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).
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
When we think of the best things to come out of Canada, we all think of maple syrup, moose, health care, Rush, and all the best Ryans (sorry, Seacrest).
But those looking for the best science fiction and fantasy stories now have two options: last year’s Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy And Science Fiction: Volume One and the new sequel, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy And Science Fiction: Volume Two (paperback, Kindle).
In the following email interview, Volume Two (and Volume One) editor Stephen Kotowych talks about what went into assembling this new anthology.
While some authors are hesitant to admit their influences, others understand that no one lives in a vacuum, and that it’s okay to admit that yes, you were shaped by those who came before you.
And then there’s author James Bow who, in the following email interview, not only says what authors had an influence on his young adult sci-fi The Sun Runners (paperback, Kindle), but he also notes that he paid homage to one of them in a rather clever way.