Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer in the early hours, a renewable energy engineer during the daytime hours, and a writer/musician at night. Never a dull moment. I now live in rural Ontario, Canada after living in Southern California, Toronto, Vancouver and various other places throughout my life. Things are settling down for me – able to focus more on writing.
I recently finished and self-published my first full-length novel, Datapocalypse, which is a speculative/sci-fi with dystopian and dark humour sprinklings. Based on the excellent feedback I’ve getting, it sounds like there’s a sequel in the near future.
In addition, I’ve written a 25,000-word novella called The Fulcrum, two short-stories: one sci-fi called Eye For Ego and one literary fiction story called Spark of a Thought. Most recently, I’ve completed the manuscript on another novella called BeLeaf.
These works were completed all within the last two and half years. Prior to that, all I’d written was lyrics to songs and closet poetry. So, you could say I’ve been a busy boy.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Let me focus on Datapocalypse since it’s the most polished and, in my opinion, the most extravagant. This story is very difficult to describe in few words, but I’ll try here: it’s about love, data and the end of the world (the Amazon book description does a great job at elaborating on this).
It was inspired while traveling in Italy and Greece a few years back and being overwhelmed by people taking so many pictures from their phones. I began to wonder if anyone actually looks at things – especially ones of such ancient beauty – with their eyes! So I began saying: what would happen if these things just started disappearing? Then I pondered a theory about how data, although virtual, actually does take up space and energy in the world, and is thus finite. Marrying these concepts together yielded a funny, mysterious, adventurous and dystopian story that became Datapocalypse.
My wife, 4-year old daughter and I made an excellent book trailer describing how the idea came to be and eventually became a book. I made the soundtrack for it as well, including the yet-to-be hit single, Datapocalypse.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writing pre-sunrise is not for everyone. But it’s when my mind is most fresh and un-inundated with daily poundings of information and stimuli.
A little pre-meditation always helps, coupled with caffeine indulgence.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Aldous Huxley
Noam Chomsky
Ayn Rand
George Orwell
Hermann Hesse
Ernest Hemingway
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
What are you working on now?
I just finished the manuscript for BeLeaf, a speculative fiction story about artificial leaves and trees. I’m going to let it percolate for a few weeks before revisiting.
In the meantime, I’m pondering a sequel to Datapocalypse – although I didn’t realize the world could end twice. A writer must appease their fans (if they’re lucky enough to have any).
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve had a difficult time marketing my stories, owing mainly to my aversion to social media. Despite the number of articles read on the subject – hours upon hours of research – I’ve yet to find the right stride. But ideas are continually brewing, and I will eventually become more proficient in some avenue.
I’ve heard that the best way to promote your books, if you’re not into social media, is developing a website and gathering an email list to continuously build your platform. Perhaps easier said than done.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write first, market later. The amount of self-publishing and book marketing information on the Internet can be overwhelming, so don’t worry about that until you need to.
Finish your manuscript. Self-edit your manuscript. Get it beta-read. Make some adjustments. Get it copy-edited. Then figure out your next steps.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s hard to discount any advise giving by the one and only Stephen King. One of my faves:
“What should you write about? Anything, as long as it’s the truth.” After all, he is Le Roi.
Another piece of advice, perhaps more broad and generalized, came from a yoga instructor my wife and I used to practice with on the cliffs of Pacific Beach overlooking the ocean. “The way you do anything, is the way you do everything” – NamaSteve.
What are you reading now?
Antifragile by Nassem Nicholas Taleb. A far cry from the fiction that I write, but indeed a subject people should know more about.
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep promoting Datapocalypse; keep entering story contests and literary magazine/site submissions for my short stories; traditional publishing house submissions for The Fulcrum.
But what’s really tickling me right now is the begin work on the sequel to Datapocalypse.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Island by Aldous Huxley :)))
Author Websites and Profiles
Christopher Keast Amazon Profile
Christopher Keast’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile