Interview+Giveaway: Alien Plague by Chris Koehler

An interview with Chris Koehler, author of science fiction novel Alien Plague

Dr Avery Hutton lives in good times. All of humanity now lives under the Global republic, a democratic government that works hard to protect the rights of their citizens, expand orbital infrastructure and explore space. The last of which is helped by the relatively new Warp Drive, allowing probes to travel to and from the nearest stars over the course of a few years.

This is part of Avery’s job, helping organize the missions form the ground, his specialty being the analysis of microorganism form other star systems. But this most recent mission will change everything. For while every return mission previously had gone well, and few issues were observed, this time one of the returning samples is a bit… nastier than any previous sample. This time something has returned that could wipe out all life on Earth.

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Excerpt from Alien Plague

“You’re worried management has gotten complacent?” I asked “And this will be the one time it matters?”

Diane nodded.

“Also, the Beta Strain does appear to be particularly tough,” added Tone.

I nodded in agreement. It took an insane amount of effort to kill Beta Strain microbes. They just don’t seem to care, still active in environments where comparable Earth microbes might try to escape with suspended animation. They survived in suspended animation where Earth microbes, or the microbes of the other strains we found, died.

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An Interview with Chris Koehler

-What inspired you to become a writer?

Not sure. Could be almost anything, my parents did read to me a lot as a kid so perhaps that got me started thinking about writing. From there it just sort of simmered in my head as my parents enjoyed Sci-Fi tv, encouraged me to read, and in general, tried to keep me from becoming a mess.

-If you could visit your book’s world for a day, what one thing would you do?

Warn them about the upcoming disaster? If we are after the end of the story, then I would probably try and help rebuild if I could. If we are at a quiet point, then reading the mission reports from previous expeditions that led to the plague might be interesting.  It depends on exactly when I show up, but warning them of what’s coming would be a top priority if I could.

-It’s two in the morning. What does your protagonist reveal in confidence? (Don’t worry, we won’t tell.)

The following was found on a personal audio log of Dr. Avery Parker:

“Dear diary. Ok, so it’s not the best time, but I can’t sleep. I… I don’t know how much longer I can get without saying this to somebody. Honestly, it probably won’t matter much. In the official logs, we talked about a possible breakthrough… I have my doubts. I don’t think it is going to work, or if it does, then something goes wrong. I have been wearing a smile for who knows how long. If by some miracle something works, then I’ll probably have to pretend everything was fine.  That we knew how to solve this problem from day one and just needed time to make it work. ‘keep people calm’ and all that. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I don’t think anything will work. I will keep trying but… I think… this is the end.”

Per his request, this particular file was only made public after his death.

-Which of your characters would you go out for drinks with?

I’m normally not an alcohol person so maybe Avery as he too does not drink alcohol. I think it might be nice to get into a no-judgment zone here. Alternatively, Diane might be nice as she might be able to tell me more about the extrasolar expeditions that came before. 

-You’re in a tavern, and a dwarf challenges you to a duel. What do you do?

Probably run away and hide as I am nowhere near fit enough to fight a dwarf. Unless the duel was a non-lethal challenge. Such as a duel in tennis, or a card game of some sort. As for lethal duels, I am getting out of there. Either I die, or I win and have made the dwarf’s family want me dead. No winning there.

-Is there a genre you could never write? Which and why?

I don’t think I could do straight-up romance. I am not that kind of person, and in real life don’t have a love life to speak of. While I would not mind adding a romantic element to an existing story, it would always be secondary. I think that I would just not enjoy writing it, nor would I do it well, and I might get uncomfortable with some aspects.

About Chris Koehler

I am a new author and this is my first book. I started working on this story around 2016 and have been refining it ever since.

I first got interested in writing years ago, I took part in a junior writing fare, and wrote as a volunteer from a teenage perspective at a local newspaper. My parents loved Science Fiction and Fantasy and passed on that love to me.

While this is my first book, I hope it’s not my last, I hope you enjoy it!

You can find my Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/CKoehlerAuthor

Giveaway

Chris Koehler will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway