Interview Firstborn by Ryan Attard

Title: Firstborn
Author: Ryan Attard
Series: The Legacy Series
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Aec Stellar Publishing, Inc.
Release Date: Dec 13 2013
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print
Synopsis:

There’s a war raging between the forces of Heaven and Hell; and, as if he didn’t have enough to deal with from his own issues, his sister has chosen the wrong side.

Meet Erik Ashendale, wizard.

He solves all kinds of problems of a magical and freaky nature. And he's usually up for hunting down the supernatural, especially when his rent's due.

In his first full-length novel of The Legacy Series, Erik and his unlikely companions have to square off against angels, demons, and an ancient Japanese monster.

Interview 

Hello and thanks for stopping by and visiting with us today.  It is so nice to have Ryan Attard here.  Readers I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did.  Oh, hold on while Ryan and I grab our favorite beverage.

What do you do when you are not writing? 

This is my full time gig so even when I’m not physically tapping on the keyboard I am on a constant lookout for ideas. I like the usual stuff, you know – movies, listening to music, watching episodes of my favorite shows on the internet. And of course, I always make time for some training since I spend way too much time sitting down.

Where do you get your ideas? 

A very long history of being a nerd. One could call it a lifetime even. I have no idea where I get my ideas from. I suppose everyone has those crazy notions in their head – it’s just a matter of listening and how far are you willing to go with it.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult? 

There are way too many books which, put together, made the Ryan who is answering this question today. However I always pointed towards Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files  - I remember catching up to the series and thinking “I don’t wanna wait for this guy to write the next book. I know, I’ll write my own book and entertain myself. The rest is history – and it’s all on Amazon.”

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published? 

Well having a book that wasn’t well edited might have wrecked a few of my chances. The challenge in publishing is always the same: persistence. After two years of trying and failing I finally came in contact with AEC Stellar Publishing who for some reason liked my book and signed me on. Two edits and a book cover later and I was officially published.

How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre? 

Well I could go into detail about marketing but no one wants to read an essay so I’ll keep it short. Step 1: Build a platform. Essentially a website, a home base. Mine is my site (provided downwards) and I also host my podcast, The Lurking Voice.

Step 2: Know what you’re selling. Essentially ‘know thyself’. My style is whacky, crazy, full of pop culture references, lots of immature jokes. That’s my angle, so if I write a blog post or post on social media, it’s going to be in that style. Of course I write more seriously, but it’s good to have a mix of both. My podcast on the other hand is a nuthouse.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your book or getting it published that you would change? 

Well, given that my manager usually has to pry a manuscript from my perfectionist OCD hands, I guess if left to my own devices I would just keep changing stuff. So that’s not a good idea.

I suppose my only regret is that I hadn’t started earlier in my writing career. And the only reason for that is that I have so many cool ideas in my head I want to see them written down as soon as humanly possible.

Tell us about the first story you ever wrote and how old you were?

Oh god, please don’t hold this against me. I was about 13 or so, and this English teacher had us write an essay in class and I took an Enid Blyton short story I had read the day before, kept the same plot, but changed all the characters. The darn thing was over 20 pages long and the teacher made me stay after class to finish it properly.

And thus two things were born – the voices in my head and my dislike for authority.

Do you prefer to live in a big city or in the country?

I like in Malta, a tiny, tiny island in the Mediterranean. Are you kidding me?? Big city all the way. Give me Starbucks and noise pollution any day over this doze-fest of a country. That’s my main financial goal right now – save up for the very expensive flight and go live some placed which made it past the 1800’s.

JUST FOR FUN

Night Owl or Early Bird? 

Night all the way. I’m positively allergic to the sun. Also, I’m a hoot (see what I did there? Remember when I said ‘immature jokes’? )

One food you would never eat? 

Puffer fish (cos no one in their right minds should pay for a near death experience.) Or any meat with blood in it. Not even vampires drink cow blood, so that’s a sign that we should all stay the heck away from it.

Pet Peeves? 

I have a touch of OCD so anyone stepping into my territory and moving things by a micro millimeter deserves the death penalty. Also, people who pronounce the ‘T’ in ‘often’. People who touch food and then put it back in place. People who let their dogs crap everywhere. People who talk too loudly and go “woooo!!!” for no freakin’ reason.

. . . Wait, did you just want one pet peeve?

Plain or Peanut ( M&Ms)? 

Both. Although I go with plain cos peanuts love taking residence up my trachea and attempt to choke me to death.

Coffee or Tea? 

Why is this even a question? Coffee. More coffee. And some more coffee.

Places to find Firstborn 

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Books A Million (BAM)

iTunes/iBooks

Kobo

Smashwords

Goodreads