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SciFi Rock n’ Roller Coaster Q&A – Guest Author: Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair by Russ on November 4, 2015 at 9:08 am {no comments}

Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. Currently, she is a project editor and promotions manager for Dark Quest Books and has recently started her own press, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com). Her published works include five urban fantasy novels, Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court: and The Redcaps’ Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale, and a young adult Steampunk novel, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed.

She is also the author of the solo collections A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, and Transcendence, the non-fiction writers’ guide, The Literary Handyman, and is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Dragon’s Lure, and In an Iron Cage. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.

SciFi Rockin’ Roller Coaster: Hey Danielle! You strapped in? Let’s have some fun! Have you ever, or would you ever go sky diving? Details!Danielle Ackley-McPhail: I’ve always wanted to go up in a hot-air balloon, but I can honestly say I’ve never had a desire to jump out of a perfectly functional plane. Just saying. Hang-gliding might be interesting, though…only my hubby would have a coronary if I even suggested it.

SFRRC: We have a magic kitchen, which can prepare any meal you want. Cost and prep time are not an issue. You can either eat alone, or invite guests from anywhere in time and space, fictional or real. What’s your ideal, one-time only menu? Who joins you? And what’s the venue?

DAM: Everything has no calories, right? Meat. The most succulent, best-prepared meat…lamb, steak, rabbit, duck, venison….I could die happy without anything else even being on the table, but for those who are big on sides, creamy crusty homemade mac and cheese, buttery homemade mashed potatoes, and fresh-picked corn on the cob. And I would invite everyone who was hungry.

SFRRC: Speaking of appetites, when it comes to fiction, what three books would you most like to read that you haven’t gotten to yet?

DAM: Clockwork Crown by Beth Cato, Alma Alexander’s Shifter, and the newest Rachel Griffin book by L. Jagi Lamplighter.

SFRRC: What book, in any genre, has stayed with you the longest after you read it?

DAM: <blushes> When I was thirteen I read The Outsiders by SE Hinton 21 times in a row.

SFRRC: Star Wars or Star Trek? Why?

DAM: Both, I love a great sci fi, and these are both lasting legacies with much to offer in both entertainment and message.

SFRRC: Favorite character from any SciFi movie?

DAM: Tech Sergeant Chen from Galaxy Quest. He had so many subtle layers.

SFRRC: There’s been a resurgence over the last decade, bringing SciFi back to TV. Favorite SciFi show that’s debuted in the past ten 10 years?

DAM: I’m a little hazy on time since I see most things after the fact on DVD. I would say Firefly, if it’s in the right time frame. If it’s not …. really hard to say since I don’t get much time to watch TV. Of course, if this counts, I would also say FaceOff, which is a reality show, but yeah, really high on my list.

SFRRC: We love Rock n’ Roll here at SFFR. What’s your favorite kind of music? And if you could go on tour with any solo artist or band, for one year, all expenses paid, from any time in history, who would that be?

DAM: I’m really big on Celtic music and other folksy type genres that come from the same roots. If I was able to follow someone around for a year, though, it would be SJ Tucker. Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.

SFRRC: In our bag of tricks is a single wish, granting you one, specific super power — which you can use at your discretion for one full week. You have to pick now. One-time only offer, and your power can’t be that you can give yourself more powers. What’s your power, and why?

DAM: The limitless power (for that one week) to heal everyone I meet of their most grievous hurt, be it physical, psychological, mental, emotional, etc.

SFRRC: Now that your powers are used up, we can now send you to a magical realm filled with wonders and dangers with almost unlimited possibilities, where you’ll encounter all sorts of creatures, friendly and otherwise. If you go, there’s a 50-50 chance of you making it back to the life you know now. If you do make it back, you’ll be filled with stories to share that authors can only dream of inventing. But if you don’t make it back — whether dead or alive, thriving or not — you can’t ever return, and the people you know in this life will have no idea where you’ve gone or what’s become of you. Would you go?

DAM: I would not. I like to believe there are people on this earth who would notice and care if I were to disappear and to do so willfully and put them through the heartache and grief of not knowing what happened…I could not do that to those I care about. And to be truthful, I already come up with some pretty fantastic stuff so I will be content with that.

SFRRC: When you writing career is over, how would you like to be remembered, both as a person, and as an author?

