Author Interview: nova

Today, A Modern Warrior’s Life has the distinct honor to welcome nova, the author of the American Apocalypse series, who granted me an interview (quite some time ago), after I read and reviewed his first book.
 
I would like to start the interview by offering an apology, nova, I should have posted your review and this interview a long time ago, but my life has been exceptionally busy lately, both personally and professionally.  Busy life aside, I have to say that I am excited to have you here, because I think that my readers will enjoy hearing from you.
 
If you don’t mind, could we start with a little biographical information?  Tell us about yourself? 

 

Hi Bill. I'm married with a family. I am a veteran.  I can say that I am a veteran but I would like to qualify that by adding that my toughest battles were over whether or not I should get drunk or really drunk.
 

Been there, and done that, brother!  Could you tell us about your motivation to write this book? As I understand it, you started writing piece by piece at a blog.  Is that correct? 

The novel started as comments on the blog Calculated Risk.  It started taking on a life of its own so I moved it to another blog where I could post lengthier comments. These grew an eventually became the book.

nova was my user name on Calculated Risk. I continued to use it because it kept continuity with  the original posts.

Your book, besides being a good story,  is about some very serious subject matter… how does it make you feel to see some of these things actually coming to pass in light of our current economic woes?

I never believed in the scenario of one big crash taking us back to the stone age.  This country is to rich and powerful.  Instead I see a gradual slide to in the standard living, law enforcement, job opportunities resulting in a two tiered economy of the rich and everyone else.

 

I think we are progressing quite nicely in this direction.
 
Given how things are for us at the moment, how do you see things panning out in the near-term?

 
The best I can see at this point is welcome to the Third World.
 
Tell me about character development.  Are any of the characters closely related to you in personality, temperament, or weapons skills?

Hah!  I can wish I was that deadly.  No, I think I have used characters from history such as Wyatt Earp and Clint Eastwood to define them.

 
 During our correspondence last year, you told me that you were in the edit stage with the second installation in the series, which has since come to print… how are you feeling about the series so far?

 

My time flies Bill. At this point I am writing AA IV.  I have AA II on Amazon along with a novella about one of the main characters titled "Gardener Summer" that is available on Kindle and other ebook formats only.

AA I was bought by Ulysses Press, edited by a professional, and is scheduled for release March 1, 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Apocalypse-Novel-Aftermath-Nova/dp/1569759030/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289058039&sr=8-5

 
If I can just throw something in here for a second, I have to tell you that I am quite jazzed about the fact that I can purchase your books not only via Amazon.com, but at Barnes & Noble as well.  How cool is that?  Any chance that your books will be out via Kindle?

AA I will be a mass market paperback release in all formats. AA II and Gardener Summer are available on Amazon in paper and Kindle. Smashwords.com has them in the other ebook formats.  B&N and anyone else is a special order at this point.
 
Very cool… so let me ask you this, which has nothing to do with your book:  What do you think are the viable options for improving transportation in the DC metro area?

ARGH! You mean the land of traffic hell?  Maybe if the counties hadn't sold their souls to real estate developers there might be a chance. Now with a declining tax base and a federal government that is spending us into bankruptcy to save the banks I would say we are screwed.

  
Thanks for taking the time to give my readers a bit of a peek at you!  As I said in my review of your book, I honestly recommend it.  The pacing is good, the writing is clean, there is plenty of action, and the story pulls no punches.

Before I close, I would like to give you a little more free publicity.  If there is anything that you would like to tell us for the good of the order, we are listening.
 
Yes. Get moving on writing on that book of yours!

Just give me time, friend... just give me time!

 Thanks again for being with us today, nova, I wish you the best of luck!
 
GF