April: Hello and welcome to another podcast from Explore The Smokies. Are you planning a trip to the Smoky Mountains? Be too busy to spend hours planning and searching sites for the best activities? Find all your answers at explorethesmokies.com. Let us take the guesswork out of the planning with customized itineraries. A community Forum where you can ask questions, vacation rentals a podcast and so much more at explorethesmokies.com. Today, we are talking to the author, educator, and lecturer, Ray Wenck. Ray is the author of the Danny Roth series, Pick-A- Path Apocalyptic Series, and really so much more. He’s got so many books that are out, but his most recent book in the Danny Roth series is Playing Through Errors, which takes place in the Smokies. So we’re going to talk about that and a lot more. So, thanks for joining us today, right?
Ray Wenck: Yes, thanks for having me.
April: Let’s dive in a little bit into your background. I mean, if you look on your website, you have had quite the career. You were a teacher for 35 years, you owned a restaurant and you seem to just be having a lot of these stories going on in your head that you brought to life in the past 10 years. So tell us a little bit about that.
Ray Wenck: Well, I guess I’ve always wanted to be a writer but just never really had the time. It just came about by accident at one point and from then I’ve just been non-stop, the stories of always just been bouncing around my head. Now, I’ve finally gotten the opportunity to put them out on paper and, and see where they go from there. I’ve been doing it now for about 10 years?
Aaron: Erasers, a specific genre that you write in?
Ray Wenck: Well, my primary genre is post-apocalyptic which is a science fiction sub-genre really. That’s the one that I best noted for I guess and I reached some pretty high levels, I guess. But I also like the Mysteries, which is one of the first series that I did start. The Danny Roth series was a mystery-suspense series.
Aaron: Okay.
Ray Wenck: Since then, my interests just have branched out even though most experts will say that you’re not supposed to do that unless you use a different name, but I now write fantasy-paranormal. Just a lot of different things whenever a story comes to me I write it regardless of the genre.
Woman: So, you started out talking about the Danny Roth series. That was your very first one and you’re still writing in that series. And one of the most recent ones that came out is called Playing Through Errors, and it actually opens in the Smoky Mountains. Can you set that up for us a little?
Ray Wenck: Sure, the two main characters, Danny and Tony, all face during a recent adventure find themselves taking a vacation by themselves as both of their lady friends have left them on a somewhat temporary basis. They decided they were going on this little vacation. Anyways, just because they needed to getaway. Little did they know that the relaxation that they were finding in the Smokies was about to be blown apart.
April: So, it was like high suspense in the Smokies, right? High suspense?
Ray Wenck: Oh, yeah, no pun intended there. In fact, the cover scene shows them on the top of a mountain looking out and the story is the area that I used is, chimney-top. Because I like the area but it is also my one failure as a hike in the Smokies. So it’s become something of a goal of mine now to get get back there and accomplish it. Although, after the fires a few years ago. I’m not sure if it’s if you’re allowed to get to the top. I know for a while they were preventing people from going all the way. It is a very strenuous hike.
April: So, you had to conquer it somehow? And so, you include it in this story. So, we talked about, the Danny Roth series. How many books did you got if you have out?
Ray Wenck: There are seven now and eight, one in the works probably will be released later in the year.
April: And of everything you’ve written.
Aaron: The total books, that’s what I want. I want to know, I want to know how many totals have you written?
April: That’s a good question.
Ray Wenck: Oh, well, total books actually someone just asked me this the other day and I honestly don’t remember. I think it’s someplace in the high 30s that I’ve got published. However, I have another six or seven that are already done on my laptop. So I guess I’m getting to the point where I’m pushing 50 overall.
April: And you have a favorite in that fifty?
Ray Wenck: Favorites? You know, that’s an interesting question. I do. But I have two. Teammates, which is book one of the Danny Roth series just is my favorite. It’s my baby because that’s the first one that was ever published by Rebel E Publishers. But my other favorite is Random Survival, which is post-apocalyptic and the reason is that that one makes me money.
April: That’s a mink of reason, I like it. Gotta love that one. Right? So, let’s talk a little bit more about the Smokies. It’s a place that you said that you like to come to and you have tried the hikes there but there’s something that obviously keeps pulling you back. You find a lot of inspiration there too, right?
Ray Wenck: That’s an interesting question. I’m not so sure that it’s an inspiration. As it is just an environment that allows me to throw everything off, everything else off, and just relax. The stories just seem to come to me when I used to go up there with a group of my buddies. I would always get up a couple of hours before they did and I would sit out on the porch with a cup of coffee and just gaze out over all that majestic beauty. But within minutes, I was ready to write. I wonder sometimes if the people who live there tend to take the scenic vistas for granted, but it always seems to work for me every time I’m there. It’s like a t-shirt that they sell. The mountains are calling and I must go. That’s kind of the feeling I have.
April: Well, that is an inspiration that I don’t know what is. Aaron has got some Smokey Mountain 5 that he wants to throw your way. So hopefully you’re ready. We’re going to put you on the spot. Family Feud Style.
Aaron: Five questions, right?
Ray Wenck: Okay.
Aaron: 20 seconds, I’m going to start the clock now. What is your favorite place in the Smokies?
Ray Wenck: That’s just not even, right? And you want to do this in 20 seconds?
Aaron: Yeah.
Ray Wenck: God, anywhere in the actual wilderness.
April: Broad but good, next.
Aaron: What’s your favorite place to eat?
Ray Wenck: See, that’s not right either. I will have two that I go to every time I’m there. One is the Old Mill and the other one is the Apple Barn.
April: Yeah, the Apple Barn.
Aaron: Everyone loves the Apple Barn. If you had 24 hours, just 24 hours. What do you need to do? Give me a couple of things you have to do.
Ray Wenck: Here’s the bad thing. If you’re looking for somebody to promote businesses, that’s not me. I’m not going to be on this trip. You were going to find me on every trail that I could possibly do. I will get out there early in the morning, take a lunch break and then go back until dark.
April: The non-tourist [inaudible]. And actually, what’s interesting in these podcasts. Is it pretty much is, hasn’t everyone so far Aaron said the same thing. Like, if you’re coming, I’m not even promoting my own business. You get out. There you go to the national parks, and you enjoy what God put here and enjoy hiking.
Aaron: So what do you think keeps people coming back year after year to the Smokies? Is it the view, the scenery?
Ray Wenck: I would think that has to be the appeal. And it also depends on whether or not they have a lot of children. I mean that the area has boomed so much just since the first time I went there. That it’s just, there are so many things to do for families. I think I read someplace recently that it’s one of its like the top three tourist areas in the country. I can believe that, but it also that’s a detraction for me because I remember going there. Like, in late August, when the local kids there were back in school and having the place pretty much to myself. And I enjoy that, the hustle and bustle of tourists time. That’s not for me. I want to get out someplace where I can relax.
April: That’s the beauty of it. There are different times, different seasons for every traveler. And all you have to do is know exactly when that time is for you. But so all your books can be found on amazon.com. Also on Raywenck.com. And Playing Through Errors, you generously, donated a couple of books that we are going to be giving away through our Facebook group. So, make sure you go to ourFacebook group and sign up for that. And thank you for joining us today. We appreciate it.
Aaron: Thank you so much.
Ray Wenck: Thanks for having me. It’s been great.
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