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.
People often talk about our current political and social situation as being dystopian and a time when we have never been more divided, ideologically-speaking.
But in C.C. Robinson’s The Divided Series, the world actually is dystopian, and the divisions are not just social and political, but physical as well.
In the following email interview, Robinson discusses the first installment of this dystopian Y.A. science fiction series, Divided (paperback, Kindle), as well as her plans for the other books.
When someone first coined the term “final girl,” they did so in reference to how, in many horror movies, the lone survivor is often a woman.
But in Chase Gamwell’s young adult sci-fi space opera novel Aiko’s Dive (paperback, Kindle), the final girl is not just the only person to survive a massacre, she’s the last human. Anywhere. Like, in the entire galaxy.
As for why, and what happens when she tries to figure out what’s going on, I direct you to the following email interview with Gamwell, in which he discusses what inspired and influenced this story.
Science fiction has often explored the subjects of slavery and servitude, and in unique ways.
In Mark Morton’s new novel The Headmasters (paperback, Kindle), some people have survived an apocalypse…only to find themselves enslaved by creatures who not only control their bodies, but their memories as well.
In the following email interview, Morton discusses what inspired and influenced this dystopian sci-fi story.
Many people have had dreams of writing a novel. Still others have written novels based on dreams. But in the following email interview about his YA fantasy / sci-fi / steampunk mash-up novel Ferren And The Angel (paperback, Kindle, audiobook), writer Richard Harland not only says both are true, but that there was also some divine inspiration as well.
They say you should write what you know. Which is why someone might want to check on writer Naben Ruthnum, since his new novel, The Grimmer (paperback, Kindle), is a horror story about a “…demonic resurrectionist body-snatcher.” But as Ruthnum explains in the following email interview, the parts of this story that he knows are not the scary parts.
Jazz musician Sun Ra used to tell people he was from Saturn. But while smooth jazz saxophonist Jackiem Joyner makes no such claims — he’s from the planet of Norfolk, Virginia — he does have some spacy connections as well. Literary ones. Along with such albums as 2012’s Church Boy, 2019’s Touch, and the recently released Missing You, Joyner has also released two young adult science fiction novels: Zarya: Cydnus Final Hope and the new sequel Zarya Episode II: Sochi Unleashed (Kindle). In the following email interview, Joyner discusses what inspired and influenced these sci-fi stories, as well as his plans for future space adventures.
Like a lot of people (but not nearly enough) writer Sim Kern is worried about our planet’s climate. And like a lot of people who are teachers (but not nearly enough of other people) Kern is trying to effect meaningful change by educating their students about this issue. Though they’re doing it not just through lectures and dioramas, but with Seeds For The Swam (paperback, Kindle), a young adult cli-fi sci-fi novel they hope students of all ages will find enlightening and entertaining.
The writer has a degree in Shakespeare, the press materials reference Bridgerton, and the hero’s name unintentionally recalls a certain dark knight’s favorite reporter. But in the following email interview about the romantic young adult sci-fi space opera novel The Stars Between Us (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), the aforementioned author, Cristin Terrill, cites Charles Dickens more than the bard, those Brits, or Batman.