Rapier By R. A. “Doc” Correa

3/1/2019

Mr. Correa makes his Amazon debut with this book. I will let him introduce it to us, Rapier:
Kathy Masters never expected to journey to the stars until she was selected by the prestigious Galactic Geographic Society to photograph and get videos of the flora and fauna of a newly discovered class M planet before colonization begins. Filled with hope and enthusiasm she boards the S.S. America for the trip to Beta 3 Epsilon to begin her new project. On the way she is abducted and brought aboard the privateer Rapier beginning her nine-year sojourn among the colonies of mankind. Going from captive to slave to induction into the infamous Brotherhood Kathy finds herself being called on to raise the adopted daughter of the crew of the Rapier. Given the responsibility to raise their princess, Cindy, with the help of Lien Lan Yi, daughter of the house of Yi and princess of the imperial court, they travel among the stars preying on merchant ships, dodging Chinese warships, fighting pirates, visiting strange worlds and encountering fantastic creatures all under the watchful eyes of Commodore James Ulysses Black. Trying to raise a young girl among gunfights, sword fights, ship to ship battles, slave trades, deals and some of the most feared raiders in human space is no small challenge. The only question is is Kathy up to the task?

I loved this story! Science fiction is my lifelong favorite genre. I have read thousands of books in this field. This story was such a fresh take on the themes of space pirates and family obligations, it was a breath of fresh air.
Doc’s world building is impressive, but not overdone. I love the mashup of old-fashioned pirates and living among the stars. The action and dialogue drew me into the story so deeply, I didn’t want to put the book down. Scene setting left nothing to be desired.
The life-altering events that changed Kathy, Cindy and the entire crew are well played out.
This story was so much fun to read, I give it a score of 4.8 stars!

You can buy this book:
https://smile.amazon.com/Rapier-R-Doc-Correa-ebook
https://www.goodreads.com/-rapier
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapier-R-Doc-Correa-ebook

You can follow Doc:
twitter.com/RADocCorrea
https://www.facebook.com/radoccorrea/
https://www.amazon.com/-ra-doc-correa

Tags: space opera, sci-fi, family, adventure, action

Copyright © 2019 by Mark Schultz except for the author’s introduction of the book

50 Comments

R. A. "Doc" Correa

3/2/2019 07:16:54 pm

Hey Mark, looking forward to the interview, weather here is iffy and my internet is spotty but go ahead with questions and I'll get replies to you as soon as I can.

Mark

3/2/2019 08:59:52 pm

I am glad you could join me here. We will do the best we can.
Can you start by explaining a little bit why the weather is iffy and your internet is spotty? Tell me a little bit about yourself, also. Something that is not necessarily in your bio on Amazon, if you don't mind.

R. A. “Doc” Correa

3/3/2019 06:25:26 pm

We’ve got snow hitting here most of tonight and all day tomorrow. Because we live on a small mountain our internet is satellite, so the weather can cut it off. A bit of a pain.

I’m a retired U. S. Army master parachutist. I’m also qualified as a military parachutist in the British and Canadian armies. I served through four wars, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and Desert Storm. I started out as a battlefield medic in an airborne combat engineer battalion. I trained as a LRRP (82nd Airborne Division Recondo school. BTW I really hate that word, it was something General Westmoreland made up. It’s supposed to be a merging of Reconnaissance and Comando. We called ourselves by the old term LRP or LRRP, which stands for Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols.) I also went to jungle warfare school, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical defense school. Tons of other specialty schools. I became a surgical tech for awhile. After that I became a scout section leader, jeeps with machine guns, like the old Rat Patrol show. I ended my army career in a Long Range Surveillance Unit. Basically being a LRRP again.

In the civilian world I held a number of jobs, worked mostly as a surgical tech. Went to college for nursing, learned I really didn’t like nurses, well at least my instructors. Changed over to a dual major, Physics and Computer Science, with a minor in math. Got bored in my third year at the University of Rhode Island and went back on active duty (you could tell I was bored, my grades went from A- and B+ to D’s). After I finished my ‘twenty’ I went back to college and finished a degree in Computer Science.

Having worked on some interesting projects, mostly security and government contracting as a test engineer and test manager I retired from corporate America (yay!😊😊😊).

For the last few years I’ve been trying my hand at writing. I’ve had a number of poems published, some won awards. I’ve got five short stories published, mostly in Your Secret Library, an ezine put out by the folks at Books Go Social. And, there’s Rapier, my first attempt at a novel.

My current works in progress are Razor, the next book in the series. The Young Kathy Masters Chronicles, a prequel. Sophia, a vampire/werewolf story that takes place in Japan. And I’m considering a free novelette about the tension between Commodore (Captain) Black and Kathy during the days leading up to Cindy’s eight birthday. It’s about what happens in those few days that lead to Kathy and Cindy getting their first ‘ink’.

3/3/2019 07:12:01 pm

Thank you for serving your country faithfully. Congratulations on making your 20. I was not able to complete that.
You must have hundreds of jumps under your belt, if not thousands!
I remember The Rat Patrol, I really enjoyed that series.
Congratulations on winning awards for your poetry.
I loved your first novel! Rapier was so much fun to read. I am hooked by the story and look forward to reading more.
New questions.
Are you a full-time or part-time writer?
What inspired you to write this book?

3/3/2019 09:32:03 pm

Yep, I’ve fallen out of the sky a good bit.

I think the correct answer to the first question is part-time. I’d like to be full-time, but I have too many projects going on here to just write. This year’s winter project is doing a full renovation of the house interior. New, cabinets, appliances, a built in bookcase new floors and all the minutiae that goes with that. Also, got a wood-burning stove installed. It has very impressive heat output (got the house up to 80 the first time we used it).

What inspired me to write Rapier. I hope you enjoy this. I made an online friend playing a game. We started chatting on the side. The problem was the age difference, I’m in my sixties and she’s in her early twenties. After awhile, what do you talk about? I used to do a bunch of role-playing games, so I started creating a story that she participated in (actually, a number of stories). From these ‘story’ sessions came Rapier, and tons of material for more books.

A note on this, I had a tremendous amount of fun taking these conversations and turning them into a book. Never expected it to be so enjoyable.

3/3/2019 10:20:42 pm

That is one of the most interesting stories of inspiration for a book I have heard in a long time. I have heard many writers talk about how a story is begging to be told, some describe it as a living thing scratching and clawing to be released onto paper. Your take is quite different and refreshing.
I love how it was fun for you to write it all down. That is an experience that not every writer has.
Did you ever get bored jumping out of planes?
New questions.
That remodeling project sounds very extensive. How many hours a day do you devote to it? How much to writing?
Why did you choose this genre, or do you feel the genre chose you?

3/3/2019 11:08:54 pm

Get bored jumping, no. Unlike skydiving, military parachuting is very serious business. As a master parachutist I was a jumpmaster on many operations. When you’re responsible for the safety of a plane full of people, boredom is just not an option. There’s to much to do, too many thinks to check, and no room for mistakes.

At this time, most of my day goes to the renovation. An hour or two a day goes towards writing and research. Also last year and the beginning of this year we had a bunch of challenges that didn’t allow for much writing.

Hmmm, why SciFi and Fantasy. I’ve always loved these genres. I was a voracious reader as a teen. Lots of history, SciFi and Fantasy. A teacher turned me on to Tolkien in the eight grade. I fell in love with the Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and other of his works. I’ve read a lot of Heinlien, he’s incredibly creative. Heinlein wrote about many topics in the news today. And of course Asimov, my favorite is The Foundation trilogy. Add in Phillip K. Dick and Vonnegut for a touch of madness. Thenrole playing games (D&D, Twilight 2000, Traveller 2300, Dark Conspiracy) and you have a mixture that is just a little unglued.

A side note; all my writing will have a touch of my military experience and a bit of research. My computer science background pops out in the short story Church of the Sentient System Ascendant. A close reading of Rapier will reveal some light infantry tactics and naval actions I learned from reading UBoat (the Rapier setting up to attack a ship comes from UBoats stalking merchant ships in the Atlantic during WWII).

3/4/2019 12:15:53 pm

No room for mistakes, no doubt about that.
You and I have read a lot of the same stuff. Tolkien, Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and so many more. Sci-fi was my goto, until I was introduced to Tolkien. Then I loved fantasy as a close second to Sci-fi. I never did any roleplaying games, I don't know why.
The tactics used in Rapier made a lot of sense to me in a natural way. Stalking and striking from close cover is a classic tactic over the ages.
New questions.
Who designed the cover of your book?
What do the elements on the cover represent?

3/4/2019 04:43:44 pm

Hey Mark; been a busy day so just getting to these questions.

My cover design is based on my initial concept. I did a very poor drawing with explanatory notes, then turned over to my publisher. An artist at Page Publishing took my drawing and notes then turned them into that beautiful cover. I was quite impressed with the final product.

The symbolism of the cover is the following. The ship is obviously the corvette, Rapier. That actually came out better Han I had hoped for. The blue star is the sun of Safe Port, the home world of Commodore Black and Captain Gibb. The cover depicts the ‘loose’ star matter being drawn into the black-hole neighbor of the blue star. The pair are a binary system orbiting the galactic core. The large yellow star is the nearby neighbor that almost make them a trinary system. This is all described in chapter 5, Blue Star.

3/4/2019 05:15:08 pm

I know you are busy, I appreciate you taking the time out to answer my questions!
I like it. The ship is good looking. The contrast among the three stars is nice also. The blackhole adds a lot of mystery.
New questions.
You mentioned earlier that some of your poems have won awards. Do you have a link to share for those who would like to check them out?
You mentioned several short stories have been published. Where can interested parties find those? I am interested in reading the story about the Church of the Sentient System Ascendant.
New questions.
Are you going to resume writing poetry and short stories after the remodeling is done? Will you be entering any contests in the future?

3/4/2019 06:09:04 pm

Think I’ll start with the last question first. Poetry seems to come and go, I write it when I’m moved to. My first award winning poem, Faces, came out of talking to a vet at the VA. We were talking about ‘Nam and he started crying. He kept saying, “I can’t remember their names.” It was quite a scene, the two of us hugging in the middle of hallway.

I suppose I should put them on a website, now, except for my copies, the best are in old poetry anthologies. If you like I’d be happy to post a couple of them here.

Short stories, I try to have one for each edition of Your Secret Library. They publish five or six times a year. I usually skip the Valentine’s Day edition, but I think I’ll sneak one in next year. 😈 Below are links to three of them.

Elaina https://issuu.com/booksgosocial/docs/spring_issue4/54

Sophia has been published in Your Secret Library. https://issuu.com/booksgosocial/docs/fantasy_issue_26_11__1_/74

Church of the Sentient System Ascendant https://issuu.com/booksgosocial/docs/summer_magazine?e=29910194/63352319

Unfourtunately they sometimes mess up the formatting. Tanja, the gal that runs it, is quite busy and occasionally misses things.

I plan on doing more writing of short stories and finish my current WIPs. I will make this onetime, for you only Mark, offer. If you like I’d be happy to post a couple of poems, the prologue to Razor and part of a latter chapter, the first chapter of The Young Kathy Masters Chronicles, and the tentative prologue to the last book in the series, James (it’s about Little James as an alien haunted adult). The caveat is none of these have been edited.

3/4/2019 07:10:23 pm

Before retiring from construction, I worked on several VA facilities. I felt good doing my small part for vets.
Thank you for the links.
I like your offer. I have a counter offer. How about if you post one poem here, and the rest can go on a guest author page on my website. You will have full control over what you post on that page. The only things I ask are that your posts be about writing or the business of writing, and you include a picture of your self and your social media links. I would be happy to walk you through it.
New questions.
Was it hard to find a publisher?
How did you pick your publisher?

3/4/2019 08:25:14 pm

Thanks Mark, offer accepted.

I looked at a number of publishers. Most big ones weren’t interested in looking at Rapier. I looked into ‘vanity’ publishers and Page Publishing seemed to be ‘up and coming’. Saw their ad on tv on a couple of stations. They do most things well, but I’m not thrilled with their editing services and none of the vanity publishers do promotion, that gets dumped on the author.

Here’s my first award winning poem:

Faces

Late at night the faces come
By twos and threes to the beat of the drum

Sad lost faces eternally young
Eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one

Tortured faces frozen in time
They were far too young to think of dying

Gentle heroes so sublime
Whose deeds are washed away by the sands of time

Their names inscribed on a stone wall
Black marble placed in some Washington mall

Then comes the shakes, the sweat and the pain
Remnants of fears I thought I overcame

Finally the tears to hide my shame
Oh God why is it I can’t remember their names

3/5/2019 11:42:18 am

Promotion is placed mainly on an author by just about every publisher out there. Unless your name is King, Rowling, Patterson, etcetera. Many authors have found that some publishers expect an author to have an established social media presence, active website and a hefty mailing list. They see all of that as a promise of good sales.
They are struggling to stay afloat in many instances, Amazon has turned that entire industry on its head. Profit margins have plummeted.
Thank you for sharing that poem! I have read it several times and I am moved each time. The brevity of words that paint such a picture! I love it!
New questions.
Will you stick with this publisher for your next books?
How do you think your book compares to a book published by a major publisher?

3/5/2019 09:23:00 pm

Thanks Mark, I’m glad you enjoyed the poem. A lot of people, veterans in particular, have told me that poem hits them hard.

Considering the current state of publishing the odds are I’ll stay with Page Publishing, though a couple of friends do Publishing. Maggie Lynn Herron-Heidl (War Machine, Slave to War, Wings of Calligo and many more) does Publishing and film work. She’s very talented and I have considered working with her. Another friend, he goes by the pen name Maxwell Rudolf, (The Arkhe Principle, if you like Kurt Vonnegut and Phillip K. Dick you’ll like this one) is working on starting a collaborative author publishing company. He’s invited me to join so for the moment I’m keeping those options open.

Here’s where I can let my ego get loose, so I’m not going to. I’ve had mostly great reviews from my readers so I’ll stand on that. One reviewer compared me to Heinlein, and my wife almost tossed me out after a week of me thinking I’m as good as him. I really was insufferable. I do love the book, and the other stories I’m writing, but I really can’t objectively compare my book to other people’s published works.

3/5/2019 10:19:05 pm

There are many indie publishers. In fact, many of them started as authors and went through self-publishing and decided to add that to their shingle. I have a list of publishers on my Twitter home page that is over 300 strong.
Your options sound interesting, especially the collaborative project. It's nice to have choices.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of your work, but as your wife pointed out there are limits.
New questions.
There are many unethical practices in publishing, which one is the most unbearable in your mind?
Did you have a favorite book as a child?

3/5/2019 11:08:15 pm

Hmmm, unethical practices. I honestly haven’t come across any yet. I don’t like unethical behavior of any kind. So any such behavior I should encounter I’ll react strongly to.

Favorite book, toss up between The Lord of the Rings and Starship Troopers. For your readers, not a jos God awful movies, I call them young Nazis go to space. Forget those, read Heilein’s book.

3/6/2019 11:47:23 am

You are a lucky man, I have heard of so many authors being ripped off, sometimes in multiple ways, by unscrupulous publishers and agents.
I agree with you about Lord of the Rings, I read it three times before graduating from high school.
Did you read the sci-fi trilogy written by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien's good friend? Lewis patterned the protagonist after Tolkien, a professor of languages. I enjoyed it.
New questions.
Why is it important for writers to tap into the emotions of the characters?
Does writing have a spiritual or healing component for you, does it energize you or make you feel tired?

3/6/2019 06:04:43 pm

I’ve not read any C. S. Lewis, something I missed. I have recently added him to my tbr list. Looking forward to reading his work and chatting with you about it.

Why is tapping into your characters emotions important? My answer is we humans are emotional creatures. We don’t just think, we feel. If the characters of a story don’t show emotion to the reader they become just robots. The reader cannot ‘link’ to the character because he/she is sterile. I think this is a big reason many books fail.

A spiritual component, yes. I think healing as well. Writing is as close as a human can know what it means to be God in this life. We create universes, worlds, life. That can be very powerful in a healing way, and a spiritual sense.

In Rapier my favorite ‘creations’ are the whales. To me they are so pure that their simplicity is overwhelming. Rereading those passages actually has a soothing effect on me.

When I’m ‘in the zone’ writing energizes me. I go on until my wife breaks into my world to tell me it’s time to eat or go yo bed. When I finish, then I’m tired. But it’s a good tired, like I’ve just accomplished something special.

3/6/2019 06:30:49 pm

The first book of Lewis' space trilogy is "Out of the Silent Planet". I hope you enjoy it.
I think you are right. We are emotional creatures. It took me a while to reconcile that truth to my image of a tough guy. Now, I am happy to be emotional.
I loved the space whales, you captured their essence quite well.
Being, working, writing in the zone is a wonderful and refreshing experience. You can feel tired, but in a good way, just as you say. Creating something special is a wonderful and nearly heavenly feeling.
New questions.
Have you ever used yourself as a character for the starting point of a story?
Have you ever used other acquaintances as the basis for a character, to the point they have recognized themselves in your book?

3/6/2019 07:38:09 pm

Have I ever used myself as the starting point for a story. Yes, although I think it’s more of as I wish I could be. There’s a bit of me in Commodore Black, though he’s way kewler (for those that don’t get it, just pronounce the made up word.😉😎) A story in my to be written pile takes place in Heilein’s Starship Troopers world where a group of survivors from an Arachnid attack are lead by SGT Ricardo Chavez. Hmmm, I wonder where that older Hispanic kickass grunt came from? 🤨 My favorite character in my I wish I were him pile is Vermathrax, Bain of Men, Destroyer of Kingdoms, and last of the Silver Dragon Elders.

