Harper's Happenings: Sunday Brunch 11/3/2013

AUTHOR ANGUS H. DAY

IS TODAY'S SPECIAL SUNDAY BRUNCH

SPOTLIGHT GUEST

First and foremost, it is a pleasure to have you here. Welcome to Harper’s Sunday Brunch Interview!

So, can you tell us what makes Angus H. Day tick? What got you started on the path to becoming an author?
I was waiting for the family to peel themselves away from their electronics one day in 2012, and it occurred to me that I could use that time to write books. Ever since I was in high school, in a galaxy far away, I had wanted to write while simultaneously being told that it was too involved or finding excuses to postpone.

What are you currently working on? Would you care to share a snippet?
Minus a Conscience is the sixth work in the Next You franchise, and it is composed of a four book mini-arc.
Here is an excerpt:

Opening my eyes I saw Rebecca sitting across from me in the hut. This was the first time I'd transited in here and not in the sand, weird that I'm sitting up I think. Looking down I saw that my virtual body was now much like the one from the real world including the blue-gray mottled skin and the three pincered hands. Raising my eyes from this inventory I saw the new Rebecca morphing into a version of this, girl I hope. The last of her to change was the face, elongating into a snout like...a sea otter, but with four eyes like mine.

"I imagine somebody did an 'Oh shit, we forgot the training program' moment?"

"Exactly, bug-like lover or should we go with just Bugger."

I chuckled lightly "Guess Griegos is staying sharp; he apparently knew to get the hell out of the room before I started moving."

Rebecca laughed lightly and I could tell she was unsettled a bit by our new bodies. I decided to keep going "What is that behind you waving around?"

"Why Diego, I do believe you are ogling my tail. I guarantee you it has no usefulness for our kinds of games." Her tail punctuated that by puncturing a wall support and leaving a hole clean through to the beach.

Ceffyl Dŵr is the name of the species your avatar resembles in every detail.

A Newidd I recognized by the name of Randall entered the hut. Pretty easy to recognize since only two of them existed in all of human occupied space. Newidd origins were near the core of the Milky Way Galaxy and since the destruction of their home world in a system merger they had scattered as a people to all of the arms of the galaxy in a hope to recreate their culture as many times as possible with less chance of cosmic disasters. Sporting heads that resembled that of a pet lizard and bipedal bodies close to two meters in height they intimidate most normal humans. I'm not normal. I don't like surprises and I was expecting Griegos. Sensing my guard or just being surprised her self Rebecca crossed the hut to sit next to me facing Randall.

"Where is Griegos?"

"I talked him into letting me come and explain things as I turned up the information leading to this mission. That is what you call this kind of thing, correct?"

"Yeah, missions are what I do and they have a very distinct characteristic."

"What would that be Mr. Dzerzhinsky?"

I fucking love that name. When are we going to be able to time travel and kill family before they repute us for millennia? "Missions have objectives. My missions usually have clear ones. So far I'm sensing a lack of these so why don't you just take a seat so we can relax while you tell us a story?"

This was a virtual construct but I'm quite sure I was capable of doing psychological damage to Randall if I didn't like what I heard next.

Do you include some of your own personal experiences in your books or do you prefer to use your imagination?
Both. When the scenes depict places on Earth, I most likely have been there or can at least envision them in their future state of chaos. I like my imagination because it is useful in helping me tolerate my experiences.

What genre do you typically write in and why did you choose this over others?
I write science fiction. Contained within that label I write romance, erotica, military science fiction, adventure, and space opera.

Do you have a specific process or a ritual you go through when sitting down to write?
Every once in a while I take a peek at the mind map I made when I first started the work, but generally, I know where I want to take the story and let it flow.

Where do you find your inspiration for your plots? Do you have any tricks of the trade you would care to share? What is the oddest place/situation where an idea for a book/plot has come to you?
My inspiration springs from a lifetime of reading and mashing up ideas. I don't have any tricks other than when an idea or synopsis occurs to me, I try and get it written down as soon as possible. The oddest place one has occurred to me was when stuck in traffic waiting on construction to let me through.

What makes a book stand out and perk your interest?
What grabs me about books is their ability to take me on a trip that will add enjoyment to my life. This doesn't necessarily have to be Science Fiction; Historical Fiction or Fantasy could also work, but I have a desire to look forward.

We all have our favorite authors. Can you share some of yours and tell us why you like them?
Well the big names are there of course: Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Joe Haldeman. I liked them because they had or have vision and could bring that alive in their writing. Currently, I exclusively read Indie/self-pub, and there are many authors there of note. One that stands out in my mind is Martin Schiller. Things that stick with me there are story development and clean product.

We all have a pet peeve, care to share yours?
At the moment, it would be work ethic. Some folks build themselves as an expert in doing a certain job and when they get their chance, they come in below the bar or just don't do it. This covers many areas in my life right now, but I'll pick editing for an example. I really do not know what other authors want in an editor, maybe laundry service, but I specifically put out that I just want story flow, misused words, typos, and point of view jumps caught. Nothing else. Then I get back a manuscript flooded with format changes, or rewriting everything in a certain way that breaks my style, and from one editor, I even caught instances where she had rewritten things to suit herself and accepted the changes for me. How nice.

When you’re not writing, what are the things you enjoy doing to relax?
My swimming got sidelined for the year due to an injury, but I've been doing a lot of walking while listening to podcasts and audio books.

Thank you so much for joining me here today, Angus. I know my followers will enjoy this spotlight as much as I have conducting it. Good luck on all your future endeavors.

A LITTLE ABOUT ANGUS

I live in Fort Collins, Colorado with my wife and son. My daughter has embarked on her career as a graphics designer. I’ve been an Infantryman, Swine Farmer, smattering of other trades and jobs, and now I’m a manufacturing pharmaceutical chemist.

What aspect of my life that’s devoted to fitness favors swimming in open water, which means I spend most of the year working out in a pool then hit the lakes when it warms up a bit. My wife Cheryl safety kayaks for me when we manage to make it work.

NEXT YOU UNIVERSE