I know, you can’t believe there’s actual info tech that doesn’t require a password to access. You simply manipulate it physically and you can read all the information. Furthermore, it has no power or internet requirements!
I must share one of my favorite fantasy books with you.
My review comes next
This was my second reading of ‘Song for the Basilisk’, the last one was over 20 years ago.
It’s even better the second time. I read it more slowly and understood the political machinations and the mysteries the author presented to the reader. Patricia McKillip definitely has the ‘mystery’ + ‘fantasy’ combination to herself.
The premise is simple. There are four factions contending for rulership of the kingdom. The Basilisk, a magical ruler, slaughters one that has ruled for hundreds of years. One child escapes to a school for the bards.
The bards are musicians, storytellers, and magicians. But they only come to power by going to the hinterlands, where the magic is.
Meanwhile, the Basilisk rules in peace for 37 years. He has several daughters, one of which grows up learning all his magic.
Ms. McKillip brings all the elements together in a dramatic and surprising novel. It’s one of her best and that says a lot.
Andy Zach Gets Interviewed–by whom? About what? Where? You’ll find your answers here.
Who Interviews Andy?
You may think you know me–but do you really? Dr. Wesley Britton gets to the bottom of my mysterious persona. This is the same guy I interviewed and who reviewed my book Oops!.
As I’ve read four of your books now, that means I’ve read your comic author autobiography multiple times. And of course, I know it’s completely fictitious.
1. So–tell us, Andy, what’s the real poop? Who are you when not presenting your humorous personae? I delegate all my legal and financial issues to the real person and my CFO, Jeff Smith. He’s got an MBA, so he likes all the financial stuff. For some reason, suppliers don’t like pseudonyms and fictitious personae. Isn’t that a violation of my Constitutional rights?
Sadly, his real life isn’t as interesting as my fictitious one. He had a career as a programmer, systems analyst, project manager, and 6 Sigma Black Belt before he retired to be my CFO.
And unlike me, he has three children, a wife, and a dog, instead of five phoenixes. But I like him anyway. Not everyone can be a comic paranormal animal author. Or a disabled superhero author.
Andy Zach Gets Interviewed – Question 2
2. Your “life After Life” series is extremely imaginative, to put it mildly. Tell us something about your writing process, how do you start out with each concept, what sorts of goals do you have for your stories?
Zombie Turkeys began with a fried turkey. “What if this turkey came back to life?” I asked as I set it on the table. “It’d be a zombie turkey!” someone said. “That’s the title of my new book, ‘Zombie Turkeys’!” I cried, eureka-ly. (neologism) From there, I worked out ‘Zombie Turkeys’ as a parody of the zombie genre, complete with a boring anti-hero, Sam Melvin.
Naturally, I had to top that with my next book, so I introduced zombiism to people in ‘My Undead Mother-in-law’. Here I examined the social aspects of having zombie in-laws and what kind of civil rights zombies would have and how they’d be treated. I had to turn every zombie trope on its head, so I made the zombies the heroes of the book.
Still trying to outdo myself, in ‘Paranormal Privateers’ I put my zombie family on a superyacht and gave them a letter of Marque from the President to fight all enemies, foreign and domestic. Then, when I was running out of adequate villains in the world, I added an alien invasion.
Finally, I decided to try my hand at short stories. Having only written one short story, I made a collection. I took all my left-over ideas (I record each one in my book notes), brainstormed more, and created about 24 story ideas. Some seemed to write themselves. Others were more of a struggle. So I drafted Jeff Smith’s two daughters, Olivia and Tori, to contribute two of their short stories. With that, I had 14 stories, which sufficed. Since many of the stories were based upon accidents, I chose the title Oops! It’s set in my Zombie Turkey universe.
Andy Zach Gets Interviewed – Question 3
3. Since you enjoy playing with comic approaches to your stories, who are your influences in humor? Favorite comics, movies, TV shows, books? Let’s begin with Terry Prattchett of Disk World fame, may he rest in peace. I’ve read all his books and especially liked ‘Going Postal’ and ‘The Color of Magic’.
For my zombie influence, I read John Ringo’s Dark Tide Rising series. I also like Eric Flint’s 1632 series with the juxtaposition of technologies in history.
Science fiction influences were Heinlein, Asimov, and Silverman. Fantasy influences were Tolkein, CS Lewis, and Patricia McKillip.
Favorite comics were Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash in my childhood. I gave up on comics at 12 when I realized they violated laws of physics and the superhero’s powers were not internally consistent.
TV shows influencing me were Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, Star Trek. Movies were Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Trek and Star Wars movies.
Andy Zach Gets Interviewed – Question 4
4. As a blind writer, I was especially interested to see your use of disabilities in your “Secret Supers” characters. How did that come about? What is your background with folks with physical disabilities?
My daughter Tori has had cerebral palsy since her premature birth, so I was familiar with that. In my church in Cleveland, I was friends with four different blind men. I roomed with two of them in hotels, so I got a feel for what that was like.
Along the way, I’ve become friends with various wheelchair and walker bound people who were amputees and afflicted by spinal meningitis. Knowing the problems my daughter faced, I imagined what the others would face as kids in a special ed class.
Andy Zach Gets Interviewed – Question 5
5. In your Oops short story collection, you credit a batch of folks as co-authors. And you included “The Story of Sound” written by Olivia Smith even though it had nothing to do with “Life After Life” or “Secret Supers.” Why? What was all that about? First, I really liked her story. It was light and humorous and unexpected. It seemed to be outside my universe, but who can say? Without any strain, I can imagine her fantasy universe as the precursor to our universe, accessible only by Tori Smith’s time-traveling wheelchair.
Then there’s the fact she’s my daughter. Tori is too. That’s in their favor.
Finally, I like surprising my readers. I don’t want them settled into knowing what to expect.
New Review of My 2nd Book in My 2nd Series
You do know I have a second books series about four disabled 7th-graders who get superpowers, right? Feast your eyes upon the latest review of my latest book.
When you look at my rating for Andy Zach’s Secret Supers Two: Villain’s Vacation, please keep in mind I’m not twelve. The Secret Supers series is definitely for school-age children.
If I had to describe Mr. Zach’s book it would be Adam West’s Batman meets The P.J. Masks. There is nothing wrong with this mash-up. It is a fun and quick read for a grizzled old bookworm like myself.
The hook that caught my attention was that these superheroes are disabled. The leader, Jeremy has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair-bound. Dan is blind, Kayla is mute because of her complications with meningitis, and Aubrey has two prosthetic legs. Each hero has a superpower to compliment the disability that allows them to have a sense of independence.
Now everyone can get free books! Just subscribe to my newsletter! I give away free books twice a month. You can get audiobooks, ebooks, and paperbacks.
Summertime Science Fiction and Fact is the title that popped into my head as I thought about what I wanted to write this week. I’ve found a lot of science fiction books and science articles I want to share. Will I get ten in? Read and find out!
Now here you’ll get a real science fiction book. Or is it fantasy? Or both? It’s author Cindy Tomamichel’s collection of short stories for your reading pleasure.
Your Last Bit of Summertime Science Fiction – Or Fact?
We know Jurassic Park, a science fiction movie, had a Dilophosaurus. How much was fiction and how much is fact? You tell me! On the frontiers of science what is fact and what is fiction changes daily.
