Andy Graham Author

Author of dark fiction and fantasy, dystopia, horror.

#scifi

One Book Interview #45 – Ty Arthur (Author)

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Metalhead.

Gamer.

Author.

And now winner of the best answer to question one to date!

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Great Falls, Montana – Ty Arthur.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

This is a really subjective issue, since obviously not all readers are going to love the same style of writing or be interested in the same subject matter. I could say start off The Song Of Ice and Fire saga with first entry A Game Of Thrones, but not everyone wants to read about royal incest and the good guy getting his head chopped off because he wasn’t conniving enough (although those people would, of course, be wrong). I could recommend trying out Malazan or Wheel Of Time, but not everyone wants to get dragged through a never-ending mammoth fantasy series that becomes a marathon to finish. I could say that people should see where cosmic horror got its legs with Lovecraft or Chambers, but the dense style and off hand racism from another era would be off-putting to many modern readers. No matter what book I think is perfect, someone out there would be able to discover flaws or find it just doesn’t suit their tastes.

Rather than giving a specific title, I’d say the one book everyone needs to read is an indie book from a self-published author or someone on a small time publisher. While there are literary disasters out there to be avoided (that were rejected by all the publishers for very good reasons), I absolutely guarantee if you dive into the indie world you will find a book that’s leagues ahead of anything published by King, Jordan, Sanderson, and so on. Spend some time joining online groups of readers and writers in whatever genre you prefer, whether that’s urban fantasy, grimdark, sci-fi romance, or whatever, and you will find a book that you didn’t know you couldn’t live without.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

When it comes to re-reading books, I find I usually only devour a fiction novel once or at most twice, but I really like diving back into RPG manuals again and again, especially if they are heavy on the story fluff (as opposed to the mechanics crunch) and marry their substance with a distinctive style. If I could only read one book over and over again while stuck on Mars, it would have to be something that was visually interesting and had themes I wanted to keep going back to, so I’d probably pick something like Earthdawn, Warhammer 40: Dark Heresy, or perhaps one of the many Call Of Cthulhu tabletop RPG iterations.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Back in high school years ago, I picked up The Gathering Dark by Jeff Grubb, which is a tale of a magician’s apprentice trying to stay alive during Dominaria’s Ice Age when a powerful religious group is busy persecuting wizards. To be blunt, novels based on game franchises like Magic The Gathering or Forgotten Realms are often terrible, so that was a gamble. The book has always stuck with me over the years though, both for its interesting commentary on real world groups, and for its usage of game mechanics to bring scenes to life. A segment where wizards of various colors are trying to vex each other in entertaining ways at a fest hall – like reanimating the chicken through necromancy – has always stayed with me as a great example of how to use a setting’s quirks to your advantage.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

My fiction, whether short stories for anthologies or stand alone novels, is always based on a personal experience that gets translated into a fictional medium like horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. Almost universally, its the negative experiences that provide the most drive to write, so honestly I couldn’t say that any of the books I’ve written are my “favorite” in the sense that I actually enjoyed them.

If I had to pick one of these vile, misbegotten bastards though, I’d probably have to go with my short story A Church Full Of Lovers, which features an atheist, an agnostic, and a true believer all experiencing a terrible apocalypse together. It was the first short I actually put serious effort into and intended other people to read, and it has a revolving perspective mechanic that makes it quite different from many of my other releases.

The anthology that A Church Full Of Lovers eventually landed in is no longer available, but a revamped version of the story will be making an appearance in an upcoming release that goes a direction readers may not be expecting.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

There are a lot of books I could list here that had big impacts on me, from Seyonne’s tale of being relentlessly downtrodden in Carl Berg’s Transformation, to the surprising revelations and genre mixing in C.S. Friedman’s Black Sun Rising, to the unforgettable portrayal of the devil and his motivations in Anne Rice’s Memnoch The Devil. The collision of punny humor with fantasy storytelling in the Xanth series also played a big role in crafting my early years.

