Author Ted Cross joins us today from Nassau in the Bahamas, and I must admit, on this cold winter day, that I’m a little envious! Thank you, Ted, for taking the time to chat to me. Please sit down, get comfortable and let’s begin.

About Ted Cross

Ted Cross is from Arizona and has spent the past two decades traveling the world as a diplomat, all the time dreaming about writing fantasy and science fiction. He’s visited nearly forty countries and lived in seven, including the U.S., Russia, China, Croatia, Iceland, Hungary, and Azerbaijan. He’s witnessed coup attempts, mafia and terrorist attacks, played chess with several world champions, and had bit parts in a couple of movies. He currently lives in Nassau, Bahamas with his lovely wife and two teenage sons.

What’s the name of your new book?
The Immortality Game

Tell us a bit about your book
Moscow, 2138. With the world only beginning to recover from the complete societal collapse of the late 21st Century, Zoya scrapes by prepping corpses for funerals and dreams of saving enough money to have a child. When her brother forces her to bring him a mysterious package, she witnesses his murder and finds herself on the run from ruthless mobsters. Frantically trying to stay alive and save her loved ones, Zoya opens the package and discovers two unusual data cards, one that allows her to fight back against the mafia and another which may hold the key to everlasting life.

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?
I like a name to stand out in some fashion, but also be accessible to the reader. So no crazy names that the reader will struggle with. With all the Russian names in ‘The Immortality Game’, I wanted the lead characters to have names that were different than the standard Russian names but still easy to pronounce and remember. For my fantasy books I try to figure out names that sound good and fit well within the culture. I don’t have any special meaning for most of my character names, but I do have some place names that mean something to me. For example, I once lived in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, so in my fantasy novel ‘The Shard’ I named one town Hafnar’s Ford. I have a lot of little things like that for place names within my books.

Give us an insight into your main character. What makes them unique?
In ‘The Immortality Game’ there are three primary point-of-view characters. I’ll just tell you about two of them. Zoya is a young Russian woman trying to make ends meet in the very difficult world of 2138 Moscow. She really loves old 20th century rock music. Her brother is a gangster and forces her to carry a package for him, and that leads to a whole world of trouble. I enjoyed putting an average, innocent young person into deadly, extraordinary circumstances and watching to see how she would cope.

Marcus is a young Mexican-American living in Phoenix. His father was the most famous man in the world, a super-genius who saved the Internet with his ‘sentry code’ that eliminated viruses and spam, though the newly cleaned Internet also led to virtual reality addiction, called Meshing. Marcus himself became a mesher, in part because he struggled to live beneath the shadow of his famous father. Unknown to anyone but Marcus, his father also wrote himself into the Internet as an AI just before he died. Now his AI father wants Marcus to go to Russia to track down the scientists who wrote code that could potentially allow Marcus’s father to become human again in a cloned body.

Where do your ideas come from?
I wrote my fantasy novel first, and those ideas evolved in my head over a period of about 25 years, starting back in my teens when I was heavily into Dungeons & Dragons. I never much liked the official D&D books, always wanting something that treated it more seriously. Finally I decided I just needed to write the story I wanted to read myself, since no one else was doing it. Ideas I had while developing the character background stories led me to the science fiction ideas that caused me to write ‘The Immortality Game’. Also, the Takeshi Kovacs novels by Richard K Morgan influenced me, especially his method of capturing mind data electronically and allowing a person to transfer to a new body. He did this in very advanced far future stories, but I wanted to know what life must have been like when such technology was in its infancy.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I’d like to be retired from diplomacy and writing full time. We’re not sure yet where we’ll retire to, but most likely somewhere in America. I am from Arizona, but my wife thinks it is too hot there, so perhaps somewhere on the west coast, Oregon or Washington maybe. I write slowly when I have work commitments, so I hope to produce my books much quicker once I can write full time.

