AUTHOR K S FERGUSON TALKS ABOUT "REALITY GLITCH" AND MORE

I’m delighted to present the first in a series of interviews with my co-authors of the new Sci-fi and Fantasy anthology, Reality Glitch - 11 exciting stories from 11 authors from around the globe.

Today, I’m joined by K S Ferguson who lives in Washington State. K S has published one critically-acclaimed novella, Puncher's Chance (co-written with James Grayson,) which appeared in the June 2006 edition of AnalogScience Fiction and Fact, America's longest-running science fiction magazine. She's since completed another five novels. She enjoys writing suspense and murder mysteries in futuristic and fantasy settings, and occasionally writes fiction in the guise of technical manuals for unfinished software—otherwise known as help documentation.

Welcome K S.

Hi Gerard

I’m happy you’ve agreed to this interview. Let’s get to it.

1) So, tell us about your most recent release.

My latest release is “A Moment of Madness,” my contribution to an anthology with 10 other international authors. The work is titled Reality Glitch.

My last novel was Undercover Madness, the second book in the River Madden series. River Madden is a hapless schizophrenic with the uncontrolled ability to fracture dimensional barriers. He works for Dimension Protective Services, a cooperative organization comprised of members from the human dimension, a dimension where Raptors are the dominant intelligent life form, and another dimension where Neanderthals are dominant.

2) Sounds very Sci-fi. What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book, and how did you overcome it?

Writing River Madden is what I do for enjoyment between writing my other two series. River is a strange and crazy character who goes on wild adventures. He has a wry sense of humor and a talent for finding trouble. My greatest fear was that after writing the first novel and then taking a break to write another book, I wouldn't be able to find his unique voice again. But it flowed onto the page the same as it did the first time. I have no idea where his voice comes from. My other works sound nothing like his stories.

3) Tell us what else are you working on.

Family Owned, the third novel in my SF mystery series. Here's the description of the series:

The year is 2040. Earth recovers from a flu pandemic that killed a third of the population and left another third crippled. Jump gates allow travel between worlds, but the handful of galactic colonies are run by mega-corporations more concerned with profits than people.

Rafe McTavish, self-made man, believes it's possible to be a capitalist corporate executive and a humanitarian. Kama Bhatia, the love of his life, computer genius, and corporate spy, challenges him to prove it. Together they unmask greed-driven murderers less concerned about body count than with crushing their competitors.

4) What other novels have you written?

Two novels in my futuristic Rafe and Kama mystery series, two novels and a short story in my River Madden series, and the first novel in my Hellhound series, which features a supernatural PI and is set in 1968, No Place Like Hell.

5) Here’s a question I normally ask mystery writers, but I know your books, even though they're Sci-Fi adventures, fall into this vein, as well. How many people have you done away with over the course of your career?

You do mean in my books, right? Because I've entertained the idea of sending a pipe bomb to more than one member of upper management at some of the corporations I've worked for. So far, I've been able to resist the temptation.

In my books, an appalling number. Sometimes they're the primary victim, and sometimes they're collateral damage as the hero closes in on the villain, and the villain gets desperate. I've even done in the occasional likable secondary character. But I never kill kids or dogs. I don't need the hate mail.

6) Speaking about “other” jobs you’ve worked at, do you have another job outside of writing?

I do the occasional project in the computer industry. Sometimes that's technical writing or editing. Occasionally it's project management or production work. I'm not fussy.

7) Let’s talk about motivation. What motivates or inspires you, and this doesn’t necessarily have to apply to your writing?

I find motivation and inspiration in trailer music. (That's the epic music written to accompany movie trailers.) Like the blurb or opening of a good book, the music has to communicate the promise of what the work contains, and it has to make an immediate and memorable emotional attachment of the viewer/listener to the movie, all in a minute or two. The best composer in the trailer business are absolute geniuses. I frequently select a piece with the same emotional content as the scene that I'm writing and put it on loop. It helps me to find the right words to convey what I want the reader to feel.

8) Any pet projects you’re working on at this moment?

I've spent the last couple of years exploring 3D art creation, and more recently, I've dipped into 3D animation. I hope to ship an animated trailer for Reality Glitch. I used what I've learned to create the Reality Glitch cover.

And you’ve created a great cover (featured here) and a terrific trailer, which can be seen in my last blog. Okay, three quick questions for you for three quick answers. Ready?

1)      My best friend would tell you I’m a …

            A champion for the underdog.

2)      The one thing I cannot do without is:

            My morning cup of tea.

3)      The one thing I would change about my life:

            I would have started writing sooner.

K S has graciously allowing us a sneak peak at her short story “A Moment of Madness,” which you’ll find in Reality Glitch.

Heat melted the soles of my sneakers until they oozed and slipped across the metal surface of Dodo's new transdimensional platform. Sweat poured down my face and dampened my back. I wasn't one of those brave guys who thrived on danger. Why, oh why, had I agreed to go for a test drive of the little white Raptor's latest invention? All I wanted was to get home alive.

"The coolant system chirp-caw-clack does not work as expected, River Madden," Dodo squawked, referring to whatever had broken in her own dino language. She hunched low over the mushroom-shaped control console in the center of the eight-foot diameter flat metal plate that carried us through D-space, the demon-filled void that existed between dimensions. The little Rap looked like she might collapse from heat stroke any second.

I could barely hear Dodo over the chanting of the Neanderthal ex-priest pyromaniac who stood at the outer edge of the platform. His mop handle rang against the floor in time to his magical intonation, the mop's string head waving and dancing a crazy jig. I'd dubbed the teenage Nean Flash, an acronym for his fancy formal title, and it had stuck.

In response to Flash's spell, a wall of blistering flame crackled around our flimsy conveyance, separating us from the dangers of D-space, a place where intelligent creatures of all stripes went gibbering drooling mad without a Nean's holy protection. I'd seen what lay in the void beyond the flames and returned sane. Well, at least as sane as I was when I went in. Being schizophrenic, my sanity was often in doubt. But without shielding, my Rap and Nean companions would have their minds broken in a million unrecoverable pieces.

Just my luck that the only Nean able to travel with me on board could only conjure fire. Why couldn't the insolent kid make a soothing light wall like the rest of the priests? No, the kid had to make our shields into a towering inferno that barbequed us to a crisp.

Many thanks to K S Ferguson for the interview and for allowing us a peek at her story.

Reality Glitch: There are cracks in reality… sparking mysterious events, allowing spirits to enter from the other side, or sending us to strange places we never knew existed. Take the journey… if you dare.

Reality Glitch has a publishing date of April 20^th, 2016. You can pre-order you Kindle edition on Amazon: http://goo.gl/MxQDTW

Genre: Sci-Fi and Fantasy

To learn more about K S Ferguson please log onto her Website: http://www.ksferguson.net