Greetings
humans, half-breeds, and everything in between. A while back, I had the
pleasure to interview my new friend, Stefan
Vucak. He is visiting the ECS as a guest and sharing loads of interesting
insights into his work. Be sure to look around and see what he has to offer.
Here are the results of our interview. A good time was truly had by all, and
here’s how it went down.
Hi there Stefan! It’s so awesome to have you
here at the ECS Universe. Don’t worry about the darkness, your eyes will
adjust.
So tell me, who is Stefan Vucak?
How very accomplished
you are; I’m impressed and eager to learn more about you and your work. It’s
doesn’t hurt that I’m a fan of sci-fi, so I’m sure we’ll have loads to talk
about.
So whacha got for me
today?
Now that sounds like a
good story, and forgive me if I offend, but an awesome conspiracy theory! I
love these kinds of story because they force you to really think about history,
what we know, what we think we know, and what we choose to believe…And not for
nothing, but controversy is always a good sell.
So who’s starring is this 2 dimensional script read of All the Evils?
Father Garbaldi: Anthropologist working as a researcher in
the Vatican Secret Archives, discoverer of the
ancient papyrus.
Cardinal Belconi: Head of The Entity - Vatican’s Secret Service.
Tom Meecham: FBI Special Agent, assigned to track down The Entity
assassin, and prevent further murders to keep the tractate out of public hands.
Bruce Wellard: FBI
Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, an Opus Dei operative who helps plot
Meecham’s murder.
Garry
Strand, Special Agent in Charge for the Boston Division, helping Meecham track
down the Vatican assassin.
Mark Price: Department of Homeland Security, an ex CIA operative,
providing Meecham vital assistance enabling him to apprehend the assassin.
Even your characters
seem intense. I love the choice of names and the complexity of the character’s
involvement. If this were a movie, I can’t begin to imagine the ensemble cast
that would bring this story to life.
Past, present, future, is there a rhyme or reason to your writing?
I always write into a notebook first before transcribing it into the
computer where I edit, revise and edit some more. I tried writing directly into
the computer, but it’s not the same. I must have the tactical feel of a pen - a
clutch pencil actually - in my hand, scribbling away, trying to keep up with
the torrent of words pouring from my mind. When it all clicks together and
flows, I get a real buzz from the creative process that leaves me deeply
satisfied. Of course, things don’t always run that smoothly, but I try not to
dwell too much on those bits. Writing on paper allows me to fly and be
imaginative. Once the stuff gets into the computer, I put on my editor hat and
frown critically, looking for those grammar bloopers and story flaws, and I
start chopping as necessary. That sometimes hurts, but the end result is more
important than being wedded to an odd sentence or paragraph.
I plan my work in detail. I guess that’s part of my training as
an IT professional. I work out an initial story plot, define my characters, do
the necessary research - and that can be a lot, especially with my contemporary
novels - write a detailed story outline, then start writing the book itself.
That’s the easy part. The slog comes during the editing phase, and that really
never stops. What I do is write a segment, edit it, write some more, edit that,
and at some stage, go over the whole thing again. Then I print out the whole
mess and edit it on paper. Amazing what the eye can spot in print that it
misses on the screen. When I reach the end of the book, I go through it on the
computer, then print the manuscript and go over it again, perhaps three times.
It can be a drag.
There was never a time when I didn’t want to write. Even as a kid,
clutching my first book, I was hooked. It didn’t seem all that hard - until I
tried it myself. I’m glad my first efforts are safely buried in my drawer. But
that’s the learning process. After having written eleven novels, my latest
political drama Strike for Honor will be released by Solstice Publishing
next April, that learning process is still going on. Mastering the craft never
stops, and I would like to think I have learned a thing or two along the way. I
started off writing science fiction, one of my passions, but after seven novels
in the series - Shadow Gods - I thought I’d give myself a break and do
some contemporary stuff. Perhaps that would help me get into the traditional
publishing market. I’m still trying.
I can appreciate your
almost obsessive writing and editing ritual. I like that you are so passionate.
I find myself to be a bit on edge when it comes to editing and even after I’ve
gone through my whole story backwards line-by-line, I still pay my trusted
editor to give the work and outside look.
What author(s) has
most influenced your writing? Why or how?
Having been around for a while, a number of writers have
influenced me. During my science fiction phase, two stand out: Roger Zelazny and Keith Laumer. When his
writing was good and before he descended into sorcery and mysticism, Zelazny
had an evocative, deceptively easy style that was a pleasure to read.
Keith Laumer had an irreverent, sardonic
style that blasted my sensibilities and often amused me. Some of his
stuff was terrible, but a lot was extremely entertaining. In the end, that was
all that mattered. His writing style left an impression on me, as looking back,
I find my main characters being slightly dismissive of authority and impudent,
but still good at what they were doing.
