A Fragile Peace on a Divided Mars: An interview with science fiction author Cindy Borgne

1) Please tell us about your book. 

Visionary of Peace is the second book in the “The Vallar Series.” It starts two years after the first book ( Available for free download on the day of this posting). Here is the blurb:

Ian Connors had planned to use his visions to spy on Marscorp in order to maintain peace, but flashbacks and nightmares make it impossible. Since two years of peace have passed due to a stalemate, Ian decides to try and live a normal life, until one day he has a vision so horrifying he has no choice but to become the seer he once was or Vallar will have no future. While he struggles to regain his ability, the Marcs plot to capture him alive in order to complete a deal for their return to Earth.

2) Please tell us about your main characters.

Ian Connors is trying to live a normal life on Mars, however, he’s a psychic. He killed Admiral Beacon, the antagonist from the first book, and he lives in fear of being captured by his enemies the Marcs. He also has visions of the future that haunt him. This time he sees a war that will destroy his people unless he finds a way to stop it. When he’s not completely stressed out, he spends his spare time repairing ships.

Kayla Merceir has been a diplomat, a spy and now she is engineering contained biospheres. She has a lot of trouble admitting she loves Ian because of a prior relationship that went wrong. From her spying experience and other training, she is a strong woman who joins Ian in stopping the war. She loves to paint pictures of oceans, forests, and other Earth-like places.

3) Was there anything you encountered during the course of research that altered how you decided to lay out your story?

One of the goals in the story is to generate a wormhole so the people of Mars can reach the Earth-like planet of Hinun. I did a lot of research about how to generate a wormhole and how they react. Also, I was looking for the newest ideas regarding wormholes because in real life we don’t have this technology. So yes, I was constantly tinkering with wormhole details.

4) This book alternates between two first person POVs. Why did you choose to do that, and did you encounter any special challenges with it?

Seer of Mars (Vallar 1) is written entirely in first person from Ian’s point of view. I found myself wanting to bring in another viewpoint, but I didn’t want to switch to third person. A few years ago, I would have never considered two first person POVs, but I had recently read some good books written the same way. I found out it could work, so I went with it.

5) This is a sequel. Did you always intend a sequel? Were there any special challenges you faced writing a sequel?

The first book has a definite ending. However, I did leave a few hints that there could be a sequel, even though I wasn’t sure if I would write one at the time. A lot of people asked me about a sequel, so I ended up writing one. Then the struggle began. There were two other versions written halfway through that I scrapped. However, being stubborn, I pressed on. I feel pretty satisfied that I finally finished it.

6) Do you have another book planned for this series?

Yes, but I want to switch to a different project for awhile. The third book would involve settling on the new planet.

7) What sort of future projects do you have planned?

I have two ideas. The first one is something post-apocalyptic, except the disaster would most likely be man-made, rather than from zombies. A possible title is The Middle of Nowhere.

Then I would like to do something historical, yet have something scientific involved. Most likely it would involve Native Americans obtaining some sort of technology before its time.

8) Where can people find more from you?

Readers can find everything on my blog. http://dreamersperch.blogspot.com/

Thanks for having me today, JA.

-----

Please note that Seer of Mars is free today (Feb. 26, 2013) for download on Amazon, if you haven't had an opportunity to read Cindy's first book.

A Cornucopia of Mysterious Creatures: A Review of Carnival of Cryptids

So, last week I interview several of the authors associated with the Kindle All-Stars Carnival of Cryptids anthology, but I hadn't a chance to read through t thoughts on it he entire anthology and give my thoughts on the ARC I received from a representative of the authors. For full disclosure, I am also friends with one of the authors, though I didn't know any of the others until interviewing them last week.

I always approach anthologies with trepidation. If an anthology is remotely worthwhile, it won't be filled with the same sort of story over and over. I typically expect a sort of normal distribution of story quality and interest, whether they are by one author playing around with style or a multi-author affair where the differences in stories often are even more extreme. Accordingly, I usually find a few stories I adore, a few that were okay, and a few that just plain annoyed me. Surprisingly, that didn't happen to me with this anthology.

In Carnival of Cryptids, the unifying concept of the anthology is that each story contains a cryptid in some way. A cryptid is a creature that is alleged to exist yet is not recognized to exist by the general zoological community. Although in the early days of zoology, this applied to a lot of creatures, advances in technology and science over the years have winnowed most cryptids down into a smaller group of legendary monsters. The Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch/Bigfoot are perhaps two of the most well-known cryptids.

Given the subject matter, it would have been far too easy for the various stories to end up some sort of feeble X-Files clones where various mysterious monsters are encountered in roundabout places doing the sort of spooky-boo things that people often associate with mysterious creatures of legend. It is a testament to the imagination and quality of the anthology writers that, instead, these variety of creatures are approached in radically different types of stories. Indeed, there's no real general style, theme, or approach used. Some stories are rousing tales of action and pure-fun; others are thoughtful meditations on the nature of existence. Even style is played with rather widely, and the anthology is almost worth checking out for the various approaches to writing used alone.

Admittedly, it's hard to love every single story in an anthology, depending one's personal tastes in terms of content and style. That said, this is the first anthology I've read in a while where I didn't dislike any of the stories. I have my personal favorites, but, in general, enjoyed all the stories, albeit for different reasons.

I'll also note that though I have a particular interest in cryptids, I don't actually think that knowledge or previous exposure to the concept or creatures is necessary to enjoy the stories. In fact, several of the stories involve some pretty obscure creatures that aren't as famous as something like the Loch Ness Monsters.

So unless you positively hate the very idea of stories featuring cryptids in some manner, you should check out this anthology.

Carnival of Cryptids is available for purchase at Amazon.

Two-Fisted/Six-Gun Alt Reality Meets Lovecraftian Menace: Introducing William Vitka

As a perusal of my old Magical Mondays segments might indicate, I've more than a passing interest in various mysterious monster beasties and their related legends. Thus, I was very excited to hear about the second upcoming Kindle All-Stars Anthology project: Carnival of Cryptids. The anthology is scheduled for release on February 1st.

The Kindle All-Stars are a select group of authors from around the world who donate their work in the name of charity.  All profits from Kindle All-Stars anthology are donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

This week I'll be interviewing four of the Kindle All-Stars who contributed to the Carnival of Cryptids and reviewing the anthology this weekend.

Today, we're starting off with William Vitka, author of "Six Gun Diplomacy" and an NYC-based journalist and author. He's written for CBSnews.com, Stuff Magazine, GameSpy, On Spec Magaine, and The Red Penny Papers.



-----

1) Please tell us about your story. 

A human town is haunted by monstrous natives who dwell in the waters off their shores. Two diplomats arrive in an attempt to establish peace between the species … But it all goes very wrong, very fast.

2) What went into designing the cryptids/monsters featured in your story? Though the tone is obviously quite different, would it be incorrect to say there's a bit of Lovecraftian literary DNA in there, as it were? 

Yeah, you could argue that there's a touch of Lovecraft in all of my fiction. Not in terms of tone, as you noted. Lovecraft was my first introduction to Horror fiction. In fact, I can still remember my old man reading The Colour Out Of Space to my brother and I when we were younger – I think I was 9 or 10. Why he thought this was suitable bed time material, I'll never know. But I'm quite glad he did read it to us.

As for the creature design, it seemed logical because of where and when I wanted to tell the tale. I love huge tentacled beasts (Thanks, Lovecraft). Hence our Kraken. Then I wanted to make things even worse. Hah! The best part is that The Kindle All-Stars lets me get away with all that. I wanted to tell a story not just about monsters, but also about a place and a time. An alternate Galveston felt right. Especially since it was the site of the devastating 1900 hurricane. There are more than a few allusions to the storm and even the founders of the city. Lafitte, for example. The history of Resilient takes its cues from the real history of Galveston … To a certain extent, at least.

