I’m back with more exclusive content for new YA Dystopian Cyberpunk novel, NOVA’S BLADE! Keep reading for an interview between author Will Scifi and myself that will dive into the writing process, this new thrilling series, and more. First, I’ll tell you a bit about the book, but you’ll want to check out my Spotlight post to read an excerpt!

The Book

Nova’s Blade
(Nova’s Blade #1)
Will Scifi
YA Fiction | Dystopia | Sci-Fi | Cyberpunk
February 01, 2022

Goodreads | Amazon

Blurb:

THIRTY-TWO WOMEN. ONE ARENA. A BATTLE TO THE DEATH.

After a long war, corporations have replaced countries. Sports are fought to the death. The most popular game is Last Valkyrie, a live tournament where women kill each other for marriage into a powerful family.

For Nova, living in poverty with her mother and sister is a harsh reality that she cannot escape. But when she is kidnapped and forced to fight on the show, her world changes. If she refuses to fight, the bomb in her head goes off. Now winning means her freedom.

With death lurking at every moment, Nova has no idea if her next fight will be her last. But one thing she knows for certain: only one is making it out alive.

Perfect for fans of Hunger Games, The Selection, and The Princess Trials. You won’t want to put down this exciting page-turner!

The Interview

Pooled Ink: Thank you so much for reaching out for this interview! It’s always interesting to get the chance to find out a bit more behind the scenes and into the mind of an author.

How did you settle on the genre for Nova’s Blade? YA dystopian cyberpunk sounded unique and exciting when I heard it and definitely caught my attention.

Will Scifi: I just wanted to combine popular genres. I read in a book that one way to get ideas is to combine popular genres. So this meets that, Star Wars meets Game of Thrones for example. So in my mind, I thought about some genres I like such as ya and dystopian as well as cyberpunk, and I combined them. Ironically cyberpunk is a form of dystopian. 

Where did the idea for Nova’s Blade begin? How did it come to you?

It came when I was using the idea of this meets that. I was thinking of like romance but with a horror element. Imagine a girl who pursues a guy in a typical romance story, but he’s not what he seems, even worse, he’s evil. That’s the horror aspect. From there, after refining the idea, it led me to a bunch of women competing for a guy who is actually evil. I refined the idea more because let’s be honest, how are you going to empathize with a bunch of characters who are willing to kill each other just to get some guy? I condensed the idea, took out certain aspects, and it eventually led me to the story of Nova’s Blade. Personally I like to thank God, for the creativity that helped me come up with the story.             

Are you a pantster, a plotter, or a combo of both? Do you already know how the series will end or does that remain a surprise even for you until you get to it?

I plot things out heavily. I start with a broad outline that has the background world, the beginning, middle, and end. Then I fill in the details. Honestly, I know where I want to take the series, I just haven’t gotten to how I’m going to get there. I have the ending, I just have to plot the details, to get to point A to B. 

If you could meet a fellow author, who would it be and why?

JK Rowling because I really want to know how she went from being an author to a producer with the Harry Potter series. I want to know about the business side of that, like what was her positioning and leverage when the books were being adapted into movies. I believe that would be a good business lesson for me to know in the future just in case.  

Did you always want to be a writer or is this something new that you’re exploring?

I always wanted to be able to tell stories. What I mean is I always had a creative mind, and creative ideas would come to me. So I always imagined movies and ideas. One day my dad suggested I write a book because a lot of movies come from books, and that’s how I stated writing fiction. Now I always wrote whether it was in class for English assignments (mainly), or poetry which I did in 2014 my senior year. It was only a few months after I wrote a few poems that my dad gave me the suggestion to write fiction.  

What has been the most challenging part of writing Nova’s Blade? What has been your favorite part?

Honestly, the most challenging part was after I did the first draft of Nova’s Blade. From there I had to make the book better and refine it, so I set off on reading similar books to it, and watching shows resembling it. After that, I began writing. I got a full time job, so that was the most challenging part. I was working full time while writing. At that time, the objective wasn’t about just writing anymore. I had to get my writing done at a certain time each day, so I could get ready for bed. I also had to get a certain amount of writing done in the morning before work. So it was about the time management.  

Do you write to music or have any songs that inspired Nova’s Blade? If so, could you tell us what a few of them are?

Yes! I always write to music, that’s my thing. I usually write to epic music or ambient music that allows me to concentrate while writing. 

I have no music that inspired Nova’s Blade, but there are some songs that remind me of it. One song is “Smells Like Teenage Spirit (the remix)” by Malia J which was featured in Black Widow. It reminds me of Nova’s Blade because during the movie when the song played, the character was taken from her home, and then force to go through physical torment. That’s very similar to Nova in the book. There’s several others such as this one song which was featured in the trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse. 

What is your favorite book (or a few) that you would recommend to readers?

I love the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown, now that’s Star Wars meets Game of Thrones especially Golden Son. Old’s Man War by John Scalzi, is a great book especially the first two in the series. I also love Altered Carbon, it was packed with action, and it felt like I was watching a movie reading the book.  

If you could visit the world of any book, which would you choose?

I don’t think I would want to visit any world in the books I’ve read: Red Rising, Blade Runner, and Hunger Games. Okay there is one, and I would say Old Man’s War, at least in that one the young don’t fight in wars, but it sounds cool to be an old person who is a super soldier. I guess that would be dope. Then again, there’s nothing cool about war, so I don’t have one. 

Lastly, when can we expect the sequel to Nova’s Blade? Is there anything you can tell us about it?

I would say anytime between next year and the year after so 2023-2024. All I know at the moment is that it will be about Nova being on the run, and it will dive more into the families of the Conclave, and the world within the C.S.A.

Thanks again for sharing a bit more about yourself and Nova’s Blade with readers. Best of luck!

The Author

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Will Scifi is a pen name for an author from and based in California. He loves writing mainly science fiction that touches on themes surrounding modern day culture and society. He is currently a graduate student at a California State University, majoring in business marketing. Outside of writing, he loves going to the gym, theater, watching tv, reading comics and books, and playing video games. He thanks all of his fans for their support and highly encourages anyone who has read his work to always leave a review. Reviews go a long way in helping the author!