Hey y’all! Aaron Crash’s new paranormal space opera novel, Neutron Dragon Attack, just dropped today! It’s an amazing, action-packed follow up to his debut novel Damnation Robot and to celebrate, I convinced him to do an awesome interview! Check it out below, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of Neutron Dragon Attack: Galactic Demon Hunters Book 2
JAH: So, tell us a little about yourself and what you write.
AC: I’ve been writing since the third grade when I first read A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I wanted to write exciting adventures on far-flung worlds with heroes and beautiful women and swords and guns. One of my first stories was about Jase Kilner, best name ever, and it was so RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARC but in a fantasy setting and with a huge chase scene. Another story was about a mighty-thewed warrior named Aeric, who fought a sorcerer in a forest with a battle ax. It was very Robert E. Howard. I submitted it and got my very first rejection when I was in the eighth grade. I should’ve submitted that Jase Kilner story. Dammit. I still write adrenaline-fueled odysseys into the extreme regions of sci-fi/fantasy, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.
JAH: What inspired you to start writing?
AC: John Carter of Mars and Conan the Cimmerian. Heck yeah! Swords and radium pistols and battle axes. Maybe a scimitar or two just for fun. And is there anything more inspiring than a good Frank Frazetta painting?
JAH: Who were some of your own literary influences?
AC: I read a ton of Michael Moorcock and Stephen King growing up, and I still love THE DARK TOWER series. But then, I read anything and everything. Cormac McCarthy? Yes, sir. James James Mcmurtry. Yes, ma’am. If I like it, I read it, and I read a bunch. I also watched way too much TV and movies growing up which led me to studying screenplays and story structure. So, yeah, tons of stories, I just can’t get enough.
JAH: What do you like best about being a writer? What do you like the least?
AC: I’m a first draft type of guy. I love the first draft, pounding through the words, having the story reveal itself to me as I work on it daily. But there’s nothing better than holding a finished book in your hands. What do I like the least? Oh, the normal stuff…how capricious the industry can be, edits that sting, and those one-star reviews. Ouch.
JAH: How do you think your life experiences have prepared you for writing?
AC: My childhood wasn’t the best. I was alone a lot. That really helped me with the solitude that writing demands. My love of stories and heroes have taught me that part of my job as an author is to defy the self-doubt and to defy the odds. Most books never see the light of day. So what? In the words of Han Solo, “Never tell me the odds.” I was a world traveler and that gave me a broad view of things, and I’ve been an endurance athlete, so I know how to push myself and to work when all I want to do is stop.
Above all, my wife’s network marketing business taught me about sales and putting myself out there. Every serious writer should get sales training. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. The only reason why I was first published was because of the sales training I got.
JAH: Are you a plotter—do you outline your books before writing—or a pantser, discovering your story as you write it?
AC: I’m an evil mutant hybrid. I’m a natural-born pantser, but I’ve learned that I write faster and better if I plot. I don’t do full-on scene-by-scene outlines, but I do have the beginning, the middle, and the end mapped out in my head. I love the sixteen beats of Blake Snyder’s SAVE THE CAT, and I use those. I get the story down, but I have room to add certain flourishes.
JAH: With so many different space opera series out there, what makes the GALACTIC DEMON HUNTERS series stand out from the rest? Why should readers read?
AC: One reviewer put it best…my series is a lot of a lot. It’s not for readers who want the same ol’, same ol’. I try and put in as much violence, as much adventure, as much mystery as I can in each and every book. With the GALACTIC DEMON HUNTERS series, my job is to create characters you love and then do terrible, terrible things to them without losing the sense of fun. ‘Cause in the end, Blaze Ramirez and the gang are going to kick ass no matter how evil or powerful the enemy seems.
JAH: If you had one piece of advice for new authors, what would it be?
AC: Go door to door selling vacuums. Learn how to handle rejection and go for the no. Also, find someone to punch you in the face everyday. Writing is about handling pain, failure, and rejection. It’s weird combination of torture and sales. But in the end, like I said, nothing beats holding your own book in your hands. As an author, I get to touch the minutes of my life.
JAH: What can we look forward to from Aaron Crash this year?
I have three books in the GALACTIC DEMON HUNTERS total, DAMNATION ROBOT, NEUTRON DRAGON ATTACK, and BLACK HOLE WEREWOLVES. They’ll hit the first part of 2018, bam, bam, bam. The second novel, NEUTRON DRAGON ATTACK, just dropped today!
Hell-spawned dragons, a haunted planet, and an unstoppable ancient evil…
AC: After defeating the archduke of necrotechnology, Blaze Ramirez and the crew of the Lizzie Borden are still on the run, wanted dead or alive by the Interstellar Presidential Corporation. Despite their problems with the law, the demon hunters have never been closer to destroying the Onyx Gate and freeing the universe from its evil.
However, the one person in the galaxy who might know the location of the gate is trapped on a haunted planet, doomed to die as its two stars collide. And standing between Blaze and his mysterious quarry is an army of the walking dead, vicious specters, and a clan of psychotic clown-worshipping cannibals. A galactic demon hunter’s job is never done. You can pick that up here: NEUTRON DRAGON ATTACK
At the same time, I’m working on the WAR GOD’S MANTLE series with J.A. Hunter. It has less plasma rifles and more magic swords. Less cyborg vampires but more beautiful Amazons. The first book, ASCENSION, was an Amazon bestseller. Check it out!
JAH: Where can readers find more about you and your books?
AC: I got an Aaron Crash Facebook page, but Shadow Alley Press does a great job getting the word out! Be sure to sign up for their Newsletter!
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