Yes, Kathy Masters is modeled on my friend from Australia with a little bit of my wife mixed in. Cindy is a combination of my two oldest daughters.

I think all writers, consciously or unconsciously put a little of themselves and those they know into their characters, when it’s done right it makes the characters believable and alive to the reader.

3/7/2019 12:13:44 am

Excellent! you have a vibrant inner life and skills at bringing that life out onto paper. It works well. Kathy is a brilliant survivor and Cindy is a spitfire! The Commodore was just plain brilliant! Your characters seemed quite alive to me, so you are definitely doing something right!
New questions.
At first, Rapier seemed to have multiple antagonists. Upon further reflection, I think the Mayor was the real antagonist. the shared pain was rather palpable. Am I off base here?
Which is more fun to write, the protagonist or the antagonist?
What is one thing you hate about your protagonist and one thing you love about the antagonist?

3/7/2019 07:42:34 pm

Nope, you’re right on target. The mayor (Marty Black) is the commodore’s younger brother. They were very close, then came Jenny. They’d both known her since she was a kid, but kids grow up. The Commodore was often away doing field work for the magazine he and the mayor started. Marty Black and Jenny were engaged. But there was an ‘incident’ and everything changed. Jenny called off the engagement, and a little later married Commodore Black.

Spoiler alert: Two things here. First, Jenny was an acclaimed artist throughout human space. One of her paintings is hanging in the lobby gallery of The Galactic Geographic building in Australia. Second, Colonel Chen was involved in the ‘incident’ that led to Jenny calling off the wedding.

It was more fun to write the antagonist. Getting Marty Black into the right scenes, with he correct level of venom and vitriol, was an interesting challenge. And, of course, the mayor had to notice Kathy, and how much she looked like Jenny.

The one thing I hate about Commodore Black is how his sense of honor, how abiding by the contract, caused him to sell people into slavery even though he clearly felt it was morally wrong. I tried hard to show the inner conflict without that conflict overshadowing the story.

What do I love about Marty Black? Hmmm, I have to say how his misperception of what happened the day of the Chinese invasion has twisted him. If I write the second prequel, which focuses on James Black, Jenny, Marty and young Jimmy Gibb, the readers will learn that the day of the attack Marty went to Jenny’s farm to get his brother, Jenny and his niece. When he got there, there was nothing but a massive crater where the farm used to be. He thought he lost all of them, and was stricken with grief. A couple of days later James Black returns from working on the underwater cavern to find everything was destroyed. Marty looses it completely, accusing his brother of deserting Jenny when he should have saved her. This warps Marty so completely he tricks James into signing the Letter of Marque, giving the mayor the power to keep Commodore Black out raiding shipping until the inevitable happens.

3/7/2019 09:10:13 pm

You are not kidding! Some powerful emotions there. James' moral conflict about slavery was pretty good. Marty's pain and venom was great! That prequel is going to be amazing!
New questions.
What is your writing routine when you sit down to write?
How do you think your book relates to the world we live in today?

3/7/2019 10:24:05 pm

My routine, I’m not sure I have one. When my chores and projects are done for the day I sit on the couch, open my iPad, pull up the files and work on them. Sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes my wife comes out and tells me it’s 3 a.m. and get in bed.

The world today, the international conflicts of today are woven into the story. The US (North American Union), China, Russia, et al carry the same political nonsense into space with them that we see in the newspapers every day. Positioning themselves to ‘acquire’ power, resources and tech to give them the ‘edge’ over each other. Though Earth is insulated from these conflicts, all the same players are hip deep in it.

The Brotherhood is essentially an amalgamation of all the international criminal organizations. They range from anti-hero’s, like Commodore Black, to truly evil scum like Captain Bartholomew.

Then there’s the nanchik gods, what is their agenda?

3/7/2019 11:10:48 pm

It sounds like your muse dictates your writing routine, or lack thereof. It's working for you, so I will never say you are doing it wrong.
You demonstrated the extension of human politics and machinations quite well. I was asking myself the same question about the Nanchiks. What an interesting bunch.
New questions.
What is the one thing you hope readers will remember from your book?
What software do you use to write and publish your books, and why do you use those?

3/8/2019 08:33:12 pm

I hope readers will remember that adventure is just around the corner. Life is an adventure and all we have to for is embrace it.

I use Word, mainly because I’m used to using it.

