Category: Books

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Last Train Outta Kepler-283c” Editor David Boop

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 7, 2024
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We all know the line: “Space…the final frontier.” But with all due respect to Kirk and crew, Star Trek wasn’t about people colonizing other worlds. Sure, they sometimes looked in on them, dropped off supplies, but it was never about how those colonizers got to their new homes.

But that is what you get in the sci-fi space Western short story anthology Last Train Outta Kepler-283c (paperback, Kindle), which, according to editor David Book, features stories “…about colonists, from miners to law keepers to gunslingers, and everything in between.”

In the following email interview, Boop explains how this book and this series — which also includes 2021’s Gunfight On Europa Station and 2023’s High Noon On Proxima B — came to be, and how he finds the stories to fill them.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Sum Of All Things” Author Seb Doubinsky

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 6, 2024
1 Comment on Exclusive Interview: “The Sum Of All Things” Author Seb Doubinsky

Over the last fifteen years, author Seb Doubinsky has written ten stand-alone novels in his dystopian noir and more series, the City-States Cycle, including the newest, the sci-fi and espionage-infused The Sum Of All Things (paperback, Kindle).

But while he went into writing The Sum thinking it would also be the end of the story, it seems this series has different ideas.

In the following email interview, Doubinsky talks about why The Sum was going to be the end of the City-States Cycle, why it’s not, and how thinking it would be influenced how he wrote it.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Crisis At Proxima” Co-Author Les Johnson

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 6, 2024
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With careers that have included stints working for and with NASA, it’s safe to assume that authors Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor are no dummies.

Though you could probably also glean that from reading the novels they’ve written, most notably 2021’s hard sci-fi thriller Saving Proxima.

Now the duo have completed a sequel to that sci-fi story, Crisis At Proxima (hardcover, Kindle), which is the second book in a trilogy they call Orion’s Arm.

In the following email interview, Johnson — speaking for himself and Taylor — discusses what inspired and influenced this second story, including how they rectify conflicts between science fact and science fiction.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “A Gathering Of Weapons” Author Tracy Cross

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 5, 2024
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We all have dreams, some grander than others. I wanted to be Jimmy Page but, alas, that job was taken.

For Pee Wee, one of the main characters in Tracy Cross’ historical fiction horror novella Rootwork, the dream is to be, as Cross puts it, “…the greatest conjure woman ever.”

It’s a dream Pee Wee continues to pursue in Cross’ new novella, A Gathering Of Weapons (paperback, Kindle).

In the following email interview, Cross discusses what inspired and influenced this second installment, as well as her plans to conclude Pee Wee’s quest.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Revenant-X” Author David Wellington

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 5, 2024
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At a time when you have to actively try not to be reachable, the idea of not being able to contact someone can be frightening.

So imagine if it wasn’t someone you couldn’t reach, but ten thousand people, and they all lived so far away that it would take more than a year to get there.

This is the problem that kicks off author David Wellington’s sci-fi horror / space adventure series Red Space, which he launched last year with Paradise-1 and now continues with Revenant-X (paperback, Kindle, audiobook).

In the following email interview, Wellington explains how Revenant-X picks up this story, his plan for this series moving forward, and the surprising author who influenced this middle installment.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Men Of Bretton” Author Richard Fox

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 4, 2024
1 Comment on Exclusive Interview: “Men Of Bretton” Author Richard Fox

Science fiction has often served as a vehicle to explore aspects of the human condition. Including ones that are not comfortable to look at.

Which is where we find Iraq War veteran turned author Richard Fox, who, in the following email interview about his military sci-fi space opera novel Men Of Bretton (hardcover, Kindle), says he, “…wanted to write a series that shows how soldiers change during the course of a war and how hard it can be to get home.”

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Honolulu Noir” Editor Chris McKinney

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date November 4, 2024
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When we think of Honolulu, Hawaii, we think of warm sunny beaches, not dark smokey alleys.

But it’s decidedly more of the latter that you’ll find in the short story anthology Honolulu Noir (paperback, Kindle), which is the latest installment of Akashic Books’ ongoing, geographically-based Noir series.

In the following email interview, Honolulu Noir editor Chris McKinney [Midnight, Water City] talks about what makes this series unique, how this collection was assembled, and what makes this collection different from, say, Havana Noir and Haiti Noir.

Books

Exclusive Interview “Sugar Kids” Author Taslim Burkowicz

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date October 31, 2024
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As someone who stood on the sidelines of a couple different music scenes — the hippie jam band scene, New York’s avant-garde jazz scene… — I can tell you that every music-related scene has its share of colorful characters.

Which brings me to author Taslim Burkowicz’s coming-of-age / coming-out novel Sugar Kids (paperback, Kindle), which is set in the ’90s raver scene, a precursor to today’s EDM scene.

In the following email interview, Burkowicz talks about her own involvement in that same scene, as well as how stories about other scenes inspired and influenced what she calls “contemporary fiction on the racy end.”

Books

Exclusive Interview: “One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years” Author Mark Leslie

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date October 29, 2024
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Twenty years ago, horror author Mark Leslie assembled a collection of his stories and poems he called One Hand Screaming because, as he explains in the following email interview, he wanted, “…an actual book with my name on it.”

Well, now Leslie apparently wants an updated and expanded book with his name on it because he’s releasing One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years (hardcover, paperback, Kindle), which not only adds new stories and poems, but some behind-the-scenes info as well.

In the following email interview, Leslie discusses both the original version of Screaming and this new edition, as well as the alcoholic beverage that pairs well with this book.