Interview with sci-fi fantasy author MH Snowy

Today’s special guest is sci-fi author MH Snowy. We’re discussing her new novel, The 12 Nights of Jeremy Sunson.

During her virtual book tour, MH will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card (winner’s choice) to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Melindra Hattfield Snowy, a part-time writer and full-time dreamer, who of course prefers to be known as MH. She is the author of In Harm's Way, the first novella in Harm's story published by Pygaso Productions, described as epic fantasy meets The Truman Show.

MH has also penned several short stories including We Three Laws of Robotics Are and The Secret Invasion of George Kranskii which explains how road rage is result the result of an alien invasion.

You can find MH at www.MHSnowy.com, on Goodreads, and you can follow her on Twitter.

When not writing or occupied with her dual-identity, MH walks through the mountains with her partner or tries to unravel the secrets of her great-grandmother, an adventuress who disembarked from the French steamer Laos in 1931 seeking to uncover rumours of Mayan temples deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle, and disappeared, never to be heard of again.

Welcome, MH. Please tell us a little bit about your newest release.

Hidden inside the most unlikely person can be the most extraordinary hero…

Jeremy Sunson is surrounded by crazy. Mrs. Abercrombie, upstairs, is widowed because her husband glued feathers to his arms, jumped off the building and tried to fly. His neighbour, Stuart, has gone mad since his wife died in a freak car accident— his only thread to reality the doomsday machine he’s building and his daughter… and, of course, there’s spacemen in Jeremy’s living room.

Every night, in glorious Technicolor, there’s a battle royal between two high tech assassins who continually blast Jeremy’s apartment to shreds. Each man has one mission: Red wants to kill Jeremy, Blue wants to save him!

Though his therapist insists he’s just having bad dreams—Jeremy knows better. It’s time to fight. He’s sick and tired of being sick, scared and tired! Armed with rare confidence and a baseball bat, this night, Jeremy fights like the crazy man he isn’t!

But how can he ever imagine when he’s won the battle, the war is only just beginning… over and over and over again?

The 12 Nights of Jeremy Sunson – ride a wave of laughter, fun and sci-fi fantasy all the way to Armageddon!

What inspired you to write this book?

I draw inspiration from the wackier side of life. Jeremy's story began life as a fight scene where futuristic assassins blew up Jeremy's apartment—and Jeremy's confusion when the evidence disappeared the next day. The result ... well, the excerpts will give you an idea.

But that's only the inspiration for what happens to Jeremy. As for Jeremy himself, The 12 Nights of Jeremy Sunson is about unlikely heroes. Every day heroes. And how those muscle-bound buffoons we are shown are ... not. Jeremy is an accountant on stress-leave thrust into a nightmare of Armageddon and assassination. But he takes a stand, even though he has no idea who he is, no fighting skills, nor any clue as to what he should do.

We all deal with challenges. And Jeremy is inspired by the unlikely hero in all of us.


Excerpt from The 12 Nights of Jeremy Sunson:

Jeremy practiced for the rest of the day. He swung the baseball bat with vigour, ducked out of the way and weaved behind the furniture. Even pulled out an unused pair of sneakers after he stubbed his toe on the couch and hopped around howling in pain. Jeremy discovered that kicks were much more effective using the heel instead of the toe, and especially so when you didn't wear slippers. He certainly taught that couch a lesson!

After his foot became stuck in the couch with a well-placed heel strike, he decided he needed something a little less expensive and more durable to use as an enemy. Jeremy propped a mattress against the wall and used it for target practice with the bat, only missing once or twice. After several hours non-stop practice when he'd swung, kicked, rolled and shouted like never before, Mrs Abercrombie knocked on the door and asked if everything was all right.

"Fine, thank you, Mrs Abercrombie." Jeremy wiped his cheeks, certain the unaccustomed moisture more than just tears, though his shin still ached from where the mattress repulsed a furious attack from the bat a moment ago. "I'm just trying to prepare. You know, get in shape."

Mrs Abercrombie didn't seem to know, but she nodded with that patient gleam in her eye when she talked of her late husband—who woke that last day after eighty-two years deciding he could fly. Jeremy didn't know why she gave him that look now: he had no intention of gluing feathers to his arms and finding, after he jumped off a six-story building, that he could not in fact fly. But Mrs Abercrombie nodded with a sad smile once more, asked him to keep the shouting to a minimum, and let him know she would be upstairs if he needed anyone to talk to.

Do you write full-time? How do you find time to write?

I have a secret-identity, so the main time I have to write is when I commute. Thank God for smart phones! For years, I've been writing stories on the train, one paragraph at a time. I tried writing at night, but that just left me spinning and sent my well-being down the toilet. Weekends? I'll get to that.

After months of train-rides, Jeremy's appeared as a whole appears before my eyes. A few weeks later the scenes even hung together and I'd finished the what of Jeremy's story. But a what does not a story make. Eh?

You see, unfortunately, writing doesn't end with a what. Writing coherent words is hard work, but writing words that flow and zing is even harder. Welcome to the how of editing! Good bye weekends.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

For me, publishing does not a writer make. Nor does completing a story.

Being a writer is wanting to write. And that happened years ago.

I've always had a secret-identity, and little time to write, but I wanted to write. Being a writer means using the commute on the train to write a scene on my phone, paragraph by paragraph. It means giving my weekends to transforming sickly sentences into a flowing stream.

I want to write. Even though it's hard, even though I don't have time, even though I have to do everything myself. And therefore I'm a writer.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I meld things which may not seem to go together on first glance. I'm also interested in unusual heroes, and few of my characters meet the common mould. Jeremy is the most unlikely hero to save the world—not at all what you'd expect from an action sci-fi story.

Montague the sarcastic magician-trickster searching for the truth that is In Harm's Way, is a little man a penchant for saving innocent villagers. His friend Harm, who suffers from memory-loss, looks the part of a legend, but might impale his foot if he drew his sword. Definitely not what you would expect from a warrior.

To boil down to essentials, each of my stories has a science fiction or fantasy setting, a main story line (often action or thriller), elements of comedy, and are solidly YA.

This reflects my personality. I can't do anything without having fun, and the grittiness of life sends me packing. YA science fiction and fantasy allows exploration of themes in a world where the hero doesn't get beaten down by the sameness of existence; where excitement and action abound.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I didn't know.

I still don't know. But now I do know I don't want to grow up.

I never created stories as a kid. I spent the majority of time struggling to understand other people. Years later, I remain confused, but I have many more explanations for other people's behaviour. As an example, my first short story, The Secret Invasion of George Kranskii, explains how road-rage is actually caused by an alien invasion. I made this startling conclusion after musing why a person would attempt to demolish the self-serve check-out at the local supermarket while I stifled snorts packing my shopping. He, who shall not be named, suffered from a distinct lack of patience.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I have more stories in my head than I will be able to write in several life times, and as a consequence I force myself to finish what I've started. I'm currently writing the second instalment of Jeremy's journey, as well as more adventures of the investigator in We Three Laws of Robotics Are, which will eventually be a book of short stories, and the continuing story of In Harm's Way.

Thanks for being here, MH. All the best with your writing!

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