Author Interview: Martin Willén

Do you plan everything or just let the story flow?

I let the story flow. Sometimes when I write I reach a clue and eventually later on in the story the solution presents itself.

Do your characters ever want to take over the story?

Yes, and when that happens I like to “cut” the scene and move forward with another character.

What is your favorite food?

Salad…healthy food in general.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

A bit of both. I prefer to write in the early hours.

Where do you dream of travelling to and why?

Alaska, it’s one of our last wildernesses.

Do distant places feature in your books?

Yes. The story will take you pretty much anywhere…

Do you listen to music while writing?

No! The only sound I listen to is the sound of the ocean outside my window.

Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?

The story is very different. It’s a science fiction space opera and throughout the story the reader will experience action, romance, politics, military, murder and suspense. The reader doesn’t have to be a sci-fi fan to fall for the story. It’s for entertainment only. Not a religious message and in the event anything written might be considered classified information to some, then that’s merely a coincident.

What have you learned about writing and publishing since you first started?

What not to do. It has been an interesting learning process and I learn new things every day.

Is there anything you would do differently?

No not really. This is my first publication and I’m proud of the result.

Who, or what, if anything has influenced your writing?

Who: Family. My own life experience in whole. Authors; Wilbur Smith, Robert Jordan, Stephenie Meyer, Bernard Cornwell, JRR Tolkien. Film makers; George Lucas, Ridley Scott, Rick Pamplin, James Cameron, and Luc Besson. What: When my younger sister died who died from Lupus, SLE at the age of twenty-four.

Anything you would say to those just starting out in the craft?

Just write. Don’t hold back on anything. Unleash your mind on paper and let it go.

What are three words that describe you?

Patient, creative, honorable.

What's your favorite book or who is your favorite writer?

I have many favorites’ books from Wilbur Smith, Robert Jordan, Stephenie Meyer, Bernard Cornwell, JRR Tolkien. There are several more.

Blurb of your latest release or coming soon book

NASTRAGULL: Pirates the first book of a projected series, it also incorporates the swashbuckling action of classic space opera. Accelerating the reader into a universe where humanity is just one species among many, in a multi-cultural civilization spanning many galaxies.

As the story opens, a group of young Oman (human) cadets are heading home after eight years of training at a military academy, in preparation for their graduation on Tallas, the capital world of the Nastasturus Federation. As it turns out, their selection of transport was unfortunate: the civilian passenger liner Bright Star is attacked by pirates. Despite a spirited defense by the cadets and others, the pirates capture the ship and imprison the passengers and crew, intending to sell them into slavery (or worse).

With the help of a spirited young pirate woman (Alexa), one of the cadets (Alec) manages to escape. During his escape, Alec frees Nikko Behl, the Bright Star's captain, and together they set out on an adventure to rescue their friends.

Through it all, Alec's thoughts remain with Alexa, the young woman who helped free him. Both realize when they meet that they're two halves of some mysterious whole, and that their meeting presages some glorious future. Both will do literally anything to protect and remain with the other...often with disastrous consequences to those around them. Their love will ultimately draw the universe into its devastating Third Universal War.

On the opposite side of the universe, in the totalitarian Florencian Federation, a creature that has slept for over a thousand years awakes from her long rest. She is Marquessa De La Hoff, once the most infamous military commander in the universe -- a woman who only has one ultimate goal, to conquer in the service of her God. The Marquessa takes the helm of a monstrous military machine designed to enslave the Nastasturans, taking their worlds and resources for Florencia in a vast crusade meant to subjugate thousands of star systems.

Alec and the Marquessa are linked by an intricate network of fate, history, and destiny, one that will ultimately draw everyone around them into a black hole of destruction and damnation. As they learn much later, the universe -- known by its proper name as Nastra -- speaks to all of us; everyone hears it, but few actually listen to its words. The day you do listen to the universe and the words of its parent -- the creator, Gull -- is the day you have Awakened.

Only two people are currently Awake: the creature De La Hoff is one, and young Alec is the other. Neither understands what, exactly, is happening to them, though each is gradually becoming aware of the other, and of what Nastra is trying to tell them.

But the universe cannot allow more than one listener at a time. Therefore, it prepares to birth a messiah: the NastraGull, a child who must set the universal balance right -- lest the universe cease to exist.

Any websites/places readers can find you on the web.

amazon

Update:

Hollywood producers have contacted me about the film rights to NASTRAGULL. They are interested in developing it into a major science fiction blockbuster. One of their partners is an Academy Award winner who has been involved with films like "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Blade Runner" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." They think it has strong box-office appeal and the potential to be another major science fiction blockbuster like "Avatar."


Right now I’m too amazed…stunned. A “nobody” from Sweden and now this? Well it’s probably a long way if or when a contract can be signed but this is a high. Your interview has helped me a lot – thank you so very much!