Going back the farthest though, I’d have to say the book that influenced me most as a person was Redwall, as that was probably the book that most ignited my imagination and made me fall in love with fiction in general and fantasy in particular as a kid. I think its safe to say I wouldn’t be a roleplayer, an author, or an all around geek today if it weren’t for those books. That love really got a surprise re-ignition with the Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 graphic novel when I discovered it out of the blue at my local library years ago, and I highly recommend it to anyone of any age.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Although I don’t try to emulate his writing style at all, a book that strongly influenced me as an author would have to be Clive Barker’s Weaveworld. The mashup of fantasy with horror in a modern day setting showed me that you don’t always have to color within the genre lines, and there’s plenty of room for characters and themes from one genre to land in another.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

The place to start with me is definitely my grimdark fantasy / cosmic horror mashup Light Dawning that released back in May. Its a story that turns the standard fantasy tropes on their heads, so don’t go in expecting to meet any chosen one farm boys, brash rogues that evade the authorities and get the girl, or wise old wizards who will help the underdogs save the world.

Most of my other work is currently unavailable or about to become unavailable as contracts with publishers end and I re-launch as an indie self-published author. Those stories are all getting ready to be released again with new covers in the near future.

You can find Ty at www.tyarthur.wordpress.com

Ty Arthur has the good fortune to meld his passions and hobbies with his work while freelancing for the likes of Metalunderground, GameSkinny, and WorldStart.

He’s been busy writing a variety of gaming, heavy metal, and tech-themed columns since 2008.

Following a string of anthology appearances, Arthur’s debut standalone sci-fi / horror novella “Empty” was released in early 2016, with many more dark tales still to come.

 

Arthur writes to exorcise his demons and lives in the cold, dark north with his amazing wife Megan and infant son Gannicus Picard.

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One Book Interview #43 – Brian Barr (Author)

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The One Book Interview train rumbles relentlessly on, and this week we have . . .

A speculative fiction author of science fiction, fantasy and horror.

A lover of dystopian, Orwell, weird sci fi and the occult.

An artist and author.

Good people of the Internet, writing out of somewhere in the US (I have no idea where!) – Brian Barr

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Otherland by Tad Williams. I am a writer who loves to mix genre and I love epic writing as well. Tad’s Otherland mixes genre on an expert level- it’s a science-fiction book, but there are fantasy elements, and fantastic world building. The characterization is believable and intriguing. His chapter cliffhangers are exciting, and each chapter just makes you want to read more. His series wrapped up perfectly and it seemed he took the time to comb through his series as expertly as possible, to tie up all ends and make such a complex story complete.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams. It’s a great space opera and probably the first sci-fi novel I read. I’d have to read something science-fiction based while leaving the planet.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

A Clockwork Orange. I found it in my uncle’s old room at my grandparent’s house when I was about 15 or so. It became one of my favorite books. Just the way Anthony Burgess plays with language is incredible.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

That would be a mix between Serpent King: Shadow and Light, which is my latest novel, and Carolina Daemonic Book II: Rebel Hell, which is currently being edited by Leza Cantoral. Serpent King was my chance to play with science-fantasy and tell an epic tale in a standalone novel that may or may not have future books to follow it. Book II: Rebel Hell is the second book of my Carolina Daemonic series, and hits on a lot of dark themes with the world building already established from the first book, so I’m able to dive into a lot of action and wild scenes in the second book while continuing a through, complex story with difficult politics.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Wow. That’s a hard one. Maybe The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky because it looked at a variety of personalities and gave a deep analysis of where all the characters were coming from, why they thought the way they did, why they chose certain actions. That book helped me understand that everyone’s different, and what may work for one person may not work for another.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

So many books. I think the main book that hit on the what I wanted to write was The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker, which I read in high school. I knew I liked horror, and although I hadn’t gotten heavy into epic fantasy, I knew I liked fantasy. Clive Barker was the first author who showed me the main way I like to write- horror and dark fiction mixed with fantasy and occult themes, with a flair for philosophical probing and interest in art, the act of creating itself. Clive just seemed like a natural influence on me. I grew up with Stephen King in the house, and though I love King, it was Clive who showed me horror that was “my” horror.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

I have three novels out, and a variety of short stories out at the moment. I would like people to read my latest novel, Serpent King: Shadow and Light, to get familiar with my genre mixing, characterization, and world-building. You can get it on Amazon.