3) You have a lot of elements here, horror, steam punk, and alternate universe travel. When you were writing the story was there a particular aspect or element you were more concerned with coming across than the others?

My primary concern with writing is: Does it feel possible? Or at least real within the world you're presenting to the reader? I always want my writing to sound like it's some crazy insanity we're telling each other at a bar. Dialogue, action and characterization are always at the forefront of any story. Elmore Leonard's novels are the best teacher for this. Hell, you can go from writing shit dialogue (which is a goddamn plague in Horror and SciFi) to great if you read enough of Leonard's work.

But as for the particular elements in Six-Gun, no. I wasn't concerned that one would overshadow the other. The only reason I wasn't, I think, is because I tried to make sure all of the characters treated it nonchalantly. Time travel? Sure. Alternate Earths? Okey dokey. Cross-species Squidmen? All in a day's work. Jack, Catarina and The Collective are cogs in a bigger universe. They're in their own stories as well. I've written an entire novel about their past and their rise as heroes. My biggest concern with Six-Gun was that the universe itself stayed intact.

4) Part of the mystique of cryptids, one could argue, has to do with their typically mysterious nature. In your story, you've approached the mystery from a different angle, with the "creatures" far less inscrutable than they might have been in a different type of story. Please tell us a bit about your thought process in that regard. 

'Supernatural' explanations are bullshit. In fact, they're not explanations at all. If you've got a monster, a really great monster, and you end your story with something along the lines of: The monster was a ghost the whole time because at one point 300 years ago a girl was sad and she killed herself but now we're gonna have cake because we found the lost jewels that make her happy again … Then I'm going to be pissed off as a reader. You aren't telling me anything. And you've been lying to me the whole time I've been studying your words. My characters and my monsters always, always have some kind of traceable biology and physiology. If I, as the author, can't actually explain what's going on in my story, then I shouldn't be writing it. Thus: "Six-Gun Diplomacy" adheres to its own internal logic.

5) Jack and Catarina are engaging characters who happen to be visitors to the particular setting of this story. Are they characters you've developed for other works and/or do you intend to use them in other works? 

They're two kids from Brooklyn who had to grow up very fast. I mentioned above that they're the stars of a separate novel. Along with Jack's brother, Caleb Svoboda. All three have appeared in their own short stories. And I found them all engaging. So I said to myself: You've got three humans who are Super Heroes, in a way. You better explain that. Their origin story is called EMERGENCE. The cover is being worked on as we speak!

6) Please give us a brief overview of some of your other works.

My first novel, INFECTED (http://www.amazon.com/Infected-ebook/dp/B00A2WKI7G/), is about what a journalist would do during the apocalypse. So, far, it's gotten 5-stars across the board. Cherie Priest and Jonathan Maberry endorsed it. It's been a thrill, and everyone should just go buy it! THE SPACE WHISKEY DEATH CHRONICLES (http://www.amazon.com/Space-Whiskey-Death-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00AXTOBUS) is a collection of my stories. Several of which feature Jack and Catarina. They're all part of my weird universe building. 

Of course, I have to mention Kindle All-Stars #1 (http://www.amazon.com/Resistance-Front-1-Bernard-Schaffer/dp/1469927098), because that's what started my wild relationship with all the awesome authors involved.
-----

Thanks, William.

If you want to find more from William Vitka, please visit http://vitka.tumblr.com/.

Carnival of  Cryptids is available at Amazon.

Space Pirates, Princesses, and a multi-galaxy federation: An Interview With Science Fiction Author Erik Martin Willén

1) Tell us about your book.

NASTRAGULL: Pirates is a sprawling science fiction epic in the classic style of such masters as E.E. "Doc" Smith, Isaac Asimov, and A.E. Van Vogt, spiced with an edgy modern sensibility. Action-packed and thrilling, it combines elements of military SF, traditional space opera, dystopian sci-fi, and the sociological explorations of writers such as Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. LeGuin. At heart, though, it's a love story -- the tale of two literally star-crossed lovers, and their herculean efforts to move heaven and Earth (sometimes literally) to find each other again and again as circumstances rip them apart.

2) What inspired this book?
What really inspired me to finally write this story was when my younger sister Sofia died from Lupus at the age of 24. This is a story that I've kept coming back to since I was very young. But I never had the patient to write the entire story. At first I finally wrote several parts as screen plays for the motion picture, but what got me writing “seriously” was when Sofia died.

3) Please tell us a bit about your main characters.

Hundreds of characters populate the universe of this novel, though by far the most important are the two main characters, Alec and Alexa. Alec, the Heir Apparent; Young Alec af Hornet is the son of one of the
leaders of the Nastasturus Federation, a more-or-less democratic,human-dominated polity that spans several galaxies. Alec lives in a universe populated not only by humans but also by hundreds of other species of exotic aliens, hybrids, and human-based transgenics, where history can be coherently traced back tens of thousands of years. His is a vibrant, even violent milieu, with thousands of planets and cultures constantly striving to achieve the upper hand in commerce, warfare, and life in general. Quarter is rarely asked, and less often given. Every possible political system and mix of cultural mores has been tried, and universal war has knocked most of the inhabited planets back down into barbarism at least once.

Alec is very much a product of thousands of generations of evolution within this harsh setting. A clever, resourceful young man, he knows what he wants, and is both intelligent and strong enough to get it...usually. He can be as ruthless and cruel as necessary, but this hard-edged facet of his personality is offset by a deep-seated integrity and a firm sense of right and wrong. He also has a strong sense of justice and a penchant for
vengeance, which occasionally overrides his moral imperatives -- as pirate king Zuzack, and others, discover to their pain and sorrow. Alec's is a dominant personality, and he is rarely able to give way on
anything he truly believes in. A passionate individual, Alec is a steadfast friend and tender-hearted lover; but his passion can also transmute into a relentless determination to achieve whatever goals he sets for himself. He's also a natural-born tactician, able to plan and strategize as easily as most people draw breath. As a cadet at military school, he combined these talents to bring a quick end to a local brushfire war, and earned the brevet rank of General as a result. 

As the story opens, he's on his way back to his home planet, Tallas, to graduate and attend officer training school, so that he can fully earn his brevet rank. When the transport he's sharing with his cadet squad is taken by pirates, Alec proves that he's a consummate actor as well, pretending to be cowed by
his captors (to the disgust of his compatriots) until he can manage to escape; only his strong sense of self and desire for revenge help him survive the brutal treatment at the hands of his captors. When he does
manage to escape, with Alexa's help, he rescues and takes with him the former Captain of his transport, Nikko Behl -- along with an emperor's ransom of loot, which he claims as salvage. Later, he proves his leadership skills by recruiting a personal army, leasing a Marengan frigate, and taking off to rescue his captive friends before the pirates kill them -- or worse, eat them.

Alec also has a talent for making enemies, as he proves when he mutilates Zuzack in reprisal for brutally murdering one of his friends and mistreating Alexa, before making off with one of the largest fortunes in the known universe. This sets Zuzack and his brother, Horsa, after Alec and his crew in an obsessive chase that results in a space battle in which millions of people -- most of them innocent civilians -- are killed. Alec also manages to hunt down Alexa, who has been sold to Zoris af Sun, a depraved "artist" who wants to kill Alexa slowly during a cannibalistic ritual -- thus earning Zoris' everlasting enmity as well. During that battle and rescue, Alec is able to hold his own and save his crew by making use of experimental technologies from both Nastasturus and Florencia, a neighboring federation, in an astounding manner that, perhaps, no one else alive in the universe could match.

