How do you work through self-doubts and fear[about writing]?
I have a kind of interesting process. I take them at face value. “Yep, the book sucks.” “Nope, no one wants to read this.” “My god, you are right! That chapter is really, really lousy.” “This will never work.” I spend a day or so addressing them as best as I can, and once I get to the point that I feel I can do no more, if they haven’t shut up I ignore them. That may sound passive, but I find that when I don’t give them the time of day, eventually someone says something that kills them for me.
What’s your greatest character strength?
Loyalty. If I were an animagus, I’d be a big, loyal dog.
What’s your weakest character trait?
Charisma. A big, unfortunately slobbery dog.
Why do you write?
I want to reply with a witty remark, but I’ll be honest instead. I found that stories in the speculative fiction genre were getting very rigid and I wanted to read something different. When I couldn’t find it, I decided to write it. And then I sat around for three years waiting for the right characters and setting to show up. In that time period I found other people that were doing the same thing. It's great.
Have you always enjoyed writing?
No. There are days it sucks. The applicable catch phrase here is “You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.” There are days I am doing nothing but smooching frogs.
What writing are you most proud of?
It’s not a commercial piece. I wrote my parents a thesis that said, in many more words, “You have a gun, now travel.” They needed a kick to get them airborne. And it worked. So not only was it well-written, but the audience for whom it was intended got it and got the message and did something. That’s the very definition of success for a writer.
What books did you love growing up?
I really liked, and still do like, L.e. Modessit. I enjoyed Robert Jordan for awhile, but it lost its shine for me when I no longer had empty summers. I read a lot of Star Trek novels.
In an alternate universe where the twentieth century gave rise to individuals with psychic talents, the Great War ended far differently, and the flow of history led the United States into a losing war with China by the middle of the twenty-first century. The combined submarine navies of Britain, Russia, France, Canada and the United States are holding back an ever more hostile enemy that is intent on winning a war of attrition. A desperate Navy presses antiquated boats into service to supply the main fleet and mans them with the leavings of the Navy's worst sailors. For Chief Petty Officer Lucius Tagget and his best friend Aaron Fredrickson, it's their ticket out of naval prison and a chance to clear their names.
What should be an uneventful assignment behind the front lines turns into a nightmare when Aaron is killed in an accident that claims the lives of all the men on his submarine. Terrified of condemning another boat and crew to eternal patrol, the Navy assigns the CPNS Puget Sound a talented seer in hopes of preventing another accident. Instead, that decision changes the entire crew, and ultimately, the entire war.
What should be an uneventful assignment behind the front lines turns into a nightmare when Aaron is killed in an accident that claims the lives of all the men on his submarine. Terrified of condemning another boat and crew to eternal patrol, the Navy assigns the CPNS Puget Sound a talented seer in hopes of preventing another accident. Instead, that decision changes the entire crew, and ultimately, the entire war.
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Genre - Alternative History
Rating - PG-15
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