An independent publisher, Marcher Lord Press focuses specifically on speculative fiction with a Christian worldview. Publisher Jeff Gerke founded the company with a vision to give those of us who enjoy “fantasy, science fiction, time travel, spiritual warfare, alternate history, chillers, superhero fiction, near-future techno thrillers, and supernatural thrillers” another option when we’re hunting for that next great book to read. MLP’s fall line-up looks impressive, so for the next several Fridays, I will be posting interviews with their new authors.
First up is Kerry Nietz, author of A Star Curiously Singing.
You can read an excerpt of A Star Curiously Singing here, and the book, which is scheduled for an October 1, 2009, release, can be purchased on the Marcher Lord Press Web site. You can read yet another interview with author, Kerry Nietz here. But please, stay for a while. I encourage you to read this interview first.
Let the games begin…
MERRIE: Welcome to the hot seat, I mean, ‘Hi, Kerry.’ I enjoyed the excerpt of A Star Curiously Singing over at MLP. I understand this is your first novel. Could you give us a brief bio of yourself?
KERRY: Sure. I’m a refugee of the software industry. I spent more than a decade of my life writing code—first as one of the principal developers of the database product FoxPro for a company called Fox Software, and then as one of Bill Gates’s minions at Microsoft. I’m a husband, a father, a technophile and a movie buff. I have one previously published book, a memoir entitled FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software. A Star Curiously Singing is my first novel.
MERRIE: Foxtales sounds intriguing! How long did it take you to write the original version of A Star Curiously Singing, and then how long did it take you to do the requested rewrites?
KERRY: A memory test! Let’s see…I started A Star in February of 2008 and had the first draft done that July. I then hired a freelance editor (who later became my publisher) to read through it and give me his expert opinion. He got back to me in October and said he liked much of what he saw. It just needed a longer ending, a better beginning, and some smoothing in between. He hinted, however, that A Star would be something he might be interested in publishing if those changes were made.
I persevered, spending the next couple months making those changes. I also increased the size by almost 20,000 words. I sent it back to him in January of 2009. He got back to me in early spring with a few more suggested revisions. I made them and then received a publishing contract. (Yeah!)
After that the book sat until the final edit, which was early September. That pass was a quick one, though. The whole thing happened in less than a week.
MERRIE: How did you come up the idea for this book?
KERRY: Like most novels, it was a convergence of ideas from lots of different sources. The setting and society came from me asking myself: “What future do you fear for your children?”
The idea for my main character—a technical specialist with an implant in his head that connects him to his world—was my answer to: “Where will we be if our search for connectivity continues along its current path?”
And, of course, many of the qualities of my main character come from my experience in the tech industry. Except the baldness. That comes from a conversation I had with a friend over twenty years ago. He jokingly said that at some point monitors and keyboards would be too inefficient for programmers. That we’d be required to shave our heads so the machine could just read our brainwaves directly.
MERRIE: Who is your favorite character in the book, and why? By the way, I especially like how you describe yourself over in the MLP interview: “the shy and skinny son of a high school quarterback and a fair queen.” Sounds almost mythic. The perfect mini-bio for a writer, in my opinion.
KERRY: For this book the answer is obvious: Sandfly, the main character. He is this technological “fix-it” man. The guy people call when their machines are broken.
Surprisingly, though, this is the first fictional story that I’ve written where the main character and I really had that “technically-skilled” connection. Maybe not so surprising is the fact that this is my first novel to be published. Write what you know, they say.
MERRIE: Tell us the basic plot of A Star Curiously Singing.
KERRY: A Star Curiously Singing is a speculative Christian novel with a decidedly cyberpunk feel. It takes place in a future hundreds of years from now, where much of the world is living under sharia law.
It is dualistic society, where average people live on the streets in near-squalor and the powerful ride above them in cable car-like conveyances. This latter group is shrouded in high tech, to the point of needing specialized debuggers to handle their machines.
That’s where my protagonist comes in. Sandfly is a debugger who’s summoned to solve the mystery of why a robot malfunctioned. The extenuating circumstances? The robot has been on an interstellar voyage in an experimental ship. Something about the trip made it malfunction.
While making repairs, Sandfly makes a series of important discoveries—not only about the situation regarding the robot, but about himself, those in power, and the nature of his Universe.
So it is a sci-fi mystery of sorts.
MERRIE: Do you have any marketing plans or ideas of how to reach readers? I’m sure other writers getting started would love to know your secrets.
KERRY: Books are tough to market, because no one really knows why some books catch fire and others don’t. It is clear that author legwork is critical though. (Along with a solid book, of course.)
My publisher releases books twice a year, and with every release list he tries new things. This release is no exception. One of the most successful books from the last release list is By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson. Jill did a ton of legwork to market her book and it has had an impact. (She has over thirty reviews on Amazon, last I checked.)
Jill’s done so well, in fact, that she’s been asked to aid the three authors from this release list in marketing our books. So I guess my marketing plan is do exactly what Jill tells me to. So far it has been lots of interviews and press releases.
MERRIE: What three pieces of advice would you give to a beginning writer?
KERRY:
• Start early. If you think there is book in you, then stop talking about it. Write it.
• Be consistent. Set a time for you to write and stick to it. Life will always try to interfere. Don’t let it.
• Be persistent. Keep writing. Keep submitting. Keep improving your skills. Eventually it will happen.
MERRIE: Those were great tips. I really liked number one: “Stop talking about it. Write it.” Now, I have to know: Who is your favorite Star Trek character?
KERRY: Probably Captain Picard or Captain Archer. Data is a favorite, as well.
MERRIE: Excellent answer. [Proved you really DO watch sci fi, my personal litmus test.] What’s your favorite sci fic/fantasy book?
KERRY: I have lots of favorites. I like anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs, especially his Mars series. I really enjoyed Asimov’s Robot series and his Foundation series—though, surprisingly, I think I like his later works better than his earlier ones. They just seemed to move better. As for a single novel that made me think “Awesome! Wish I could’ve written that!” I have to say Matheson’s I Am Legend.
MERRIE: OMG, I loved Edgar Rice Burroughs. And I Am Legend is one of my all-time favorites. [You really ARE cool.] What’s your favorite sci fi/fantasy movie?
KERRY: Like many of my generation, the original Star Wars will always be a favorite. Story-wise it hit on all cylinders. More recently, I like Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and Boyle’s Sunshine.
MERRIE: Thanks for visiting my site, Kerry. I’m glad we had a chance to chat. [Digging out my old Edgar Rice Burroughs books to reread for inspiration.] Any closing thoughts?
KERRY: I really appreciate you giving me the space for this interview, Merrie. ‘Twas fun! And to your readers: I encourage you to give any of the Marcher Lord Press titles a chance. Extra kudos if it is mine, but no pressure.
Also, my website is www.kerrynietz.com. I plan to update it regularly, and there is a contact form there as well. After you read the book, let me know what you think!