As the story progresses, Alec becomes aware of an odd voice inside his head that seems to be trying to communicate with him. While he's convinced that he isn't mentally ill, he has no way of what it's trying to tell him. Physically, Alec is young and fit, a fairly standard young human male, if somewhat handsomer than most. He does, however, display a physical trait that was thought to have been eradicated from the human genome thousands of years previously: he has dark blue eyes, a defining characteristic of the terrifying Silver Guard who helped bring civilization low in the last Universal War. Those who know him well believe that it's just a random mutation, but there are tantalizing secrets that Alec af Hornet is not precisely what he seems. And when he falls into the hands of the vile Zoris af Sun, all bets are off...

Alexa, the Pirate Princess; Alexa, a dark-haired, golden-skinned beauty, was sold into slavery by her siblings when she was a young child. Considering the trauma she's been through since, she has little recollection of where she came from or who she was before; all she knows is that her siblings hated her. From the moment that she fell into the hands of the pirate Zuzack and his evil shipmates, she's been violently degraded and mistreated -- while simultaneously being groomed as one of Zuzack's adopted daughters.

Given her background, Alexa is unsurprisingly mercenary in nature: she looks after herself first, her friends second, and that's about it. This uncomplicated world view serves her well until she encounters Alec. For the
first time in her life she falls head-over-heels in love, and it's clear that the feeling is mutual. Despite being under the constant eye of Zuzack and his minions, she and a friend, Nina, help arrange his escape.
In a sense, Alexa is a rough, uncultured female version of Alec. Though physically and mentally strong -- much more so than most -- she lacks the moral compass that usually guides Alec's behavior, and is capable of some truly appalling behavior. She enjoys life when she can, and however she has to...even if that doesn't fit with the cultural traditions of the rest of the universe. She's also remarkably lusty; though to her, sex is little more than a tool and a way to have a little fun. This often puts her crossways with Alec, who considers sex an expression of his deep love for her. It takes him a long while to realize that her reaction to sex is a survival
mechanism that kept her from going insane during the long years of rape and mistreatment after her family sold her into slavery.

Alexa does have some level of morality beyond that which she requires to survive; for example, she refuses to go through with the cannibalistic ritual which would have made her a full member of the pirate crew, and she reats her own slave, Nina, more as a sister (and sometime lover) than as property. But above all else, Alexa is adaptable, at least to the brutal, unpredictable life of the pirate. She does what she has to in order to
survive, whether that means killing someone in battle, or acquiescing to the depraved advances of her adoptive "father." She does stand up for herself when she's capable of doing so, and won't take crap off anyone if she can avoid it; but she's still flexible enough not to shatter herself on the will of anyone physically or politically stronger than she is. This doesn't mean that she isn't willing to get her own back whenever she can arrange it, however.

Ironically, Alexa's adaptability is tested by civilized society. While she's grateful for her rescue, she finds it difficult to fit in -- and to understand what it is, precisely, that Alec and others expect of her. She leaps wholeheartedly into the concept of freedom when Nadia explains it to her, making some terrible mistakes when she tries to assert her personal sovereignty...mistakes that nearly destroy what she's found with Alec more than once. At heart Alexa is still a scared, hurt little girl, so from the outside, her behavior seems erratic at best; but one thing she can never be is tamed, and it's this, among other things, that inexorably draw her and Alec together, over and over again.

4) Please tell us a bit about how you approached your universe/world-building.

I allow for my imagination and creative thinking to take control and I never hold back when I write. I try to avoid what other authors or film makers have created in the past, however, sometimes that can be a challenge. My goal is for the reader to see pictures while reading, through my writing while using their own creative imagination.

5) Please tell us about your literary influences.

What or perhaps whom has influenced my writing most are several great authors (in no particular order) such as; Bernard Cornwell, Simone Scarrow, Stephenie Meyer, Wilbur Smith and Robert Jordan. There are several more but these authors have definitely influenced my work.

6) This book is the first in the series. How many books will be in the series? Please tell us a bit about them.

I've already written the second and the third novel and the complete outline for the entire story. There will be 10 books in this series. The story will take a few different “turns” and on the last paragraph and sentence of part ten the entire story will be combined as one? It’s very different and, I don’t know of any other author who has tried this approach when writing a story with several different episodes.

7) Where can readers learn a bit more about you and your book?

http://www.amazon.com/NASTRAGULL-Pirates-ebook/dp/B009R2RTJM

http://askdavid.com/books/3081

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17164984-nastragull

http://booksandtales.blogspot.se/2012/12/author-interview-martin-willen.html

http://bookreviewsbylarrybgray.blogspot.se/2012/12/nastragull-pirates-by-eri
k-martin-willen.html

http://www.pamplinfilmcompany.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Erik-Martin-Willén/e/B00AT081C0/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

For now the readers can learn more about me and my writing on the Amazon,
Good Reads and ask David – well of course your blog. Eventually I will write
more information about the story development and some about myself in the
future. The book is available on kindle and in January (2013) it will also
be available on paperback.

-----

Thanks, Erik

A SWAT Ninja Zealot in the Gritty Shadows of Dystopian New York: An interview with Christian Porter

Today I'm talking with Christian Porter about his thriller, Shadow Precinct.

-----

1) Please tell us about Shadow Precinct.

A: Shadow Precinct is the story of Everett Santeaux, a man who has been trained since a child to become a master in hand to hand combat techniques and applied technology called a zealot. His goal as such is to help in the recollection of firearms, which have been heavily restricted in this alternate reality United States. A mob boss is found murdered and he is asked to help investigate. In doing so, a whole bunch of stuff unfolds that push the story forward and hopefully keep the reader guessing.

2) How did you come with the idea of the zealots? Even though by the time your story starts your protagonist is an adult, were you influenced at all by the use of child soldiers in certain parts of the world?

A: That is a really good question. The idea for zealots came from just thinking about life in this type of world and how the hierarchy would shift in terms of the police force, or any organization tasked with protecting citizens for that matter. I knew that I wanted to inject martial arts into the action and story, and I wanted to incorporate that into a system that could seemingly naturally blossom from the events in Shadow Precinct’s story. I started to think, when police need that extra level of force or expertise, they call in the SWAT team, but what if that wasn’t enough? That’s where I kind of started to formulate where zealots would fit into that equation. I wanted an awesome, high tech, ninja SWAT team.

As far as the influence of child soldiers from around the world, I am happy you touched on that because, yes, that definitely helped me formulate ideas about the zealot system. I’m not going to front and say I did exhaustive research about the topic, but I am aware of places like Sierra Leone and Liberia where child soldiers were exploited and the stories are awful. You read or hear some of the first-hand accounts and it’s unbelievable that a child came through that. Conversely, it’s despicable that any human would put a child through that. I wanted to take some of those aspects that are uncomfortable and inject them into the story. The training that zealots are put through in the story is pretty intense, pretty brutal. I want the reader to feel somewhat uncomfortable about what they’re witnessing in hopes that it reflects the desperation of the situation to implement such a program in the first place.

3) Why did you choose to set your story in a dystopian New York City?

A: I wanted to set it in this alternate version of New York City for a couple of reasons. One, New York is one of the most iconic cities in the world, and probably the most instantly recognized American city, I’d think. Visually, it was just very intriguing for me to imagine that city mutating under the context of this alternate reality that I was trying to create. The second reason, and really the main reason, is because of the hip hop influence. The genre was born in New York and the main story takes place in the year 1997, which is during one of the golden eras of hip hop to me. There is a consistent hip hop heartbeat throughout the story whether it be lines that reference different albums, or excerpts from songs from that particular time period. I wanted my love for the music to shine through in a subtle way and give other fans of the genre some cool Easter eggs. I think every song that I reference in the book, a true hip hop fan will give me a slow nod of approval, at least that’s my hope. I was careful in selecting the songs that I reference because I wanted them to play into the story in different ways. I hope that is something else that people will catch on to as they’re reading it.

