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| Chris Kennedy, Author THE REVELATIONS CYCLE: Book 2: ASBARAN SOLUTIONSBook 4: THE GOLDEN HORDE |
Science Fiction
authors Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey teamed up to bring us THE REVELATIONS CYCLE, a series of military science fiction novels. The two authors write what
they like to read—real-life characters, rather than bigger than life heroes,
and a “fun, imaginative, but
credible read” free of messages. Villains we can relate to, but hate.
Chris Kennedy, former naval aviator and elementary school
principal, has also written the "Theogony" and "Codex Regius"
science fiction trilogies. In addition, he is a publisher and is currently working on
his next book, The
Progenitors’ War.
Mark Wandrey,
whose diverse background he believes contributed to his writing, has also
written the Turning Point series, a zombie apocalypse book with a twist and the
Earth Song series, five space opera books. Next up is
Don't miss the two excerpts following the interview.
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| Mark Wandrey, Author THE REVELATIONS CYCLE Book 1: CARTWRIGHT'S CAVALIERS Book 3: WINGED HUSSARS |
Q: I’m always fascinated with the origin of
Science Fiction plots, which typically seem so creative. Your five-book (so far) series THE REVELATIONS CYCLE has been described as “military sci-fi, powered armor squaring
off
against advanced alien technology, and a little bit of skullduggery and
cloak and dagger…” How do you conceive of these plots? What inspires them? Do
your backgrounds have any influence on plot-creation?
Chris Kennedy: As a former naval aviator, I would have
to say that my background plays pretty heavily in influencing my stories, and I
am drawn to stories that involve flying, at least a little, whether that is in
atmosphere or in space. Regarding THE REVELATIONS CYCLE, though, Mark is the
main creator, so I’ll let him take it from here.
Mark Wandrey: I’m inspired greatly by what I consider
the golden age of mil-sf, the 60’s and 70’s. Hammer’s Slammers, Starship
Troopers, Asimov’s Foundation. I wanted to create a universe with some pretty
tight rules, which I believe goes against the current tenants of SF where there
are planet-killing energy weapons, super-powerful inertial compensators, and faster-than-light
communications. If you’ve read any 4HU (Four Horsemen Universe), you know we
have none of those. I believe these tighter rules have actually given us a
deeper playground, instead of shallower. Yes, it makes it a little tougher for
the writers—you can’t use as much handwavium—but the stories are more colorful
and down to earth.
That said, the
stories tend to be what I’d like to read, and influenced by what I have read. A
lot of times I’ll just create one from whole cloth, and it works, or it
doesn’t. The main story line for THE REVELATIONS CYCLE (4 books and 2
anthologies so far) is based around a primary plot I came up with, heavily
influenced (and improved) by Chris Kennedy’s input.
Q: I assume that you are both readers of
science fiction. Who are your favorite authors? Why? What other genres do you
read?
Mark Wandrey: Robert A. Heinlein by a long shot.
Behind him, and equal in many ways would be Gregg Bear, Ben Bova, John Varley,
Alan Dean Foster, Orson Scott Card (influence for my Earth Song universe), and
Larry Correia (for action and fun). I mostly read SF, but I’m also a huge fan
of ZA (zombie apocalypse), which influenced me to create my Turning Point
series, last year’s Dragon Finalist A
Time to Die. I’ve just felt ZA books needed a little realism, and tried to
incorporate it into my series.
Chris Kennedy: My favorite authors are David Weber and
John Ringo. I love Weber’s space opera and Ringo’s gritty combat. They say that
an author is the sum total of every author he/she ever read; if that’s true,
you’ll see an awful lot of Weber and Ringo in my writing.
Q: How do you decide who will write
which books? Do you review the plot and characters with each other? Do you have any “will not include”
characters or scenes that you’ve agreed never to use?
Chris Kennedy: Mark had almost completed the first
book, Cartwright’s Cavaliers, when I agreed
to team up with him, so alternating books was an easy way to start since we
live in different states. As we’ve written them, we’ve developed a number of
support mechanisms, like sharing information on a Google drive and over
Facebook, which will help us as we begin to write the next books together. Our next
book, The Four Horsemen – Alpha Contracts,
will see us together for the first time under the same cover (besides the
anthologies), and then the next series, the Omega
Wars, will be completely co-written. After that? We’ll see what fans think.
Q: How do you make the stories credible?
Do you create rules within the worlds that you build? What will cause a reader
to stop reading a science fiction story?
Mark Wandrey: Credible fiction has always been a must
for me. The best written books that can’t maintain that necessary edge of
believability, and avoid completely shattering your level of disbelief, are not
readable to me. I think that’s a number 2 killer for most readers, right after
horrible editing, and excessive ‘message fiction.’ Chris and I strive to give
our fans a fun, imaginative, but credible read. As credible as giant robots,
kaiju, and fusion powered starships can be, anyway.
