So after an exciting launch of Haunting Obsession almost exactly a year ago, things have slowed down, with lots of talk of things to come, but little to show for it–so far.
But that’s not a lot, and the wait has been long, but I hope well worth it. In early 2013, with deadline approaching and a long way to go, I took a few month writing sabbatical (not entirely, but mostly) to finish Virtual Blue, the second book in the Adventures of Blue Shaefer. Add to that, some unavoidable delays that are the reality of small press publishing, we were pushed back probably another month. And so, without yet committing to a release date, I can announce with confidence that Virtual Blue is coming out next month.
The story picks up with Chip and Blue two years after the events of Haunting Blue, carrying on an uneasy long distance relationship as they attend colleges in different parts of the country. For reasons obvious at the end of Haunting Blue, things are not going well for them. Things are so bad, that Blue arranges to fly back to Indiana to break up with Chip over Thanksgiving break. She thinks she’s in for a miserable weekend, and she’ right–but she doesn’t know the half of it.
“Hell Just Went Digital.” That’s the tagline and hints of things to come. The many people who loved Rebecca Burton, my paranormal investigator from Haunting Obsession, will be happy to know she will play a big part in the next installment, and I include a few other surprises and characters from other Seventh Star authors.
At 90,000 words, Virtual Blue is my most ambitious project (certainly my longest). There’s ghosts. Also demons. And psychopaths. And warriors. And sorcerers. And swordfights. There’s a bathroom sink, but in retrospect, I should have made it a kitchen sink.
If you enjoyed Haunting Blue and the relationship between Blue Shaefer and Chip, you will find much to love here. That said, by design and based on pre-reader feedback, you don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy the second (more on that below).
Virtual Blue will not be out in time for the Paranormal Meet n Greet. It’s a choice between rushing production or taking the time to make it right. Seventh Star has been supportive times a million. Hyperbole aside, I took extra time with this. I wanted to make this the best effort I could. It’s what my readers deserve, and what you’ll always get. It just might not always be as fast as I’d like it.
So all that said….after I turned in Virtual Blue, I had some time on my hands, as well as a desire to stretch my genre muscles and to explore strange new worlds, so to speak. So I started messing around with a sci-fi spaceship idea I’d had for awhile, and before I knew it, I’d drafted The Fate of the Red Lotus, the first of a series of space opera novelettes. I grew up reading the spaceship fiction of Andre Norton, Elizabeth Moon, and of course, watching certain tales on TV created by Gene Roddenberry, and finally put my own slant on the classic genre. The first Red Lotus story will hit later this fall, as a Seventh Star Single, and if you love it as much as my pre-readers, we might see a new series before too long.
But wait, there’s more! As the year wraps up, Seventh Star is scheduling a re-printed, authorized version of Haunting Blue, the first book in the Adventures of Blue Shaefer, featuring a new cover and interior art by Series Illustrator Bonnie Wasson, giving my three novels a unified series look for the first time ever.
And I may have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Thanks for sticking with me. The wait is going to be soooo worth it. I can’t wait to share this. Watch this website and Facebook for more details. You can also follow the Author R.J. Sullivan Fan Club Facebook Page, my FB author business page, and my Twitter account to ensure you won’t miss a thing.
Last weekend, Seventh Star Press author John F. Allen launched his first-ever title, The God Killers, at Fletcher Place Arts and Books in downtown Indianapolis. It was a huge success. He’ll be joining Eric Garrison, Michael West, and me at Fandomfest this weekend, all four members of our guerilla marketing group The Corvus Quartet (Google Corvus Constellation) with our books loaded and ready to dazzle.
Cue the synopsis!
In The God Killers, the First Book of The God Killers Legacy, former professional art thief Ivory Blaque is hired to procure a pair of antique pistols and gets much more than she bargained for when several attempts are made on her life. Her client turns out to be a shadowy government agent who reveals that she is descended from a race of immortals, and that the pistols are linked to her unique heritage and the special psychic gifts she possesses. He uses the memories of her father to guilt her into working for him.
Ivory eventually gives in to his request, and in return, he presents her with her father’s journal, which was written in an unbreakable code. Bishop believes that she is the only one capable of breaking the code and unlocking the plans of the vampire hierarchy. But when the city’s top vampire is a sexy incubus with an attraction for her and she’s assigned a hot new lycan enforcer to protect her, she finds herself caught between two sets of rock hard abs. To regain her autonomy, clear her name, unlock the secrets of her past, and protect the lives of those closest to her, Ivory must play along with the forces trying to manipulate her. Ivory’s life is rapidly spiraling out of control and headed for an explosive conclusion which she just might not survive.
