Author Interview--The Vagrant Chronicles by Gabe Thompson

 “I’m just realizing that I want something else out of life and if I’m gonna  get it, I’m gonna have to fight.”---Logan, THE VAGRANT CHRONICLES
 
HAIL ME HEARTIES! Your Mistress of Madness, P.Mattern, is steering a course toward a blockbuster dystopian novel, VAGRANT, the first novel in THE VAGRANT CHRONICLES by author Gabe Thompson. Check out the awesome book trailer!

​ Gabe has agreed to come aboard THE WHIMSICAL HERALD  to tell us of the fantastical world he has created to delight his readers. Let's see what he has to say!

Q-WELCOME ABOARD Gabe Thompson! Reading VAGRANT, the reader might get the impression that the futuristic dystopian world you have created could possibly be a harbinger of things to come in the US—was that your intention?

A.  I wondered what would happen if the world was controlled by greedy people concerned only with profit. I imagined how the discovery of a warp-type space drive and planets rich in minerals would effect a world controlled by one large company. The answer was simple. All this company would care about would be profits and making money off these discoveries. Mass conscription of indigent people to mine these worlds would ensue and the spirit of humans would rise and fight this any way possible. People would go anywhere they considered safe. For city people, that meant going underground. We truly think this could happen. Space travel in the U.S. has been turned over to corporations for development. They think there is profit in it or they wouldn’t do it. If something like this happened, the company would need a way to control the population. Corn genetically altered to produce a sedative, was the answer.

Q-What was the first book or story you ever wrote? Can you tell us about it?

A. The first book I wrote is called Soul Taker. It’s a big adventure story. My mother had a theory that the Mayans may have disappeared because they all crossed the Gulf of Mexico and came to Florida. Florida has many small tribes of Indians. Our hero was a cave diver who discovered a sacrificial knife at the bottom of a spring near Tallahassee. The knife led to other discoveries including the bad news that the world was about to come to an end. To stop this, the hero and his friends go to Mayan ruins in Guatemala and the Yucatan. I ended up self-publishing. Soul Taker is available at amazon.com.
 
Q-Does skillful world building come easily to you? Will it be a part of all your novels?

A. I love Science Fiction. I’ve been reading it since I was a child. My mom and I are both dreamers. We brain storm and come up with all kinds of wonderful ideas together. I recommend partners for all writers. Two people can develop and imagine so much together; more than one person alone. Having another person to bounce ideas off is the key for coming up with and developing believable worlds.

Q-Why do you think your main characters Shayna and Logan feel such a connection even though they are from vastly different worlds?

A. Shayna is Logan’s dream girl. She’s an ideal he believes he can never achieve or have. She’s from above. She’s like the sun and he’s the darkness. For Shayna, Logan is the first boy she’s ever met that isn’t drugged on Sopore. He’s like her; sharp and energetic. He makes her feel alive. She’s been told all her life Vagrants are non-people. When she meets Logan, she begins to question everything she’s ever been told. If Vagrants are real people, then what else her parents and authority figures have told her is wrong? She has to find him and discover the answers to these questions.

Q-Do you find that VAGRANT  is geared toward male readers, female readers, or both?

A.  I wanted the book to appeal to both male and female readers.  In the first book, there is a love story between Shayna and Logan that slowly develops into something serious. It’s written from both of their points of view, so both male and female readers can relate. This is a series. Book two is called Mutant and is geared more toward male readers, but there are several strong female characters and a growing love story between Logan’s best friend, Knock, and Deklan Hall’s stepdaughter, Fenfang. In all three books of the series, I worked hard to give girls important roles and make them self-sufficient individuals.
 
Q-Which of your characters would you  like to be marooned on a desert island with?

I’m married, so I’d have to say Helga, the digital maid, because my wife would find a way to that island and kill me. Helga would also probably be able to help me find a way off the island.

Q-Tell us about your future projects? What  works in progress can your readers look forward to?

A. Vagrant is the first book in this series. Mutant is next in the series, followed by a third book, and I am considering offering Tell-Tale yet a fourth. All of these books revolve around the central theme of a company-controlled world and those rebelling against that control. The idea of our world, the newly discovered power to travel to distant planets combined with a profit-driven government is central to all of these books, and I think it’s really interesting.

Q-What take away would you want your readers to have after reading VAGRANT:THE VAGRANT CHRONICLES?

I would love our readers to want more Logan, more Shayna and more books generated inside of this imagined world. When I was a kid, I loved books that created such believable worlds, I felt like I lived in them. I wanted to return over and over, to interact with those characters again and again, and I missed them when the books were over. I want my readers to feel that when they finish The Vagrant Chronicles.  I want them to want more.
 
THE WHIMSICAL HERALD WOULD LIKE TO THANK Gabe Thompson for making us privy to his process and his insights! This is an amazing read and would make a stellar movie! One-click on Amazon will take you on a fast paced journey full of young love, adventure and intrigue! You can read even more about Gabe and how to connect with his social media sites on his author website when we dock at Tell-Tale Publishing! 

Mistress of Madness P.Mattern thinks this Dystopian read will shiver our timbers, me hearties! Listen to the author himself reading from his novel!

​'Vagrant' by Gabe Thompson available in Kindle, Nook, and Paperback TODAY! GRAB YOUR COPY or...walk the plank!

Thank you for  taking this voyage with us, readers!
#PatriciaMattern
@WhimsicalHerald
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