Interview with Paul
Byers, author of Artic Fire
Sponsored by Virtual Author Book Tours
See my review of ArticFire here, and be sure to enter the Giveaway.
I appreciate your
taking the time to visit with us today.
Hi
Mindy, thanks for letting me stop by.
1. What inspired this particular novel/book?
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The
threat of nuclear holocaust, invasion from aliens and bio terrorism, while if
done right is exciting and action packed, but it has been done over and over
again. I was looking for a new and more creative way to take over the
world.
Part
of the inspiration for Arctic Fire came from two television specials I saw on
the History Channel. One was about weird weapons from WWII (the ice ship you’ll
read about in the book) and the other was about mega disasters, but I can’t
tell you about it as it would be a spoiler. Let’s just say that one sparked
interest in the other.
(I was interested to here about the weird weapons from WWII, I thought I had heard about someone actually trying to sail an ice berg ..or wanting to.. to bring water somewhere.. so that was interesting. Now I have to research odd weapons from WWII).
2. What character was your favorite to
write for in this story? Why?
I wanted the hero for Arctic Fire to be
a little different than the stock hero of action thrillers. Gabriel
Pike is the “everyman hero.” He isn’t ex-military, a Kung Fu master or a
superhero; he is an ordinary man put into extraordinary circumstances.
He
flies a Korean War vintage F-86 Sabre jet for his engineering firm, and being
an engineer, Pike sees things just a little bit differently than the rest of
us. And even though he’s used to running out structural calculations to five
decimal points, he is a practical man who lives by the simple motto that there
are few things in life that can’t be fixed with a bigger hammer or a roll of
duct tape!
But, having said that, sometime the
smaller characters have a way of getting to you. Albert Jenkins is a retiring bank guard who
finds himself in his worst nightmare. He is torments by events from the past
and wasn’t able to prevent the loss of his own daughter but he is determined in
the middle of a bank robbery not to let fate take another young life. He knows
what is right and simply does it. A feat that is often harder to do than it
sounds.
3. Which was your favorite scene to
write?
Here
I go again, I have two. From the dramatic point of view, I enjoyed writing the
opening scene. Without giving too much away, I enjoyed the history behind it,
the research and the “what if” in crafting of the scene.
From
a purely fun point of view, there is a scene later in the book where a reporter
is asking Pike about his possible romantic interest in a woman. Clueless in
Seattle just about sums up our hero’s reply.
4. What was the hardest thing about
writing this story?
I
love doing research, digging up little gems of knowledge that lead from one
interesting fact to another. With so many areas to research it was sometimes difficult
for me to decide what to put in, what
the reader really needed to know for the story and to leave out what I thought
was just plain cool.
5. What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?
I
circle my desk three times before sitting down chanting ancient Babylonian
verses. Doesn’t every writer? Just kidding. The only quirk I guess you could
say is that I like to have a cup of coffee or two when I’m writing. But living
just north of Seattle, home of Starbucks, I would think it would be more quirky
not to have coffee with my writing.
6. As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
It
certainly wasn’t a writer! Thinking about it, I don’t really remember having a
specific thing I wanted to be when I grew up.
7. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
7. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I
guess you could call me a late bloomer. I took some creative writing classes in
college but never really did much with them. Fast forward twenty five years and
my brother convinced me to start writing. They say to write about what you
know, so having grown up on Star Trek, my first novel was a handwritten Star
Trek tale.
I
wrote several short sci-fi stories (which I later turned into Act of God) then
moved on to a couple of WWII books (another passion of mine) and now I’m
writing action-adventure thrillers.
8. Where do you find your Inspirations?
I
find story inspiration all around me. TV and radio programs, newspaper and
magazine articles, anything that would make me go hum, I wonder if I could turn
that into a great story?
Writing
inspiration comes from seeing success from other authors I know, knowing that
if they can do it, so can I.
9. What do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?
I
read pretty much what I write, action thrillers, techno thrillers and some
military/spy books. As for authors, I like Michael Crichton, early Clive
Cussler, Jeremy Robinson and Jeffery Deaver. There are many others of course
but these are the ones I have read and enjoyed the most.
10. Please let readers know where they can connect with you and purchase your books...
10. Please let readers know where they can connect with you and purchase your books...
My website:
Smashwords:
B&N
11. Anything additional you want to share with
the readers?
I
hope your readers will like Arctic Fire. I enjoy writing thrillers that leaves
the reader wondering where the facts end and the fiction begins. Be sure to
check out my latest adventure, Greed. It will be out just in time for
Christmas.
Thank you so much for chatting with us today.
My
pleasure, Mindy, any time.
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