This weekend we held our second edition of BOD’s Writing Prompt contest. We posted an image with a writing prompt asking for a story in 300 words or less. Here was the original image and prompt. Again, we had many great stories but one stood out from the pack and Bridget Nash was our winner! Here’s her story:

“We got another one!” I yelled over my shoulder as I took a step back and shut the door firmly. What was on the front step would have to wait a minute.

“You’re kiddin’ me,” Ray said, shaking his head.

I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t even shake my head. It was a miracle we’d pulled this off for this long. Everything was packed up and the truck was loaded, waiting in the alley. I was sure this last act would be our demise. They were going to find us.

“Hurry up!” Ray barked. He wasn’t wasting any time. He already had on his scrub coat and surgical hat. He was pulling the 3M N100 respirator over his mouth. It was our disguise.

Somehow (Providence? Dumb luck?) we had convinced the Authority we were scientists. Ray’s sheer genius and my knowledge garnered from researching natural healing allowed for us to talk like scientists in the interview, but how we passed any of the background checks is beyond me. Sure, we made some fake stuff for the internet and printed some fake diplomas, but someone must have been sleeping on the job for us to get approved.

And yet, we were approved. And they were shipping the live test subjects to our residence.

Some didn’t have a chance of surviving transport. The Authority thought we were testing vaccines on these people. Vaccines to halt the horrific disease that had swept the nation.

We pulled the delivery into the house and locked the door. Ray pulled out his knife and cut the dripping plastic wrap. Like all the others, this young man was bound and packaged like he was nothing more than a grocery store piece of meat. The small breathing hole wasn’t enough for some.

But it had been enough for this guy.

Today, Author Emily Goodwin has joined us for an interview about her work, particularly her zombie series, Contagium. 

Do you remember your first introduction to zombies? When did you first get hooked? 

I’m a fan of the Resident Evil games and movies, and I saw Zombieland in theaters, but that was really the extent of my zombie love until after I wrote Contagious. I had a dream about zombies and woke up knowing that I had to write about them. I actually went into the zombie genre as a total zombie newb. I had no idea about zombie stereotypes, or that female zombie authors aren’t always well received. Luckily, I avoided said stereotypes and I’ve been warmly welcomed into the genre.

Your protagonist Orissa is a carefree, party-like-tomorrow-is-the-apocalypse kind of girl, but when the actual zombie apocalypse occurs, she shifts into another role, one of a fierce warrior. Orissa is well-trained in weaponry. Do you have expertise in archery and firearms or did you spend time researching arms combat? 

I’m no expert, but I do know how to handle a variety of guns. I’ve been into shooting since I was a kid, and while normal girls were inside playing with dolls, I laid on our deck shooting targets through my mom’s decorative grass pretending to be a sniper. I’ve used a bow and arrows before, but that is something I am currently working on learning. I spent a lot of time researching weapons and speaking with others well-versed in using those weapons. I also shot a lot of ‘zombie heads’ to see how different weapons exploded zombies brains. That was a lot of fun.

If you could give one piece of advice to Orissa, what would it be? 

I would tell her to let go of the past. In the beginning of the series, she is still very angry and hurt from things that happened to her in the past. And she holds onto a lot of guilt from things she did, which she channels into anger. She is a very complex character, and I love that about her.

Uh oh! It’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author, living or dead, do you want by your side? 

Don Mann – he’s a former Navy Seal and wrote a survival guide. Who better, right?

After writing apocalyptic fiction, have you made preparations for the end of the world? Are you a prepper like Orissa’s Grandfather? 

It’s definitely made me think about the worst possible scenarios. I do like to have enough bottled water and food on hand, and I may or may not always have a weapon on me (there is not a machete in my trunk…). But I’m by no means a crazy prepper. My husband is the voice of reason. If it weren’t for him, I’d have a room full of food, water, ammo, and weapons.

One of my favorite characters in Contagious is the fierce, but lovable Doberman, Argos. As a proud Doberman mama myself, I know that behind the scary exterior lies a total softy. Do you have experience with this breed or a pet that serves as inspiration for Argos? 

I have a German Shepherd who is our furry baby. I wanted to pick a dog that was similar in traits, so I went with a Doberman. I worked at a vet office and then a pet store while I was in college, so I do have experience with Dobs. They are wonderful dogs! You are so right too; they are great dogs!

Not all zombies are equal, which was evident in Contagious. Your zombies display unique characteristics that correspond to their individual state of decay. Can you tell us a little bit about them and their fun nicknames?

I tried to make my zombie virus as realistic as possible. I was in nursing school at the time of writing this series, so I had many doctors and nurses around to ask for advice. I also spoke with a neurologist about brain function. In my series, the virus attacks the parts of the brain that control memory and emotion—basically what makes us human. As the virus progresses, it kills off more of the brain, giving the infected that typical zombie stagger. The body starts to slowly die off, and blood flow decreases. The extremities are the first to go, and the skin becomes necrotic, which allows the infected to look like zombies. You find out more about the virus in the final book, and I don’t want to give away spoilers! The virus does progress in three distinct stages: getting infected and going insane, zombie, then really zombied-zombies that are literally falling apart. The characters refer to them as crazies, zombies, and gummies…since the skin and organs get gummy and gooey so close to the end.

What can we expect next from you?

I just started a new series. I don’t have a formal description or blurb written yet. The series has a dystopian setting in modern times, but the US is still set up in colonies. Witchcraft is illegal, and if you are found guilty you are either sentenced to burn at the stake or allow your body to be used for medical testing.

Thank You Emily for taking the time to answer my questions and for your active participation on BOD.

Thank you for the interview! It was fun!

Emily’s Links: Facebook | Website

ABOUT CONTAGIOUS

During the Second Great Depression, twenty-four year old Orissa Penwell is forced to drop out of college when she is no longer able to pay for classes. Unable to find a job, she moves in with her aunt in Indianapolis. Down on her luck, Orissa doesn’t think she can go any lower.

Orissa is used to only being responsible for herself. When she finds herself a reluctant leader of a group of survivors, she must make a choice: set aside her issues and help the others or go off alone in search of her own family and friends.

ABOUT EMILY GOODWIN

Emily Goodwin is the international best-selling author of the stand-alone novel STAY, The Guardian Legacies Series: UNBOUND, REAPER, MOONLIGHT (releasing 2014), The Beyond the Sea Series: BEYOND THE SEA, RED SKIES AT NIGHT (releasing 2015) and the award-winning Contagium Series: CONTAGIOUS, DEATHLY CONTAGIOUS, CONTAGIOUS CHAOS, THE TRUTH IS CONTAGIOUS (Permuted Press).

Emily lives with her husband, daughter and German Shepherd named Vader. Along with writing, Emily enjoys riding her horse, designing and making costumes and Cosplay.

Last week we launched a new contest – Writing Prompt. You can view the original post here. We posted a photo and challenged BOD members:

“You just woke up here. In 300 words or less, explain how you got here.”

We had a lot of great stories come in and the feature was so popular that many of you demanded we do it again! And we intend to do it weekly.

Our first winner, Justin Vokey, stood out with his originality and it’s our pleasure to share his story with you in case you missed it!

There is nothing worse than thirst. My skin had been empty for a day now. I checked the quiet world around me one more time, squinting at the hateful sun. There was no water of course. But I had to know if they had caught my trail.

I had stumbled upon this bizarre shelter, an old bus stuck in the ground like a pathetic imitation of a tree. Not that trees grew anymore. It was all just dust without the magic of water.

God, water would be so nice right now. I remember when there were streams of water just running along the ground. Free flowing water had turned from a reality into a fairytail for children.

They wanted water, the ones that followed. And the human body contained a lot of water. Between flesh and blood, I was a walking canteen. They were coming for my flesh and blood, and by God I would make them pay for it.

Awesome BOD members, it is with great pleasure, and a little trepidation that I will be outsmarted in the process, that I am able to help us all get to know better, author and fellow BOD member, Travis Mohrman. Thank you so much for taking the time for this fun author spotlight!