——
Thanks for taking the time for this. The first question that comes to mind, having done the same thing, what was your experience as a man, writing a story from a woman’s point of view? Talk about that how you approached it.
Thanks for having me RJ! A lot of the urban fantasy out there is written by a woman, from the perspective of a woman or both. So, when I thought of writing the character I was faced with what POV to use. I chose first person because I thought that it gave me the greatest opportunity to experience what Ivory goes through and give a lot of internal dialogue. Let me say it was indeed a BIG challenge, but one I was ready and excited to accept. I used my wife as a template for the character’s personality traits—most of them at least. I also consulted her on how she or any female might act and react in certain situations I place Ivory in. She proved to be an invaluable resource and my muse.
You’ve shared with me some stories about growing up as an African American male in Indianapolis, and the expectations your peers placed upon you. How tough was it to be a comic book and SF geek in that climate, and what were your takeaways looking back?
It was extremely challenging for me as an African American comic geek growing up. Many of my friends just weren’t into those sorts of things. A lot of the neighborhood kids—especially males—were playing sports or otherwise engaged, while I drawing, had my nose in a book/comic or was playing outside (Cowboys & Indians, Cops & Robbers, Superheroes & villains, etc…) with the other geeks. The experience was very rewarding in regards to my writing career because it developed my imagination and led me to create the stories I write with dynamic characters like Ivory.
You main character Ivory is a private investigator, a career you chose in real life at some point. Is Ivory’s world purely tapping the fictions of a noir/ urban fantasy / adventure setting, or were you able to bring any of your experience to her world? (You haven’t killed any vampires or werewolves, have you?)
I did put a bit of my experiences with the military and as a private investigator into Ivory’s world. She also owns an art gallery and I studied art history and visual art in college, so that background came in handy as well. I’d say that a lot of her adventures are plotted out with my own experiences and line of thinking in mind. And to answer your other question, no I haven’t…at least that I know of.
Your setting: why Chicago?
I chose Chicago because it’s close to Indianapolis (Ivory has ties to Indianapolis btw) it is the largest Metropolitan Midwestern city in the country, I’m intimately familiar with its culture, geography and history (frequent trips and my brother lived there) and there’s always something going on in the city.
What are you favorite genre authors? Include comic books as well. Particularly, which ones inspired the Ivory Blaque novels?
Robert B. Parker, L.A. Banks, James R. Tuck, Faith Hunter, Kevin Hearne, Walter Mosley, Laurell K. Hamilton, Tom Clancy, Jenna Black, Jon Merz, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Dwayne McDuffie, Lucy A. Snyder, Chris Claremont, Amanda Stevens, Neil Gaiman, Seressia Glass and Stan Lee.
How has publishing changed in the last decade, and how has being here, now, similar or different from your hopes and expectations growing up? Do you see publishing currently in a good or bad place?
I think that publishing has changed in that there are quite a few more self-published authors out there and self publishing isn’t frowned upon quite as much as it has been in the past. Also, I notice that since the number of self-published authors has grown, many small press publishers have taken the opportunity to seek out those talented authors and sway them to their presses. In turn, many BIG publishers are offering self-publication imprints to sway indie authors their way as well. I guess the bottom line is that authors have a lot more options on how they can approach the release of their work to the public and with those options, it give the authors more control over their creative properties and a larger chuck of the revenue in some cases.
One factor that helps Seventh Star stand apart is their lineup of artists and the interior art, which comes “standard” with all releases. A factor that makes you unique among their authors is that you have some art background coming into this process. Talk about working with your artist and how your unique background affected the process.
I think that my having a background as a visual artist is a double edged sword most of the times. On the one hand, I am VERY descriptive of what I see in my mind’s eye and can relate to the actual creative process in which visual artists use. However, another artist may find it a challenge to work with me at times, due to the fact that I’m so descriptive and intent on how things should look. I often find myself sketching out the characters and giving them to the artists to use as a reference, because I have such a lock on my initial vision(s).
Congratulation on your book launch! I’m reading it now and really digging it. Besides future volumes of Ivory Blaque, what can we expect from you?
I have a Sword & Sorcery short story which will be featured in an anthology titled, “Thunder on the Battlefield”. I’m also working on expanding Ivory’s world, what I’ve affectionately dubbed, “The Ivoryverse.” Readers can expect other characters to be introduced in the Ivory Blaque series and to eventually be featured in their own short stories, collections and novels sometime in the future. Look for a team of covert, military operatives, codenamed: Shadow Corps and a sci-fi espionage themed character named Knight Ranger, who makes a cameo appearance in The God Killers to get some short story/novella/novel love in the VERY near future!
