Give a warm welcome to Angel Martinez Today

Welcome to Dawn’s Reading Nook, Angel Martinez. Please let my cabana boys/girls get you a drink and make yourself at home. Comfortable? Great…now let’s get down to business.

So tell us about yourself. What got you interested in writing? Who are your publisher(s)?

Old hair, young face, young heart, I tend to confuse people. And it’s silver hair, thanks so much, not gray. I’ve had the same hubby for nearly twenty-three years, (would be nice to say he was my first love, but that would be a fib. We missed each other’s wild years) a long stream of meaningless jobs, and one amazing son.

I’ve always been a storyteller, so to tell you what got me interested in writing? That would be birth. Currently, my work lives at Amber Allure, Silver Publishing, and Romance First.

How did you start your writing career?

I started writing in a serious, disciplined way for my son when he was young, the first full length about a girl with a magic paintbrush that brought the creatures she painted to life. Chapter written, read as bedtime story. When we reached the end, I said to myself, “Self, you do realize you just wrote a novel? Let’s try another…” A few years later, my first Science Fiction work was published, and the year after, in 2007, my first grown-up fiction under Angel Martinez. Haven’t stopped since.

Tell us about your favorite character from your books.

Ye, gods. Here, Mom, pick your favorite child. Currently? We’ll go with Turk. On the surface, he looks like a traditional Alpha – huge, strong, a battle commander who leads with quiet confidence – but we come upon him when his life’s gone all to hell, his confidence shattered, his sanity in question. I love Turk because he’s a man of principle even when things get a little gray around the edges, of courage even when he doubts himself.

Where do you dream of traveling to and why?

Everywhere. I love to travel, to see, hear, smell, and taste the mosaic of other people’s lives. China, Italy, Germany, France, Prince Edward Island, Montreal, all over the US, (yes, Hawaii, too) I’ve loved all these places. I long to go to Thailand, with its ancient roots and beautiful countryside, and I very much want to see both India and the Andes before I die.

Tell us about your current/upcoming release. What inspired it?

Gravitational Attraction, from Silver Publishing, is my first full-length Science Fiction work under Angel Martinez. SF is really my first love, since my first Andre Norton book at about age 8, and I’ve written SF under my real name for several years, the mainstream stuff.

My son gets credit for the inspiration here, though. He was working though developing a new kind of interstellar travel for an RPG, one that involved a previously undiscovered relationship between gravity and magnetism. While acting as his sounding board for the nitty-gritty practicalities of said new form of travel, the seeds of a story began to form. I asked if I could have the GEM drive, he gave permission, I drew a sketch of the Hermes, and the story took off. Please don’t ask to see the sketch. It’s dreadful.  

Has someone helped or mentored you in your writing career?

I often wish someone had. I worked in isolation for many years and, for all the young writers out there, this is NOT a good thing. No one’s born knowing how to write fiction and certainly not how to market it. If I’d had a mentor, I might not have spent so many years banging my head against the unforgiving wall of publishing. The headache is still subsiding many years later.

Young writers these days have resources available that we did not. Creative Writing degrees didn’t exist when I was in college. There are support groups, advice sites and critique groups available online that may not have been available in person in every nook and cranny of the world. Seek out help if you’re a new writer. Don’t have the arrogance to think you know it all simply because you read a lot. Be humble, be respectful, and most of all, never stop learning.

Who are some of your favorite authors/books?

Ooh, boy. I love reading, so if I really named them all, we’d be here for a few days. Weeks. Months. In mainstream SF, I have to give props to the brave women writers who fought their way to success in a man’s genre: Mary Norton, (writing as Andre Norton) Ursula LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, (may she rest in peace) Lois McMaster Bujold, and C. J. Cherryh. They showed no fear, and inspired the rest of us.

What was your first sale as an author?

My first sale was under my real name, Sandra Stixrude, a short SF story, “The Missionary” which was published as an illustrated chap book. It’s a nice little piece about a man sent to convert the inhabitants of a lush, green planet where all his predecessors have either died or gone insane. I think I sold it for twenty bucks or so, but it was my first sale and heart-poundingly exciting.

When in the day/night do you write? How long per day?

I write first thing in the morning, before work, and last thing in the evening, after work. Weekends, I snatch whatever time I have. In general, though, I’m no longer able to stay up late into the night. Early to bed and all that.

If you could visit any time and place, where and when would it be and why?

Florence, 1500. The incredible flocking of artists, architects, scientists, and statesmen to the city at this point was nothing short of astounding. I need to ask Leonardo some things, specifically, and, though I know the old grouch probably wouldn’t talk to me, I’d still have to see Michelangelo and give it a try.

If you could be any shape shifter, what form would you take and why?

Raven. No question about it, not only for the gift of flight, by gods, but because the raven is intelligent, ingenious, and has few natural predators. Besides, ravens have a sense of humor. I couldn’t shift to anything that didn’t.

What else would you like readers to know about you or your work?

Life is beautiful and inherently funny. You’ll find elements of both halves of this statement in my work, even in the more serious pieces. Yes, there’s violence and horror, but we can’t see the light if there are no dark patches.

Fair warning – I don’t tend to write traditional stories or traditional heroes. If your looking for contemporary, straightforward, Alpha male-meets-twink stories, I’ll have to send you elsewhere.

