I’ve always been a fan of the cheesy old stuff from the 1950s and 1960s and now that steampunk is such a big thing I thought why not “rocketpunk”?

Michael Moreau – 6 July 2014

The Back Flap

In the time of the Federated Worlds combat and commerce are the domain of a rough and tumble group of rocketmen known as the Service. These brave souls form the backbone of the interstellar economy, riding rockets to all corners of the Milky Way and her neighboring galaxies. Another part of that economic system is Interplanetary Holdings and their newest installation is Aelous Station, a secure facility located deep within an area of space known as The Crux where faster than light travel is impossible. Being one of the Service’s most formidable commanders Captain Tarsik of the R.S. Honshu isn’t one to allow his feathers to be ruffled, that is until he steps foot on Aeolus and finds himself in the midst of a trap set by an adversary he’d thought long vanquished

About the book

What is the book about?

It is the first novella in what will be a large series. It focuses on the captain and crew of a 27th century rocketship and their adventures. I like to call it “rocketpunk” since it imagines a future world where everyone rides around in rockets, wears clear bubble helmets and has a raygun holstered at their hip. There will be both serials and one-offs in the series. This first book is about the ship visiting a secure space facility and running into an old nemesis from the captain’s past. I don’t want to give away much, so I’ll leave it at that. It is the beginning of a three-part serial entitled Full Circle. New novellas in the series will come out every six months, one in March and one in September.

When did you start writing the book?

I believe I started writing No Time Like the Future around July 2013 but put it aside for a little while because I was working on another book.

How long did it take you to write it?

Being a fairly short novella the actual time put in to get a rough draft was not all that terribly long. I also found the material to be very fun to write so I worked at it feverishly. All in all I’d say about five to six weeks once I really got cracking on it but of course that’s finding time around my job and life commitments.

Where did you get the idea from?

I’ve always been a fan of the cheesy old stuff from the 1950s and 1960s and now that steampunk is such a big thing I thought why not “rocketpunk”? I was working on my upcoming book Son of Seven Moons which is a much more serious piece that left me emotionally drained after each 6-7 hour writing session and I wanted to take a break and work on something more light-hearted and fun and what popped into my head was a retro-tastic vision of rocketships and rayguns.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

Dialogue was a bit tricky. At first I wanted to fall back on clichéd dialogue and just make everyone sound like they were straight out of a Buck Rogers serial but I soon figured out that the key to “rocketpunk” was to make the characters talk and behave a little more like modern people would, more naturally, but at the same time have them occupy this fantastic world.

What came easily?

Technical stuff usually comes pretty easy to me, so coming up with what types of weapons they should have, how certain things on their ships function, etc… was probably the easy part for me.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

Unlike some of the other things that I’ve written I would say that for the most part the characters in No Time Like the Future don’t really have a whole lot of basis on real people that I know. They’re more like character archetypes that I am slowly developing into more believable real people. I want the reader to start out in the first chapter and see these characters as fairly one-dimensional (as retro scifi characters often were) but then get to know them over the course of their adventures.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

I would definitely say that for the Rocket Riders of the 27th Century series a very large influence is the work of Andre Norton. She wrote a series of books about a rocketship called the Solar Queen, I’ve read all of them and thoroughly enjoyed them. A couple of them are even available through Project Gutenberg as they are now public domain.

Do you have a target reader?

I think the only prerequisite to enjoying my Rocket Riders books is going to be if you like something that you can pick up and read fairly quickly. If you’re looking for Tolkien-length epics then it’s probably a poor choice for you, but if you like a little continuing adventure that you get a new installment of every six months and can read in a weekend then it’s right up your alley.

End of Interview:

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Get your copy of No Time Like the Future from Amazon US (paper or ebook) or Amazon UK (paper or ebook).