Indie Author Week - Bruce Arrington

Today's Spotlight moves on over to another awesome, Indie Sci-fi Author, Bruce Arrington! Last year I reviewed the first book in his MG/YA series, Josh Anvil and loved it! Now he has released Book Two, Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon. You can read my review of Book One, HERE.

I love a great story, especially in the realms of fantasy and/or science fiction. There is nothing quite like immersing myself into another wonderful world of imagination.

It is tremendously motivating to me when a young reader, excited about the stories I write, asks me when the "next one" will be out. This is one of the most fulfilling things I have experienced as an author, and I consider myself fortunate. 

I live in a small town with my loving wife, three adventurous teenagers, an overly fed beagle, and three feisty cats. 

Bruce can be found on:

GOODREADS / WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

Hello Bruce, it's great to have you in Spotlight Sci-fi Saturday! I enjoyed the first book in the Josh Anvil series and can't wait to learn a bit about the sequel! Tell us your main inspiration behind this novel? 

Preface: First of all, I want to thank Jill Marie for providing my first official review, last year, for the Josh Anvil Series! Yeah, go Jill! She has consistently demonstrated her love and support for indie authors and I really appreciate her work!

Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon is the second in the middle grades/YA series that follows Josh Anvil in his adventures with aliens and powers. The original ideas came from wanting to write stories that I would like to watch on the big screen—action, science fiction, and comedy, to list a few. So far, I am pleased with how the series is progressing. 

Was self-publishing your first choice? What was the most nerve wracking part of the process? 

For the second book, self-publishing was my first choice. Originally I had wanted to publish this through conventional means (i.e., publishing houses), but it looked like that was not going anywhere. At the same time, the self-publishing formats became readily available and more popular, so I joined with the self-published authors. 

The most nerve-wracking part? Wow, there few a few. Again, going back to the first book, I was afraid that it wasn’t quite done. I wanted to stay with it and keep working at it until I had it perfect. Fortunately, I let it go and went on to this second book. The other stressful part was getting the formats ready, for either paper publishing or e-book publishing, and for e-books, that still remains a challenge. To be fair, some platforms have become easy to use and look great, but others are still lagging a bit. 

As a self-published author, did you choose to edit your novel yourself? What was the biggest change you made to the story and/or characters? 

Editing a novel by myself is like pretending I am a doctor and sitting there operating on my own body. Wow, that just... doesn’t... work! I have read advice to the contrary, but I don’t buy it. Spending the money for a good editor (proofreader, whatever you are looking for) really pays off and gives the story a professional edge. Finding a good editor can be challenging, but they are out there. 

Do you have any unusual writing habits that aide your process and/or character development? 

Yep, there sure is. I sit and wait before I move on to the next scene. It has to come to me and I have to see it in my mind before I will allow myself to write it. I could never sit down and crank out a novel in 3 months, simply because the story does not come to me that way. The majority of the reviews I have had so far highlight my creativity and/or imagination, and I think that’s where the secret lies. Don’t write it down if you don’t see it and it’s not awesome. Allow yourself to picture it and make it great. 

Is there one passage or scene from Josh Anvil and the Pivotal Weapon that you are most fond of?

I really don’t want to give anything away. I know that might sound backward, but I let the reviews do the talking and hope they don’t give everything away either! I really want my readers to be surprised and enjoy the story first hand.

Thanks so much Bruce for all your kind words! I really believe in supporting out indie author community. I look forward to continuing Josh's adventures in Book Two!

A broken world.

A dominant alien race.

A pivotal weapon that can turn the tide of an eternal, interstellar war.

Josh and Troy are caught between helping their friends in peril, and finding their way back home to Earth. But the longer they stay, the deeper they plunge into a war with impossible odds, fighting an alien race that has brought thousands of civilizations to ruin.

Josh finds someone who has the power to end everything he cares about on Earth, and it's a good bet that Raga will use her to do just that. Josh's mission is to make sure that doesn't happen.

The Josh Anvil series is available in paperback 

from CREATESPACE

And in digital form from 

AMAZON / B&N