the interview
Marcher 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.
Marcher Lord Press: Why is Marcher Lord Press the ideal publisher for your novel?
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?
Stuart Vaughn Stockton: I have dabbled in some short stories, mostly as a way of exploring backstory for larger stories. My favorite of these is "Forms of Destiny," which tells the story of a young shapeshifter discovering her forms and her destiny.
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.
