James
Austin McCormick is a college lecturer from Manchester, England and in his free
time enjoys writing speculative fiction, mostly science fiction, horror and a
little sword and sorcery fantasy. He is also a particular fan of classic Gothic
and Victorian horror tales and is currently in the process of writing updated
versions of these with a science fiction spin. Learn more about James and his
books here.
I love travelling and the experience of being amongst a
different culture. I first lived abroad in 1996 when I taught in Prague for six
months. Before then I’d never tried to learn a language. My extremely shady
employer just dropped me off on the outskirts of the city, at a hotel where no one
spoke any English, gave me a cheap map of the city and several addresses where
I’d be teaching and told me I started on Monday (I arrived Saturday afternoon).
I had to learn some Czech pretty quickly as I couldn’t even ask for my mail at
first. I spent a very anxious weekend trying to learn my way around the place
and learning as much basic language as I could. At first, I just memorised lots
of sentences from a travel guide, but the effort started to pay off.
After that experience I’ve always made an attempt to learn
as much of the language as I could before going to another country. After the
Czech Republic, I lived in Taiwan for two years where I taught at university,
then five years in Japan where I was a teacher at a high school. I’ve been back
in England now for twelve years, but the urge to take off again is very strong.
If it were possible, I’d like to live somewhere new every couple of years, not so
easy now, however, with two young daughters in school.
I think this is the reason I enjoy writing space opera so
much. In my Dragon science fiction
series, Sillow, the main character, is a restless, elf-like individual who
spends most of his time off world, exploring strange planets and mysterious
places. Every day is unpredictable, every day an adventure for him. A great deal of the enjoyment I get from
writing these stories is the pure escapism it provides me personally. Cold,
grey, rainy Monday mornings in Manchester tend to be best as the imaginative
spur I need. The latest book, Dragon: The Prisoner of Valathia, will be out in June this year.
There’s a stronger fantasy element this time around as Sillow investigates a
mysterious and very ancient artifact discovered in a small mining system.
Dragon:
The Tower of Tamerlane:
As a reluctant agent, Sillow is called upon to undertake his
first mission, investigate the Tower, a high-tech prison complex along with the
oligarch who runs it, a mysterious nobleman who calls himself Tamerlane.
Seeking evidence to prove Tamerlane is responsible for a
series of terrorist attacks, Sillow quickly uncovers the sheer scale of his
plans, a lethal military strike on all four humanoid home worlds. Caught and
imprisoned however, the Sylvan finds himself helpless to warn the Alliance of
the coming danger.
All the while, something has been evolving, growing stronger
inside the Tower, something intangible yet far more dangerous than Tamerlane
ever could be, a being implacably opposed to all life in the galaxy.
2 comments:
Reading this post, and noting the cities that you've lived in, your background gives you lots of material for both college lectures and writing fiction. I'm fascinated. Best wishes with your book!
Thanks Angela, it will be my last space opera for quite some time. Planning something completely different for my next couple of works.
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