Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

One of my favorite duties as MOD is to contact the authors who write the great Space Opera books we love to read and take a little peek underneath the warp drives to see what makes their stories tick. This month Christina Westcott, author of A Hero for the Empire has answered our nosy questions call to let us know what inquiring bounty hunters want to know!



So without further ado, here is Christina Westcott!

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What books have most influenced your life?

The book that started it all for me was The Beast Master by Andre Norton. I still remember the day I found it in the school library. It had a cat and a horse—two things I really was into at the time. It was the first hardback book I saved my pennies for and purchased. I still have the book, a first edition, and was able to get it autographed years later when I met Ms. Norton at a con. After I devoured the rest of her books, I moved on to any science fiction I could get my grubby little paws on. I spend most of my summers on horseback cantering along with my nose stuck in a book. And yes, I ran into a few low hanging branches that way.


How do you develop your plots and characters?

My characters have always just been with me. Some of them have their genesis back in my high school days (we won’t go into how long ago that was). Wolf Youngblood, the male lead in this book had been with me for more than twenty five years and he’s changed and matured along with me. Everything I’ve seen and read, every TV show and movie I’ve loved have gone into building his personality. I know his history from childhood to far beyond the time frame of this novel. One thing about writing about characters with an extended life span, is that you can drop into their life at any time along the way and tell a story. Someday you might get treated to a tale of Wolf when he was a young and angry hot head.


Tell us about your Space Opera Fans book.

It’s the story of Kimber FitzWarren, a young street kid, who traded away a large chunk of her life span to become a cybernetically augmented Special Operation agent for the Scyran Empire. The modifications that make her so strong and fast have destroyed her body, spawning a disease that is slowly killing her. At the start of the story Fitz knows she has only a couple of years left, but gets involved with a coup to overthrow the Empire’s corrupt government. She has to be successful on her mission, because this could be her last chance to make a difference. I thought it would be interesting to pair her off with Wolf and, of course, let them fall in love. A dying woman and an immortal man. Can there be any future for the lovers? Will he find a way to cheat death to be with her? You’ll have to read the book to find out.


We all need a hero! Tell us about your protagonist(s)? Was there a real-life inspiration behind him or her?

Since you’ve already heard a little about Wolf and Fitz in the above questions, I’ll mention the remaining member of the heroic triad in this book. Jumper is a Kaphier Cat. He’s a Class 2 Sapient—meaning his kind were genetically engineered to intelligence. When mankind entered the area that came to be known as the Human Sector, they discovered a mind parasite living in space that attacked ship’s crews and drove them insane. Cats saw these Zaafraines as prey and were developed to be telepathic in order to protect their ships and crews. I’m sure a lot of you out there are saying: “I bet she was also influenced by The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith.” (Yes, I was.)


A good villain is hard to write. How did you get in touch with your inner villain(s) to write this book. Was there a real-life inspiration for him/her/it?

Yes, I guess villains are hard to write because all throughout the editing process my wonderful editor at Samhain kept telling me to tone down both of my antagonists. Some of what I thought were their best snarky lines ended up getting cut. As far as inspiration, all you have to do is turn on the nightly news and you’re treated to all the depravity humanity can generate. It’s like a buffet for fiction writers. My favorite villain is from the X-Men movies—the young Magneto as played by the incomparable Michael Fassbender. He is such a conflicted character. Will he be good, or bad. Of course, we know he turns to the dark side (or does he in the end?)


What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?

There is a lot of the Roman Empire in my Scyran Empire, and a touch of the Third Reich. A lot of my readers think Star Wars had a large influence on my worldbuilding, but the truth is that my mythology was already in place when the first movie came out. I hate to admit it, but George Lucas and I are contemporaries. We probably grew up reading the same books, seeing the same Grade B horror flicks and dreaming the same dreams. When I saw the first movie, there on the screen were some of the same ideas that had been knocking around inside my head since I was a kid. Perhaps that’s why I saw Star Wars 127 times.


Sci-fi fans love techno-porn! What real-life science (or pseudo-science) did you research for your book?

I purposely kept the hard-core techy descriptions to a minimum. Don’t get me wrong, I love that stuff, but not when it slows down the story. I’ve read books where the action stops and for three pages the author explains the theory of FTL travel. All the high-tech gadgets are there in Hero, but they’re treated as just another part of my character’s world. After all, when you get into your car, you don’t think: When I hit the starter the crankshaft will spin, sending the pistons up to compress the fuel-air mixture. Then the spark plug fires to ignite it and… You know the rest, if you don’t, you probably don’t care. All that’s important is that you put it in gear and it gets you to the grocery store. Hopefully.


What was the hardest part of writing this book?

What it always is: Putting seat of pants in seat of chair and writing. Ask any writer and most of them will tell you the same thing. When you find yourself cleaning out the refrigerator instead of writing, it’s time to reestablish your priorities. And I don’t like writing the love scenes. I feel like my mother is standing over my shoulder and saying, You used that word?


What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

It’s much easier to say what I liked about writing this book. The fight scenes. Ship to ship, hand to hand. Lots of guns. Don’t know why; I’m basically a sensitive person who gets upset when the cat kills a lizard. Maybe because I work all my aggression out in my writing.


Did you learn anything from writing this book and what was it?

Mostly, it was about my craft. Until I started Hero I had loads of unfinished and/or crappy novels taking up space in my closet. I joined a good writers group, found a great critique partner and attended a lot of conferences. I’m not saying I’m ready for the Famous Writers Club yet, but at least a publisher was willing to buy it. Then I got to start learning about agents, editors and the publishing industry. If you’re looking for a vocation where there’s always something more to learn, writing is it.


Is there a message in your novel that you hope readers will grasp?

Maybe that love will find a way? Really, I more interested in my readers going on the mission with me and just having an exciting time.


What are your future project(s)?

Right now I’m working on Cypher, the sequel to Hero, where I get Wolf and Fitz into trouble again. What, you didn’t think they’d get their Happily Ever After so easily, did you?


If you couldn’t be an author, what would your ideal career be?

Some form of artist. I’ve been a painter, a sculptor and a photographer. I’ve made pottery, jewelry and woodworking—like a ten foot long carved and painted wooden snake. If I’m not doing something creative, I get cranky and moody…okay, more cranky and more moody.

I enjoy discussing science fiction with other readers and writers. You can reach me here on Goodreads or on my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/chris.westco...

Keep reading SF. The dreamers of today are the doers of tomorrow.

Interview granted to SOF on 11/25/14

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And don't forget to visit our discussion thread over on the Book of the Month Club:

HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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