Q: Speaking of messages, do you find
that science fiction enables you to deliver a message or do you write strictly
to entertain your readers? What kinds of messages do you want your reader to
walk away with?
Chris Kennedy: We made a conscious decision early on
that these books would be “message free.” There is too much message fiction and
too much in-fighting in all aspects of society at the moment. We wanted a
universe where readers could get away from all of that and just enjoy the ride.
Based on the series’ reviews, I think we’ve been pretty successful in creating
that environment—Mark may have been too modest to mention it, but Cartwright’s Cavaliers is a finalist for
the Dragon Award for Military Scifi this year.
Q: What makes an effective villain in science
fiction and in THE REVELATIONS CYCLE books specifically? Who is your favorite
villain of all time?
Mark Wandrey: The best villains are the ones you can
both relate to, and hate at the same time. My favorite is actually two, Darth
Maul from The Phantom Menace because
he was just a glorious pit bull of a bad guy, and the other is Jenner from The Secret of Nimh. He’s a classic ‘my
way is better’ back stage manipulator, but when faced with that grand choice,
doesn’t mind getting his hands bloody.
Chris Kennedy: With Revelations and into the next
series, we’ve intentionally limited how much the readers know about the
villains, and have introduced them, little by little, lending an aura of
mystery to them. Now that the readers think they know who the villains really
are, they may find out that they don’t know as much as they think they do…
Q: How do you engage your readers to
care about your characters? Do you prefer “comic-book super heroes?” or
everyday people placed in extraordinary circumstances? If the latter, what
gives them the ability to fight off the villains?
Mark Wandrey: I make my characters as real as
possible. In CARTWRIGHT'S CAVALIERS the hero is an overweight teenager who inherits a merc company. He’s also into
20th century pop culture and is a bit of a brony. I’ve caught heat
for that, but I’ve also had a huge swell of approval for a ‘non standard’ hero.
But you can relate to him, and that makes you care. I don’t like larger than
life heroes, they might well be one of those elements you mentioned earlier
that ruin a story for me. Since it’s the latter, I’d say the good guy’s ability
to win is usually because their cause is just, and they have a firm will and
noble heart. Okay, right, sometimes it’s just luck and picking the right
friends.
Chris Kennedy: I don’t think any of our main
characters have been superheroes—all four have their own failings that they
will have to overcome as the series moves forward. Personally, I think that
makes them more relatable to readers. That said, one of the characters I wrote
has been the least liked of any of the Horsemen, because of his imperfections. I tend to look at it from the other
side though—who else has the greatest potential for growth?
Q:
Are you able to use your settings to drive the story or develop your
characters? How valuable is the use of humor to create your characters?
Mark Wandrey: The settings are just as useful in
character development as situations. I believe that using one and ignoring the
other contributes to a 2-dimensional character. Humor can be quite valuable, if
the story calls for it. I try to interject at least a little into even the most
somber scenes, but sometimes grim is best. So I guess the answer is
‘sometimes.’
Chris Kennedy: You learn a lot more about someone
through adversity than you do when the times are good. So far, there’s been a
lot of adversity for the Horsemen, which has allowed us to develop the
characters and has given readers some good insight into what drives them. As
far as humor goes, most people read because they’re looking for some form of
escapism from their daily problems; if you don’t have some humor in the story,
it won’t be as much “fun” for the readers. I’m a fan of humor.
Q: What’s next for both of you?
Mark Wandrey: Next up is Four Horsemen – Alpha Contracts in the 4HU. For myself, I’ll be
relaunching my Earth Song series with
the release of Overture, a book I
first wrote nearly 20 years ago. It needed updating. After Alpha Contracts comes Omega
Wars, and several other standalone books in the 4HU as well such as Peacemaker by Kevin Ikenberry. The skies
are the limit just now, and I love this business.
Chris Kennedy: In addition to working with Mark on the
4HU, I am also the publisher for a number of other authors, which keeps me
pretty busy but lets me produce some great scifi and
fantasy. In addition to that, I’m also working on the next book in my own
series, The Progenitors’ War.
Q: What do you both like to do when
you’re not writing?
Mark Wandrey: Right now I have a day job as a US Customs
Broker. I’m an avid shooter and love to travel. In mid-September, Chris and I
are going to New Zealand for a signing tour.
Chris Kennedy: In addition to writing and publishing,
I also work as the curriculum manager for enlisted sailors who are learning to
maintain the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet fighters. Yeah, that’s a lot, but I have
three kids in college, so…I just don’t sleep that much. When I get the time (or
make it, more like), I love to play golf and travel. After the book tour of New
Zealand this year, we’re setting our sights on the UK for next year’s book
tour. I can’t wait!
