Ceri London Author Interview

Happy Friday everyone! This week I have been ctaching up with fellow sci-fi author Ceri London, the author of Rogue Genesis. As you'll see, her fascinating story is a world away from her real life in sunny old England. 

1) Can you please start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a science fiction/fantasy writer who lives in Sussex, England, with my husband and two daughters.  I am (normally) a piano tutor following a career in IT project management. A strange career move and one by chance – a friend asked me to introduce her children to piano as a favour and they stuck with me for years. Word of mouth built up my tuition business. I discovered I enjoy teaching and it gave me more time to spend with my children when they were young.

A few years ago, I picked up writing again. My children are older now and roles seem to have reversed. They look after me while I juggle lessons and my writing – make sure I’m not starving, that sort of thing. Every now and again, I check in as a mother and re-discover just how brilliant they are.

2) Why did you become a writer?

The arrival of home PCs led me to write a story. This was over twenty years ago, I can’t remember why I wrote my first story or what it was about. I clearly enjoyed the experience as I took an evening course in creative writing. Even then, I wrote science-fiction. Nothing I would ever share, even if I could find the stories I wrote. Or the hard floppy disks they were saved on.

3) Can you tell us about your book Rogue Genesis?

Rogue Genesis is the first story in a series: Shimmer In The Dark. It’s about an US military man who discovers that the dream-like alien world in his head is real. His mind has an instinctual ability to project through wormholes, shortcutting galaxies and light years without ever leaving Earth. Different time flows allow him to experience life across two worlds, effectively at the same time. Astereal is a doomed planet, but its time flow is slowing, aligning with Earth. The Astereans face extinction, but they believe Niall can save them, except he doesn’t believe they really exist. That is all about to change. His uncanny ability to evade death has caught the attention of sinister forces on Earth, setting in motion a chain of events that forces him to recognize Astereal is no dream.

That’s the opening premise, but the book is more about Niall Kearey’s journey of self-discovery as his growing abilities start to impact his career, his life, and his family. It’s about Earth’s cynical reaction to aliens and our inherent prejudices. Niall’s eyes are opened to truths about himself, his friends, and the real power brokers pulling strings behind the scenes on his home world. He starts to question everything he believes in as he fights to protect his family, and ultimately Earth, from humanity’s instinct to distrust anything beyond our tiny piece of the universe.   

4) Are the characters based on anyone you know? 

I never write about people I know personally. I would feel too uncomfortable. My main character, Major Niall Kearey, is loosely based on various characters from US military sci-fi shows, but really he evolved from the moment I started writing him. I wanted a military character whose career was about going into enemy territory to rescue people in trouble, and I chose the USAF Special Tactics as a setting for him. 

He’s a medic with Special Ops capability, can fly a helicopter, loves skimming Astereal’s electromagnetic grid in a jet-style aircraft. That sort of thing. I know no one like that. I had to do a lot of research. I didn’t even know how doors worked on helicopters before I started. I thought pilots needed a key like we do to open our front doors. Fortunately, I’ve had many betas with military experience correct me on stuff like that. I recently asked a reviewer with US Army experience to beta check it for military credibility and it passed!

What inspired me to write in an area I know very little about, except for what I read and watch on TV? I love it. It’s so much fun and I hugely admire the military forces. The military setting allows an added dimension of intrigue and conspiracy, and presents Niall with a huge obstacle to his ability to move freely, because he is already caught up inside that military machine

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5) Are you working on anything at the moment?

I’ve started the sequel to Rogue Genesis. It deals with the repercussions as Niall tries to resume his life, and then throws more at him. He will learn about his heritage. Dangers hinted at in Rogue Genesis will start to take form in the sequel. The world still needs to discover exactly what he did to save the Astereans. The reaction will be very mixed. It will all come together in an unexpected way that will force Niall on a path away from everyone he loves. I so want to get on with writing it. It’s going to be very exciting.

Terry, thank you so much for having me! I’ve very much enjoyed answering your questions.

 

Rogue Genesis is currently available at the promotional launch price of $2.99

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/QdpGDV
Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/VgWC9
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/335025