(This post originally appeared on HellcatsAnthology.com on October 14, 2020.)
1. How did you get started writing?
My first real writing project was a play I wrote when I was in college. It was a sci-fi bedroom farce that was basically “Three’s Company on a spaceship.” I was unsatisfied with what local theater in my area had to offer, so I was like, “I’ll just write the play I want to see!” Haha. Ah, to be young and proactive…
2. Out of all your books, which one is your favorite and why?
My paranormal thriller One Must Kill Another holds a special place in my heart. It’s the only thing I’ve ever written that’s not funny. Actually, let me rephrase that. It’s the only thing I’ve ever written that’s not supposed to be funny. There are plenty of Goodreads reviewers who would dispute that first claim.
3. If your friends were asked to describe you in one word, what would it be?
Jellicle.
4. What is your favorite thing to do outside of writing?
Wait… are you saying there’s time outside of writing?
5. What do you love most about the genre you write?
I love the freedom of Space Opera. As long as you’re internally consistent, you can do whatever crazy thing you want. Like, in my upcoming book there’s a space-station jailbreak led by a teenage punk-rocker who is a sentient plant. You can’t really pull that off in, say, Contemporary Christian Romance.
Small pieces of my divided soul, thus turning them into horcruxes.
7. Describe yourself in 3 words.
Very tight hamstrings.
8. What made you decide to write in your current genre?
I’ve spent my career so far writing in genres I don’t read, and I’m tired of playing life on hard mode. Seriously though, I’ve always loved sci-fi, and the fact I haven’t been writing it for the past twenty years is definitely something I should talk to a counselor about.
9. Tell us about your current release/or new release?
I just put out a series of four hilarious mysteries for kids called Zombie Reconstruction Squad (as M.K. Radican). If you suddenly find yourself home-schooling an eight- to twelve-year-old who likes jokes about boogers and stinky feet, I can help with your curriculum.
10. What does your writing space look like?
I’ve got an IKEA desk with an old laptop the size of a surfboard and a totally sweet Star Trek: Voyager poster.
Flush toilet. If anyone has a different answer, I’d like them to come see me three days into this experiment. Especially if their answer was a coffee maker. Oh man, are they going to be asking for a do-over.
12. Do you find it hard to kill off your characters?
It’s not nearly as hard as killing real people.
13. How much of your characters are based on your traits or someone you know personally?
A lot of my characters start out heavily based in my own traits until my editor tells me how grossly incompetent and unlikable they are.
14. What are you working on now? Can you share a teaser of it with our readers?
My work-in-progress is the first book in a new sci-fi comedy series called Galaxy Cruise. It’s the story of a hapless karaoke DJ who gets promoted to captain of an alien, deep-space cruise ship with a crew of colorful, out-of-control misfits. It’s basically what you’d get if you crossed Star Trek and The Muppet Show.
15. Is there one genre that you have not written in yet, but would love to try writing?
Definitely romance. Not because I think I’d be good at it, but because I’d like to see how many boner jokes a romance reader would put up with before they left a scathing one-star review.
I inevitably have my best ideas in the shower, and I have absolutely no short-term memory, so I end up repeating good ideas to myself over and over again until I can rush to the keyboard and jot them down, soggy and naked. My neighbors bought me a great set of blackout curtains for my office.
17. What keeps you going while writing?
The idea that someday, somewhere, somebody I don’t know will cosplay as one of my characters.
18. What’s next for you?
Tacos. Always tacos.