Showing posts with label Dancing Lemur Press LLC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dancing Lemur Press LLC. Show all posts

Friday, July 9, 2021

"Blood Red Sand" by Damien Larkin

Happy Friday, Everyone!
Today I am excited to share an interview with author Damien Larkin!
Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. released his new military science fiction novel
Blood Red Sand, on Tuesday, the second book in his Martian series.
As my blogging buddies know, I have a soft spot in my heart for Dancing Lemur Press,
and I'm happy to support a fellow author in DLP's author group.

I have not read Blood Red Sand yet,
because I am still waiting for Amazon to drop it on my doorstep.  
However, I did read Damien's debut novel in this series, Big Red.
I really enjoy military sci-fi, and Big Red delivered
a mind-bending thriller that had me flying through its pages.
So I've been waiting for this sequel with great anticipation all year!



Welcome, Damien!  I can't wait to read your new Martian adventure, Blood Red Sand.  I enjoyed your book Big Red, a strange and compelling story, and I was intrigued by Darren Loughlin and the predicament that he landed in on Mars.   

Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here! 


1.  So who is Damien Larkin?  Tell us a little about yourself.




I spent seven years in the Irish Reserve Defence Forces (which even years later I say ranks as one of the best decisions I’ve ever made). I currently work as a Planning Analyst for a major broadband and tv provider. If I’m not working, I’m either hanging out with my family or writing. I live in a place called Tallaght, which is a suburb in southern Dublin, in beautiful Ireland.






2.  How did you become a science fiction writer?

A few years ago, I was working part time, looking after my young children and had an app development business on the side. I poured what little of my free time I had into growing it, but after three projects effectively blew up in my face, I had to make a serious decision on whether to keep going with it or try something new.
 
I started thinking about my choices and realised that one of the reasons I wanted that business to succeed, wasn’t because I loved it, but to earn additional income, step away from my other job and write a book. I decided to cut out the middle man and that same day, I started writing ‘Children of the Dying’ (my first self-published book – now unpublished) and three months later I had the first draft done.


3.  In both Big Red and Blood Red Sand you feature the Nazi-founded New Berlin colony.  What drew you to write about Nazi threats and a Third Reich on Mars?

I loved watching war movies growing up, especially ones set during WW2. The Nazis for me are always the ultimate bad guys. They’re as flesh and blood as you and I but became brainwashed into believing absolute fallacies that caused them to commit unimaginable acts of genocide. I remember learning about WW2 as a child and becoming both horrified and fascinated at how a group of people could become so warped. It’s something that’s stayed with me and in certain ways, I write about it to try and understand it.

 
4.  How did you develop the plot for the story?  Did you know the storyline and its ending from the beginning or did it evolve as you wrote?  

I had a rough idea of the story from the world building in Big Red. Unlike the MC Darren ‘Dub’ Loughlin, I am a fan of history, so I had weaved different events together that Dub hinted at throughout the story, but never elaborated on because he didn’t have an interest in it.
 
Some of my readers did question me on the events concerning the First Battle of New Berlin and how the Nazis got there in the first place, so that did get me thinking more about the backstory. Blood Red Sand initially started as a prequel short story to Big Red, so I had a vague outline of where I was going with it and hoped at some point to maybe develop it into an anthology. After I sent on the prequel (which is approximately Part 1 of the story) my publisher wanted to know more so I developed it into a novel. I never thought I get to see this entire story being told, so I’m very grateful.



5.  What did you learn about improving your writing and Blood Red Sand by working with an editor?

I always learn so much from the editing team over at Dancing Lemur Press and I appreciate all the lessons they’ve taught me. For Blood Red Sand, it was an area that haunts me – repetition! Between Big Red and Blood Red Sand, I have about three other unpublished works and it’s taken me this long to internalise the feedback and consciously work on improving that area of my writing.


6.  Do you have any tips or words of advice about writing that you've learned in the trenches? 

Yes – write as much as you can and network! On the writing side of things, try and do as much as you can and try not to get into the habit of making excuses. It’s fine to cut yourself some slack and have chill days, but if it’s something you really want to do, you have to be prepared to put in the work and sacrifice. For networking, I believe community is key, especially for writers. It can be a hard slog and definitely lonely, but there are plenty of virtual spaces where you can interact with others, share tips and make new friendships. I would be lost without the Insecure Writers Support Group and the British and Irish Writing Community!


7.  You are a proponent for the Irish and British writing community and are involved with the online magazine Bard of the Isles.  Do you have a favorite Irish science fiction author or book to recommend? 

I’m a big fan of fellow Irish author Barry Corcoran’s dark fantasy “For Those That Do Not Die And Those That Can’t.” Book two will (hopefully) be out later this year. I also enjoyed “Shadow Warriors” by Paul O’Brien and Wayne Fitzgerald. It’s a fascinating look into Ireland’s special forces unit known as the Irish Ranger Wing.
 
Thank you again for having me on!


Thank you, Damien!  It was my pleasure, and I hope Blood Red Sand
entertains many happy readers.


