Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a pet lover and gentle soul who was born a writer. When I couldn’t write novels, I wrote technical books, study guides, training manuals, edited corporate newsletters and dabbled in copy writing as well. I now have three full length novels, two novellas, and a work in progress, a screenplay.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Jeopardy: A Tripartite Peril
This is the third in a series that sees the main character’s arc come to fruition when his mortality is on the line. I love to set people in my own worlds, share those worlds, and let the characters tell the story of their lives.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing extraordinary, although I do tend to have a beverage on hand at all time. I also have to work around my cats’ desires to sit on the keyboard and be fed on demand.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Asimov and Crichton are my favorite science fiction authors. They were both prolific and the fiction was as genuine as possible. When I can’t put a book down, that’s my kind of story!
What are you working on now?
I have a screenplay in progress, which I go to when I need a different genre to think about, and a third novella that helps define the main character and provide more dimension to his personality.
The screenplay is based on a true story, of my father-in-law’s teenage years from 1940 to 1945. Stalin’s regime abducted his family at gunpoint and herded them onto a cattle train. He escaped but never saw his father and uncle again. Shortly after that, he was rounded up by the Nazis as a “guest worker” for Hitler, filling bomb craters among other unpleasant tasks until the Allies came to Germany.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I let my Twitter and Facebook followers know when it’s time, but also I use Amazon ads to reach people who are interested in science fiction.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Editing and patience. Write your story. It should be engaging, interesting, have a little tension and mystery, and don’t rob the reader of a good ending. Resolve that problem honestly and with a surprise or two. After a few weeks or a month, go back and edit.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Brush your teeth every day.
What are you reading now?
I am on hiatus from reading while I put the finishing touches on Jeopardy.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to bundle the novels and novellas, and eventually pitch the screenplay.
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?
What a depressing thought! I’d bring short story collections, a biography of someone, perhaps an epic that will take me years to read.
Author Websites and Profiles
H. S. Rivney Amazon Profile
H. S. Rivney’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile