Interview with GAVIN G. SMITH

July 9, 2018January 27, 2021 Civilian Reader Interview, Uncategorized Bastard Legion, Friendly Fire, Gavin G Smith, Gollancz, Sci-Fi, War Criminals

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Gavin Smith?

Just some guy. (He’s a science fiction and fantasy writer with a track record for action oriented stories.)

Your third Bastard Legion novel, War Criminals, is due to be published in July. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader? And what can fans of the series expect from this instalment?

So the high concept pitch for Bastard Legion is the Dirty Dozen/Suicide Squad (depending on your age) meets Aliens. It’s about a mercenary penal legion recruited from the 6,000-strong convict population the Hangman’s Daughter (an interstellar prison barge). They are led by the cheerful, if possibly psychopathic, ex-black ops soldier Miska Corbin and the VR ghost of her dead dad.

War Criminals will see the Legion engaged in a full scale war for the first time! (Previously it’s been smaller-scale black ops.) Continue reading →

Interview with CHRISTOPHER RUOCCHIO

July 2, 2018May 18, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview, Uncategorized Christopher Ruocchio, DAW Books, Empire of Silence, Gollancz, Most Anticipated 2018, Sci-Fi, Sun Eater

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Christopher Ruocchio?

I am the author of Empire of Silence, a new space opera/epic fantasy out in July. I am also the Assistant Editor for Baen Books, where I have edited the military SF anthology Star Destroyers and the upcoming Space Pioneers. I sold my first novel — this novel — at age 22. I graduated from North Carolina State University, where I studied English Rhetoric and Classics. I am a boxer, and former fencer, and the owner of half a suit of replica first century Roman armor. I worked as a waiter for seven years, during which time I wrote and paid my way through college at the expense of any sort of social life. I remain an enthusiastic student, and am blessed with what I consider the world’s greatest family, a lovely girlfriend, and better friends than one of my stormy disposition perhaps deserves. Continue reading →

Interview with WILLIAM MARTIN

June 26, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview William Martin

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is William Martin?

A guy who has been writing stories for forty years, since I left the USC Film School. And I’ve been very lucky. After a few screenplays, my first novel made the New York Times Best Seller list, and I haven’t looked back since. It’s now eleven novels, and counting, a PBS Documentary on the life of George Washington, book reviews, essays, and a cult classic horror film, too.

Your latest novel, Bound For Gold, will be published by published on July 3rd by Forge. The latest book in your Peter Fallon series, how would you introduce the novel and series to a potential reader?

History meets mystery, in a grand intermarriage of past and present. It’s about the California Gold Rush, one of the seminal moments in American history, when anyone could get rich if he was lucky enough, unless he was Chinese or Mexican. Those people, of course, faced the kinds of prejudices that have always boiled over wherever men of different races meet. And they boil over in the book. Continue reading →

Interview with R.F. KUANG

May 29, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Debut 2018, Fantasy, Harper Collins, Most Anticipated 2018, Poppy War, R F Kuang, Voyager

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is R.F. Kuang?

Me! I just graduated from Georgetown with a degree in International History. Next year I’ll be studying Chinese history on a Marshall Scholarship at Cambridge. I love corgis a lot.

Your debut novel, The Poppy War, was recently published by Voyager. How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s like Avatar: The Last Airbender-meets-Ender’s Game, except the main character is Azula and everyone is on drugs. It’s the first of a trilogy. Continue reading →

Interview K.R. RICHARDSON

May 4, 2018May 8, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Blood Orbit, Crime, Detective, Gattis Files, KR Richardson, Mystery, Pyr Books, Sci-Fi

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is K.R. Richardson?

A cynical, slightly obnoxious ex-journalist with a taste for good bourbon or rye, big lazy dogs, noir mysteries, quirky science fiction, and ridiculous mechanical objects. And cheese.

Your new novel, Blood Orbit, will be published by Pyr in May. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Gritty cop/crime noir, wearing science fiction clothes in the tradition of Blade Runner and Altered Carbon. It’s the first in the Gattis File series — the publisher and I are discussing Gattis File Book 2 right now. Continue reading →

Interview with SIMON R. GREEN

April 26, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Ace Books, Night Fall, Nightside, Secret Histories, Simon R Green, Urban Fantasy

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Simon R. Green?

Simon R. Green is the New York Times best-selling author of over sixty novels, two collections of short stories, and wrote the screenplay for the film Judas Ghost. He rides motorcycles, acts in open air Shakespeare productions, and has worked as a Chippendale. (Not all of those may be entirely true.)

Your latest novel, Night Fall, will be published by Ace in June. It’s the final novel in your Secret Histories series. How would you introduce the series to a potential reader? What can fans of the series expect from the finale?

Night Fall ties together my two main series. The Nightside books, which feature a private eye operating in the Twilight Zone solving cases of the weird and uncanny; and the Secret Histories books, featuring the very secret agent, Shaman Bond. The Nightside is a film noir world, full of shadey characters. The Secret Histories was all about punishing the bad guys. So when these two worlds go to war… The body count is going to be amazing. But this book also features characters from my other series, like the Ghost Finders, Hawk & Fisher, Drinking Midnight Wine, and Shadows Fall. So essentially, this books stars everybody, and guest stars everybody else. Continue reading →

Interview with JAMEY BRADBURY

April 16, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Alaska, Debut 2018, Fiction, Horror, Jamey Bradbury, Suspense, Wild Inside, William Morrow

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Jamey Bradbury?

I’m a Midwesterner by birth and an Alaskan by choice whose cat, at the moment, keeps getting in the way of my keyboard. And I’m a writer who likes smashing genres into each other to see what happens. I have been, in the past, a receptionist, an actor with a dinner theater company, a volunteer, a CPR instructor, and a professional poop-scooper. Right now, I happily divide my life between writing fiction and doing storytelling for an Alaska Native social services organization.

Your debut novel, The Wild Inside, was published by William Morrow in March. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader?

It’s partly a horror novel, partly a suspense novel, partly a coming-of-age story, set against the backdrop of sled dog racing in Alaska. Plot-wise, it’s about a girl with a love for hunting who has to contend with a pair of strangers who show up on her doorstep, one of whom is mortally wounded — something that may or may not have been her fault. At its heart, though, The Wild Inside is about whether it’s really possible for people to truly know each other. Continue reading →

Interview with DAVID RICCIARDI

April 10, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Berkley, CIA, David Ricciardi, Espionage, International, Penguin Random House, Thriller, Warning Light, Zac Miller Series

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is David Ricciardi?

I’m a thriller addict and an outdoor enthusiast who always thought I had a book inside me and finally decided to take a shot at it.

Your debut novel, Warning Light, will be published by Berkley in next week (April 17th). I’m lucky enough to have already read it, and I really enjoyed it. How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. I’d tell potential readers that it’s a story of survival and self-reliance. It begins with a young CIA analyst who volunteers for a mission in the field and soon finds himself fighting for his life. It’s man against man and man against nature as the hero is chased across the globe by Iranian counterintelligence agents. Continue reading →

Interview with LEO CAREW

April 9, 2018April 9, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview Debut 2018, Fantasy, Leo Carew, Orbit, Under the Northern Sky, Wildfire, Wolf

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Leo Carew?

I am a 26-year-old from London. I studied biological anthropology at university, which played a huge role in The Wolf. Outside of writing, I’m training to be an army doctor and am love exploration, particularly in the Arctic.

Your debut novel, The Wolf, will be published this month by Orbit (US) and Wildfire (UK). It looks interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader? Is it part of a series?

It’s the first in a trilogy which imagines that more than one species of human survived the Ice Age. It follows a protagonist from an alternate race of people (the Anakim) after his father is killed in battle and he attempts to inherit the throne. At the same time he has to resist an invasion from another race of humans, forcing him to gather allies as fast as possible, and turn to some people he’d rather not… Continue reading →

Interview with PETER SWANSON

March 31, 2018 Civilian Reader Interview All the Beautiful Lies, Before She Knew Him, Faber and Faber, Peter Swanson, Suspense, Thriller, William Morrow

Let’s start with an introduction: Who is Peter Swanson?

At this particular moment I’m a lump on a couch getting over a spring cold and looking forward to the start of the baseball season. I aspire to a dull life while at the same time concoct very un-dull lives for my characters.

Prior to being a full time writer I was a bookseller, a teacher, a bartender, a bookseller, and a blogger. And through it all I’ve been an avid reader, primarily of mystery and crime novels. I like to think that I am now living my ideal life.

Your latest novel, All the Beautiful Lies, will be published by William Morrow in April. It looks really interesting: How would you introduce it to a potential reader?

I like to think of it as two stories that converge into one. In the first story a recent college graduate named Harry Ackerson moves in with his stepmother after his father’s death, and discovers that his father led a secret life. In the other story we follow his stepmother, Alice Moss, going back to when she was a teenage girl, and the events that turned her into the adult she becomes. Continue reading →