DAM: To be remembered fondly, to be remembered as someone who touched others’ lives and enriched them in some manner, be it through my writing or as a friend, as a true follower of Christ and all that entails, with love, not judgement. Though, in truth, I’m sure the one thing I will be remembered for—at least by those who actually know me—is for my hugs. There are worse things in life.

SFRRC: OK. We’ve tortured you enough. You’re a writer. What are you working on now? Promote away!

DAM: As an editor I am working on The Side of Good / The Side of Evil, a superhero/villain flipbook anthology, which is now available for pre-order in multiple formats. As a publisher I’m working on The Weird Wild West, edited by Misty Massey, Emily Lavin Leverett, and Margaret S. McGraw, and as an author I am working on a story for the Were- anthology by Zombies Need Brains! and on Eternal Wanderings, a spin-off novella series related to my Eternal Cycle novels based on Irish myth.

To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com, www.especbooks.com or www.badassfaeries.com.

Twitter: @DMcPhail

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/danielle.ackleymcphail

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Danielle-Ackley-McPhail/e/B002GZVZPQ/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/989939.Danielle_Ackley_McPhail

Written by Russ
on November 4, 2015 at 9:08 am

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair
Tagged with anthology, fantasy, humor, novels, science fiction, short stories

SciFi Rock n’ Roller Coaster Q&A – Guest Author: Alex Shvartsman

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair by Russ on October 21, 2015 at 9:00 am {no comments}

Alex Shvartsman is the author of Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories and H. G. Wells, Secret Agent.

SciFi Rockin’ Roller Coaster: Hey Alex! You strapped in? Let’s have some fun! Have you ever, or would you ever go sky diving? Details!

No. Na-ah. Nope. Not happening. If you want me to exit the plane, it better be parked at a nice airport terminal somewhere. If you expect me to exit a moving plane at high altitude, you better be prepared to shove hard. And even then, there’s a decent chance I will overpower you and enjoy stale airline pretzels as I wait for the death machine to land.

SFRRC: We have a magic kitchen, which can prepare any meal you want. Cost and prep time are not an issue. You can either eat alone, or invite guests from anywhere in time and space, fictional or real. What’s your ideal, one-time only menu? Who joins you? And what’s the venue?

Alex Shvartsman: I’d love to share a meal with Teddy Roosevelt, Benjamin Disraeli and Mikhail Bulgakov. At that point I’m pretty sure I would not remember the food served, or the venue serving it.

SFRRC: Speaking of appetites, when it comes to fiction, what three books would you most like to read that you haven’t gotten to yet?

Alex: There’s a mountain of books in my To Be Read pile which resembles Everest in terms of both its height and how intimidating it is to approach. Somewhere near the top of this pile are Chuck Gannon’s Raising Caine (which I already started and need to finish), Tom Doyle’s The Left-Hand Way and Peter F. Hamilton’s The Abyss Beyond Dreams. Anyone got a few extra hours in the day they can spare, so I can read these sooner?

SFRRC: What book, in any genre, has stayed with you the most long after you read it?

Alex: This is not a fair question in that I have to pick just one. But if I must pick, I’ll go with Birthright: The Book of Man by Mike Resnick. I think it was the first collection of short stories that tied together into a novel (a la The Martian Chronicles or Tuff Voyaging) that I read and truly enjoyed, and it influenced my approach to writing and space opera in considerable ways.

SFRRC: Star Wars or Star Trek? Why?

Alex: Star Wars for sure. I prefer unabashed fun adventure to (slightly) more serious and scientific SF any day.

SFRRC: Favorite character from any SciFi movie?

Alex: Morpheus from The Matrix, probably. I don’t watch very many movies, to be honest.

SFRRC: There’s been a resurgence over the last decade, bringing SciFi back to TV. Favorite SciFi show that’s debuted in the past ten 10 years?

Alex: Is it cheating to say Game of Thrones, since it’s fantasy? Probably the most influential genre show in recent years, and definitely a ton of fun.

SFRRC: We love Rock n’ Roll here at SFFR. What’s your favorite kind of music? And if you could go on tour with any solo artist or band, for one year, all expenses paid, from any time in history, who would that be?

Alex: I’m partial to Queen, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and Chris de Burgh. If I had to tour with anyone though, given my own artistic tendencies, it’d probably be Weird Al Yankovic.

SFRRC: In our bag of tricks is a single wish, granting you one, specific super power — which you can use at your discretion for one full week. You have to pick now. One-time only offer, and your power can’t be that you can give yourself more powers. What’s your power, and why?

