Rogue's Angels Present: A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth by Gerhard Gehrke

Please welcome Gerhard Gehrke author of A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth.

Gerhard Gehrke will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth

by Gerhard Gehrke

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

I was weened on a heavy diet of comic books and cheesy science fiction and monster movies. As reading books came into the picture I started writing my own stories in a notebook for no one else to read but me. This blossomed into making Pac-Man comic books in grade school with friends, which included a heavy dose of vampires and Shogun Warriors to please my fellow collaborators. Getting involved in local community television introduced me to actually finding an audience for things put down on paper, even though most of what we worked on was non-narrative in structure. Writing fiction evolved from that.

2. What elements are necessary components for this genre?

Science fiction is the most malleable of genres as it allows for so many interpretations as to what it is. The most basic necessary component is that the story speculates on something not readily apparent today, be it a social or technological change. “What would happen if...” has launched many hallmarks of the genre without a space ship or an alien in sight. A second component would have to be honesty in thinking through where the change would take the characters and the world around them.

           
           

3. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?

A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth began in my work truck's notebook with the line “No one likes them very much.” That line was to be the conclusion reached by aliens intent on first contact who reached the USA and decided to try other parts of the planet after some unfortunate experiences. This became the aliens wanting nothing to do with the entire planet and them hanging a virtual “Do Not Disturb Occupants” sign on our doorknob. As I fleshed this out over a few months I decided a smaller story that focused on one man's experience as a scapegoat for an alien conspiracy just felt better. By then I had a rough idea on where I wanted the project to go.

4. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

My personal experiences are focused on the local trades where I've worked as a business owner for over twenty-three years. As a swimming pool contractor I'm expected to have a working knowledge of water chemistry, electrical, hydraulics, and construction. I'm also blessed to have family and friends with more exciting lives than my own whom I can mine for ideas and information, and I've learned much from the people I've met while volunteering at the community television station. I studied film in school and continue to keep up with cinematic storytelling from around the world. I also devour history books and other non-fiction, as I feel you can never know enough about the world that is or that was.

5. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I love telling people that I used to work for the FBI. While building up my client list for my business I took on a janitorial account that included the local FBI field office. This meant getting finger printed and having to clean their office while being supervised. It also meant that I got to know some of the agents and got a window into their world, which mostly consisted of tons of paperwork and lots of shredding. But I also got to see evidence from at-large bank robbers (bikes mostly) and hear stories about the embassy bombing investigations in Dar-es-Salaam. And one of the agents got into trouble for plinking pigeons in [a local city] with a .22 rifle while on duty. 

6. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I'm excited to say that I have a sequel that was accepted by my publisher Booktrope and is currently in editing. The working title is a clunker and my editor and I haven't agreed on what will replace it yet. I also have a post-apocalyptic novel in progress and have other projects I hope to work on within the science fiction genre.  

7. If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

The character I'd pick is the alien mechanic named Oliop. He's an outcast within the alien community. Against orders he goes and makes first contact with the main character Jeff even though humanity is declared off-limits. I like his sensibilities as he gives others the benefit of the doubt and is willing to get to know people in spite of what others tell him. This results in him getting into deep trouble, but his self interests don't get in the way of him being a decent fellow. Something we need more of and something I aspire to.

8. Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?

A theme I found interesting which I included in A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth is suspicion of technology. Jeff Abel has become paranoid and has isolated himself as much as possible from tech and people. That's when aliens show up and try to make first contact with the worst possible human candidate. They have their own issues as a series of mysterious miscalculations result in fatal accidents and the aliens blaming Jeff and wanting to call the whole thing off. And some of the aliens want revenge.

9. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I was in the process of self publishing my novel when I saw a tweet from Booktrope looking for authors. I had checked up on several small publishing companies and saw that some had horrible reputations and did little for the author. I researched Booktrope and found a good Wall Street Journal article that let me know that they were legit. I submitted my manuscript to them and they accepted. This meant I had to change my strategy, as I had already hired an editor and edited the manuscript, but the knowledge that I'd have a professional publisher backing me up was a nice boost. But it all started with a tweet.

10. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

“Don't write if you don't have to.” A published author told me this once, and this is both good and bad advice. Writing can become an obsession, but it's also a rewarding pursuit. It reminds me of what the lawyer who taught my State Contractor's License class said concerning running your own business: “The highs are higher, the lows are lower.” This is true of writing as well, as there's nothing quite like having someone enjoy something you wrote, but there's plenty of body blows along the way.

11. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I have a connect-the-dots strategy that is essentially a loose outline. I know where I want to land and have several plot points to hit along the way. This all proves malleable as I go. I have several notebooks where I will lay out bullet points of what happens next and what needs to happen after, but these notes are rarely more than a few key words and phrases. I don't use any software for this even though I've tried, and I'm intrigued by ones who manage to lay everything out via spreadsheets like Excel. When I write, the story rarely cooperates with tight scripting.

12. How do you maintain your creativity?

By getting away from the computer. I'm fortunate to have a mentally and physically demanding job, so that and hiking and cooking and doing anything else but writing makes the time back at the desk  meaningful and more productive. I also read a lot outside of the science fiction genre, especially history and non-fiction. Continually improving one's understanding of how the world works can only improve one's writing. Maintenance is another key to maintaining creativity. That means getting enough sleep, exercise, and coffee in the proper doses.

13. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

The one character that grew on me the most as she developed was Jordan. She's a human who may or may not be an agent of the more nefarious faction of the aliens. She has her own reasons for engaging with Jeff and starts off as being a bit gullible. But as events develop she finds herself in the key position of either helping or hindering the bad guys while also pursuing her dream of seeing other worlds beyond her own. She becomes the character with the biggest choices to make.

14. Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

My bunnies are tapeworms: Neither good nor evil but the results of unsanitary conditions. Sorry if that's kind of gross, but when I have an idea that won't go away, i need to feed it. The idea goes into a notebook. If it keeps gnawing at my interior it gets written about. When enough of the pesky things spool up on the page, maybe they'll turn into something coherent that might entertain a reader.

15. Anything else you might want to add?

It's a privilege to find others as enthusiastic about books and writing as I am. And if you haven't done it lately, go to your local library and see what they have to offer!

BLURB:

What would you do if you found a dead alien on a lonely highway?

Was it an accident, sabotage, or murder? And why is everyone blaming Jeff?

The extraterrestrials aren’t waiting for answers. They want revenge. And Jeff isn’t ready for company.

His only hope is an outcast mechanic from another world and a woman who might do anything to get off planet, including selling out her own kind. Jeff has to get to the bottom of why there are so many alien bodies piling up and who is really responsible.

A science fiction adventure novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth tells the story of a reclusive ex-computer programmer who is the unwitting central figure of a plot to keep humanity from ever making first contact.

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EXCERPT:

First contact with the humans wasn’t going as planned, as was obvious by the rank smells that choked the air of the alien visitorsʹ craft. But no one called them aliens where they came from.

Seven little Greys, short bipeds with large heads and big eyes and delicate limbs, sat in the flight seats of their ship’s crew compartments and listened as the Mission Commander lectured them from the Command Module. The harangue lingered in the air, not as words or even sounds but as a smell, a ripe one replete with pheromones and scent packets that the Greys used to speak with one another. A new string of curses from the Commander’s glands smelled of licorice. The Mission Commander composed itself. It wiped sticky sweat from its hairless frontal lobe.

The lights and displays in front of the seven crewmembers blinked and flashed. No one would so much as touch a button until the Commander was finished addressing the crew.

“I’ll hear no more of it,” the Commander said. “We’re on the human world. We go forward. Probability calculations for success show at 100%. The computer will be trusted.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gerhard Gehrke studied film at San Francisco State University. He wrote and produced several shows for community television. His Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror short stories have appeared in several publications, including an Editor’s Choice-winning short story at AnotheRealm.com. A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth is his first novel.

You can connect with him at Gerhardgehrke.com.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gerhardgehrke

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gerhardgehrkeauthor   

Blog: www.capriciousnarrator.wordpress.com/   

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+beginner%27s+guide+to+invading+earth+

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-beginners-guide-to-invading-earth-gerhard-gehrke/1122581957

Also available on iBooks

Link to YouTube Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwExDzGD6Js

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Gerhard Gehrke will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f1417