As a fellow-sci fi writer and nerd, I’m so excited to have Joshua David Bellin on the blog today to discuss his new sci-fi release, SURVIVAL COLONY 9. First, here’s the cover of his fab book:
And here’s what Survival Colony 9 entails:
In a future world of dust and ruin, fourteen-year-old Querry Genn struggles to recover the lost memory that might save the human race.
Querry is a member of Survival Colony Nine, one of the small, roving groups of people who outlived the wars and environmental catastrophes that destroyed the old world. The commander of Survival Colony Nine is his father, Laman Genn, who runs the camp with an iron will. He has to–because heat, dust, and starvation aren’t the only threats in this ruined world.
There are also the Skaldi.
Monsters with the ability to infect and mimic human hosts, the Skaldi appeared on the planet shortly after the wars of destruction. No one knows where they came from or what they are. But if they’re not stopped, it might mean the end of humanity.
Six months ago, Querry had an encounter with the Skaldi–and now he can’t remember anything that happened before then. If he can recall his past, he might be able to find the key to defeat the Skaldi.
If he can’t, he’s their next victim.
It sounds amazing, right? Joshua was kind enough to answer some questions for me about his release, so the following is all you wanted to know about Joshua (just kidding, but it is five things that I wanted to know about him) 🙂
Your story involves a chilling description of a post-apocalpytic world. Where did you get your inspiration for Survival Colony 9?
Everyone thinks I’m making this up, but the basic outlines of my world came to me in a dream. Desert landscape, small groups of camouflaged people (the survival colonies) moving across the waste, and a mysterious, terrifying threat constantly in the background. (That turned into the Skaldi.) Generally speaking, my dream-ideas are like everyone else’s: they seem great for about five seconds after I wake up, but then I realize it wouldn’t actually make such a good story to have giant rabbits nibbling popcorn on Venus. But in this case, the dream-work paid off!
I don’t think you’re making that up because my book came to me in a dream too! That’s so cool when it happens like that. So, as a fellow sci-fi author and fan, I loved the show Firefly and wondered whether there are any similarities between the Skaldi in your world and the Reavers in Firefly (which terrified me by the way)?
Okay, this is kind of embarrassing, but I’ve never watched Firefly—which is even more bizarre since Joss Whedon was in my graduating class at Wesleyan. But what I’d say about this, based on a quick Googling, is that the Skaldi are as terrifying as the Reavers but even more inhuman. Cannibalistic races are one of the oldest fears of Western civilization: just look at Homer’s Polyphemus, or at the reports of cannibalistic tribes in Columbus’s letters. The Skaldi play off that fear, in that they consume human bodies and then mimic them. But whether they were themselves human at one point, as the Reavers seem to be, is something I’m not going to reveal!
I just geeked out a little (okay, a lot) about you going to school with Joss Whedon. Also, you need to watch Firefly ASAP! For the aspiring writers out there, can you tell us a little about your path to publication? (e.g. getting an agent, finding a publisher, etc.)
Depending on how you look at it, I’ve been on the path since age eight, when I attempted to write my first novel. So that’s roughly forty years. I mention this because the myth of instant success can kill writers, leading them to give up if their dreams don’t come true overnight. In my case, if I’d given up at any point during the forty years it took me to develop my craft, I wouldn’t be here.
In a narrower sense, my path to publication was fairly routine: I finished Survival Colony 9 at the tail end of 2011, signed with one agent but had to part ways with her (long story), then revised the book again and found my current agent in late 2012. From there, it was roughly three months until acceptance. That makes it sound easy, but believe me: even in that narrower timeframe, there were plenty of rejections and moments of crisis. If there’s anything to learn from my experience, it’s this: bumps in the road are not a negative reflection on the quality of your manuscript. They’re just a natural part of the process.
I completely agree and feel like the bumps in the road have made me both a stronger writer and person in general. So moving on to your writing process—do you have a set writing schedule or routine? Any favorite snacks or beverages that are a must-have while you’re writing?
I used to try to write every day, until I realized that I was driving myself to distraction for no good reason. Some writers can write every day; I can’t. So these days, I write when I can—mostly summers when I’m not teaching—and I focus on the positive (hey! I’m writing!) instead of the negative (ugh! I’m not writing every day).
So far as routine, I’m the kind of writer who needs a distraction-free environment. No TV or play list or open browser or anything. No kids (I have two of them). Maybe a ginger ale or some pretzels to snack on, but nothing elaborate. Pretty boring in its way. But writing is so individualized, I think everyone has to find what works best for them and go for it.
Agreed and I’ve written posts about why I think it’s fine not to write every day (and can even benefit a writer). Most writers are obsessive readers, so what are a few of your all-time favorite authors or books (any genre)?
I’m a total reading chameleon, which comes from having well-stocked bookshelves growing up and earning a Ph.D. in English in my twenties. So here are a few of my favorites:
Epic fantasy: The Lord of the Rings
Classic sci-fi: The War of the Worlds
Non-fiction: Walden
Speculative YA: The Hunger Games
Realistic YA: The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened
Middle Grade: Blubber
Baseball: The Celebrant
Modernist: To the Lighthouse
Postmodern: Slaughterhouse-Five
And so on. Anyone interested in my favorite book by an antebellum Native American author? Because I could tell you. (Okay, it’s A Son of the Forest by William Apess. I couldn’t resist.)
Great picks, and how cool that you’re a fellow Ph.D. too! BONUS fun sci-fi question: What is your all time favorite sci-fi movie? And why?
I’m going to cheat and list two. One is Star Wars, largely because I’m a complete dork but also because it came out when I was twelve and changed my life. (Mostly by turning me into a complete dork.) The second is Alien, because it has such an inspired monster and it’s such a perfect blend of sci-fi, horror, and social/political commentary. The emergence scene is still unsurpassed in the history of sci-fi cinema, in my humble opinion.
Oh, I love both of those movies! Thanks so much for joining us today, Joshua, and congrats on your book release! Find out more about Joshua below, including where to grab his book today:
Joshua David Bellin has been writing novels since he was eight years old (though the first few were admittedly very short). He taught college for twenty years, wrote a bunch of books for college students, then decided to return to writing fiction. Survival Colony 9 is his first novel, but the sequel’s already in the works! Josh is represented by the fabulous Liza Fleissig of Liza Royce Agency.

Josh loves to read (mostly YA fantasy and science fiction), watch movies (again, mostly fantasy and sci-fi), and spend time in Nature (mostly catching frogs and toads). He is the self-proclaimed world’s worst singer, but plays a pretty mean air guitar.

Oh, yeah, and he likes monsters. Really scary monsters.
Links:
Website: http://www.joshuadavidbellin.com
Blog: http://theyaguy.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheYAGuy
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joshuadavidbellin
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7393959.Joshua_David_Bellin
Survival Colony 9: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18457362-survival-colony-nine
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Survival-Colony-Joshua-David-Bellin/dp/1481403540/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393982949&sr=1-1&keywords=survival+colony+9
Congrats Joshua! I’ve got the book on my Kindle! 🙂