Then, I would ask that people check out Carolina Daemonic: Confederate Shadows, which was my debut novel and the first of my Carolina Daemonic series. This book tackles heavy social and political issues. It has a prosier start than my following novels; I like that about it, since I had to discuss and cover a lot of ground to build a dystopian world that is not that different from our own. As an Orwell fan and a lover of alternative timelines, I was drawn towards making my own dystopian fiction. Carolina Daemonic mixes steampunk, the occult, and weird science in an urban horror-fantasy hybrid. Like Serpent-King, it’s multigenre. I also have a lot of short stories in this series as well.

 

You can find Brian at: www.brianbarrbooks.com

Sunlight hits the tapestry of ovular golden designs stretched across the outside of opulent dome-shaped ruins on my home world, possessed by Reptilian poltergeists. I revisit this planet often, the cradle of my origins, and the remaining puzzle piece of the people responsible for half of my ancestry. I am reckless and ashamed inside whenever I sojourn to this wretched ball, so I mustn’t stay long. If I do, then I’ll smash down more walls, cause damage to a few more palaces, and continue to endanger the preservation of this place’s essential yet painful history.

My tortured, tragic beginnings were composed upon Naga, the planet’s interlaced lands and oceans ruled by the greatest civilization of the Draco constellation. My Reptilian people taught me how to hunt, strike, and kill. They showed me how to conquer. In return, I killed them all. Vengeance was the reason behind their demise, for they did more to me and my parents than they did for us, but I often wonder if the annihilation of my people was truly worth it.

Possibly not, if the visions of my mother and father are to be trusted. Their ghosts seem to be lost within the ghostly soup of this possessed planet, contaminated with the shared suffering and agony of serpentine spirits trapped on the once grand world of Naga. My vengeance was in their honor more than my own. If they are truly underworld slaves here, then this planet has every right to shame me.

Truly, I am the greatest subjugator ever spawned from the Reptilians. Naga should be a trophy on my cosmic mantelpiece, a triumphant reminder of my first success as a solitary conquistador. Instead, it is a contaminated burden, adulterated with memories that, akin to the birth world in my collection, I can never let go of, ultimately. My blood and past will always bond me to Naga, for I am Zian Axakil Din’amu Ur, born a commander general’s son, reborn as the Serpent King

Cosmic colonialism, extremist planetary nationalism, and alien genocide are abound in the Dracos Constellation, where the Reptilians rule without mercy. Enter Serpent King, a dark occult science-fantasy novel following the origins of Zian Ur, the last of the Nagans and a cosmic conquistador with a unique destiny.

 

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One Book Interview #40 – A Birthday

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The One Book Interview reaches forty this week. It has a few more aches and pains in the morning than it did when  it turned eighteen, but it’s still going strong.

To celebrate its 40th birthday, here’s a look back through the last few months – words seen through numbers.

We’ve had:

39 interviews, of which 38 are authors and 1 is an editor;

3 book reviews;

7 questions to each person;

a total of 270 different books mentioned (39 people picking 1 book for 7 questions should be 270, so we’re almost exactly right).

Which books?

Classics, indies, short stories, epic fantasy series, and even a photographic book of sharecroppers in Alabama in the early-mid 20th century.


Some books have appeared more than once (I’ve excluded multiple mentions of people’s own books).

Before we get to the answers, most of the participating authors write dystopia, horror and dark fiction so their book choices may not be a complete surprise. If you fancy, have a guess at what the top choices could be.

