Carina Guest: Kaz Augustin

Hello all. I’m another one of those Carina Press authors. We’re blocking all the intertubes at the moment, aren’t we? 🙂 Before I begin, I’d like to thank Joely for having me here. It really is a pleasure meeting all of you.

I was wondering what to write about, and going through the comments on Joely’s past posts, and I thought of…games. And school. And how things come from unexpected places.

Our son, The Wast, had a problem when he was about six. No matter what we tried, we couldn’t get him interested in learning. He couldn’t count from one to ten and got lost in his alphabet after “B”. There was no dearth of opinions about him, from being autistic to having major nervous system dysfunction to being severely handicapped. And I know this sounds like every parent who believes their child is an Utter Genius, but none of these off-the-cuff diagnoses seemed right to us. He was a bright child, liked to talk and draw, but just couldn’t get his head around maths and language.

Now, my husband J and I like playing games. And one that particularly caught our fancy at that time was “Spooky Castle” from Hamumu Software, a small indie game developer. It doesn’t have spectacular graphics or complex story lines but it was overflowing with fun and humour and, when you’ve had a hard day at work, there’s nothing better than killing zombies, vampires and skeletons with a hammer! The Wast would walk past and give sideways glances to the game as I played. Then he would settle on my lap and watch. It didn’t take too long for him to reach for the keyboard and try it for himself. And then the learning began. “There are three skeletons in that room. Think you’re fast enough to beat them?” “Put the mouse over that monster. Can you read what it’s called? Let’s spell it out first.” And before I knew it, our son was counting and reading with the best of them.

We’re settled in Malaysia at the moment, and we keep hearing about how “computer games” are evil incarnate. The principal at our children’s school even tells the children that if he hears of any of them playing games, he’ll come to their homes and confiscate the equipment! Of course it’s all bluster but, more importantly, it’s a narrow-minded way of looking at things. Of course we don’t let our children play games six hours a day, but surely there’s a happy, child-customised medium somewhere between “all day” and “not at all”?

What does this have to do with writing books? A few things. First of all, you never know where inspiration will come from. Second, what inspires you may not inspire anyone else, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. And, most importantly, try not to accept anything just because it’s accepted wisdom. Think a little. That’s what I like about science-fiction. It makes me think. That’s why I write it.

IN ENEMY HANDS

The Republic had taken everything from Moon―her research partner, her privacy, her illusions. They thought they had her under control. They were wrong.

Srin Flerovs, Moon’s new research partner, is a chemically enhanced maths genius whose memory is erased every two days.

While he and Moon work on a method of bringing dead stars back to life, attraction between them flares, but that poses its own problem. How can their love survive when Srin forgets Moon every two days?

When she discovers the lethal applications her research can be put to, Moon knows she and Srin are nothing more than pawns in a much larger game. Together, they must escape the clutches of the Republic before they become its scapegoats. But there are too many walls around them, too many eyes watching. They want to run, but they’re trapped on a military vessel in the depths of space, and time is running out….

* My website and my blog.  You can also track me down on Facebook and Twitter. Just look for “ksaugustin”.

COMPETITION: I’m giving away two copies of IN ENEMY HANDS at my blog, Fusion Despatches. To be in the draw, stop by and comment at the Competition post, telling me at which blog you read about my book. You have till 30 June!