Pay It Forward Week -Day 3: Steve W. Vera

Today’s Pay It Forward Week author is none other than Steve W. Vera, author of the LAST OF THE SHARDYN series through Carina Press. He’s graciously put up with me to interviewing him.

 

(sexy looking books, yes?)

A reminder that for every commentor who buys books from me or any of this week’s authors, I’ll donate $3 per book to Troops First Foundation. Additionally, a random commentor per day gets a free copy of UNDEAD CHAOS.

Okay, I know you all are here for Steve, so here we go!

Let’s just jump into the deep end of the pool first and talk about your books. For those unfamiliar with Skip Walkins and Gavin Blackburn, what can you tell us, big picture, about the LAST OF THE SHARDYN series?  

Thank you for the warm welcome, Josh, it’s a pleasure to be here in cyber-form. Before I begin, and I hope this isn’t bad form, but I just finished UNDEAD CHAOS about two weeks ago and lemme tell you something. *my best Tony Montana* It kicked some serious ass. Well done, sir.

Back to the question at hand: Why should you give a flying rat’s furry butt about the LAST OF THE SHARDYN trilogy?

Here’s why—it could save your life.

Seems crazy, right?  Not really.  To start with, you never know when you might find yourself face to face with a Lord of the Underworld, and trust me; you’ll want to have read the SHARDYN trilogy in just such circumstances.  By having read it, you would instantly know that said Lord of the Underworld is probably gonna want to eat your brain and heart so he can molt and make more Drynn. Any delusions you might have had about being able to talk your way out of becoming a midnight snack would be futile, and by knowing this, you’d immediately start screaming and running for your life.  Just that info right there shaved off a couple of seconds of your impending doom. No charge.

The pithy premise: The heroes of two worlds, Earth and Earth’s magical twin Theia, reluctantly join forces to fight the Lord of the Underworld. Dun dun dun dunnnnn.

And just who are these heroes?  In this corner, representing Earth is Skip Walkins, former Philadelphia detective, Air Force Special Forces Commando and present police chief of Rolling Creek, Montana (mad cheering); and in this corner, representing Theia, five of the baddest warriors ever to walk either world—the Shardyn Knights. Think part Knight of the Round Table, part Shaolin Monk and part lightning spewing Magi. Kinda like deluxe Jedi. To make things a little more chaotic, throw in one reforming sociopathic murderer who is impervious to magic and together, this triad must not only survive the newly freed Lord of the Underworld’s wrath, but they must stop him from returning home to Theia and enslaving his world to feed on.  Oh yeah, they have to not kill each other, either.

What inspired you to write this series? How about in the Urban Fantasy genre in general?

Some people write the books that they’ve always wanted to write. Some have stories that simply burst out of them, needing to be told and I say kudos to that. I am neither of those. The LAST OF THE SHARDYN trilogy is the story I always wanted to read.

Back in the day I made my bones in fantasy with the XANTH series by Piers Anthony, followed by the harder DRAGONLANCE and FORGOTTON REALMS sagas for a little mustard. That said, I also got addicted to Dean Koontz and Stephen King during the same time. I’d alternate—read IT or HOUSE OF THUNDER one week and then DRAGONS OF AN AUTUMN TWILIGHT the next. One day I thought, imagine if Stephen King or Dean Koontz changed genres and wrote fantasy instead?? How awesome would that be? Imagine the villains, imagine the suspense and the action and straight up badassicity it would have! I scoured every bookstore, library or book fair I could find but never found a book that did that. I’m sure they were out there, I just never found them. Finally I said to myself, “I guess I’m just gonna have to write that sumbitch myself.”

And I did just that.

The SHARDYN trilogy is a blend of my two favorite genres in the whole multiverse — Dragonlance-style fantasy and Stephen King-style horror.   Ratio: 3 parts fantasy, one part horror. Sprinkled with crumbled sci-fi.

As for the “urban fantasy” label, I didn’t even know it existed until after I had an agent. I’d always just told people the SHARDYN trilogy was a marriage of fantasy and horror and just called it dark fantasy. Urban fantasy works great, though. There’s just no black leather pants. I was going more for badass than steamy but…whatever blows your hair back. 🙂  

Let’s talk about Skip for a second. He’s an ex-commando and a police chief. You just happened to have served in the Air Force. Is there a little bit of Steve hiding in the pages of Skip?

Ha ha! Fair question. As a matter of fact, in the first ten drafts of DRYNN, Skip was a former Army Ranger, not a Pararescueman. The problem was that I was constantly doing research on the Rangers, which I really didn’t know much about, trying not to screw up any of their jargon or terminology. It wasn’t until after reading Stephen King’s ON WRITING when Mr. King suggests writing about what you know that it dawned on me to, duh, write about the Air Force and Pararescue. For some reason, in my head that seemed taboo, too close to home. Once I made that shift, man oh man, did it get easier. I might not have ever gotten my maroon beret or PJ patch (fractured both legs in training) but I at least knew about a thousand times more about the Air Force than the Army. Plus, PJs are straight-up badass.

The first book, DRYNN, came out in February of last year. FEBRUARY! That’s three books in 18 months! How do you find the time? It’s a Time Turner, isn’t it. You can tell us.

