The 7th Pre-Light received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Brett Mumford.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The book is called, The 7th Pre-Light and it was published in February 2022.
What’s the book’s first line?
Serla was ninety-eight cycles old and happy with his life.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
A young Sel researcher is given the challenge to lead the analysis on a newly discovered race: Humans. They are getting closer to developing FTL technology and need to be understood before they take their first steps into the stars.
A senior Sel security technician has been assigned the task to stop a serial killer. What does his case have to do with a 500-year-old secret?
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
This story came about from thinking about the phrase ‘the devil made me do it’.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
I think anyone that has an interest in science fiction will appreciate and enjoy the world I have created here. This novel is done from an interesting perspective I think. I disagree with all the pessimists that say if we meet an alien race, they will just want to dominate/abuse/experiment on us. I present the alien race as just another race that is a few thousand years ahead of us in the evolutionary cycle. They had to go through their own growing pains, and the culture they have now is a result of the lessons they have learned, not so different from us in many ways.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The most distinctive thing would have to be that they main character is a sentient lizard. On their planet, it was something akin to a lizard that evolved sentience first. A secondary distinction would be that they have a third eye in the middle of their forehead that is a holdover from much farther in the evolutionary development. It functions for the purposes of hunting to give them incredible vision over a relatively short distance.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I have been considering being an author when I graduated from high school. The classes I took in university were primarily to give me the ability to consider the question ‘why?’. I always knew that if I wrote a book, I would need to be able to give my characters believable motivations and rationale for their actions, and meant getting a good understanding of what drives people.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I work in IT, providing computer technical support.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
I try to spend a few hours every day doing writing. I don’t try to limit it, as long as the words are flowing, I will keep writing.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Having to do your own promotional tasks is the single hardest thing for me. I don’t enjoy social media and do not have any real experience using it, but that is where a lot of the people that I want to buy my book spend their time.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Write. Write as much as you can. It will get easier, the words will come faster, the more you write. I tend to keep a couple of just filler stories running all the time. When I am having problems finding the words for the book I am working on, I can open one of these filler stories and just work there. Because they are not for publishing, I can be as ridiculous as I want, I can have it doing anything. The point is to be writing.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes I would go traditional if a publisher came along. For me the biggest inspiration drain is the time I need to spend promoting the book, what is known as the business side. In a traditional publishing setup, that is what the publisher will manage. I know I would make much less per sale, but considering that the novel would be promoted so much more thoroughly than I as an uninspired amateur could do, I expect there would be much more success in sales. I believe that it is easier to succeed as a traditionally published author.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
The thing that motivates me the most is knowing people are enjoying my stories. I don’t need to get rich from my writing, I would be happy just to be able to live a moderate life from my books. It is knowing that my story has made someone smile, or think a new thought. That is what is most inspiring to me.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
The author that has given me the most inspiration would have to be Edgar Rice Burroughs. His stories are a century old, but I love the heroic nature that his main characters embued in the stories.
Which book do you wish you could have written?
None. I have loved many books, but I have never aspired to be the creator of any of those stories. I can’t see them as anything other than the creations of other extremely talented people, who gave me the chance to live in their imagination.