Today’s special guest is novelist Steve Holloway. He’s chatting with me about his new near-future spec fic techno thriller, Pelagia – Between the Stars and the Abyss.
During his virtual book tour, Steve will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!
Bio:
Steve Holloway grew up on the beach cities of Los Angeles and has always loved the sea. This passion led him to gain a degree in Aquatic Biology from the University of California Santa Barbara; a background which opened many opportunities for him in researching, developing, and engaging with mariculture activities around the world.
Steve and his wife have lived and travelled in many countries over their forty years of marriage, successfully raising three kids in exotic locations in the process. They have always engaged with the people and cultures they live among.
Currently Steve lives in England and consults for a Christian charity in areas of research, leadership development, adapting to new cultures, social enterprises, and mariculture projects. He consults for a Indo-Pacific mariculture project – a social enterprise – growing sea cucumbers, a delicacy for the Chinese market.
Steve has always loved books and writing. The story of Pelagia reflects three of his passions: science, the sea and the narratives of spirituality. Steve finds any excuse to get into the ocean: sailing, diving, swimming, or just poking around tide pools.
Welcome, Steve. Please tell us about your current release.
Ben Holden, a special forces operative, comes home from tour to face his worst nightmare. And it crushes him. He spins downward into alcoholism. With help he fights his way up out of that darkness to regain his life.
At the same time, ruthless agents are pursuing him, seeking to gain information that will give them terrible power. Ben finds sanctuary with a clan which travel the seas herding schools of tuna.
He lives with and learns from settlers about life in the South Pacific Pelagic Territories. However, his pursuers are relentless. So Ben and those that are sheltering him must fight to protect their way of life.
What inspired you to write this book?
I have always loved the sea and spent most of my childhood on the coast. I earned a degree in marine biology and spent thirty years researching, developing and consulting for mariculture (ocean farming) projects. About ten years ago, I realized there was nothing really keeping us from pioneering and settling the open seas – much like immigrants have settled and created new nations in North America, Australia and other places. This seed took root in my imagination and has now grown into the novel, Pelagia.
Excerpt from Pelagia:
With a gentle shove, Ben cracked open the door and peered into the swaying room. Windows in the cabin revealed only darkness outside, but hazy light filtered under a door at the far end. Stale cigarette smoke, unwashed laundry, a faint smell of teak oil. He took a moment to look around, letting his eyes adjust. A single bunk on each side with unmade sheets and blankets, probably water and fuel tanks under them. A lot of fine wood panelling. A kind of desk with drawers built into the back wall, heavy brass clock above and folding chairs secured to the starboard wall. A cabinet on the port side and a door – probably to a small head. He focused on the door with the light – where did it lead?
The boat swung broadside to the waves. Pitch and roll increased. The craft had lost steerage. Dishes and pans crashed to the floor beyond the door. The galley.
He slipped the screwdriver and hammer under his belt and moved stealthily through the small door and into the dim cabin, bracing himself against the rolling. Breathe. Steady. Weigh your options.
Glancing up, he spied a hatch leading to the deck. He quietly unhooked a chair, unfolded it beneath the hatch, and carefully climbed, legs instinctively flexing with the boat’s movements. The hatch was hinged.
Releasing the catch, he lifted it just enough to peer out. Gusts of warm rain and wind whipped at his face.
A rising moon laid a glittering path on the water, the air fresh and clear. At that moment, the boat tipped with the waves, and he glimpsed a dark silhouette of land through a break in the curtains of rainfall. About a kilometre away. Swimmable.
He stepped down off the chair, to search the room. Studying the starboard bunk, he tugged the ragged mattress off, then the plywood panel beneath. A plastic tank. He shook it. Water.
He turned to the port bunk and stripped it to reveal another tank. Reaching into the dark opening, he felt a cold metal surface. Stooping, he sniffed and smiled.
He continued his systematic search, sliding open one of the drawers in the desk. Several packs of cigarettes. Matches. He felt his way back to the starboard bed and, stabbing at the mattress with the screwdriver, managed to tear a piece of fabric off the smelly old mattress cover. Then, reaching down and placing the screwdriver against the side of the tank near the bottom, he struck it sharply with the hammer, matching the boom of the bow ploughing into a wave. The smell of diesel rewarded his efforts. He grabbed at the stuffing of the mattress and held it near the tank, letting it soak up the spreading diesel. He picked up one diesel-drenched rag from the pile and striking three matches at once, he brought them under the cloth to slowly catch fire, then placed it back carefully with the stuffing. Like the wick of a kerosene lantern. Small red flames smoked and glimmered in the dark void.
Shouts sounded as an argument erupted in the stern.
A shadow flickered across the sliver of light under the far door. Ben froze. Footsteps sounded just beyond. Someone rummaged through the clutter of fallen galley equipment.
“Where’s my knife,” he heard distinctly in Arabic. A man’s voice, angry.
It sounded like a Yemeni or Somali dialect. Dark memories crept again to the edges of consciousness. Ben pushed them away.
“Maybe in the forward stateroom.” The noise stopped. Ben waited, aware of the faint sound of his breath, in and out.
The door handle rattled and slowly began to turn. Ben quietly lifted the brass wall-clock from its nail and balanced it in his hand. He flattened himself silently beside the door, holding his breath.
What exciting story are you working on next?
I’m about two thirds through the first draft of the sequel to Pelagia. The working title is Deepstar. It contains many of the same characters as Pelagia, but is this time set in the North Pacific Pelagic Territories. Much of the action takes place on the abyssal plains, 4,000-6,000 meters below the surface of the sea. These plains make up 50% of the surface of the earth, and we know very little about them. The sequel features intelligent octopus and squid, a network of female ninjas, and an history changing discovery on the sea floor.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I have always loved reading and my local library was a favorite haunt. I wrote many stories as a child and still have a collection of them in the attic. Since university, most of my writing has been for journals, newsletters, and such. Only about five years ago did I decide it was time to start writing fiction again.
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
No, my ‘day job’ is as a consultant for a Christian non-profit organization. Besides consultation work for mariculture, I work with projects around the world in developing social enterprises, leadership development, cross-cultural communication, knowledge management, training and mentoring.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I do my best writing by finding a lonely cottage on the coast. I use the solitude to focus on the story. Normally I am a bit of an extrovert, but I am also very comfortable being on my own for a week or two.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I think I wanted to become Jacques Cousteau, I loved his documentaries on the sea and his work from his ship, Calypso. Love of the sea has always been a central part of my life.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
A few years ago, a man named Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a trilogy of novels about what the colonization of Mars might look like. I tried to do for the Blue Frontier of the open seas, what Robinson did for our red neighbor. Our children and grandchildren may well be pioneers in this new frontier.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Author
Thanks for hosting!
Thank you, Lisa, for hosting Pelagia. It is an honour to be on your site.
i LOVE the cover and look forward to reading Pelagia!
Thanks, Sherry. I hope you enjoy it.