I was just napping on the couch, I have plenty of time. By the way, who let you in my house? Was it the cat? That dude can’t be trusted. He didn’t try to put anything in your pockets, did he? Maybe ask you to deliver a message to someone? Don’t do it! Don’t be a mule for the cat!

Anyway, can I get you something to drink? Perhaps some goldfish crackers? Don’t mind the smaller hound, he’ll calm down in several minutes.

It’s so interesting for us to learn how authors decided they wanted to be a writer. Can you tell us about the first moment you knew that you wanted to be a writer?

Well, I was kind of drunk.

Hang on, I should probably have on pants for this, right? *runs upstairs, then runs back downstairs*

Do you like my flannel Voltron pants? Not an easy thing to find for a tall guy. Anyway, what was the…oh yeah, how I started writing.

Well, I had heard about NaNoWriMo, but I had never really written anything other than snarky emails to those deserving of the snark. Then, on the last night of October, my wife’s friend was in town and we were drinking rather heavily in our living room. With purple stained teeth, I declared that I was going to write a novel! Nobody really batted an eye, I am rather prone to large declarations that come out of nowhere. Christina, our guest, asked what it was going to be about. I replied with something close to “plants and dogs, maybe some homebrewing…” Seriously, that’s how it went down.

Then, we drunkenly threw around story ideas and I wrote down an outline type thing because we weren’t really doing anything else. I don’t really have any neighbors so kids aren’t coming by asking for candy on Halloween. Anyway, this outline had something to do with three different societies fighting each other and then somebody changed sides, I don’t know. I threw it all out the next day and just started typing.

I’m not one of those authors to claim I have to write just to get the stories out. I’ve never secretly wanted to write. I’m just a normal guy with very large feet who daydreams all the time. Sometimes I write those daydreams down and other people seem interested in reading them.

What made me keep writing was meeting amazing indie authors that are very talented. Guys like Tony Bertauski and Rick Gualtieri blow me away with the stories they write but they seem to be just normal, down to earth guys who share the same dashing looks and chiseled physique as myself.

Down The Path is the first book in the Path series. Although it is a dystopian book, I loved that it focuses on the good in others, rather than how poorly people can treat each other when hard times come. What made you want to write a book like this?
 
I love the Dystopian and Post-Apoc genres, but my biggest complaint is that I don’t think the people are very realistic. It seems that in many books, the fear of law is all that keeps society from plummeting into madness. To be fair, I think in any kind of apocalyptic scenario there would be massive chaos and lots of fighting, looting, etc…but that would all end pretty quickly.

I think that people, as a whole, are good and more than willing to help someone in need, even a stranger. Down The Path is set roughly 500 years after a collapse, so it’s just people trying to survive. Vastly fewer people equals more outreach and compassion for your fellow man. If your car breaks down on a country road, how many cars drive by and don’t offer to help?

I love all the interesting survival skills and details that Cooper has to learn in order to survive. Can you tell us how much of his knowledge is or isn’t from personal experience?

Pretty much all of the things in the first book came from personal experience. Even the illness that Cooper contracts (that was a helluva week). I have long been a fan of survival skills, but it was never really for any fear of society collapsing. It was because I wanted to learn how make fire several ways. It feels good to know how to do things, especially things in the woods. Also, it impresses the dickens out of the ladies.

What is the craziest survival story you have experienced, or would love to experience?

I fell down a cliff once; that was painful and bloody.

I’ve worked on over 100 prescribed fires and that has led to some very interesting experiences, but nothing really “survival level.” Who needs body hair, anyway?

I also got lost in the woods in southern Illinois when I was around 13 or 14. I was out hiking with my uncle and I wanted to follow a trail by myself. I got all turned around when the trail inevitably vanished and I began rationing my Certs (which was the only thing I had on me). I generally walked downhill until I hit a small river and then followed that because at least I knew I wouldn’t walk in circles. Then I saw some power lines and I followed those because it was easier walking and I knew that they had to lead to people. They eventually led me to a road and I walked down that until I ran into my uncle who was more than a little worried about me since I was gone for many hours. We decided not to inform my mother about the day’s excitement. It’s been twenty years since then, so I figure the statute of limitations has expired, so I’ll go ahead and make the story public!