3/8/2019 09:13:36 pm

I love that! Life is an adventure. Plot twists abound! We must persevere like a hero or we will eat dust.
A lot of authors use Word. Have you heard of Scrivener? Some authors use it, apparently it makes plotting, notes and all sorts of background info easy to manage. I have also heard it has a pretty steep learning curve.
New questions.
How do you keep track of all the characters and events in your books?
Are you a plotter, a pantster, or a hybrid?

3/8/2019 10:31:24 pm

Man I wish I could answer that question. The closest I can get to it is they just flow. Events and characters just appear in the right place. Keep in mind that a good deal of this comes from chats with my friend, role playing. The rest is fleshed out as I write the story. An example is Lien. She started out as an after thought. Then, the need for Kathy and Cindy to save her from slavery. Lastly, there had to be more to her than just a princess. Wait until you see her in Razor, she is remarkable.

I guess I’m a hybrid. That’s the best I can say. That probably comes from my military experience, laying out plans then adapting as things go wrong.

3/8/2019 10:44:48 pm

You certainly sound like a hybrid to me. I think the roleplaying has enabled you to keep track of things in your head. I have heard it said in the military, that all plans go out the window when the first shot is fired. After that it's adapt, adapt, adapt. Your background seems to e perfect for writing stories.
As long as it works for you, keep doing what you are doing.
New questions.
Do you have defined space for writing at home, or are you a kitchen-table writer?
Do you listen to music or have the TV on when writing, or do you need quiet?
Action, dialogue, or narration; which is easiest to write?

3/9/2019 07:27:09 pm

More like a living room couch writer, at least for now. At some point I’d like to remodel my garage into a family room and office space. I do find I can write almost anyplace if it strikes me, the poem I posted was written in a restaurant.

Usually I prefer quiet. I can block out distractions when I’m really into the story, but quiet is best.

Narration is easier to write, but dialogue is more fun. I enjoy the interplay of people talking, sometimes hiding things in the conversation. Double entendre is the most fun to write, I always wonder how the reader will react when they get the full meaning.

3/9/2019 07:39:30 pm

A tablet or iPad makes it very convenient no doubt. Do you take the device with you whenever you go out so you can easily record bits and pieces of the story?
Puns and clever conversations are a great deal of fun to read also. When that light bulb goes off, it's like seeing a secret for the first time and I love it!
New questions.
Of the five senses which is the easiest to write and which is the hardest?
How long does the research process take before you start to write a book or do you do the research as you write the book?
How many drafts do you go through to have a ready-to-publish manuscript?

3/9/2019 10:01:08 pm

Yep, I’m cloned to the darn iPad. It’s kind of scary.

The easiest sense to write is sight, all you have to do is describe what the character is seeing. For me, the hardest to write is taste, I tend to avoid that like the plague. A more interesting ‘sense’ to write about is a ‘sixth’ sense, the mind inter-connectivity the nanchik implants give the characters. That’s why I describe the communication between the nanchik gods and the characters as hear/feel. They hear the communication in their minds but they also feel the communication all over their bodies.

The research starts weeks before I start writing, and it goes on until the book is finished. What’s interesting is how developing the story can take me down a rabbit trail that requires research I didn’t plan on. It can be confusing at times, but it often becomes fun.

Hmmm, number of drafts, not enough. I keep finding things I could have done better. I’m digging deeper as I work on Razor, and intend to work with an editor to finish it up.

3/9/2019 10:33:18 pm

That makes a lot of sense to me, that "sight" would be the easiest sense to write. I would think that blindness would be very difficult to write also.
I thought the nanchik hear/feel thing worked well. I got the idea of telepathy easily, but I didn't grasp the implications of the implants responding in some way.
I have no doubt that the research is nearly constant. I understand rabbit trails very well, having been down so many myself.
New questions.
How early was it that you realized how powerful words can be?
Going back in time, did you do any kind of creative writing, even back in grade school?

3/10/2019 03:35:59 pm

Words being powerful, I suppose that became evident to me in grade school. I read a pamphlet about Simone Bolivar, some consider him the George Washington of Latin America. His story moved me greatly. I saw some of myself in him, and that’s when I realized how powerful the written word is.

I took creative writing in the eleventh grade. As a matter of fact a lot of interesting things happened in the eleventh grade. Of greatest impact is I fell in love with Shakespeare. We had to go to one of his plays, a summer-stock performance. At first I was as bored as everyone else, until I started paying attention to the actors. Suddenly I realized the play was being performed by the cast of Star Trek, minus Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly. It was weird seeing Sulu (George Takei) playing McDuff. Suddenly the play came alive. I didn’t miss any of them.

