Steve McHugh's Blog: Steve McHugh - Writer, page 23

An Interview With John Jackson Miller

 

Today I’m proud to introduce fellow 47North writer, Star Wars scribe and all-round talented individual, John Jackson Miller.

 

1. So, why don’t you tell us all a bit about yourself?

John Jackson Miller: I’m a writer who’s spent the last couple of decades strip-mining my childhood, so to speak! I worked in the comics industry for many years as a trade magazine editor (and continue my historical research on my Comichron site – http://www.comichron.com). For the last decade I’ve also been writing comics and prose, for franchises from Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Conan and The Simpsons.

Along those lines, I have a few books that are out this summer. The big one is Del Rey’s Star Wars: Kenobi, my first prose hardcover, which follows the early days of Obi-Wan Kenobi during his sojourn on Tatooine. On the comics side, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 has just released, which collects the first chunk of the five-year comics series I wrote for Dark Horse Comics.

The other prose book is one of my own: Overdraft – The Orion Offensive, my first creator-owned project, which I did for 47North. I’m really excited about that one.

 2. Can you tell us a bit more about your book? Where did the idea come from? How long did it take to write?

John Jackson Miller: The short plug for Overdraft is that it’s aliens and armored mercenaries taking on Wall Street! Really, it’s a fun story that plugs into a number of the themes that I enjoyed writing about in licensed work. It’s set in the 22nd Century, when mankind has reached the stars and entered into galactic commerce; naturally, greed is soon to follow. Overdraft follows what happens when a conniving stock trader accidentally bankrupts his interstellar expedition from his desktop; the mercenaries, deciding they’re not going to go into unemployment, drag him to the frontier to get their money back, one dangerous planet at a time.

It’s space opera with some satirical overtones, partially inspired by the London Whale and some other high-finance disasters; it made for a good springboard to get our fish out of water and into the galactic soup, fighting for his life. It’s also got a fun system of space transport, which is really more akin to the golden age of rail travel.

It took about three months to write, once I got started on it.

 

 3. How did signing with 47North come about?

John Jackson Miller: The acquisitions editor, David Pomerico, had been assistant editor on a short story project I did at Del Rey, Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith. It was being released as a collected print edition in the summer of 2012 when I spoke with David about possibly doing a short story series for 47North. He suggested that I craft it into a Kindle Serial, and that’s what happened — the serial was released every two weeks from April to July 2013. It’s now available in its completed Kindle and physical book form. (http://amzn.to/overdraft1)

 

4. What has been your favourite part of your writing/publishing experience? The scariest?

John Jackson Miller: I’ve written over a million words for comics and prose works over the last decade, but this was a bit of a new experience: unlike my novels like Star Wars: Kenobi, this is set in a sandbox that’s all my own. So I needed to construct rules and a history for my world. It was fun work, but also a bit intimidating as you realize how much there is to think through. Things like what the medical system is like in your future world are things you don’t normally think of when working out a plot, but they tend to become important when you’re writing.

I think the other challenging thing was in writing the story, which was being released serially while I was writing it. I’m pretty fast, but life gets in the way sometimes, or it certainly tries to. You just have to focus and keep writing!

 

5.  What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine?

John Jackson Miller: It’s not regular enough, is the problem! I was moonlighting for my first several years in the business and I continue to look on evenings and weekends as prime writing time, even though I have been writing full time and really should be setting a different schedule. I just seem to find that handling the business part of things tends to slop over from morning into the afternoons a lot, and that it’s really in the evening hours when I don’t have to worry about e-mails coming in from anyone.

I also have started using noise-canceling headphones, which are really helpful when gutting out a long scene. It’s funny – I was trained to work in a noisy newsroom, but really have trouble doing fiction when there’s noise about.

 

6. Do you have a favourite scene from the book?

John Jackson Miller: Overdraft throws the stock trader into all kinds of crazy situations – but one of my favorites is his first encounter with an actual alien. His translation system has assigned this bizarre looking creature the persona and voice of a 1950s stewardess, and he’s struggling to reconcile the voice with the gruesome sight of the alien – all without offending his potential customer. It doesn’t work out very well, to say the least. That becomes a pattern for him!

