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B55 Mini Interviews with James Moore, Darlene Marshall, John P. Murphy & Vincent O’Neil – Boskone 60
February 17-19, 2023 — Westin Boston Seaport District
James A. Moore is the author of over forty novels, including the critically acclaimed Fireworks, Under The Overtree, Blood Red, Blood Harvest, the Serenity Falls trilogy (featuring his recurring anti-hero, Jonathan Crowley) Cherry Hill, Alien: Sea of Sorrows and the Seven Forges series of novels. He has twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and spent three years as an officer in the Horror Writers Association, first as Secretary and later as Vice President. Never one to stay in one genre for too long, James has recently written epic fantasy novels in the series Seven Forges (Seven Forges, The Blasted Lands, City of Wonders and The Silent Army), and the third of his urban fantasy-crime novels in the Griffin & Price series co-authored with Charles R. Rutledge, A Hell Within was released last October. He is working on a new series called The Tides Of War. The first book The Last Sacrifice, came out last year and the sequel, Fallen Gods, in January in 2018. Visit his website, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @JamesAMoore.
What is your favorite Boskone memory or experience?
There is a place where people cram bring books for exchange. No cost is accrued, but a great number of books change hands. I had a friend of mine bring over a copy of my first ever published novel House of Secrets and I was so amused that I asked him here he got it. He looked at me and said, “Right there, It was free.” He looked like a kid at Christmas. I was thoroughly flattered.
If you could relive your first experience with any book or film, which one would you pick? What is it about this book or film that you want to experience again for the “first time?”
Bladerunner. The sumptuous visuals and deeply engaging plot line made that one of my favorite ever first run movies.
Looking back at your work, which character, piece of art, song, poem, article, etc. stands out as an all-time favorite? What is it about this piece that makes it stand out for you?
I did a short story called “Spirits” under a very, very tight deadline (24 hours) and had absolutely no time to think about or reflect on what I was writing, the end result was so much better than I expected and I can’t say that happens all that often.
In the realm of “truth is stranger than fiction,” what experience from your past would people never believe if it were written into a story?
Almost getting into a fist fight with actor James Doohan. I call it a near-death experience, because it was a Star Trek convention and I’m pretty sure the people thee would have killed me for decking Scotty.
When was the last time you dressed up for Halloween? What costume did you wear?
I was seven the first time I got to decide what I was going to wear for Halloween. I was the Gillman from the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?
I am finishing up the third and final book in the Tides of War series. I’ve never actually written a fantasy series that wasn’t deliberately open ended. This is apocalyptic. I’m not even sure at this moment if there will be a world left by the time I’m done. It’s invigorating and at the same time is helping me finish my science fiction apocalyptic novel, Spores. In all honestly I was hesitant to be that mean, but I’m feeling better about it now. 🙂
If you were building a team of 3 (super)heroes to save the world from this trio of (super)villains: The Night King (GOT), the Emperor (Star Wars), and The Master/Missy (Doctor Who), who would you pick? The only catch is that you can’t pick characters from the GOT, Star Wars, or Doctor Who universes. Share why you chose your 3 (super)heroes.
Batman (He’s just plain meaner and better at working out the details than the bad guys are.) Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme. he’s got the Emperor’s Force powers whupped, and can probably cure the Night King.) and finally Superman (who can clean up almost any issue faster than the bad guys can realize there’s a problem.)
Darlene Marshall writes award-winning historical romance featuring pirates, privateers, smugglers, and the occasional possum. She loves working at a job where business attire is shorts and a shirt festooned with pink flamingos and palm trees. Marshall lives in North Central Florida, a convenient location for putting the convertible top down and researching sites of great historical significance, which also happen to be at the beach and serve mojitos. Marshall’s day job is writing romance, but her hobby is science fiction fandom. She’s been a broadcast and print journalist, news anchor, radio station owner and obituary writer. She’s a regular blogger at the Heroes & Heartbreakers website (owned by Macmillan Publishing), and is the section leader for Erotic Writing at Compuserve’s Books and Writers Community. Her novels, available in ebook and print from the usual suspects, include Sea Change, The Bride and the Buccaneer, Castaway Dreams, and Smuggler’s Bride. Visit her website, find her on Facebook or Twitter.
There are a number of conventions that you could attend. What is it about Boskone that makes you want to attend this convention?
Who doesn’t want to leave Florida for Boston in February??? Clearly, there’s a strong attraction to Boskone and over the years I’ve found it a perfect balance of programming and entertainment in a quality venue. I always come away from Boskone with fresh knowledge on the craft of writing and quality time spent with friends and fans both old and new.
What is your favorite Boskone memory or experience?
Snowcon! My very first Boskone (2003) we were snowed in, trapped in a luxury hotel (with our party supplies) adjacent to a mall with a huge food court. All things considered, there are worse places to ride out a record setting blizzard.
If you could relive your first experience with any book or film, which one would you pick? What is it about this book or film that you want to experience again for the “first time?”
I wish I could always recapture the “sense of wonder” I felt when I read The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. It opened my eyes to what science fiction could be and while it wasn’t the first science fiction book I read, it may have been the first one that made me want to grab people and say, “Read this!”
Looking back at your work, which character, piece of art, song, poem, article, etc. stands out as an all-time favorite? What is it about this piece that makes it stand out for you?
I’m fond of all my characters, even when they’re driving me nuts because they won’t do what I want them to do. I have a special fondness for Daphne, the heroine of Castaway Dreams. I’m a big fan of the film Born Yesterday, and Daphne reminded me of Judy Holiday in that classic take on politics, education, cynicism and love.