Since my sci-fi days, I sampled writers from other genres,
like techno thrillers. I like Stephen Coonts, at least his early works. After a
couple of hundred books later, the techno thriller genre gave me a solid
grounding into the workings of governments, spy agencies, the military, and war
machinery of all kind. It was a good launching platform for my own contemporary
novels.
I guess every author I came across must have left an
impression, especially if I bought more than one of his works. They all talk to
me from somewhere in my mind as I put my own words down on paper.
I find it difficult to
truly follow the work of just on author and not because I’m easily bored. I
find that there are so many authors I want to experience that I often settle
for one, maybe two, of their works before moving one to someone else. That’s
probably why my TBR is so long. It’s filled with all the unread works of
author’s I’ve already sampled.
Whose brain are you just itching to scratch?
After reading Brian Greene’s
foray into string theory, multiple dimensions and parallel universes, latching
on to Carroll was a no-brainer. Everyone looks on Einstein as a god, and his
general and special theories of relativity were mind blowers, but he ignored
quantum theory in his quest to come up with a grand unification theory and died
an unfulfilled man. A lot has happened since then that he would be pressed to
understand, and it is fun and intensely revealing to peek into the theoretical
world cosmologists are opening.
Carroll is someone I would like to sit with over a glass of
smooth bourbon and simply talk, clashing over ideas and sometimes outrageous
propositions. That would be fun! Some of his ideas I find difficult to grasp,
but they stretch the mind and provide a rich smorgasbord of material that can
be put into one of my books somewhere in a galaxy far, far away...
I adore this answer. I
can tell that you thought about this before, and instead of going with hype
you’ve chosen heart. You want to spend time getting to know someone who not
only shares your interests, but has already been an inspiration to you from
afar.
Who is so you and
why?
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| Amazon |
Another character I can easily relate to is Klatu in, The Day the Earth Stood Still [the movie, 1951, 2008]. He came to Earth to bring a warning, and found himself perplexed and overwhelmed by human behavio. Driving on the freeway to the city, watching the antics of fellow drivers trying to save that second from their trip time by weaving through traffic, or attempting to squeeze into an overcroweded train to hostile looks of passengers who don't want me there, often leaves me bemused wondering whether I am Alice and have fallen into some magical world that doesn't make sense. Watching the American Congress at work, it really doesn't make sense.
I’ve always had a soft
spot for Klatu as well. The idea that he came to help a world that wasn’t ready
to accept its fate and didn’t really want his help was so sad to me, especially
considering it was the world I was currently living in. This is a strange world
we live in.
What’s your ideal
reading spot for your next highly anticipated read?
 |
| Amazon |
Van Albert is a character I understand and Modesitt crafts him to
perfection. Desoll, Van’s mentor, is an enigmatic personality: complex, full of
contradictions and life drivers, like all of us. Van could be anyone, but he is
not. He is rejected by a service he loves because of his skin color, and
realizing the evil that service is about to unleash on the worlds, he decides
to do something about it. It is an easy book to get lost in, and I do, with
relish.
More often than not, my bedroom is my reading hole. Oh, I read in my
living room and my study, but it is at night when the world around me has
stopped rushing about and silence reigns, that I let myself go and indulge in a
good book. It is a far, far better thing I do than staring at the TV watching
CSI or some other mindless, brain-destroying crap.
I find that as I get
older I do watch less and less TV and read more. While I am and will probably
always be a movie buff, it’s hard not to recognize that all the new movie ideas
are coming straight from literature of some kind. The Ethos Effect definitely
sounds like a new addition to my TBR list.
What was your
favorite book or story, pre-teen years?
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| Amazon |
What that book did was open my eyes to a universe I never
knew existed, a magical world where I could be the characters I was reading,
and experience adventures I never believed were possible. When I discovered the
city library at the corner of the street where the school was - I walked by
hundreds of times without noticing it - I was in heaven. Suddenly, classes in
grammar, writing and composition took on a different meaning, and my desire to
write unfurled like petals of a flower. I owe a lot to Jules
Verne.
I must admit that 20,000
League Under the Sean has always held a special place in my heart as well. It
wasn’t the book that opened up my world of wonder and love of reading and
writing, but it certainly didn’t hurt. This is one of those stories that never
gets old…Now this is where the questions get a little kooky; are you ready?
No problemo.
Alright then, here we
go.
If you could only watch
one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
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| IMDB |
Who cannot help being moved by the glowing night scenes, the
flying sequences where Jake and Neytiri are soaring on their ikran, and the
tragedy where Colonel Quaritch destroys the hometree. The accompanying music is
truly magical and I am happy to lose myself in that world Cameron has created.
