Xlibris Publishing introduces Jesse Sobel, author of Pinnacle Station.
Pinnacle Station is a book about a young man named Takren being thrust into a universe of danger, consequences, and chaos. His main goal is to stay alive and figure out how to build a life from what he has. With the help from an old friend and a new one, he begins learning how to get by.
I have always enjoyed the Science Fiction genre as a method to explore different lifestyles with different levels of technology. I started going to school for Robotic Engineering, and fell in love with just exploring technological developments and how humanity would develop with them. After writing a few short stories, I decided to take up the National Novel Writing Month (Known also as NaNoWriMo), and completed Pinnacle Station within the month of November.
Most of the influences of this book came from other forms of media, such as the show Firefly, the games Mass Effect and EVE Online, and the Star Wars movies.
The inspiration for the book came from the most unsuspecting of places, Dungeons and Dragons. I played with a group of friends from high school, and we would play around once a week. Eventually I became tired of the high fantasy setting we were in and started looking into the Science Fiction genre, specifically for space battles. Not finding a game that addressed the itch I wanted to scratch, I decided to make my own. I wrote the rules, designed the ships and equipment, and constructed the universe. When college came around, the time our group had was cut short and was limited to winter and summer breaks. I didn’t have the ability to use the system I had constructed, but after hearing about NaNoWriMo, I decided to take the content I had created and use it to make a book. Writing the book only took around a month, but from the start of the project, it probably took around 2 years in total.
The biggest aspect of this book is that the readers and the main characters know about the same amount of what is going on in this universe. The main character knows very little about what universe he spends his time in, and is trying to figure it out just as the reader is. There are things that the main character doesn’t know about just as the reader doesn’t know. This unknown shouldn’t drive the reader away, but instead make them want to learn more and figure out what is happening.
I have started the second book in this series, but I don’t see it being completed until the end of the year.
For this book there isn’t going to be much of an investment into any marketing. When the second or third one come out, then I’ll be spending more money on marketing, and making the books more available in stores.
My favorite part of the experience with Xlibris was how professional they made the entire experience. I felt as if I were going through the same process that more famous authors went through to get their books published.
My biggest advice to authors is to write what story you want to tell. If you have an idea, even a small one, write it. You don’t need to take every idea and make a book out of it, but a short story or two can lead you to developing bigger ideas and take off.
Xlibris Publishing trusts this helps
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