MOF (Mars Occupational Force 



Blood Red Sand
By Damien Larkin

Mars will run red with Nazi blood…

After World War Two, Sergeant McCabe knew the British army could send him anywhere. He never imagined facing down another Nazi threat on Mars.

In New Berlin colony, rivalry between Generalfeldmarschall Seidel’s Wehrmacht and Reichsführer Wagner’s SS threatens bloodshed. The Reichsführer will sacrifice everything to initiate the secretive Hollow Programme and realise his nightmarish future for humanity.

McCabe, Private Jenkins, and the Mars Expeditionary Force must overcome bullet, bomb, and bayonet to destroy the Third Reich. While Jenkins fights to stay alive, McCabe forms an uneasy alliance with MAJESTIC-12 operatives known as the Black Visors. Will this be the final battle of World War Two or the first confrontation in an interstellar war?

Release date – July 6, 2021
$17.95, 6x9 trade paperback, 252 pages
Science Fiction - Military/Alternative History/War & Military
Print ISBN 9781939844781 / EBook ISBN 9781939844798
$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Damien Larkin is an Irish science fiction author and co-founder of the British and Irish Writing Community. His debut novel Big Red was longlisted for the BSFA award for Best Novel. He currently lives in Dublin, Ireland.
http://www.damienlarkinbooks.com/

Links:






Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved










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Friday, May 7, 2021

Just Released: The 2021 IWSG Anthology Dark Matter: Artificial!

The 2021 Insecure Writer's Support Group anthology, Dark Matter:  Artificial
was released on Tuesday, May 4, and I can't wait for my copy to arrive!

I have read and reread the previous five anthologies,
and I had the honor of having my short story "Dare Double Dare"
published in last year's Voyagers:  The Third Ghost.


I am excited for the ten talented authors featured in Dark Matter:  Artificial,
a mix of authors from previous IWSG anthologies and others new to this series.

Being included as an author in an IWSG anthology is a wonderful opportunity.
It's like a boot camp for editing, publishing, and promoting a book,
and you have the support of the IWSG members to cheer you on.
I hope the authors have a fun ride and learn lots
under the guidance of the publisher Dancing Lemur Press, LLC.

I had a chance to ask the authors a question: 
When did you discover science fiction as a genre, 
and what compelled you to write science fiction? 
I hope you enjoy their answers and learn something about them.

If you're a SciFi fan, perhaps you'll discover some new authors and books to read. 




  Olga Godim
  Nano Pursuit 





I started reading science fiction when still at school, but those books were rare and far between. The reason: I grew up in Soviet Russia. The authorities of the state didn’t approve of speculative fiction. They wanted writers to sing hymns to the Communist Party, but science fiction writers tended to set their stories in the far future, with no mentioning of Communism. So, not many were published. And of course, fantasy wasn’t published at all, nor translated from other languages. Magic and Communism didn’t mix together well. I didn’t even know the genre existed until I immigrated to Canada.

Before my emigration, I read what science fiction was available in Russia: a couple of translated authors, like Arthur Clark and Isaac Asimov, and a few home-grown science fiction writers, but frankly, none of them made much of an impression on me. I wasn’t a devotee of the genre.

Only after I came to Canada, I discovered the wide field of speculative fiction existing in the English language, including such sci-fi giants as Lois McMaster Bujold with her Vorkosigan saga. I also loved the recent Murderbot stories by Martha Wells, but aside from that, I rarely found what I wanted in science fiction. Maybe that’s why I started writing it: to launch the stories I felt the lack of into the science fiction realm.




Mark Alpert
Vera’s Last Voyage



I've loved science fiction ever since I read Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot" when I was twelve years old. I studied astrophysics in college and became an editor at Scientific American. So when I sat down to write my first novel, it seemed perfectly natural to invent a story about a hidden Theory of Everything discovered by Albert Einstein. That book, "Final Theory," was published by Simon & Schuster in 2008 and translated into more than twenty languages. Over the next decade I wrote nine more science-fiction novels, focusing on everything from robotics ("The Six," published by Sourcebooks in 2015) to genetic engineering ("The Coming Storm," published by St. Martin's Press in 2019). It's my lifelong passion. My story in the Dark Matter anthology, "Vera's Last Voyage," is based on the life of the late Vera Rubin, the astronomer who discovered the best evidence for dark matter but never got the respect she deserved, partly because of sexism.




Deniz Bevan
One to Another



I first discovered science fiction as a child; one of my favourite books was a gift from my grandmother: The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree by Louis Slobodkin. I also used to order science fiction books at random during the Scholastic book fairs at school. Time Twister by Ged Maybury and Omni:Skyborn by Marci H. Krutchten were particular favourites. My experience of reading science fiction has been sporadic and random -- and always pleasurable!




Elizabeth Mueller
Resurgence






I believe I was in middle school when I first discovered that Science Fiction was a book genre, despite growing up with the original Star Trek series. 

One thing I didn't appreciate about reading SciFi was that it info-dumped with technicalities as though the author had to prove every nuance that made the story tick. I've been mulling over writing in this genre lately, and Dark Matter was my perfect opportunity for my official attempt.




