Interview between Keira Kroft and Edward McKeown
Hello, welcome to Writer to Writer Wednesday, we are so very glad to have you with us. The Hellfire Herald would like to extend a warm welcome to Edward McKeown and his new release, the wildly popular Was Once A Hero.
How are you doing today?
EFM: Doing well. I have been working feverishly on getting Was Once A Hero noticed by everyone I can. I was able to get some writing friends of mine to announce or let me announce it on on their sites. Mike Resnick, CJ Cherryh, Catherine Asaro, And Orson Scott Card, that’s four aces in any hand. The book has had my complete focus this week.
Keira: I know we are still drawing up the tattoo’s and looking for a dog to decorate and a billboard, lol. Seriously, this is honestly one of the best books I have ever read. And I am very fickle when it comes to Science Fiction. It has to be good enough for me to absolutely love it, or I will hate it. It means so much to us to get Was Once A Hero out there. It deserves to be loved.
Keira: What is Was Once A Hero about?
I think of Hero as a classic tale of adventure, action but raised to a higher level by the love story that underlies and motivates the main characters actions. These aren’t “heroic characters” they are, in my view, real people driven to extremes to find and save their loved ones. They may endure danger but they do not sneer at it like so many “stock” heroes
Was once a Hero is the first of three novels on Robert Fenaday’s search for his wife Lisa, and his companion and sometime lover, Shasti Rainhell’s search for her humanity. The trilogy is written so the reader can pick up any of the three books and have a complete SF adventure in hand, yet all three books form an arc on the overstory of Robert’s search for Lisa and Shasti’s emotional voyage of self-discovery.
Fenaday, son of a shipping line owner, turns privateer when his wife, a naval intelligence operative disappears during the first major space war in history. In the course of his searches, he rescues Shasti Rainhell, genetically engineered assassin. As cold and beautiful as February moonlight, Shasti is stronger and more perfect than humanly possible.
Keira: What made you choose that title?
EFM: I wanted to touch on the fact that a man or being can be a Hero in one instance and something very different in another. Courage is a mutable quality.”
Keira: Oh yes, ‘courage’ has many layers.
Keira: Where did the idea for your story come from?
EFM: As with much of my work I suddenly find myself watching a movie playing in my head. In this case the first image was of a blood red starship ghosting over a dead world. Then characters began to come forward. Oddly the plot came forward last.
Keira: Well it came together quite nicely.
Keira: Please share a particular detail about one of characters, please.
EFM: Shasti Rainhell is the most colorful of my characters from WOAH. Originally she was a device to keep my “everyman” character alive while he transitioned from a normal life to being a privateer. But she gradually assumed more and more importance. She had a story of her own to tell and no one stops Shasti when she gets going. Shasti is bigger than life at 6’9” tall stunning beautiful because she was essentially made from genetic material tailored for perfection. But she has a dark past that I think many women will feel a shock of recognition over. Further I dare not say…
Keira: I haven’t had taken any psych classes, but even I know to leave this one alone, lol.
Keira: Please tell us about any future projects you are planning.
The Fenaday / Shasti Rainhell series is a trilogy and you, my dear, are reading the second book and I hope that they will intrigue you to where you bring out: Fearful Symmetry and Points of Departure. Currently I am writing the Maauro series which focuses on the friendship, even love between a 50,000 year old combat android from a lost species and her friend the cashiered pilot Wrik Trigardt
Keira: Are you currently running any contests? What are they?
EFM: No that is something I guess I learn more about from you.
Keira: Here is how it is done…Anyone, that goes and buys a copy of Was Once A Hero and comes back her ‘today’ and tells us about it, will get a free kindle of The Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess.
Keira: How many books have you written?
EFM: I have five completed novels and am in the first draft of my latest one
Keira: We have a special place for unpublished writers in our hearts, here at the Hellfire Herald. So what advice would you give to an unpublished writer?
EFM: The difference between the pro and the amateur is that amateur gave up. You have to have the hide of a rhino to do this and you have to write. Don’t try to produce perfect work or you will never produce anything. Line up words and get moving. But the best advice I got was from Orson Scott Card and it’s a mistake a lot of us make early one. We go for the action, the big bang. It’s more important to make us CARE about people and what is happening. Otherwise the big bang means little if all it is doing is taking out faceless stormtrooper or other “red shirts” (Star Trek geek reference). If I care what is going on and to whom it is happening a paper cut can have the significance of an atom bomb.
Let’s get personal…
ED Yikes!
Keira: Do you work at job outside the home or is this only career?
EFM: No, I have a day job like most writers.
Keira: Ain’t that the flipp’in truth. Oops, sorry, supposed to be professional…
Keira: What’s your favorite thing to do?