Have you always liked to write?
I’ve always been pretty good at writing, though I can’t say I ever loved it. Like they say, I love having written. Writing itself is hard work. I spent years dreaming of writing novels but never really believing I ever would. It wasn’t until I was living in China and read ‘A Game of Thrones’ that I got excited about trying to actually write a book. It wasn’t the story in ‘A Game of Thrones’ that made me want to write–it was the structure that George R.R. Martin used that made me think, “Ah ha, that’s the way I can structure my story to make it work for me.”

If you didn’t like writing books, or weren’t any good at it, what would you like to do for a living?
I’ve always wanted to be a musician and an actor, though I have to qualify that latter one to say that I have never had an interest in stage acting, so that dream is limited to acting on screen. I’m too shy to get up in front of an audience, but I’ve found that I am not at all shy in front of a movie camera. I feel very comfortable and excited filming scenes. I got into music late but still became pretty decent on guitar, until I shattered my fretting hand and now can’t make all the chords. My sons are both better than I am now at music, so I get to live this dream vicariously through them

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?
I do read the reviews. Most have been great, and it’s exciting to get affirmation that your story has worked for most people. There are always going to be some people with different tastes that just won’t enjoy your work. I haven’t had many bad reviews. The ones I have gotten, I try to pick out any useful ideas of what I need to work on to continue to improve as a writer. Most bad reviews don’t give valuable feedback, unfortunately, though I had one that led me to think I need to consciously strive to improve my dialogue.

What is your best marketing tip?
I have tried a lot of different things, almost none of which has worked very well to get my name out there. The only one that did work was Bookbub. It’s expensive and hard to get selected for, but when I did last October, ‘The Immortality Game’ went to #1 in its categories on Amazon for three days and sold about 1400 copies. I wish there were other methods that worked that well.

What is your least favourite part of the writing / publishing process?
Overcoming procrastination and actually making myself sit down and write. Once I finish a chapter I feel great, but it is always a struggle for me to begin. Part of it is having so many other interests. I haven’t been writing much while living here in Baku, Azerbaijan, but we’re moving to The Bahamas this summer, and I hope I’ll be able to focus more on writing there.

How long does it usually take you to write the first draft of a book?
I work on my edits as I write, so my ‘first draft’ is usually fairly close to finished. I do then make several editing passes to tweak things. The whole process has taken me four years for each book so far. That’s why I want to retire so badly and write full time!

What are you working on now?
All of my stories are set within the same universe and share characters. The story I’m working on now is set to be a duology, much further into the future than my previous stories. It will have the AI father from ‘The Immortality Game’ in it, though all other characters will be new. The first story is titled ‘Penthesilea’ and is set on a colony planet, and I think it will be my best story yet.

Can you give us a few tasty morsels from your work-in-progress?
The morning of her thirteenth birthday, Keng entered the family room to accept the embraces and kisses of her mothers. She had bubbled with excitement for weeks, knowing something special would happen today, though no one, not even the habitual gossips, would do more than drop hints. Her oldest mother, Adanya, smelled faintly of cloves as she drew Keng close in her thin arms and whispered in her ear, “I’m so proud of you, first child of Themis. Always so many questions. Now today some can be answered.” Adanya kissed her cheek and held Keng out at arm’s length, eyes shiny with tears.

Keng was afraid to respond in case her voice broke. She took a deep breath and used the moment to scan the faces in the room. Naturally Mother Slade was not there. All twelve of her other mothers, but not her favorite. Keng had hoped that today would see a change in the way Slade treated her. If not when Keng was officially counted as a woman grown then when?

Mother Zahra looked at her with her lips quirked in a smirk. “Why so sad? It’s your special day.”

“I think you know,” Keng whispered.

“Oh, we all know, young lady,” Zahra said. “So much warmth and love in this family, and the one you miss is she who so rarely speaks a word to you or deigns to glance your way. Perhaps if I beat you I would be your favorite?” Keng didn’t need Zahra’s grin to know she was at least half joking.

“I’m sorry, Mothers,” Keng said to the gathering. “I only thought that today perhaps I could see my whole family together for once.”

She watched the smiles as her mothers passed glances around the room. Something was up. Keng wished they would just get on with it. She didn’t like surprises.

