Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Something like 60 or 70. I lose count. I’ve been writing since before most of you were born, everything from Romance with three different degrees of heat, magazine articles, newspaper articles, Science Fiction novels, and novels including aspects of Romance and Fantasy but no shapeshifters or zombies, and definitely no vampires. Shudder! I mean, what’s romantic about some creep in a tuxedo and a flowing cape sucking all the blood out of your throat? Yucch.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is CAVERNS, the 4th and last in The Chronicles of Storn. It all came about because I wrote REFUGE, a tale of people on the planet Storn (named for Josiah A. Storn, the admiral who took a fleet of seven ships, known as The Dirtsider Expedition halfway across the Milky Way), carrying the remnants of Earth’s population. It took them a thousand years to get there, even with the fastest drive ever built. They spend the trip in cryostasis (freeze, for the non-technical people like me–“freeze” being easier to type than “cryostasis”, which my dictionary program doesn’t recognize as a real word). Anyway, the planet is weird. Each of its seasons last around 52 weeks, and if summer is hellish hot, winter is downright deadly. They have to go into freeze so they don’t freeze to death. (Really, that does make sense.) There, cared for by A.I. servos, they can live through winter–well most of them can. Until the the freezer-tubes start failing. Or so many believe. Others suspect they’re being killed off in the orders of Someone High Up who knows there’s a group of “dissidents” folks who think it’s perfectly all right that some of the recently born children have ESP abilities. The dissidents build a refuge far away where they hope to be the first to spend winter on Storn outside of freeze. Not to post a spoiler, some of them actually do (you’d have figured that out already, so you can’t really call it a spoiler). I’m not telling you how they go about it or what the eventual outcome is. I got to the end of that book, and WHAM! a total surprise came marching in. A man named Joe Storn. Of course, everyone knows it can’t be THE Josiah A. Storn, Admiral of the Dirtsider Expedition. He and a troop broke free of the initial landing party, but that was 300 years ago and this guy doesn’t look a day older than 45. When everyone settles down, this Joe Storn character says, “Have I got a story for you!”
So knowing that, I simply had to find out what his story was. This led me to LIFELINE, which starts out “Joe Storn had two problems. One, he was lying naked on an autopsy table, and two, he desperately needed to take a leak.” His story goes on from there, right up to his being shanghaied in Luna, given an admiralty he doesn’t want, and a fleet of freeze ship bound for a world he’s never heard of. He’s not given a chance to refuse, so does his best. When the ships all land, turns out there are a few unexpected dangers, one of which is a virus that makes a lot of people copulate to the point of unconsciousness, leaving them prey to some vicious avians as big as hang gliders. Joe and his special crew, having enjoyed the physical and mental enhancement of some super nanobots, aren’t affected. Despite that, the self-styled Committee of Captains denies Joe & company the freedom to explore. They want everyone back in freeze until the scientists can figure out an antidote to this virus. Failing that, it’s their intention to put a serious libido suppressant into the drinking water. Well, Joe, along with about a hundred others who think sex is just fine, become the Dirtsider Troop since the Dirtsider Expedition is a bust. Hence DIRTSIDERS, book 3 in the Chronicles, takes Joe and his pals on several adventures, some of which are deadly, as they seek out a place they can call their own and do what the expedition was intended to do–settle the planet as a new home for humanity. But Joe knows his troop of less than a hundred people isn’t enough. He has to to find a way back to the ships’ valley so he can release all the corpsicles held in freeze by the Committee of Captains–assuming any are still alive. But if they’re not, there will still be the frozen zygotes, human and animal, ready and waiting to be quickened and grown. Since he can’t get over or around some mighty impressive mountains, the only way to get back is to go under them. Which brings us to CAVERNS, as well as full circle back to the point where Joe says “Have I got a story for you!” But that, of course, can’t be the end. After he tells his story, he, his crew, and the people they’ve just met have a job to do in those caverns, a dangerous one, one in which failure is not an option, because there are precious lives that must, at all costs, be saved. After all, they are humanity’s hope.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I never, ever, write Chapter Four until the book is done. It’s some kind of mental block. So I just start out with Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three and then keep on writing for as long as necessary to get the story on screen. Then I can go back and decide where Chapters Four, Five, Six and all the rest need to be.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anne McCaffrey, Robert A. Heinlein, Ann Mather to name a few. I cut my teeth reading my dad’s AMAZING STORIES magazines aboard his boat, then discovered my aunts’ “Nurse Books” published by Harlequin.
What are you working on now?
As above, CAVERNS.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang (of course) Goodebooks, Goodreads, Amazon, Author Blogs that invite guest writers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you’re a young married woman, use a pen-name. Bad things can happen. Marriages can fail. If you’ve become famous using the name of a man you might ultimately hate, you won’t want to have to continue use his name on your books. (No, this hasn’t happened to me, but it has to a lot of writer friends.) But whoever you are, if you have the talent, the energy, the drive, and the desire to write, make the time to do it. Don’t believe the snarks who want to cut you down by saying, “You’ll never make a living at that.” Also, when you think you book is perfect, trust me, it’s not. Hire a editor. Not your mom (unless she is one), not your best friend, or a classmate who “has a way with words”. You need someone who knows grammar, sentence structure, dialogue formatting, and spelling. The spell-checker and grammar- checker on your computer are not substitutes for the real thing. After the editor’s done, have at least three proof-readers go over your work to look for missing words, incomprehensible sentences, and sloppy punctuation you and your editor have missed. NEVER, EVER PAY A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK. They’ll promise you expert editing, madly successful advertising, fantastic sales and will suck you dry leaving you with nothing but regrets.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Success=Ass in Chair.” (I believe this was attributed to Arthur C. Clarke, or maybe Izaak Asimov, but I’ve been using it so long, if you Google it, you’re liable to find my name attached to it.
What are you reading now?
Just finished listening to David Baldacci’s LAST MILE, 2nd book in his Amos Decker series that began with MEMORY MAN. Haven’t started anything else today.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Who know? Certainly I don’t. When I have CAVERNS locked up I might retire. When I mention that to my husband he laughs. Rudely. The rat.
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?
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand; Time Enough For Love, by Robert A. Heinlein; Foundation, by Izaac Asimov (all under one cover); and The Complete Works of Robert Frost.
Author Websites and Profiles
Judy Griffith Gill Website
Judy Griffith Gill Amazon Profile
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