Today we are interviewing Gerald L. Coleman, Tabitha Lord, and Dr. Martin Elvis!

Gerald L. Coleman

Gerald L. Coleman is a Philosopher, Theologian, Poet, and Author residing in Atlanta. Born in Lexington, he did his undergraduate work in Philosophy and English at the University of Kentucky. He followed that by completing a degree in Religious Studies, concluding with a Master’s degree in Theology at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. His most recent poetry appears in, Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, Drawn To Marvel: Poems From The Comic Books, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel Vol. 18, Black Bone Anthology, the 10th Anniversary Issue of Diode Poetry Journal, and About Place Journal. He is a speculative fiction author with short stories published in these Anthologies: The Science Fiction, Cyberfunk Anthology: The City, the Rococoa Anthology by Roaring Lion, Terminus Urban Fantasy Anthology, and the Dark Universe: Bright Empire. He is the author of the Epic Fantasy novel saga The Three Gifts, which currently includes When Night Falls (Book One) and A Plague of Shadows (Book Two). He has been a Guest Author and Attending Professional at DragonCon, Boskone, Blacktasticon, JordanCon, Atlanta Science Fiction & Fantasy Expo, The Outer Dark Symposium, World Horror Con, and Imaginarium. He has recently joined the staff of WorldCon Dublin as its Programme Content Consultant, and Multiverse Con as a Director in programming. He is a co-founder of the Affrilachian Poets and has released three collections of poetry entitled the road is long, falling to earth, and microphone check. You can find him at geraldlcoleman.com

Visit Gerald on their Facebook, Twitter, and website.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

There are a few criteria I look at in determining whether I’ll go to, or return to, a convention. Is the Con Committee committed to inclusion at every level of the convention? What kind of members of fandom show up? Is the Con pushing fandom in a positive and constructive direction or is it comfortable being what it’s been for the past ten or twenty or thirty years? Do I, on a personal level, feel welcome? Boskone meets those expectations and so I’m willing to return to it if invited.

Authors: Fans often ask authors to talk about their favorite main characters, but what about the side characters? Who is one of your favorite sidekicks or secondary/tertiary characters who have had a lesser role in your work?

Ossassande Bantu A’ Omorede, the Commander General of the Peoples Company is the central protagonist of my epic fantasy series, The Three Gifts. A favorite secondary character is difficult to chose because I love all of them for different reasons. Maybe Zezza din’ Nightblinder? She’s a member of the ancient Order of the Ki’gadi. She’s young, powerful, wild, and filled with duty but with a strong sprinkling of independence, which has only been encouraged by her Master and teacher, Mino din’ Darksbane.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

The Rats of NIMH was a book I picked up in elementary school through scholastic. It opened my mind up to wonder, the fantastic, and fantasy. I Loved animated films like The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, LOTR, The Hobbit, Robin Hood, and later on Heavy Metal. That coupled with comics gave me a fundamental love and appreciation of the fantastical early on.

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

The replicator from Star Trek. It would solve a lot of problems like hunger, greed, inequality, etc. Second would be the Holodeck – go anywhere, be anyone, can you image the D&D games!? Lol. I’d be the Captain of a federation Starship every night of the week.

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Tabitha Lord

Tabitha’s HORIZON series has received seven independent book awards including the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize in 2016. Her short fiction has been featured on podcasts including Star Ship Sofa and Tales to Terrify, and in anthologies published by World Weaver Press, Grimbold Books, and more. In addition to writing novels and short fiction, Tabitha is a partner and senior writer for Book Club Babble and managing editor for the Inkitt Writer’s Blog. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband, four kids, and lovable fur babies.

Visit Tabitha on their Facebook, Twitter, and website.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

This is my first Boskone! I sign and sell my books at many Comic Cons around the country, and as much fun as they are, they are more celebrity centric. I’m thrilled to be at a conference focusing on all things science fiction. I can’t wait to talk to other science fiction writers and meet fellow fans of the genre.

Authors: Fans often ask authors to talk about their favorite main characters, but what about the side characters? Who is one of your favorite sidekicks or secondary/tertiary characters who have had a lesser role in your work?

When crafting side characters, it’s important that they help move the story forward and complement or challenge the main characters without overshadowing them. It’s a tall order, but just like the supporting cast in a movie, these side characters add flavor and complexity to the story.

In my Horizon series, I’m particularly fond of Lieutenant Finn Braden. He’s a member of the Amathi army, sent to destroy the neighboring settlement and home of the main character, Caeli. She survives this raid, is taken captive, and resettled in Alamath, where she’s recruited to a resistance movement by Finn himself.

I love Finn’s arc. He’s a soldier, drawn to serve, but when he’s forced to invade his neighbors’ home and kill innocents, he’s devastated. The resistance movement offers him a way to atone. His friendship with Caeli, and her forgiveness, earns him redemption. What I really love about Finn is that he doesn’t just feel bad about what he’s done, he owns it, and then risks his life over and over again in service of the very people he was originally taught to hate. Finn’s courage, in my opinion, makes him one of the most heroic characters in the story.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

I fell in love with science fiction at seven years old watching Star Wars with my dad. I saw the movie at a time when special effects were, well, special, and a story like this one had never been seen on the big screen. Spaceships, aliens, evil villains, reluctant heroes, and a bad-ass princess – everything a girl could ask for! I was obsessed. Every night I fell asleep to Jon Williams’ music playing on my record player (I still feel warm and fuzzy when I hear the theme). Model x-wing fighters hung from my bedroom ceiling, the Millennium Falcon I built with my dad had a light-up cockpit, my Empire Strikes Back lunchbox still had its thermos, and my Princess Leia action figure was the one with the real buns (you know – fake hair instead of plastic, and you could never fix it after you’d messed with it). When I attended my first Comic Con many years later, I realized I should have saved those toys. My collection would have rivaled any I’ve seen.

As a storyteller myself now, I am in awe of stories that touch the collective consciousness of millions, and this one sure did!

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Dr. Martin Elvis

Dr. Martin Elvis is a highly cited astrophysicist (over 30,000 peer citations) who has published some 400 papers on supermassive black holes, seen as quasars, out to the edge of the universe over the course of many years. Lately, concerned about the growing cost of space telescopes, he has turned to researching the astronomy needed to enable asteroid mining, with a view to cutting those costs in the long run. He has published widely on issues related to asteroid mining and the space economy. He is proud that he is (probably) the first professional astronomer to visit the Harvard Business School on business. He obtained one of the first PhDs in X-ray astronomy, and has worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ever since on a series of space X-ray telescopes, culminating with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Member of the Aspen Center for Physics, and is past-Chair of the Hubble Space Telescope Users’ Committee and of the High Energy Division of the American Astronomical Society. Asteroid 9283 Martinelvis is named after him. His book on asteroid mining should appear in 2020 from Yale University Press.

Visit Dr Martin Elvis on their Twitter.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

I’m 100% new to Boskone. In fact, I hadn’t heard of it until being invited!

What topics are you most looking forward to talking about at Boskone?

Whether Sci-Fi is imaginative enough about human expansion across the Solar System.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

A short story “The Wall”, byArthur C. Clarke, because it was mind-bending. And then many, many more.

What was your first book event or literary convention? Tell us about it! Perhaps you even have a photo to share?

This would be it.

What will you be working on in 2020? Any new releases or dates that fans should be looking forward to hearing about?

My popular (I hope) book on Asteroid Mining is almost ready with Yale University Press. It should be out next Fall.

Register for Boskone 57 today!