Tell us more about Endless Worlds Volume 1 and Volume 2.
When I was working on my first novel, Black Swan Planet, I had the pleasure to work with Peter Koevari as my editor. It turned out he was also working on a short story anthology, Endless Worlds Volume 1. He invited me to submit a story for that, and my short story Carbon to Carbon was accepted. I wrote that story as a redemption tale, where the reader is expected to pretty much hate the main character (Aegis) at the beginning, but as the story unfolds they learn more about what made him who he is. By the end of the story, you should be actually rooting for him. Game of Throne fans might identify with “The Hound” character as being similar to Aegis.
For Endless Worlds Volume 2 and after the success of Volume 1, I received an open invitation to write a short story for the collection: I could write anything I wanted, but, the collection was to be Dark Faerie Tales, so I came up with the idea of a story within a story. I always include a lot of humor in my writing, so The Liar’s Tale is more of a fun, fanciful tale, but with a few dark elements. I had a lot of fun writing that one.
For both collections, each author wrote his or her story, they were expected to participate in two rounds of peer reviews before going to the editor. If you’ve never done peer review, then I’d highly suggest trying it. Another author reads your writing and through comments, rips apart from your work. You need to have thick skin because I’ve seen authors become the worst of enemies over peer reviews! But I learned so much, and nine times out of ten, I used what suggestions I was provided and they made the stories better.
Who is your favorite character from Volume 2, and why?
I’d have to go with my villain character. He’s a cat who calls himself Ovinnik the Devastator, although Mrs. Nesbit, his owner, refers to him as Mr. Fluffybottom. My main character (Percy) wanted more than anything to be able to fly, so a wizard Gnome named Gnorman turned him into a canary. Of course, as fairy tales go, things go awry, and Percy gets into a lot of trouble. I think the thing I liked about Ovinnik is how he sees himself as a lion among sheep when he’s just your typical house cat.
How many books have you written and what is your favorite book?
As far as stand-alone novels, I’ve written five. Four of which are currently available through Amazon. The other one was my first novel, and it needs to be reworked before I’m willing to share it. Additionally, I’ve written dozens of short stories. Four of those are available also through Amazon, and I’m working on a short story collection to release in 2021, featuring several new stories and probably one or two older ones.
My favorite book has to be the one I just finished, whichever one that was! Currently, it’s Cold Cosmos, Book 2, Payment to Perdition. That series is a fun space opera story with a cowboy businessman from 1895 as the protagonist. They are a blast to write, and I think have the same sense of awe as the first Star Wars film in the seventies.
Tell us something unique and interesting about yourself.
I have a really hard time sleeping, so my mind runs in and out of being asleep, plotting my stories. I love to write myself into a corner, where all I know is my hero has to make a daring escape and then just try to sleep on it. My greatest ideas come that way. In one book, I had to get my characters to escape on a small airplane while a military jet fired a missile at them, and while in that twilight zone of my mind, I was able to figure out a completely plausible solution to the problem.
Is there another book you will launch soon? Tell us about it and the exciting part of this book.
My next release will be Black Swan Empire, the third book in the Black Swan Planet trilogy. This will conclude the Raka Varoule saga, taking the fight, along with the assless chaps back to the Empire. The exciting part is hard to say because it’s all exciting! This book in particular is action-packed, filled with double-crosses and lies, and for the most part, intelligent apes fighting the Man. As far as one exciting part, my heroes have to sneak aboard an enemy spaceship by traveling down the barrel of a mass accelerator weapon, so that’s a little tricky. This series is definitely R-rated, with adult situations and humor, so it’s not for the kids. But if you liked the humor in Deadpool, you’ll also love this series.