4) Well, the premise of this book promises both a lot of tense mystery and action. What kind of actions scenes can readers look forward to?

A: I think people should expect some intriguing detective mysteries connected with entertaining fight scenes throughout. I want people to get the feel of watching a intricately choreographed fight scene from a classic movie with a high tech spin on it. I tried to break up the seriousness a bit with some humor interspersed throughout as well.

5) Most novels don't have concept art, but yours does. Can you tell us a bit about your creative process in developing this book?

A: Well, after I graduated from college I got a job in the video game industry as a programmer. Doing that, I just saw the use of concept art pretty much through every phase of our design process. I always had a respect for artists because I can’t draw to save my life. I’m also a very visual person, so I wanted to go beyond my words and add a little bit more to jumpstart the reader’s imagination. I’m fortunate that Luther Berry, the artist that did the cover and the interior art, is a very talented. We were able to get a good vibe going and he was able to see my vision. It was very cool to see my ideas realized in that way. My love for comics and manga played a part in that as well.

6) Do you plan any sequels?

A: Yeah, for sure. My original outline was for a trilogy. I know that’s the cool thing to do now, unnecessarily stretch your material to fit into that context, but I want to reassure people that this was the original plan! I’m working on the follow up now and it’s going really well.

7) Do you have any other unrelated stories in the works?
A: I do have some ideas for some other things, but the main focus is Shadow Precinct right now and making sure that’s in a solid place. I just want to make sure each part of the Shadow Precinct saga is better than the last.

8) Are there any authors who have inspired or influenced you?

A: Yeah, definitely. The first one I always say is Phillip K. Dick. Between Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Ubiq, those two stories just inspired me so much to write science fiction. The Blade Runner film that was based on Electric Sheep gave me a lot of visual inspiration as well. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5 was another one that inspired me with his unorthodox storytelling and use of humor in dire situations. Junot Diaz’ The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao is another one of my favorites. I just really love the way that book is written and it helped me build confidence in letting myself show through my writing. The Watchmen graphic novel is essential for me. George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire), Hiroshi Sakurazaka (All You Need Is Kill), and Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto manga), are all authors I highly respect and their works are definitely inspirational to me as well.

-----

Thanks, Christian.

You can find more about Christian and Shadow Precinct at  http://www.shadowprecinct.com/ and at the publisher (http://www.azizapublishing.com/).
   

Cyberpunk in a Fedora: An interview with Suzanne Van Rooyen

Today I'm talking with Suzanne Van Rooyen about her dystopian tech-noir, Dragon's Teeth.

-----

1) Tell us about your book.

Well, in a nutshell Dragon's Teeth could be classified as dystopian tech-noir. Decoding the genre tags, what that means is that the world has suffered an apocalyptic event that leaves pockets of humanity run by a variety of governments. My story concentrates on two: the cybernetic playground of New Arcadia and the theocratic nameless city. Although the tie between these two cities across a divide of almost half a century isn't immediately apparent, the individual characters from each era are in fact tied closely together. You can expect genetic engineering, cybernetics, indoctrinated soldiers, a seedy city underbelly, government conspiracies and an ever so suave detective, replete in fedora and trench-coat, who ties the whole story together.

2) How did you approach your world-building process?

This really happened in two stages. First, the bleak Scandinavian setting for the nameless city and then the over-the-top playground like setting for New Arcadia. I tried to make the two polar opposites of each other. For New Arcadia, I just let my imagination run wild, conjuring setting according to my character. I definitely tried to build the individual worlds around my main characters - what would they want, need, love and despise in the world? And so the scenes were born. I had a better idea of what my nameless city would be like from before I started writing. New Arcadia, however, developed along with my characters.

3) Tell us about your lead, Cyrus.

Cyrus is complex in that what you see is definitely not what you get. He's got a dark and violent past that he tries to bury, tries to hide beneath his 1940s veneer. He's not the typical hero and certainly doesn't play by the rules, but he has integrity and lives by his own honour code.

4) What made you decide to combine a somewhat classic detective archetype with a cyberpunk setting?

This happened entirely by accident. I was taking a literature course at the time and we had just started analysing noir works. I fell in love with J. M Cain and Raymond Chandler and so Cyrus was born. The main idea for the novel had always been cyberpunk in the same vein as films like Equilibrium and shows like Dark Angel. The hardboiled element just seemed to fit and Cyrus, once he appeared in my thoughts, demanded the limelight in my story, and so he got it.

5) Do you think the spread of the Singularity concept and its ideal of  transcendent technology will influence people's desire to read things like cyberpunk that draw more firmly from our current interface with  technology?

Hm, that's a really difficult question to answer. I've read articles about how 'boring' the singularity concept has become because of its ubiquity, although many still aren't even aware of the singularity concept or what it really is. As for influencing readers, I'm not sure. Some may avoid cyberpunk because they've had enough of the theme. However, given the current technological climate, I think cyberpunk still has a place in science fiction despite its ageing moniker. Looking at the slew of new releases particularly in the YA category, the human relationship with technology is definitely still a leading theme so cyberpunk is holding its own as a subgenre. Whether that's directly influenced by the singularity concept, I honestly couldn't say.

6) Are there any authors who have influenced your work?
Sure. The two big ones are Neil Gaiman and David Mitchell - not so much in terms of content but rather in how they create their worlds and use language to paint their stories. My main science fiction influence is Philip K Dick, primarily because I saw many of the film adaptations of his work before I read his stories. I've been more influenced by film in the science fiction genre than literature to be honest.

7) Can you tell us about any of your future projects?

My next project is Obscura Burning, a YA science fiction novel about quantum entanglement. That's due for release in December from Etopia Press. I've also just signed with an agent for a YA cyberpunk novel tentatively titled Daughter of the Nether, which I'm hoping will find a home with a publisher in the next couple of months. There are a couple of other works in progress at the moment, all science fiction and tending towards cyberpunk.

-----

Thanks, Suzanne.

If you'd like to see more from her, check her at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Suzanne-van-Rooyen/304965232847874

Website: http://suzannevanrooyen.com/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5306442.Suzanne_van_Rooyen

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Suzanne_Writer

Dragon's Teeth is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and direct from the publisher, Divertir.

An Alchemist Challenges A Conspiracy: An interview with science fiction/fantasy author Jeffrey Zweig II

Today I'm talking with Jeffrey Zweig II about his science fiction fantasy book The End Begins: The Nine.

Warning: There are some minor spoilers in Mr. Zweig's answers.

-----

1) Please tell us about your book.

My Book is called The End Begins: The Nine. It follows an alchemist, Cassarah Telmar, after she discovered her academy was subject to scientific experiments by the military group called the Coalition. She vows to bring them down with the help of a resistance group called White Rose and fights to survive in a world she doesn't know. Cass will find, however, she will have to make a choice between continuing to live for them or destroy everything she has known to gain freedom. It's an epic science fiction/urban fantasy book - the first in a trilogy dubbed The Trinity Trilogy.

2) What was your inspiration for this book?

It originally started as a writing club adventure series I was part of in high school for three years. That was much more craziness going on but was fueled by the raw emotion high schoolers have in those days. For a long time I wanted to turn what we had into a screenplay or a book but never got much farther than concept and rough drafts for many reasons. But in 2009 I got laid off and moved back to Indianapolis. Without a job and a lot of time on my hands, I reignited this project finally as a novel inspired by reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. I borrowed the skeleton and a couple characters of the journey from the club's story, but a lot of the sub plots and back story were inspired by video games like Final Fantasy 7 or the Metal Gear Solid series.

