Writer Sarah Ghoshal is a new mom, a college poetry professor, and a suburban wife. But before you dismiss the poems in her new book Changing The Grid (paperback) and her upcoming chapbook The Pine Tree Experiment (due out in July) because you think they must read like Hallmark cards, you should consider — as she reveals in the following interview — how she’s also been inspired by Jim Morrison, The Descendants, and not that most middle-of-the-road of rock stars, Kid Rock.
Many music fans know Chris Gorman as the drummer from the band Belly. Still others know him as the professional photographer he’s been since Belly split up nearly twenty years ago. And I know him as the T.A. of my college video class who I used to interview when he was in the band Belly. But now, with the release of Indi Surfs (hardcover), Gorman has a new role: children’s book author and illustrator. I spoke to him about the inspirations for this book, both personal and artistic, and what it was like writing a children’s book about your own kid.
Since the original Star Trek TV show, people have wished we had transporters so they could go to The Ivy in London for Sheppard’s Pie. Or maybe that’s just me. But they might rethink their dinners plans after reading Peter Clines’ The Fold (hardcover, digital), in which some scientists invent a transporter they call The Albuquerque Door. Though in talking Mr. Clines about his new novel, it’s clear his inspiration for this sci-fi tale went beyond wanting to eat British food.
While Halloween may have come and gone, that doesn’t mean people aren’t looking for a good scare. Which brings me to Til Mornings Light, a spooky game from WayForward Technologies for iOS, Amazon Fire Phone, and Amazon Fire Tablets. Though in talking to WayForward’s Adam Tierney — the game’s director, designer, and writer — it seems the idea behind the game isn’t just to freak you out. Well, maybe a little.
In playing the new PC adventure game Technobabylon, you might think you’ve fallen into a wormhole that’s taken you back to the ’90s. After all, it’s a point & click cyberpunk adventure game with pixel art. But while this makes this PC game sound retro, the game’s creator, writer, and programmer James Dearden says it’s actually using those retro elements in new ways.
Considering that zombies have invaded nearly every kind of game, save for racing games, it’s shouldn’t surprise anyone that they’re now chewing their way through an MMO called World Zombination Though what might surprise you is that World Zombination could actually be called a MMMO: Massively Multiplayer & Mobile Online game. With the game coming to Android after already being available on iOS, I spoke to Seth Sivak, the CEO of Proletariat — “though my actual role on the game is more like Executive Producer or Creative Director,” he says — about how there’s more to World Zombination than just eating other people online.
While game developers usually start thinking about sequels after their games come out, and are successful, the good people at NeocoreGames actually conceived of The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing as a trilogy before the first game was released in 2012. With The Incredible Adventures Of Van Helsing III due out on PC at the end of May (and later on Mac and Xbox One), I spoke to narrative designer Viktor Juhasz and CCO Linda Bozoradi about this series, as well as what they’ve added, changed, and improved for this final chapter of the trilogy.
Last year, writer Chris Beckett explored the idea of a new Earth, one without a sun, in his sci-fi novel Dark Eden. But in his sequel, Mother Of Eden (hardcover, paperback, digital), Beckett continues the story of this human world not by picking up where he left off, but two hundred years later. Which, as he sees it, was a much more interesting way to continue this now ongoing saga.
While Dan Henk has made a name of himself as a tattoois and illustrator, he’s also often expressed himself as a writer of both fiction and non-. With Permuted Press recently reprinting his 2011 novel The Black Seas Of Infinity (paperback, digital), I spoke to him about the origins of this horror novel, as well as how this new edition compares to the original.