I did two ten-day backpacking/portaging trips through the wilds of Canada when I was in the 7th and 8th grades. You could drink the water straight out of all those lakes, it was amazing.

Truly, none of it is too crazy, though.

As far as what I would like to experience…I just like being outside. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen, I’m happy.

When you’re not writing books, what are some of your favorite hobbies, and do those hobbies transfer into the details of your characters?

I draw heavily from my hobbies for my writing. I like to brew beer and wine. We cure all kinds of meat from hard salami to bacon to ham. I hunt and fish and my wife and I proudly do all of our own butchering. I really enjoy woodworking. I love to cook. I really just like making things. Not only for the pride that comes with enjoying the fruits of your own labor, but also the look on people’s faces when you give them a pound of the best bacon they have ever had and then tell them that you made it.

One last question. If you had the opportunity to be and do anything for a day, what would it be, and who would you want to be with you?

Pretty much whatever I’m doing I want my wife and hound dogs to be with me (you can keep the cat). This way, when I do something spectacularly stupid, I have someone else who can back up the story as well as drag my battered body out of the woods. As far as the first part of the question, I’m happy being me. I’m all broken in like a good pair of boots. If I were to try to be someone else, I bet I would get blisters. Wait…unless I got to be Wolverine! Is that an option? I would like to be him, but I want to stay my same height. Yeah, I would be a tall mutant with healing abilities and an Adamantium covered skeleton. Plus, because of the healing factor the blisters wouldn’t be an issue.

What are your writing habits like? Do you write every day or just when time allows?

I tend to write very quickly. I go through writing phases, basically. When I’m writing a story, I will lay down at least 2,000 words a day, every day. After a month I have the book written as well as one round of edits and it’s off to the editor. I usually write after work. I have about an hour or so between when I get home and when my wife gets home and that’s when I write. This is where she really shines because instead of cleaning the kitchen or doing any chores after work, I am sprawled on the couch pushing down little black keys. I can’t thank her enough for picking up my slack while I’m in one of these phases. Thankfully, those only come about every 3-4 months. The rest of the time I just let the next book unfold in my brain. Which means I basically just play video games sans pants.

Are any of your characters actually based on you?

I think I strive to be Cooper, all full of optimism rubbed with a decent portion of luck. I also think a part of me is afraid of turning into Handro. He’s not a bad man so it’s not terrible to turn into him, but he’s clearly kind of broken and supremely jaded and I hope I’m not that way.

Some of my other characters are based on my friends, though. Ceannt is a real man who brews beer with strange ingredients and plays the bagpipes.

Brian, from Singular Points, is based on a very good friend of mine. What I tend to lift from my friends is their attitude. I really have no idea if other writers do something similar, but it helps cement the characters in my head.

The character of John from Down The Path and Futher was meant to be based on someone but while writing him, nothing fit and he became the John that is in the story, kind of a lovable but slow giant man-child.

What’s your favorite saying?

Currently it’s “Enjoy Your Burrito”

Care to explain that?

Not really. Some people will understand it immediately, others will hopefully seek enlightenment.

Thank you so much Travis for letting all of us at BOD get to know you better and for sharing your talent of writing with us!

Thanks a ton for coming into my house and waking me up from my nap. No, really, it wasn’t awkward at all. Oh, before you leave, please check out the authors of DeadPixel Publications. It’s a diverse mix of writers all under the same roof and you can certainly find something for any taste there. Enjoy your burrito, everyone.

ABOUT TRAVIS

Travis writes stories about plants, dogs, and maybe some homebrewing.

Facebook  |  Website  |  DeadPixel  |  Amazon

Several generations after the collapse of civilization, an isolated city is fighting to survive. Food is scarce, resources limited, and the population is dwindling alarmingly fast. Twenty-year old Cooper, marked since birth by his bright red hair, is selected to embark on a journey of a lifetime to bring hope and prosperity to his city. Prepared as best as he can for the unknown, he sets out with little idea of what he will find. Along the way he forages for food, battles sickness and the swift current of a river, and finds an unlikely companion – an immediately faithful dog he names Lupe. The duo follow the great river south until they find themselves invited into a thriving village. Cooper knows he must learn all he can and use this knowledge to save his own city before it’s too late. Down the Path is an enthralling adventure story backed with real-world survival knowledge. An exciting read for all ages!

