An Interview with Chele Cooke

Chele and I go way back. We both finished our first full novels in short succession of each other, spent time together on the same online haunts and we are both soft little barely swaddled babies in the publishing industry.

Now, Chele is releasing that first book in her sci-fi series Out of Orbit and of course I agreed when she asked if I wanted to be part of her blog tour. I interviewed her about her book and the writing process as well as the decision to go into self-publishing. Enjoy .

Tell us a little bit about your book Dead & Buryd.

Dead and Buryd is a Sci-Fi novel probably best fitted for the New Adult age bracket. It’s half rebellion and action, and half character driven, including romance and complications in friendship. What I am really proud of with this book is that it’s accessible. You don’t need to be a die hard Sci-Fi fan to get into it.

In a brief overview, and not giving anything away, Dead and Buryd is the first part of the Out of Orbit series, where a planet has been invaded by another race. The planet’s inhabitants have been forced into servitude and are being treated like second class citizens. While they have always been fighting back, this book marks the start of the rebellion, as a slave they want to free turns out to have some pretty important information. There is a lot of elements of personal relationships in this book, which I think will draw in a more female readership… which I’m very happy about.

If your heroine were to describe the story, how would it differ from your description?

It would be a lot more neurotic, that’s for certain. Georgianna is rather scatterbrained a lot of the time, and while she’s been thrust into the middle of this plan to free Nyah, she’s not always entirely sure of what is going on around her. She’s very optimistic, she wants to believe the best, even in Adveni sometimes. Thinking about it, it would probably be quite amusing to see it entirely from inside her mind, as there are some elements that she does not expect at all. So her reaction would be entertaining to read.

What was your inspiration to write it?

I’d had the characters and the vague idea of the plot in my head for a while. I roleplay, and elements of this setting came from that. The setting and the general plot had been hashed over, but it took a lot of planning and rewriting to get it into what it is now. I loved the idea of a world that is controlled so heavily by these extreme weather patterns, and exploring how people would manage it. Once that was in place, the actual story came relatively easily.

What would you say was the most challenging part in the writing and publishing process?

Time management and promotion. However an author has come to being published, they’re expected to do a lot of their promotion. Unless you’re a big name, you’re probably not going to get posters around cities, so a lot of the promotion is down to pushing the book (and you as a writer) yourself. It takes a lot of time, and managing that alongside trying to write more stories has been really tough to balance out.

What prompted you to decide on self-publishing?

I’d been hearing a lot about self-publishing, and seeing people like Hugh Howey do it so professionally gave me the push to look into it as an option for a career. There is such a wonderful community of readers and authors out there, and the more I looked into self-publishing, I realised that I didn’t want to wait for an agent to give me a golden ticket because they thought the market was right. It’s been a lot of hard work, and financing a professionally created product is tough, but I’m really glad I took the step.

 

From the Blurb of Dead & Buryd:

A single life could liberate an entire race, but the life required may be hers.

Since the invasion of her home planet by the ruthless Adveni, Georgianna Lennox’s life as a Veniche medic isn’t as simple as it used to be. When a single infraction against the Adveni can lead to incarceration, slavery, or death, each life saved can bring harsh consequences.

A secret delivery into the infamous Lyndbury Prison Compound reveals that her friend Nyah has been sold into slavery, and Georgianna must decide how to weigh a single life against the risk to herself and others.

Caught between her duty as a medic, her family, and her promise to a friend, she puts her trust in a group of rebels, the Belsa. However, when the attempt to free Nyah uncovers a plan that could rid the Veniche of the Adveni for good, Georgianna struggles with the realisation that the people she trusted may have been using her for their own gain.

Unable to walk away, Georgianna finds herself pulled deep into a web of lies and cruelty that will either claim Nyah’s life… or her own.

Find out more about Chele on her website, where she also hosts a give-away of the book!