Alex: If it’s only for one week, I suppose I’ll take super-intelligence. That way I can cure cancer, design an FTL drive, and solve the plot problem on page 47 that has been bothering me of late.

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SFRRC: Now that your powers are used up, we can now send you to a magical realm filled with wonders and dangers with almost unlimited possibilities, where you’ll encounter all sorts of creatures, friendly and otherwise. If you go, there’s a 50-50 chance of you making it back to the life you know now. If you do make it back, you’ll be filled with stories to share that authors can only dream of inventing. But if you don’t make it back — whether dead or alive, thriving or not — you can’t ever return, and the people you know in this life will have no idea where you’ve gone or what’s become of you. Would you go?

Alex: Nope. Are you kidding me? I’ve got plenty of stories to tell as-is!

SFRRC: When you writing career is over, how would you like to be remembered, both as a person, and as an author?

Alex I write for fun and don’t truly consider it to be a career. I want to entertain my readers and instill a sense of wonders, especially for those younger readers who might pick up my books. More than any kind of award, I would love to hear someone say that they got into writing because they read my books as a kid one day.

SFRRC: OK. We’ve tortured you enough. You’re a writer. What are you working on now? Promote away!

Alex: I have two fresh anthologies: one just came out (Funny Science Fiction, you can buy it now, cheaper than a fancy coffee at Starbucks!) and the other is coming out in October: Unidentified Funny Objects 4, headlined by George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman among many other fabulous authors.

As to my own work, I’m about half way through writing my grimdark fantasy novel “Eridani’s Crown.” My latest funny short story is in the current (September) issue of Galaxy’s Edge magazine. It’s called “Dreidel of Dread: The Very Cthulhu Channukah.” You know you want to read that. Finally, if you like that sample story you can pick up my collection, Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma and Other Stories. (I promise, some of those other stories are not about Cthulhu.)

Written by Russ
on October 21, 2015 at 9:00 am

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair
Tagged with humor, science fiction, short stories

The Book Cover Conundrum – How to Make it Great

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair, Rants by Russ on May 14, 2015 at 11:00 am {no comments}

This guest post originally appeared on My Loves, Lives, and Passion

The cover for every book is critical, sometimes even more important than us writers want to admit. We want to think that the story we’ve crafted alone should be enough to ‘sell’ our books, but let’s face it: covers sell books.

I’m the same way when I buy books. The cover absolutely helps draw me in.

With that in mind, I had very specific ideas about the cover I wanted for my latest novel, Genius de Milo.

I knew I wanted a yellow cover with red type. Why? Because the covers to my other novels are red/purple and blue, respectively, and I wanted contrast as they are lined up on the bookshelf!

But the color scheme is only one aspect. Now I needed a design concept. So I enlisted my pal and fellow author Roy Mauristen, who designs covers for a lot of authors, and does a great job at that.

I started off with the idea that I wanted a lot of turtles on the cover. And I wanted them flipping around like popcorn. Why? Well … it’s important to the story. We tried to make it work, but Roy just couldn’t find the right turtle image. So finally we started over.

And that’s when I switched to the bubbles filled with DNA helixes. Again, these are important to the story. Once I had that idea Roy went off to the races. He did an absolutely fabulous job bringing my idea life, and then added the hand with the pin about to pop one of the bubbles. I wasn’t so sure how I felt about it at first, but I was totally wrong, because it works great, and never would have come up with it myself. That was all Roy.

At that point we made a few tweaks, but otherwise the cover just fell into place.

The response I’ve gotten so far has been fantastic. I’ve gotten nothing but enthusiastic reviews of the cover, so to my pal Roy … thank you!!

The words may tell my story, but the cover helps sell the book.

Now that you can see it for yourself … how’d we do?

Written by Russ
on May 14, 2015 at 11:00 am

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair, Rants
Tagged with book covers, fantasy, humor, New Zealand, scifi, travel

Guest Post: Russ’ Top 10 Writing Tips for Aspiring Authors

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair, Rants by Russ on May 6, 2015 at 8:32 pm {no comments}

This guest post originally appeared on FictionZeal

Guest Post by Russ Colchamiro

Russ’ Top 10 Writing Tips for Aspiring Authors

Throughout my travels as an author, young and aspiring writers often ask me how they themselves can become a great writer.

I usually chuckle – inwardly if not outwardly – not because the question is funny, but because it touches on something all authors seek: what’s the secret formula for success? And the answer is … it’s different for every author.