I’ll wait.

Done?

In reverse order, and starting with the new entries, these are the top choices:

(All book covers link to Amazon UK)

The Wheel of Time – 2x

The Shining – 2x

Ready Player One – 2x

1984 – 2x

Neuromancer – 2x

Imajica – 2x

The Dice Man – 2x

Animal Farm – 2x

The following books appeared in the 18th Birthday post.

The number of times they have appeared in total is given first; the number of times they appeared in the 18th Birthday is given in brackets.

Death Becomes Her – 2x (2x)

Little Bee – 2x (2x)

Pride & Prejudice – 2x (2x)

Think & Grow Rich – 2x (2x)

The Name of the Wind – 2x (2x)

Harry Potter – 3x (Did not appear in the 18th Birthday)


To Kill a Mockingbird – 3x (3x)


The Lord of the Rings – 4x (4x)

A song of Ice and Fire – 6x (2x)

The Martian – 6x (3x)

The Bible – 7x (6x)

The Bible still has reviews on Amazon! GOD hasn’t struck down the non-believers since I pointed it out last time.

The Stand – 8x (2x)

On Writing – 8x (3x)

The fact that there have been some additions since the eighteenth birthday edition is not surprising given there have been 38 interviews rather than 18. What is interesting is that most of the book choices remain unchanged. ASOIAF and The Martian have gone up a few places. LOTR is a non-mover. Stephen King, however, has knocked The Bible off the top spot with not one, but two books.

Mr King deserves a special mention, in that his books have cropped up more than anyone else’s:

The Talisman

The Running Man

Roadwork

Rage

The Long Walk

It

Gerald’s Game

Different Seasons

Carrie

On Writing

The Stand

Once more, a huge thank you to all the authors that have taken part up to this point.

 

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One Book Interview #32 – Mike Poeltl (Author)

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Spirit science. General fiction. Children’s books. An environmental Picture book. A post apocalyptic trilogy.

Just a fraction of the output of this weeks author/ illustrator.

He also has the most ingenious solution to the Mars Conundrum yet (See Q. 2).

Good people of the Internet, writing out of  Hamilton, Ontario – Michael Poeltl

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon translated from its original Spanish. It has everything you want from a book, and as an author, I really relished his story-telling and, honestly, wish I’d written that book.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Something soulful I think. A book that offers mind/body exercises to do on the red planet besides contemplating throwing myself off Olympus Mons. Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra comes to mind. An opportunity to meditate on the quantum world and help you focus enough to achieve a level of awareness where I could eventually blink myself off of Mars.

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Again, Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón because he’s a Spanish author whose work was translated. A story I wish I had written. Deep, purposeful and haunting. Beautifully written.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

All of my books are my children, but I do have a very personal connection to Her Past’s Present; a story which involves past lives (of which I have endured on the hypnotic regression table myself). It offers a purposeful storyline which could assist in a reader’s own attempt at overcoming a personal struggle, while offering an intriguing tale to take them from point A to B.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

That’s a tough one. I’ve taken away a lot from every book I’ve ever read, but The Buddhist Book of Living and Dying probably most affected me on a spiritual level. It changed the way I think about living my life and the issues I write about.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

I read multiple genres and enjoy each for what they bring to the table. That said, I often find myself writing without a genre in mind – writing what I want to read. To name a book which has most affected me professionally would not be fair to the others.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

I think Her Past’s Present sums up the meat of what I like to write about, but because The Judas Syndrome; book one of a dystopian trilogy was my first, I think it may be a tie. Both are dark with a deep sense of purpose driving them for the main and supporting characters.

You can find Michael at: www.mikepoeltl.com

 

Michael Poeltl is the author of nine books of varying genres and is currently working on his first sci-fi work due to be published early 2018. He is forever grateful to his readership who take the time to pick up one of his books and offer a mindful review or recommend them to their friends and family.

