An Interview with J. Grace Pennington

Today we have a very speical post! A friend from Holy Worlds, J. Grace Pennington, published her science-fiction book yesterday! How exciting! Firmament: Radialloy is now live.

And today I am lucky enough to introduce Grace for a short interview here on my blog. I hope y’all will make her feel welcome!

Grace, what is the basic premise of Radialloy?

When a starship doctor suffers inexplicable insanity, his bright daughter races against time as multiple factions chase after a valuable secret she holds–that even she doesn’t know about.

Intriguing. I can’t wait to read it!

How long have you been working on this book?

I started writing it in February of 2010. It was just the beginnings of an idea, based off a dream I had, but it quickly grew and grew and grew. Sixty-six days later, the rough draft was done, and I’d planned the whole rest of the series. Since then I’ve been changing it, listening to feedback, changing it again, tweaking, planning, and changing some more until it was finally ready. Then I had a frantic few weeks of formatting, proofing, fixing things, testing, and more planning, all the way up to the release date, which was yesterday. And the journey does’t end here! I’ll be busy with my blog tour for the next month, and am hoping to find more creative ways to keep promoting it after that. Perhaps another tour. Perhaps something else. Who knows where God will lead?

Very true! Writing this novel sounds like an exciting journey so far, and there is still so much to come.

How much poking did it take from fellow writers to get to where you are now with Radialloy? 😉

A lot. As in, a whole lot, as you very well know! *grins* I’m a quick writer, but also easily discouraged. At times my fellow writers had to well-nigh threaten me to get me to press on when it was hardest. Because sometimes it’s very hard. And sometimes I need a friendly shove in the right direction.

*Grins back* I enjoyed poking you to write. Writer friends are good for that. 😉 And I’m glad you pressed on, and it’s wonderful to see your book published. 😀

Who is the main character in Radialloy and what is she like?

The main character is twenty-one-year-old Andi Lloyd. She’s bright, affectionate, and practical, but somewhat naïve and a bit inclined to rely too strongly on herself. The most important person in her world is by far the Doctor, her father, but she also is very much attached to her cousin, Eagle Crash, and her friends aboard the starship. She’s lived on the ship for eleven years, and feels very much at home there.

I like the sound of her already. 😀

Are you going to be writing more sci-fi books soon?

Going to? I’ve written two and a half more so far. In His Image, the second Firmament novel, is complete, though needing revision. Book three, Machiavellian, is about halfway done, but much of what is there is unusable, and will need some strong replotting. I’ve also written Implant, a standalone dystopian novel. In addition to finishing Machiavellian, I have two more sci-fis in the works for this year: Chroma, a standalone cyberpunk novel, and Rumpled, part of the steampunk fairytale series I am writing with Aubrey Hansen. And eventually I’ll be writing the other fifteen Firmament novels. So I guess you could say yes, I am planning on writing more sci-fi books soon.

I am very glad to hear that! I look forward to someday reading those! Sooner rather than later, right? *pokes* 😉

Thank you very much, Grace, for being here today!

You can purchase Grace’s book on Amazon, or order a signed copy of Radialloy from her website.

~Rose

J. Grace Pennington is a homeschool graduate and a prolific writer, authoring novels, articles, film and book reviews, and screenplays. When she’s not writing you can usually find her working and playing with her family of eleven. Her greatest desire is to give glory to God with her writing.