So this year, FandomFest in Louisville, KY, has, among other superstar guests, William Shatner, Stan Lee, Gillian Anderson, Colin Baker, Gene Simmons, some Walking Dead people, and others along those same lines.
Not that you care about that. You’re showing up to stalk me. It okay. I feel ya’, and I got ya’ covered.
I’ll be at the Seventh Star Table with…well, Seventh Star Authors, including my TCQ (The Corvus Quartet–Google Corvus Constellation) buddies, John F. Allen, Eric Garrison and Michael West. TCQ is a foursome of authors and friends who belong to the same publisher and all live in the Indianapolis area. We’ve combined our powers to brainstorm ideas, trade resources and in other ways support each other’s efforts for the greater good of the whole. Or something like that.
In any case, Seventh Star will have a strong presence again this year, and the regional author tract will include a full weekend of panels and opportunities to learn how we authors do our authorly thing so you future authors can figure out how you can become a future author also…but sooner. Or something like that. Yes, I get paid to do this, what’s your point?
When I’m not here, I’ll be at the Seventh Star author’s table hanging out with my TCQ peeps, plus other Seventh Star authors, such as D. A. Adams, Steven Shrewsbury, Selah Janel, and I imagine Ali Justice and Stephen Zimmer will be coming by, too. Okay, I might sneak away to get some food, check out the other awesome authors and publishers, and photo-bomb Stan Lee so it looks like he’s holding a copy of Haunting Obsession (if possible).
Bottom line, it’s going to be a great weekend! Don’t miss it!
The Wide Game By Michael West Re-release 2013 Seventh Star Press www.bymichaelwest.com Order from Amazon here 10 / 10 Arjays—because everyone knows Arjays are the coolest thing ever!
This text below was originally written for a previous edition of the novel, now out of print.
“When you’re in high school, it all seems so serious. Every little thing has cosmic ramifications. Everything is life and death. It’s only when you get some distance you realize it wasn’t that way at all.” This bit of dialog appears late in the novel The Wide Game, spoken without a trace of irony. And the reader knows by this point in the story that Paul Rice, our protagonist, would punch the speaker in the face if she were anyone other than his wife.
Those who give in to the numbing effects of time and distance forget that a small percentage of every high school class never graduates due to suicide. For those lucky enough (or unfortunate enough, one could convincingly argue) to have a high school sweetheart, they experience a love more powerful and more pure than any to come after, resulting in scars of the heart and soul that never entirely heal afterwards. Some high school friends remain friends the rest of our lives. Music and movies make a far deeper impression. High school is an experience of feelings at its most pure, not because we can’t distance ourselves, but because most of us have not built up the walls that life and experience force us to build. The walls built between our true exposed selves and the rest of the word. Because high school teaches us to build those walls.
So okay, I’m three paragraphs in, and I haven’t talked about the monsters. If you read Skull Full of Kisses (and if not, why haven’t you?) then you already know West can deliver on the scary. In The Wide Game, the scary comes in the form of an unspeakable evil that rises from the cornfield in a variety of terrible shapes and methods, and as the mystery unfolds, the motivation works beautifully. The blood is spilled, the scary things come. Terror ensues. Much has been said about the horror in this horror novel in plenty of other reviews. If you are here for a great horror novel, The Wide Game delivers.
But what impressed me more about The Wide Game is West’s ability to create fully developed characters, even the ones that won’t make it to the end.
Paul Rice, in the year 1997, returns to the small town he grew up in with great reluctance for his ten year high school reunion. Paul visits his mother’s home with his wife and two children, so grandma can watch the children and Paul and his wife can head off to the reunion proper. We hear references to a great tragedy during the class of 1987 Wide Game—essentially an annual small town senior tradition scavenger hunt / graduation party held in a giant cornfield. We learn that Paul, then a film major and participant in the game, actually captured some of these events on his video camera.
Wisely, the book doesn’t spend a lot of time in 1997, but quickly jumps back to 1987, where we experience the events “live” as they unfold. And here is where the novel really resonated with me.
We are dealing with the mid-80s, teenagers, and mass murder. Yes, West flirts with many of the teen horror movie conventions of the time. You have the high school sweethearts; the obsession with music and M-TV; The 80’s slang; the nerd and the bully; the bodyguard who defends the nerd; the jock; the stoners; the Laverne-and-Shirley-like best girlfriends. Incredibly and in spite of this, West manages to avoid the typical dumb teenager clichés while paying homage to the era that brought us these great clichés.
Paul is very much in love with Deidra, and West takes his time developing their passion and budding romance, letting the reader experience it firsthand. The rest of the novel relies on the reader caring about them, and taking the time to develop the relationship pays off. Rather than bringing the story to a halt, it’s my favorite series of scenes. Paul and Deidra are sweet and likeable and sincere, and any reader whose heart is not made of gargoyle stone will get vested in their story. All this while already knowing that Paul’s wife in 1997 is named Mary, not Deidra.
Paul falls hard for Deidra, invests his heart, his soul, and his creative romantic energy the way only a swooning teenager can—before the first heartbreak, the first shattering of romantic dreams, the first time you realize your destiny was not as set as you thought.
I don’t know if West based this on reality, but I can take a guess. Having experienced a similar arc in my own high school experience (well, minus the being chased by psychotic pissed-off spirits in a cornfield part) West opens a creative vein of truth to bring the perfect touch of honesty to his fiction. For me the high school hi-jinks resonate to the point of a near-flashback, and the reunion worked equally well for reasons that enter into spoiler territory.
Bottom line: If you’re just looking for a great scary book, you can’t go wrong with The Wide Game. Even if the 80s high school setting means nothing to you, you’re still in for a great time. If, however, you happen to a couple years on either side of age 40, The Wide Game could very well serve as a wonderful, chilling reminder of a past when “Every little thing has cosmic ramifications…[and] Everything is life and death.”
John F. Allen, Eric Garrison, R.J. Sullivan and Michael West are selling and signing at Bookmama’s in Irvington, Indiana, 9 Johnson Avenue (click that link for location and other details) this Saturday, July 13, from 2-3 p.m. The authors are all affiliated with Seventh Star Press and the Indiana Horror Writers.
Three authors are offering brand-new releases exclusive to this event first! When I say brand-new, I mean you can’t even purchase these books though normal retail or internet outlets for a few more days. I mean the first print run in still the mail to the authors and will get here just in time. Bookmama’s will be the very first place in the galaxy you can buy these books!!
Let’s break down the new stuff.
New voice John F. Allen will be offering the first book of the Ivory Blaque trilogy through Seventh Star, The God Killers, here BEFORE HIS OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH NEXT WEEK, featuring cover and interior art by Enggar Adirasa!
Eric Garrison will release Four ’til Late, the first book of his Ghost Roads Trilogy, with new cover and interior art by Bonnie Wasson!
Michael West is bringing the highly anticipated re-issue of The Wide Game, with new cover and interior art by Matthew Perry!
There will be author readings. And snacks. And temporary tattoos. A good time is guaranteed. Hope to see you there.
A complete listing of books available:
The God Killers by John F. Allen; Blue Spirit*, Four ’til Late, and Reality Check** by Eric Garrison; Haunting Blue*** (Limited copies!) and Haunting Obsession by R.J. Sullivan; Cinema of Shadows, Poseidon’s Children, Spook House, The Wide Game, and Vampires Don’t Sparkle! (Limited copies!) by Michael West.
Books are $15 per title except Haunting Blue, $20.00. All titles are Seventh Star Press releases unless otherwise indicated.
Let’s get the downers out of the way first. Sales at Inconjunction could have been better. Crowds at Inconjunction could have been much better. I don’t blame the convention staffers for this. It simply reflects what we already know–that rumors of the recovering economy are highly exaggerated.
Few genre fans are able to spend a lot of money on a weekend devoted to fantasy and science fiction. And of those that do, after other expenses have to pick and choose who gets their money that weekend and whose bookmark or website they grab up to check out later. And that’s okay. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to measure a convention’s success.
Genre fiction is about community. Conversation. Exchanging ideas with others of a similar mindset. What I have found most disconcerting entering into all this as a “vendor” is how my relationship with many convention-goers has shifted from “hey I’m a fan, you’re a fan. Let’s talk.” to “Hi, you want to buy something, I want to sell you a book I wrote. Let’s talk.” It’s not a comfortable change for me, but there it is.
Fortunately, I am also a panelist, and this weekend found great satisfaction during my panel interactions. Here again, the relationship is different from what I am used to. I am on this side of the table because I know something that I can share. Those who attend want to know something, and supposedly, I am an “expert” who can help pass along something that they will find of use. The conversation is much closer to the old standard, though it shifts a bit to “Hi, you want to write science fiction. I have successfully written science fiction. Let’s talk.” And I find I’m getting fairly comfortable with that.
My first panel of the weekend was Mentorship in Writing, shared with my TCQ Seventh Star peeps Eric Garrison and John F. Allen, plus the editor-in-chief of Loconeal Publishing, James O. Barnes. We discussed the ways in which writers can find other writers who are best equipped to take them to that next step up. We also explored the pros and cons of critique groups, internet resources, and how publishers often pool their author’s resources to help each other. John Allen said some nice things about me, which I appreciated.
Panel two was The Basics of Book Reviewing. Like panel one, this was also well-attended, included E. Susan Baugh and had the distinction of being local author Crystal Leflar‘s first ever panel. She did a great job, and after all my assurances beforehand about how not to worry, I was the one that ended up blanking in front of the audience.
Panel three was Friday night at 11 pm, a discussion on Horror, and the only poorly attended panel, most likely on account of it being Friday night at 11 pm. That said, the few who braved it joined in the discussion with much enthusiasm, and the conversation was helmed by the knowledgeable writer of much scariness, Nicole Cushing. Plus Crystal, and local genre author Matthew Barron. But horror fans are enthusiastic fans, and what the audience lacked in numbers they more than made up for in challenging questions. We let the panel run several minutes over. After all, there were no midnight panels waiting to start.
The next morning, I was asked to join an “orphaned” panel, called such because many of the scheduled panelists had not shown up. The topic was writer’s block, and joining Nicole Cushing (the lone original panelist who could show up) were John Allen, Eric Garrison and Crystal Leflar.
Panel five was on publishing in all its shades, from self-publishing to having a big publisher contract, the pros and cons of each variation. Our panel of James O. Barnes, Matthew Barron, Nicole Cushing and Sara Jo Easton was up to exploring each option with some detail.
Each panel proved rewarding and challenging, and I met many new and interesting people on both sides of the table.
Other convention highlights included a chance to sit down one on one with Nicole Cushing over late night cups of coffee and talk shop on a variety of writerly subjects. I suspect I got more good advice out of it than she did, and I appreciate her taking the time to listen and coach me.
I had a great dinner with Kathy Watness and James O. Barnes. I was able to share a favorite local Chinese restaurant with them (I grew up in the area) and enjoy some wonderful conversation.
In spite of some noise challenges during the Candlelight author reading Saturday night, my story from Vampires Don’t Sparkle, “Robot Vampire” seemed very well received by the audience. I enjoyed hearing entries from the other readers, Matthew Barron and James S. Dorr. (I knew Eric Garrison’s stories, and he read ’em well.)
I got a birthday hug from Tammy Jo Eckart and purchased Ingenue from local movie director Kate Chaplin. We were booth neighbors two conventions back and it’s great that since then, she has since produced her first feature length film.
I shared a table with and spent a lot of time with Seventh Star Press author and TCQ peeps Eric Garrison and John Allen. Eric gifted me with the Five Year Mission CDs for my birthday, so I am getting initiated into that awesomeness.
Success is how you define it, and while I might not be able to prove to my accountant that Inconjunction was a profitable weekend (and I have no doubt that will change in future years), Inconjunction delivered in the ways it always does–a time and place for local fans and professionals to come together and celebrate with each other what they love most about genre fiction, making it well worth the time and effort.
Today, Indiana horror fans from my generation, give and take a few years, received the sad news that Hoosier TV pioneer Bob Carter has died. If you lived outside of Indiana, you’re probably saying “who?” Even if you lived here, the name may not immediately click. But if I tell you Bob Carter was the real-life identity of Sammy Terry, recognition and fond memories are bound to set in for so many who watched Hoosier television from 1962 to 1989.
Since the news hit, dozens of tributes and memories have flashed across my Facebook page. At the same time, it saddens me to see the “official” local media gloss over or minimize what Bob Carter brought to Indianapolis television for almost 30 years.
Sammy Terry was the brainstorm of Carter when he joined the programming staff of local TV station WTTV Channel 4. TV itself was still fairly new, local TV with an identity even more so. Though there were sporadic gaps during his run, the show remained a local staple until 1989, when Bob’s Sammy wished us all ” many… pleasant… nightmares!” for the last time. I saw him for the first time as a single-digit-aged boy of the early 70s, and through the years he introduced me to the Universal horror movies, to Hammer films, to Vincent Price, to the first two Blob movies, and to Godzilla (and his less intimidating counterpart Gamera) and much, much more.
