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Exclusive Interview: “The Jinn-Bot Of Shantiport” Author Samit Basu

 

We all know the story of Aladdin. Well, the Disney version, anyway.

But while author Samit Basu knows that version, too, his love of Aladdin goes back further than Disney’s 1992 animated movie. Which is partially why he wrote The Jinn-Bot Of Shantiport, a humorous science fiction space opera / science fantasy / adventure story inspired by the original Middle-Eastern folk tale character from One Thousand And One Nights.

With The Jinn-Bot Of Shantiport now available in paperback — a year after originally being released in hardcover and for Kindle — I spoke to Basu via email to discuss what else inspired and influenced this sci-fi story, his plans for possible sequels, and why he made one of the central characters a monkey-bot.

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Exclusive Interview: “Twilight Imperium: Twilight Wars: Empire Burning” Author Robbie MacNiven

 

The science fiction space opera board game Twilight Imperium has already inspired a trio of novels (Tim Pratt’s The Fractured Void, The Necropolis Empire, and The Veiled Masters), as well as a short story collection (The Stars Beyond).

But now the game, and people who like to read stories based on it, are getting some of the backstory of this sci-fi universe through a new trilogy by author Robbie MacNiven called The Twilight Wars.

In the following email interview, MacNiven discusses the second book in the series, Twilight Imperium: Twilight Wars: Empire Burning (paperback, Kindle), including how it was influenced by a trio of space-y cartoons.

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Exclusive Interview: “Breath Of Oblivion” Author Maurice Broaddus

 

Works of fiction are often inspired by things that happen to an author in real life.

But when Maurice Broaddus started working for a community benefitting nonprofit, he probably didn’t think it would lead him to write an Afrofuturist science fiction space opera trilogy.

In the following email interview, Broaddus talks about both this series, the Astra Black trilogy, and its recently released second installment, Breath Of Oblivion (hardcover, Kindle).

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Exclusive Interview: “The Way” Author Cary Groner

 

It may be a cliché, but it’s still sometimes true: great minds think alike.

Consider this: In Cary Groner’s post-apocalyptic speculative fiction novel The Way (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), a man has to transport the cure to a deadly illness through a post-apocalyptic America, and he’s joined by a teenage girl. Which sounds a lot like the plot of the post-apocalyptic action / adventure game The Last Of Us and the HBO show it inspired.

But as Groner explains in the following email interview, any connections between his novel and Us are purely superficial. Though it did prompt a name change.

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Exclusive Interview: “Death On The Swayback” Author Chris Panatier

 

We all wrestle with the mistakes of the past, even when they weren’t our mistakes.

It’s this conflict that drives the main character of Death On The Swayback, a limited edition novelette by author Chris Panatier which he calls “supernatural horror disguised as psychological horror.”

With Swayback now available for pre-order — as either a signed numbered edition or a signed lettered edition, both directly from Rapture Publishing — I spoke to Panatier via email to find out what inspired and influenced this story, as well as what film studio he thinks could make a really good movie based out of it.

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Exclusive Interview: “Eternity’s End” Author Zachary Hagen

 

With Eternity’s End (hardcover, paperback, Kindle), author Zachary Hagen is concluding the epic Christian romantic fantasy series The Eternal Chronicles, which he launched two years ago with Eternity’s Well.

In the following email interview, Hagen discusses what inspired and influenced both this series and it’s final installment.

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Exclusive Interview: “A Light Of Little Radiance” Authors Keith Anthony Baird & Beverley Lee

 

While there are many kinds of vampires — scary, sparkly…fuzzy — they usually share a similar origin story, one that involves being damned by God or infected by a disease or parasite.

But in the vampire novella A Light Of Little Radiance (paperback, Kindle), the bloodsucker at the center was born of a different kind of possession.

In the following email interview, co-authors Keith Anthony Baird and Beverley Lee discusses this scary story, which the latter calls, “… a historical, dark vampire fantasy with horror elements.”

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Exclusive Interview: “And The Mighty Will Fall” Author K.B. Wagers

 

K.B. Wagers’ NeoG novels have all been military science fiction stories.

But as they explain in the following email interview about the fourth installment, And The Mighty Will Fall (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), it’s not really the fourth in a series, isn’t just military sci-fi, and while the title implies some finality, there could be more adventures for the crew of Zuma’s Ghost.

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Exclusive Interview: “The Fate Of Silent Gods” Author Scott Drakeford

 

With The Fate Of Silent Gods (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), author Scott Drakeford is presenting the second installment of his secondary-world fantasy series The Age Of Ire.

In the following email interview, Drakeford talks about what inspired and influenced this epic military fantasy novel, as well as how he hopes the in-progress third book is not the end of the story.