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.

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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.

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Thanks, Cyrus.

BECOMING NADIA and UNALIVE are both currently available for purchase.

Author Interview: Cyrus Keith

My last few interviews have been with self-published authors at various stages of their self-controlled careers. Today, I’m posting an interview with author Cyrus Keith, who has walked the more traditional path of seeking out a publisher. His debut sci-fi thriller, Becoming NADIA, was released this April by MuseItUp Publishing. In August, the sequel, Unalive will be released, and a third book, Critical Mass is in the works.

1)  Please tell us about Becoming NADIA.

“What’s one more little white lie?”

There's only one thing that pretty, popular TV reporter Nadia Velasquez is missing: her memory from before the explosion that killed everyone else in the room, including the President of Nigeria. But from the moment she meets FBI agent Jon Daniels, all hell breaks loose. Friends turn into deadly enemies overnight, and no one can be truly trusted.

When Jon and Nadia investigate further, they discover the living terror that is the truth behind Nadia's existence, a truth that could mean the death of millions.

2) What inspired Unalive? Did you have a sequel in mind when you wrote Becoming NADIA?

Actually, I did not envision a sequel. But there was one huge, nagging loose end at the conclusion of Becoming NADIA that had to be addressed. So the rest of the story had to be told. Once I decided that, it was just a matter of outlining the major points and deciding how many parts to make it. Three just seemed to be the right total number of installments. However, there will be enough characters left alive at the end that there should be room for a continuing franchise if there is enough popular demand. Otherwise, I'm calling the series complete as of the conclusion of Critical Mass.

3) As a sequel, you already had a firm setting to play around in. Did you find it easier to write Unalive for that reason? Were there any challenges that you found writing the book that you didn't find with Becoming NADIA?

Unalive took longer, because I had a set of rules in which I had to work. Everything had to work within the framework I'd already laid out, and that included new characters and new aspects of existing characters.

4) Tell us a little bit about your writing process.

I try to start with a rough outline. By "rough," I mean five or six major points. That's my route from "Point A" to "Point B". I have to define the conflict along the way, and then I jot down whatever comes to me as tension-builders and as many twists as wander through my mind. This may take a couple of weeks.

Then I just start in on Page One with a hook, and plow through from there. As I complete a chapter, I post it for critique. I don't do any edits until after I complete the rough, and then I go back and incorporate suggestions from my critters as they advance my story.

After that, the work goes through about three rounds of edits to flesh it out and preen it before I submit the final product to my publisher.

If the MS gets accepted, I sign the contract, approve the cover, and then the work starts. My content editor, Fiona Young-Brown, runs through it at least twice, and sees that the story is integrated and whole. She helps me plug my plot holes, checks for consistency, and gives it one final critique. I polish it with here, go through it once or twice more myself, and then it goes to the line editor, Greta Gunselman, who chews the living dog snot out of it. She helps me weed out needless adverbs, grammatical errors, and corrects punctuation. This might take three or four rounds to get right.

Then the product goes to the Chief Editor, none other than Lea Schizas, who formats it into a galley proof. This is like a practice final version, in pdf format. She'll send it back to me, and I go through it one more time, word by word by punctuation mark, and make sure it's what I want. Then it goes back to Lea, who formats it and posts it on the vendors' websites and puts it into the queue for going to the printer.

Then it starts all over again. Notice that for every manuscript, no matter how many times I've been accepted in the past, there is no guarantee that my current work will be up to standard. I could still get rejected.

5) What sort of advantages has your publisher provided you?

The first advantage I reap is professional cover art at the publisher's expense. Then I get professional editing services, once again at the expense of the publisher. So far I've saved between two and three thousand dollars on those services alone. Then my publisher is the one who formats and uploads my work. That means I have more time to write, not spend that time on logistics. In addition, I have a ready pool of contacts for interviews, reviews, guest blog appearances, and the support of a hundred other writers who are all members of the publishing house. So we can touch thousands of people all over the world in a matter of weeks for promotions. Our marketing director also puts her two cents in, finding new places to place my work, and get my name out there.

In exchange for all this support, I do have to price my work higher than a self-publisher. I share net profit with everyone at the house who has input: cover artist, editors, chief editor and marketing director. But under my contract, I get a generous portion of that net.

6) If you had one piece of advice for an aspiring author, what would it be?

Don't expect things to get easier once you land that first contract. If you think you can ease back and let the cash roll in, read through my process again. You have to do that for every book you write. The only thing that gets easier is acceptance, once you develop a history and sales. And watch for scam artists who give easy acceptances, and then ask you to pay for editing or cover art. If they ask for money, run away. Period. Unless, of course, you are deliberately self-publishing.

I want to thank Cyrus for taking the time to share his experience with us. Please check out Becoming NADIA and Unalive when it’s released in August.