3) Your book has a bit of alternative history element. Why did you choose to go that route?

I decided on alternate history because people can draw from original history and, while finding the deviations, won't have to construct a whole new world in their mind. There's so much going on in the plot that I wanted to make conceptualizing the setting as easy as possible. Secondly, I could pull from existing history, such as the group White Rose which was an actual resistance group during WW II (See here and also here), and put my own twist on it. I do this kind of thing with the whole USA, the outcome of the Native American relocation situation, even down to having motorcars still puttering around.

4) Your book involves both wizardry and alchemy. Can you tell us a bit about the underpinnings of the magic system in your world?

The world itself is not really magic driven as it's based on the real world more or less. There are byproducts of the alien systems around them that get dumped into this world and change it so it's a melting pot, for lack of a better analogy.

The Mylon crystal technology uses the raw power source to replace Nuclear energy and ammunition for weaponry, is derived from the Nine - harvested from the students’ bodies. But someone with certain training can do more with them. These gems have the ability to access magic power. Caleb uses the crystals this way to power a small pistol that in turn gives him something like unlimited ammunition.

The Nine is a race naturally gifted with magic power (the alchemy part of them). They were natural architects able to construct vast cities out of the Earth. But they need to be augmented by technology to further their abilities (the wizardry portion). From using technology they gain a much wider set of abilities, like focusing that energy through a filter kind of like a materia system (see final fantasy reference here). Of you could also think of it, as Cass goes through her journey, as a hierarchical system of gaining more complex abilities the more you use a certain ability. I could go into more detail in the specifics trees on where powers start and end but for a novel I didn't really get into the super technical stuff as it wasn't essential. It wouldn't be unless you're making a video game (which would be super cool).

The third type of outside magical system that appears I'll touch on briefly. It's James Kesumare and his Gate Keeper abilities. He's like a Green Lantern but able to learn how something works and adapt it to his own powers. Being a dimensional traveler, learning certain abilities could save his life. You'll get to learn more about that in the next book.

5) Your books also involves some science fiction elements. Did you find it difficult to combine the fantasy and science elements?

There's definitely a balance you have to strike when creating a world that has both. I wanted to try to modernize the concept of wizards/alchemists like you see in current anime like Full Metal Alchemist. And again, having been a really big fan of games like FF7, Xenogears, and those kinds of franchises - I have a lot of exposure to that and have a sense of what's working and what's not.

When creating a world like this you have to ask yourself questions like "Is what I'm doing making sense given the expectations I've set forth in the foundation I've created?" As I said before the world the journey really takes place in is a melting pot because of the external influences that have pressed upon it. It's about establishing expectations from the get go. For example the beginning of the book establishes The Nine with the Coalition, then James and his ties to them, then to Caleb and his ties and each facet twists them together so when they come together all in one place - it's not such a jarring shift.

6) Dystopian books have grown in popularity a lot in recent years. Why do you think people like reading stories in depressing settings? 

I'm going to get a little dark in my speculation here. I feel we as human beings have a primal urge to see/read/hear things like that can be worse than their current state "Hey I may have it bad but these people have it much worse!" Example: Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy (Feed-Deadline-Blackout) is a good example of a society locked under several hard and fast rules so that anyone can spontaneously-combust into zombies and start eating people. They have to undergo constant blood tests and decontamination just to get around. They are constricted by nature to live very sheltered/oppressed lives thanks to the regulations the CDC and the government put in place.

A variety of factors play into the rise and fall of genre popularity and I try not to follow the tide, just write what I like and know that things do come in waves. Things like the Mayan calendar, recent political/governmental climate the world has going on, you can name a number of things but I think there's an allure to that kind of thing because in a perverted way we want to see the suffering - it's part of human nature. But - of course - we want to see a hero rise up and beat the system and obtain glory.

7) You deal with both religion and existential issues in this book. Are there particular major themes you were trying to explore?

Not at first, although the degree of religious implication has varied from draft to draft. The "His Plan" train of thought didn't start coming in until the drafts I had in early 2008. The original Mac Guffin from the club story was an ambiguous scroll that could manipulate the multi-verse. So regardless it was going to be something epic - a game changer for all sides involved. When you start getting into big things like traversing parallel worlds, religious and existential questions are going to come up.
At this point I hadn't wanted to get too deep into that kind of thing because 1. I don't want to come off as preachy because as far as religion goes I'm not that at all. 2. I have no idea, no one really does, as to what is on the other side if there is another side. I know I've tread into dangerous water in some ways but at the time I'm not trying to bring that kind of stuff too heavy into it because that's not what this story is about. What we do know coming at the end of the story is that messing with the workings of the universe is a dangerous game. Maybe exciting. But dangerous. I think I'll be exploring it more, but indirectly, as the series progresses. I think the biggest theme, on a personal/relatable level, is Cass finding her sense of worth in in the grand scope of the universe, that right now she could change things, take control of her life - fighting for what she believes in matters.

8) You have a background in screenwriting. How did that influence the writing in your book? 

I wouldn't say screenwriting itself influences my writing - but that training was great when I shifted from script to novel because the essential stuff still applies. How to execute a story. Act structures. Dos and don'ts, etc. That base experience translates into novel writing easier than you might think. What you have to realize is that with a novel you have a lot more room to explore the intricacies of your world and its people. A screenplay is more like a guideline for what will become a visual product, so you need only what's important/essential to each scene to make that script. With a book you will not, so, like radio, you have to rely on the theater of the mind to create the world of the book.

9) Do you have any plans for a sequel?

Yes. The Nine is the first book in what I have dubbed the Trinity Trilogy. The second book is called The End Begins: The Rise of the Gate Keepers. Taking place six months after The Nine, James will have to rediscover his heritage as a Gate Keeper to protect the world while Eden's Gate recovers from the damaged it sustained in The Nine. Everyone is dealing with the aftermath of the Coalition's occupation and the little spurts of rebellion that keep cropping up and the unexpected surprises the Eden's Gate is going to bring to their doorstep. I've slated it for an early 2013 release date but I'll be posting more about it toward the end of this year.

10) Please tell us a bit about your other future projects.

Right now I am working on two short stories that fall between The Nine and The Rise. They focus on some of the supporting characters you'll meet in the Rise. They're more of an appetizer for those waiting for the sequel. Outside of my self-publishing endeavors I'm working on a couple more shorts and splitting my time revising two novelette works I hope to start shopping those around to agents/publishers by the fall. I'd like to get some screenwriting projects sent out too but we'll see about that. My plate is already full with extra stuff, haha.

-----

Thank, Jeff.

Finding Jeff on the Web:

His Blog: Stories of the Sleepless Mind (www.storiesofthesleeplessmind.blogspot.com)
His Wiki: Zweig Independent Publications (http://zweigpublications.wikispaces.com/)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jzweigii
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jzweigii
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jzwegii
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5440125.Jeff_Zweig_II

To purchase his book, please visit one of the following links:

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005V2H1YA)

Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92522)

Createspace (https://www.createspace.com/3641897)

What does it mean to be human? An interview with Linda Andrews

1) Tell us about your book.

I think the blurb tells it best:

A woman from the past.
A cyborg with no future.
They have every reason to mistrust each other but one: survival.

When Nell Stafford passed out it was 2012. When she wakes up naked aboard a starship it's 2138, and she's surrounded by the Syn-En: synthetically-enhanced soldiers with a grudge against humans like her. She doesn't know where she is or what's happened, only that her life has been destroyed and everyone she's ever known is dead.

