Startacus Member Ross Harrison on his new book- Acts of Violence
by Startacus Admin
We’d previously featured Ross Harrison back in June last year, when we chatted to him about his journey into Self-Publishing.
Ross Harrison is a writer and self-publisher of science fantasy books and ebooks and since he’s now a fully fledged Startacus member, and he’s just launched his latest ebook Acts of Violence, we thought it only right to find out more about his latest offering and to give his launch a little Startacus airtime. (We’re good to Startacus members like that you know!) Anyhow...over to Ross to find out more:
Ross, Tell us about the new book - what's it about?
Acts of Violence is a thriller with noir tones and a mild sci-fi backdrop. It recounts twenty-four hours in the life of Jack Mason.
Jack returns home one morning to find a girl dead and mutilated in his apartment. Everyone wants him for it. The investigating detective will stop at nothing to put him in the execution chamber, as he failed to do so ten years earlier for the same crime. The murder makes the city’s crime lord think Jack stole something vital to his operations. And he knows his son’s death was at Jack’s hands.
Nowhere is safe for Jack, and he only has until morning to prove his innocence and point the cops at something bigger: people trafficking. But he has more questions than answers, and all he has to go on is a name given to him by a homeless girl who doesn’t trust him.
Where can we buy it, apart from in "All good book shops" that is?!
To begin with at least, Acts of Violence will only be available as an e-book. From Monday 20 January, it will be available on Amazon Kindle, and all other e-formats through Smashwords. Soon after this, Smashwords will distribute it to a range of online retailers such as Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Waterstones, Sony, etc.
The Smashwords page is here
My Amazon author page is here
What's your favourite part of writing a book?
Starting. And finishing. And reading it in full for the first time.
I tend not to plan my books all that much, other than the important, pivotal parts, so I very much enjoy watching how things develop on their own. All I have to do is press the right keys on the keyboard and try not to annoy the characters.
When naming your characters, do you work out the meaning behind the names, or is it just what rings true?
I should probably pretend to put a lot of thought into my characters’ names, but…I don’t. Most come to me fairly easily, or I’ll have a few to mull over and choose the one that sounds best.
In my other books, many names I have to come up with are for aliens. With some of these, I start with a letter and then experiment one letter at a time until I have something resembling a name. Others, I choose a normal name and then through the magic of Z’s, X’s and K’z, mostly, I make them alien. Like ‘Zak’ – a good, old-fashioned alien name.
For Acts of Violence, the sci-fi aspect is heavily toned down, almost to the point of irrelevance. There are no aliens in the city. No weird names. Jack Mason, Detective Lawrence, Cole Webster. All normal names, each of which came to me easily rang true to the character.
Jack Mason was actually the name of another book’s protagonist. I intended to modify that book and make it bloom from the unfinished draft, but it quickly transformed into something completely different. Into Acts of Violence. But I kept the name.
What's next for Ross Harrison and how can other Startacus members (apart from via your Startacus profile) get in touch? Twitter? Blog?
I’m about to start working on a super-mega-ultra-secret project. I actually wrote what that was before remembering that it was super-mega-ultra-secret, and deleting it. So there’s that. I’m also about halfway through the third book in my main series, NEXUS, so I’ll be continuing on with that. Now that I’ve written a thriller, I’ve got a taste for it, and have written down plenty of ideas for other ones, so there’s always a chance I won’t be able to resist the urge to start one of those.
My various links are:
Website/Blog: http://www.ross-harrison.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StarWraith
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AuthoRoss
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5828926.Ross_Harrison
Perhaps it would be nice if you dropped Ross a message to wish him well - or at best give his book sales a little nudge and buy the e-book - We will be for sure.
If you are interested in becoming a writer yourself, you might like our previous guide on Self Publishing - the basics and if you’d like a little airtime on Startacus, firstly make sure you are a Startacus member (it’s free to join you know!) and give us a shout at editorial@startacus.net
Join Startacus - the Self Start Society!
If you like what you see here on Startacus, why not become a member of our growing community? It's free! And you'll get all this - exclusive access to our Business Toolkit, discounts and offers galore for your business via our member only business deals, the chance to network and connect with loads of fellow self-starters, and maybe even become our celebrated 'Self-Starter of the Week' and tell the world your startup tale! Join right here for free
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Submer secures investment to support expansion and growth of its innovative energy and water saving technology.
It may still be a pretty challenging and stressful time for businesses. However, here are a few basic tips that should help...
10 innovative startups on a mission to solve some of the aerospace industry's key challenges are announced as participants in the next Aerospace Xelerated programme.
Creating an alcoholic drink startup? Richard Horwell from Brand Relations shares advice on how to overcome some of the key challenges when doing just that.
JustCarbon on mission to bring cryptocurrency benefits to nature-based solutions, driving increased investment and supporting global carbon market growth.
Chantelle Arneaud from Envestors shares insights on how the startup/scaleup investment sector has fared over the last year and advice on raising money for your business in 2022.
Chasing up money your business is owed? Amanda Hamilton, Chief Executive of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals shares her insights on how to do just that.
The award-winning accelerator Lloyd's Lab is back and on the look-out for innovative startups, scaleups and entrepreneurs for its next cohort, Cohort 8.
RElab selects 9 startups in the areas of industrialised construction, sustainability, supply chain management and digitisation to participate in its latest cohort.
The lowdown on DELLI, the platform connecting passionate, independent food and drink producers with a community eager to try new things.
Published on: 22nd January 2014
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Planet First Partners backs cooling tank technology that reduces data centre climate impact 18th Jan 2022 Submer secures investment to support expansion and growth of its innovative energy and water saving technology.
- Aerospace Xelerated announces the AI and Autonomy startups in its 3rd cohort 14th Jan 2022 10 innovative startups on a mission to solve some of the aerospace industry's key challenges are announced as participants in the next Aerospace Xelerated programme.
- FORMEL Skin Secures €30M Series A to Expand its HealthTech Platform 21st Dec 2021 Major investment for FORMEL Skin to help further develop its dermatology platform, launch new medical treatments and expand into new markets.
- Aerospace Xelerated welcomes GKN Aerospace back as partner for third programme 13th Dec 2021 GKN Aerospace continues as partner for the third cohort of Aerospace Xelerated, the programme focused on startups with innovative solutions in the aerospace sector.
