Author Interview with Ralph L. Angelo, Jr.

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

We've landed another Awesome Author Interview with Ralph L. Angelo Jr., author of The Cagliostro Chronicles III: Into the Heart of Evil.



Find out the scoop behind the bigger, badder evil which turns the lives of the crew of the Cagliostro into a living hell when not only do they have to keep fighting the Agalum Empire, but now also some monstrous interdimensional aliens who have come to our universe seeking conquest and subjugation!

[*If that doesn't sound like the ingredients for a good Space Opera yarn, I don't know what does!*]

Be epic!

Anna Erishkigal
SOF Borg Queen

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1. What books have most influenced your life?

Hhhmm, good question. I would have to say probably the Lord of the Rings series. As far as sci-fi goes it's more of a movie inspiration for me. Movies like Star Wars and the Various Star Trek films. Of course the great Star Wars novels going all the way back to Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster as well as Timothy Zahns 'Thrawn Trilogy'.


2. How do you develop your plots and characters?

Lots of insightful thinking. I mull stuff over in my head for days or longer. I want each character to be unique with their own mindset and skills. The plots, well that’s a lot that builds in my subconscious. I’ll suddenly awaken with a full plot for a certain story and I go from there.


3. Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book?

The Cagliostro Chronicles III is the (obviously) third book in this series about a trillionaire inventor in the not too distant future who discovers the secret to faster than light flight. But upon discovering that secret he realizes that there has been a vast intergalactic conspiracy against Earth and mankind, seeking to keep us on Earth and out of space. A war ensues with the forces of the mysterious Agalum (who were the race primarily responsible). Now three years later that war is raging on, but there is a new player in the game, the horrific Tahir Ga’Warum, an interdimensional; race of beings resembling old depictions of vampires. They have entered our universe seeking conquest.


4. We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her?

No, Mark Johnson (the main hero of ‘the Cagliostro Chronicles’) was not inspired by anyone save for some comic book characters like Tony Stark or Reed Richards. He’s a very manly guy who has a trigger fast mind. He can come up with a very technical solution to a problem incredibly fast. He’s brilliant, to say the least, and his crew looks up to him. They expect him to save the day if need be, and he doesn’t disappoint. He also surrounds himself with the best of the best, Dan Sledge is his right hand man, a survivor of the doomed Jupiter colony with much greater mass, and strength than a normal human. Dan is also a top notch engineer and pilot. James ‘Red’ Robinski is his security chief who drives himself continuously to be the toughest, strongest man he can be. Ariel O’Conner is his communications officer and also Mark’s girlfriend. But beyond that, she’s also a powerful telepath. Eddie DiGenovese is a marksman without peer and the Cagliostro’s weapons officer. His aim is incredible.


5. A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain(s) to write this book. Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it?

There have been several villains in this series, the main antagonist have been the mysterious Agalum, who operate in a caste state. Yellow skins are the leaders, The purple skinned salad heads (Who appear as if they are growing lettuce out of their heads instead of hair) are the lower officers and the bald headed purple skins are the grunts in their military order. They are a military society based on a monarchy, who have remained in the shadows as of yet. The Tahir Ga’Warum on the other hand are very much a horrific race of hunters. As far as inspirations go, for the Agalum I just looked at the terrible regimes over the course of history that brain washed the public and spread propaganda. The communist and socialist regimes such as the USSR, North Korea and Cuba as well as nazi Germany. The Tahir Ga’Warum are nothing more than creatures out of horror novels


6. What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

Mankind always does its best when individuals seek breakthroughs, not the government. The Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh. Amelia Earhart, etc. Hell, our space program was built by individuals in companies such as Grumman and many others, who may have been funded with Government grants, but they were companies led by a few brilliant men who succeeded in opening up the future. Mark Johnson builds the Cagliostro out of his own pocket for a very good reason, which he details in the first book. Like those early explorers and pioneers, he’s an adventurer, a futurist and a visionary.


7. Sci-fi fans love techno-porn! What real-life science (or pseudo-science) did you research for your book?

I write sci-fi. Sci-fi is all about the imagination. When Jules Vern wrote ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ he was working on pure imagination. What is funny, is that I mention a form of magnetic propulsion I call Magno disks in my novels, and yet recently there have been reports of NASA experimenting with a form of magnetic propulsion to break the faster than light barrier, which is what I came up with years ago. That in and of itself is very cool.


8. What was the hardest part of writing this book?

This book was the third in the series and it took me a long time to write, it was my fourth book in a year so I was starting to get burned out a little. It just took a lot of time. Usually I can finish a 65-75,000 word novel in 3-4 months. This took me almost double that.


9. What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

The final sequence, which lasted several chapters and had something going on on three different battlefronts. It all came together very nicely


10. Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

Just to keep writing and not take breaks, no matter what. Sometimes you have to force yourself to continue on a story. The words will come. Just believe in yourself and your ability. Remember ‘To thine own self be true.’ It applies here.


11. Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp?

No, I’m not a message heavy guy. I write fun, exciting, action heavy stories. I’m not interested in reading anything else, so I write what I like to read. No messages implied, what you see is what you get, which is pure escapism.


12. What are your future project(s)?

Currently I’m working on my ninth novel, which is a 1930’s pulp herto novel called ‘The Grim Spectre’ set in a seedy city run by a corrupt mayor and a gangster who are at odds with each other. The Grim Spectre is a man who was caught between their forces and almost killed when a mysterious being saved his life and granted him a powerful artifact that will aid him in trying to turn the city around. After that I’ll be writing the second ‘Hyperforce’ Novel which is a superhero novel series. Then I’ll be back at work on the fourth Cagliostro Chronicle, which will wrap up the current storyline.


13. If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?

Hard to say. I’m an avid motorcyclist. I already rode from my home on Long Island to Orlando this year as well as up to Maine. So if I could get paid to travel by motorcycle that would be it. I worked for 32 years as an appliance technician and I can tell you that was not it.


14. What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

Email is the best, RAngeloJr@aol.com.
Twitter is #RLAngeloJr
Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/RalphLAngeloJr .
My website is RLAngeloJr.com
My Blog is http://dominatr37.blogspot.com
My Amazon author’s page is http://tinyurl.com/ralphsamazon


15. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the Space Opera Fans community members?

Space opera is a big, wide universe where anything goes. Open up your imagination as wide as all of the universe, then just sit back and enjoy!

Interview granted to SOF Fans 2015.07.05

[Anna]

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And don't forget that The Cagliostro Chronicles III: Into the Heart of Evil is one of our GROUP READS for July! Come on over and discuss it with us after you ask Ralph some questions :-)

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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[Lisa]

Enjoyed the interview, Ralph and Anna. Question to Ralph: Do you plan out a story arc with how many books will be in a series before you begin?

[Ralph]

Hi Lisa, no I don't. This is the first multi-book arc I've done, and I've been just going with the flow of it all. It feels right to end this Arc in the next book. After this the tone of the series will become somewhat lighter and be more adventurous. That's not to say the crew of the Cagliostro is not going to meet adversaries in every book, but I think things are not going to be as dire as things currently are, provided they and the earth survive this. I could just blow up the Earth and end the series right there you know.

[Anna]

Ralph wrote: "I could just blow up the Earth and end the series right there you know. ..."

Then we'd have to call you Ralph R.R. Martin 3:-)

[Ralph]

Well hopefully you won't have to, Anna :-)