Jeremy Robinson, Author of Antarktos Rising

June 6, 2009

Dr. Kent: Welcome to Sound Authors. My next guest on the show is a fellow who has written a book that is doing quite well. Its called Antartktos Rising. That’s hard to say Jeremy Robinson is the author of a couple books and a welcome to the show Jeremy.

Jeremy Robinson: Thanks for having me.

Dr. Kent: So tell me about this book. First of all how to pronounce it because I did a horrible job there.

Jeremy Robinson: Chuckling I wrote it Guess I’ll get it right. Ant ark toes Rising.

Dr. Kent: Ant ark toes Rising.

Jeremy Robinson: Antarktos is the Greek for Antarctica.

Dr. Kent: So tell me about this book. Tell me in a nutshell.

Jeremy Robinson: Its starts with a disgruntle placement history of the Earth crust shifting over the core so that North Dakota becomes the North Pole and Antarctica ends up at the equator. Where it thaws and after event happens 2.6 billion people after are dead and rest of the world is displaced their all kind buying control over this new thawed continent.

Dr. Kent: Now where do you come up with ideas like this.

Jeremy Robinson: Um a lot of research I think the initial idea of this was I want to thaw out Antarctica how can I do that? And I started doing researching different possibilities and there is what I found was the most not realistic but most fun for me.

Dr. Kent: What is the process researching the book you did a lot of research on Antarctica?

Jeremy Robinson: Yup

Dr. Kent: Tell me about that whole process. How do you get about do that? Do you bury yourself in books? Do you read everything you can?

Jeremy Robinson: Ok I initially got my start in writing actually as an artist, I was a comic book illustrator at the time I started writing comic books as well. And that when I realized what I was doing through my art was story telling, so I realized my passion was really telling stories not necessarily being an artist. I started doing screenplays after that moved to Los Angeles I realize I didn’t like Hollywood and decided to try writing a novel. The first novel I wrote was The Didymus Contingency, which I published in 2005 and it did really well. I think probably because the premise the guy goes back in time to get through the story of Jesus, so that got a lot of attention. Got an agent and after that I started my own small press because that book did so well I figured why not do some more. My second book was Raising the Past that book’s kind of arctic science fiction story that did very well then I moved on to Antarktos Rising. Which did well enough to get the attention of an investor from a business a major publisher in New York. Which I now have a three book deal. The first of those books Pulse come out May 26, and that’s been all over the past few years.

Dr. Kent: And how’s that process been for you?

Jeremy Robinson: Which process the publishing or?

Dr. Kent: Yeah I mean your in a new world where publishing the book with your own independent publisher. Which is now possible to have success and then get picked up by a major publisher. How you felt through that whole process?

Jeremy Robinson: It’s a lot of work. I think normally people do one or the other. For the last year I been running what’s now a large publishing company and getting my book ready Antarktos came out in October. My newest book came out in January or February and now I have a book coming out in May. So I’ve been nonstop marketing my book but also marketing other peoples books at the same time.

Dr. Kent: And now your newest book is actually Kronos is that right?

Jeremy Robinson: Kronos is about a father and widower an ex-Navy Seal and oceanographer. His daughter has been estranged from him since his wife died and to help reconcile with her, he takes her out to go scuba diving off the coast of Maine. Instantly while they are out there scuba diving she is swallowed whole by a very large creature. Which is unknown to Atkins at the time. He kind of goes on a Moby Dick hunt quest for revenge trying to hunt down the creature and on the way o his path to kill this creature. He makes a discovery that kind of turns the whole story around and it’s a big surprise kind of fun.

Dr. Kent: What’s fun about your books your able to create different types of worlds but an author that must be kind of a tricky process of being a creating a different reality. Talk about the difference in this kind of book and sort of a fiction story about family living in New England or something.

Jeremy Robinson: Right. That’s what I actually enjoy about coming up with this new world and creatures that don’t necessarily exist or that might exist but what makes it really hard making it believable so I can’t just say in this instance in Kronos, I have this really large creature but I just can’t make something up so I had to do research on local legends because this takes place in New England and I found that there is a New England sea serpent that has been reported over 200 times since 1638. So I have a lot of historical background for this creature and then I try and work in some pints behind is all well. So I can kind of create what I want but then I have to back it up with history of science or it won’t be very believable. Its not straight fantasy or science fiction like people say teleport to another world.