About Chris Kennedy
A bestselling Science Fiction/Fantasy author, speaker, and
publisher, Chris Kennedy is a former naval aviator and elementary school
principal. Chris' stories include the "Theogony" and "Codex
Regius" science fiction trilogies and stories in the "Four
Horsemen" military scifi series.
Chris is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, "Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores." Called "fantastic" and "a great speaker," he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions, and writing guild presentations, and he has published six authors under various imprints of his Chris Kennedy Publishing small press.
Chris lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he manages the curriculum for sailors learning to maintain the Navy's F-18 Hornet. He is the holder of a doctorate in educational leadership and master's degrees in both business and public administration.
About Mark Wandrey
Located in rural Tennessee, Mark Wandrey has been creating
new worlds since he was old enough to write. After penning countless short
stories, he realized novels were his real calling and hasn't looked back since.
A lifetime of diverse jobs, extensive travels, and living in most areas of the
country have uniquely equipped him with experiences to color his stories in
ways many find engaging and thought provoking.
His current work is the Four Horsemen Universe, centering
around the recently released Cartwright's Cavaliers, and coming soon Winged
Hussars. The Four Horsemen Universe, 4HU, is full of aliens, mercenaries, and
adventure. Placed just a hundred years in the future, humanity finds itself
part of a Galactic Union filled with thousands of races, and the only thing we
have of value to trade is our time honed ability to kick butt.
His other series include the Turning Point series, a zombie apocalypse book with a twist. A Time to Die (2016 DragonCon Dragon Award finalist) was released in May 2016, and the soon to be released sequel, A Time to Run. He also has the Earth Song series, five space opera books placed in a future where an orphaned mankind must fight for its very existence in a hostile galaxy.
About THE REVELATIONS CYCLE Series
Book 1: CARTWRIGHT’S CAVALIERS by Mark Wandrey
Heir to one of the leading “Four Horsemen” mercenary
companies, Jim Cartwright is having a bad year. Having failed his high school
VOWS tests, he's just learned his mother bankrupted the family company before
disappearing, robbing him of his Cavalier birthright.
But the Horsemen of eras past were smart—they left a legacy of equipment Jim can use to complete the next contract and resurrect the company. It’s up to Jim to find the people he needs to operate the machinery of war, train them, and lead them to victory. If he’s good enough, the company can still be salvaged.
But the Horsemen of eras past were smart—they left a legacy of equipment Jim can use to complete the next contract and resurrect the company. It’s up to Jim to find the people he needs to operate the machinery of war, train them, and lead them to victory. If he’s good enough, the company can still be salvaged.
Excerpt from “CARTWRIGHT'S CAVALIERS”
The last two operational tanks were trapped on their chosen
path. Faced with destroyed vehicles front and back, they cut sideways to the
edge of the dry river bed they’d been moving along and found several large
boulders to maneuver around that allowed them to present a hull-down defensive
position. Their troopers rallied on that position. It was starting to look like
they’d dig in when Phoenix 1 screamed over and strafed them with dual streams
of railgun rounds. A split second later, Phoenix 2 followed on a parallel path.
Jim was just cheering the air attack when he saw it. The sixth damned tank, and
it was a heavy.
“I got that last tank,” Jim said over the command net.
“Observe and stand by,” Murdock said.
“We’ll have these in hand shortly,” Buddha agreed, his
transmission interspersed with the thudding of his CASPer firing its magnet
accelerator. “We can be there in a few minutes.”
Jim examined his battlespace. The tank was massive. It had
to be one of the fusion-powered beasts he’d read about. Which meant shields and
energy weapons. It was heading down the same gap the APC had taken, so it was
heading right towards that APC and Second Squad, and fast.
“Shit,” he said.
“Jim,” Hargrave said, “we’re in position. What are you
doing?”
“Leading,” Jim said as he jumped out from the rock wall.
Nigel
Shirazi was first in line for the chairmanship of Asbaran Solutions, one of the
prominent “Four Horsemen” mercenary companies. First in line…until his drinking
and temper caused him to fail out of college and get disinherited by the
family.
Now he leads the life of a playboy. Nigel will have to learn to control himself if he’s going to take the reins of the company, figure out who’s behind the vendetta against Asbaran, and work out a way to stop them. But they’ve taken his sister hostage, and that makes him a very, very angry man!
Now he leads the life of a playboy. Nigel will have to learn to control himself if he’s going to take the reins of the company, figure out who’s behind the vendetta against Asbaran, and work out a way to stop them. But they’ve taken his sister hostage, and that makes him a very, very angry man!
