A hearty welcome back to Scott Talbot Evans to chat about his new humorous crime fantasy, Prevention Force.
Some feedback on Mr. Evans’ published novels:
Foxavier Loves Plinka
“Scott’s book has opened my eyes to some of the realities to things we have fallen asleep about what the government is doing to our food supply, services that are not being implemented. It makes me more aware of concerns you need to be aware about to protect your health. Thank you for your hard biting, truthful, satire of things we have fallen asleep to.
Easy read, hilarious, connected flowing really well. Dedicates to talking about religion without being offensive. Open your eyes to things you have been taught about historical religions.”
–Review 4/15/18 from William Turner of Rochester NY
The Day the Sun Changed Colors
“…the book was funny. I should say that straight off the bat. The situation in which the characters found themselves led to some amusing scenarios as they tried to make sense of the changing world, and their changing bodies and moods. I smiled many times at their conversations and actions…I would recommend it to hardcore sci-fi fans who are looking for something a little zany and different.”
–Nicki J. Markus, Author/Reviewer/Editor NickiJMarkus.com 6/24/18
Self-help book currently being considered by Microcosm Publishing:
Be Happy, Silly.
Comments from a literary agent: “Your writing is accessible, brazen, and very funny. I enjoyed falling into your take on mental illness, happiness, anxiety, and the other particularly heavy issues you tackle throughout this work… I believe you have a great story and an exceptionally fresh way of telling it.”
Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, Scott. Please tell us about your newest release.
Gluten intolerant prevention officer Liesl Healy fights crime with her partner Spoct, a germophobic, partially robotic, talking German Shepherd, in their flying convertible, using futuristic, nonviolent, restorative police methods of the year 2120.
When attacked by a knife wielding subject, they immobilize him not with bullets, but fast hardening glue. Like all police officers she is a medical doctor and cures his schizophrenia by replacing an atom in his brain. She performs psychotherapy, gives him cash, and teaches him the difference between a salad fork and a dessert fork.
Statistical analysis concludes 3% of the responsibility for the crime is unaccounted for, which is considered acceptable, but Healy is a tireless stickler for detail and keeps digging. When Spoct’s meta-analysis confirms her suspicion, she becomes obsessed with finding the culprit.
Using the science of forensic statistics, she traces the crime to Washington, DC, but the FBI suddenly takes over her case, and she is ordered to go on vacation. Liesl’s bipolar disorder is flaring up, making her paranoid and manic. She suspects a cover up and pursues the case on her own.
The trail leads to the Congressional Ethics Committee, headed by totally corrupt Senator Connmann, a 6-foot-tall lizard with slithering tongue and his bootlicking sidekick, Senator Lindsey, a weasel who scurries around his feet in a three-piece suit. She disguises herself as an oil tycoon so Spoct can record her giving Connmann a bribe. The senator retaliates by having them committed to hospital for the criminally insane, where Healy is to be lobotomized and Spoct disassembled.
With her hardheaded spirit and Spoct’s hacking skills, they evade killer drones, and use a math professor’s formula to uncover a conspiracy that is no less than earthshaking.
What inspired you to write this book?
The police brutality protests.
Excerpt from Prevention Force:
Kids on the merry-go-round spin so fast they are a blur. First one vomits pink. Then a second, yellow. The streams whip outward from centrifugal force, painting the ground like one of those spin art machines. One kid loses his grip and is thrown into the snow bank, where his body completely disappears.
5 year olds run around in winter jackets, scream, and have fun on the playground of the Elwanger-Barry School on Meigs Street. A pleasant January day in Susan, New York. Shining sun. Blue sky. Landscape blanketed by six inches of snow. Little mountains, where the plow scraped it into piles.
A girl with elaborate braids scales 100 feet up the rock climbing wall, on which a Shawn Dunwoody mural reads, “EXPRESS YOURSELF” in vibrant playful letters.
The teacher yells, “Be careful Aisha!”
There are no safety harnesses. Aisha smiles and waves, losing her grip, and falls. The teacher gasps. Before she can hit the ground, clear safety gel pops up 5 feet high, like a blob of hand sanitizer, to smoothly absorb her force. She rolls to her feet and runs back to climb again.
Others are propelled down the e-slide and screech as they go round the loop de loop. Eager sliders run to line up at the base of the ladder. A tall skinny girl pushes past a smaller boy.
“No cutting!”
She shoves his shoulder.
“Hey!”
A ding-ding-ding sound seems to come from nowhere and everywhere. Lights on the ground make a large circle, which shrinks to a single point at the location of the violence. The alarm and converging lights repeat, pointing the way to ground zero for the teachers running to the scene.
“What happened?”
“She pushed me.”
The woman raises her forearm screen to watch the replay.
Three teachers surround each child, and take them inside. They sit in a room in a circle.
The woman next to the girl says gently, “Okay Debbie. What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“You pushed Kenyata, didn’t you?”
“So?”
The teachers look at each other disappointed.
“Why did you do that?”
She shrugs.
The woman puts her hand on her shoulder. “Okay dear.”
A man talks to the boy. “How are you doing?”
“Okay.”
“How did you feel when she pushed you?”
“I didn’t like it.”
“You made Kenyata feel bad. What do you think about that?”
Debbie keeps her head down and shrugs again.
One of the teachers throws up his hands.
The woman says, “Okay, that’s enough for now.”
They take Kenyata out for a physical exam and to begin a course of trauma therapy.
“Your mother is on her way, and we’re trying to reach your father.”
What’s the next writing project?
Don’t know yet. Taking a break to promote this book. Will start new one for 2021. In the meantime, I will dip my toe in the waters of songwriting.
What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)
Overcoming introversion in order to do networking.
If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?
My ideas come from thinking about society’s problems and imagining solutions.
What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.
I obsessively make a habit of writing at Spot Coffee like it is my job, which it is, and like it is my office, which it is.
What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?
Currently enjoying Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I recently liked The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?
The title of the novel 11,984 featured in our interview in 2017, was changed to The Day the Sun Changed Colors. More info can be found at https://scotttalbotevans.wordpress.com/
Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!