Back to creative writing. My teacher was a young woman on her first assignment. Fresh out of college she played all of Simon and Garfunkel’s records during class. We could write about anything we wanted as long as there was no obscenity in it. I needed an easy grade to stay in football, so this class was made to order. My friends and I would compete to see who could come up with the most outlandish stories. It was great fun.

A close friend on the team and I were also into poetry. Dark teenager stuff. We probably wrote two dozen poems a piece. I actually had one published in a hippy magazine out of Glendale.

3/10/2019 04:03:12 pm

What an interesting moment with Simone Bolivar.
I took a similar class in high school, it proved to be very difficult for me. I met the goals, but it was a struggle. I was much more oriented towards the visual arts for self-expression, even though I was a rabid reader!
Seeing those actors onstage had to be very cool. I would have been paying very close attention also.
I love it! You were a published poet while in high school.
You go back a long ways with words and writing!
New questions.
Do you have other writers you connect with, as in a critique group or support group?
Do you have alpha-readers and/or beta-readers to help you smooth out a lot of wrinkles before publishing? If you don’t, why?

3/10/2019 05:43:31 pm

Not really. I put what I’m working on onto FaceBook, and a group of writers I know sometimes look at it. I’d like to establish a group for that purpose.

Except for my wife, no. I’m hoping to develop a fan base that would like to fill that role.

3/10/2019 06:15:31 pm

There are several guest posts on my website that might assist you with those objectives. I also have a list of beta readers on my Twitter home page, you might find one or more there that like sci-fi. Another possibility is joining a writers' group; RRBC comes to mind at first thought, I am sure there are others out there also. It will take a little poking around probably.
New questions.
What are three things, that you wish you knew before you published your first book?
What is the most valuable piece of advice you have ever received from another writer?
What is the biggest surprise in your writing journey?

3/10/2019 10:23:24 pm

Three things, 1) How to publish a book. 2) How much I’d think of the book as one of my children, that really caught me off guard. 3) How hard book promotion is.

Honestly haven’t received any advice yet from other writers. On the other hand I have received a lot of encouragement from many writers, in particular from Maggie Lynn Herron-Heidl and Maxwell Rudolf. Oh yeah, and Travis Borne, he’s a big fan of Cindy.

The big surprise has been how much those that have read the book like it. Almost everybody has told me how good the story is. I have to say that has me a little gunshy about the sequel, it really has to be good to meet my readers expectations.

3/10/2019 11:19:26 pm

I am not surprised by those three choices.
You have spent so much time writing your book, you have nurtured it, struggled with it and it's no wonder to me that you would have a strong attachment to your first book-child.
Authors seem to go through stages, writing is hard, querying or self-publishing is harder, promoting is the hardest! That makes a lot of sense to me. In many ways, promoting is the opposite of writing. Promoting is very external, writing is very internal. Promoting goes on forever, if you want your books to sell. Writing has The End. Promoting has to be considered an ultra-marathon and pacing yourself is extremely important. You also need a map or plan or you will likely get lost.
I proofed both of Travis' books and I am not surprised that he is a fan of Cindy, she reminds him of Amy, a central and somewhat hidden figure in the books.
Having read your book, I would be surprised at someone who doesn't like your book. I loved it! I can hardly wait for Razor!
New questions.
Do you have anything you consider to be your writing lucky charm?
Do you think a strong ego is an asset or liability for a writer and why?
Do you struggle with writer's block and how do you overcome it?

3/11/2019 03:31:16 pm

A lucky charm, I guess yes. I usually have a set of master parachutists wings with me when I write. I guess it’s kind of if you’re nuts enough to jump out of a plane into total darkness, writing is a piece of cake. Of course, as it turns out, writing isn’t a piece of cake.

I’ve thought about that, I know I have a good size ego. Having thought it through I’m convinced a big ego is a liability when you write. Whenever my wife points out something I could do better, I have to walk off, let it flow off my back like water off a duck, then come back to it. That’s because, due to my ego, I take it as a personal ‘insult’. It’s not of course, she has really good instincts, and is almost always right.

I think we all get writers block. I’ve gone weeks without writing. It drives me out of my tree. Lately I’ve been doing something physical to overcome it. Usually, a long walk. Sometimes building something (just finished laying a new floor in my house, the whole house).

