What initially sparked your interest in writing, and how did you discover your passion for storytelling?

From as early as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to tell stories. Star Trek played a big part in this, as I mentioned elsewhere, but I fell in love with alien worlds and epic fantasy settings even before learning about the Starship Enterprise.

I was a kid during the early days of computer gaming (BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum and up) and RPG games really helped to drive my interest in storytelling, along with the wonderful “Fighting Fantasy” novels.

I was also a role-playing nerd and gamemaster (Paranoia and Role Master mainly), which is the perfect outlet for someone who loves to tell stories.

I tried to write my first novel in my early 20s, but I didn’t have the patience or discipline back then. I did eventually finish that book (and series) more than 15 years later. It’s called The Planetsider Trilogy, and it’s still popular today, having held No.1 slots in Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction on Amazon US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Age and experience have their benefits, I suppose!!

Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

I was shopping for covers and cover designers one afternoon, as authors often do, and part of that process (for me) is checking the Copyright pages of books with covers I liked. Tom’s name kept appearing, which led to his website and an awesome list of pre-mades, which were sold out! That was a good sign (though not for me), but by that point, I’d decided I wanted a series of "Tom Edwards" covers, so I bit the bullet and got in touch. That was a great decision.

How do you engage with your readership? Do you actively seek feedback, and if so, how does it influence your future writing?

I have a bunch of social channels but I’m terrible at posting content and updates. I’m just not a very ‘social media’ sort of person, in general. I have a newsletter, which I’ve curated over many years, and the membership of that is ~7,000 strong. That’s my main method of communicating with readers.

I do encourage feedback and I get a lot of comments, particularly on the adverts I run to promote my books. I engage with everything, even the snarky comments! However, I think it’s important to take these comments with a pinch of salt, and the same goes for reviews. I read the bad reviews and the good (thankfully, most are good!), in case there’s anything I can learn (common mistakes or peeves, for example), but ultimately, it’s my story and my decision. I write what I would want to read.

Character Development: What unique challenges do you face when developing characters in a futuristic or otherworldly setting, and how do you ensure that they remain relatable to readers?

For me, good sci-fi is a good story first and foremost. I like to think you could take all of my books and put them in another setting and the stories and characters would still work.

Forsaken Commander, for example, would work in the age of sail, or modern times. It would only require adjustments to who the antagonists are and where they are. For example, they wouldn’t be post-human in the age of sail, but could be another minority group, and the setting could be remote islands instead of planets. The elements of story and character I think would remain the same, because they’re universal.

I create documents that include important elements like a character’s wants and needs, their conflicts (internal and external), how they change as a result of the story, what impact they have on people and the world, and so on. I flesh all this out in advance so I know who they are and how they would react in given situations.

I use a tool called Scrapple to create massive scrap books of character or worldbuilding notes, which then becomes my master reference. After a while, you get to know the characters and settings well enough that it becomes second nature, but just as I like to outline my books in detail, I find that the initial work of piecing the characters together is invaluable.

Storytelling Formats: Science fiction can be presented in various formats, from novels to short stories to episodic series. How does the chosen format influence your storytelling, and what advantages or challenges do you find in each?

I like structure and having a plan, so my writing is heavily influenced by the sort of episodic sci-fi shows I grew up watching, such as Star Trek, Babylon 5 and their ilk. I use a three-act structure and think of each book as a ‘season’ in a wider story arc. Each book / season tells its own story, but builds toward an over-arching conclusion.

This allows me to put the foundations in place for long-term storytelling, while ensuring that each book stands alone, and contains all the juicy story beats, tropes and hooks that readers expect and love. Moral Ambiguity: Science fiction often explores moral and ethical ambiguity.

Technology's Impact on Humanity: How do you explore the transformative effects of technology on humanity, both positive and negative, and what cautionary tales or optimistic visions do you present?

The Aternien Wars series was actually inspired by Elon Musk’s Neurolink chip, and questions of where human augmentation might eventually lead us. We’re just at the beginning of this ‘post-human’ age now, which is scary and exciting.