I’m not so sure I can turn you into a great writer, but for those who are willing to indulge me, here are my top 10 suggestions for improving as a writer:

Write every day. The more you write, the better you’ll get.
Don’t try to be perfect. As my hero Zig Ziglar says, ‘you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.’ In other words, if you never write the first word no other words will follow up. Just get going and trust that it will come.
There’s a big and important distinction between writing and editing. To my eyes, the writing phase is the content dump. Just get your thoughts down, even if they are sloppy and convoluted. The editing phase is where the surgical crafting and precision comes in.
Be your own writer. I find so many aspiring authors who want to write like Stephen King or Hemingway or whomever else they love and admire, or whatever’s trending at the time. Having author heroes is great. But you’re not them. You’re you. Write in the style that you find most comfortable.
Don’t fear the blues. Discouragement is natural. Fight through it. Every writer, regardless of age or gender, has at one point or another felt like giving up. Don’t. If you’re stuck or discouraged, take a break. But then get back to it. You need to power through the rough patches to get to the good stuff.
Quality feedback is key. Some writers prefer writer’s groups, others, like me, prefer just a handful of trusted beta readers for input. Whichever you choose, most important is that you enlist the help of readers who will give you the feedback you most need, but not necessarily what you want to hear. Cheerleaders are important, but if you want to improve your story, and your craft, enlist those will give you both technical and structural feedback that enhances or corrects what isn’t working.
Celebrate accomplishments. Writing the first word is a big deal. Without word one, there’s no word two. Finishing a short story or a chapter in your novel is a milestone. So is finishing the first draft, the second, and so on, all the way to getting published, and then, hopefully, making sales. You need the emotional boosts of each milestone to give you juice to keep going. I’m not saying you should throw a parade for each little victory, but take some time to enjoy the small, medium, and big moments. You will have earned them all.
Don’t be afraid to start over. Sometimes the story you’re working on will fall flat. That doesn’t mean the work is done. I’ve had occasion to delete entire chapters, rewrite characters, and even rip out entire sections of a book I’ve written because they just didn’t work, for whatever reason. Starting over is not a failure. It’s a mature acknowledgment that you went of the rails somewhere, and it’s time to course-correct.
Develop a thick skin, because you will get rejected. A lot. So don’t worry about it. Nobody likes rejection, but it’s part of a writer’s life. Sometimes the rejections are fair, sometimes they’re not. We’ve all been there. Welcome to our world. You are now part of the club.
Write because you love it. If you plan on publishing a novel, there is simply no way to predict whether it will achieve commercial success, at any level. But you can always control how dedicated you are to your craft. My suggestion is to focus on the work. Write well, write for yourself, bring on great, brutally honest editors who give you the feedback your book actually needs — and then hire a skilled publicist if you can afford one. And if there’s fame and fortune at the end of your journey, all the better.

Written by Russ
on May 6, 2015 at 8:32 pm

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair, Rants
Tagged with fantasy, humor, scifi, travel, writing

PUYB Virtual Book Club – Interview with Author Russ Colchamiro

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair by Russ on April 28, 2015 at 11:00 am {no comments}

This interview originally appeared on PUYB Virtual Book Club

Welcome to the book club, Russ! First, I am so in love with that cover. I don’t know if it’s the colors or what but it just pops. Before we get into the meat of the interview, can you tell us who did your lovely cover?

Russ: Glad you like the cover for Genius de Milo! It’s really exciting. The design concept is actually mine, including the color scheme and all of the bubbles with the DNA helixes inside. That’s significant to the plot, by the way!

But my pal and fellow author Roy Mauritsen is the creative genius and art designer who brought it all to life. This is his baby. And it was his idea to add the hand with the pin about to pop one of those bubbles. It ties the entire concept together. He did a fantastic job. Roy does covers for lots of people. I hope to work with him again.

In your book, Genius De Milo, two teenagers – Jason Medley and Theo Barnes – are backpacking through Europe and New Zealand and they find something interesting. Can you tell us more about that?

Russ: When we first meet Jason and Theo in Finders Keepers, the first book in the trilogy, they are both actually in their early 20s, with Jason from New York and Theo from New Zealand. They not only come from opposite corners of the world, but they have entirely different personalities. Jason hasn’t traveled much, is kind of a nervous Nellie, and has no idea how to get himself from one place to the next! But Theo is more mellow, and an experienced traveler. They meet unexpectedly inVenice, and become fast friends. Together they just seem to fit.