Actually, I have a cosmic remote control where I can pause or slow down time so I can hit my deadlines. Mwa ha ha ha…

Here’s how it went down. The first book DRYNN took fourteen years to write. Yep, you read right, almost a decade and a half. The second Book, THROUGH THE BLACK VEIL, I wrote in ten months. It might take me a while to get something but once I do, it’s mine, preciousss. Book III, BLOOD SWORN, I wrote in three months. In a cabin. In the middle of nowhere. Living out a dream and testing the boundaries of my sanity. I might have lost a couple marbles out there.

There are no words I can say that can adequately convey what is entailed in writing a novel, especially under deadline, but I will say this: It separates the groupies from the rock stars.

One of my mentors, a very successful executive by the name of Rich Rakowski, had thirteen commandments over his desk. One of them said, “Treat deadlines like lifelines.” I’d never been that guy before—I was the kid forever turning in my homework late—but I knew that if I wanted to become a successful author, I’d need to implement that commandment. Haven’t missed a deadline yet.

What’s a typical “writing day” like for you? Are you an outliner or a pantser? Any special techniques you use to get the creative juices flowing?

It all begins with the playlist. Sometimes it’s the ROCKY IV training montage to get me stretching and doing pushups. Sometimes it’s AC/DC or D’YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN by Oasis, but once I’m done I hit up the coffee, light and sweet, and then pick a venue. It changes. Sometimes I want solitude—my room—sometimes I want to be immersed in the energy of Aubergine, the local coffee house. Just depends. Two hour clips is how I normally do it. I can write good things like that. Unless there’s a deadline involved, of course, then I’m a laser guided missile.

As for being an outliner or pantser (that’s hilarious, did you come up with that one, Josh?), I’m a bit of both. Once again music plays a critical role. When I hear a song I see a scene, depending on the mood evoked. If it’s something high octane and makes me want to head-butt a cinder block, I ask—what’s going on? Who’re the players, how did they get here and why is that rabid muskrat attacking that Velociraptor? They are the “uranium isotope” of a scene. A waypoint. I know my beginning, I know the middle and I know the end, all I really need to do is string the waypoints together tightly and seamlessly, each more badass than the last and follow it through. I wanna take the reader for a ride. I want them to say, “Hell yeah, that’s exactly what I’d do,” or better yet, for them to sit up straight in bed, eyes locked in amazement about what just happened. And what’s about to happen—at least that’s the plan.

Out of all your characters, including side characters, which one would you want coming to your aid during a crisis and why?

That is so hard because they’re all utter and complete badasses but at the end of the day…Donovan. He always wins. And I’d wager a cup of coffee that four out of five people would agree. True, Donovan is dark, ala Javier Bardam in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, but though he’s ruthless he isn’t wholly evil. He’s kinda like a brutal version of the man in black from THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Kind of. But with a sniper rifle. And inhuman reflexes. Photographic memory. From sociopathic murderer to the greatest general that ever lived on either world—that’s how he rolls. And I would want him to save me.

Similar question: Which one would you like to sit down and have a beer (or wine or lemonade) with the most and why?

Jack Nyx. Definitely. I bet, I know he has epic tales to tell from both worlds he’s lived in, though he’s from Theia and a Shardyn Knight (specially trained order of magic-wielding knight who derive additional power from the fragments or “shards” of the shattered moon that fall to the ground) he’s actually lived on Earth longer. Became a Formula I race car driver. Adrenaline junkie. Plus, Jack’s straight up fun, the wise guy who can back it up.

What projects are you currently working on that you can tell us about?

Alas, it’s classified, my friend. I could tell you, but then I’d have to steal all your Cap’n Crunch with Crunch Berries.

When you’re not writing, how do you occupy your time? Hobbies? Obsessions? Ruling a model train town with an iron fist?

Ha! I do love me some model train towns and an iron fist. For the most part, I’m too little butter spread over a seriously large English Muffin. When I can, I still love to read, practice my Kung Fu, chess, cat-petting, UFO dodging and laughing maniacally while typing at my computer. Ya know, the usual.

Last Question: What sort of advice do you have for newbie writers? Any Do and Don’ts or words of wisdom you’d like to impart?

I do in fact have a tidbit or two. Hands down, the most important trait for an author to have, in my humble opinion, is relentlessness. My motto is simple: If I don’t quit, I don’t fail. Do something enough times you’ll get good at it (I’m really good at tying shoelaces) and for the love of all things sacred. Have fun. We only get to live once.

 AUTHOR BIO:

Steve’s just a guy who wishes he could fire lightning out of his fingertips. Afflicted with wanderlust at the age of seventeen, he’s lived in seven states, briefly served in the U.S. Air Force as a Pararescue Trainee, and has a profound aversion to mint chocolate chip ice cream. Steve currently straddles two worlds–one foot in his hometown of Elmwood, CT, the other in Sunnyside, Queens, NY. What bio would be complete without a cat? Steve has one. A great, fat, good-for-nothing but entirely lovable furball who has his own gravitational force. If Steve could go back in time and be anything, he’d have been a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot or a knight. Being an author is pretty cool, though.

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