I discuss what motivated and inspired me to pen my debut novel, "The Last Overseer"

The Last Overseer by Anton Troia
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not going to review my own novel, but I'll write a brief essay on what inspired me to write it.

I've always asked myself questions regarding the state of our civilization on Earth and its technological stagnancy. Sure, we're living in a world connected- plugged in by social media, confused by the blurs between CGI and reality, and of course, we're all linked by our handhelds. However, most of our technological advancement is in the toy department! The combustion engine is dirty and has outlived its usefulness. We have failed to discover some of the universe's physical laws that would help heal our planet, and if the planet can't be healed, then we're kinda screwed because we haven't developed a space program yet that would lead us into far space, and potentially solve our over-population problems.

And so I asked myself. What are the dangers of progress? And what are the dangers of no progress? Are we headed towards something Orwellian? Or something that Gene Roddenberry envisioned with Star Trek over 50 years ago? And most importantly...is humanity progressing or regressing? And why not? Why yes?

The answers to these questions can be speculated upon in my very first and very latest novel, "The Last Overseer" Expect a good blend of science fiction, paranormal horror, dysfunctional romance and the ever ongoing tug of war between science and ethics. Whilst the novel was written to entertain and be mysterious... it was also designed to make the reader ask themselves- why? and what if? What repercussions will the high tech. future of tomorrow have on our ecology? And also, what effects will it have on our psychology, physiology, political system and social structure? These are the questions I try to answer in the Last Overseer, all while wrapping them around with a high octane chase story!
Also, If zombies are your thing, then you'll enjoy this novel for sure. The setting takes place in a very near future, where both zombies and vampires must receive a cure or face imprisonment.

And so- if you do decide to read my novel, do so with caution! Side effects include bouts of intense paranoia due to psychological nudity!

Happy reading !

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My review of "The Wolf Gift" by Anne Rice

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

(Review re-written after I went back and re-read some parts of the novel)

The Wolf Gift really pulled me in, but it quickly lost steam after the inciting incident. It's not exactly a page-turner, but, it was a relaxing read and a perfect book to read in bed at night just before bedtime. It's easy to put down at anytime, because very little happens in this book. Don't get me wrong, Anne Rice's writing is a joy to read, and the atmosphere of the Nideck mansion and surrounding woodland is described in such rich, pristine prose. But sometimes a book can get overly descriptive. I mean, I felt as if Rice described the same bedrooms over and over again, and spent whole pages describing the furniture of a house in the later chapters, when she should've focused on pacing the mystery. Then, another gripe worth mentioning is the action scenes. There were far too many hunting scenes, where Reuben, the Werewolf, ventures out in the woods to hunt animals. This might satisfy the gore-junkies, but I think the hunting scenes were repetitive and served as filler material--henceforth, ruining the pacing of this story.

I recommend it though, to patient readers, who don't mind slow, dramatic buildup. It really pays off in the end, especially if you are interested in the science of Werewolf-ism or Lycanthropy. Anne Rice gives her take on the origin of the myth, although with a bit of fluff and sugar coating, but I liked what she was implying and felt as if some of her characters had a hidden meaning behind them and were rooted in real world history. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves philosophy as well.

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My review of "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Known as the greatest science fiction novel of all time, but perhaps it was the greatest for its time. I found it to be a fun read overall, full of quirky characters and a plot that anyone could understand. The near future setting is full of really cool technology, but the near future setting is not to far off from our present world. The science fiction was minimal, don't expect to find a lot of techno babble in this story. I thought it was more of a spiritual and metaphysical story.

On the downside, I found that the characters were a bit to overly chatty and the dialogue driven scenes dragged for a bit. Actually there was too much dialogue and the atmosphere was lacking at times.

Still, the plot driven part of story was simple, yet powerful. All in all, the message I have gotten from it is that it is best to maintain a hold of your child-like innocence if you want to stay pure of spirit.

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Interview with Mitchel Grace !

The first author I'll be interviewing is the talented Mitchel Grace, author of the Wrong Place series. I picked up his debut novel, "Wrong Place" the other day and was absolutely captivated by page one. If you love a good drama with deep, engrossing characters, then check out his books! But first, here's a few words with the book's author, Mitchel Grace.

Anton:

 So Mitchel, what made you decide to become an author?

Mitchel:

I always loved writing when I was a teenager, but I lacked the confidence to show what I wrote to anyone. When I got to college, almost every class seemed boring to me, but there was one thing that I liked about school, and that was writing papers. I excelled in writing about almost anything at school, and that made me think. I thought that maybe I could write a book, but I still wasn’t very confident. Last January, I found myself jobless and purposeless, and honestly, I didn’t really feel like I had anything to lose, so I wrote the prologue to Wrong Place. At first, I didn’t know about what I had written, so I walked away from it. My mind kept wandering back to it, however. The next day, I wrote chapters one and two, and after that, I was just hooked. Writing was no longer something that I could do, it was something that I had to do. To put it simply, I decide to become an author because writing is what I love to do.

 Anton:

 Do you have any rituals or routines that you go through before hitting the keyboard? Describe your writing process.

Mitchel:

The first thing I do before writing is find some music that goes with the scene I’m trying to write. After that, it usually all flows from there. I try to write around three thousand words every time I sit down, and I never limit myself while writing. If I have an idea, I just throw it in there because I can always edit it out later if I don’t like it. To me, that’s probably the most important thing about the writing process. You should never let there be any limitation on how you express yourself or your story.

Anton:

What advice would you give to any aspiring writers out there?

 Mitchel:

I would advise them to write what they love. If you’re writing about something that matters to you, it never feels like work. After that, I would say that they should always try to block out any negativity in their lives. Let writing be your escape and never let what you do become a job. If you can do those two things, you’ve succeeded no matter how much money you do or don’t make.

Anton:

 What inspired you to create Nathan, the main character in the Wrong Series?  

 Mitchel:

Nathan and Sam are the only two characters I’ve ever created that I feel like are literally a part of me. I was inspired to create Nathan because we always see male characters in books that have life completely figured out and who have to save whoever the leading lady is. Nathan doesn’t have things figured out, and he isn’t the muscular man that we see on every romance novel in America. He’s just a regular guy who is extremely adaptable and smart but limited in other ways. In a way, I wanted to show that a male character doesn’t always have to be the strong and brainless character that we’ve become accustomed to in action novels.

 Anton:

What can we expect from Mitchel Grace in the future?

 Mitchel:

You can expect to see me release the final Strange Visions book, Strange Visions: The Storm sometime very soon, and after that, I’ll be working on getting the sixth and seventh Wrong books out there. At that point, my two series will be finished up, so I guess I’ll have to come up with some entirely new imaginary friends to share with everyone.

Anton:

Mitchell, I would like to thank you for offering to take this interview. I wish you all the best, and I look forward to reading the rest of your novels! 

For more on Mitchel Grace and his Wrong Series, feel free to click the links to his websites below. 

*Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/Mitchel.Grace.Author?fref=ts

*Twitter username -MGraceAuthor

*Goodreads page- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7141779.Mitchel_Grace