Kim Mannix
Rift 





My first discovery of it would have come through watching science fiction TV and movies with my parents when I was small. Though it wasn't the first science fiction book that I encountered, I remember reading John Wyndham's The Chrysalids at about age 11, and that certainly had an impact on me. It made me realize that the genre could be both imaginative and important in its impact. As for writing it myself, I tend more towards horror or dark fantasy, but once in awhile the attraction of the strange and wonderful world of science fiction creeps in. 




Stephanie Espinoza Villamor
Artificial 





My dad has always been very big into science fiction--two of his favorite movies are The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet, both of which have artificially intelligent characters in the form of "Gort" and "Robby the Robot." It was only natural that I would grow up to be a sci-fi geek, interested in robots! We've watched episodes of Lost in Space and Star Trek together, attended all kinds of conventions, and then I probably started reading science fiction around middle school. More recently I've enjoyed playing sci-fi video games too! But except for one childhood story attempt I called "Holly and the Hologram," I never felt compelled to write science fiction until now. I thought it would be too hard for me, so I stuck with mostly fantasy instead. But after the IWSG anthology prompt, I've been inspired to play more with the genre and ended up writing another sci-fi short story that will be published in a local anthology! I hope to keep experimenting as I have fun with science fiction writing!



 
Tara Tyler
Sentient   


I started my journey into sci-fi as a teen. Michael Crichton and Isaac Asimov were my faves! In fact, when I came up with my idea for POP TRAVEL, I wanted to send it to Michael Crichton, but I was sad to discover he had passed away. So I decided to write it myself and he has been a powerful influence in my sci-fi adventures.




C.D. Gallant-King
Space Folds and Broomsticks 


My earliest sci-fi influences were definitely Star Wars and ROBOTECH - a giant-robot anime from the early 1980s that was heavily re-written for North American audiences. It had everything I love about sci-fi and adventure stories in general: serialized storytelling, deep space dogfights between starfighters, romantic drama, unexpected character deaths, a small group of human survivors facing off against a massive alien armada. It's not a coincidence that ROBOTECH shares a lot of similarities with the mid-2000s reboot of Battlestar Galactica, one of my favourite modern sci-fi series. My first sci-fiction stories were me basically doing fan-fiction of Star Wars and ROBOTECH. My current stories are still me basically doing fan-fiction of Star Wars and ROBOTECH.
(I also love Arthur C. Clarke, but I'll never be able to write that well.)




Steph Wolmarans
The Utten Mission 




I have known science fiction since I can remember stories. My childhood movie memories include ET, Flight of the Navigator, Short Circuit, Batteries Not Included, and the list goes on. I fell in love with the original Dune movie because it irritated family members when they came to visit and my dad put the tape in. When I discovered in middle school that it was based on a book, my love of reading was born. That same year, I started coming up with my own story ideas. I always wanted to write about other worlds so people could find themselves lost in stories the way I was.




Charles Kowalski
Resident Alien





Science fiction has always been a part of my life. As a boy, cars, trains, even airplanes were too earthbound for me; I wanted spaceships. I grew up with Star Wars, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. My favorite stories were the ones that took me out of this world, into fantastical realms or distant planets. (My nearest and dearest would probably agree that I'm still a little spacey.)

I always dreamed of writing science fiction, but it was decades before I seriously put my hand to it, partly because it took me that long to discover its real purpose: not just "fiction based on science" but "fiction AS science," a laboratory of the imagination where you can put a slice of the human experience under a microscope, add or change some element, and observe the result. In "Resident Alien," the slice of life I wanted to examine was the experience of immigrants, oppressed minorities, and formerly enslaved people, and the variable I wanted to change was: "What if we were all in the same boat? What if the struggle for freedom and equality were not a conflict of one race against another, but of the entire human race together?"

* * * * *

Dark Matter: Artificial
An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology



 
Discover dark matter’s secrets…
 
What is an AI’s true role? Will bumbling siblings find their way home from deep space? Dark matter is judging us—are we worthy of existence? Would you step through a portal into another reality? Can the discoverer of dark matter uncover its secrets?
 
Ten authors explore dark matter, unraveling its secrets and revealing its mysterious nature. Featuring the talents of Stephanie Espinoza Villamor, C.D. Gallant-King, Tara Tyler, Mark Alpert, Olga Godim, Steph Wolmarans, Charles Kowalski, Kim Mannix, Elizabeth Mueller, and Deniz Bevan.
 
Hand-picked by a panel of agents, authors, and editors, these ten tales will take readers on a journey across time and space. Prepare for ignition!
 
 
Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database; articles; monthly blog posting; Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram groups; #IWSGPit, and a newsletter. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/
 
Release date: May 4, 2021
Print ISBN 9781939844828 $14.95
EBook ISBN 9781939844835 $4.99
Science Fiction: Collections & Anthologies (FIC028040) / Space Exploration (FIC028130) / Genetic Engineering (FIC028110)

LINKS:

* * * * *

I wish Dark Matter:  Artificial lots of success!
It's so exciting to receive that first royalty check!
 



Till next time ~
Fundy Blue



On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved




     

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