Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a huge fan of sci-fi/fantasy books & films who had this crazy idea one day to write a sci-fi/fantasy mash-up of my own.
So, you can imagine my excitement when The Order of the Ancestors, book three in The Keeper of the Balance series, was chosen as the 2016 Dystopian Book of the Year in the 2016 Summer Indie Awards organized by Metamorph Publishing!
I’m currently writing the fourth and final book of The Keeper of the Balance series, which I hope will be finished soon.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is the third installment in The Keeper of the Balance series. My main inspiration for the series was writing what I hope would be a fresh, new take on the classic Hero’s Journey.
I honestly don’t know if I succeeded in this, as the reader will always have the final word. But it was a fun challenge trying to accomplish what I set out to do with these books.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I usually saunter back and forth in my studio, sort of “acting” out each chapter I’m about to write, which is pretty odd, no doubt.
Sometimes I get so excited that I’m sure my neighbors think I’m completely out of my mind (laughs).
What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, George Orwell and Aldus Huxley have been huge influences on my work, as well as some spy thriller writers such as Robert Ludlum and Ken Follett, for instance.
As far as books go, I’d say my main influences are books written by the authors above: The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, 1984, Brave New World, the Bourne trilogy, etc.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on The Last Bastion, which will be the fourth and final book in The Keeper of the Balance series.
This is a bittersweet experience, I must say, because I’ve spent close to a decade working with these world, characters and situations. But it’s exciting to see the series come to what I hope will be an exciting ending.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
To be perfectly honest, my best method to promote my books so far has been mouth-to-ear. But I feel I’ve reached a point where I have to find other options to get my books in the hands of more readers.
In this sense, I’m hoping awesomegang can become my best method and website to promote my books (laughs).
Do you have any advice for new authors?
With only 3 books under my belt to this day, I’d say I’m a pretty new author myself. Still, I have some experience with other kinds of creative work.
The best advice I’ve ever heard is to follow your heart and never try to please anyone but yourself, because it’s impossible to please everybody else out there. If you love what you’re writing, chances are many others will love it as well.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read above (laughs).
What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Before They Are Hanged, the second book of Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. I’m a sucker for a good mature fantasy story and I must say I’m enjoying Mr. Abercrombie’s work so far.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As I said above, I love a good mature fantasy tale. And so I have this rather ambitious idea to write a big, adult fantasy epic combining three ancient cultures that I love as my main source of inspiration: ancient Rome, the Knights Templar and the Vikings.
I wonder what it’d be like if these three cultures had collided at the same time in our world. Add to this a little magic & sorcery, and I think the story has great potential. Hopefully I can fully exploit it!
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?
That’s a great question. I think I’d bring books that offer some good food for thought, such as Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. I love that book.
I really don’t know about the other two, to be perfectly honest. I guess I’d bring deep spiritual or philosophical books like Siddhartha, since I’d have lots of time to digest the book’s contents and no one to talk about them (laughs).
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