Readers can get a taste of the world in a prequel short story I wrote – “Human Error” – which has a similar odd predicament: our mercenaries accidentally get shipped the wrong species’ armor and have to cope! (http://amzn.to/overdraft0)

7.  Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

John Jackson Miller: I have a Star Trek novella, Star Trek: Titan – Absent Enemies releasing from Simon & Schuster in early 2014. It’s my first foray into the Trek universe and it’s a lot of fun, following the adventures of William Riker on his new command.

I also have a Conan story in the November issue of Robert E. Howard’s Savage Sword from Dark Horse Comics. It’s my first trip into that world, as well, and it reunites me with Philip Tan, one of my artists from my Iron Man run of comics.

I am working on some more Overdraft-related material, as well as some other projects; I hope to continue with Star Wars as well. Folks can find out about my upcoming work at http://www.farawaypress.com and on Twitter at @jjmfaraway.

 

 8.  Do you have any advice for other writers?

John Jackson Miller: Never stop writing, and always write for publication somewhere, even if it’s just for your own blog. Every word should have a destination, an intended reader. You’re in business to communicate, so make sure there’s someone – anyone – on the receiving end. That’s better practice than “writing for yourself.”

And now for a few fun questions.

 

1. What skills do you possess that would help you survive a zombie apocalypse?

John Jackson Miller: Zero, zip, and nada. I did establish that the rakghouls, the zombies from the Knights of the Old Republic series, were the result of Sith magic; my one contribution to zombie lore in the Star Wars universe. But outside of fixing continuity, my skills are lacking!

2. You can be any comic book superhero – Who would you be?

John Jackson Miller: I was glad to get to write Iron Man for a year as he was really the character I liked the most – he didn’t have to be in shape, he let the suit do the work!

 

3. As you’re a Star Wars writer, I’d regret not asking this. So, are there any Star Wars characters you’ve never written but would like to? And who is the favourite one you’ve written so far?

John Jackson Miller: Ben Kenobi is really the first character from the movies that I’ve gotten to write at length about; obviously, he was a lot of fun. I’ve always thought Lando Calrissian would be fun to write about – he’s a scoundrel with style, you’ve got to love that. Within my own personal pantheon, probably Gryph, the conniving con artist from my Knights of the Old Republic comics, comes closest to having Lando’s cleverness.

 

Thanks to John for taking part.

You can find his blog here.

Twitter here.

And his Author Central page on Amazon here.

 

Blog Stop Post 1

Yeah, I know, you don’t hear anything from me in a few weeks and then you get posts every day.  I promise i’ll be more timely in a few weeks.

But at the moment, I just wanted to take a second to post some more links for people to go to. I’ve done a few fun interviews and guest posts and figured a few people might be interested in reading my ramblings.

 

First up: Books, Books and More Books have a guest post of mine where I discuss character. They also have a giveaway where people can win a copy of each book.

The incredibly patient (because I forgot to send her what I said I was going to) Lesley Smith has a look at Crimes Against Magic and Born of Hatred.

 

The very  talented Melissa Olson interviews me about writing and my books.

 

The equally talented Richard Ellis Preston Jr has an interview with me too.

 

That’s it for today. I’ll be doing a few of these and if you get time you really should go have a read as they were fun to do. Remember if you re-tweet or share my twitter and FB status’ about my books, your name goes in a hat to win the chance to name your own character in book 4! Only 1 week left.

 

Before I go, thanks to everyone for making yesterday’s launch day, an awesome day all round.

Release Day

So today is the day that the 47North editions of Crimes Against Magic and Born of Hatred are finally released. This is hopefully the start of a whole new episode of great things to happen. However, I have been asked a few questions about the editions and figured I’d answer them all here.

Is there anything different from the old versions?