To say that I’ve seen
a lot of movies in my life would be a ridiculous understatement, so believe
when I say that this movie was truly astonishing and worth seeing at least once
in a lifetime. This movie has so many layers of wonder and beauty that it is
hard to describe. In many ways, it is easier to say that it’s just a cool movie
with great effects even if it is really more than that. Whether there is truth
in the latest controversy and hype surrounding this film or not, I don’t care.
The finished product will always be worth my time to stop and watch.
What makes you geek
out?
I dream of travel.
Maybe one day I’ll have a chance to live it.
So what’s testing your patience right now?
I am working on my
eighth science fiction book, Guardians of Shadow, where Terrllss-rr
confronts the Celi-Kran who have taken Teena, his loved one. It’s been a
project that festered in my mind for a number of years now, but it took a back
seat while I took time off to write four contemporary novels. After agonizing
over the plot, in a rush of writing that surprised me, I got the outline in a
week of solid effort. There is a tiny bit that I’m still stuck on, but
it will resolve itself in the fullness of time. I simply could not leave Terr
as he was in the last book of the series, boldly heading into Orieli space with
Teena and his Wanderer brother Dharaklin, Death held in check, always ready to
be unleashed. It will take a while to get done, but in between, there will be
books to review and read - accompanied by that tumbler of whisky.
Writing a series can
test your patience. After spending so much time with a character and its
development, you’d think it would be easy to see what the future has in store
for them. I know all too well what it’s like to want to do a character, I’ve
already put so much into, justice and having a hard time doing so. I have big
plans for my character Giovanni, I just hope I am able to execute them well.
When the soundtrack
of your life is playing in your head, what songs express your glee and what
songs bring out your rage?
I don’t know if it’s
necessarily a question of being “cool” more than it is a question of
understanding, tolerance, and open-mindedness. All the artist you’ve listed as
being fans of have publicly praised Michael Jackson for his talent and
contributions to the music industry- oh and he’s from the ‘70s and ‘80s. I’m
not going to argue the sad state of modern pop music because there is nothing
to dispute, but as a music lover, I seriously wonder if it is Michael Jackson,
the crazy person you have issues with, or Michael Jackson the musical artist. I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished they were two different people…BTW, I
love Neil Diamond!
What’s the most fun
experience you’ve ever had, to date?
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| Amazon |
I never gotten into
sailing much being land locked most of my life, but now that I live near the
ocean the idea seems much more appealing. The closet I’ve come so far is
kayaking, lol. One day I’ll surly graduate to a big girl sailing.
Remind me again how I was lucky enough to meet you?
As always, marketing my books, the publisher left that chore
to me. I am good at many things, and maybe I can even write a bit, but
marketing in today’s Facebook and Twitter environment is a challenge. A
challenge I am far from mastering, but necessity prods me along. Lots of people
are there to tell me how I should go about it - for a fat fee. Looking into
what they produce, it turns out I know more about the game than they do! It’s
depressing. It’s also depressing to see a crappy book selling well when I can’t
get mine moving. A bummer.
I came across you, Toinette, from LinkedIn. After hooking into several
author/writer groups, I bumped into one of your posts and decided to look into
it. Your professional approach to blogging is encouraging and I looked forward
working with you.
Ah yes, online social
media marketing- just the words themselves sound daunting. I guess that’s why I
decided to start this author series. It’s just one little thing I can to do to
show my appreciation to all the writers out there taking a stand and striving
to fulfill their dreams of authorship.
Not that you can see
into the future, but in your opinion, what does the future hold?
Given what is going
on in the world today, life can appear depressing. I believe Europe is heading
for a major upheaval and the breakup of the Eurozone is inevitable. There are
too many social and economic differences between the members for the one size
fits all monetary philosophy to work, something the Brussels bureaucrats don’t
seem to appreciate. I see the United States captured by the partisan gridlock,
where neither party is prepared to work for the benefit of the country, content
to pursue unworkable policies that threaten ruin. The capture of the Republican
party by the extreme right and the evangelical interests is of particular
concern. Sometimes it’s not worth thinking about. They are all children who
need a good spanking.
As for me, I guess
life will be more of the same: writing, reading, editing, travel as much as my
finances allow. I hope to break into the traditional publishing market one day,
but my main driver is to share what I have written with others, regardless of
the medium. My interests are changing as experiences and knowledge enrich me,
and undoubtedly, that will be reflected in what I write. I have a few projects
in mind and only time will tell which one of them I will decide to
nourish.
Ok humans,
half-breeds, and everything in between, that’s all for today. Be sure to follow
this blog to see who will be visiting next time. For more from Stefan Vucak,
check out these great links:
Twitter: @stefanvucak
Facebook: www.facebook.com/StefanVucak
Facebook: www.facebook.com/StefanVucak