 

One Book Interview #27 – Amber Bird (Author)

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Whatever the true secret to happiness is,  it involves music and books.

This weeks author does both.

(And you should check out the bio on her website – it’s great, full of glitter and stars and hope.)

Good people of the Internet, writing out of Seattle in the USA – Amber Bird

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

I’m having a fight with myself over this answer; I knew this would happen based on the nature of this interview. Okay. At this moment (which is to say that I might change my mind 5 minutes from now), I’d say that everyone should read Contact by Carl Sagan. (Read it; don’t just watch the film.) I think it can appeal even to those who don’t share my sci fi obsession. It’s smart, it’s hopeful, and it should encourage us to support science and unity. And maybe it will make people go check out Sagan’s Cosmos (it’s okay if they take that to mean the TV programme). Which could lead to the more recent Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson. And they’d fall in love with all of creation, get perspective on this “pale blue dot,” and be better people for it. Contact is a gateway book!

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

Mars as it is now? So, since I’m no fictional scientist, that means my days would be numbered. I think I’d take Frank Herbert’s Dune (the whole series–the 6 he wrote–if there was room). This is one of those favourites I try to re-read every year or two. I could write long essays on why it matters to me and how it’s impacted me since I first read the series when I was 11 or so. If I’m on my way out, and if there’s any chance I’d hallucinate myself as being in the last book(s) I read when oxygen or food gets low, I think I’d like one last read of Dune, and I’d like to hallucinate myself as a Fremen who’s gone into the desert (the red desert of Mars, in this case) to die. (Did I just get too dramatic? Heh! Go figure…)

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Before I answer, I want to qualify this by saying that I didn’t have a solid reason to doubt this particular book would be bad. I’ve just had a run of years where I wasn’t really reading fantasy because of a few years just before that where I felt like the fantasy I was reading was the same stories, over and over. But! A friend who keeps my “to be read” pile from getting too small forgot I wasn’t reading fantasy and put City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett in my pile. And it was so fresh and unexpected, with some great twists and turns. If you’re wary of fantasy (or you know you love it) and you haven’t given this a try, it’s the one that made me start trying fantasy again (so that I now have a little list of newer fantasy I love).

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

I’m really bad at favourites, so now is the perfect time to answer this question, as I’ve got only one book published so far. Heh! That said, Peace Fire will always hold a special place for being the first. And for showing me I could finish a book and it could be one that, through the many re-reads necessary to re-write, I could truly enjoy and be proud of. The characters feel like friends, and it’s in this sort of dystopian-ish, cyberpunk, sci fi space I quite enjoy as a reader.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Surprisingly, this one isn’t sci fi or fantasy. And I might change my mind later, but…When I was a struggling teenager, Herman Hesse’s Demian helped me embrace the struggle to be authentic, value my intellect, and believe that there were people out there who could be my people. I must have read it a dozen times in my teens, so it surely impacted who I became. (Plus, if you’re often discouraged by Hesse’s prologues–which can be a little more challenging than the stories they preface–this one has a prologue that ‘s short, accessible, and thematically perfect.)

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

(I try not to name drop, so please feel my shame at mentioning this, but this was the only answer than popped into my head.) I’d given up on being a writer. Given in to some stereotypical artist despair. Set it aside for years. I wasn’t going to turn my chunky outline (a 50 page draft, really) of Peace Fire into anything. It was over. (There’s my dramatic side again.) Then my old friend Ernest Cline sent me an ARC for his second book, Armada. I read it immediately, and a twist I anticipated (that didn’t happen, so I could use the idea for myself) got my brain whirring. It was also a reminder that it was possible someone like me could, with some hard work, persistence, and luck, make it. (You might recognise Ernie’s name as the author of Ready Player One, which is the book on which Spielberg’s current project is based.) Suddenly, I was optimistic and excited to write again. It inspired some new ideas and connections for my current series. So, it revived my career and reminded me that reading others’ things (and really drinking in the world) is part of writing. There’s more, but this answer is already long and that’s the spark that set it all off.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

Again, as I’ve just the one, this is an easy answer for us both. Hurrah! Peace Fire should be available anywhere online (and, if it’s not in your local shop, they should be able to order it through their normal suppliers).  It’s the first in a short series, with a sequel in the works, and it feels on the page exactly like one chunk of my creative brain.