 

Short answer, yes. Long answer: Crimes Against Magic has some considerable changes to parts of the book, it reads better for it too. Born of Hatred has a lot less changes, but still a few. Think of them this way, these are my directors cut versions. Basically these are better than the versions that were out. It’s up to you whether you’re happy with what you’ve read, or you want the updated version.

 

If I already own them, do I need to re-buy them.

 

Yes. They’re new editions, so in essence a new version of the book.

 

When will book 4 be out?

 

No idea. Ask me again in 6 months and you’ll probably have a different answer. But considering I’ve not started writing it yet beyond notes and the opening few chapters, probably a little while.

 

 

 

Also, here’s a few places you should go visit as I start my trip around the web.

 

Roberta Oliver Trahan is hosting a spotlight on my two books.

 

Liz Wilkins, not only had an interview with me, but also a review of Born of Hatred.

 

Alex Bledsoe has a guest post by me about how I chose the flashback times I used in both books.

 

That’s it for now. I’ll be posting all of the upcoming blog tour stuff I’ve got going, if you have time go check them out.

The Hellequin Re-launch Competition

As I’m sure some of you know, my first 2 books, Crimes Against Magic and Born of Hatred will be re-released with new covers and content on 17th September.

 

When I published Crimes Against Magic last April, I didn’t really have anything to give away, so when I published Born of Hatred last December, I had a competition to win a Lego Nate.

 

Everyone loved Lego Nate.

Well, I was trying to figure out what would be the best thing to give away for the relaunch of the first 2 books by 47North, and I think I came up with something

 

 

So, we’re going to have a competition where 1 lucky winner, will get something cool.

 

Over the next few weeks (the competition will run for 2 weeks), I will post status’s about the books and this competition, for every person who re-tweets or shares these messages, their name will go into hat.

You can share and re-tweet as often as you like, and each time you do, you get a new name in the hat, meaning your chances of winning increase.

 

So, what’s the prize?

 

 

 

You will get to name a character for use in book 4, Prison of Hope.

 

In fact, I will draw 3 names from the hat and each person gives me 2 names. The one I like the best wins the competition and also gets their own name in the book’s acknowledgements.

 

However, all 3 people I pick will win signed copies of either Crimes Against Magic or Born of Hatred (your choice).

 

Now before we start there are some rules:

 

It can’t be a real person. So no George Clooney or Eva Green.
It has to be a real name. While I’m sure you can come up with some very funny names, none of them are ones I’m going to fit in the book.
I reserve the right to say I don’t like anyone’s name and ask everyone to re-do them.

 

 

So, there you go, the chance to name your very own character just for sharing or re-tweeting my posts about my blog or books on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Good luck.

Born of Hatred – New Cover

That’s right, I’m back already. 2 posts in 1 day. This time, I’m pleased to be able to present to you all the new cover for Born of Hatred, which is being re-released by 47North on 17th September 2013.

Book 2 in the Hellequin Chronicles.

There are some things even a centuries-old sorcerer hesitates to challenge…

When Nathan Garret’s friend seeks his help investigating a bloody serial killer, the pattern of horrific crimes leads to a creature of pure malevolence, born of hatred and dark magic. Even with all his powers, Nate fears he may be overmatched. But when evil targets those he cares about and he is confronted by dire threats both old and new, Nate must reveal a secret from his recently remembered past to remind his enemies why they should fear him once more.

Born of Hatred, set in modern London with historical flashbacks to America’s Old West, continues the dark urban fantasy of Crimes Against Magic, the acclaimed first book in the gritty and action-packed Hellequin Chronicles.

The book has edits and changes to the original story that was published December 2012, and is available to pre-order:

Kindle edition:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Paperback Edition:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Crimes Against Magic – New Cover

I’m pleased to be able to present to you all the new cover for Crimes Against Magic, which is being re-released by 47North on 17th September 2013.

 

 

Book 1 in the Hellequin Chronicles.

How do you keep the people you care about safe from enemies you can’t remember?

Ten years ago, Nate Garrett awoke on a cold warehouse floor with no memory of his past—a gun, a sword, and a piece of paper with his name on it the only clues to his identity. Since then, he’s discovered he’s a powerful sorcerer and has used his magical abilities to become a successful thief for hire.