When was the last time you dressed up for Halloween? What costume did you wear?
Just this year, and I was a pirate captain, of course.
What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?
I’m working on a story that may feature the son of the pirate hero from The Pirate’s Secret Baby. It’s slow going though–I always find it more difficult to write “nice guys” than pirates. Go figure.
John P. Murphy is an engineer and Nebula-nominated writer living in the greater Boston area. In his day job he works in network security; in his fiction he’s interested in mysteries in science fiction and fantasy. His fiction has appeared in venues including F&SF, Daily Science Fiction, and Nature Magazine. He’s originally from West Virginia and has a hobby roasting coffee. Visit his website or follow him on Twitter @dolohov.
There are a number of conventions that you could attend. What is it about Boskone that makes you want to attend this convention?
You wouldn’t think I’d look forward to Boston in February, would you? And I don’t. BUT it’s the perfect time for a whole lot of my favorite people to start getting grumpy about winter and want to go spend a weekend together and talk about all the stuff we’ve been thinking about and reading over the long winter months. Although I’ve been repeatedly told we’re not allowed to set fires, it’s the old “huddle round the big fireplace” dynamic at work. By February it’s been too cold and too dark for too long, and Boskone always attracts so many people I particularly want to talk to and listen to. By the time the weekend’s over, I’m full of ideas and fired up for new projects.
If you could relive your first experience with any book or film, which one would you pick? What is it about this book or film that you want to experience again for the “first time?”
Cowboy Bebop, the anime series directed Shinichiro Watanabe. There’s just something about that first blast of music that made me sit back and say “whoa.” I knew I was in for something special, but didn’t quite know what. Getting to know the characters in all their colorful glory, coming to understand who they really were a bit at a time, and the slow realization that Watanabe wouldn’t go easy on them. I remember being stunned by that ending, simultaneously believing it couldn’t be possible and knowing it was inevitable.
What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?
I’m working on kind of a cross between a space opera and a samurai flick, going by the tentative title Red Noise. It’s a bit outside my wheelhouse, since I don’t usually write much action, but it’s letting me draw on a whole different set of inspirations and old favorites, to try to capture the feel of some of my favorite old stories and movies in a fresh setting.
Vincent H. O’Neil is the Malice Award-winning author of the Frank Cole mysteries (Murder in Exile, Reduced Circumstances, Exile Trust, and Contest of Wills) as well as the theater-themed mystery Death Troupe. Writing under the name Henry V. O’Neil, he recently finished his five-novel military science fiction Sim War series with HarperCollins. Those books are Glory Main, Orphan Brigade, Dire Steps, CHOP Line, and Live Echoes. A graduate of West Point, Vincent is originally from Massachusetts and now resides in Cranston, Rhode Island. Visit his website or find him on Facebook.
What is your favorite Boskone memory or experience?
My favorite experience was at my very first Boskone. George R.R. Martin was there, and one afternoon he read from one of the books in his Song of Ice and Fire series. It was a tremendous experience, and Standing Room Only. On a related note, I attend a wide range of conventions, and some of them have lots of cosplayers and celebrity impersonators. When I was checking in at Boskone for the first time, George R.R. Martin was in the lobby speaking with some people. I saw him, and for some bizarre reason my brain said, “Oh look, a George R.R. Martin impersonator.” I blame lack of caffeine for that one.
If you could relive your first experience with any book or film, which one would you pick? What is it about this book or film that you want to experience again for the “first time?”
I really like this question. My favorite book is also my favorite film –The Godfather. Although I read the novel before seeing the movie, I still remember the excitement of watching certain key scenes play out on the screen. WARNING: SPOILERS. The scene where Michael Corleone is in the restaurant with the gangster Sollozzo and the crooked police Captain McCluskey really carried me away the first time I saw it, even though I already knew how it ended. When Michael excuses himself to go the bathroom (where a gun has been hidden for him) my pulse was already elevated. In the movie, he reaches up where the weapon is supposed to be waiting, and at first he can’t find it. For a second or two I actually wondered if the gun had been misplaced, even though I knew it was there. Then, when he comes back out and sits down with the weapon under his jacket, I felt like I was actually sitting there with him. Sollozzo begins speaking again, but Michael’s too worked up to catch much of it. Al Pacino’s eyes start darting around just as you hear the screech of a street car, and my heart was actually racing for the long moments before he stands up and guns the two men down. I’ve seen that sequence many times since then, but it’s never been the same. I think I was identifying so powerfully with Michael’s motivation to protect his father and his family from this deadly pair that I was basically in his shoes. That’s the film experience I’d like to relive.
What are you working on now? What excites or challenges you about this project?
I recently completed the fifth and final novel in my military science fiction Sim War series (published by HarperCollins under the name Henry V. O’Neil) and decided to write short stories for a bit. Over the years I’ve switched back and forth across full-length novels, screenplays, and short stories because each type requires a different kind of writing and I think it’s good discipline. It’s also fun. My most recent short story is a fantasy tale, more sword than sorcery but definitely containing magic, and the inspiration came to me under unusual circumstances. A little over a year ago I was hospitalized with an emergency appendectomy, and was reading a history of the Borgia family in Renaissance Italy while I recovered. The author of that book could really paint pictures with words, and before I knew it I had an idea about a banished soldier of fortune returning to the city of his birth on the one night that exiles are allowed to come home–and no dueling challenge can be refused. I took my time writing that one, and feel it turned out quite well. It’s called Prodigals’ Night.