Interview With Sci-Fi Author Charles Joseph Giovinco Henry

 

1. What inspired you to write this book?

This book stemmed from a recurring nightmare that I had in 2001. The character and creature designs spawned from characters I had been drawing since I was in high-school.  But then a story started brewing in which the characters could come to life.  The nightmare led to me to draw a comic book.  But after 20 pages, I realized this would take me forever to draw the story.  I began writing a screenplay under the guidance of a former colleague.  I registered with WGA, and copyrighted all my character designs, and spent 2 years trying to get an agent to pick up the screenplay.  The industry is hard to break into.  Especially since as a screenwriter, I am not allowed to be a director.  By that rule, SO much content is lost and evaporated away from the story.  In 2010, my wife convinced me that a Novel would be the way to go.  I could be my own director.  She saw some of my writing and was surprised that she actually liked it.  I tasked her to create a biological agent that would allow part of my plot device to work.  She did so, and did so in the format of a chapter.  I was amazed by her writing, and wanted her to join forces.  She agreed.  Thanks to her, she took some of the characters that I had created as either supporting characters or...sadly caricatures, and she breathed life into them.  Together we spent the next 10 years working on the story in our spare time.  My dream is to have the masses read this book, so that they will reflect on its deeper concepts, and hunger for a film adaptation...which was after all the original intent of the story.  And indeed, the detailed writing in this story was done not only to express the mind, but to lay the groundwork for a director to easily convert it to the big screen.  Of course, if that happens, I want to consult on casting and especially creature design.  They absolutely must stay true to my original design concepts.  

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?

What is it about: At 50 thousand feet, the book poses a high concept question:  What is good and what is evil?  When man blends with machine, he wishes to better himself.  When Demonic armies cross the dimensions on a quest for dominion, they wish to lay claim to a new world...because their own world is doomed by their dying suns.  There is perhaps no good or evil, only perspective...survival by way of nature or manipulating that nature.  Above all, nature always wins. This is written for adults, because some of the scenarios and language is not age appropriate; however, as society shifts its mindset on what is acceptable and at what age it becomes so, I feel that this would be well received by a Young Adult market.  This is a unique blend of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action, Drama, and high-concept.  We wrote it as an expression of what we felt, but we wrote it in such a way that we could reach the masses.  I believe that aficionados of various genres can enjoy this story.  I quote my original pitch line:

Imagine being jacked into The Matrix, and then rocketed down into Dante's Inferno.   

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?

I hope that readers will turn the final page, and come away with reflections on what they think about morality and nature.  I want them to imagine the technological ideas, and perhaps one day the right person will turn that into a reality.  I want them to ponder the way in which I describe the workings of the multiverse from a perspective of true theoretical physics, wrapped up in an intriguing dialog.  Perhaps inspire someone to dive more into such research.  Most of all, I want the reader to come away with questions for either me, or themselves...questions that they did not know were within them.  I want to promote higher thinking, and have the reader hunger for the next book.  I want this to become, at least, a cult classic, so that groups of people form just to discuss the concepts and things like "what were the authors intending in this chapter?".  I want people to actually enjoy and think about the writing.  

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?

We spent a lot of time changing the title from it's 2001 version of "Dark Lore" to "Revelation" because the original title sounded way too gothy and did not capture the essence of the concepts in the evolved storylines.  Revelation made the most sense out of the tens of titles we mused over.  Everyone in the novel, whether explicitly or otherwise experiences some form of revelation.  And we hope that the reader will experience at least one as well.  The cover design spawned from my Wife and Myself, since we are artists first.  The publisher's team took our design and gave it minor tweaks.  It was so spot on, that we approved it on the first round.  The only thing that upsets me about our title, is that there are SO many other authors, even recently, who have titled their book: "Revelation" or "Revelations" (and my sequel would have been called Revelations in the same style of "Alien" -> "Aliens") and this makes it challenging to pick my book out of the group.  

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? 

Storyboard, collaborate, seek inspirational environments or films or books or mindsets.  Blaze through your chapter in a stream of consciousness, and come back later and edit it.  This is your story.  Until an editor or an agent or someone tells you that you need to change something, or parse it down…don’t.  This is your moment to be the director of your action.  I want to read your story.  If there are some scenes where I need to paint the picture in my own mind, then help me along a little; however, if you truly have a vision for a scene in your mind and you need me to see it how you envision it…you are the director!   

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?

I feel the digital world has made works more available to the masses by way of storage space, price, and convenience.  The downside of this, is that there is so much content available, it can be hard for someone to simply stumble on a certain book, unless it already has many reviews, or is linked to other well-known authors as being similar, or it is a book which someone bought and they also bought another book so the two are linked.  So, navigating the digital aspects of it is an intriguing challenge.  I think the publishing industry is heading in the direction of having standard, hybrid, and self-publishing.  The downside of this, is I feel that there is a negative connotation for the folks who do hybrid or self-publishing.  As if just by way of that fact, their work can't possibly be above par, since an agent or large publishing house didn't pick up the manuscript.  I would like to see that stigma go away, and let the authors' works speak for themselves.  But getting the stories in front of people goes back to the afore-mentioned challenge in this paragraph.  

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?

My background in Math, Physics, and Software lent itself to many aspects of the book.  My social experiences lent itself to the character interaction.  My Wife's Teaching profession, and her deep science mind and passion for research and reading lent itself to her writing.  It also helped us write components of the book together, where we enhanced how the characters would behave and speak to one another.  She is an avid reader, and her vocabulary and command of the spoken word is beyond standard measure.  I feel that I have grown by leaps and bounds by working with her.  

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?

My style is as though I were a director.  I paint the scene, down to how the character is viewed, and dive into what they are thinking.  Many times, I will lean on narrative to say what the character cannot.  My Wife additionally is creative in developing scenery and highly adept at creating rich characters that we can all care about...love them or hate them.  Through the decade of working together, I feel I learned the most from her.  That being said, there are inspirations that came from Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Suzanne Collins, and Dean Koontz.  My wife, I am most certain, has even more inspirational writers.  

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?

The greatest challenge in writing this book was to challenge my own way of thinking.  I come up with an idea, and it must be the right way to go.  I can be hard headed.  But in writing this book, I became more collaborative, and receptive to new ideas.  This allowed the characters and the entire feel of the book to evolve.  It became a work, where a reader cannot tell who wrote which chapters, nor which chapters were written piece by piece by both authors.  The tone and feel of the story is very cohesive.  

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours?

If someone could pick one book this month (it is large) it should be Revelation, because it touches on so many relatable issues, while driving the reader through an adventurous world with characters that they will love, and characters that they will love to hate.  It will take the reader to the brink of what they may expect, and then sharply twist things into a different direction.  They will be left satisfied, but taking slow and measured breaths.  Not immediately sure how to express how they feel about what they just read.  After a time, the deeper questions will start brewing in their minds.  It will lead to conversation starters among friends.  

About The Author:  I'm an Engineer, by profession.  But my passions have always been in the artsy creative realm.  Sketching, writing, tinkering and creating arcade "rigs" to play arcades on home theater systems.  My work is my work, but my creative outlets come from a blend of my tech/physics brain, and my passionate brain. For more information, please consult: https://www.austinmacauley.com/us/author/daly-charles-joseph-giovinco-henry-and-cs 

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.