Tevun-Krus #44 - Sword & Planet

Spotlight Author: JeffreyVonHauger

If you had to describe yourself in one word, what words wouldn't you use?

Obese

Conservative

Septuagenarian

What was your nickname at school?

Jeff

When you were a young padawan, what did you want to be when you grew up?

rock star

What's your favourite quote?

"HAVE LESS DO MORE." - unknow graffiti artist, spray painted on a wall in Berlin, Germany

Other than writing, what hobbies do you have?

Various forms of cultural production, music especially

As your crew cast your lifeless body into the core of the nearest star, list three pieces of music likely to be rattling the bulkheads.

My Way - Sid Vicious version

Angel Flying too Close to the Ground - Willie Nelson

Something I recorded once that they secretly loved

Who is your all-time favourite author? How much - if at all - have they influenced your writing style?

This changes for me, currently I'm into Thomas Pynchon, he influences me to have a bigger crazier cast of characters in every story

Of everything you have written, what is your favourite?

I always get wrapped up in the my current projects, right now it's a novel called The Brick, everything I'm submitting to TK this year will in some way reference this work

...and what is your fans' favourite?

I've got great feedback on Echo-1 The Whale here on Wattpad

We know some of the big authors, Orson Scott Card and Tolkien, for example, incorporate their religious beliefs into their work. Are you religious? If so, do you incorporate those beliefs into your work?

Not religious, however, all of my work has undercurrents of a worldview, that is science based and galactic in scale

How much does real life experience influence your writing?

It all comes from real life experiences

If an alien race was, unbeknownst to us, watching and studying us from afar, what do you think their primary findings would be?

Primitives on a path to self destruction or maybe that the tardigrades are flourishing

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Ten thousand year lifespan

Is there a particular moment in history that you would change if you could, regardless of the consequences?

History is full of learning experiences

There are countless variations on the 'punk,' subgenre of Science Fiction, and we're guilty of creating a few of our own, too... Which is your favourite, and why?

I'm going with S'punk'y Heroine, which I think you made up, but it is also my current writing challenge

The Technological Singularity presents a rather daunting, some say inevitable, future. Does the prospect of that level of Artificial Intelligence excite you, or make you quake in your boots?

Sounds great, I want better robots, my vacuum cleaner is not very impressive

The Earth is, at some point, gonna' die. There's nothing we can do about it, certainly not realistically and definitely not with our current technological level. Of all the things that could possibly destroy our homeworld though, which do you think is the most likely and why?

Humans will probably cause the next mass extinction with war or an environmental no turning back point, the planet will live on, certainly something will survive and evolve into an advanced species again

I recently read Lisa Randall's Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs and it led me to feel the next meteor strike that could wipe us out is probably eons away

Myths and Legends have been around since forever and will most likely continue to grow and develop until we, the human race, are nothing more than a memory but of all such things you have read, what is your favourite 'modern,' interpretation of a particular tale of old?

Jose Saramago's The Cave has a great retelling of Plato's Allegory of the Cave (totally worth looking up)

Given the opportunity, would you board a Generation Ship knowing full well it'd be very unlikely that you would never set foot upon land again? Explain...

Of course, though I would certainly want to mate or pass on my DNA while there, which, if you want to get technical, is all we can really do here, plus I image the views would be fantastic

Who was your first Sci-Fi crush..? Who is your current one?

Is the answer Leia Organa and then her CGI re-creation?

You're a low-ranked crewman on an intergalactic cruiser. It pays well enough but it's not the most exciting job in the 'Verse. Drinking one night whilst on shore leave you find yourself deep in conversation with the leader of a band of space pirates. What do you do next?

Join as first mate, go on an epic adventure, eventually becoming the next Dread Pirate Roberts in space

Now this one might prove to be a bit of a shout-out to a fellow Wattpadder, but that's no bad thing if you ask me! If you could experience the world of any science fiction book on Wattpad, first hand, which world would that be and why?

There is a bizarre story and world created in Notes From An Alien by amzolt

And finally, any words of wisdom for new and aspiring writers?

Save up, get out of the city you live in, get out of the state you live in, travel the world, and read, read, read. When you get home from a trip your work will go in directions you couldn't have imagined