Planet
Moorhouse, Kepler 62 System
“This is bullshit,” Sergeant James Wilson said. The tall, dark-haired
trooper spat, the betel nut chew making his spittle a bright crimson on the
sun-bleached sand.
“What’s bullshit?” Private Dave Daniels asked, his pale brows
knitting. “This is only my second contract, but it seems like pretty good duty
to me. Walk some fence line, guard a mine, and get paid a ton of credits? Seems
pretty soft. No one’s trying to kill me, and I can go down to the bar after my
shift. Sure, the locals look like anteaters, but they pay well enough so I can
afford some of the overpriced beer they’ve imported.”
“Naw, that ain’t what I’m talking about, at all,” the sergeant
replied. He spat again. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy not getting shot at as
much as anyone. Having actually been hit a couple of times, I may even enjoy it
more. What I’m saying is that this whole contract’s fucked up.”
“Why’s that?”
“Do you see the bird on our crest?” Sergeant Wilson asked, pointing to
where the Asbaran Solutions company flag hung limply from the staff in the
humid, breezeless air.
Private Daniels nodded his head, then wiped the sweat from his eyes
the motion caused. “Yeah. There’s a bird with the company’s motto, ‘Kill
Aliens. Get Paid.’”
“Do you know what kind of bird that is?”
“Nope; it looks like some sort of griffin.”
The sergeant stopped and glared at the junior enlisted. “Do they not
teach unit history at basic any more, or are you just too fucking stupid to
remember? It ain’t no damn griffin, boy; it’s a huma bird.”
“A huma bird?”
“Yeah. It’s a type of bird that never lands; it lives its entire life
flying above the clouds where you can never see it.”
“Wow, that’s pretty cool. I’ve never heard of a bird like that.”
“That’s because it doesn’t exist, you dumbass,” the sergeant said,
cuffing the private in the back of the head. “It’s myth-o-logical. The point
I’m trying to get through your stupid fucking head is that us Asbaran ain’t for
sitting around guarding shit. We’re mobile; we strike from above and crush our
enemies. We don’t hang around waiting for them to hit us while we’re sitting on
the damned toilet in a guardhouse on some godforsaken planet at the ass-end of
the galaxy.” He spat; another red stain marked his passage. “If the Founder
could see us now…”
“What? What would he do?”
“If the Founder could see us now, he’d probably come back and kill
every single mother fucker in management. This ain’t how we’re supposed to be
used. It don’t play to our strengths…and
it just ain’t right!” He sighed. “It ain’t what I signed up for anyway.” He
spat again, hitting his first mark dead center. “I signed up to be up there,”
he continued, pointing up to the sky.
Daniels looked up to where the sergeant pointed and squinted. “Hey,
what’s that?” he asked. “There’s something up there.”
Sergeant Wilson looked up. A miniature boomerang shape could just be
seen, silhouetted against the clear green sky. “Fuck!” he grunted as he broke
into a run back toward the shelter. “Incoming!
Get under cover now!”
He had only covered half the distance to the bunker when he heard the
tell-tale shriek of the banshee bombs, and he knew they weren’t going to make
it.
Book 3: WINGED HUSSARS by Mark Wandrey
For
more than a century, Winged Hussars has been the richest of Earth's mercenary
companies, as well as the only one to specialize in space warfare. Led by
Alexis Cromwell, they have carved out a reputation in the galaxy for being
dependable, unflappable, and lethally efficient. Until people began shooting at
them everywhere they went.
The
Four Horsemen are being hunted, and the Hussar’s future is dark. But there’s
one thing Alexis’ enemies didn’t count on—Alexis Cromwell is nobody’s prey.
Book 4: THE GOLDEN HORDE by Chris Kennedy
The
slaughter is on! Across the galaxy, Human mercenaries are being ambushed, and
an ever-increasing number of companies aren’t returning from their contracts.
Someone even appears to be plotting the demise of the premier Four Horsemen
companies, and disaster for the other three companies has only been averted by
the narrowest of margins.
The
fourth horseman is in play, and time is running out to save the Earth and
everyone on it!
Book
5: A FISTFUL OF CREDITS –
Anthology edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey
Fourteen
outstanding authors. Fourteen extraordinary stories. One bestselling universe.
It’s the Twenty-Second Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.
Enter the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates Humans from the majority of the other races. Enter a galaxy not only of mercenaries, but also of Peacemakers, bounty hunters, and even a strung out junkie in the
It’s the Twenty-Second Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.
Enter the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates Humans from the majority of the other races. Enter a galaxy not only of mercenaries, but also of Peacemakers, bounty hunters, and even a strung out junkie in the
Links
THE REVELATIONS CYCLE (Four
Horsemen) Series Page
Mark Wandrey
Chris Kennedy
Twitter: @ChrisKennedy110