“We’re sorry to tease you so,” Mother Hasinah said. “It is only that we know today you will get something that you have long wanted, so we are happy. Go to the roof garden, love. Your gift is there.”

Keng suppressed the urge to immediately head for the stairs and completed her round of the room, accepting hugs and congratulations from the rest of her mothers. On her way out the door, she spotted one of the cats lazing near the bottom of the steps and scooped him up. “Come, Mouser. Let’s see what the big surprise is.”

The stairs to the roof garden rose only a single story since her family’s home lay near the edge of the great dome. Keng sometimes wished she were lucky enough to live near the center in one of tall buildings, and every so often she took the long trudge up the stairs of one of the tallest in order to stare out over the entire colony. She had read of doll houses during her studies, and if she lay on the edge fifteen stories up and looked down, she could pretend that all of Panthesilea was her own personal doll house.

Every building had rank upon rank of gardens, helping to feed the colonists, along with the farms that Keng had heard lay outside of the dome. Her own gardens were meagre, given that the home was a mere one story. It primarily consisted of hydroponic fruits and vegetables, though several of the mothers insisted on a few types of flowers as well. Keng reached the top of the stairs and fell quickly to her knees, for she saw Mother Slade performing her exercises near the central fountain and she knew the security chief disliked being disturbed. “Go on, cat,” she hissed, and dropped Mouser on the top step, where the gray furred beast scurried right back down the way they had come.

Keng liked to try to sneak up on Slade, but she had never once succeeded in catching her unawares. From her knees, Keng peered under a row of hanging grapes and watched as the slim but muscular figure flowed through a series of lunges and blocks and kicks. Except for eyelashes, Slade was hairless, which always made Keng think of her as looking both young and old at the same time. Keng wished to learn martial arts as well. They seemed far more interesting than the usual gardening and sewing performed by most of her mothers, or the Tai Chi most of the women did each morning out on the lawns. Usually by now Slade would have halted her routine and glared at Keng until she departed, but this time Slade went on punching and sliding as if she were unaware of Keng’s presence. Keng recalled that her present was supposed to be here. She looked at the benches near the fountain but could see no sign of a package. A moment later, Slade completed her routine and bowed to some invisible opponent before turning to Keng and crooking a finger at her.

Keng was surprised. It was the first time Slade had ever invited her to approach. Cautiously Keng rose to her feet and skirted the garden rows until she came to the patch of grass near the fountain. There she halted and remained silent.

Slade stood straight and still as a statue, remaining expressionless for so long that Keng wondered if she was meant to speak first. As she debated on what she might say, Slade spoke at last. “Thirteen.”

Keng nodded.

Slade had a deeper voice than most women, but she always spoke in a soft manner, even when angry. “I’ve been tasked with providing your birthday gift.”

Keng wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she remained silent.

“Come,” Slade said, and stalked past Keng toward the stairs.

Keng scurried to catch up and fell into place a meter behind as they descended. Instead of turning into the house, Slade passed on, and Keng understood that they must be headed toward the security hut near the edge of the dome. That made Keng smile. She had always been forbidden from entering the ten meter protective zone circling the inner perimeter of the dome.

As they drew near the security hut, Slade motioned for Keng to stop, while she continued on. The hut’s door slid aside and Slade reached in and pulled forth two backpacks. Now Keng’s heartbeat raced and she gave a little hop in place. At last she was going to get to see the world outside the dome. Slade passed her a pack, and she felt the lumpy, hard-packed exterior with one hand before slipping it over her shoulders.

They stood near the edge of the dome, just off the paved road used by the auto-haulers that brought in supplies from the factories and farms outside. It was the nature of the dome that Keng could never catch a glimpse of the outside world, even when trucks were passing through. Her studies had taught her about the material used to create the dome, a synthetic substance that everyone called anaglass. Keng had never before been so close to it. She wanted to reach out and touch it, but she didn’t dare with Slade standing nearby.

“We’ll pass through in a moment,” Slade said, “but first prepare yourself.”

