Tag Archives: action

Interview with Jex Collyer

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Interview with Jex Collyer

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a SciFi writer from Lancaster, UK. I’m a lifetime fan of Star Wars and have always been drawn to narratives that are larger than life. I studied creative writing to MA level and then last year released my first book, Zero, with Dagda Publishing. Zero is book one in the Orbit Series and is character-driven Scifi, described as ‘James Bond meets Firefly’. It made it into Northern Soul Magazine’s ‘Best Reads of 2014’ and the sequel, Haven, is due out on the 24th Oct, which I can’t wait for.

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

That is mighty hard to choose! But I think my absolute favourite authors aren’t actually SciFi. They were formative in developing my taste in fiction as well as my own style of writing and they are Robin Hobb of the Fantasy Farseer Series and Anne Rice of the Vampire Chronicles. They helped me realise that I like my fiction, whether I’m reading or writing it, character-driven, human, gritty with a healthy amount of darkness thrown in.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

I’ve had enormous amounts of fun writing the Orbit Series. As I mentioned earlier book one, Zero, came out last year and book two, Haven, is out on Oct 24th. Zero can be found on Amazon and Haven will be up there too as soon as it’s launched.

The series follows the story of Kaleb Hugo, a soldier in a military establishment called the Service that governs the Earth and her orbiting colonies in the not-too-distant future. Hugo holds a prestigious position and has a glittering career ahead of him, until he makes a controversial decision in battle and is publically discharged but secretly re-assigned to captain the undercover black ops vessel the Zero. The Zero is manned by an unruly crew of orphans and misfits who look to their wry and unconventional commander Ezekiel Webb for leadership. During the course of their dangerous underground missions, Hugo comes to experience a whole new way of looking at the world, the Service and himself.

During the course of the series, fate conspires to lead Hugo and Webb down ever darker and more dangerous roads. Both men have to constantly re-learn what it is to depend and trust one another as well as watch their step in the myriad and convoluted politics of the world they live in, where revolution is always just round the corner.

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

I like really down-to-earth, realistic, human narratives but I LOVE them set against a larger-than-life backdrop. I find genre fiction so much more interesting and it lets me have much more fun with my characters. Besides, I’ve always had an overly-fertile imagination and so general or literary fiction tends to leave me a little unstimulated.

I write my novels in science fiction in particular just because it’s a life-long love of mine, ever since watching the Star Wars films as a child. I find spaceships, lasers, other planets and the infinite amount of possibilities they offer too tantilising to pass up.

  1. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

As well as the Orbit Series I have had my short fiction (sometimes this is fantasy, horror, speculative or dystopian as well as Scifi) featured in a number of other publications. I enjoy all sorts of genre fiction and use short stories as a chance to stretch my story-writing muscles and try something different. I particularly like to dabble in horror around Halloween time, so watch out on my wordpress (http://jcollyer.wordpress.com) as I often like to post a free ghost story for the occasion.

I find contributing to anthologies and publishing free shorts in different genres helps me to keep my hand in with all the genres I love, and there are a lot of them, as well as a useful way to keep those story telling techniques keen.

  1. Are you planning to participate in any more anthologies? Any hints about your story?

The dystopian SciFi ‘No Way Home’ anthology  that featured one of my stories and came out in March this year did so well that the collective is discussing releasing a follow up anthology called ‘Crime and Punishment’. I have already drafted and submitted my story.  It is set in future of our own planet and is about a newly retired military counsellor, Felix Dalton, who has been roped in to persuade a young man accused of murder to explain to his accusers just how he managed to kill seventeen people without touching them. He claims powers of the occult, but Felix suspects there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

Relaxation, ha! I think I remember that. Writing novels takes up most of my spare time. When I do get ahead and find some time for myself I like to walk in the countryside and read.

  1. What are you currently working on?

I’m currently drafting book 3 in the Orbit Series. I’m having tremendous fun and suspect this will be my favourite book so far. It is due out summer 2016.

