Roy C. Booth hails from Bemidji, MN where he manages Roy's Comics & Games with his wife and three sons. He is a published author, comedian, poet, journalist, essayist, screenwriter, and internationally awarded playwright with nearly 60 plays published (Samuel French, Heuer, et al) with 800+ productions worldwide in 29 countries in ten languages. He is also known for collaborations with R Thomas Riley, Brian Keene, Eric M. Heideman, William F. Wu, and others (along with his presence on the regional convention circuit). See his entry on Wikipedia, his Facebook page, and his publishers' sites for more.
Roy was also the recent winner of ten 17th Annual Preditors & Editors Awards including Best Poet, Best Poem, Best Editor, and Best Steam Punk Short Story for "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Man-Made Vacuum" (w/. Nicholas Johnson, Harren Press).
Links:
My USA Amazon page: www.amazon.com/author/
My UK Amazon page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
We asked Roy a bunch of questions about Altered States
Take a flight of the imagination to near-future cyberpunk worlds, travel beyond the stars, and to divergent universes like and unlike our own. Travel to the enigmas of science and time…travel to the altered states of the mind.
Stories by upcoming and established cyberpunk/sci- fi authors, curated by Roy C Booth and Jorge Salgado-Reyes.
This anthology represents the very first publication of science fiction by Indie Authors Press.
Tell us a bit about the book, who's in it and what's the idea behind it?
Jorge is a huge cyberpunk fan and knew I had written/edited the genre before, although I'm more of a traditional science fiction writer myself, so when we decided upon on an inaugural project, Altered States seemed to be the most logical choice. And we managed to get some very good writers, veteran and new alike, involved with the project such as CJ Cherryh, John Shirley, Paul Levinson, William F. Wu, R. Thomas Riley, and others.
This isn't your first anthology but is a first for Indie Authors Press -- did it present any new challenges?
Just the usual growing pains that come with the first major project of a new press and the fact that we were trying to coordinate all of this from two continents seeing as I'm in Minnesota and he's in Chile. For the most part, it's been a great arrangement with good results.
How did you go about choosing the contributors and/or stories?
We filled the book with half invites, half open submissions. We used our connections to get CJ Cherryh, John Shirley, William F. Wu, and Paul Levinson to contribute along with a few others. Beyond that, it was a question balancing older styles with new, and I think we succeeded with a nice complimentary in that regard.
You also write novels, plays and poems - what form do you prefer?
It comes and it goes, actually. Right now I'm on a solo horror short story kick, for example, but I can definitely tell that I want to get back on the stage soon and start working on a new play seeing as I just recently celebrated my 800th known confirmed production worldwide. I like to say that I have two Muses: One that keeps me on the straight and narrow with my prose and poetry, the other is my Mistress, the stage. Oh, she's fickle, demanding, and more than a bit of a tease, but when she's good, ohhh, she is sooo good... I need to get back to her and soon.
How do you feel about flash fiction?
I love writing it, especially drabbles, which, as you know, need to be exactly 100 words. Like writing for the stage, you really can't pad flash fiction. It all has to be precise and concise, a true economy of words and plotting that has to be tight and on the mark. Now, if it only paid the bills...
What do you think makes a good short story?
The ability to have you still thinking about it in a “positive” manner well after you've read it. The best stories, although entertaining, make us think and explore ideas (and emotions) we very well may not have experienced in any other way.
What are you working on at the moment? (apart from this interview of course)
I'm working on ten novels, solo and in collaboration, that range from 30K to 110K words in length already, from horror to science fiction/fantasy to mystery/suspense. There are the aforementioned horror stories that will soon give way to a series of cyberpunk shorts that I've been contracted for. I have a few more anthologies to edit. More script work, film and stage, and a whole bunch of other projects that I cannot discuss at the moment due to various nondisclosure agreements and the like.
You've worked with some of the most exciting names in SF&F is there anyone you've not yet worked with that you'd like to?
You know, I sort of just let that sort of thing happen, seems to work out better that way. I do a lot of conventions and a lot of panels and I am always doing one with someone I end up working with, like with Brian Keene and William F. Wu, both whom I've done plays with, for example. Both were Guests of Honor who shared some key panels with me. We'd get to talking afterward and next thing you know, we've got a project together. I'm already booked for seven conventions this year, who knows who'll ask me to work with them, or vice versa, after a panel or three?
Who are you currently working with that you think we need to be reading?
Axel Kohagen, my collaborator on the recently sold horror novel Orphans (Dark Fantasy Press) and a slew of other horror tales and novels we have in the works. His solo work is far darker and/or artsier than what I generally do, but he's dedicated to the craft and does his darndest to deliver.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
Talking about writing is one thing, actually sitting down and doing it is quite another.
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