Keng wasn’t sure what Slade meant, so she took a moment to gather her thoughts. She knew what she should see beyond the dome, but studying something is far different from seeing the reality. The nearby surface of the dome shimmered and swirled with a deep blue that reminded her of Mother Magda’s tea cups. It looked solid, yet on a daily basis Keng watched auto-haulers pass in and out as if the wall were air. And when she looked up, the dome looked like a clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds. The afternoon sun was hidden beyond the buildings, but a pale sliver of moon showed overhead.

“How long is the day out there?”

Slade’s sudden question snapped Keng out of her reverie. “I don’t remember exactly. Less than eighteen hours.”

Slade nodded and said, “Let’s go.” She walked directly into and through the blue wall and vanished from sight.

Despite having watched so many people and vehicles pass through for years, Keng was nervous, as if touching the anaglass might shock her. She groped out with one hand and was surprised when she felt nothing at all upon passing it through the wall. Then she shrieked as a strong hand grasped her wrist and yanked her through.

Keng gasped. Everything looked wrong.

What’s the strangest thing you have ever had to research for your book?
I needed to find out if a certain metro station in Moscow had escalators or stairs. I used it all the time when I lived there, but I couldn’t remember which it had. I never did get an answer to that one, so I just took the liberty of putting escalators in. For the book I’m working on now I need to find out if it is possible for astronomers on Earth to not know about a star system that is relatively close to us, because it is ‘hidden’ behind another star or cluster of stars. It’s important to the story, so I need to track down an expert to answer this one for me!

What’s something you’re really good at that few people know about?
I’m pretty good at chess. It’s all relative, of course–when I play grandmasters they tend to beat me fairly easily. But I did tie for first place in the US Amateur Championship in 2001 (the last time I played in the US). I have a Master title in correspondence chess and an Expert title in classical chess.

Why did you choose to write in your genre? If you write in more than one, how do you balance them?
I always thought I would only write fantasy, so it’s funny that after my first fantasy novel I have turned more to science fiction. This happened because I decided one of my characters in the fantasy novel had originally been from Earth, so in order for his backstory to make sense, it had to have a pretty sci-fi basis. From there I kept having intriguing tech ideas that led to new stories. I do think I’ll return to fantasy at some point, especially since I have a whole new fantasy novel mapped out, but for now I’m trying to finish my next two sci-fi novels. What led me to these genres? Well, I just grew up loving fantasy and sci-fi far more than any other genre (with the exception of history books, which I always loved as well).

Where did your love of books come from?
I don’t remember ever not loving books. I learned to read very young, and I recall that when my mother asked me what present I wanted for my 5th birthday, I responded that I wanted ‘The Illustrated History of the World’. How many five year olds ask for that?

How long have you been writing?
About ten years now.

Do you have a day job in addition to being a writer? If so, what do you do during the day?
I’m a diplomat in the US Foreign Service. I’ve been doing this for twenty years now. I’m usually the chief of a section at an embassy, and my section is always in charge of communications. I always dreamed of getting to see the world while I was young enough to enjoy it, so I’m happy I got to live the dream.

Of all the characters you have created, which is your favourite and why?
My favorite is a character named Orcbait, from my fantasy novel ‘The Shard’. He doesn’t seem anything like a hero when you meet him–he’s elderly, ugly and a mute. Since he can’t speak, I tell his chapters from the point of view of his partner, a ranger named Edo, but Orcbait is really the primary character of that story arc. Everyone who reads that book tells me Orcbait is their favorite, which I think is a pretty nice accomplishment for a character that never says anything. His scene in the climax is one I get a lot of comments about, and it still gets to me every time I reread it.

When you’re writing, do you listen to music or do you need silence?
I need silence. I usually have the chapters mapped out in my mind, and I like to give the scenes a cinematic feel, so I prefer there be no distractions while I set my imagination loose to imagine how the scene would play if it were in a movie.

Who are your favourite authors, and why?
There are so many, but I suppose the major ones are J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Ursula Le Guin, Colleen McCullough, and Stephen King. I could really go on and on about so many more, but I’ll leave it at that.

Where can readers go to discover more about you and your books?
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