Meet Eric B | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric B and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, can you tell us about an impactful book you’ve read and why you liked it or what impact it had on you?
The Ultimate Success Secret by Daniel S. Kennedy. This book provides no-nonsense advice for how you can lift yourself out of the gutter right now and into the heights of success. Dan Kennedy has often been called “The Professor of Harsh Reality” because he has a way of making you know that you are the cause of your own success…and your own failure. There are so many books and seminars out there with the “magic formula” for gaining success. This book offers nothing of the kind. It gives practical advice on the little things you can do today to create great success for yourself tomorrow. Granted, this book was published in the 1990s, and there are a small number of outdated points made in this book. But at least 80% of this book’s content can be directly applied to any generation. And even the outdated information can be updated by the wise reader. For many years I have returned to this book every time I felt like I had done everything I could to make one of my projects a success, and every time I do, Dan Kennedy reminds me yet again that I have fallen short of doing all that could be done. This book pushes your to be your best self, To reach deep down inside of yourself to find where you are coming up short, and to do what you need to do to get back on track to success.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Less than two month ago, my fifth published book was released. My latest three books are part of the same series — the Night Crusaders series — about a band of superheroes who go n futuristic adventures. My second published book is a story about public transportation as the ultimate big city tourist attraction. And my first published book is a self-help book about volunteering as a way to get a job.

What I’m most proud of about my books is that I got them done. I got them finished, and published them. I did not make excuses. Every single one of my books started as a concept that I honestly did not think was going to go anywhere. And through hard work, commitment, and stick-to-it-tive-ness, each book grew into an entire world created by me. Actually, writing a book is not really hard. A book is really just little ideas, compiled together, into a continuous, fluid story.

As for the Night Crusaders series books, I taught myself how to create human beings. You see, my years as an author have taught me that there is a difference between characters and human being s when it comes to a story. A character is somebody who functions ONLY within the story. Outside of the story, the character has no life; doesn’t exist. But a human being is a story character so complex and multidimensional that you can imagine that person having a life outside of the story. That person serves more than just the story’s purpose, he or she serves his or her own purpose.

I have written so many stories that have never seen (and probably never will see) the light of day. I would like to assure everyone that no story I have ever written has made it all the way to published book form without being personal to me, in one way or another. I personally believe in every story that has been published. I published a book on volunteering as a way to get a job because that’s how I got my first full time job. I published a book on the adventures of public transportation because I have found, in my own life, public transportation to be more than a ride, but an adventure. And I have published three books (and counting) about superheroes because I am a superhero lover. And I had always wanted to create my own superheroes.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first place I would take my friend is onboard public transportation. Because — like the business executive who believes his own press release — I believe in the message in my second published book: The Great American Adventures of Modern Big City Railroading. That message being, “You have not gotten a real tour of the city if you have never been onboard its public transportation”. And honestly, assuming I am the host of this tour, that would be the main attraction of this tour. I would let my friend decide where to go. I don’t believe in cool places to eat or amazing places to shop or awesome places to party. Anybody can find stuff like that own their own. But if you introduce your tourist to the public transit system, and teach them how to navigate it, they can be their own tour guide. And the best part is, this is true as much for natives as foreigners of the city. Because the truth is, far too many cityfolk know almost nothing about their own public transit system.

Now, I probably would take them to my favorite karaoke joint — Corky’s in Lakewood, OH — because I have a particular bias for karaoke. Just because I was an actor in high school and college, and haven’t really acted since then, but the actor has always been inside of me. So karaoke is my performing outlet.

But I mean what I said earlier: public transportation is the only real place I would need to take my tourists. Once you learn the public transit system, you pretty much own that town!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My good friend John. He always challenges me to be my best, and never lets me get away with assuming I did everything i could have when, in fact, I have fallen short of everything that could have been done. He’s my “harsh reality” friend. Everybody should have at least one. One of the reasons people settle for less than their best in life, one of the reasons people allow their dreams to die, is because they don’t have anyone close to them that is willing to call them out on their shortcomings. Far too often, people are coddled, and assured that they have done everything they could, and that the reason they are not successful is because the world is against them. But the truth is, the world has provided more than enough opportunity to make your dreams a reality. But the question is, “How hard are you willing to work for it?” “What are you willing to sacrifice for it?” “What mountain is too high to climb to reach your dreams?” I am grateful everyday to have a friend who pushes me. Yes, he does make me mad sometimes. But that because there is a weak side of me — there is a weak side of all of us — that is ready and willing to settle for less than success. But some of us are fortunate enough to have people in our lives that won’t allow us to let ourselves off that easily!

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