But those who stole his memories aren’t done with him yet: when they cause a job to go bad and threaten a sixteen-year-old girl, Nate swears to protect her. With his enemies closing in and everyone he cares about now a target for their wrath, he must choose between the comfortable life he’s built for himself and his elusive past.

As the barrier holding his memories captive begins to crumble, Nate moves between modern-day London and fifteenth-century France, forced to confront his forgotten life in the hope of stopping an enemy he can’t remember.

 

The book has edits and changes to the original story that was published April 2012, and is available to pre-order:

 

Kindle edition:

For Amazon.co.uk

And for Amazon.com

Paperback Edition:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

An Interview with 47North Author Neve Maslakovic

Today, I’m proud to introduce fellow 47North Author, Neve Maslakovic.

So, why don’t you tell us all a bit about yourself?

 

Steve, thanks for hosting me on your blog! My name is Neve Maslakovic and my time-travel whodunit, The Far Time Incident, was released in April by 47North. Some random facts about me – I spent my early years speaking Serbian, I have a degree in engineering, and I now live with my husband and son in the snowy North of the U.S. (the state of Minnesota, where it’s a humid and sticky 97 F/36 C today — our winters are cold and our summers hot.)

 

Can you tell us a bit more about your book? Where did the idea come from? How long did it take to write?

 

The story begins with Julia Olsen, the science dean’s assistant at a small-town research university, being tasked with helping Campus Security Chief Nate Kirkland in his investigation of a murder in the time-travel lab. When someone maroons the investigative team in the past, at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius just as the volcano is about to erupt, they have to figure out who and how to get back. The book took a year and a half to write from start to finish, including a research trip to Pompeii. I didn’t outline the story in advance – it just sort of developed as I was writing it.

 

How did signing with 47North come about?

 

My first book, Regarding Ducks and Universes, was published by AmazonEncore in 2011, back when that was the one and only Amazon imprint and 47North didn’t exist yet. Alex Carr was my editor there, and when he moved to 47North, I came along, too.

 

What has been your favourite part of your writing/publishing experience? The scariest?

 

The best part — people reading my books. The scariest part – people reading my books.

 

What is your writing process? Do you follow a regular routine?

 

I get my best writing done in the mornings, so I try to keep that part of the day dedicated to meeting the day’s word count. After lunch is when I attend to the other parts of the publishing life – returning emails, updating my blog, designing and ordering bookmarks, that kind of thing.

 

Do you have a favourite scene from the book?

 

My favorite bits in a book tend to be the small moments, unplanned ones that grow organically as you write the scene. One that comes to mind from the book is when Julia and Nate are outside a Pompeii shop and Nate admits to not being very good at wrapping birthday presents, which isn’t very relevant to the big-arc plot line but serves to help Julia and Nate get to know each other better. She in turn reveals that she’s not very good at cooking, which leads to Nate promising to make dinner for her one day, which he does end up doing.

 

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

 

The Runestone Incident, the sequel to The Far Time Incident, is currently in the editing stage. It’s due out in February of next year!

 

Do you have any advice for other writers?

 

Write first, worry later. What I mean is, protect your writing space. Get the words down on paper first and leave the concerns of the business side of publishing for later, the part with the agents, editors, contracts, reviewers, sales numbers, and so on.

 

And now for a few fun questions.

 

 

What skills do you possess that would help you survive a zombie apocalypse?

 

None. I would be totally and absolutely useless. I don’t possess any survival skills. I can’t function if I even skip one meal, I don’t know how to light a fire without a match or how to grow my own food… I’d probably need a How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse for Dummies guide.

 

If you could choose any one book to be made into a movie, what would it be?

 

Hmm… Maybe another go at The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?

You can be any comic book superhero – Who would you be?

 

Is there one who can clone himself/herself? That would be the superpower I would want, I think. Then one of the Neves would get to write all day while another Neve did the fact-checking and returned emails, and a third Neve did the dishes and the vacuuming… And maybe they could rotate so it would all be fair?

