Featured Interview With Daniel M. Robinson
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Well, I was born in Sydney, I spent the start of my childhood there before moving to Grafton for a brief time. I then moved to Tweed Heads, just on the New South Wales/Queensland border. So the majority of my childhood was in Tweed Heads. I currently live in Bundamba, (which is on the outskirts of Ipswich, about forty minutes from Brisbane) with my wife and our five children. We have four pets: Freya and Bentley, who are rescue dogs; and two cats Fillmore and Max. Fillmore seems to rule the house, or at least thinks he does.
For me I’m not a one genre type author. I’ve written Australiana, which was my first book. This new book is science fiction, being a science fiction fan myself it was always a genre I knew I’d write and get published. Lately I’ve been wanting to write horror too, once again because I’m a horror fan myself.
I’m a normal person, I have kids and a wife who puts up with me. I’m a private person but I’m also friendly; I don’t hide away or get snappy when people approach me.
Some of my interests, apart from writing, are music and movies. I love music and I listen to it and I write to it. I definitely can’t sing or play an instrument, but love all music. I’m a big fan of Metallica, Bonnie Tyler, Two Steps from Hell (I write Fatal Conflicts to their music), The Beatles, and Kiss. I’m a movie lover of all different styles especially science fiction and horror.
Now one thing that I’ve been asked, in regards to Fatal Conflicts, is where do I sit on the Star Wars vs Star Trek argument. Well, I’m a huge Darth Vader fan but I love Star Trek as a whole. Both have been major influences on Fatal Conflict and they both have their charms to me. So to be fair I’m a fence sitter.
As you can see, I’m a normal everyday person.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was a late starter; I was 12-13 when I really became interested in reading books but I’ve always loved creative writing! If I wasn’t drawing a picture about some space battle, I was writing movie scripts and short stories. I think I was 6 or 7 years old, when I started, and now that I’m 36 years old, I still love to sit down and just write down stories, some of which I tell to my youngest son, and some I just write and keep on my computer.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Richard Layman, Stephen King, Jim Roberts are the three authors that I love to read. My favorite genre to read has got to be Horror! I seem to read more horror than anything else. Which is yeah, strange. My biggest inspiration in my writing would have to be my grandmother on my mother’ side, Winsome Smith. You may have heard of her, she managed to gain some attention with a couple of her books, Rachel’s Weeping being her most popular.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is the first part of a series of books; Fatal Conflicts takes place in the later part of the 30th century. Earth is now part of a democratic group of systems know as the Union of Planets. The series starts off at the start of the second great war between the Union and the Barican Empire.
The Baricans are not a peaceful people, they are a warrior race. Which doesn’t make them evil, but due to their mindset and way of life the Empire and Union do clash and this, as I said, is their second armed conflict.
The series isn’t all war and action. The characters we follow over a period of thirty years, so we have the chance to see them grow and how their world changes around them. I’m sure that anyone who reads them will also find that they are able to relate to the human characters.
So you’ll have action, you’ll get some fun and adventure, you’ll have a plot, and you’ll see characters grow, change, and die. And you’ll see that even in the future, we humans will still be learning and growing. Basically readers will get to see all that and elements from science fiction that all fans of the genre love.
This series started out as drawings I created as a kid which I then made into a little comic book. Eventually I rewrote it into book form. I truly hope the readers enjoy the books.
To those who read and enjoy the first book, Fatal Conflicts: Battle for Kendoc Three, I promise you won’t be waiting too long for the second and third installments. It took two years to really smooth out the first book. The second book and third books are written and in editing. I’m currently working on the fourth book, which I hope to finish by the end of the year so I can get started on the fifth book by the start of next year.
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