Tag: science fiction

50 Ways to Save the Ocean

  Warpworld is not a book (or series) with a message. Let me be clear about that. No message. None. Zero. Zip. Josh and I did not sit down with an agenda when we wrote the first book. Heck, we didn’t even sit down with a plot outline. The story demanded to be told and we have spent the ensuing years as its helpless caj. In his recent review of Warpworld, author Noah JD Chinn captured our vision perfectly when he said… …the authors are simply laying these cultures out there as things that exist, rather than proxies for someone’s…

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Sex Equals Death – The Dangers of Breaking the Rules of Writing

In 1970,  The Five Man Electrical Band belted out the iconic “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” Sorry to say, 70’s rockers, things have only gotten worse since then. Rules, they’re everywhere. Art isn’t something we usually associate with rules, but every medium comes with its own set. Anyone remember Scream‘s The Rules of Surviving a Horror Movie? “Sex equals death?” Oh man, I’m dead. Yep, even when being chased by a masked, knife-wielding psychopath, there are rules. My brother, stage name Verbs, is…

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Ama and the Perils of Mexican Mouthwash

I’ve just returned from a six week camping adventure to Baja, Mexico, and points beyond, with my husband, Fred, and a group of friends.  Like the Warpworld protagonists Josh and I created,  I am an explorer at heart, always eager to see what’s around the next corner and try new things.  Whether joyous or disastrous, my travel experiences inform my writing, my characters, and the worlds I build. Perhaps no more so than with the character of Ama Kalder… as I was reminded during a recent run-in with a bottle of Mexican mouthwash. We were in the small, quaint town…

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A Government by the People and for the People

So who’s in charge of the World, anyway? Short answer? Nobody. Longer answer: The World is essentially anarcho-capitalism run amok. As is often seen in dystopian Cyberpunk storylines, the World is governed by a confluence of powerful interests. Each of the seventeen major city-states, which house millions of Citizens, is technically an independent political state with its own regulations. In practice, the city-states are perhaps the weakest players on the field. It is the layers above that conduct the true business of the World, leaving the city-states to the untidy, messy bureaucratic chores of handling the Citizenry and such public…

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The Huchack

Warpworld makes numerous references to the huchack, a rather loathsome creature that is the main pivot around which the economy and indeed the entire structure of the World turns. Huchacks were genetically modified at some point in the murky history of the World, after the arrival of the Storm. As material scarcity began to pinch down on the survivors of the initial confusion, new methods of production were necessary in order to maintain a level of technological survivability. The huchack is a pond-dwelling creature, roughly akin to a water-breathing porcupine. Huchacks feed by grazing on algae and minerals, which they…

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Better Than a Mutated Pony

What childhood gifts do you remember most? For me, it would have been the pony or the science experiment kit I longed for, but of course my parents were not complete lunatics and, thus, never gave me either of those items. I’m sure they had a vision, (a very accurate vision), of collecting their ten-year-old daughter from jail and having to explain the mutated pony and the trail of destruction left along Scott Road, while an exasperated detective held up a set of beakers and vials as evidence. Unknowingly, my mom and dad may have saved quiet, suburban North Delta…

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What if Nobody Loved Alexander?

I don’t consciously model characters on real people very much. I’ve never been particularly comfortable working with characterizations that I haven’t created myself, which is why I’d probably be lousy at licensed fiction for established universes. That said, there are traits that will tend to be attached to people who achieve certain types of success. So when you’re writing a character that’s following a particular path, you’ll find that those traits will tend to follow along with the traits you associate with personalities you’ve studied or envisioned. I’m no historian. I don’t have a library of primary source documents and…

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Goodreads Giveaway Countdown!

It’s almost over so don’t miss out – citizens of Lichtenstein, we’re counting on you! Less than a week left to win on of five double-signed copies of Warpworld.   Goodreads Book Giveaway Warpworld by Kristene Perron Giveaway ends December 02, 2012. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win  

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What in the (Warped) World Are You Reading? Joshua Simpson

I couldn’t end this fun author Q&A series without one more special guest – my writing partner, Joshua Simpson! One of the benefits of writing with a partner, (something I never imagined I would do), is that our production meetings often spin off into enthusiastic discussions about books, stories, and storytelling. Writers begin as readers, and we write on the backs of those that came before us. Many aspects of Warpworld, (and the books to follow), have been inspired by other authors. We owe a debt to books, to reading, to stories and to storytellers. And I owe a debt…

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What in the (Warped) World Are You Reading? Michael F Stewart

We’re at the end of our week-long author Q&A series for the National Reading Campaign. (Well, almost. Tune in tomorrow for one more special author!) All of our guest authors have talked about the joy of reading as a child. Whether it was the feeling of importance from seeing gold stars on a board, or receiving a monthly Dr. Seuss book, or from the delightful feeling of escaping into exotic and strange lands such as the World of Og, reading was a joyful experience. If you’re a parent, how do you encourage your kids to read? If you’re a teacher,…

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