Also, because I know not everyone loves swearing, and because I have a few of those people in my life, you can look (I think it’s just on Amazon) for Peace Fire: Radio Edit. It’s the same book, but with edits to make the language much less swear-y.

 

You can find Amber at: www.amberbird.com

Amber Bird is a writer, a rockstar, and a scifi girl. She is the author of the dystopian science fiction book Peace Fire, the front of post-punk/post-glam band Varnish, and an unabashed geek. An autistic introvert who found that music, books, and gaming saved her in many ways throughout her life, she writes (books, poems, lyrics, blogs) and makes music in hopes of adding to someone else’s escape or rescue. And, yes, she was on that Magic card.

One Book Interview #9 – M. Black (Author)

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Your challenge today, dear reader, is to name three of the big-hitting young adult book series that have made the switch from page to big screen. (I’ll give you a clue, not the one with the wizard.)

Made your choices?

Remember them and read on.

One Book Interview #9 features a writer of young adult, dystopian novels, whose stories “focus on robots, androids, simulations, consciousness, animals, the wilderness, technology such as cloning, and more.”

Quite an impressive list!

One of today’s answers sees the second appearance of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (also chosen in Interview #8 by J.L. Hendricks).

Three of the book choices will give you the answer to my question at the top of the page.

Good people of the Internet, without further ado, Ami Black.

Name one book:

1 – everyone should read

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It’s original, philosophical, and asks some interesting questions all while being entertaining. Fans of Blade Runner would love it since the movie is based on the book. If you are into robots or technology you’ll find it interesting.

2 – you would take with you if you were going to be marooned on Mars

The Hunger Games, because it is three parts and so there are a lot of words. It’s also about surviving, so it would be motivating and well as entertaining,

3 – you took a chance on and were pleasantly surprised by

Hate to say it but, Twilight. I wasn’t expecting much with the story, and while cheesy it did hit some points which is why I think it resonated with such a wide audience.

4 – you’ve written that is your favourite

 

EXOTIQA, because it is about a world where robots are part man and men are part robot. I love blurred lines and I love technology and being able to incorporate the two was real interesting for me.

5 – that has influenced you most as a person

Pride and Prejudice, because Jane Austen was a brilliant writer. A woman. She lived in a time where everything was dominated by men, yet she managed to get her stories out there and read.

6 – that has influenced you most as a professional

Divergent, because the author was very young and inexperienced when she wrote it, and a woman. I think that gives hope or inspiration to every woman trying to make it in the business. It is also very original, I thought, and entertaining.

7 – of yours that prospective readers should start with if they want to get to know your work and where they can get it.

EXOTIQA or Simulation, because they are both first book in a series and will give the reader a good idea of the type of stories I write.

You can find Ami  at: http://MBlackDystopianThrillers.blogspot.com

M.Black is passionate about the Earth, animals, robots and technology. You will find all of these concepts as parts of the themes used in her brand of books ENTER TOMORROW. M. Black loves to explore future worlds that are falling apart and she likes to keep the reader guessing.

M.Black is usually writing on her MAC, taking care of her two cats LOTUS and ASH who show up in her books Exotiqa and Simulation, cooking her favorite vegetarian dishes like veggie chili and lasagna, or watching her favorite shows. OA, Stranger Things, Mr. Robot, The Expanse, are just a few. After graduating UCF in English, she travelled Asia for eight years teaching English. She began writing novels in 2009 and publishing on Kindle in 2010.

So? How many of the young adult books did you get? If you got all three you can claim your mystery prize by emailing my PA: katniss.prior@cull.en