Winner, Interview, Giveaway 18

The winner of last week's

SERVING CRAZY WITH CURRY is

Sana Castellano!!!!

Congrats! email me at muchlanguage (at) gmail (dot) com with your address!


Today, Alex J. Cavanaugh, author of CassaStar, stops by to chitchat. You can win a copy of Cassastar by following the instructions at the end of the interview. And trust me, you want to win- CassaStar was great (and I don't even read sci-fi)!



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Welcome to Talk Back Thursdays and thank you for agreeing to have a chat with us.
Tell us, where did the idea for CassaStar come from?

I grew up with Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica and really dug the idea of space battles. I wrote the first manuscript when I was a teen. When I pulled it out again a few years ago, I decided the story was lame but the characters were strong. I wrote a new story from scratch and the result was CassaStar.

As a sci-fi novel, where much of the world is your creation, what preparation and research did you do before putting the proverbial pen to paper?

My science fiction movie/TV habit and experience with fighter jets turned out to be a big plus. I also talked to fighter pilots and did some research online while writing.

There is no love interest in CassaStar- something I found strange, but is probably fairly common in sci-fi- but there is an incredible friendship between two males. What made you decide to forego romance in favor of bromance?

I think you just coined a new term! I guess I just wasn’t comfortable tackling romance yet. And the focus of the story was friendship, something that’s important to me. However, I have inserted a lead female character into the sequel…

Tell us a bit about your writing journey?

I wrote some when I was younger, but it was never a big dream of mine. When I found my old, partial manuscript, I challenged myself to write a full novel. I sent out many queries before landing a small press. I’ve been pleased with the response, especially from women readers. That really surprised me! Now that I’m working on the sequel, the pressure’s on to make it even better.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Never give up, never surrender! Oh wait, that’s from Galaxy Quest.
Consider all angles of your story.

Thank you for joining us today, Alex. We appreciate that you took time out of your busy schedule.

Thank you, Claire!

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First giveaway of the month, so it's open to everyone, non-followers, followers and international.

To WIN, simply tell me what's your favourite sci-fi book (or movie or tv show)?