Hey all you fantastic BOD members, thanks for reading! Check out this week’s author spotlight. I’m very excited to introduce and interview A.J. Leavens. Welcome!

Hello! Thanks for having me. It’s been fun getting to know all the cool folks on the blog and the Facebook group, and I’m humbled to be chosen for the spotlight.

A.J., why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

I’ve been reading forever. I loved the escapism that books provided. When I was 12, I fell in love with Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and Terry Brooks’ Landover series. I read them as fast as they came out. When I hit Grade 8, I wrote a story that took my favorite characters from both series and melded them into one book. It was full of magic and crazy powers. It really got the bug going.

By the time I hit high school, I was hooked. I took English all the way to Grade 13 – it’s an Ontario thing – and was even selected to be part of a new writing development class that they were piloting with a poem I wrote entitled My Father, The Tree. Somewhere, my dad has a copy of that, framed.

I prefer to write fantasy and sci-fi, as it allows me to use my over-over-active imagination, but I’m slowly working on a mystery novel also. It’s a long work in progress that keeps getting put on the back burner.

I really enjoyed your first book in the Meechan Chronicles. Can you tell us where you came up with the setting for Death’s Twilight?

Thanks! It means a lot to me when someone who is a fan of the genre enjoys Slade’s world. In the opening scenes of Death’s Twilight, the reader is introduced to the world after the bombs, and it mentions that George Washington found a Risk board in the Smithsonian.

My wife and I were playing Risk with my teenaged sons, and I looked at the game board and asked, “What would it take to get the world to actually align itself like this?” The first answer that popped into my head was Nuclear War.

I took a picture of the game board and used that as a basis for the world, circa 2308. I wanted an elitist society to exist (The Emissaries), but with a Big Brother feel to it. That’s how IRIS came into being. Meechan Chronicles Trivia Fact: IRIS is SIRI’s really evil cousin 😉

You have some awesome fighting scenes in Death’s Twilight. Do you have personal knowledge of hand to hand combat, or are these scenes results of intense research?

A little of both. I took Karate and Aikido as a youth, and those lessons have always stayed with me. Hotaru’s washroom fight scene was written based on some of the teachings I received. Her training session when she is praised by Lao Shi was the result of weeks of studying Tai Chi and gymnastics.

I also watched a lot of fight scenes in movies and on YouTube, especially ones that were specifically hand to hand. I’d watch them in slo-mo, backwards and forwards to make sure I was getting the feel of the fight, and how bodies would react to the things the characters were doing to them.

There is pretty clear message about the power people have in law enforcement positions, and how they go about administering the rule of law. What do you want readers to take from reading Death’s Twilight?

I hope that people will see Death’s Twilight for what it is – a story. I find it quite amazing that some of the things I wrote into the book (postal mail being finished by 2015; Canada Post announced they are stopping home delivery in January, and Crimea being an independent state) actually coming into existence. Even more amazing considering I finished the book in 2012.

There have been some recent developments in the world that highlight (to extremes) what can happen if the wrong people have power – or the right people have power but choose to wield it wrongly. What I want readers to take away from Death’s Twilight is that yes, there are corrupted people (systems) in the world. There always have been and probably always will be. But if the people who know about it are willing to stand up and do something about it, there is a chance for hope and peace.

Can you tell us where Slade’s story is headed in the next book? And when will we be able to read it?

Slade, Brooks, Nathaniel, and Hotaru are off to stop IRIS. Brooks has been keeping a journal that contains clues to help them. Along the way, Slade meets some new friends, makes more enemies, and discovers something about himself that he thought he had lost. They travel around the North American continent in their search for the things they need to stop IRIS.

I am 60ish% done with the first draft and have a goal of releasing the final product February 17, 2015. Folks who can’t wait that long can get a serialized, beta version of the story via email starting this month. I’m also hoping that these folks will be additional sets of eyes to point out any glitches I’ve missed. (Link)

Now tell us some fun random facts about you. What kind are your go-to books to unwind?