  1. How can readers connect with you?

I love speaking to readers and writers as well as fans of SciFi, Fantasy or genre fiction in general. Hit me up in any of the following places:

http://www.facebook.com/jscollyer

http://www.twitter.com/jexshinigami

http://jcollyer.wordpress.com

Interview with Drew Wager

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Interview with Drew Wagar

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a quiet little village in the east of Kent which is little changed even today, buried in the heart of the Kent countryside. It’s a beautiful part of the world. I work in the city of London by day for ‘Lloyd’s of London’ – the insurance market. The commute gives me a chance to write, I exclusively use the train journey to put my stories together. I’m married, with two teenage sons, a dog and a cat. My favourite colour is dark green!

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

Anne McCaffrey is probably top of the list, with Arthur C. Clarke a close second. I adore Dickens, but my favourite book is actually ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne Du Maurier.  Tolkien is in there of course, along with some lovely books from my childhood written by Diana Wynne Jones.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

I primarily write character stories. I’m not big on description, preferring to let readers’ imaginations do all the heavy lifting. What I do like is creating interesting but flawed people and putting them into extraordinary situations. I’m not a genre writer, I’ll give anything a go, but I tend to always have my characters taking part in big events, which are often beyond their control. I love the conflict, the angst and the adventure this can give.

I’ve done SF and contemporary drama and both work well for me. It would be straightforward for me to move my stories into any epoch or setting; ancient, modern or futuristic. It’s all about the people.  That said I do tend to clash different world views together in my stories to act as scene setters. Religion against science is a common theme for me.

I’m also very keen on avoiding gender bias in my stories. I feature a lot of female leads, because I find they’re under represented, particularly in SF. These women aren’t  defined by the men around them, they lead and drive their own adventures.

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

Assuming I could be who I wanted to be I think I would travel back to Edwardian or perhaps late Victorian England. I’d love to be the Lord of a Manor somewhere, several hundred acres of manicured gardens to tour about, with staff at my beck and call for tea and cakes whenever I might feel the need. I’d still want my laptop and a wifi connection though!

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

Well, I try not to be defined by genre, but most of my output has been in SF to date. I’m a big fan of SF regardless and I adore the whole ‘going where no one has gone before’ vibe. I’m also an amateur astronomer, so space has a certain allure. SF often gives you a chance to poke at certain biases and moirés in society without it being immediately obvious that is what you are doing, so you can make quite serious statements under the radar and get people to think.

  1. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

The first book I had published, Torn, was something of a response to the religion vs science debate that was raging in the middle 2000 years. I found that both sides of the debate weren’t really being fair to each other and it had descended into rancor and flame-baiting in most places I reviewed online. The story took a proponent of each side; a young Christian woman newly ‘born again’ and a rather jaded scientist who had recently lost his wife to a car accident. In short, they meet, the sparks fly and they try to work out where they’re both coming from.

In the world of SF, I was fortunate enough to be in the right place and time to pick up an official licence to write for the famous computer game ‘Elite’. It’s a major UK franchise, with the first installment being launched back in 1984, and the latest incarnation ‘Elite: Dangerous’ coming out in 2014.

My story, ‘Elite: Reclamation’ is set in the year 3300, with big empires, space battles and overarching politics of the ‘Dune’ and ‘Foundation’ flavour. My book fleshed out the ‘Imperial’ faction, with a young spoilt brat of a woman in the upper echelons of that society being brought low by intrigue. Through many perils she not only sees the strange and wonderful ‘Elite’ universe, but she also learns humility and the value of friendship through her adventures.

My latest book ‘Emanation’, is a SF adventure much in style to Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon series, (minus the dragons I might add). Here we have a people lost on a strange planet, lacking the understanding of the technology that brought them there, and unaware that a huge calamity is about to descend upon them…

  1. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

I’ve done a couple already actually. I had a short story published in the anthology ‘Fusion’ a few years ago, and I’ve got another coming out later this year.

As for my current story, it’s kind of a mix of post-apocalyptic SF, mixed with some fantasy elements in a rather strange, but scientifically plausible world in orbit around a very strange star. It should appeal to the scientists, the adventurers and those who love seeing characters grow, change, overcome difficulties and in one particular case, suffer a drastic psychosis.

It also features a strict matriarchy, which gives me a chance to explore a society where men are not the dominant decision makers. The women of this caste have a unique ability which sets them apart.

