Thank you, Debra, for this opportunity to appear on your
blog.
Can you
give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?
I am excited that my new book Crystal Rebellion, the third full-length scifi thrill-ride in The
Crystal Series, is now available on Amazon. I love the story, think it’s my
best work yet, and am anxious to learn if others agree.
The first two books, Crystal
Deception and Crystal Conquest,
established the series characters and defined their world—Earth in the not-too-distant
future with aliens at our door and AI helping with our defense. This new book
is different because it introduces our heroes as an established and functioning
team rather than one in the process of formation and self-discovery. I’ve
written the story as a stand-alone book so new readers can start with it and
enjoy the fun.
The setting is on Mars, and the bad guys are three AI crystals
left behind after the last alien invasion of our solar system. The story contains
all the grand elements of The Crystal Series tradition—aliens, spies,
artificial intelligence, romance, and battles in space! Our heroes struggle to
save the world and soon realize they need to save themselves. I’ll leave it at
that as I don’t want to reveal any spoilers. I invite everyone to give the book
a read and enjoy the fun!
Do you
have a favorite character?
I love them all. Central to each tale is, Criss, a four-gen
AI crystal with the cognitive ability of a thousand humans, and the overarching
personality in the series. Hard-wired to protect and serve his human leadership
team, Criss is able to project his awareness through the web, and so we find
him at the center of each story’s intrigue.
The team includes Dr. Jessica “Juice” Tallette, the crystal
scientist who created Criss; Cheryl Wallace, an ex-captain of the Fleet space
cruiser Alliance; and Sid, a one-time
covert spy for the Defense Intelligence Agency, who now helps Criss protect
Juice and Cheryl.
Crystals
that think? Are these fantasy stories?
No, they are science fiction in the tradition of Star Trek
and I Robot. It turns out that the chips in our computers, smartphones, and even
cars are computer processors made from crystalline silicon. And artificial
intelligence researchers around the world write software programs that run on
clusters of these silicon crystal chips. Once refined, the final architecture
will be shrunk to fit on a single chip. So to me, “AI crystals” seem like a
predictable technology. The “AI with sentience” issue is the wild card. But
hey, these are alien crystals.
What
factors influenced your decision to self-publish your books?
I chose to become an indie author for a number of
reasons: I’m eager to get new works out to readers in a timely fashion, I want
to maintain long-term control over the work, and I’m excited by the
entrepreneurial challenge.
Self-publishing has all aspects of the small business enterprise,
including product creation, branding and marketing, finance, project
management, and intellectual property concerns. I love exploring ways to pull
those levers to advance my writing career.
Did you
hire an editor to review your manuscript before publishing?
Absolutely. I am sensitive to the oft-cited notion that
self-published works are too-often released without proper review. So all my
books move through the same process: detailed beta critiques by a couple of
experienced writers; a
developmental manuscript evaluation by Tammy Salyer, a talented book editor found
at http://www.inspiredinkediting.com;
then a line-by-line copyedit by Tammy; and then a final proofread by another professional
editor. I make refinements between each step, and the process helps me produce
a book that is technically sound so the reader can focus on enjoying the story.
Were you
involved in the creation of your book covers?
I wanted the book covers to evoke the same general sense one
might get from reading the story: teammates, or perhaps they are lovers, on a
futuristic shoot-em-up adventure in space.
I worked with the talented designers at https://damonza.com. I suggested the idea that each
cover show silhouettes of a man and a woman in a vague military-space-style
setting, and hinting at a retro vibe. From that, they developed the covers. I
love what they did, and I also like that, lined up, the covers themselves show
a story progression in the action of the characters.
Do you
belong to a writers group? Have they helped improve your writing?
I belong to a writers group—in a parallel universe—and it
has indeed improved my writing. This past summer, while I waited for others to
read and comment on Crystal Rebellion,
I started an online journal—a fictitious story about me participating in a writers
group. I challenged myself to post a humorous bit every few days. The results
can be found at http://crystalseries.com/writers-journal-humor.
I put up 20 stories—more than ten thousand words—as I struggled to be humorous
on a tight schedule. I had so much fun this summer that I will continue adding
stories, but at a slower pace than before.
Do you
outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?
I begin with an idea in my head and then start writing. I don’t plan, and in fact even prohibit
myself from thinking too far ahead, because my joy comes from the creative
process of writing into the unknown.
I write each scene in the order it will appear when
published. The fun thing about this is that my stories follow a rotating point
of view among the characters, and don’t always follow a straight timeline from
chapter to chapter. So, I write a story that does not follow a strict timeline
sequence, and that rotates among the viewpoints of the central characters, in
page order.
And to really make it fun, I don’t allow myself to go back
and change a previous scene to help me solve a challenge with the current one.
To me, plot development is like solving a puzzle. I enjoy being at a particular
point in an adventure, with characters deployed here and there, all with
histories and in certain situations, and now I must move forward in a plausible
and entertaining fashion.
It’s a slow process, but my key to success is persistence. I
write every day for a few hours. And slowly but surely, I write books. In this
manner, I wrote Deception, Conquest, and now Rebellion, taking just over a year to write full-length stories
(ranging from 96-99K words each, for those who think in word count). The
editing process adds another four months before publication.
What have
you learned during your writing journey?
That writing is an art form. If I make it personal, it’s a
joy to pursue.
How does
your day job impact your stories?
My day job is Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular
Engineering at the University of Connecticut. In that role, I get lots of
practice presenting science and technology in a manner accessible to a broad
audience. It’s become second nature and reveals itself in my writing.
As one example, readers in the USA are familiar with units
of distance being inches, feet, and miles. Elsewhere, readers are more likely
to use centimeters, meters, and kilometers. So, to avoid the issue altogether,
I use analogies. “The pole was as thick as his thumb,” or, “he could touch the
ledge by standing on his toes,” or “keeping a steady pace, she walked to the farmhouse
in just over two hours.”
I do this because I don’t want readers to be pulled from
their immersive experience trying to picture a scene in their head using
unfamiliar units. And while I’m not sure it matters in the end, it shows the
level of detail I consider when crafting a story.
What’s
next for you?
The epilogue of book II, Crystal
Conquest, suggests the premise for this new release, Crystal Rebellion. And Rebellion’s
epilogue suggests the premise for the next book, Crystal Escape. That’s all the clues I’ll give to my wonderful
readers. I’m three scenes in on the new book and already know it will be the
best one yet.
Happy Reading!
Author Bio:
As a child, Doug stood on a Florida beach and watched an
Apollo spacecraft climb the sky on its mission to the moon. He thrilled at the
sight of the pillar of flames pushing the rocket upward. And then the
thunderous roar washed over him, shaking his body and soul.
The excitement of the moon landing inspired Doug to pursue a
career in technology. He studied chemical engineering in college, and he now
works as a professor and entrepreneur when he is not writing. His passions
include telling inventive tales, mentoring driven individuals, and everything
sci-tech.
In the books of The Crystal Series, Doug swirls his creative
imagination with his life experiences to craft science fiction action-adventure
stories with engaging characters and plot lines with surprises. He lives in
Connecticut with his darling wife and with pictures of his son, who is off
somewhere in the world creating adventures of his own.
Links
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