Date Published: 10-08-2022
Publisher: The Chapel Perilous
Bevil Cyrex, adrift in space on a ship determined to kill him, stumbles across an ancient and abandoned space station called The Starlite.
Once on board the station he sets about repairing it, with the goal of opening up for business.
Along the way he befriends a possibly sociopathic, all powerful nanite swarm, who has decided to take on the appearance and mannerisms of his grandmother.
He must also contend with being hunted by an ex-mob enforcer looking for revenge, a handful of pirates and various threats of invasion, marriage and death.
All in all, Bevil would have to admit, things were really looking up.
Interview with Jonathan Latt
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
This is only my second novel and I always think I could have done better so don’t know if I have a favorite yet. However, my first novel (The Geek) was a hyper-violent pulp novel about a government off-books assassin, and this new one is definitely more of a fun, science fiction adventure so they’re very different. Having said that, I am proud of Starlite as I do believe my writing is getting better, if only incrementally.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
I am planning a sequel of sorts. It is going to be a collection of short stories called Tales from the Starlite. It will focus on the main characters from this novel and their adventures with certain guests who come to visit the space station (The Starlite). I am also working on a novella that I plan to release sometime near the end of summer as an ebook that will be the story that explains a lot about the history of this particular space station.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
While I do want each book to stand on its own, most of them will be linked together in a sort of shared universe type situation, though some connections may be tenuous.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
Honestly, I was stuck in a multi-hour traffic jam on the 101 freeway and the idea for the novel came to me and I spent hours just thinking about the potential story. I honestly don’t know how it happened, but I think as I was fleshing out the novel and thinking of what a catchy name for a chain of space stations might be, Starlite Corporation came to my mind and didn’t leave.
How long did it take you to write this book?
I would say the first draft took a bit over two months, but then it went through a series of vigorous rewrites. From word one to final edit I would estimate the time was close to a year, maybe a little more. From final edit to print it was closer to eighteen months.
What did you learn when writing the book?
During the actual writing process? I really couldn’t say. I always do learn something, perhaps how to convey an emotion better or express an idea in a more nuanced way. However, this is the first time I did everything myself so in the actual production process I learned quite a lot. I taught myself indesign and did the layout of the novel and the cover on my own as well as finding the right editor, proof and beta readers and even the printer.
What surprised you the most?
I would say I am surprised at how quickly the writing process takes on a life of its own. I’ve mostly worked in scripted programming (television and film) In TV especially, you know you have an hour (less usually) to tell the episode's story so your writing needs to be very tight and focused. Those constraints go away with a novel and I have found that my mind and inspiration will take twists and turns that were not in the original outline of the story and I just sort of see where it leads me. Sometimes it led me to a dead end and I’d have to backtrack and lose a few days of work and sometimes it led me somewhere really surprising that worked for the story or character.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Yup. I did that in my first novel The Geek. There’s a certain character who I actually didn’t want to kill off ( a lot of folks die in that one) and I went through about four drafts where the character lived and every time I read it, it just did not work for the story. I came to the conclusion that I had to kill him and it was a bit heartbreaking.
I was very surprised at the number of messages I received from readers who were actually really bummed that I killed him. It was quite sweet for the most part knowing that people were as broken up by his death as I was about killing him off.
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
I don’t know that I do that exactly, I do tend to get in a frame of mind for storytelling. With Starlite, since it mostly takes place on a space station I wore overalls and jumpsuits to make me feel kind of like someone working and living in that type of situation. I also used a lot of ambient noise. Youtube was great for that and I constantly had these long (8 hour) videos of starship or space station background noises playing while I wrote. There was even a TNG bridge video that was a few hours long and I would play that one occasionally.
With The Geek it was a lot of noir and slow blues and jazz playlists while wearing a shoulder holster…this may be something to discuss with my therapist at some point but the process works for me.
About the Author
I truly enjoy writing and it really never feels like work. Okay, mostly never feels like work.
Folks who have read my books have said they are definitely filled with words. These words are used in a very clever way to form sentences, which then form paragraphs until a page is just jammed packed with them. I do this repeatedly throughout my novels.
I am a lifelong lover of comic books, video games, science fiction and fantasy. My favorite authors include Robert Heinlein, William Gibson and Mark Twain.
Once the technology is perfected, I hope to own a robotic chimpanzee that will accompany me on many adventures. We will travel the globe solving crime, eating pie and saving the day.
I think it's safe to assume that we're gonna look pretty cool doing that.
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1 comments:
The cover looks amazing. Sounds like an intertesting book.
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