Their leader Beijing York has just discovered his people's creators--humans--have betrayed them. They were promised freedom and equality in exchange for settling a newly discovered planet at the other side of a wormhole. But the Syn-En have outlived their usefulness.

The offer was a trick.

The wormhole has collapsed, and now both Nell and the Syn-En are trapped far from Earth to face almost certain death.

Bei has lost his future, and Nell has lost her past.

But Nell gained something in her 120-year sleep; somehow, she knows everything the Syn-En need to survive. Now she must convince Bei and his people to trust her--as soon as she learns to trust the mysterious intelligence.

2) What inspired this book?

The idea came from a multitude of places. First there was a man in England who inserted a chip in his arm and connected it to a computer to track the way muscles interact with the brain. Then there was an article in US News and World Report about testing a new prosthesis that could actually be
controlled by the amputee's brain, giving him some fine motor coordination. Add in synthetic skin used to treat burn patients and I had to makings of a cyborg.

3) Why did you choose to have a science fiction tale centered around a woman originally from our time ending up in the future?

Although The Syn-En Solution takes place a hundred years in the future, I needed a way to make things understandable to modern readers since I didn't plan to stick with current SciFi lingo. Also, I needed someone to facilitate the building of this new society between the cyborgs and the
humans. Of course, I had to add a twist to take it to the next level.

4) Is there a particular science fiction idea that your book focuses on?

Like most classic SciFi, I addressed the issue of what it really means to be human. We stand on the cusp of gigantic scientific leaps in medicine that will push those boundaries. Add in a little genetic engineering to change our appearance, maybe give some of us wings or cat's eyes, and the question is bound to arise: when do we stop being Homo sapiens and become something else?

5) It's often said that science fiction tells us more about the present than any imagined future. Do you think this is true? If so, what does your book tell us about our present?

I absolutely believe that the best SciFi reflects our present back on us and that by setting it in the future, we're able to deal with it a little more objectively. I suppose The Syn-En Solution tells us two things about modern Western society. First, that we're looking for technology to save us from really bad choices (which I believe it can). And two, that technology doesn't save us from our nature. Said another way, if we find a technology to scrub CO2 from our atmosphere are we going to keep improving clean energies or harvest all the fossil fuels?

6) Who has influenced you as a writer?
So many things influence me, particularly other writers like Robert Frost and H.G. Wells. But then my critique partners and beta readers have their say and lastly, there is the snappy dialogue from old movies that can create an interesting and sometimes unintended subtext.

7) What do you have in-store for future books?

I've already finished the second book in the series, Syn-En: Culture Clash, where we meet some pretty cool aliens, and after Christmas I plan to work on the third book, Syn-En: Registration, where the Syn-En have to travel to another planet and register the human race as a sentient species so aliens
stop treating us as lab rats.

-----

Thanks, Linda.

You can find more from Linda at www.lindaandrews.net/.

The Syn-En Solution can be purchased at Amazon.

A Blood Doctor and Futuristic Blood Drinkers: An interview with Arshad Ahsanuddin

Today I'm talking with Arshad Ahsanuddin, author of, in his own words, "futuristic-sword-and-sorcery-gay-vampire-soap-opera-supernatural-thrillers."

1) Tell us about your books.

My books, for the most part, might be described as futuristic-sword-and-sorcery-gay-vampire-soap-opera-supernatural-thrillers, crossing genres between soft science fiction, urban fantasy, and non-explicit gay paranormal romance. Though that’s not strictly true, given that the main characters of Moonlight and Radiant Burn are straight.

The major premise of the books is that Nightwalkers (vampires) and Sentinels (vampire slayers) are the remnants of a technologically and mystically advanced civilization that collapsed about 10,000 years ago due to internal wars. Each side has been trying to destroy the other ever since, though the advances in human society of the present era have forced them to operate in secret.

The everything changed approximately twenty years prior to the start of Book One, when a cure for vampirism was created, which allowed the Nightwalkers to reclaim their souls and become Daywalkers, once again able to walk in the sunlight. The supernatural peoples of North America have declared a separate peace throughout the continent, mystically fortifying the borders to wall out the Nightwalkers and Sentinels that still war upon each other in the rest of the world.

Everything changes again, in 2040, when the Daywalker Nick Jameson spectacularly exposes them all to humanity on national television, when he intervenes to stop a terrorist nuclear plot. This is the point where the story begins.

2) You're a hematopathologist. You specialize in examining blood all day. Did that at all influence your desire to write about vampires?

Honestly, it didn’t even occur to me until after I finished, and I mentioned the project to some of my colleagues, who were greatly amused at the irony which had escaped my notice.

3) Most people aren't blood doctors, yet there's a persistent fascination with vampires, why do you think that is?

Immortality to start with, followed by the lure of violence and evil, even with the possibility of redemption. That was the basis of the vampire mythology at the beginning, and the shift to a social/sexual predator came in later times. They have become a symbol of knowledge, power, strength, and sexuality, wrapped up in a humanoid package that walks silently among us until they strike.

The question then becomes, what can we possibly offer them? I think the genre of paranormal romance developed as a way to humanize these archetypal figures into something that was both greater than us, yet still accessible. A more modern variant is the vampire romance paired with alternate supernatural beings, such as witches, werewolves, or in some cases, vampire slayers. It’s just another way in which the vampire is made more human as we, in the person of the hero/heroine, become less so to meet them on a even playing field.

4) Sci-fi/paranormal romance mixed-genre vampire books centered on gay protagonists are, and this is being charitable, rare. What inspired that combination of elements?

It was a much more conventional storyline at first, when it was just a hobby storyline in my head, inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer in its heyday. Then, as it continued to develop in my mind, I incorporated other elements of fictional worlds I enjoyed, and philosophical concepts and articles of faith that inspired me. It grew organically in my head for over a decade before I wrote it down on a whim.

5) What went into the creation of your protagonist?

He’s a flawed character, unlimited power at his command, but running from his demons, afraid of commitment and love. Part of his journey is learning to grow from his rather shallow beginnings to explore the depths of his heart and find peace and companionship. In the meantime, he’s a catalyst, causing major transformational events in his world and the people around him, inspiring others to love him while he remains both inaccessible and oblivious. Discovering the truth of those relationships is part of the lessons he has to learn, and their resolution is half of the narrative throughout the entire series. The other half, of course, is the action and adventure that seems to follow in his wake.

6) Do you have any authors who have influence your writing?

The authors I would swoon to meet include Neil Gaiman and Guy Gavriel Kay, two of the most innovative authors in modern fantasy. I can’t hold a candle to them, but someday I hope to gain enough skill to make a decent homage to their work.

7) Can you tell us about some of your other works?

SUNRISE, the second book, tells the story of most the major characters and how they got to the point where the first book begins. MOONLIGHT, the third book, is the continuation of SUNSET, told from an alternate perspective. STARLIGHT, the final book, is the conclusion of the series. Two short stories, "Radiant Burn" and "The Best of Times" fill in some of the gaps in between. I am currently working on two others, which will expand on the stories of some of the secondary characters. A distant future plan is to write a prequel series of novels, which will tell the story of the First Age, and the start of the war between vampires and Sentinels.

-----

Thanks, Arshad.

For more information about Arshad, or for more information about the series, check out his website at http://pactarcanum.com and leave him some feedback.

The first book in hi series, SUNSET, is free for download for the Amazon kindle today (5/28/2012).

Questioning The Nature of Identity, an interview with EPIC Award Winner and Sci-fi Thriller Author Cyrus Keith

Today I'm re-interviewing Cyrus Keith, author of the science fiction thrillers BECOMING NADIA and UNALIVE. I had the honor of interesting Mr. Keith when my blog was just starting up.

