From Australia

By Ch'kara SilverWolf
It is my pleasure to interview my friend and fellow author Tom Jackson King about his new novel Anarchate Vigilante.

Tell us a little about your book.
Anarchate Vigilante’s main theme is about a cyborg guy, Matt, who fights against the galactic institution of cloneslavery, which is supported by the Anarchate culture that is run by Aliens. The Anarchate is a culture of no law, no justice and little freedom, where a planet has to hire a Vigilante like Matt in order to fight off attacks by multi-stellar corporations that “own” people. Or sell clones of people who are stolen by Cloneslavers. Matt, with the help of his lifemate Eliana and the smart A.I. Mata Hari, in earlier books declared war on the Anarchate through a series of Hit-and-Run attacks. This book brings in new people to help Matt, Eliana and Mata Hari. The big surprise for Matt is the discovery that his Mom and his sister both survived their kidnapping by cloneslavery pirates who raided their home planet. While Matt and his fleet battle an Anarchate fleet led by a hippo-like Alien commander, they work to rescue the last survivors of his family before the Anarchate rulers can capture them. While there is a lot of space and land combat in this novel, it is more than a military sci-fi tale. It’s a story of people in a far future where Hope, Freedom and Justice have to be fought for.

How did you come up with the title?
Well, since this book focuses extensively on Matt’s Hexagon Prime fleet battling an Anarchate fleet that has super-deadly weapons, I figured this title would best reflect Matt Dragoneaux’s effort to fight the evil galactic culture of the Anarchate.

What inspired you to write this book?
The first three novels in this series! I began with Star Vigilante where Matt is hired by Eliana to rescue her homeworld from pillage and destruction by a giant strip-mining machine that will kill all the MotherTrees which are the prime habitat for the arboreal humanoid aliens with whom Greek humans have formed an alliance so they can settle on the planet. Since that first book, Matt’s effort to fight cloneslavery and bondServitude for both Humans and Aliens has led him to find a fleet of Alien battleships, then lead that fleet in galaxy-wide battles against the Anarchate. Those adventures are in Nebula Vigilante and Galactic Vigilante. In this novel, the ruling council of the Anarchate has finally woken up to the high danger posed by Matt’s rebellion. And new Anarchate weapons are used against the protective energy shields of Matt’s ships. This series is focused on how a small guy fights in asymmetric warfare to overthrow a two million year-old Alien culture that rules the Milky Way.

How are your story ideas born?
For this series, I was fascinated by the idea of a cyborg-augmented Human who has nano level memory cubes and nanoDocs inside his body, plus plastic-wrapped muscles for great strength. Matt also has a fiber optic neck socket so he can talk directly with artificial intelligence computers (A.I.) at their speed. Which is very fast. Also, I liked the idea of a cyborg guy who relies on a powerful combat exoskeleton Suit in order to fight Alien opponents on the ground. Matt’s ability to “think” via “optical neurolinking” gives him a big advantage over other combatants and other starships not run by a human/A.I. combo. I ended up with a guy who fears closeness, likes hanging with computer A.I.s and yet feels driven to help people because of a promise he made to a dead lover.

From Geneva

By Massimo Marino
Today we welcome sf author Tom King. Tom had three careers in his life: as a print journalist/editor, a federal archaeologist and a science fiction writer. Been married three times. Tom says: “Have three grown kids who are more ‘normal’ in society than I am. Have a couple of college degrees. And I love to spend time smiling at folks I don’t know just to see their surprised smile.” One would say that apart only two college degrees, Tom has a knack for the number three… So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome Tom King!
<Tom walks on stage and scifi groupies screams. The show starts with the right mood>

Tom, please, have a seat.
<we wait for the theatre to become quiet again :)> As a way of introduction, share with everyone how you and I connected.
<Tom nods and smiles at the public>

Well, I argued with Massimo over a subatomic squiggly thingie that I use in my science fiction novels and he, being the gentleman he is, allowed me to confess to multiple American felonies rather than admit the specifics of what I got wrong. Anyway, he lives close to Geneva where I used to live in the 60s with my parents and sister. It is beautiful countryside. And it has this Giant Subatomic Thingie that spins stuff in a circle at lightspeed, so writing for Massi is like pretending to be riding on a proton beam!
<cheers, whistling and screams from everyone>

Ah ah, Tom, you’re right. Having been at the edge of particle physics research for a good part of my life it is my pleasure to have your words circling these pages at the speed of light You’re having a great success recently, it seems readers are finding your work more and more every day. Huge congratulations for gifting your readers with riveting scifi stories. But you just had a new release, mind telling us something about it?