Dr. Kent: How about I usually ask fiction writers. Do you dream about your characters? Do you find that they sort of exist in reality? Do you have file of open on their lives? How do you keep them straight?

Jeremy Robinson: I do have files on them. I create worksheets on them with details of their lives. I can’t say I’ve ever dreamt about any of my books and that actually surprising now that you mentioned it. But that maybe because I think about them all day long. If I’m in the car driving I usually inside a book inside my head which maybe a good thing or a bad thing I don’t know. But I think about them so much during my waking hours my mind likes to take a break from them honestly.

Dr. Kent: So you got this contract your in now. What’s the next couple projects your working on and all of that?

Jeremy Robinson: The next books area series. There is a three of them I’m contracted with Poblison Publishing, which is an imprint with St. Martin’s Press. And these are series called Chess Team series about a team of Delta Operators. Delta is basically our most special Special Forces unit, which is conspired of Army Rangers, Navy Seals, and all the best that we have. They in the all the best that we have. They in the story they are dealing with some strange things in the book the first book they are dealing with a genetics company who is trying to make a break through in a basically immortality. It starts with they are trying to regenerate arms and legs on people very quickly. They end up regenerating the mythical hydra and bring that back to life by accident. So its kind of a military thriller lot of mythology involved with a lot of with creatures or well so a lot of strange things happening.

Dr. Kent: It sounds like you have a career from the outside that seems kind of fun, and a tell us about the hard work aspects.

Jeremy Robinson: The hard work aspect is actually the marketing. The writing and the research and all the stuff that goes in to it before hand and during the writing is all the good fun for me. The hard part is marketing its putting yourself out there and traveling a lot doing book signing. I enjoy it, but its definitely not who I am wired. The hard part for me is marketing and large part of that I spend more time marketing than I do writing. Which for a writer is hard because we’d rather be in our office writing all the time. But to sell books you have to be out there and available out there doing things you aren’t necessarily comfortable with.

Dr. Kent: And what kind of things does your publisher or do you end up going to signing books? Do you go to mostly bookstores or do you go to larger events? What do you do?

Jeremy Robinson: I have it’s mostly bookstores. I will be at Thriller Fest, which is a large event in New York City at Grand Height. That’s a much bigger event there is a few hundred authors who go there and lots of fans tool. So its that’s more like a convention. I’m trying to thinking if there’s anything else but it’s mainly bookstores.

Dr. Kent: Cool. Well it’s been a pleasure chatting with you and I hope we chat with you again. It seems like you put out a book every six months so it’ll give us a lot of opportunity. Do you find that it’s hard to turn out books so quickly?

Jeremy Robinson: No that would actually be my preference to do one every six months. That will probably slow down this year been quick because we had three books that need to come out in about 12 month because I had written so many so there’s kind of a back log of books that need to come out. But now it’ll probably be once a year even though I’d like to see two. But someday.

Dr. Kent: Now do you have some sort of grand plan in mind like down the road you want to write a 1,500 page book on something? Do you have any sort of clever schemes down the road?

Jeremy Robinson: For world domination? (Chuckling) I don’t know it really just to improve each book has to be better than the next. I did the screenwriting thing for awhile so its always been a dream of mine to see something I created a film and that’s in the works for Antarktos Rising, as an animated feature that’s supposed to come out in 2010. I don’t know it that’ll happen or not that’s what the schedule is right now. But I’d really like to see my books as movies and I’d also like to see them as video games because I’m a big game player so.

Dr. Kent: Very cool, it’s been an honor chatting with Jeremy Robinson about his last two books. Antarktos Rising, Kronos, and about all his future projects. If you just go to Amazon you’ll find or ton of his book. Where else can we find out about you online?

Jeremy Robinson: You can find out about me at jeremyrobinsononline.com.

Dr. Kent: Wonderful all right lets chat again soon when that next book comes out.

Jeremy Robinson: Definitely.

Dr. Kent: My next on the show is a musician they are called the Lovell Sisters. They make a really incredible brand of music and they do it as a family so come on back for that we’ll be talking to them.

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