I am ‘migrating’ our Indie author interviews to this blog to free The Sword Geek to get back to it’s roots. This is an author interview, not a review; I have not read the book. I have read the free sample and found it worthy of a further look so I will be reading the novel as time allows.
Tell us a little about yourself, Drew? I am an active duty Navy veteran. I am originally from a small town in Mississippi. I joined the Navy when I was 17. I’m married with two daughters and we live in Virginia. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a teenager, but I had several false starts. I finally got serious when I turned thirty and I wrote the first draft of my novel for NaNoWriMo 2012, I wrote the draft in twenty days on my IPhone. I released the book April 2013, so things are happening kind of fast.
Can you tell us a bit about ‘Dead Planet?’ For twenty five hundred years the civilization on Mars has been ruled by the Syndicate, an organization run by the top one percent. Every need and desire of the average citizen has been fed by the machine in return for a lifetime of obedience. What happens when the profit margins fall and the people become a burden to the pockets of the Syndicate? What happens when their plans to exile their citizens to a certain death is revealed? This is the story of a man named Serus Blackwell who has a job to do. Serus is a policeman who works for the Agency, but it isn’t what you think. Can he protect his sister, Kara, before the Agency kills her, or will the programming he received from the Agency override his emotions and condemn Kara to the same fate as the rest of the planet?
Where can readers buy this book? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C1KP6SS
Coroporate influence over government is a timely topic; is this what inspired you to write ‘Dead Planet?’ Yes! In my book the government is run 100% by the corporate world. The people who exist do so merely for the profit of the Syndicate. There is no value to human life because everyone is just a number (from the Syndicate’s point of view). I was able to tie in my view of big government, greed, desperation to save your family, and a quote I learned from my high school history teacher, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Those are the themes of my book.
What other books have you written? Dead Planet is my first, but I will be releasing a novella called Reich in July.
What is your favorite book and who is your favorite author? I don’t really have favorites because I love something about everything that I read. I will say that Peter David’s ‘What Savage Beast’ was a great way for the comic book lover in me to come to love novels. I really like ‘Collapse’ by Richard Stephenson. Tony Ruggiero is an indie author who has some cool science fiction/thriller stuff as well. I’m really into the Indie Author thing now.
Is there some one that you consider the greatest influence on or inspiration for your writing? Other Indie’s out there who write because they love it. I may never get to do this full time, but with the people out there putting out great stuff and keeping a positive outlook it really motivates me to do the same. I’ve also noticed that for the most part, everyone wants to help someone else, this is a far cry from the local music scene that I’ve experienced. Most local bands want to ‘destroy the competition’. With writers, I think the thought process is that the more someone in our realm prospers, the better it is for all of us. A good example is Hugh Howey, that dude does a lot to help Indie Authors.
If there were a single piece of advice that you could give to a new author or aspiring writer what would it be? The same advice Hugh Howey told me. Don’t listen to what people tell you that you should write. Write what you want to write.
What is next for your writing? I am releasing my novella in July and I plan on releasing the sequel to Dead Planet: Exodus in October. I’m not ready to stop yet, there’s too many stories I want to tell.
Thanks Drew, and good luck with your book and your future endeavors!