Eric has been a voracious reader of science fiction, military fiction, and history all his life. Several years ago, he put fingers to the keyboard and started writing his own military sci-fi, with a definite space opera slant, using many of his own experiences as a soldier for inspiration.
When he is not writing fiction, Eric indulges in his other passions: photography, hiking, and scuba diving, all of which he shares with his wife.
What kind of books do you write?
My books all take place in the
same universe at a time when humanity has spread across the stars thanks to the
invention of faster-than-light travel. Unfortunately, our descendants are still
scheming, politicking, and quarrelling with each other, just like their ancestors
and stop only to fight off non-human adversaries. My protagonists are all
dedicated to preserving and, if need be, rebuilding human civilization across
the stars in the knowledge we are our worst enemies.
Can you describe your writing why?
I wanted to become a writer when I was in my twenties and disenchanted with my career prospects, but back then, ebooks didn’t exist and self-publishing was known as vanity publishing. Fast-forward twenty years and I discovered KDP. As a lark, I published my two best novels, written two decades earlier and actually made sales right off the bat. It brought back my old dreams of exiting the corporate rat race (by then I was an IT executive) and becoming a full-time writer so I could finally find the motivation to put decades of story ideas on paper and create my own future universe. I retired eighteen months later and can’t see myself do anything else with my life but writing and publishing. In other words, I’m living my dream every day.
Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most
You know, after 22 novels, it gets kind of blurry. I can’t really point at a favourite. All have been equally enjoyable and painful to write. I suppose the ones that do stick with me the most are the emotional scenes, which, in military sci-fi are rather rare. One of the best I’ve written, at least insofar as it can still bring tears to my eyes, is the last chapter of When the Guns Roar which is a farewell scene. It’s rather lengthy, so I won’t reproduce it here, and you can’t really get the full impact unless you’ve not only read the book but also the five previous ones in the series and are invested in the main character. Most of my books have at least one scene that tugs at the emotions, especially those of military veterans who can relate.
Tell us about your latest project
I’m working on the third instalment
in my Ghost Squadron series at the moment, for a late September publication
date. It’s titled Die Like the Rest. The series is a saga covering the transformation
of humanity’s democratic (and highly flawed) interstellar Commonwealth into an
empire as seen through the eyes of Special Forces operators fighting the little
wars of peace that spur on this transformation. Ghost Squadron is the linkage —
chronologically — between my earlier ones and another series that covers the
end of that empire a thousand years later.
What is your favourite cake?
Cherry cheesecake.
You can connect with Eric at his website: https://www.thomsonfiction.ca/
Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with Veronica Scott.
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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find out more about her books on her website clairebuss.co.uk. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop. Never miss out on future posts by following me.
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