Niteblade

Posts Tagged ‘David Wright’

David Wright, past contributor to Niteblade, announces the debut of his first novel, Flight of the Cosmonaut!

http://www.fictionworks.com/ebooks.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnK-yWWWbmY

About this book:
Georgi Petrov is a brave, young Soviet test pilot recruited into the secret cosmonaut corps to make history as the first man in space, or die trying. But after a few short weeks of training behind the Iron Curtain, he quickly finds himself caught in a dangerous world of volatile rockets, lethal KGB agents, tyrannical commanders and mysterious rocket scientists. How many lives are they willing to sacrifice to achieve their ambitious goals and who will be the next to die? But if Georgi ever hopes to escape his violent past and start a new life with the green-eyed girl of his dreams, he has to take this one desperate chance for glory—this last Flight of the Cosmonaut!

David Wright’s work appeared in Niteblade in 2010. He allowed me to interview him this summer.

When did you first recognize yourself as a writer?

After I saw the movie Star Wars, I became irrepressibly obsessed with the notion of becoming a writer, director, producer, music composer…I’m not sure which. I was only 10 years old. But I knew I wanted to make something like that. I didn’t know how to do that, but that’s what I wanted to do. And if I had to become a writer to do it, then that’s what was going to do.

What draws you to speculative fiction?

I don’t think I heard the term ‘speculative fiction’ until I was in my twenties. In my youth, there were only two genres that interested me—fantasy and science fiction—and they were both found in equal parts in the countless Fantasy and Science Fiction magazines that lined my father’s bookshelves. Ogling those flashy covers with their magical promise of mind blowing ideas was the catalyst for a life-long love of that nebulous genre we now call ‘speculative fiction.’

Is there a piece of writing advice you’ve never followed?

“Write about what you know.” I’ve always both loved and hated this piece of advice. If we all wrote about what we knew, there would be no fantasy or science fiction. What would be the fun in that? So let me turn the idiom on its head. Know about what you write. Know the characters, the setting, the world you’ve created better than you know the real world. And then write about it. Now that’s a piece of advice I can stand behind.

In the December 2010 issue of Niteblade, Rhonda chose to publish your story, “Climax Speciation“. Is there a story behind how it came about?

There is nothing more terrifying in life than the birth of your own children–not the actual biological birth, although that’s pretty terrifying, but the effect it has on your own psychology. You are no longer the center of the universe, or even the protagonist of your own personal story. For a brief moment, at least, you glimpse the idea that another soul has entered into existence, and the force of their potential life is staggering. Will they be good or bad? Will they cure cancer or drop a bomb so powerful that it will wipe out all of humanity? That fear may have been the impetus for my story, but I’m not really sure. I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep back then.

What have you been working on lately?

I still write the occasional short story, but my main concern of late is finishing my third novel, Glaive Lord. This is my first foray into the classic genre of sword and sorcery, and I have to admit that I am loving it.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with Niteblade’s readers?

I know a lot of Niteblade’s readers are just like me—budding writers who’d like to make it big someday. But I’ve been budding for a long time. I’m not rich. I’m not famous. I may not even be that good. But I have no regrets. I write because I love it, and there’s no better reason than that.