Published 2020-12-12.
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When did you first start writing?
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Since my childhood, I’ve always had a fascination with sci-fi and when I watched sci-fi movies, TV shows, read books or played games, I’ve always tried to imagine me as a character in them. I’ve always wanted to create my own sci-fi universe, one that had everything, but for a long time thought such a thing would be too hard given the amount of detail it would require. So there came a point in time, where I instead looked at creating a detailed character of my own in an existing sci-fi universe. The Star Wars Universe is my favourite of all sci-fi universes so I first started writing in 2015 on a Star Wars role playing website called Star Wars RP Chaos. It’s what got me started with writing and immersing my ideas and my character or characters in an existing sci-fi universe. During this time I also had a brief stint at fanfiction.net writing a couple of stories set in a cross universe of Star Wars and Stargate SG1. The quality of my writing was nothing what it is now but I had to start somewhere. From there I moved on to movellas.com (2016-2020), where initially I continued to set my stories in a cross universe of Star Wars and Stargate SG1. I wrote a few books and with that my writing improved.
Eventually I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to go somewhere further with my ideas, and with my writing, that I would need to create my own sci-fi universe. Writing fan fiction is limited because I don’t own Star Wars, I don’t own Stargate SG1, which means even if I could write the best book ever, I wouldn’t have been allowed to publish anything beyond that of fan fiction. Because nobody told me I couldn't do it, I never questioned my ability to create my own sci-fi universe. Plenty of self-doubts would come later, as they do, but I've never doubted that this is what I loved doing amongst a few of my other favourite things. So, while I was still publishing on movellas.com, I gave birth to the KnM Blade Universe (which was originally known there as the K3K / Kixi 3000 Universe), and have slowly been developing it since. Up until mid 2018, I wrote stories on movellas.com in both the Star Wars / Stargate SG1 universe and the KnM Blade Universe, but after mid 2018 and until now, I’ve only been writing in my own sci-fi universe. Movellas.com was my stepping stone to the real thing here on Smashwords. Until recently I was still publishing chapter at a time on movellas.com and then when books were completed I would have them properly published at Smashwords. Moving forward I’m now only publishing here on Smashwords, meaning books will only be made available when completed. Since 2018, I’ve published five books set in the KnM Blade Universe here on Smashwords and have others in the works and plans for more.
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What motivated you to become an indie author?
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Writing books isn’t my full time profession. I work in the translating and interpreting services field mostly as an interpreter for people who speak English as a second language, interpreting back and forth from English to either Italian, Spanish or Croatian. I also do some translating work on the side.
I’ve always had a creative imagination, and have always imagined stories and ideas in my mind. But keeping it all in my mind meant not being able to express any of it to anyone, which seemed such a waste. So given I’m not a full-time author, then becoming an indie author and writing and publishing at my own pace was a no brainer as not only could I express my ideas in the form of a series of books, but I could also have them published and made available to the world, and continue to have them available in the years to come.
Also as an indie author not only am I able to produce my own books, but at the same time it gives me more freedom or full control with what exactly I write, without being told what I can and cannot do. For me this is all-important because my stories or my KnM Blade Universe is an expression of my imagination. If I were ever forced to alter something against my will, then it clearly would no longer be that.
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What is the Hardest Part of Self Publishing For You?
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I would say marketing. My work isn’t that popular, or better put, I’m not well known. Stories set in the Star Wars Universe, Star Trek, Stargate SG1, the Marvel Universe, DC, Eve Online and I can go on and on are super popular. Simply put, they are established and have not just the novels by real professionals, but the films, TV series, games and comics to back them up.
Although all in good time my popularity may change, I don’t hope for my stories to become anything like that, for that would be completely unrealistic. If my work remains in the status quo in terms of popularity, then be it. I’m not a full-time writer, I don’t even do it for a living. For me, being able to express my ideas, vision and imagination to the whole world, even if for a very small audience who are willing to want to share all that with me through my books, is more than good enough for me.
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Who are your favourite authors?