 

 

And that’s it. Thanks to Neve for taking part. If you want to learn more about Neve and her work, or you want to read her books, I’ve added the links below. Go read and enjoy.

 

The Far Time Incident

 

Regarding Ducks and Universes

 

Website: http://www.nevemaslakovic.com

Twitter: @NeveMaslakovic

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nevemaslakovic

 

 

 

 

An Evening With

On sunday I was lucky enough to attend an Evening with Neil Gaiman. I’m a big fan of his writing, in fact he’s written 2 of my favourite books of all time in American Gods and Good Omens. I never read Sandman (yes, I know), as I was only about 10 when it started and was more interested in X-men and the Steve Jackson/Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy books.

 

This is one of the first books in the series that I got. I managed to find in in Oxfam for about 10p. Bargain.

There’s not a thing about this book I don’t love. It’s utterly fantastic.

Anyway, Neil was an excellent host and spoke about his life growing up in Portsmouth, alongside his writing and working on Doctor Who. He read from his book, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”, which sounded very good (I won’t be reading it for a while as I’m under orders to read The Stand, which I’ve also never read).

 

I’m looking forward to reading it. 

It was an excellent evening all round, and then came the Q&A bit. At the end a woman in the audience asked Neil what he’d sacrificed to become a writer. His answer was the first time I’d heard another writer say what I’d always thought. That writers are somewhat detached from the rest of the world.

 

Now what I mean by that, is that when a non-writer watches the news or sees something good or bad happen in front of them, or to them, they respond in the normal way; anger, happiness, sadness, whatever that emotion might be. A writer’s brain will do this with 75% of them, but that remaining 25% is thinking, “how can I use this in a book?” or “that’s interesting information, I must file it away for future keeping.”

 

As I said, I’d never heard another writer talk about it in such a candied way, and it’s nice to know that I’m not the only crazy person out there. From talking to other writers, it appears that actually this is a common theme. So I’ve gone from thinking I’m slightly nuts, to actually being normal. Albeit, normal within my peer group of writers.

 

Which in some ways, is actually more concerning than it was to begin with.

It’s Been a While

I haven’t really had anything to report the last few weeks. I’ve seen the new cover for Crimes Against Magic, which looks very cool, so hopefully I’ll be able to share that with you all soon. Same goes for the new Born of Hatred cover.

On the writing part of my world, I’ve been plotting out book 4, Prison of Hope, and working on the novella Infamous Reign. The former’s story has changed quite a bit in the last few weeks, although in a good way. It’s got quite a lot of mythology attached, so I get to do research, which is always fun (seriously, a lot of mythology’s are nuts).

I’ll go through more details about the novella in the coming months, but at the moment it’s been quite a fun write. Hopefully that translates to other people enjoying reading it. I’m hoping to have the draft I’m working on finished by the end of July and then it’ll be editing time.

Outside of writing, I’ve just finished The Last of Us, which is probably my GotY, in fact I’d be hard pressed to find too many games this generation that have been better. The story and acting are second to none, and the gameplay is excellent. It’s also got a few genuine moments of horror, something videogames have moved away from this generation, which is a shame. I love my survival horror games, and it’s nice to see a game that embraces the scares and tension that genre brings.

 

This is something pretty special. I can see people talking about it for a long time.

I’m hoping to watch Pacific Rim at some point in the near future as it looks excellent. Guillermo del Toro is an incredible director, and quite frankly it looks like fun. Besides even if it’s not as good as I hope it is, it can’t be worse than most summer blockbusters; transformers movies, I’m looking at you.

It’s giant robots fighting giant monsters, with a good director and budget. That can’t possibly go wrong.

I saw Jack the Giant Slayer, Wreck-it-Ralph and Olympus has Fallen at the weekend as it was far too hot to do anything else.

Jack the Giant Slayer was predictable, but fun. I enjoyed it for what it was, although the story itself was incredibly thin. I also would have liked to have seen it be a slightly more violent film and get a higher rating. It was begging for a darker edge that never happened.

