, TV, or movie quote?
A: My favorite quote would be from the song “Breath” by Pearl Jam: “If I knew where it was, I would take you there, but there’s much more than this.”
Q: Would you write another book (or are you already writing another book)?
A: Lucinda the Brave is my second book. My first book is The Haunting of Coopersburg F. D. It’s not published or really even fully finished. It’s a young adult title about a widower fire captain who moves his young family to become the Coopersburg fire chief, only to discover the firehouse is haunted.
Q: Is there an author you look up to, and why?
A: Charles Bukowski is an author who got me into reading as an adult.
Q: If there were an apocalypse and you could only take five books into your doomsday bunker, what would they be?
A: My five doomsday books would be The Average American Male and The Lie (both by Kultgen), Women and Ham on Rye (both by Bukowski), and The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.
Learn more about W. Caine Maher and his children’s book, Lucinda the Brave, at https://blueballoonbooks.com/bookstore/lucinda-the-brave/.
