Surf the Milky Way received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author E. R. Harris.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Surf the Milky Way, published February 28th, 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
Paddling at a smooth, steady pace, Max looked over his shoulder in time to see his crew mate Claude drive his surfboard into such a crisp, hard turn that a massive splash of water flew off the back of the wave and rained down upon him.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
A space opera of the highest magnitude, Surf the Milky Way follows a rag tag group of five surfers who travel around on their spaceship the Planet Hopper seeking out the best waves in the galaxy. When they take a risky and illegal mission across the Intergalactic Dividing Line – to surf a magical wave on the remote planet Uehara – they cross paths with the infamous Giant Beings of Perseus, who throw planets and destroy solar systems playing their deadly game of Planet Ball. Captain Max and his misfit crew escape just in time but find themselves unwillingly drawn into a conflict between the Universal Government of New Earth and the Persean Giants. Along the way they befriend people living off the grid in the Abandoned Asteroid Belt, team up with much-maligned Ugov Terraformers, and hope that one good politician among the corrupt moonscrapers of New Earth can help them stave off a cataclysmic war that could change the Milky Way forever.
What inspired you to write the book?
When I was a young reader I devoured Tolkein, Piers Anthony, Douglas Adams, and many, many other greats of the two genres. I had a particular affinity for the humorous but massive universe-building imagination of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. At the time in the early 80’s I was just learning to surf, one of my lifelong pursuits, along with losing myself in words, and I thought it would be so cool to have aliens that travel around to surf on these fun, foreign worlds that Star Wars and Star Trek have illuminated for us on the screen. Well, I did just that. I began writing short stories to bring the main protagonist group to life. They’ve been marinating in my mind for quite a long time. Now, they’re unleashed upon the world in novel form!
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
If you like character-driven, action-packed, science fiction, with meticulous world-building and some humor sprinkled in, then Surf the Milky Way is guaranteed to entertain you! And the crew of the Planet Hopper is just getting started! There are award-winning novellas, back stories and future projects with Max and the boys already in the works! So you can keep “Surfing the Milky Way” when you finish the book!
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who – real or fictional – does the character remind you of?
Captain Max is the main protagonist, but his other four crew mates obviously play a central role. There are also other protagonist sets where the main characters in each, respectively, have their moments of inner reflection, as thoughts appear in italics in my prose. Max has the muscular, tattooed build of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy, but the charisma, confidence, intellect and leadership abilities of Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek.
When did you first decide to become an author?
My father was a beatnik poet from the early 60’s San Francisco scene and my mother was a goddess arts painter, so I was imbued with art at an early age. I progressed toward reading and writing very early on and even took personal writing lessons from Martin Cruz Smith (of Gorky Park fame) when I was just in grade school. From that point on it’s always been a dream of mine. And now it’s become a reality!
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes and no. Surf the Milky Way is the first book I STARTED writing. I did complete two drafts on it, then got shut down by the gatekeepers and put it aside for a few years while I concentrated on my second project: Chronicles of the Mermaid. This new project is for a mature audience, an epic fantasy trilogy with transmogrification and battles galore! After I spent a few years writing and creating second drafts of the first two books (they’re long – 650 + pagers!) I went back to Surf the Milky Way and prepared it for self-publishing. But going back to it meant, in a lot of ways, I really had to rewrite it. Once a professional editor got his hands on it, and I had to reflect and make big changes, it almost felt like writing it again. So, technically, yes, this is the first book I wrote, but in the meantime my craft improved tremendously not only by switching genres completely, but also through the sheer Gladwellian hours of writing and editing my own prose.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am a lifelong physical education teacher. It really is the perfect career to have when you are trying to break in as an artist. I do have a lot of time off to write, especially June and July. But on weekdays, after teaching all day, I’m pretty tired. It’s tough to create fresh content and go into that place of intensity and concentration necessary to produce great storytelling.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
As I alluded to in my answer to the previous question, I do have a lot of time off to work on my craft, especially during summer break. But there are also various holidays throughout the year. Then, if I am particularly piqued, and I spend a few hours on a weekend day, that’s a good productive window. However, the amount of time I spend writing is relative to how FIRED UP I am about a particular project, or even more specifically, the actual scene I am working on. For example, if it’s a deciding battle, and things are left unfinished, I am dying to get back on the battlefield with my pen and paper (read as “typing on the computer”) to chronicle the conclusion. I want to be as desperate as a brand new reader to get answers to the predicaments I have set up throughout the narrative.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part is definitely seeing the finished product. Holding the book in my hand. Flipping through and reading it and remembering the creative process like it was yesterday. If the industry did not exist, I might not have had the pleasure of the experience. The hardest part is the rejection. When the gatekeepers deny your query letters without a glance, it’s hard to come to grips with. As an indie you KNOW you’ve worked just as hard, and you KNOW you’re just as good. It’s having the calling card to say: “I’m not giving up.”
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Of course. That’s the goal. I mean, if you’re writing just to write – that’s great. It has inherent value and can be important work on many levels. However, the level that I AM trying to get to is commercial success. The measure of commercial success in a capitalist economy is, sadly, money. Another sad truth, the money lies in the big publishers. Doesn’t mean I’m not proud to be an Indie, doesn’t mean I discredit anything about the Indie artist, it’s just numbers.
Is there something particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I touched on it above, but yes, making money would be a major motivation. Teacher’s salaries aren’t a living middle class wage anymore in this country. So if I want to take my wife on some trips when I retire, I wouldn’t mind selling my stories, no, not at all. But, truthfully, more than money, what motivates me most is the desire to see fans of my genre ENJOYING my work. Genuinely. What’s the metric for that? I’m not sure. But it was pretty cool to see Surf the Milky Way in the Top 100 Amazon sellers (disclaimer – it was within the Young Adult Space Opera Genre Category) alongside Star Wars spin off novels and other recognizable authors. That is a HUGE motivation for me as an author, to create stories that really resonate with a lot of people.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
I’ll do even better… one living, one dead, and one uncertain. I definitely admire Brandon Sanderson and Kim Stanley Robinson and Patrick Rothfus and…oh, was I supposed to mention just one? For the posthumous ER Harris Admiration Award I would go with, of course, J. R. R. Tolkein. For the uncertain, I do read a lot of non-fiction and fiction that doesn’t fall into my speciality genres of sci fi and fantasy, and I love Thomas Pynchon. Is he actually still alive? Many think a ghost writer has taken over for him. Very few photos of him exist. It’s quite fishy. Then you get lost in his post-modern psychobabble and take a perverse journey down a rabbit hole of his making. Is it really him though? The REAL Thomas Pynchon?
Which book do you wish you could have written?
That’s tough, because I do love multiple genres. But if I stick with my favorite zone in the sci fi and fantasy realms… I’ll cheat a little and answer with the Game of Thrones series – so I can get credit for about a million words. Being able to get away with writing about such utter morbidy, to kill off main characters so…abruptly, to have such complex political strife, such intricate world-building… It’s pretty hardcore. I would often be struck by Martin’s descriptions of what his characters are eating. So incredibly realistic! It is this realism that he mixes so adeptly with the soft magic system and the dragons. You BELIEVE it when a character is feeling pain. You feel the wind on your cheeks when the dragon’s wing flaps.