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Nate Kenyon writes thrillers, suspense and horror for Thomas Dunne Books. He also writes video game novelizations for Blizzard Entertainment in the worlds of StarCraft and Diablo. His novel, Bloodstone, was a Bram Stoker Award finalist and winner of the P&E Horror Novel of the Year. His novel, The Reach, was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist. His latest novel is the techno-thriller Day One (Thomas Dunne/St. Martins Press). Booklist gave it a starred review, calling it “exciting and inventive.” Library Journal called it a “must” and Kenyon’s “scariest to date.” Day One was also recently optioned for a film. Visit him at NateKenyon.com.

This is Part Two of Tim’s interview with Nate. Find Part One on SF Signal.

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Tim Ward: Your earlier work was pretty straight Horror, and there is a little bit of that in your thriller, DAY ONE. What’s your approach to writing across genres in a business that may have thought too long on whether authors should write across genres, and if they do, if they should write under the same name or use a pseudonym?

Nate Kenyon: I try not to think too much about genre. I want to write stories that interest me, under the assumption that if I’m interested, the reader will be, too. I’ve always considered myself a thriller writer in the most general sense–which simply means that I want to thrill readers with anything I write. My stories tend to turn dark and creepy, but not always. I leave the rest to the marketing people. I get why they feel the need to label writers and novels, although I have to say that I think we tend to do readers a disservice by doing it. Readers are smart enough to find good stories and recommend them to others, regardless of how they’re marked and packaged.

TW: What were some of the challenges writing DAY ONE?

NK: I wanted to bring traditional sci fi concepts to a contemporary thriller. I wanted this to feel like a present day novel, not one set in some future–even if it might be a few years away. So I was working with some constraints, although I obviously took a few liberties with what is possible today. But during my research I was shocked at how far we’ve come with artificial intelligence–many concepts in DAY ONE are much closer than most people think.

TW: How are you trying to improve on your craft and career right now, post-DAY ONE?

NK: I’m always working to improve my writing. Reading good novels is the best way I’ve found to get better. Good prose inspires me and makes me think about ways I can improve my own. I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, preparing to start my next novel.

TW: We talked earlier about DAY ONE being a Science Fiction story geared more toward the everyman of our day, that as long as someone is aware of how social media works and current internet based technology, they’d have no problem slipping into your storyworld. It surely worked for me, as I was hooked right away and found it a very easy to read story.

NK: That’s great to hear. As I wrote above, I really wanted this to be an approachable story for most readers. Having an understanding and fondness for gadgets might help, but anyone should be able to enjoy DAY ONE, regardless of their knowledge of hacking, computers or AI. I think I’ve mostly succeeded in that, since I’ve heard from a number of readers who have told me they are far from “techies” and this isn’t their usual genre–but they still loved the story.

TW: Some Science Fiction authors have chosen other genres in order to boost their career toward full-time writing. I don’t know how much you concern yourself over choosing stories to write based on what might sell better, but your approach with DAY ONE seemed a wise one because it uses common enough technology that people who wouldn’t look for Science Fiction would be interested. Does it look like this more realistic scifi could be how Science Fiction writers may be able to write in this genre and sell well enough to stay?

NK: I hope there’s room for all sorts of writers to succeed, but your question is a practical one and makes some sense to consider. As writers we don’t often think long and hard about the size of our audience (at least not while we’re writing), but the fact of the matter is this is a business, and we’re selling a product at the end of the day. I wouldn’t want to compromise the story in search of the widest possible audience, but if we can find a way to make our stories more approachable, I think it makes sense to do that.

That said, I’ve read a lot of fairly hardcore sci fi novels that worked well for a wide range of readers. Ultimately, I think, it’s about the connection with the characters. If you love the characters in a story and you can relate to them, you’ll go along for the ride.

TW: Thank you for stopping by, Nate. I really enjoyed DAY ONE, and a large part of that was because of how much I empathized with the hero’s struggle to be a husband and father with the doubt that he just wasn’t good enough. The way this story forced him to fight for his family was truly memorable. Thank you for stopping by, Nate. I really enjoyed, and a large part of that was because of how much I empathized with the hero’s struggle to be a husband and father with the doubt that he just wasn’t good enough. The way this story forced him to fight for his family was truly memorable. My Goodreads review of DAY ONE

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Timothy C. Ward

Executive Producer

Timothy C. Ward has been podcasting since 2010, first as AudioTim, and now with AISFP. His first publication, Cornhusker: Demon Gene (A Short Story) , is available on Kindle for $.99. His novel in progress, Kaimerus, is described as “Firefly crashes on Avatar and wakes up 28 Days Later.”

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