Thursday, October 17, 2013

10/17/13: An Interview with Kevis Hendrickson; Author of Rogue Hunter: Dark Space

Hey guys!

I interviewed Kevis Hendrickson, author of Rogue Hunter: Dark Space! 
I did a review on his book a while back which you can find HERE :)!


1. When did you decide you wanted to write?

  • That’s a great question. When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a storyteller. I was heavily involved in the arts as a youngster (writing, music, drawing, the theatre, etc.). Telling stories came quite naturally to me and I spent most of my formative years writing and drawing stories based on some action-adventure oriented theme or comic book characters. However, it was clear to me when I entered my teens that I was going to be a hybrid artist and that my writing would be at the center of my career.


2.      What was your inspiration for Zyra?

  • Zyra Zanr was born at a time when I was becoming fascinated with writing about female characters. My love for Norse mythology and the Germanic warrior goddesses known as Valkyries also played a big part in her creation. As it goes, I was sitting in art class one day when I had the idea to draw a female character who was part Clint-Eastwood, part Luke Skywalker, and part Valkyrie. Following with the Eastwood theme, it only seemed obvious that she would be a space cop, even if the roguish sort. When I was done scribbling, I had a really cool drawing of this beautiful, but tough-as-nails female blonde bounty hunter from the future who wore what was a cross between a superhero’s mask and a biker’s helmet. I instantly fell in love. However, I didn’t explore this character any further and simply tossed the drawing into my sock drawer. It would be years before I ever took up the cause of reviving my female bounty hunter or writing her stories, but that’s pretty much how Zyra came into being.


3.      How many books do you plan on having in this series?

  • As someone who grew up reading comic books, it’s interesting for me to see the new trend in publishing where it’s almost mandatory for authors to write series due to the popularity of series. In my case, serial adventures is part of my DNA. Furthermore, Rogue Hunter was originally conceived as a trilogy of books. But as I worked on the sequel, I quickly realized that the storyline was way too big to be told in just 3 books. This is one of the major reasons I chose to pull the first Rogue Hunter novel from the market and reboot the entire series. I’ve since adopted a comic book/television series model toward writing the novels (rather than a film-inspired one) and expect that there will be no less than a dozen books in the series when its done.


4.      Do you have any plans for another book?

  • I certainly do. The third book in the Rogue Hunter series is currently being written and should be published sometime next year. I’ve also got a sequel to a middle grade fantasy book that I hope to release soon as well.


5.      What's your favorite movie?

  • The Empire Strikes Back. Hands down, it’s the greatest movie ever made!

6.      What's your favorite book?

  • I can’t think of another book that I love more than J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. It’s probably the most ambitious book ever written by a human being. The best part is, it ultimately gave birth to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.


7.      What are some authors you look up to?


  • Although I write Speculative Fiction, my favorite authors aren’t from the genre or necessarily authors either. My stable of favorite writers generally come out of the past: Homer, Shakespeare, and of course, Tolkien. But if I had to pick contemporary writers whose work I most admire, it would probably have to be George Lucas, J. Michael Straczynski, Stan Lee, and Alfred Hitchcock. I take my inspiration from all walks of life, and in general, anyone who is the best at what they do, but these writers have influenced the kind of stuff I write more than anyone else.

See you guys on the flip-side! 
~Monty

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