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

I’m fortunate enough to own a small woodland not too far from my house. A walk there with my dog gets me away from the crowds and the technology. It’s a great place to escape from modern life. It’s very much off the beaten track, so lovely and quiet.

In other times I have an old convertible car which, when it’s working and it’s not raining, provides a pleasant way to tootle about Kent’s beautiful countryside.

  1. What are you currently working on?

I’m working on the sequel to the book I’m just about to launch – 24th of October to be precise! I plan on it being a 5 part saga. The first book is ready to go and I’m working on book two right now. The whole thing should take me until 2019 to finish… and then there could be prequels. We’ll see how it goes!

  1. How can readers connect with you?

I have my main website and blog at www.drewwagar.com,  an FB page at facebook.com/drewwagarwriter and you can tweet me at @drewwagar . My website has a mailing list from which I punch out a newsletter every couple of months when ‘big’ news happens.

Free This Weekend!

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Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Shen Hart (Author), Reese Dante (Illustrator), Michael J.Keenan (Editor)
In the streets of the city, someone or something is killing sirens, and the Wyrd Sisters want it stopped.

They send their bound creation Thalia, the wild-child shifter, to track the killer down. Thalia would much rather be making a quick buck or playing with the fae, but bound is bound and Thalia must turn her new pack of shifters into an effective team to try and stop the killings. Time is as short as Thalia’s temper. Can she make her pack work together and find the killer, or will the killer find her first?

Wyrd Calling: Dark urban fantasy just shifted.

Top 10 best seller in werewolves and shifters, and top 50 in Norse mythology.

New Release – Chase The Rabbit by Steven M. Thomas

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Chase The Rabbit: Gretch Bayonne Action Adventure Series Book #1 Kindle Edition

From the barrooms of New York City, to the movie studios of Hollywood, Steven M. Thomas has crafted a tale of intrigue that captures the early 1930’s as freelance writer Gretch “Bay” Bayonne attempts to unravel the mystery of why a dedicated family man would abandon his life for no apparent reason. Along the way he encounters movies stars, Nazis, and newspaper tycoons, and barters a banana for a mysterious gold key stolen by a runaway monkey on a walkway atop the magnificent dirigible Graf Zeppelin. This first book in the Bay series is sure to grab readers from the first page and will and will not let go until the last!

An Interview With Mark

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Interview with Mark Chapman

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’ve been married for almost 28 years to my amazing wife Barbara. (We’ve been together for 31 years.) We have two wonderful twenty-something daughters, Catherine and Jennifer. I’m a technical writer by day and a novelist by night. I’m a former MENSA member (former, not because I got stupid but because I stopped paying my dues). And I’ve written five novels (and started two others), plus authored or co-authored four nonfiction books (three of them about computer technology and the other about writing).

  1. Who are your favorite authors?

Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Fred Saberhagen, Anne McCaffrey, Keith Laumer, David Weber, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, John Grisham, and so many more.

  1. Tell us a bit about your books.

I like to try different things, so I’ve written hard sci-fi (The Mars Imperative and The Tesserene Imperative), soft/paranormal sci-fi (Sunrise Destiny), military sci-fi/space opera (My Other Car is a Spaceship) and a sci-fi/zombie hybrid (Aliens Versus Zombies). I also like to throw a “left turn” in what otherwise might be a straight-forward story.

For example, Sunrise Destiny starts out as a near-future private detective story. The protagonist, Donatello Sunrise, is hot on the case of some missing girls. In the midst of the investigation he’s abducted by telepathic aliens and ends up having to save both the aliens and humanity. In Aliens Versus Zombies, the remaining few million humans struggle to survive against fast, cunning, living zombies, Then, in the middle of the zompocalypse, aliens invade with 20,000+ ships and two million troops. It should have been an easy victory for the aliens. Little did they know.

