Books and Banter: Warren Chazan ~ 2nd guest post and his novel ~ The Waterhole

TITLE: The Waterhole

RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2017

AUTHOR: Warren Chazan

CATEGORIES: Science Fiction/Fantasy

PAGE COUNT: 452

ISBN: 978-1543044768

IMPRINT: Devil’s Tower

BOOK PAGE: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/thewaterhole.html

KEYWORDS: Alien, Physics, Parallel universe, Cataclysmic, Apocalyptic, frequency, decryption, thriller

ONE LINER:

Will our technology and quest for knowledge ultimately result in our destruction?

SYNOPSIS:

The year is 2051 and NASA, the US military and Australia have launched EMB, an incredible machine that can compress the fabric of space-time, providing us with previously unimaginable detail of the Big Bang and Janine Fuller, a pushy, headstrong anchor for CNNA has just been given the momentous story to break.

Following the launch, an alien internet signal is located coming through the wormhole in an electromagnetic region known as the “Waterhole”. Baffling NASA scientists, the source of the signal does not even appear to emanate from within the known boundaries of our universe.

Concurrent to this, animal migration patterns change, satellites malfunction and a reversal of the magnetic poles takes place. EMB is blamed, but despite official denial from General Smith, a brutal psychopath, with a frightening agenda of his own, Janine is unconvinced. In a world, where escalating mechanical failures, huge tidal surges and mass extinctions are becoming commonplace, Janine, using all resources known to her, goes into espionage mode in search of the truth.

What she discovers is a new reality more terrifying than she could possibly ever have imagined.

GUEST POST:

My writing process.

Hmm, what can I say about this? I guess there are three ways to write. The first way, is to start with a brilliant premise and plan literally everything. I call these people the planners. They spend the first few weeks of their writing mapping out their story, and I mean the entire plot, subplot, and characters in all their detail and glory to the point whereby all they need to do afterwards is to go back and fill in the dots, so to speak.

Then there are the ad libbers. These are the cool dudes. They have a vague idea in their mind about the plot, the characters and where they want the story to go, but they barely write any of it down. They simply start on page one and keep writing until they finish their story, probably a story that they never knew they were actually setting out to write. I like the ad libbers. Their characters take the story wherever they want it to go, and have none of the limitations that the obsessive planners have.

Well, I can’t do either of those , so I guess that I kind of fit in somewhere in between. I start with my premise, map out a rough plot on paper, and create my characters mostly from the traits of people that I know and that I find most interesting. I’m never short of this. I have some relatives in fact that are perhaps even too eccentric and unbelievable for my story, that I have to trim them back somewhat, give them a kind of haircut, so to speak. That’s always fun to do. I especially enjoy putting together a back story for them, lives that are profoundly more interesting than my own, although often sadder or harder than what I’ve personally endured,

Characters that I enjoy writing about? That’s easy. Give me an evil character, or antagonist anytime over a goody two shoes. The weirder and sicker they are, the more I enjoy writing about them. But don’t worry, I never get too carried away, and always remember that someone has to actually enjoy reading what I’ve written, and no normal human being wants too much sick detail, so I’m always very wary of that.

I find that working out the main plot for a story is relatively easy to do, but I often struggle with tying in a decent subplot, as a good subplot needs to be not just relevant to the story but interesting too. I often can get one of these right, but it can be a struggle to get both, and I feel I am letting the reader down if I don’t.

Let’s talk about rewrites and edits. “The Waterhole” endured almost a dozen or so rewrites, after it had been reviewed by 3 or so Beta readers, before it even made its way onto an editor’s desk. Then there was another rewrite and then a proofread before I gave it to one more Beta reader to look at one final time before it went off to the publisher.

A lot of work I know, but I truly loved every step along the way. I think we as writers owe our readers a polished manuscript, if we are asking them to invest their money and time in reading it. I hope you enjoy reading mine.

AUTHOR BIO:

My name is Warren Chazan. I was born and raised in South Africa, emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 2005, where I obtained my qualification as an anesthetist. I am very fortunate to live in a beautiful beachside town called Terrigal. I took to writing late in life, when I decided about eight years ago that although medicine was a good career choice, it was not where my ultimate passion lay. It was then that I began to write, submerging myself in creative writing courses, workshops, seminars and fairs. The “Waterhole” is my debut novel that blends together three of my pet interests; astronomy, the possibility that we are not alone in the universe, and humanity’s quest for knowledge (which could ultimately be used for both good and evil).

I hope that with this novel, readers will enjoy what I’ve written, just as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Being an amateur astronomer myself, and the proud owner of a 9.25 inch Cassegrain telescope, I have tried as much as possible to remain true to real Science, while still trying to capture the attention of the average reader, who is simply seeking a fast paced story that they can immerse themselves in and escape the reality of life for a while.

I am now working on my second novel, "Lucifer's Pill,"(a medical thriller) which is in the final stages of editing. I hope to publish this in the near future.