Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a huge Marvel (plus Game of Thrones, Star Trek AND Star Wars) fan, which shows since my novel is loaded with pop culture references. If you are a sci-fi fan you will enjoy them tremendously. I even went full Deadpool in my first draft and broke the fourth wall multiple times, until my editor told it was distracting and kept taking her out of the moment. Shame. Those fourth-wall breaks were hilarious. Still, I can guarantee a few laugh-out-loud moments. Case in point: The “good” aliens in my novel are a race of pranksters, whose main goal in life is pulling other people’s legs (They have four legs, hence the slight change in the idiom).
I am a university/college level English teacher, and including Canada, I have lived and worked in five different countries. I have met people from all around the world. Plus, my parents are from a different background, and so is my wife. As a result, diversity has become a major theme in my novel. My characters look like the bridge crew from Star Trek. One of my female characters even impersonated Uhura once, albeit posthumously.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Crimson Deathbringer.
This is how it all started: I have got purely obsessional OCD. What this means is a thought enters my mind—usually something negative—and doesn’t leave. I end up having to think about it 5000 times a day, and once this starts, my life is ruined for a week, two weeks, a month, or six months. I’d tried a lot of different ways to get rid of this problem: therapy, medication, meditation… Nothing ever worked, until I read an article that said the people who had this problem had an overly active imagination, and it would help if they channeled it into something productive, like writing.
I’d always wanted to be a writer. This is literally a childhood dream, one of those you give up when you grow up. I had the story of The Crimson Deathbringer in my mind for years (even started writing it and stopped a few times). When I read that article, I was going through a tough time in my marriage (fighting with your wife is no fun, even for sane people), and my mind had gone into its life-destroying over-drive, so I told myself, “Well, you’ve tried everything else, let’s give this a shot.”
And then a miracle happened.
My mind put the same energy it used to put into producing BS and making my life miserable into coming up with stories. Ideas would come to me fast and furious, and I had to stop whatever I was doing several times a day to write them down. I’ve been OCD-free since then (I know, I sound like a recovering alcoholic).
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think about what I am writing 24/7, with ideas coming to me from all directions. Is that unusual?:)
What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite author is Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files), which is probably how I ended up writing in a first-person POV with the same light-hearted, funny tone as he does. The fact that my MC’s name is Jim is purely coincidental though.
What are you working on now?
My second novel, which is about a nerdy scientist and a sexy female mercenary who use a time machine to defeat an alien invasion.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Do you have any advice for new authors?
With only one published novel, I am pretty new myself, so no.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s not exactly advice: It’s a line from Galaxy Quest: “Never give up; never surrender.” I got some 25 rejections until I found a publisher who accepted my first book.
What are you reading now?
Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing my second novel:)
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?
Any three or four books from The Dresden Files series.
Author Websites and Profiles
Sean Robins Website
Sean Robins Amazon Profile
Sean Robins’s Social Media Links
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