1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?
I was a webmaster of a gaming site for our group, and I was archiving some stories based on the game "Battlezone" which we played. I said to myself, "I can write something at least this good." So, with the idea of writing an 8 page short story for our website's story archives, I started to write. I never found an exit strategy. The story just grew and grew. Eventually I had enough material for a book, with an eyes on a two volume series. Volume one, which was originally supposed to have been called Warzone: Operation Wolf Hunt became so large it had to be split into two. So.. I started to fill in the back story with the origins and focused on volume one, which was now called Warzone: Nemesis.
2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?
When I was younger, I read classics like Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, and I had an unquenting thirst for biographies of famous people. I must have read every biography from Andrew Jackson to the Wright brothers that the Boyce, LA library had when I was a kid. Today I love to read Tony Hillerman, James Clavell, and Clive Cussler, an occasional Star Trek paperback, and some action and adventure or detective stuff.
3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Warzone: Nemesis?
The inspiration was the theme story of the Activision game Battlezone. However, Star Trek is also an influence.
4. Why did the novel go through several rewrites since 2014?
It only had one rewrite in 2014. Upon publishing in August 2013, I got some feedback from my readers. Good reviews and marks, but it wasn't the 5 star reviews that caught my attention. The less than perfect reviews caused me to do a rewrite to fix some things. While I was at it, I endeavored to step up my style a bit with more descriptive language, and added some different POVs. I studied hard to learn more techniques to step up my writing style, and my editor was pleased with the improvements. Anyone who doesn't recognize that they can be better will never improve.
5. What do you think would happen if a spaceship landed on Earth today?
Depends on who they are and who finds the vessel. If the government has anything to say about it, it will remain a secret, same as in my story.
6. What made you decide to write sci-fi as opposed to a "realistic" wartime novel?
When I was a kid, I loved sci-fi comic books, like Spiderman, The Fantastic Four and The Legion of Superheroes. Later I became a Star Trek fan. The game me and my friends played later was strictly sci-fi, as I mentioned before.
7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?
I really like action/adventure, and detective genres.
8. What was your original goal when writing Warzone: Nemesis?
The original goal was to tell a story of honor, courage, duty and faith, and have fun doing it.
9. Will we see another book like this from you in the future?
I hope so. The sequel Warzone: Operation Wolf Hunt is 60% complete, while the final book in the proposed trilogy/Warzone: Unlikely Alliance has the first chapter written.
10. Would you like to see Warzone: Nemesis in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?
Sure. I would like to see COL Kahless being played by Ryan Gosling, perhaps, Adam Beach as COL SEAL, and Rachel McAdams as LTC Pastukhova.
11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?
I would hope my trilogy would be complete and I start perhaps a detective series.
12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?
I work in test and analysis in telecommunications.
13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?
After a break to spend time with my son before he graduates and goes to college, I hope to return to complete Warzone: Operations Wolf Hunt.
14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?
Tony Hillerman, James Clavell, and Clive Cussler.
15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?
1) I am a Christian. 2) I have been married to the same woman for 33 years. 3) I was hurt in a fall from a telephone pole in 1998 and am a below the knee amputee.
Find Mr. Graham online via:
Official site
Goodreads
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