Random? Hmmm…I own a still sealed Beatles Blue Album (my all-time favorite band). My favorite gum flavor is cinnamon. I have CDO (which is like OCD, but in the correct alphabetical order).

I love books that can make me laugh out loud when I read them – not necessarily from comedians or the like, but just from the happenings in the book. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is one that does it every time. So is JR Ward’s Fallen Angels series. My go-to genre though? Vampires. Anything with vampires. Absolutely love vampires. I have ever since I met Louis and Lestat in Interview With the Vampire.

Do you have a favorite band or type of music you listen to help you write?

It completely depends on what I’m writing. Music is a very important and motivating thing for me. When I’m writing a chase scene or a fighting scene, I need something upbeat, almost techno. If I’m writing something sad or moving, like when Slade reset Sarah or the scene between Hotaru and Kozel, I listen to somber music, usually a piano concerto or similar. I draw from the music and try and put that emotion into the scene.

For Death’s Midnight, though, I was lucky enough to stumble onto a local indie band (The Neutral States) whose music fits the changing world near-perfectly, regardless of what type of scene I’m writing. They definitely have more plays on my iPod than any other in my writing playlist.

A.J., I love Slade’s boomstick as a weapon of choice. If you lived in a society where it was completely normal to carry such a weapon, what would you choose and why?

I would have to say a sword – samurai or 17th/18th Century. There is something elegant about a sword – from the skill needed to craft a sword, to the training needed to properly wield one. I’m not talking about hack and slash. Think The Three Musketeers and The Last Samurai, not Highlander. Graceful, yet deadly.

Truthfully, though, if I could find a way to create a Boom Stick like Slade uses? I’d be all over that.

Thank you so much A.J. Leavens, for sharing your time and gift of writing. It has been a pleasure to get to know you, and to learn about the fun world you have created in The Meechan Chronicles.

Thanks to you for the opportunity! I’m open to questions from any of the members. Would love to chat and get to know you all better. Feel free to connect!

A.J.’s Links: Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter
Death’s Twilight:  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  | iBooks  |  Smashwords

ABOUT A.J. LEAVENS

A love of reading as a kid allowed me to explore worlds with dragons, spaceships, robots, and antique cars. I’ve always had stories in my brain, and I’ve finally had the time to let them out onto the page. I’m a father of 4 who’s been married for 15 years. My kids may or may not be inspirations for characters in my works.

Today, Band of Dystopian’s Angie Taylor interviews Ann Christy, author of YA Dystopian, Strikers. Check out their chat below and enter to win a copy of Strikers!

It is such a pleasure to interview you and help the BOD members to get to know you better. Thank you for letting me spotlight you!

Super glad to do it! I see the BOD names and icons every day, and I’m just as curious about them!

Ann, you have written many books. Tell us when your journey to be a writer first started.

It all began with Hugh Howey. No joke. As a naval officer of over 28 years, I’m very good at telling myself stories out in the middle of the ocean to help the night watches move along, but I’ve never written them down. So, I guess I had some experience with world-building in that way.

Then I read WOOL…the first one…not too long after it came out when the little Amazon recommendation came up. I was hooked. By the time the third episode of WOOL came out I had the story sort of germinating in my head. Still, I dallied. I finally wrote to Hugh as the SHIFT episodes finished coming out, told him what I wanted to do and he gave me permission.

After that, I wrote the Silo 49 series, which remains very popular. I was amazed. Why would thousands…then tens of thousands…of people read my stuff? Baffled was I. So, I kept writing and I learned a whole lot in the doing of it. I’m hooked.

Tell us a little about your most recent book, Strikers, and the different meanings the title carries?

Strikers is absolutely from my heart. That is the name given to those who escape Texas. Most do to avoid getting their fifth and final strike, because that brings the death penalty. How it came about it from reading real life news.

I’m a news junkie, but most interesting to me are the comments on news stories. I started to notice that stories about repeat offenders of petty crimes, perpetual ne’er-do-wells and such called for fairly extreme things. Like, giving them tattoos so people would know what they were or giving them so many chances and then giving them the death penalty because they were just plain of no use…that sort of thing.