Yet while still in New Zealand, Theo found a jar that causes these hallucinogenic side effects he can’t explain. (The jar contains the Universe’s DNA, but he only discovers that much later). In any case, it makes him feel like he’s winding through the fabric of the Universe, so he’s compelled to find answers, and finds his way to Europe.

Jason knows none of this when they first meet in Venice, but by the time their adventure is over, they’ve pretty much saved the Milky Way from disaster.

My new book, Genius de Milo, picks up a few years after that. The Universe is fluxing in and out of Existence, Theo’s twin three-year-old girls are teleporting, and Jason can’t tell which version of his life is real. That’s because Milo – the Universe’s gremlin — got his hands on that jar of DNA and is causing trouble.

That sends Jason and Theo across America to put things right, and keepMilo from destroying the planet. Again. Along the way they are joined by Jamie — a hotel clerk from Eternity — who may or may not have their best interests in mind.

Take us into the lives of Jason and Theo – what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses?

Russ: In Genius de Milo Theo is now a family, but he still has that travel bug in him. He almost always wishes he were out there in the world going on adventures, so he’s not as focused on the here and now as he probably should be. But because of that innate adventurer’s spirit — and the temperament to just kind of roll with the punches if those journeys don’t go according to plan — he’s able to keep them on track, even when he and Jason veer way, way, way off course.

Jason, meanwhile, is far more grounded, and in fact is about to propose to his girlfriend. He’s building a career, and genuinely wants to help other people. But he still inherently seeks the approval of others, and has trouble trusting that he’s on the right path. What confuses him most — but may in fact be his greatest asset given the predicament they are in — is that despite his generally conservative nature he seems to be in tune with the shifts in the Universe.

Meaning … he’s really quite intuitive about the sense that things aren’t ‘quite right’, and even though he’s not sure what that means, and that nobody other than Theo could possibly understand him, he’s learning to trust those instincts more, and make decisions accordingly. And sometimes that means sacrificing what he wants for what others need.

How did you come up with such a cute storyline?

Russ: The Finders Keepers series is loosely based on a series of backpacking trips I’ve taken over the years through Europe and New Zealand and my travels across the U.S.

Separately … years ago I had been tinkering around with some story ideas and one day, out of nowhere, a line popped into my head:

“Jason Medley had on his night stand a jar that contained the essence of the universe.”

And I said to myself: “Who in the heck is Jason Medley and what on God’s green earth is the essence of the universe?”

I really didn’t know the answer to either, but my own travels where so outrageous that I started to see the narrative coming together, linking my trips around the world with this tale of cosmic lunacy — an Earthbound backpacking adventure meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Also … I read a lot about philosophy, mythology, and spirituality, which have become core tenants of my personal life. Those ideas are very much a part of this series. And don’t worry … these are fun and funny popcorn books and are meant to put a smile on your face. But there’s real substance too.

They say that all books of fiction have at least one pivotal point where the reader just can’t put the book down. What do you think is that one pivotal point in Genuis De Milo?

Russ: I know it would be totally lame of me to say that I think there are tons of pivotal moments! Ha! But early on The Minder of the Universe — that’s the omnipresent character who basically oversees the Universe — discovers that the Earth is fluxing in and out of its existence, and that if something isn’t done about it soon, the planet he loves most will be wiped out forever. He also realizes that Milo, his ultimate eternal foil, is the cause. So it’s game on!

And, of course, Jason and Theo end up right smack in the middle of this galactic smack down.

If that doesn’t give you an idea of what you’re in for with Genius de Mio, I’m not sure what will.

What’s next for you, Russ?

Russ: I’m already working on the third and final book in the Finders Keepers trilogy, which I’m hoping will be ready by Fall 2016. I’m also contributing a short story to Pangaea, an alternate reality anthology my author pals and I at Crazy 8 Press are writing. Pangaea was actually successfully funded through a Kickstarter campaign. After that … lots more books!

Written by Russ
on April 28, 2015 at 11:00 am

Filed under Books, General, In the Writer's Chair
Tagged with backpacking, comedy, fantasy, humor, scifi, time travel

In the Writer’s Chair: The Story Behind the Story – ‘Genius de Milo’

Filed under Books, In the Writer's Chair by Russ on April 16, 2015 at 11:00 am {no comments}

This guest blog originally appeared in The Story Behind the Book

***

Much like the structure of my novels, the story behind the story is a three part adventure …

Part I: Chance Encounter

Back in college I ran into a guy I knew a little bit, but not well. Scott. I was in the classroom building, and Scott asked me what I was up to. I told him I had a semester left of classes, and then I was going to do my student teaching (I was on track to become a High School English teacher).