I haven’t written any fantasy novels, but I have written a short story that crossed over from fantasy into sci-fi (Selamere’s Quest). Probably not one of my best stories, though. J

If I may brag a bit, My Other Car is a Spaceship rocketed (pardon the pun) to #1 in the Amazon military sci-fi category in September 2014. Sunrise Destiny was a finalist for the 2010 EPIC Award (sci-fi category). The Mars Imperative and The Tesserene Imperative have 4.3 and 4.6-star ratings, respectively, on Amazon. And my latest, Aliens Versus Zombies, currently has a 4.4 rating after six weeks of sales. (all 5-star reviews but two).

  1. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

When I was young, I was fascinated by dinosaurs and considered becoming a paleontologist. That fascination continues today. I’d love to be able to go back and see the dinosaurs in person—from a safe vantage point, of course. (I’m not entirely crazy…) If that time machine allowed me to go forward, I’d love to see the future, a century or a millennium from now. Will we have survived that long? If so, what is society like? Did we eventually travel to the stars? If so, did we meet any other sentient beings? Was the meeting peaceful or warlike? And so on.

  1. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

It’s fun to invent alternative universes, future technology and societies, other sentient beings, and the interactions of people with those technologies and societies. With a typical Western story, cop drama, romance novel, or most other genres, the author is limited in what he or she can write about. Period cowboys can’t use death rays or machine guns, cops can’t use flying cars, and romances can’t involve spaceships or time travel—at least not without some sort of sci-fi or fantasy aspect to them. I love the freedom sci-fi affords me, the ability to write about anything under the sun (or inside the sun, or through the sun).

  1. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

(Essentially the same question as #3.)

  1. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

I have already, with a story called “Fallen Star, Rising Star”. It’s about two boys who find a “falling star”, which turns out to be an alien probe sent to investigate humanity. The boys have to find a way to save humanity.

The anthology is called The World Outside the Window. The concept of the book is that all of the authors are looking out the same window, where we see a number of people in a park across the street. They’re doing various things: two boys playing catch, a young couple sitting on a park bench, etc. The 19 authors had to pick some of the characters and write a story about them. The stories could be in any genre except erotica. We ended up with romances, paranormal chillers, sci-fi, and various others. Quite an assortment, and all of them good reads. (Mine ended up being the lead story.) Here’s the URL for it: http://www.amazon.com/World-Outside-Window-DON-HARPE/dp/0979170192/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8. It’s out of print now, but there are still new and used copies available. I’m considering publishing a collection of my short stories and funny rhyming sci-fi poems (such as Escape From Gilligan’s Island). Some are humorous, some deadly serious.

I have had a number of short stories, humorous essays, and rhyming sci-fi poetry published in various magazines. Some are available to read for free on my website.

  1. What do you like to do to relax?

A lot of things: I play games with my girls (when I can get them both together, which isn’t often), I golf (made a hole-in-one in May 2013!), I bowl (once bowled a 276 game and 655 set) and I swim. More passively, I watch TV with my family, I write, and I read (though not as much since I started writing). Leisure writing includes crossword puzzles. (I actually had a few published in a magazine when I was in high school. It was a hospital in-house publication, so it wasn’t seen by more than a few thousand people, but hey they were published.)

  1. What are you currently working on?+

I have two novels (Mooncrash: The Fall of Mankind and The Galactic Imperative: Book 3 of the Imperative Chronicles) that I started writinga few years ago and never finished. Mooncrash is about the final days of Earth before a rogue moon falls and ends life on Earth, and the struggle for a few hundred people to get to Luna and survive there. The Galactic Imperative is a sequel to both The Mars Imperative and The Tesserene Imperative (which are stand-alone books set in the same fictional universe), bringing characters from each book together for a new adventure).

Both books are more than half-done, but I got stuck on each of them and haven’t yet figured out how to finish them. L I’m currently trying to unstick them. If that doesn’t work, I have some ideas for sequels to Sunrise Destiny, My Other Car is a Spaceship, and Aliens Versus Zombies.

  1. How can readers connect with you?

Easy. Send me a PM on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MTChapman.Author), or leave a comment on my website (http://MarkTerenceChapman-Author.com). (My website has a blog, and if I get enough people to enroll, I’ll start sending out newsletters as well). Readers can also reach me via Twitter at https://twitter.com/MarkTerenceChap @MarkTerenceChap or http://twitter.com/chapman208 @chapman208.