It made me ask myself the question. What would happen if we actually did that? We’re human and we’ve shown over and over that no matter how carefully or how good our intentions are, our systems get misused and go haywire.

Strikers is that dystopian future. I built the world very carefully and Karas, our main character, doesn’t know the origins of her world so we…as the readers…don’t either. It will play a role in future books for sure, but Strikers is a full novel with a full story. No cliffhangers, no sequel bait. I hope people enjoy it for what it is.

It’s a book about escape, about growing up in bad circumstances and yet shining, about realistic folks who make brave decisions and take enormous risks for others, about loss and finding hope. And there’s love because they are teenagers and well, falling in love is a huge part of that!

Almost the entire book is a chase between the good guys escaping the bad guys. It creates such a fantastic intensity. How do you think this method of writing allows for Karas, Jovan, and their friends to develop?

I suppose because I’ve had some experience with motion and tension in long term situations. Deployments on ships are a long tense action (depending on what you’re doing) and doing Humanitarian Assistance after a disaster is much the same. It flavors life with an intensity that is lacking in any other situation. There’s less caution, less reserve. You get to see who people really are. I wanted to incorporate that and let these young people strip themselves of artifice. I think they did pretty well at that. I think it revealed both weakness and strength and allowed for them to care for each other despite it all. That may sound all deep and artsy-fartsy, but I think it made it fun as well.

As a reader, Strikers has a very realistic feel to it. What inspired the setting and circumstances the characters live in?

Google maps! Nah, real life travel and lots of research. But the world-building was difficult because of the wider story and the wider actions that brought Strikers-world to be as it is. (I can’t give all that away!) So, *where* I would put the land of Strikers was based on current laws but also on weather patterns and all sorts of physical parameters. So, Texas was the winner, but no offense was meant to Texans!

What can you tell us about your future writing projects?

I have a slew of stuff on the docket. A novella (that started as a short story…yikes!) called Yankari is coming out soon. It started as a story with the theme of super-powers but morphed into something else. I have another sort of double length short story (again with the length!) coming out sometime soon called Sedge. I like it, very intimate. Really only two characters, but they are stuck in the middle of big conflict not of their making.

Strikers book two is being written, but those are big books with a lot of hard work involved. It will be a while. I’ve gotten some reader email asking for a prequel on how the Strikers world came about. I have that history, but I think putting it out before book two will spoil it some. Look for those in the next six or seven months, if nothing else goes nuts, that is.

I’ve also got Silo 49: Roughneck coming within the next 75 days. Again, too much reader email for me to not do it. It takes us from just before they went into the silos until right after. I love, love, love this character!

And finally, a collection of my short stories from the anthologies I’ve been in, plus some new ones is scheduled for sometime soon. Is that enough? ::laughs::

Now for the random questions. Which of your books would you like to see made into a movie, and who would you want to act the main parts?

No fair! I want them all to be! Seriously, Strikers would be fun and I have a pinterest page that has a collection of photos on it. Go look and tell me…hot or not? Yes or no? Send me pins of your ideas for who they should be. http://www.pinterest.com/annchristy792 For Jovan…I’m thinking JD Pardo. Anyone agree?

Actually, the one I think would be the best TV series would be Silo 49. It would be too many movies. And a story that is coming out in my collection called, Life/Time, is probably my choice for a movie. I can’t even think of who the characters would be yet. Maybe Liam Neeson for Darren.

If you could star in a movie, what kind of movie would it be and why?

Jeepers! Probably sexy older woman up to no good. Because yeah, that’s not me so I’d have to play that on TV.

Thank you so much, Ann, for being a part of the BOD author spotlight!

Thank you! I really look forward to seeing some of the other author’s get their turn under the ax…er..spotlight. And it would be great to see some of readers as well. Happy Reading All!

ABOUT ANN CHRISTY

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Ann Christy is a navy commander by day and a secret science fiction writer at night. She lives by the sea under the benevolent rule of her canine overlords and assorted unruly family members.