He said: “Why don’t you take an extra semester and go on exchange to Europe?”

Immediately and without thinking about it I retorted, “I can’t.”

And he said, “Why not?”

Stunned, I had no answer. I was so used to saying ‘no’ to life back then that I rejected the idea out of pure instinct. But I really wanted to be a ‘yes’ to life person. And going on this exchange program overseas was something I had really wanted to do, even though — back then — it was so unlike me to actually do it.

So immediately after Scott and I spoke I applied for and was accepted into the International exchange program. The next summer I spent a month backpacking across Europe, and then went to Manchester Metropolitan University in northern England for my final semester.

Funny thing was, I rarely ever saw Scott before that one encounter, and I never saw him after. Ever. But that one, single conversation helped changed my life, and though he doesn’t know it, I have Scott to thank for it. He was the specific catalyst I needed at that very moment in time and space.

That spirit, that magical quality of having just the right person at just the right time come into my life is the very spirit that I try to capture in my books, starting with Finders Keepers.

Which takes us back to the trip itself…

Part II: The Netherworld Effect

There’s a time in life when you’re caught in the netherworld between college and a career, when you’re not a student anymore but you don’t want to grow up, have a career, pay your bills. You know the drill. You’re stuck in that middle zone and I wanted Finders Keepers to capture that, that sense that anything is possible, but because anything is possible, it can get a little scary and overwhelming.

I hadn’t traveled much back then. I was still very naïve. This was in 1994, a completely different world than what we know today. There was no Internet, no cell phones, no Facebook or Twitter. You couldn’t Google a place to stay in Barcelona because there was no Google. If you were stuck in the middle of Romania in the middle of the night — which actually happened to me — guess what? You were actually stuck.

So while I was backpacking in Europe I had this very wild, frantic, unpredictable adventure that legitimately changed my outlook on life. I know it sounds cliché, but in my case it’s absolutely true. A lot of my trip — the people I met, the places I saw, the trouble I got into — made it into the novel, including a guy I met from New Zealand, who became one of my best friends.

About a year later he came out to see me in the U.S., when I was living in Tempe, Arizona, and then fast forward again to early 2001 and I went to see him this time, in New Zealand.

As I say in my new book, Genius de Milo, the sequel to Finders Keepers, he and I only seem to do things big. And I’m not typically a do-things-big kinda guy. But our adventures together are the backbone of the series.

Part III: Sci-fi Shenanigans? Say What Now?

On a totally separate track … I had been tinkering around with a couple of story ideas and one day, out of nowhere, a line popped into my head:

“Jason Medley had on his night stand a jar that contained the essence of the universe”.

And I said to myself: “Who in the heck is Jason Medley and what on God’s green earth is the essence of the universe?”

I really didn’t know the answer to either, but after going on these travels and collecting notes, I started to see the narrative coming together, linking these outrageous trips I took with this tale of cosmic lunacy — an Earthbound backpacking trip meets Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

And thus the Finders Keepers series was born.

My newest book, Genius de Milo, is the second book in the trilogy, where my bumbling backpacking heroes Jason Medley and Theo Barnes — based on me and my pal from New Zealand — are once again tasked with retrieving a radioactive jar filled with the Universe’s DNA … before it wipes out the galaxy.

Genius de Milo (and Finders Keepers) is for fans of authors such as Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Christopher Moore, and movies and TV shows such as Harold & Kumar, Bill & Ted, Hot Tub Time Machine, Time Bandits, Quantum Leap, Groundhog Day, Northern Exposure, and Third Rock from the Sun.

And whereas Finders Keepers was set predominantly in Europe and New Zealand, the action in Genius de Milo has shifted mostly to the U.S. And, of course, there’s lots going on in Eternity, the ‘cosmic’ realm where the Universe is created.

And once I take a little breather, I’ll be writing the third and final book in the Finders Keepers trilogy. I’ll just need to take one more trip to pull it all together …

Written by Russ
on April 16, 2015 at 11:00 am

Filed under Books, In the Writer's Chair
Tagged with backpacking, fantasy, humor, scifi, travel, writing