But more than that, he was a part of a time when TV stations were truly local and community-driven. WTTV had a stable of such hosts. As a kid, I started the day with “Cowboy Bob” hosting cartoons, “Janie” hosting more cartoons, and “Popeye and Peggy” hosting….you guessed it, still more cartoons. We also had Jim Gerard, a TV talk show who focused exclusively on things Indianapolis. Throughout my childhood and into my college years, Sammy Terry came on Friday and/or Saturday nights, and I missed very few of them.
Depending on where you lived, each major metropolitan area had its own late night horror host. Every city had its own “local” celebrities, embracing the best parts of both words, local and celebrity, each with fans in the hundreds of thousands. You could see Cowboy Bob at a popular restaurant, Janie at the local schools. Mrs. RJ’s girl scout troop took a tour of Peggy’s studio.
While I am prone to exaggerate to prove a point, I was truly a huge fan of Sammy Terry. I think back to my poor sixth grade teacher who had to read through my three-part multiple-page “epic” creative writing assignment “Sammy Terry Versus Dracula” (Sammy won) and hope it brought a smile to her face as much as this fact makes me blush today. I have two signed photos of Sammy–an official publicity shot and a piece of fan “art” I drew myself. I presented both at the Paramount Music Palace restaurant (another Indiana treasure now gone) to which he quipped “Oh, what a HOR-rible picture!” Which was, of course, a compliment.
But removing my personal memories, Bob Carter was part of an era difficult to explain to those too young to have lived it. Like so much connected to horror, the local horror host was part of a grass roots effort, this one by TV stations to re-introduce classic horror films to a new generation, (that TV hopped on this trend on the heels of the success of Forrest Ackerman’s magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland is, I’m certain, no coincidence).
Then with the dominance of cable, movies and cartoons went “national”, and TV programmers sought alternative programming, giving rise to the info-mercial. The result of this speaks for itself. Quickly, and before most people realized it, true local community television died, and for reasons baffling to me, cable stations have failed to try to make the TV host a national phenomenon. (What few attempts I have seen are sad short-lived shadows, but that’s another discussion.)
One of the many reasons why the original mid-80s Fright Night will forever rock is its homage to this era (an homage mostly lost on later generation viewers who think a random Chris Angel riff works just fine) in the character of Peter Vincent, played by the marvelously underrated Roddy McDowell. Peter is a fictional local horror host who speaks for all local horror hosts of the time to comment on TV’s then-changing attitudes toward their status. Peter Vincent is horror films’ acknowledgment of the debt it owes to all such local horror hosts (and as far as I know, remains the only such tribute).
But in Indiana at least, there’s a sort-of happy ending to this melancholy tale. About three years ago, Sammy Terry-mania returned in a big way. Bob Carter, who’d retired from personal appearances in the early 2000s, gave his blessing to his son to take up the Sammy Terry persona. To some people’s surprise (though not mine) the buzz from the local community has been fairly strong, and last year, Sammy Terry returned to local television, with Mark Carter donning the makeup, clothes, and shtick.
Today, five new TV specials and tens of thousands of fans spanning multiple generations later, the hand-off is complete. Mark will never replace his father, but he just might take Sammy Terry into the 21st century, and make the old ghoul relevant again. And that, as I like to say, would make me unreasonably happy.
Rest in peace, Bob Carter. Your legacy as a Hoosier television pioneer is secured, and you will be remembered fondly for generations to come.
We’re now a week away from InConJunction, one of Indianapolis’ longest-running genre cons. Before there was GenCon, before there was Starbase Indy, Inconjunction was “the” local convention, and I was a fan attendee from way back. InConJunction was my first con. My local con. One of my earliest dates with Mrs. RJ. If the term existed, I would have said attending as an author was on my “bucket list.”
Now I’m preparing for my second appearance as an author. I’ll be sharing a table with local authors Eric Garrison and John F. Allen (It’s a Seventh Star Press theme, because we’re all on Seventh Star, but not all of us are just on Seventh Star…never mind), and we’re also sharing some panels. I’ll have copies of Haunting Obsession and Haunting Blue with me, and if you ask really nice, I might give you some hints about my upcoming release Virtual Blue (If you buy me food, I guarantee it).
While I’m sure precious few of you are attending just to follow me around…well, hey, I can dream, can’t I?
Congratulations to my friend Eric Garrison on his two book publishing deals, one with Hydra Publications for his recently released science fiction dimension hopping thriller, Reality Check. The other for a multi-book deal with Seventh Star Press.
Shorty after Eric and I met, we discovered pretty fast that our writing shares much in common. We decided to embrace the similarities and write in a “shared world.”
So ignore all that, because Reality Check is something else entirely.