In this series, post-human experimentation leads to the creation of the god-like leader of the Aterniens, Marcus Aternus, who styles his empire on the myths of ancient Egypt.

I wanted to explore how an advanced, post-human branch of humanity might co-exist with the old-fashioned flesh-and-blood kind. It turns out not so well.

Prejudice and fear of change and technology are central themes throughout the series. In the books the Aterniens are considered perversions of nature and a threat to human purity. It’s because of this that they’re persecuted and exiled, eventually leading to two bloody wars.

The prejudice the Aterniens face is mirrored in the way the central character, Carter Rose, is regarded. As a post-human soldier created to combat the Aternien threat, he’s ironically treated with the same fear and intolerance as the enemy. He’s forsaken by the very people he fights to protect. Real history shows us that soldiers are often treated poorly by the governments who use them, and sometimes even by society, as was the case with those who fought in the Vietnam war, for example.

It’s not a very optimistic vision of the future, but as in all of my books, there are strong themes of hope and redemption, camaraderie and of the value of remaining principled even in the face of extreme adversity and intolerance.

For me, there’s nothing more cathartic than someone overcoming seemingly unconquerable odds to win the day!

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Why did you choose Tom Edwards Design to create your cover?

Tom had an amazing portfolio of artwork, and I knew pretty much from the start that he would be able to create a stunning book cover for my debut novel, ‘The Dark Maiden’. Then ten books and three series later, I’m still so impressed with the amazing and professional quality of his work. I’d done a lot of research into cover artists, but his work was always the one I ended up going back to. And I knew I wanted his artwork for the covers of The Tales of Iradas series, The Anari Duology, and The Mortaery Chronicles.

What was the best part of working with Tom to design your cover?

His attention to detail! He mentioned to us that he loved drawing armour, so naturally when we asked him to design ‘Black Dusk: Flame and Shadows’, the fourth book in my dark fantasy series The Tales of Iradas, he was so excited. And he didn’t disappoint. I love how he sends the artwork in stages – first a rough outline of the cover, and then by the second draft it’s all fleshed out and looks amazing. He somehow manages to take mere descriptions of what I want and completely exceeds my expectations every time.

The names of your characters are great! How do you decide on naming them and do their names say something about their personalities?

This is going to sound silly, but I Google names from different countries and either blend them together, or take parts of one and stick it with parts of another. I also try (not always) to give some sort of meaning to my character names. Adelaide Redbane is a princess – Adelaide means ‘noble’. Serendipity is a peasant-turned-lost-princess of Iradas, and one meaning of her name is ‘an unplanned fortunate discovery’. Perhaps my favourite though is Jinx Mortaery, Jinx meaning ‘bad luck’. I had a whole scene in Palace of Ash explaining why her father named her that, and given her rather tragic backstory it fit her perfectly. Plus, if it just sounds cool, then I’m all for it.

Can you describe your typical writing routine? Do you have any specific rituals or habits that help you get into the creative zone?

I’ve made a very good habit of starting my writing routine at 5am. I don’t always stick to it, because life gets in the way sometimes, but for the most part, I do. It allows me to get the bulk of my writing done for the day, and I can do it first thing in the morning with a clear mind. I also find mornings peaceful, so that really helps set the mood for writing.

Every book or series I write (and I mean every…single…one) has an individual Spotify playlist. I religiously listen to the specific one for whichever project I’m working on. I even ended up buying a typewriter, something I’ve always dreamed of owning. Recently, switching from writing straight up on my laptop to a tech-free option like that has seriously helped words flow better on a page. Then I just type it all up, editing as I go along.

Can you provide any insights into your upcoming projects?

Are there specific themes or ideas that you're excited to explore in your future works? I’m actually taking a brief hiatus from fantasy, and I’m currently working on a psychological/medical thriller based in an asylum (can you tell I’ve watched American Horror Story?) But 2025 will be the year of steampunk for our imprint, Paper Owl Publishing. We have a new series and a standalone novel in that genre coming that year, as well as the thriller I’ve been working on in 2024. Let’s just say, expect a whole bunch of young misfits with a talent for making illegal weapons in both my upcoming series and standalone novel.