The Next Big Thing...

I’m delighted to be part of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, generously nominated by the amazing Summer Michaels. Summer introduced us to her fabulous short recently released by Less Than Three Press, Substitute Heart, the perfect Winter Warmer for a dull January day.

I’m jazzed to have the opportunity, not only to pimp my upcoming release with LT3 Press, but also to introduce another author as the ‘Next Big Thing’. Read on for details…

1. What is the working title of your book?

Finding King (Breaker #1). It’s the first in a trilogy about the crew of the Breaker-One-Niner, a spacecraft currently operating as a pirate vessel.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Originally, I wrote the story in answer to an open call for an anthology on pirates. It came out well over the requested word count so I kept working on it until the story that exists today emerged. It’s even longer, fuller, and hopefully smoother than the original story idea it grew from. I remember I wanted to do something different. I didn’t want my pirates in billowy shirts with swords and ponytails, so I hit fast forward and landed somewhere in the 35^th century in a different corner of the universe and my little band of space pirates was born. Being set in the future wasn’t enough, I wanted them to blend with a few of the ideas I had for sci-fi and biotech so a new sub-species was born.

3. What is the genre of the book?

Sci-fi. It has a romance element, of course, which takes centre stage for the first book.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie
rendition?
The two actors I would choose for Merrick and Jessie are probably a bit old now. It would have been Jude Law and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Rhys Meyers just is Jessie from his build to his pout to the incredibly sexy glower. He has such a unique look he’s hard to replace in my mind with a younger guy (open to suggestions – post a comment below). Jude on the other hand, I would happily replace with Kellen Lutz or Chris Hemsworth. Both would paint a very beautiful Merrick by bringing that rough and ready edge to my pirate captain. As for the rest of the boys...I'll let the readers decide.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Ged Merrick can't believe his luck when he finds his ex in cryo-stasis on board the spaceship he's just commandeered, but can Jessie put the lost years behind them and start over?

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency/publisher?
The book will be released by Less Than Three Press in Mar 2013

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The first draft took just a few days but it was only 12,000 words. It took another few weeks to bring it to the extended version (20k+) and many more weeks of revisions before I felt I’d done justice to the characters and submitted it.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I haven’t read much M/M Sci-fi so I couldn’t really say. I haven’t come across anything similar, which is one of the reasons I was nervous about submitting it. Not all publishers are prepared to take a chance on different. I’m so pleased LT3 chose to take it on. I know I’m biased but I think it’s a great story and I’m chuffed to share my boys with the world.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As I said, it began as a response to an open call. I mulled over the idea of pirates for a few weeks and mentioned in one of the groups I belong to that I was considering submitting something. I’d written some cross over fan-fic that had been well received and Aleks Voinov and Xara X Xanakas encouraged me to give it a go. Scratch that, Xara threatened me with very questionable things if I didn’t go for it. I received an invitation to join one of her writers groups and I approached them with a very loose idea something along the lines of ‘I want to write space pirates’. It is because of the support and encouragement from my writing group that King found its feet and after several transformations will finally make its way in the world. For that, I humbly thank them, and Aleks, who took time out of his busy schedule to beta read for me what seems like a lifetime ago, from the bottom of my heart :D. It’s been a long time coming for this particular story and I’m really excited about its release. To the guys in AWA who helped polish King until it gleamed - love ya loads :)

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It has sexual tension, conflict, action, and best of all - a whole cast of gorgeous guys waiting to be discovered.

To keep this blog hopping, here’s an awesome author I think you should check out:

Roger Kean at - Roger Kean