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I don’t actually have one. Mostly because I’ve always been interested in reading a good book and the many good books that I’ve read were mostly from different authors. Even with Star Wars novels, I especially loved the older Legends books, that is the Star Wars expanded universe before Disney bought the franchise. A lot of these books that I enjoyed were by different authors. Authors such as James Luceno, Jude Watson, Michael Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, Tom Veitch, Kevin J. Anderson, Barbara Hambly, R.A. Salvatore just to name a few, all who wrote excellent books that I so much enjoyed. So yeah, it’s impossible to pick a favourite.
And then you have books from authors who have created their own sci-fi stories in much the same way I have with my KnM Blade Universe. There are a lot of good ones out there and I’ve enjoyed them all. And then there are all the non sci-fi books from various authors that I’ve also enjoyed no less than all the other books I’ve read which like with all the Star Wars writers that I’ve already mentioned, makes it impossible for me to have a favourite.
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What are your five favourite books, and why?
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Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by George Lucas, John Wagner, and Steve Perry - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is my favourite of all Star Wars movies and perhaps my favourite of all movies. Shadows of the Empire is set in between the movies: The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. What can I say, the story is awesome, it’s the in between movie George Lucas should have made. Han Solo is my favourite Star Wars character, his ship the Millennium Falcon my favourite sci-fi spaceship. In Shadows of the Empire, Dash Rendar is just like Han, and he flies the Outrider which is similar to the Millennium Falcon. They even made a soundtrack for this book.
Star Wars: I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole - First Star Wars book I ever read. I loved how it was written in the first-person perspective. It made me feel like I was the main character Corran Horn, and perhaps inspired me many years later when I started writing my KnM Blade Universe series of books to also write in the first-person perspective. Funny enough, I, Jedi was the first Star Wars novel written in the first-person perspective of a character never seen in the movies. Oh and the combination of this novel’s title and the fact that the Jedi way has always fascinated me made this book an instant eye catcher.
The Race Forever (Choose Your Own Adventure, # 17) by R. A. Montgomery - I remember reading the original 1983 edition as a child. Of course it wasn’t in 1983 that I read it as I wasn’t born yet, but this was the first of the Choose Your Own Adventure type books I’d read and I loved it because it really did feel like an adventure. I also love cars and racing and I especially loved the picture of the old Lancia Stratos rally car on the cover of the original 1983 print. And yes I knew from a young age what a Lancia Stratos was because of my passion for motorsports, in the case of the Lancia, the World Rally Championship.
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger - This brings out the feminine me, but I can assure you I know men that love this story too. I remember watching the movie and after watching it I went on to read the novel and sequels. What can I say, I love the fashion, the clothes, shoes, handbags, perfumes and wish I could live such a glamorous life.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis novelisation by Dale Dassel - Finally a proper novelisation of this in 2017. I love the Indiana Jones franchise and character and therefore loved the movies and subsequent novels. The video games of this franchise were good too, and I remembered how much I loved the old Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis game from 1992. There was a comic book released of this too, but it wasn’t until 2017 until I got the novel I’d been waiting years for. In general the topic of Atlantis intrigues me too, so it’s of no surprise as to why this is my favourite Indiana Jones story after the original trilogy of movies.
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What's the story behind your latest book?
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So my latest book continues the journey of the KnM Blade main series which is intended to be a four part series. So this is Part 3. There are several stories that take place in this book but its primary purpose is to bridge the events from the first two books and lead to the finale. In the first two books readers are introduced to the KnM Blade Universe and how Earth and the other worlds of the Solar System are governed in the early thirty-first century. Society is in the hands of a tyrant backed by a powerful corporation and we have the all too familiar resistance trying to topple them. My fictional character is a racing car driver who lives a double life racing cars and supposedly is a friend to one of the directors of the very same corporation she is fighting against with the resistance, therefore undertakes various important missions and so forth. In the third book, in order to transition to what will become an eventual battle of good versus evil in the final book, we see my fictional character race in her final tournament, while at the same time other events are happening elsewhere to set her team up for the all important mission in the final book.
In books set later in the KnM Blade Universe timeline, it mentions that my character is a Züncålazin which is a sorcerer like warrior. In the first two books of the main series, the Züncålazin are also mentioned and there are events that take place that begin to pave the way of her discovering that her father was once one of them and that her journey to that path lies before her. In the third part, again not much happens, but in the final parts of Part 3 it is revealed that she indeed is accepting of this, and part of her mission that will be carried out in Part 4 is to seek out the Züncålazin Order and ultimately become one of them.