Anarchate Vigilante’s main theme is about a cyborg guy, Matt, who fights against the galactic institution of cloneslavery, which is supported by the Anarchate culture that is run by Aliens. The Anarchate is a culture of no law, no justice and little freedom, where a planet has to hire a Vigilante like Matt in order to fight off attacks by multi-stellar corporations that “own” people. Or sell clones of people who are stolen by Cloneslavers. Matt, with the help of his lifemate Eliana and the smart A.I. Mata Hari, in earlier books declared war on the Anarchate through a series of Hit-and-Run attacks. This book brings in new people to help Matt, Eliana and Mata Hari. The big surprise for Matt is the discovery that his Mom and his sister both survived their kidnapping by cloneslavery pirates who raided their home planet. While Matt and his fleet battle an Anarchate fleet led by a hippo-like Alien commander, they work to rescue the last survivors of his family before the Anarchate rulers can capture them. While there is a lot of space and land combat in this novel, it is more than a military sci-fi tale. It’s a story of people in a far future where Hope, Freedom and Justice have to be fought for.

Always good values to fight for. Being a series, I imagine you’re working on something else, already?

Indeed. My next sci-fi novel is The Memory Singer, which my small press publisher Fantastic Books will release May 23 at the Balticon sci-fi convention in Maryland. Later this year I will write and release Book 5 in the Vigilante series.

How do you come up with the titles of your novels?

The Muse hands them to me, usually in a dream or just after I’ve written the first sentence of the first chapter!

Efficient Muse that one of yours Because of the subgenre of your scifi, how many people have you done away with over the course of your writing career?

Lots of baddies. In truth, the bad characters that I vaporize are Stand-Ins for the vast number of nose-in-the-air Authority Figures who continuously lied to me, to other people, started wars, killed people, polluted drinking water, clear-cut beautiful forests, and called it Right. The best lesson I learned from reading has been that Authority of any source always lies. They think it’s easier than the truth. Real people know better.

From Los Alamos

By Bonnie J. Gordon
Los Alamos Daily Post
This column will explore books that have something to do with Los Alamos and its surroundings, whether because the book is by someone who lives here, or lived here, or worked here or because of the subject matter.

The sci-fi novels of T. Jackson King are a great place to start, because I met him signing books in, of all places, Smith’s Food and Drug Center in White Rock.

It doesn’t get much more local than that. It also just goes to show that interesting writers can turn up anywhere.

How did King end up in White Rock? It’s a love story. He met Cathy Wiget, a teacher at Chamisa Elementary School, fell in love and gained both a first reader and a new home. King moved to Los Alamos in 2009 and the two married in 2010.

King published two new novels in 2012, “Star Vigilante” and “The Gaean Enchantment.” In addition, his first novel “Retread Shop” was re-released in a new edition.

“Ancestor’s World” was also re-released in 2012, but I haven’t read it yet. King is the author of six novels in all, with several more on the way.

In addition to being a writer, King is an anthropologist. This gives him a lot of insight into how a society structured very differently from the one we live in might function.

“As an anthropologist, I ask myself what could human society have in common with an alien culture? Well for starters, there’s the need for food, there’s sex and there’s greed," he said. "I disagree with scientists who say we won’t have anything in common with aliens. I think there will be interesting people on other worlds that we will appreciate knowing.”

King suspects we’ll meet a lot of weird and wild types of aliens, and in all probability, we’ll be the new kids on the block, dealing with societies that have been in space long before we arrive.

Why is King attracted to this genre?

“One reason I love sci-fi is because it’s a literature of hope. Sci-Fi assumes a future for humanity. A lot of modern literature is alienated from the theme of hope. I think human nature finds a way to keep on keeping on,” King said.

In King’s books, you’ll get an adventure, some mysteries to be solved, battles featuring some cool weapons and a love story - to a greater or lesser degree depending on which novel you choose to read.

But my favorite thing about all three of Jackson’s novels is that he works hard to answer the inevitable questions that come with the territory in a “what if” novel in a way that makes sense and hangs together. And interesting questions they are, as you will see when I describe the books.

So which of King’s novels should you read first?

Star Vigilante

For a fast-paced adventure with cool tech, choose “Star Vigilante.” This novel is the story of three outsiders. Eliana is the artificially produced child of two species who are sharing a world, humans and tree-dwelling Derindl. Matt Dragoneaux is a cyborg, upgraded beyond the mere human by his enhancements and his Combat Suit, but also alienated from others because of his differences.