EFM: I am a black belt in Kung Fu and a ballroom dancer, rumor has it I even confuse the two occasionally.
Keira: I love that you have an old fashioned values. Like Ballroom dancing and the kicking anybody’s ass that says any different J
Keira: Are you a reader?
EFM: Avidly
Keira: Oh yeah me too, I’m sure that our love of writing is what got us here today.
Keira: Do you have a special writing method?
EFM: Yes I sit my butt down and bang out the words that are in my head. I don’t worry about order or sequence that’s the first edit.
Keira: What do you wear, to write?
EFM: I could send you a photo? How broad minded are you ;-)
Keira: It depends are you wearing the dance costume? :) Otherwise I don’t think your pull over and Levi’s are going to stun me, lol :)
Keira: Do you have children?
EFM: Damn, I knew I forgot something! Oh, well that train has left the station.
Keira: As a parent of an 18 year old, girl, I better not comment, lol.
Keira: Is writing your only talent?
EFM: My wife says otherwise ….
Keira: I don’t know your wife, very well. But she seems uber awesome. If things don’t work out could you give her my number, lol :)
Keira: Where in the Hell did you find time to write?
EFM: If I am not actively doing something else, I am writing. I write fast and I have a great writing group that saves me from myself.
Keira: Well we have to tie this up today, but perhaps on a Monday we could sit again and talk about your view on writing groups. They have left a bad taste in my mouth. However I am very opened minded and always good for a discussion.
Keira: Can you share your blurb with us?
Sure
Reluctant privateer Robert Fenaday searches the stars for his lost love, Lisa, a naval intelligence officer whose ship disappeared near the end of the Conchirri War. He’s joined by the genetically engineered assassin, Shasti Rainhell, whose cold perfection masks her dark past. Both are blackmailed by government spymaster, Mandela, into a suicidal mission to the doomed planet Enshar. Leading a team of scientists and soldiers, they must unravel the mystery of that planet’s death before an ancient force reaches out to claim their lives.
I like what my friend Tim said about the book
The classic Planet Stories of S/F have suffered abandonment, without a rescuer, until now. Edward McKeown's "Was Once A Hero" combines adventure and romance with the dark humor and human complexities absent from a more black-and-white age. Robert Fenaday and Shasti Rainhell are real people. They make mistakes, they hurt, they stumble in the dark emotionally, and they save the world. They are flawed, wounded heroes, and they make you realize, as you hungrily turn each page, that the best fiction contains excitement and passion; and the best aspect of life is the possibility of personal redemption. Was Once a Hero provides both." Tim McLoughlin, author of "Heart of the Old Country" (Movie Title: The Narrows) and Editor of "Brooklyn Noir"
One lucky commenter will win a free e-copy of Was Once Hero or Anyone, that goes and buys a copy of Was Once A Hero and comes back her ‘today’ and tells us about it, will get a free kindle of The Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess. And that way you’re guaranteed two very good reads for the price of one.
You can find Edward McKeown on Facebook:
http://www.sfreader.com/authors/edward-mcKeown/
You can find Was Once A Hero at:
Thanks for joining us,
Keira Kroft
www.keirakroft.com
Schedule of upcoming WTW Wednesday interviews.
Schedule of upcoming WTW Wednesday interviews.
5-30 Keira Kroft & L.S. Murphy
6-6 Keira Kroft & Frank Larnerd
6-13 Keira Kroft & Karina McKinley
6-20 Keira Kroft & Rj Parker
There are more scheduled. The rest of the list is coming
soon
this is getting pasted on my desk, I will read it out loud everyday (John Parrish)
ReplyDeleteEFM: The difference between the pro and the amateur is that amateur gave up. You have to have the hide of a rhino to do this and you have to write. Don’t try to produce perfect work or you will never produce anything. Line up words and get moving. But the best advice I got was from Orson Scott Card and it’s a mistake a lot of us make early one. We go for the action, the big bang. It’s more important to make us CARE about people and what is happening. Otherwise the big bang means little if all it is doing is taking out faceless stormtrooper or other “red shirts” (Star Trek geek reference). If I care what is going on and to whom it is happening a paper cut can have the significance of an atom bomb.
Me too John, me too. Great advice isn't it? Edward is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI love it when Edward is on The Herald. He always has great advice and relevant bits of insightful wisdom to share with us. Hey, maybe he could have a regular post on here? LOL...Anyway, excellent post, Dawn and Edward.
ReplyDeleteCarol
Great interview! Edward, you're very talented, and very interesting. Don't know any ballroom/blackbelt peeps out there! Keep rocking, and can't wait to read your books!!!
ReplyDeleteBig Hugs
Lyn Croft
Always love a great interview with even better advice!
ReplyDelete