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| Ngaire Victoria Elder |
In the name of Don Quixote, what the
heck was it doing there! I blamed the kids, and the kids blamed the dog … you work it
out!
Anyway, what does this have to do with today’s guest, Keith
Nichols? Absolutely nothing. I was going to tell you about the dead cat I
picked up by the tail (its tail came off), but I‘ll save that tale for another
day.
 |
| Talented and multi-genred author, Keith Nichols |
Need to move on dear Wizardwatchers, here comes the Ed with
his bendy wand!
______________________________
Hi
Keith
Hi Ngaire. It's great to be on the show!
Lovely
to see you here. Keith, tell the Wizardwatchers a bit about yourself?
A bit about myself. I was born a poor Irish lad, on the lost
island of Scotlandia. At the age of 15 I migrated to the US and taught myself
how to read and speak English. No, not really. I was born in Tacoma Washington.
I grew up on a wheat farm in Colorado. My father was a scientist and artist. My
mother is an artist as well. I am the youngest son of 16 children.
 |
| Keith Nichols |
When
did you first realise you wanted to be a writer and what inspired you to write
your first book? 
My first book was written as an English class project, my
teacher at the time Mr Wiley told me all I had to do to pass his class was
write a novel. (hahahaha…Ed) So I did, and I did. I never really wanted to
be a writer, I just figured if I was going to write, I might as well try to
make some money from it.
What are you working on now?
 |
| Non fiction.. |
My current projects are numerous. I am working on a book
co-authored by my cat. I am working on a parody of everything that has been
popular for the past ten years called 'Best selling Book'. I am also plodding
away at a space opera parody thingy.
 |
| ...to making stuff up.. |
Keith you write both fiction and non-fiction, which do
you prefer?
I prefer to write non-fiction, mostly because it’s so much
easier for me then all that tedious making stuff up. Although, making things up
is actually a lot of what I call non-fiction.
E.G Too Writ
(Ed says: I read this book a few weeks back. Non fiction. All about writing, writers, publishers and editors. For 77p and/or $1 its an informative read. Had an author I know read this before he mithered me unmercifully about the publication date of his short story, he might still be part of an anthology I'm compliling. Definitely worth a gander. Okay, back to the show.)
Did
certain parts of any of your books make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you
feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect
of your life you might not have thought about before? I once wrote a sex scene for my book Nuramans Endgame,
(before it was ever published in any form) and I based the scene on an actual
event from real life. Pretty uncomfortable bit. I deleted it from the final
version of the book, it was just too weird for me. I learned that I can't write
sex stuff at all. |
| Keith Nichols - much more comfortable with tug boats than tug books. The highly rated Virginia X |
I read Virginia X, Keith. I really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed that one, Ngaire. I'm partial to tug boats.
If you
had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel(s) or
getting it/them published that you would change?
I suppose I would
change the part where I don't get a huge advance.
How
would you react to a bad review of your book?
Often I manage to completely ignore a bad review for days
before I am forced to comment on it. And usually this comment is something
along the lines of 'You are a big doodie head'.
What
type of writer are you, Keith, a 2000 word a day scribbler or a ‘whenever,
wherever’ writer?
I am a whenever whatever writer. Sometimes I will go months
with barely writing anything. Then I will write a book in a weekend.
What
has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the
best compliment?My little zombie
short story has been reviewed as 'rubbish'. That was pretty hard to take. I
like my little zombie. Best compliment is when I was compared to Clive Cussler.
I beamed over that for a month. |
| A book Keith could have written. |
Your
hobbies include astronomy and ‘rat rod’ fabrication, of which you published
books about (How to Build a Rat Rod
Roadster Body and How to find chose
and buy your own telescope: A guide for students and parents). Tell us more...Well, I think that
pretty much covers it. I build cars from scrap, and then I drive the cars to
car shows and make lots of people either very happy or very angry. Both of
these books, the rat rod book and the astronomy book were written in a weekend.
I wrote the astronomy book mostly because I feel people don't understand how to
get a telescope. I felt it was up to me to spread the word to the masses. |
| Isaac Newton's first telescope |
Who
is/are your favourite author(s) and why?
My favorite author of
all time was Tolkien. Because he was Tolkien. I love Douglas Adams. Alastair
Reynolds is writing the best sci-fi in 20 years. Terry Pratchett makes me
giggle in public.
 |
| Top Sci-Fi from Alistair Reynolds. A comeback for the genre overdue? |
Describe
a typical day in the life of Keith Nichols. Well my day starts around 10 in the morning, when my wife
decides I should get out of bed. I have some coffee, sit in front of the
computer for an hour or two and get ready for my day at the regular job. I then
spend ten hours a night watching a large CNC machine drill holes, and often I
will work on books while it’s running. I usually get home from work around 2 in
the morning, I have a small bite to eat, sit in front of the computer and Facebook
for way too long. Then I get dragged off to bed by my wife. Repeat.
If you
could invite 2 famous people to dinner who would they be and what would you
discuss?
I would invite David
Morell and Tom Cruise over to dinner and we would talk about espionage
thrillers and their impact on monastary recruitment.
Do you
get road rage? What pisses you off the most about other drivers?
I get awful road rage, but oddly it’s often directed at me.
I drive lots of strange cars, from the Frankentruck to the MG Midget. I get
flipped off a lot. The thing that other drivers do that really gets to me is
driving on the road.
| Keith spots the troll who dissed his zombie short while in a traffic jam, |
You and
a couple of friends have resurrected the Virginia X from her watery-grave and
overhauled her. Armed with your food and drink supplies you set sail.
Unfortunately you didn’t brush up on your navigational skills and hit a rocky
seabed, tearing a small hole in her hull. What 3 books, 2 dvds and 1 cd did you
pack to ease your boredom whilst your shipmates pumped out the bilge.
I would take all 3 of
the Revelation Space Series, by Reynolds.
Clutch Elephant Riders is the cd...
...and
both Expendables movies.
And
finally, where can fans of Keith Nichols find out more?
I have a good authors page on Amazon, and of course my Facebook
page is a very good place.
Keith, it's been a pleasure having you on the show and we look forward to you coming back. Thank you.It's been a blast, Ngaire. Thank you....
Contact:
my youtube channel
my amazon authors page
NB: The editor of the Wizard's Cauldron would like to point out that the road rage attack picture above is entirely fictional and nothing whatsoever to do with Keith wearing an outlaw mask during this interview. Honest, guv.
and Ngaire
