[AOTM] Author Interview with Stephen A. Fender

[Anna]

Greetings Space Opera Fans!


As part of our Book of the Month [BOTM] club, your moderators attempt to contact the authors whose books are features as our Group Reads and armtwist sweet-talk them into granting an author interview to enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the book you are reading.




Stephen A. Fender, author of our INDIE PICK for May, The Army of Light has kindly granted our interview badgering request. Bon Appetit! I hope you enjoy getting to know Stephen and his book series!

Be sure to drop into the Army of Light BOTM discussion thread when you are done! The discussion thread is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Without further ado, here is Stephen Fender!

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1. What books have most influenced your life?

I’d have to say the Hitchhiker’s Guide series by Douglas Adams. I’m also heavily influenced by movies. Great directors and impressive screenwriting, when they work well together, can create a very emotive experience for me.

2. How do you develop your plots and characters?

Some come from people I interact with in real life, others are impressions I’ve gotten from characters in movies or television shows. Some aspects come from my own experiences. There’s a great deal of mixing involved. No single character is ever derived from a solitary source.

3. Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book?

The Kestrel Saga, beginning with The Army of Light, is a story set in the 24th century of humanity. Nearly a decade prior to the events in the first book, the Unified Collaboration of Systems was in a heated conflict with an alien race known as the Kafaran. The war lasted nearly 5 years, and exacted a heavy toll on both sides. Since then, the total number of planetary systems in the UCS has dwindled, and their foothold on this part of the galaxy has been reduced accordingly.

Shawn Kestrel, a retired space fighter pilot, has set himself up as a small-time trader in one of the UCS’s border worlds. Life has dealt him a lot of hard hands lately, the primary ones being a rather large stack of unpaid bills and a decrease in local shipments.

When things are at their worst, the daughter of his former commanding officer arrives, informing Shawn that William has disappeared. The Admiral has left the beautiful Melissa Graves standing instructions that Shawn is one of the few people left in the USC that William can entrust to complete the final leg of a Top Secret mission he had been working on.
But, all is not as it seems on the surface.

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

A hero is what you need? Look no further than Shan Kestrel. He’s a former fighter pilot, with a quick wit and a knack for finding trouble when he wants nothing more than to relax and enjoy the simple life he’s set up for himself. Despite a grievous loss in his life, his hart is never in the wrong place, and he is as dedicated a friends as you will ever find in the universe.

I’ve drawn from a lot to create Shawn. There’s a lot of Malcom Reynolds (Firefly/Serenity), mixed with more than a bit of Indiana Jones and Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins in the 80’s TV series Tales of the Gold Monkey). I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that I took a little of Kevin Costner (specifically from Bull Durham).

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?

To tell you would be to give away the end of the book! I can tell you that the Kafaran are inspired from the Klingons (both in Star Trek: TOS and TNG). However, the real threat to our friends is about as alien as you can get.

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

Creating a universe seemed like a fairly easy task, until I discovered that I would need to hop a few worlds with this series. Some worlds are purely fictitious, while others are extensions of the current environment of Earth. Still others are entirely alien, in which I drew inspiration from some of the fabulous artists on DeviantArt.com. That’s also where a great deal of my outward alien appearances come from.

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

The technology depicted here is there to enhance or help the story along, not be a central focal point. As such, you will hear talk of “conventional” weapons (ones that still use bullets). There are “blasters” of course, and jump gates (used to traverse huge sections of space in only a few minutes), so don’t think I left out the things necessary for good scifi.

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

Pacing! It’s been a challenge to find a good balance with all the character interactions while continually moving the story in a positive direction. There were quite a few re-writes prior to publishing.

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

I love Sylvia’s Delight (Shawn’s tired, old cargo ship), and any chapter dealing with her. Everything about her is fun! She has a limited artificial intelligence, coupled with an unnecessarily sultry voice, that always grates on Shawn’s nerves at the most inopportune time.

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

That I could do it…that I could write something that would resonate with someone, and have them come back for more multiple times. It’s been the biggest compliment.

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

There is an unfolding message, one which takes longer that The Army of Light to fully grasp. I intended it to be that way, because it’s so very hard for us to do it, and one book just wouldn’t cut it.

It’s our capacity to forgive, even when everything in our being tells us not to. We’re use emotions like anger, bitterness, and/or cynicism to mask our real feelings. We need to be able to look past the people and events in our lives that have altered our destiny, for better or for worse, and realize that “the here and now” needs to be addressed, and the only way to do that is to acknowledge that we will occasionally need to work in situations of extreme personal discomfort.

I think it’s a demon that we as humans collectively struggle with every day.

12. What are your future project(s)?

I’m currently finishing up on Book 4 of the Kestrel Saga, titled “In The Presence Of My Enemies”, which is due out in June.

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

I’m working now as a computer programmer with a very impressive organization, one very near and dear to my heart. I couldn’t think of a better job.

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

Enjoy The Army of Light, but know that the end of the journey is still a few novels from completion, so remember that when you get to the last few pages. I hope to see you back, picking up book 2 (Icarus), and that you’ll continue on the adventure that you’re starting with The Army of Light.