With my KnM Blade Universe, I’ve always wanted to envision what a fully colonised Solar System would be like. The first two books describe Mars in good detail, as well as the massive Zerentia 3 space station. But with everything else, there is only really a mention here and there. Like with Vocheuhiri on Venus and Lüna Wan on the moon. Other books set later in the KnM Blade Universe mention the cities on Titan and Europa in good detail, but that’s it. In seeing that Part 4 will be set mostly away from the Solar System, then it was important that I fully described the extent of the Solar System’s colonisation. Through the many stories that take place while my character is about to participate in her last race as well as while she is participating in those races, the many other cities scattered around the planets and moons of gas giants are described, as well as a massive floating cloud city in Neptune’s atmosphere. This continues even after the racing part is over with the rescue of my character’s younger sister and the subsequent aftermath.
Lastly the KnM Blade Universe features cities on Earth that do not exist in the present time. Celestia City, the capital of the fictional United Systems of Sol is one that has been fully described in prior books, but again, given Part 4 will be set mainly outside of the Sol System, I’ve taken the opportunity with Part 3 to give a detailed description of Earth’s massive desert city known as Mystika City, the floating city on Earth’s ocean known as Elysium, as well as the huge island city of Singla’te’fel, and the underwater city of Tythis just to name a few. And although not on Earth, Saturn’s moon of Enceladus has a fairly large underwater city too. Anyway to round things off, it is hoped that Part 3 will give the reader a deeper understanding of the KnM Blade Universe in terms of the colonised Solar System, the cities that exist in it, and the universe’s way of life.
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What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
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The greatest joy of writing for me is the journey. I start with an idea and watch it grow and change along the way. For me, this concept isn’t limited to just a simple book, but rather I apply it to my entire KnM Blade Universe. The creation, expansion and extensive detailing of the KnM Blade Universe expressed through my books is in itself an extensive journey. When I’m writing one of my books, I get so into it, I become so completely obsessed, that I don't want to do anything else except be in that world with those characters (which includes a fictional version of both Jhasmin and I), putting down words. That's when things really come alive for me, when I can't stop working on a project and the whole story just becomes bigger and better because of it and the characters deeper and more complex. Through my writing, I also sublimate feelings of anger or sexual tension that I cannot release any other way.
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What is your writing process?
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Slow. Sometimes I compose, sometimes I edit, sometimes I work out timelines, but because of full-time work, hobbies and my social life, I spend around one to two hours a day writing. Although sometimes when I really wanna get something done, I do put in more hours by sacrificing my hobbies.
I usually write one chapter at a time and then reread and edit the entire manuscript several times. I then do the same for every subsequent chapter. When writing, I take a look at what I’ve written up to that point, and allow the writing to flow naturally. If I try to force a scene or a bit of dialogue, it will show and strike the reader as forced or unnatural. The entire process is really all about trying to create a seamless tale in which readers can lose themselves in.
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What are you working on next?
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I'm juggling two other books in the KnM Blade series which are in various states of completion, along with two short stories also in the same series (one is in Spanish). I’ve also written up other ideas for several other novels of my proposed timeline of the KnM Blade Universe which includes Part 4 of the main KnM Blade series. These are still at the initial stages.
With all my stories, I write so that each book moves a character's, or several characters’ story forward. There is always lots of action, there is always something huge at stake and there is always a focus on the character's journey. It's exciting to write something that ties up one loose end only to unravel something else.
It’s also worth noting that with my five currently published KnM Blade books, that they’re not all written in the same time period leaving gaps in between the stories, some spanning decades. Of course as I continue to write, the gaps will be filled, and yes it might be a weird way to write, but then again it’s exactly what George Lucas did with Star Wars (Episodes 4, 5 and 6 which were written first), it’s exactly what happened with the many Stars Wars Legends novels that were written all across the Star Wars Universe timeline even before George Lucas eventually wrote Episodes 1, 2 and 3, and it’s still happening now in the Disney era. So clearly this way of doing things can’t be a bad thing.
