Guest post by Sean Robbins

Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post.

“Who am I? I am Spiderman.”

Well, not really, but this should tell you all you need to know about me and my writing style.

I’m a huge Marvel (plus Game of Thrones, Star Trek AND Star Wars) fan, which shows since my novel is loaded with pop culture references. If you are a sci-fi fan (I assume that you are, otherwise what are you doing here?) you will enjoy them tremendously. I even went full Deadpool in my first draft and broke the fourth wall multiple times, until my editor told it was distracting and kept taking her out of the moment. Shame. Those fourth-wall breaks were hilarious. Still, I can guarantee a few laugh-out-loud moments. Case in point: The “good” aliens in my novel are a race of pranksters, whose main goal in life is pulling other people’s legs (They have four legs, hence the slight change in the idiom). My favorite author is Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files), which is probably how I ended up writing in a first-person POV with the same light-hearted, funny tone as he does. The fact that my MC’s name is Jim is purely coincidental though.

I am a university/college level English teacher, and including Canada, I have lived and worked in five different countries. I have met people from all around the world. Plus, my parents are from a different background, and so is my wife. As a result, diversity has become a major theme in my novel. My characters look like the bridge crew from Star Trek. One of my female characters even impersonated Uhura once, albeit posthumously.

Has writing always been part of your life and when did you “know” that it was time to start writing your first book?

I have got purely obsessional OCD. What this means is a thought enters my mind–usually something negative–and doesn’t leave. I end up having to think about it 5000 times a day, and once this starts, my life is ruined for a week, two weeks, a month, or six months. I’d tried a lot of different ways to get rid of this problem: therapy, medication, meditation… Nothing ever worked, until I read an article that said the people who had this problem had an overly active imagination, and it would help if they channeled it into something productive, like writing.

I’d always wanted to be a writer. This is literally a childhood dream, one of those you give up when you grow up. I had the story of The Crimson Deathbringer in my mind for years (even started writing it and stopped a few times). When I read that article, I was going through a tough time in my marriage (fighting with your wife is no fun, even for sane people), and my mind had gone into its life-destroying overdrive, so I told myself, “Well, you’ve tried everything else, let’s give this a shot.”

And then a miracle happened.

My mind put the same energy it used to put into producing BS and making my life miserable into coming up with stories. Ideas would come to me fast and furious, and I had to stop whatever I was doing several times a day to write them down. I’ve been OCD-free since then (I know, I sound like a recovering alcoholic). When TCD (cool, eh?) was finished, it took my out-of-control brain half a day to plan my second novel, which is about a nerdy scientist and a sexy female mercenary who use a time machine to defeat an alien invasion.

Which genre or genres do you write or prefer to write? And why?

Science fiction, or more specifically, space opera. I’ve been a Star Trek and Star Wars fan for as far back as I can remember!

How difficult was it writing your first book?

Once I started, it was super easy. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun it was.

What gets your creative juices flowing?

I couldn’t stop my “creative juice” even if wanted to Ideas come to me fast and furious. All I do is write them down.

What is your target audience and what aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience?

Funny story here: my target audience is Star Trek and Star Wars fans such as myself. However, my publisher advertised my book as a YA novel. Given the books success, it’s hard to argue with their strategy, but I personally don’t think The Crimson Deathbringer is a YA story.

What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt?

The sequel to The Crimson Deathbringer. It’s impossible to talk about it without major spoilers. Let’s just say, like the first book, it’s fast-paced and funny, and the stakes are very, very high (This time, our heroes have to save all the sentient beings in the universe, not only humanity!).

Book Blurb:

“The Akakies, a peaceful, technologically advanced alien species known as “the galaxy’s pranksters,” are under attack by the Xortaags, a vicious military race bent on conquering the universe. The Xortaags are deadly, but Tarq, the Akakies’ chief strategist and legendary shadow master, has a plan.

Meanwhile on Earth, Jim, a wise-cracking, movie-quoting, OCD-suffering fighter pilot, is about to propose to his girlfriend Liz when his childhood friend Kurt shows up at his house, injured and covered in blood. Kurt is a freedom fighter/super- assassin hunted by a brutal military dictatorship’s security forces.  Soon after, Jim, Liz and Kurt’s lives are set to crash with a galactic war that threatens the very existence of the human race.

Can our heroes save humanity from the wrath of an overwhelming enemy?

The Crimson Deathbringer seamlessly blends breathtaking action sequences with mischievous humor. If you are a science fiction/space opera fan, this book, with its memorable characters, formidable antagonist and Game of Thrones style shocking moments, is written especially for you.”

LINKS:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQVGD81

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44594838

https://www.facebook.com/seanrobins300

Mybook.to/crimsondeath

@seanrobins300

https://seanrobins73.wixsite.com/website