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meet Stuart Vaughn StocktonStuart Stockton lives in Colorado Springs where he does Web development work for a Christian publishing company. I first encountered Stuart's Starfire when I was launching the Realms imprint at Strang Communications. I was immediately swept into Stuart's bizarre world of non-human warriors on a far-off planet. It was strange and irresistible at the same time. But I knew I couldn't possibly publish it at Realms. Readers of typical Christian fiction do not tend to gravitate to the truly unusual speculative fiction. So it was with sadness that I had to reject his book. But when I launched Marcher Lord Press I knew I might be able to pull off publishing such a thing. Indeed, it was for this very kind of story that I created MLP. So now I am thrilled to count Stuart among the Marcher Lord Press stable of authors. Stuart is the author of Starfire, releasing in
April 2009. Read the prologue and opening chapter here . |
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the interviewMarcher Lord Press: Tell folks a bit about yourself, Stuart. Stuart Vaughn Stockton: I'm a somewhat odd, partially-reclusive, mostly ex-hermit living in the not-so-wild city of Colorado Springs. I just got married in July of 2007 to the wonderful historical romance author Tiffany "Amber Miller" Stockton. We will be blessed with our first child (who will likely be doomed to a life of writing alien prairie romances) sometime this March. Some of the more interesting moments of my life include blowing up
an electrical outlet with a pinto bean and a fork (it took two tries),
speaking an alien language from the podium at a romance writer's
conference, and having all the buttons on my shirt spontaneously pop off
in a restaurant while on my honeymoon. Marcher Lord Press: What is your novel, in a nutshell? Stuart Vaughn Stockton: A best-seller among woodland rodents looking for a midnight snack! Seriously, Starfire is a science-fiction adventure set on a world inhabited by an ancient race of dinosaur-like aliens. The hero, Rathe, is a young warrior seeking to prove himself while being thrust into the center of a conflict he doesn't fully understand, dealing with technologies that have been lost for centuries. The crux of the story involves Rathe's dilemma about whether or not
to activate an ancient weapons system that might save his empire but
ultimately doom his world. Marcher Lord Press: What's cool about your book? Why should I, a potential reader of your book, read it myself or buy a copy for someone I know? Stuart Vaughn Stockton:
Starfire is an action-packed science fiction adventure with a splash of
humor that will take you on a journey through an alien world. Yet despite there not being a single
human character in this story, I think you will find that you can relate
to them and their struggles and choices. Plus there's computer-using, weapon-wielding, alien dinosaurs of
all sizes. Stuart Vaughn Stockton:
Marcher Lord Press is the perfect home for my style of writing. Who
else would publish a story about alien dinosaurs written from a
Christian worldview that brings up questions about how Christians should
interact with unbelievers and doesn't always portray believers as the
heroes? Did I mention alien dinosaurs?
Plus I know that Marcher Lord Press knows how to handle the
weirdness of science fiction and will treat my stories with respect and
work to make the story all it can be without trying to tame it down to
what a regular CBA publisher might have to in order to make it fit their
market. Marcher Lord Press: What do you hope to accomplish with this novel? Stuart Vaughn Stockton: My main goal is to tell an entertaining story and to have people feel like they've spent a little time in a strange, but not entirely unfamiliar, place. But I'd also like to see people come away thinking about what they
put their trust in, how they make their choices, and how they share
their beliefs with others. I hope that the answers come from the
reader's searching and not from Starfire. Marcher Lord Press: Are there more books in you? If so, what might some of them be? Stuart Vaughn Stockton: There are quite a few books percolating in my brain. Many of them continue, or are offshoots of, the events chronicled in Starfire. I've also got a few completely different ideas such as a young boy from the 1800s who discovers a steam-powered battle-suit, and a fantasy about a dragon-slayer cursed with the memories of a dragon. Marcher Lord Press: Have you written other Christian speculative fiction? If so, what? Marcher Lord Press: Where can folks go to read more of your stuff? Stuart Vaughn Stockton: They can swing by my Web site to read the story of how Sauria came to be, read a few of my short stories, and find a link to my new blog that will give updates about Starfire-related news, some reviews of books I'm reading and other sundry things. Also my
now-silent blog has a lot of archived content about my writing,
thoughts on Christian speculative fiction, and such. Marcher Lord Press: Finally, and most importantly, if you could travel to any time period or alternate world, what would it be and why? Stuart Vaughn Stockton:
I always have imagined it would be fun to grab a bunch of
scientists, jump into a time-machine and go back about 6,000 years and
see how much they've gotten wrong. As for alternate worlds, I don't know if I'd want to visit one as
I'd inevitably end up being at the center of some prophecy and have to
go through a vast array of hardships and sorrow on my way to eventually
bringing peace and justice to the world...I'd rather leave that up to
people who don't expect that kind of thing. that's all from StuartBe sure to see the sample chapter from Stuart's novel, Starfire, and to visit Stuart online. And don't miss the profiles of his fellow Marcher Lord Press novelists. |
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