Today’s special guest is novelist Benoit Lanteigne and we’re chatting about his new sci-fi book, The Cyborg’s Crusade – Day of the Deus Ex Machina.
During his virtual book tour, Benoit will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn participant. 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!
The book is $0.99 during the book tour.
Welcome, Benoit. Please tell us a little bit about yourself:
So, my name is Benoit Lanteigne and I’m a French Canadian (outside of Quebec) who’s trying to write in English. That can be tricky. I’m a computer programmer and I enjoy it. I see many inspiring writers who hate their jobs and hope to quit someday, but that’s not my case. Mostly, I’ve worked on websites and web applications.
Back in school, I enjoyed writing and according to my teachers and classmates; I had a talent for it. Well, not so much for grammar and spelling, but they liked my stories. Once I went to university, I dropped writing as a hobby. There were other things I wanted to focus on, such as my career. Then, in the early 2000s, around 2006 I’d say, I had a flash of inspiration. At first, it was a single character: a winged woman with red hair. I didn’t even know who she was, but the image stuck with me. From there, I began figuring out details about her origins and her world, but I only started writing for real in 2009.
It’s been roughly 10 years now, and it’s not yet finished. That’s in part because I write in my spare time, and in part because the scope of the project is huge. Maybe too much so. Still, I’m getting close to the point where I could release something. The question is what’s next? Self-publishing? Attempt traditional publishing? Nothing? I don’t know the answer yet, I’m trying to figure it out. Frankly, sharing my writing is difficult for me, and whatever I end up doing, as long as I make it available to people, I consider the experience a victory no matter what comes out of it.
Please tell us about your newest release:
How did it come to this? My life used to be so simple. Back then, I hated it; I found it boring. Let me tell you: boring’s good. Boring’s great! I should’ve been thankful…
It was supposed to be a date like any other for James Hunter, a simple convenience store clerk. Nothing more than watching a movie in the town of Moncton. A place as unknown and unimportant as he considered his own existence to be. And yet, while walking to a cinema, James teleports to another world. There, a hostile crowd surrounds him, including various mutants with strange deformities.
Before he can even gather his wits or make a dash for it, a lone ally presents herself in the form of a winged woman named Rose. An important cultural figure in the country where James appeared, she offers him both protection and a home.
Soon, James learns that this new world is divided by a cold war. On one side is Nirnivia, home to Rose. The other, Ostark, led by a mysterious cyborg. James is unaware that the cyborg has him in his crosshairs, thinking of him as the Deus Ex Machina that will end the war in his favor.
But, the cyborg is far from the only potential threat to James. Soon after his arrival, BRR, a terrorist organisation, kidnaps him.
What would a rogue group out for revenge seeking to turn the cold war hot want with someone like James? Is there anyone also aware of this other world who will try to find him? Or is he on his own? If so, how is he supposed to escape? If that’s even an option…
Excerpt from The Cyborg’s Crusade:
Though initially shocked by the vehicle storming at them, the crowd soon recuperated. They glanced at each other and brandished their fists at the offenders. A few gave chase, but on foot they stood little chance of overtaking the pair. One of the chasers yelled, “Hey, it’s that Wrathchild traitor bitch helping the human asshole.”
Not concentrating on the road, Wrathchild offered her companion a side glance. “Don’t listen. Had veterinarians do test.” She smirked. “Ain’t no female dog.”
Despite their superior speed, she opted for caution and swerved into a small street. James exhaled as he hoped the retreat cut the hunt short. Then a soaring bottle grazed his ear. It shattered on the asphalt with a chink. A rock followed, and next a banana-shaped fruit of all things. The projectiles missed their mark, yet James’s muscles tensed up. He mumbled to himself in an attempt to calm his nerves. His worries proved futile. They outpaced the flock, who vanished in the distance in a second. Before he could relax, a rumbling sound arose from behind.
James gulped. He deduced the implications. Terrified, his brain ordered him not to look, but the temptation ended up too strong. Out of breath, he took a glimpse. A bare-chested thug covered in tattoos had mounted his own bike and raced after them. A lone hand steered; the other wielded a club. The message seemed obvious: he’d prefer to risk an accident than not to pummel them.
What are four things you can’t live without?
Air, water, food, and… Oh, you didn’t mean that literally, did you? Alright then, writing, my job, my friends/family, and Simba the dog. I guess Simba is part of the family, but he’s so special I’ll count him separately anyway.
Who is the last person you hugged?
If I remember right, my dad. I visited him not long ago.
Who designed the book cover for the book you are touring?