Though his work has previously received strong reviews, he recently was recognized by the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition with an EPIC Award for Best Suspense/Thriller for BECOMING NADIA. Oh, and that book just happened to be his debut novel.

----

1) Tell us a bit about your award-winning book.

Well, J.A.. May I call you J.A.? Anyway, it's a book. And it's award-winning.
Seriously, though. BECOMING NADIA has won two awards so far: A Top Ten Finisher in the Preditors and Editors' Reader's Poll. It has also won honors as Best Thriller at EPIC's eBook Awards.

I could give you the standard blurb, but anybody could click my buy link and get that, so I want to go a little deeper here, if that's all right. BECOMING NADIA is a story about the nature of identity. Think Heinlein's Friday or Bladerunner. Only with a gawdawful twist or two that makes most readers clutch their Nooks and Kindles closer and scream, "He did NOT just do that!" It's also about spirituality and redemption, interspersed with all the stuff that makes a thriller... thrilling: bullets flying, bodies dropping, and people running around screaming at each other.

2) What was the inspiration for this story?

I had this dream one night, in one of those moments where you're not awake but also not really asleep, where I met Nadia. I didn't know her name, but I knew who--and what--she was. She was destined for a horrible death, at the cost of so many more besides her, and she looked at me with lost, tearful eyes and said, "...but I don't want to die!" I snapped awake, and knew I either had to write her story down or she would melt my brain until I did.

3) Your story is a science fiction thriller. Both of those genres are quite well known for combining excellent entertainment with insightful critiques of modern society and geopolitical realities. What sort of critiques and explorations of society and the world do you explore in BECOMING NADIA?


Besides the deeper explorations of identity and the soul, I'm taking a look at people who always seem to know what's best for other people, in spite of what those people want. I'm not answering any questions or sermonizing, really. I just want people to think about life, and what it really amounts to. There's one scene where Nadia, sensing the end is near, sees a rather dreary, rainy day in a whole other light, where each and every breath becomes a precious moment in and of itself.

4) The amount of time to write a novel varies wildly based on on style. How long did it take you to write the book, including editing?


Too long. Wa-a-a-a-ay to long. The rough draft poured from my brain in only fifty-five days, but then I had to learn how to transform from just a storyteller to also being a writer, and there is a world of difference between the two. I began on October 29, 2007, and I submitted it to Muse It Up Publishing in May of 2010. In between those dates, there were sumbissions, rejections, revisions, rejections, edits, rejections, critiques, rejections....you know the drill.

5) So, have you purchased any business cards yet with "Cyrus Keith, Award-winning author" or maybe just the more elegant, "Cyrus Keith, Epic Author"?

"Buy?" My good man, I do not "buy." I print my own. And I just joined EPIC. And "Multi-talented, award-winning, freaking AWESOME!" is taking a while to figure out how to fit on one of those tiny lil' thangs. Something tells me, though, something simpler may make a better impression.

6) In all seriousness, how did it feel to receive this honor?

I heard my name being called, and my brain exploded in my head. I knew I had a good chance of winning (at least one in three), and I've seen the other novels I was up against, and they were good. So winning was just girly-squealing awesome. I'm just not used to good things happening, and this made up for a whole lot of the crap I've been through in my life.

7) There was even a formal awards ceremony. What was that like? Have you attended a function like that before?


I've been to professional conferences and seminars before. Never an awards ceremony, though. But EPIC gave me a great first impression, and all the members I spoke with were very real and approachable people, without a single prima donna to be seen. You can see all the pictures on my Facebook page. It was awesome and fun.

8) The sequel, UNALIVE, is already out. When will the third book in the series drop?


CRITICAL MASS has been submitted to Muse It Up Publishing, and I should hear back from the acquisitions team within ten weeks. From there, it's about a nine-month journey to the release date on the average. If you enjoyed BECOMING NADIA and UNALIVE, then you'll love Critical Mass. It's the final chapter of the saga, and will make you look at some things in another way as well.

----

Thanks, Cyrus.

BECOMING NADIA and UNALIVE are both currently available for purchase.

A Father From Another World: An interview with YA sci-fi author Debbie Brown

Today, I'm talking with Debbie Brown. Please note she a is different author from Debra Brown the historical fiction author I previously interviewed.

Our latest Debbie Brown is here to talk to us about her YA sci-fi adventure, AMETHYST EYES.

-----

1) Tell us about your book.

AMETHYST EYES is a YA adventure covering 15-year-old Tommy as he is forced to go live with his estranged father after an accident claims his mother’s life. The catch here is that his father is not from Earth and Tommy is expected to live onboard his father’s ship. We have a teen having to deal with the loss of his mother, unanswered questions about his father not being present, the pressure of adapting and fitting in to a life nothing could have prepared him for. Oh, and then there is the legend of the amethyst eyes…

2) What inspired this book?

I had written the first chapter (minus the flashback) as a writing assignment ten years before I wrote the book. I was not aiming for a sci-fi theme. I had read a lot of sci-fi throughout elementary school, but after having received a STAR TREK novel as a gift I became obsessed with the books, reading everything I could get my hands on. I loved the human interaction found within.

3) What is the main theme your story explores?

I guess the main theme would be personal growth or family.

4) Can you tell us a little about what went into developing the characters of Tommy and Jayden?

Honestly, they came to life on their own. There are very few forced or created details. I literally sat back and let them go, writing what unfolded before me. Writing the first draft could be compared to the first time anyone reads the book. I didn’t know any more than the reader did until I saw it and then wrote it.

5) What sort of challenges does writing a science fiction story present?

The first would have to be the technology. I didn’t want to borrow what had already been created, and I didn’t want to invent something that just couldn’t be. The transporter, made famous by STAR TREK, has actually come to be with scientists succeeding in transporting quantum spin information.

The second would have to be life. Creating different people with different abilities, rules, values, living arrangements, food and such…although this could apply to fantasy writing as well.

6) Do you have a favorite line from the book you'd like to share?

Two, actually, 1) Tommy asks his father to tell him a little about his time spent with his mother. In the scene the parents are talking, getting to know one another and Emma realizes Dthau-Mahsz (Thomas) cannot go home, so she says “Then I guess you’ve left the city, too.” It refers back to her decision to leave her city life behind and embrace a more basic and natural way of life in the mountains.

2) The doctor’s comment when he finishes his initial examination of Tommy (following the car accident). “He has been sewn, stapled and screwed back together!” He slammed his hand down on the console. “And badly too!”

7) Do you have any sequels planned?

I am working on the prequel right now, telling the story of his parent’s time together. I am about half-way through. Afterwards I do plan on writing a second and possibly a third book in the series since there are still avenues to explore.

8) Can you tell us about any other projects you have planned?

For now, I’d like to write. I am in the midst of an advanced writing course with the Institute of Children’s Literature, which has me writing another YA sci-fi adventure. The first draft is to be completed by the 16th of March.

I hope I can allow my writing to take more place in my life. I have done a lot of things over the years and it gives me an interesting bag of knowledge to rummage through and use in my writing.

-----

Thanks, Debbie


AMETHYST EYES can be purchased at:


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amethyst-Eyes-Debbie-Brown/dp/1462050158
Chapters Indigo: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Amethyst-Eyes-Debbie-Brown/9781462050154-item.html?ikwid=amethyst+eyes&ikwsec=Home

Powell’s: http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=TRADE%20PAPER:NEW:9781462050154:18.95
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amethyst-eyes-debbie-brown/1105283804
SONY Reader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/debbie-brown/amethyst-eyes/_/R-400000000000000563319



If you want to see more from Debbie, you can find her at:

Facebook Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amethyst-Eyes/169207996492385

Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5370747.Debbie_Brown
Blog:  http://amethysteyesauthor.blogspot.com/
Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaSQLuUkHeo
Email: amethysteyes01@yahoo.ca

For as long as she can remember, Debbie has been creating stories in her head. She hated to go anywhere without a pen and paper, just in case. As a graduate of the Institute of Children's literature, while pursuing yet another writing course, she finds herself doing what she loves . . . learning and writing. The course gives her an excuse to just sit down and write. Over the years she has worked as a nurse, a teacher, a martial arts instructor and a CIC officer in the Canadian Forces. Her hobbies have varied from woodworking, to auto-mechanics, with music, painting, karate, holistic medicine, gardening and camping thrown into the mix. Let's not forget reading. Debbie's perfect cure for a long winter's night is curling up in front of a fire with a good book while snowflakes drift slowly past the window. Never having been much of a city girl, she lives with two of her four children, her husband Jean-Pierre and their pets in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec. She couldn't imagine life without the beauty found in the trees, mountains and lakes that surround her. 

Bringing Back The Noble Science Fiction and Fantasy Hero: Interview with author Kevin Domenic

Today I'm talking with science fantasy adventure author Kevin Domenic about his book, KEY TO THE STARS, the first in his Fourth Dimension series.

-----

1) Tell us about your series.

The Fourth Dimension is a story that has dominated my imagination since I was fourteen. It started after playing Final Fantasy III, a video game for the Super Nintendo. It was such an amazing and fantastic story, with themes more in-depth and emotional than most movies. When the game was over, I was disappointed because I wanted more. So I figured I'd make my own story. After writing a brief sequel to the game, I decided to try to write something original. I took the sword and sorcery of Final Fantasy and combined it with the interstellar excitement of Star Wars to write three books: THE FOURTH DIMENSION, THE FOURTH DIMENSION II, and THE FOURTH DIMENSION III (how I came up with such creative titles is anyone's guess). After toiling with other stories for a number of years, I decided to rewrite the original Fourth Dimension back in 2007. The book became the three volumes currently available for sale: KEY TO THE STARS, ALLIANCE OF SERPENTS, and EYE OF THE TORNADO.

More than anything, I wanted to bring back the traditional hero. Over the years, I've noticed a severe decline in the morality and integrity of protagonists in everything from books and movies to video games and anime. I wanted to write a hero that, while not without conflict, knew right from wrong and stood up honor and nobility. That's what The Fourth Dimension is about. It's about growing up, taking responsibility for your mistakes, and doing the right thing for no other reason than it's the right thing to do.

2) What are some of the central themes your series explores?

Responsibility, love, sacrifice, justice, forgiveness, and redemption to name a few. As I said, honor and nobility are a central focus. Eaisan Lurei fights for truth and justice. Kindel Thorus fights for peace no matter what the cost. Sartan Truce fights for the survival of his race and will trample over anyone who stands in his way. Lines of morality are blurred as each side fights to see their agenda succeed.

3) You've said that your series is influenced by anime and manga. A casual review of your cover certainly is reminiscent of anime and manga. That being said, anime and manga are mostly visual media, whereas your work is a prose novel. Could you elaborate a bit on how those sources influenced your work?

Justice and honor have always been big themes in anime. In Dragon Ball Z, for instance, the main character is a hero who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his life standing up for what's right. That's the kind of hero I think should be presented to readers. The character you're rooting for should set a positive example for others to follow. I actually wrote a blog entry about this subject on my website  last November. Too often, I think we underestimate just how much our characters and stories can affect people's lives. Storytellers have the ability to inspire, uplift, and encourage through their work. Whether it's a movie, a video game, a book, or a cartoon, many people draw strength from watching our characters struggle and grow through the trials set before them. Because of that, it's important to me that I put a positive and uplifting message out there.

4) You've said you were inspired to write your own stories after playing the Japanese role-playing video game, Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI in the Japan). Tell us about that.

Final Fantasy III was amazing for its time. Nowadays, people might look back at that game and feel it was cheesy or poorly translated from the original Japanese, but I still adore the story for what it achieved back then. Remember that this was a time when video games were still seen as nothing more than kids toys. There was no life-like CGI or in-game voice acting to bring the characters and stories to life. But Final Fantasy III managed to be more than that in spite of those limitations. The characters all had distinct personalities, conflicts to overcome, and even musical themes that played during their parts of the story. Each character's journey was woven together with the main plot so perfectly and beautifully that you really felt as though you knew them by the time the game was done.

And Kefka, the game's villain, was far different from any villain I'd ever encountered. You know how most evil-doers are out to destroy the world? Well, in Final Fantasy III, Kefka succeeds. Halfway through the game, he succeeds in unleashing such destruction and devastation upon the planet that when the smoke clears, you don't recognize anything anymore. Continents are spit, mountains crumble, land masses sink, and millions die. For the rest of the game, you travel through the broken world trying to help people pick up the pieces of their cities, towns, families, and lives while preparing for the final confrontation against Kefka. The themes of perseverance, redemption, and brotherly love run strong as the story heads for its final conclusion.

I love the story so much that I wrote a novel version of the game's introduction last year just to see how it would come out. You can read it here if you'd like.

5) People can be leery of series for a variety of reasons. Can your books be enjoyed as stand-alone works? Are the various books separate adventures or episodes in a more tightly linked plot?

The three books that are out now can be read as one stand-alone story. Because the story grew so much from original conception to final manuscript, I split the original one book into three. I took a cue from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time in that each book ends with a climactic showdown, but the overall story continues. And even though the third book wraps up most storyline threads, the story is left open for future volumes. I'm actually working on the story for Volume IV now. The Fourth Dimension itself, which isn't introduced until the third volume, will play a much larger role in the future.

6) Your book, BUILDING BLOCKS, is extremely different from The Fourth Dimension series. Instead of an anime-influenced science fantasy tale, it is a intense contemporary exploration of personal relationships and Christian theology. What inspired this story?

BUILDING BLOCKS was something completely different for me. It's the first book I've written that is set on Earth, and it's also my first attempt at writing a book in first person. The biggest difference, of course, is that it's the first Christian novel I've ever written.

One of the most frequently asked questions regarding Christianity is "Why does God allow bad things to happen if He's all-powerful and all-knowing?" That became the theme for BUILDING BLOCKS. I wanted to show first and foremost that I COMPLETELY understand this question. The events of my own life have left me asking this question on countless occasions. But with each tragedy comes experience, knowledge, and strength. What would any of us learn if our lives were nothing but sunshine and rainbows? How would we grow? BUILDING BLOCKS attempts to answer those questions by examining the life of Herbert, a fictional character loosely based on myself. Many of the things that happen to Herbert in BUILDING BLOCKS have actually happened to me, so I used my own experiences as a blueprint to show how good can come from bad, how triumph comes through struggle, and how perseverance breeds success.

7) What should we expect to see in your future work?

Right now, I've returned to the universe of The Fourth Dimension. I'm currently writing some short stories set a few years after EYE OF THE TORNADO while I plan Volume IV. As it stands right now, the entire Fourth Dimension series is set to go for nine volumes. That may change depending on how I feel and what I come up with, but my overall ideas span about nine books. I will likely take breaks to do other things; I have a fantasy book on the backburner called THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT that I'm eventually going to rewrite, and several other ideas I'd like to explore. I'll probably stick to the sci-fi/fantasy realm, but I won't rule out anything - including more Christian novels. It all depends on what God calls me to do!

-----

Thanks, Kevin.

If you want to see more from Kevin, you can find him at http://kevindomenic.blogspot.com and http://www.facebook.com/kevindomenic.

KEY TO THE STARS is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.