Featured Interview With Jack Salva
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I have never liked the “Tell me a little about yourself?” question.
I was born in Pittsburgh where I lived until I graduated college with degrees in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. I moved to Maryland and started working for the government. After a stint in Australia and Colorado, I quite the government and entered the private sector. That eventually brought me to where I am now: TEXAS!
I met a fellow gamer and animal lover and got married. We run an animal sanctuary (Needy Beasts Haven) taking care of special needs animals. We have a large number of cats, a couple of dogs and some toads at the moment.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I wasn’t much of a reader when I was younger. Somewhere in junior high I started and have never looked back. I love science fiction. Comic books really got me started in reading which may be why I have such a visual writing style.
I have always had an interest in writing. Telling stories. Making up tales and trying to get people to believe them. The more realistic they are, the more you can convince them. This may be why I have such a fascination with world building.
I have created a few worlds, but my favorite is my steampunk world. The aesthetic. The gadgets. The juxtaposition of elements.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Favorite authors? Larry Niven, Simon R. Green, Isaac Asimov, Simon Hawke, Michael Moorcock, and there are others, but that is a nice sampling.
My favorite reading is science fiction. I also like fantasy. And I enjoy good steampunk.
My wife is my muse. She motivates me to get the stories in my head onto paper. My animals help as well. I’m not certain how they do it, but they do. Especially the cats. (Thanks Aidan for the frustration and inspiration you dole out in equal measure.)
Tell us a little about your latest book?
Guise was something of a surprise. I finished a steampunk book and was working on the sequel when I got bogged down. As I was working through that, I had these other ideas floating around. I jotted them down. Before you know it I was writing a book.
The characters in Guise had been around in one form or another in other things I had toyed with. One, the character of Bo, just showed up as I was writing and made herself an integral part of the story. The backstory of Darwin and Yoki came about as I was writing their meeting. I had planned on them not knowing each other, but they had different ideas. Patience was always pretty much as she appears – although perhaps a little more practical than I first envisioned.
And I had to keep a reign on Otaku or he would steal every scene he was in.
Normally, I have a general idea of the story before I start. I am mostly a pantser so that is okay. In the case of Guise, I had the opening and the ending, but no idea about the middle of the book.
I like action and there is a lot of that. There is also a lot of debate that provides background which was a new approach for me, but seemed very natural in this. And there are hints of things to come in the sequels. Again, that just grew during the writing.
At almost 100,000 words, this book was written pretty quickly. I think it only took me around seven or eight months. The chapters are short, but that is how they worked. Often I would finish a chapter with no idea what the next one would be. The same for how the characters would get out of some of the situations. However, they didn’t let me down.
The overall tone is pretty light-hearted with lots of comedy and action. I am really looking forward to exploring this universe and the ideas hinted at. There is a lot more background now and several stories worth to tell it properly.
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