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Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
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Yep. It’s a book (Or rather a story), called Total Recall. I first wrote it and posted it on the Star Wars role playing site I used to role play on to supplement my main character’s story. I later made this available on movellas.com when I started writing there. The story was good, the writing quality was bad, but it was my first. Now, whilst on the subject of this book, I do plan to rewrite it at some point and convert it to my KnM Blade Universe. In fact, I have already started doing this with another book titled Time’s Arrow that technically I actually started writing before Total Recall, but was finished after it. I’ve actually rewrote the first chapter and converted it into the KnM Blade Universe, and have come to realise just how terrible I was a writer back then and how much I’ve improved. Re-writing just the first chapter alone, was more a challenge in itself with respect to improving my writing than it actually was in converting the story from a Star Wars / Stargate SG1 Universe to my KnM Blade Universe!
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What is your e-reading device of choice?
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iPad or Android tablet (I use both).
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How do you discover the ebooks you read?
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Usually I browse and do an extensive search based on a specific search criteria I have in that particular moment in time. This can include doing things such as, but isn’t limited to, searching for my favourite genres at Smashwords or other sites by putting in keywords like sci-fi women and spaceships, and seeing what books come up in the search results. When a description catches my eye I stop and I look at reviews. I download the sample and read that if available. If it’s a Star Wars novel, I already have a list of upcoming future titles.
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Describe your desk?
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My desk is, um... Well I don’t really have a desk in an office like room. I have a games room instead. So in other words, I have a large room that’s got a few desks or tables, a few TVs and several monitors. I basically have a laptop that I use to do work and occasionally use it for other things, but other than that the rest is solely for entertainment purposes.
So instead, I’ll describe my games room which is quite big. I have two powerful gaming Windows PCs, the less powerful one also serves as my HTPC and a machine that runs emulators of older gaming consoles and PC games. I have a PS2, PS3, PS4 and now the new PS5, as well as an XBOX 360, XBOX ONE and a new XBOX Series S. I also have a Nintendo Wii and a few other ancient consoles laying around, notably an Atari 2600, Colecovision, Commodore Amiga and Sega Saturn. But that’s not all, I’ve left an empty open area for Virtual Reality, or a spot where my wife Jhasmin or I can put on my Oculus Rift VR and play in virtual reality without bumping into anything.
In a corner section there’s an old Daytona USA twin arcade machine, as well as an old Super Street Fighter 2 arcade machine, and the coffee table that’s sort of in the centre of the room that isn’t really a coffee table, is actually an old space invaders tabletop machine. And yet in another corner I have a NAS Server and a couple of laptops next to it used for various other tasks that don’t need mentioning.
I’ve also caged off yet another corner section where I’ve put in an air-hockey table. I love the game and love playing hard, as does my wife, so hence the cage to avoid an out of control puk damaging one of my screens or what have you.
Lastly the walls and the ceiling are decorated with my favourite cars, planes, football (soccer) clubs, the Ferrari F1 team, sci-fi and fantasy characters from various universes, sci-fi ships, and cosplay pictures of me and Jhasmin. On the walls the pictures are mostly printed or photos, but some are digital frames. On the ceiling I have various different flags.
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What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
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I have my hobbies, my collections, the things I’m so passionate about, but none of those things even comes close to my spouse Jhasmin, and I’m a real lucky girl to have her. She’s a computer software developer and has many of the same or similar interests as I do. We both love our work, we love our hobbies, we love to travel, to have friends over, and to see our families. I guess I get out of bed each morning to see what's going to happen to either one of us - and to see what's going to happen to the characters I'm writing about on any given day.
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When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
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Gaming, watching sports, watching TV shows/movies, reading, practicing martial arts (Aikido, Kendo and Ninjitsu), exercising which includes playing tennis and swimming, driving in car club drives and participating in other club events, racing in amateur events, recreational flying from time to time, cosplaying, and taking road trips with Jhasmin. I’ve also spoken at various games industry conferences/conventions.
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Do you have any big wishes?
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I wish there were really such a thing as a Delorean with a flux capacitor so that Jhasmin and I could travel to the future. Perhaps we’d then go visit the thirty-first century time period for more inspirational ideas for my KnM Blade Universe.
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