Wreck-it-Ralph was enjoyed more by my kids. I liked the video-game references, and the first half hour and last half hour were pretty good. It dragged like crazy in the middle though. Still I laughed a few times, so it was worth a watch.

Best bit of the movie, right here. And it occurs in the first ten minutes.

Olympus has Fallen was great fun. Yes it was silly. Actually it was stupid. But it was also 90 mins of Gerald Butler beating up bad-guys, and that’s always fun (see Jason Statham). This is a bit of spoiler for you, but there’s a scene where the White House is under siege and is being shot at with huge chain guns. These guns are blasting away at the front door of the house. To combat this threat all the Secret Service personal run to attack the bad guys, by running straight out of the front door and getting mowed down. Now, I’m not a tactics expert or anything, but I’d like to think the Secret Service are slightly more intelligent than lemmings and might not run directly into the clearly non-survivable gun fire. So, yes, this is a stupid film. Really, really stupid. But fun. Stuff blows up and Gerald Butler is entertaining in his tough-guy role. Grab a beer, settle back and forget your worries for 90 mins. Then go read something intelligent after.

Even the poster is stupid. But gloriously so.

Speaking of reading (see what I did there). I finished Sarah Pinborough’s novel, Mayhem this week. It’s a great Victorian murder mystery with more than a little dash of supernatural horror, and deals with the very true crimes of the torso murders that took place in London at the same time as Jack the Ripper. It’s nice a nice happy-go-lucky book (it’s pretty grizzly in places), but it’s an excellent read.

I also finished Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga book 1, The Magician. What a book. It was incredible, and I can’t wait to start the other 2 in the first trilogy (although I’m going to take a break for a little while and read something else). I can’t believe it took me so long to discover it.

The cover is awesome.

And lastly, I have a tattoo booked for the 22nd July, for my half-sleeve on my left arm, my right arm already has Harley Quinn on it, so I’d need something a little less involved for that one. It’s my birthday present to myself (which is on the 25th July), as I’m a firm believer that you should always get yourself something nice for your birthday. This process can also be extended to Christmas, Weddings and because it’s Friday, so why not.

 

Somewhere on my arm will be a Kitsune mask tattoo.

 

 

Have a good week one and all.

 

Competition and Questions

Well, it’s been 2 weeks since I announced my signing with 47North and I’d just like to take a moment to say thanks for everyone who offered their congratulations.

The support has been pretty much universal, but there have been questions, so I figured I’d take the opportunity to go through them.

 

What’s happening to books 1 and 2?

They’re being re-released in Sept of this year with new covers and some edits inside. The story remains the same, but the edits will change a few bits and make a few things easier on the reader. If it make you feel better, think of them as my Director’s Cut.

 

When will book 3 be released?

Feb 2014.

 

Are there more Hellequin Chronicles books to come?

Yes, I have notes for lots of them. So there’s going to be no shortage of stories.

 

Will Prison of Hope, book 4, be released in 2014?

I have no idea. Ask me the question after book 3 is released and I may have a different answer. But I have to write it first.

 

Will there be any novella’s?

Yes, yes there will be. I’ve got notes for quite a few of those too. One of which, Infamous Reign, will be hopefully released this Halloween. I’ll go into more details soon, but it’s turning into quite the enjoyable little story. And hopefully it’ll be a nice way to get ready for With Silent Screams.

 

I think they were the main questions I received over the past fortnight, but if you have any others, feel free to ask and I’ll put them in my next blog.

 

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So, now onto the results of the competition.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who entered. Because there were so many people taking part, I’ve decided to not only give away a Paperwhite to the winner, but also signed copies of Born of Hatred to the next 2 names picked.

And without further ado. My lovely assistant, Harley, will draw a name from a hat.

My wife and my lovely assistant, Harley.

Firstly, the two runners up, who both get a free signed copy of Born of Hatred.

Jacob Stein

and 

Kaela Martin

and the winner is:

Ken Haugen

 

Congrats to all of the winners. You all have 14 days to let me know where to send your winnings.