As the saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked, so while everyone else is still feasting or enjoying the post-Christmas sales, I’ve invited author J.A. Pipes to join me on the couch to talk about his book, All Lesser Means. Thank you, J.A., for taking the time to chat to me. Please sit down, get comfortable and let’s begin.
About J.A. Pipes
J.A. Pipes is a self-proclaimed politics junkie, anarchist podcaster and blogger. He has traveled the world from Uluru to Istanbul. He has dug up dinosaurs in the badlands of Montana and has served in the United States Marine Corps during Desert Storm. J.A. holds degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Missouri, and is currently an engineer for the world’s largest aerospace company. He resides in St. Louis with his wife and two children.
What’s the name of your new book?
All Lesser Means
Tell us a bit about your book
What if information from the future could make you rich?
Jason Bailey needs money. Paying to overthrow the government isn’t cheap. Especially when the revolution is still 30 years away. In his first job out of college, Jason is working alone one night when he receives a message… from the future. A message that will turn his life upside down.
The future is bleak, the economy is a shambles, and millions are suffering. Jason’s compassion for people he has never met draws him into a conspiracy to bankroll a secret army that will overthrow that government. Things go much deeper than Jason anticipated and his investments soon draw the attention of the FBI.
Veteran agent and internet cop Frank McIntyre is drafted into a top secret government operation to find Jason, with orders to stop him or face the consequences. The chase is on. Jason must hide the money, and himself, in a cat and mouse game that ends in revolution.
How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?
I think character names are very important. In some cases, the name by itself can communicate something about the character (ethnicity, for example). But most of all, you have to be careful to make your characters distinct in the reader’s mind and this starts with the name you give a character. One thing I’ve learned to avoid is having multiple characters with names that start with the same letter – this can be confusing to some readers. In some instances, I have used actual names of real people in my book, especially if the character was inspired by someone I’ve known in real life.
Give us an insight into your main character. What makes them unique?
Jason Bailey is definitely your everyman character forced to deal with some extraordinary circumstances. He’s unique perhaps in his sense of compassion for people he’s never met. I’m not sure that most people would be as committed to a cause as Jason, so in many ways he is very naïve. But I hope that people can relate to him on an emotional level because he really runs a gauntlet throughout the story and I wanted the reader to feel the emotional toll it takes on him.
Where do your ideas come from?
I’ve always loved stories about time travel. As I kid I enjoyed The Green Futures of Tycho by William Sleator. And, of course, I loved the Back to the Future series of movies. But believe it or not, the central idea for this book actually came from a non-fiction book on quantum physics that I read many years ago called In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, by John Gribbin. I wanted to explore what would happen if someone invented a device that didn’t allow a person to travel through time, but rather allowed information to be sent back in time. How would this device be used? Would it be used for good? Or evil? Or maybe both at the same time.
What are you working on now?
Because this was my first novel and turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated, I am working on an outline for the sequel. I am hopeful that an outline will make it easier for me to complete the first draft rather than spending so much time blocked wondering where the story should go from here. It’s an experiment really. I still expect to get blocked from time to time, because your characters always take you in unexpected directions. But at least I won’t have the vast ocean of white at the bottom of the page intimidating me the entire journey.
Can you give us a few tasty morsels from your work-in-progress?
The device still exists in the sequel, but it is now being used by a different person for different purposes. So I’m going to explore some ethical and moral conundrums that result from having the power to change past events. I’m also continuing the story of my favorite character from the first book – Marisa Lopez.
Why should a potential reader buy your book(s)?
I want my story to challenge a reader’s beliefs, especially when it comes to politics. I hope that some of the situations I portray in the book will force the reader to think in a different way – I am really going for some cognitive dissonance!
What’s an interesting fact about your book?
It was actually very challenging to figure out what genre my book was and that has made marketing it a lot more difficult. Followers on my blog know that in the months leading up to publishing I struggled to pick a genre. It’s a political thriller, but it also has a healthy dose of science fiction thrown in. So it’s #PoliSciFi – it’s a book without a genre. LOL Ultimately that may hurt sales, but I wrote the story I wanted to write and that’s all that matters to me.
Where can readers go to discover more about you and your books?
Website | Facebook | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads
Available formats: ebook
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