Well, editing cost most of my budget, so at first a coworker with a design background made some covers based on illustrations made for my website. While I feel they did a good job given what they had to work with, people were critical of the results. Like it or not, books are judged by their covers and I knew I needed something else. Except, budget was still an issue. Many designers I found charge several hundred dollars for a single cover and I needed five. I simply didn’t have the budget. In the end, I used a service called 100covers which does ebook covers for 100$ USD. That was a lot more realistic given my financial constraints, and it seems to have worked out as these new covers received a far better reception than my previous ones.
What are you reading now?
I’m part of a book club and I’m reading the book selected for our next meeting. It’s The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. The story follows a group of senior citizens living in a retirement community. They meet every Thursday to discuss unsolved murders and try to solve them. When a murder happens in their community one day, they decide to investigate. So far, I’ve been enjoying the book quite a bit and I hope the ending satisfies.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
I like character-driven fiction, so for The Cyborg’s Crusade, I went with the characters first. That doesn’t mean you can’t go with the plot first, though. I did so in past projects that went unpublished. However, I feel that for many writers, there is a major advantage to focusing a bit more on characters. People identify with people. Characters are imitations of people. As such, I believe people identify more easily with characters than with a plot. I think because of this, many readers can overlook a problem in the plot more easily than a problem with a character. That’s not to say that plot-driven books are inferior, that’s not the case at all. I just feel it’s easier to write a character-driven book that resonates with people than vice versa. Of course, if possible, I suggest every writer strives to have both a stellar plot and stellar characters. I believe (and hope) I achieved this with The Cyborg’s Crusade, but I’ll let readers make the final call on that.
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Thank you so much for hosting today!
Thank you so much to Lisa Haselton for featuring The Cyborg’s Crusade. Releasing books from this series was a long journey, and it’s a thrill to see it happening. Though, with any luck, the journey is far from over; the series isn’t finished yet.
As for you, dear readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and are intrigued by The Cyborg’s Crusade. If so, you can get a free copy of the first book by joining the fan club here https://thecyborgscrusade.com/fanclub.html
While I do work during the day, I work from home and I’ll do my best to check the comments every hour or so. If you have any questions about The Cyborg’s Crusade, me, or anything really, by all means, ask.
Thank you so much to Lisa Haselton for featuring The Cyborg’s Crusade. Releasing books from this series was a long journey, and it’s a thrill to see it happening. Though, with any luck, the journey is far from over; the series isn’t finished yet.
As for you, dear readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and are intrigued by The Cyborg’s Crusade. If so, you can get a free copy of the first book by joining the fan club here https://thecyborgscrusade.com/fanclub.html
While I do work during the day, I work from home and I’ll do my best to check the comments every hour or so. If you have any questions about The Cyborg’s Crusade, me, or anything really, by all means, ask.
What’s your view on self-publishing versus traditional publishing?
They both can work, a lot depends on whether your book fits well with traditional publisher or not. There’s are things a traditional publisher would never publish simply because there’s not enough of an audience, but a self-publisher can make it work since they don’t need to sell as many copies to be profitable.
How much control you like to have if a big factor too. If you want control on every little detail, self publishing can give you that, traditional not such much. As an example, traditionally published writers usually don’t have the final say on the cover. The publisher might demand edits you don’t agree with. That kind of things.
Conversely, self publishing means you have to do everything yourself, or pay someone to do it. If you don’t have any time and/or budget, traditional publishing helps with that since they pay for a lot of things like editing and cover design. Do note however that based on what I’ve heard, traditional publisher offers less service than before, especially in term of marketing.
In my case, The Cyborg’s Crusade is the kind of project that’s hard to sell to a publisher for a variety of reasons. Just the fact I’ve never been published and its meant to be a series rather a standalone novel makes it less interesting for them. For a successful writer, a series is an opportunity to make a lot of money. For an unknown, it’s a risk, and traditional publisher don’t like risk if they can avoid it.
So, unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. It depends on the type of project you’re doing, what your goals are as a writer, how much resources you can invest, and how much control you want.
Thanks for such an insightful response, lots for me to consider. I truly appreciate you taking the time to give such a in depth response. Much success to you in 2024!
It was my pleasure to answer, thank you for asking and good luck with your writing!
This sounds really interesting.
Sounds like an incredible read.
What’s something new you’ve learned recently?
I’m sorry, I missed this question. I’ve learned that book marketing is just as hard as I thought it would be, if not more so. Doesn’t help that I’m definitively not a marketer by trade
Sounds interesting. Great covers.
I love the book covers.