Reality Check is Eric’s genre-bending, dimension-hopping science fiction thriller, the first of a planned trilogy. You can meet Eric along with many other awesome authors *koff-koff me too koff-koff* at the That Book Place Book Fair, Saturday, March 16, the first place on the planet where Eric will appear, armed with the paperback of Reality Check.
“When a quantum supercomputer’s ‘reality simulator’ program causes temporary insanity in its beta-testers, Lee Green rolls up his sleeves and dives into a virtual world to debug the problem. Only he discovers that place is more real than anyone imagined.
He finds alternate versions of his friends in that mad science reality, their lives and relationships very different from those in the ‘real’ world. Quantum entanglements become romantic entanglements as he meets his love again in each new dimension.
Lee must save these other lives, decide which destiny is truly his, and what he’s willing to sacrifice to get there.”
For those that can’t make it, click here and here to see the book’s Amazon links.
There’s something both classical and yet new to this story. When it comes to science fiction, are you drawn more toward the classics or to the more modern stories? Which authors inspire you, particularly with this work?
I suppose if I had to pick just one of those, I guess I lean toward the classics. Even the modern authors I read, Stephen Baxter, John Varley, Dan Simmons… these guys write about spaceships and exploration and how humans change and still remain human.
Looking at my bookcases for science fiction authors, I see a lot of Asimov, Niven, Simmons, and Gibson. But if I think about the forces that formed Reality Check, I’d have to give credit to Robert Heinlein, Neal Stephenson, and John Varley. Whatever else you may say about Heinlein, he was the master of social science fiction… that “what if” being applied to how people adapt to technology and alien situations. Neal Stephenson, on the other hand, is the master of science fiction at breakneck, breathless pacing. I always strive to keep the momentum in my novels going. John Varley follows in Heinlein’s footsteps in his treatment of individuals and relationships in science fiction, but he’s also amazing at cranking things “up to eleven” in intensity, taking the story through twists and turns that make you afraid to put his books down.
From the Reality Check book trailer. Art by Nell Williams.
I’m going to give a nod toward Jack Chalker too, since absolutely no one writes body swapping stories like he does. There, I said it, I love Jack Chalker’s novels. We all have to have guilty pleasures, right?
What work would you most directly compare this story to?
That’s a tough one. It’s part Matrix, part Quantum Leap and part Star Trek TOS: Mirror, Mirror. I take a techie geek from our world and put him in alternate worlds, where he finds his own life still intertwined with his friends’ in different ways, despite the changing backdrop and genre.
When you first discussed the concept of this story, what struck me was how difficult, potentially, keeping track of your plot points might be. Yet everything falls into place quite nicely. Discuss the approach you took to keeping the plot from getting away from you.
Without giving too much away, I think the symmetry of the story was what held it together. Sure, three characters across three-and-a-half worlds did get confusing. Those three became nine individuals, but despite local differences, each triplet has great similarity to his or her alternate counterparts. It could have gotten all sorts of crazy, dealing with three main worlds, each with its local crisis, and all those characters’ motivations, but in the end, I told the story in first person for a reason: This is Lee’s story. Seeing it all through his eyes, we follow just his thread through the warp and weave of the novel. Writing it that way, I could concentrate on his wants and feelings and actions, even as everything changed around him, including his own body.
Let me throw a couple of thoughts at you that occurred to me as I read your book, and get your response. Reality Check follows a protagonist, unsure of himself, unhappy with his life, who finds within himself hidden potential as his exterior environment radically shifts. Reality Check may be seen as a study on how our environment directly affects us as a determining factor on how much of our potential we can find within ourselves.
From the Reality Check book trailer. Art by Nell Williams.
I think this is a valid way to look at a theme in the story. Lee’s in the doldrums in his own life, but when he’s thrown into alternate versions of his life, he meets the challenges he finds there, doing more to fix those lives than than his own. Change is difficult, but it’s being put outside of our comfort zone that makes us grow and shine. Lee could have continued happily enough in his rut, but so could Bilbo have sat at home in his hole. And like Bilbo, Lee makes that first choice to step outside of himself to become so much more than he would have otherwise.
Try this one: A core theme in Reality Check seems to be that some people are destined to be together and will always find each other, no matter their life circumstance or position in life. With each reality shift, Lee continues to have a close relationship with his two best friends, even though the realities have little to nothing to do with each other geographically or, in many ways, the professions and organizations the three of them are associated with. (Dancing around spoilers). Do you embrace this destined viewpoint between individuals as a personal philosophy?
