T.C. Ricks, Author of Grenademan vs the Zombies

Today we are interviewing T.C. Ricks, author of the urban fantasy novel "Grenademan vs the Zombies."

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I have a very varied background.  I started out getting an English degree but when I got back from Venezuela, thought I'd go into science.  That was...very hard, but I eventually go my bachelor's...in Microbiology, somehow and then proceeded to try and get my Masters. Didn't happen but I've been keeping the lights on since then as a  Project Manager/Business Analyst.  But the writing is where my passion is.  I started taking it seriously about 15 years ago, and started work on my first novel.  Then I eventually moved to this one and have done two since.  I enjoy a lot of things, including table top gaming, reading, writing, poetry, science, and exploration. My wife and I travel quite a bit and just recently moved from Charlotte, NC to Miami, Florida.

Describe the plot of “Grenademan vs the Zombies” in a few sentences.
It's really more a story about hubris and the smack gaming groups talk to each other about all the time, and what would happen if one of the more insane people in some groups could take it to the extreme they'd like to prove a point.  Grenademan and the Zombies are really forces around that, though it is a story of good vs evil.

Who do you think would most appreciate this book?
People who like both Super Heroes, Humor and Zombies.

What inspired you to write a novel about zombie apocalypse that is set in motion by a bet?
A bet.  My step father has a writer that he likes a lot that had close links to a publisher a few years back who put out an open call for Zombie stories.  My step dad wanted me to enter it, and while  I had a script for Grenademan, there weren't zombies in it.  Skip pitched the title to me, and I agreed to do it if he'd proof it.  He did, and at that point it kind of wrote itself.

Tell us a bit about the protagonist, Grenademan.
Grenademan is...unique.  He is insane, but more sane than you might think.  He's very smart, but his true power comes in that thumb tack on his helmet that looks ridiculous.  It's forged from the Golden Helmet of Mambrino, which only the mad can wear and wield.

Zombie fans will be delighted to learn there are a variety of different kinds of zombies in this novel. Can you tell us about the different kinds? Do you have a favorite?
There are seven different kinds.  I will save some as a surprise but my favorite are Snark Zombies, which are really a mental construct; an analogy to those people who wander through life on auto pilot.  Purists will love the actually dead dead zombies who are...you know.  Dead.  There are also blood zombies akin to the zombies of 28 Days Later.

There’s a fair amount of humor in this book. Has humor always been part of your writing? Or is it something that developed as your writing progressed?
I have always had a fair degree of humor in my writing but my first novel also took itself 'very seriously' and such.  The second novel had dark humor in it is as well but the characters in it are all assholes.  I'm not sure if either of them is salvageable to be honest.

Who was your favorite character to write?
Grenademan is, of course, my Mickey Mouse.  He's definitely my Hermione or Harry Dresden...my alter ego.  He is the most FUN to write, though to be honest? I think my favorite to write at this point might just be Ghost from Forever West.

Are there any authors who have influenced your writing style?
Terry Pratchet, Jim Butcher, Elizabeth Moon, Roger Zelazny, George R R Martin.

Tell us about your creative process, from initial idea to published manuscript.
Sure.  I start out by producing utter unreadable crap and getting friends and family members to have their eyes bleed, then rewrite many times, then get an editor, then rework it a lot more times, then proof it.  Though....was that what you meant?

Is there any aspect of writing you don't like?
In a novel the part between the beginning and the middle sucks.  A lot.

Outside of writing, you have a podcast, Tossing Grenades at Windmills. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Absolutely, I set it up to have SOME kind of an audience for my writing.  I read the fourth novel on it, and we've got some from this one.  I also have some short stories and poetry.  There were sound problems but we're fixing those.  Just got a new bumper which is really neat.

What do you have in mind for your next project?
The next literal project is a chapbook with my poetry as Emmit Other called Spiders in the Sugar Factory.  My fifth novel, “Forever West” is being proofed right now and will likely come out late this year or Early next year.

Is there anything else you'd like potential readers to know about your book?
Yes. I firmly deny that if you read it, it will give you super powers. It will not.  And please ask others to stop spreading rumors that it does.

"Grenademan vs the Zombies" book blurb:

Order and Chaos have fought their little chess matches on world after world, often coming to draw. so when Order found a new, and powerful champion in a n insane superhero, Chaos had to step up his game. And he found it in an ambitious would be sorcerer called Jarvi who had bet his gaming group t hat they could not survive the Zombie Apocalypse and really MEANT it. now Jarvi would start an apocalypse just to prove them wrong.

And somehow, Grenademan had to stop it. While the Circle of Gamers regard him a insane, the government trying to kill him and his own sanity quite questionable, Grenademan has to keep four people alive while seven different kinds of zombies are trying to ill them.

More Information
Buy "Grenademan vs the Zombies" on Smashwords
The Tossing Grenades at Windmills podcast
Buy "Grenademan vs the Zombies" on Amazon
Check out the Tossing Grenades at Windmills podcast on Stitcher

Saskia Heath, Author of Community of Us

Today we are interviewing Saskia Heath, author of the apocalyptic novel "Community of Us."

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am an Australian author living in country Victoria on a small farm with my menagerie of animals. After working in the city for ten years I made the move to the country and love it. My writing has time to flourish and I really enjoy the back to basics lifestyle with the nearest shop fifteen minutes drive away.

Describe the plot of your new book in a few sentences.
"Community of Us" starts with Matilda leaving her job and deciding to take a break and go to a self-sustaining community in a beautiful part of Australia.

While she is there a deadly virus breaks out in the cities and starts to spread. The community fights to find a cure and save family and friends.

This community looks to natural healing and metaphysical concepts to treat the crisis, taking a different perspective from your average apocalypse scenarios.

Who do you think would most appreciate this book?
Female sci-fi and fantasy readers, a lot of apocalypse stuff is written by men I wanted to offer a female perspective. I wrote what I wanted to read but couldn’t find.

What inspired you to write a book about humanity’s desperate race for survival at a time when the world is moving in a different direction?
Reading the papers everyday it is hard to stay positive; all the hate, posturing and greed can make me feel hopeless. The fantasy of making change by having to start over is interesting to me.

Tell us about the protagonists, Matilda and Jessie.
Matilda is trained as a Naturopath but can’t make enough money doing that so works at a newspaper and yearns for a simpler life. With a history of being unlucky in love she lives alone and relies on her dog Scout for company. Everything she thinks she knows about herself is about to be turned upside down.

Jessie is a scientist working in a lab feeling lonely and disenchanted, this wasn’t how it was meant to be. He has his mates and his sister Mel but he feels like his life hasn’t really started. Being a bit of an introvert he finds it hard to go out but decides to head to a sustainability course that sounds interesting, he sees Matilda and everything changes.
 

Author Saskia Heath

Who was your favorite character to write?
It’s hard to pick favorites but it has to be Matilda, writing is definitely therapy for me and when I was in the flow with Matilda it was a joy to write. Jessie was harder to write which probably made it more satisfying.

Are there any authors who have influenced your writing style?
My favorite reads growing up where things like "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham I love his writing style and "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien both are post-apocalyptic stories and influence me today.

I love Margaret Attwood, "Oryx and Crake" especially but also fantasy including "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter."

How do you think you've evolved as a writer since when you first started?
My first draft still makes me cringe. I have done a lot of work on dialogue and will endlessly be chasing the goal of brilliant dialogue. Work and more work seems to me the only way to evolve, it’s hard to put your finger on what changes but I just have to keep working. 

How do you feel about the increasing popularity of ebooks?
I love it. I had a few false starts with agents and publishers that I found really frustrating. Publishers take on such a small percentage of writers it makes sense there is plenty of good stuff out there not being published by traditional publishers. So I am all for it.

Do you write with a computer, typewriter, or pen and paper? Why do you use this tool?
I write my manuscripts on a computer. I can type a lot quicker than I can write so it allows me to get things down quickly, as the ideas flow.

Without giving too much away, what can readers expect from the second book in the Eden series?
Well there will be missions out into the wider world to see what is going on outside the Community and to try and assist other survivors, some will be friendly, some won’t. Eden community now has a much larger population after the immediate threat has passed the transition to a function village is not always smooth but that is all I will say for now.

"Community of Us" book blurb:
‘Were we all lost? I wouldn’t believe it, we had to try and survive.’

Lapsed naturopath Matilda dreams of a quieter life, away from the city, while disillusioned scientist Jessie wants to escape his lab and get a girlfriend. Neither of them can envision the catastrophe that lies ahead.

Our journey starts in the moody metropolis of Melbourne travelling to the earthly paradise of northern New South Wales, Australia. How can anything bad happen in such a beautiful place?  Will natures’ power aid or kill us? A thrilling adventure ride as humanity becomes locked in a desperate race for survival. Gaia will have her way. Will it also be our way?

A compulsive read and a ripping start to the series. Community of Us presents a terrifyingly possible future.

More Information
Buy "Community of Us" on Amazon
Like Saskia Heath on Facebook