Who's more fun to write: bad boys or perfect gentlemen and why?

Both. Neither. I find that in writing bad boys, there’s often a gentleman underneath, and in writing gentlemen, there’s a bad boy panting to get out. People, and characters, are rarely one thing or the other. But bad boy moments, in any character, can be such a fun catalyst for mayhem. I like mayhem.

If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be and what would you do together?

So many fictional characters I’ve wanted to meet…but you know what would be fun? Meeting Dante and Griff from Hot Head. Yes, they count as one character. You can’t have one without the other. I’d take them out for dinner and we’d yak. I know that doesn’t sound very exciting, but we’d have a blast. J

Out of all your books, do you have a favorite one? If not, then which one is closest to your heart?

Ermph. I can’t say favorite, since I’ve written books for different reasons and the favorite would change from moment to moment according to my mood. Finn holds a special place for me, though. That book gave me the confidence to keep doing what I do and the darn pooka is more person to me than character, always looking over my shoulder and kibitzing when I write.

What character out of all your books is the closest to your personality?

Bits and pieces of me end up in most of my characters. If you put Finn and Diego together, I think you’d have me. Diego’s too serious and Finn’s too much of a flirt, so they balance each other out, but Finn exhibits a lot of my own sense of humor, while Diego inherited my worry for others.

Anything else you would like to add?

Buy the books? ;) Seriously, thank you for having me and for listening to me ramble. This year is a busy one for me with the re-launch of several new editions and the release of at least five brand new works to come! Keep an eye on my WIP page, where I update all the stuff coming soon and in the pipeline: http://www.freewebs.com/angelwrites/wipsupcomingwork.htm

Gravitational Attraction

M/M Science Fiction Novel

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/coming-soon-c-2/gravitational-attraction-ebook-p-746

Blurb:

A distress call draws the Hermes to a drifting ship, empty except for the gore-spattered corridors and one survivor. Drawn to the traumatized man, Isaac offers the kindness he needs. But Turk harbors secrets, his brain a dangerous military experiment. It will take more than kindness to save them all.

Excerpt:

“Still only showing one heartbeat,” Isaac said to distract them all. “This way.”

He led them down a corridor marked “A-block” where they passed one empty cell after another, not empty because the occupants had been torn to pieces but entirely empty.

“What kind of Jud ship carries one prisoner?” Sylvia asked.

“Maybe they were trying to evacuate before…” Lester’s deep voice trailed off.

“Don’t waste time on speculating,” Travis cut in. “We’re close.”

The last cell held an occupant, it’s transparent, electrified door still intact and locked tight. The man lay curled in a tight ball against his air pallet, dazed eyes half open.

“Hey,” Travis shouted through the door. “Can you hear me?”

The man didn’t move, though he shivered violently, hard spasms running along massive arms and a broad back. Probably in shock.

Isaac found himself staring. Dark shadows marred the prisoner’s skin, but the strong jaw and even features spoke to a devastatingly handsome face when he was well. Even curled up so tightly, he could see the man was huge, easily two meters tall, maybe more. Golden-blond stubble atop his head indicated a recent shaving, though Isaac had no idea if he wore it that way out of choice or if prisoners were routinely shorn. He wore only a sleeveless, mid-thigh shift, which caused anger to rise in Isaac’s chest. Bad enough they locked him up, but to take away a man’s pants? Such calculated humiliation seemed cruel.

“Get the damn door open,” Travis said, bringing Isaac back to the task at hand.

Rand plugged into the wall jack, and all his uneasy sounds ceased as he concentrated on hacking the door code. The door whispered open on Rand’s triumphant cry.

“Attaboy,” Travis said. “Now go back out to the console and download the logs.”

“Out there? Alone?” The audio picked up Rand’s hard swallow.

“Dammit, son, they’re just pieces of meat out there. Nothing’ll hurt you.”

“But—”

Travis sighed. “Sylvia, go with him so the ghosts don’t eat him.”

Distracted by Rand’s fears, Isaac had missed the moment their rescuee began to move. He had pushed up on trembling arms, hard muscles corded with the effort, and turned his head to face them, teeth bared in a snarl.

“Shchfteru scum,” he whispered in a cracked, ruined voice. “Damn you…”

He’s going to hurt himself. Or lunge at Travis, and then someone’s going to panic and shoot him… “Humans.” Isaac held the hands of his exo suit wide. “We’re not some damn chuff, we’re humans.”

A low growl came from the man’s chest, a sound Isaac had never heard from a person before. The man was obviously too far gone and the suits looked too menacing. He reached up, undid his helmet latches, and lifted the whole assembly off his head. “See, human. We’re here to help you. Get you out of here.”

The man stared at him, something flickering in his eyes through the rage. During his moment’s distraction, Travis and Lester grabbed him and pinned him so Dr. Varga could get him sedated.

Isaac caught a whiff of the foul air and slammed the helmet back on his head, coughing fitfully as he got the latches secured. “Oh, shit…that’s horrible…how was he still breathing?”

“Don’t know, bud.” Travis stood his suit back up for the return walk. “But the shchfteru, if they were here, it explains a hell of a lot.”

“Explains why the crew’s in shreds,” Lester rumbled. “Doesn’t explain why the ship’s whole and the boards are untouched. Or why this guy survived.”