I think the idea of a soulmate is overused. I absolutely do not believe the “romantic” notion that there’s one true person for each of us in this world. I don’t see that concept as romantic, I see it as depressing. Only one person out of billions that really gets you? What if you pick wrong and meet your real soulmate later?
I prefer the idea of kindred spirits, in the sense that some people, you just know right off the bat, like you’ve met them before. Like we’re all just characters in some massively multiplayer online game, and we’ve played other games with the same folks another time. I do think we’re drawn to certain people, and I like to think that would be true no matter what universe.
Just to be contrary, I’ll relate that Reality Check doesn’t actually imply this. One of the Dionnes comes out and says that the only way the reality hopping works for Lee is because he’s swapping with people in other universes enough like him to be essentially who he is, despite all other factors. She goes on to say that the reason he’s surrounded by his closest friends, even in other universes, is because he can’t be who he is without those people as a part of his life.
But it’s really just a chicken-and-egg sort of thing. Can they travel between dimensions only because they are together, or would they be together in any universe? They’re simply not the same people without each other, so it doesn’t matter which is the real reason. We are who we are, in part, by who we choose as friends.
This is your fifth completed novel and your first venture into science fiction. Discuss your journey as a writer. Is this a novel you could have written at any point in that journey or did you have to build up to it? Why did you feel that now was the right time?
I wrote Reality Check for two main reasons. One, I had this idea, in some raw form, rattling around in my head for many years beforehand. It’s been sitting in my “Story Ideas” file in Google Docs all this time. It was going to be a short story, originally, but I couldn’t think of a plot to go with the concept that would fit that format. Two, I’d written four urban fantasy novels already, one trilogy and one spin-off, and I felt I wanted to stretch myself by writing all new characters and a different genre.
From the Reality Check book trailer. Art by Nell Williams.
I really don’t think I could have written this as my first novel. It was a huge challenge. I quit writing it out of frustration halfway through the first draft. I did, I quit, I shouted I was done with it. I felt overwhelmed, and I wasn’t sure how I wanted to end it. But some good friends told me the idea was too compelling to abandon, that I had to finish it. With that external motivation, I sat my butt down and redid the outline, in greater detail, and finished a rough draft. Which I got feedback on; I was right, the ending wasn’t very satisfying. So I made it a sort of false ending and kicked the plot back into gear toward a new goal, which ended up rewriting and expanding it quite a bit. Even that ending wasn’t quite satisfying, so I tweaked it until I was satisfied and added an Epilogue so the ending didn’t come to such an abrupt halt.
There’s no way I would have had the discipline and drive to retool, rewrite and polish this book before the time I wrote it. It took having the other four books under my belt to have the confidence to finish what I started, with a little help from my friends, and the patience that came with the experience I gained over time.
Because “it’s complicated,” can you discuss what’s coming up from Eric Garrison?
It really is complicated! Toward the end of last year, I had a choice of working on a sequel to my urban fantasy spin-off, Blue Spirit (which I’ve already started), or following up on the adventures of Lee, Dionne and Cecil with a Reality Check sequel. Mean Spirit or Sanity Check. But a few things happened. First, Reality Check got picked up by Hydra Publications, which meant spending quality time with an editor (shout out to Martha Swanson!) to further refine that work. Then, I pitched my self-published Road Ghosts trilogy to Seventh Star Press, and they’ve decided to pick it up and publish it, along with Blue Spirit, as part of a six book deal.
So, my first novel, Four ’til Late, will be my next novel to come out in late spring or early summer of 2013. It will be followed by Sinking Down, the second book in the trilogy in mid to late summer. Blue Spirit will come out right on that book’s heels, for complicated reasons… mainly so that it doesn’t have to stay out of print as long, but partly because its protagonist, Skye, is introduced in Sinking Down and doesn’t have a role in the third book in the Road Ghosts trilogy.
So that means I will be working on a sequel to Blue Spirit in order to have it come out by the end of the year or early next year. But I think it won’t be Mean Spirit; I’ve decided more has to happen between those two books, so my working title for Skye’s next adventure is Restless Spirit.
Here’s the official cover reveal and pre-order of Vampires Don’t Sparkle! An anthology releasing in mid-March edited by Michael West and including my story Robot Vampire. I’m proud of this one of for many reasons. First, I enjoyed the challenge of taking the title “Robot Vampire” and making something out of it. Secondly, it’s an honor to be placed among such a distinctive list of established horror writers. Last, but certainly not least, the anthology is a fundraiser for cancer research, and I’m honored to be a part of it. Here’s the full press release.
R.J. Sullivan Fiction 