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PANA - John L. "Sonny" Maton grew up in Pana and during the Korean War enlisted with the U.S. Naval Reserves when he was still in high school. But once out of high school, he joined the Air Force.
After military service, Maton graduated from Eastern Illinois University, earned a master's degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from Kensington University, Palo Alto, Calif. Along the way, the 72-year-old was director of computer services for Decatur Public Schools, worked for General Electric Co. in Huntsville, Ala., which included involvement in the early National Aeronautics and Space Administration projects such as Redstone, Mercury and Atlas. He also joined the space administration itself and did a stint as college administrator.
Somewhere along the way, Maton decided to become an author.
Q: This question has a preface. It has–;been my experience that computers and writing don't always go together. Perhaps it's because the thought processes are different. But at any rate, were you already a writer when you became a computer expert? Or do you think you had to train yourself to write?
"I was always a storyteller," said Maton.
However, he added, when he was very young, he found out that when you tell a story in person and it is not truth, they call you a liar.
"But when you write that same story down on paper and publish it, they call you an author."
So, he wrote.
"And I think that computers and writing do go together.–;I wrote when all we had was typewriters, and now I use my (personal computer). It is much, much easier to write with a (personal computer), especially with the software available to us today.
Q: You think writing fiction keeps you young? Why, or perhaps, how do you think it accomplishes that?
"Making up and writing fictional stories takes a lot of brain work and imagination," said Maton.
"By exercising the brain, you stay younger in mind and body because you must also investigate new things and keep yourself up to date with our world's every happening moment.–;You also must become very broad minded.
Q: Many writers are also voracious readers. Are you as well? And do you think you in some way write similarly to your favorite(s)?
"I do read an awful–;lot," admitted Maton. "Again, it makes the brain work, not like just watching a Boob Tube and sitting there thinkless.
"My favorite is Hemmingway and Hemmingway.–;I loved the way he could paint pictures with his words and leave very little to the reader's imagination.
"Do I write like him? Don't I wish I wrote like him!"
Maton does not feel he writes like Hemmingway but feels he was influenced greatly by the master.
"He lived almost all his stories, and I have found that you have to live them to write about them."
Q: Presuming all of your works are fiction, do you draw on your personal background for ideas? Settings? Characters?
"Of course," was the immediate answer.
"Any writer who tells you that he doesn't is pulling your leg.–;If you haven't lived it or seen it or been there, then you really can't write about it and make it real, now can you?"
Q: Would you prefer being identified as John? Sonny? Jack?
"I answer to all of them," said the Florida resident.
"My closest friends and family call me Sonny, as do my readers, and others usually call me Jack. Only my sister calls me John, but only when she is irritated with me, which is almost always.–;Ha!"
About the book and the author
TITLE: "A Leaf Falls But Once" by Sonny Maton, winner of an honorable mention from the International Writers Guild
TYPE: hardback
ISBN-10: 0-8062-4836-X
ISBN-13: 9780806248363
LIST PRICE: $24.95
LIMITED AVAILABILITY: google book search; barnesandnoble.com; www.city-lynx.com (Maton's Web site)
OTHER WORK: Books by Sonny Maton available from lulu.com, including the descriptions provided:
* "The Black Knights of the Embarrass" is a fictional novel based on true facts about the secret society that was developed at Eastern Illinois University back in the 1950s in Charleston.
ISBN-13: 978-0-6151-7028-2
* "Tea Leaves," the meeting of two completely different cultures. A young vivacious female Filipino doctor meets a much older man from America and to both of their great surprise they fall deeply in love with each other.
* "Love Is Not Enough," a young man who is constantly struggling with life trying to find out who he really is or what he wants to do in life, falls in love with a beautiful, rich, headstrong ancestor of the famous King Ranch in Texas.
All paperbacks are $16.50.
Arlene Mannlein can be reached at amannlein@herald-review.com or at 421-6976.
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