3/11/2019 04:16:02 pm

The wings sound like a good lucky charm. They worked for your jumps, why not for writing.
I am married to a woman like that, almost always right. I have come to respect that. It's still not easy all the time.
Congratulations on the new flooring! Did you put laminate down or something else?
I have found repetitive, physical activity to be a good solution for writers block, or almost any problem solving situation.
New questions.
Do you see an advantage of writing under a pseudonym, why or why not?
If you branch out into a different genre, will you use a different pen name, why or why not?

3/11/2019 06:43:42 pm

I honestly don’t know. My ‘pen-name’ is my first two initials Doc (people have called me Doc since I was eighteen and many still do today) and my last name. To me it just seemed right. My wife on the other hand writes using her grandmothers name. I guess it really is up to the individual.

Nope, anything I right since I wrote Rapier going forward will be under R. A. “Doc” Correa. If I actually get moving I have more SciFi, a number of fantasy stories (my two favorites are Hokana, a story of a Japanese witch during the beginning of the Shogunate, and Hyra, a story about ‘young’ dragon royalty. Right now one of my wip’s is Sophia a story of a 500 year old Italian vampire contessa searching for the reincarnations of her lost family (they were killed by the army of Charles VIII when he invaded Italy to depose Rodrigo Borgia after he became pope). I will also use my current pen-name for all future poetry. It just seems right to me.

3/11/2019 08:11:07 pm

Those sound like a good reason to stick with what you have.
Those other projects sound very interesting. I hope they make it into print. I want to read them all.
New questions.
You are working in many different genres. Are there any writing styles or genres that you disliked at first, but soon came to like?
Do you think reading, watching movies or listening to music help you be a better writer?

3/11/2019 08:35:40 pm

I have to say the style of Phillip K. Dick took some getting used to. The man had mental problems and it showed in his writing. As far as genres go, I really didn’t like H. P. Lovecraft’s take on horror at first. You always knew that by the end of the story the hero would go mad. But after playing Call of Cthulu changed my viewpoint on that.

Yes, very much. Often a movie or song stimulates my imagination. Starship Troopers by Yes and almost anything by Warren Zevon gets the creative juices going.

3/11/2019 10:04:45 pm

I have never read any of PKD's books. I have read several stories by Lovecraft, one after the other and late at night. I haven't been able to return to that kind of material easily since. He was so lugubrious.
Last questions.
What was a hurdle you faced in writing this book and how did you overcome it?
What type of book is your favorite guilty pleasure to read for fun?

3/11/2019 10:23:35 pm

A couple of quick notes before the questions. PKD wrote Total Recall and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the base story for Blade Runner. None of the movies based on these stories come close to what he wrote. If you want some weird these are worth the read.

When I was at the University of Rhode Island, or as we called it U R High, they had a tour of H. P. Lovecraft’s Providence. We got to see most of the places that inspired his stories. Very creepy.

My biggest hurdle was laziness. The way I overcame that was getting in the frame of mind to find out how the story would “fill out”. I knew all the big parts of it from my chats with my friend, but what would the meat on those bones look like? That curiosity is what got me through the story.

Wow, that’s a loaded question, and I promise an unexpected answer. Obviously I read SciFi and Fantasy, but my favorite guilty pleasure reading is hardcore history. I’m one of the few people that have read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Rise and Decline of The Roman Empire, The U. S. Navy in WW II, V2, Achtung Panzer, UBoat, Japanese Destroyer Captain and a ton more. My personal Library even has text books from West Point.

3/11/2019 10:51:44 pm

Thank you for the information about PKD's books. I have seen the movies and am not surprised they don't resemble the books very much.
While nearly a genius in his own right, Lovecraft had such a twisted imagination. I have been reluctant to pick up horror since then. I have read some very interesting books, though, because they came my way.
I have to commend you on your method of motivating yourself. Sometimes you just have to reframe the question into something more attractive. Well done.
Honestly, I am not surprised that you like history, most military do. I love history personally also. A long time ago I read almost all of Will Durants multivolume set. I can't recall if I read it all or not. It was a long slog.
No questions.
I want to thank you for spending time with me in our chat. It has been quite interesting and very enjoyable. I hope we can do this again sometime soon. I have to call a halt because a new promotion and interview begin tomorrow. Thanks again, Doc.

Sandra L Hernandez

4/22/2019 01:42:17 pm

Enjoyed this interview. Also enjoyed reading Rapier. The characters are life like. It is a book that I was able to get lost in quite easily. So much fun. Thank you for writing it - can't wait for Razor!

4/22/2019 02:47:31 pm

Glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did! Thanks for dropping in.

Rapier By R. A. “Doc” Correa

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