When The Sky Fell (Silver Leaf, 2009)
by Mike Lynch and Brandon Barr
The year is 2217, and Commander Frank Yamane is the captain of the stellar cruiser, Corona, stationed at Titan. A battle-hardened man who has experienced a series of personal tragedies, Yamane is guilt-ridden over his inability to prevent the death of his beloved wife, Liana. Plagued with doubts regarding his ability to lead, he will soon face the ultimate crisis when an alien race known as the Deravans attack the Earth without mercy. Knowing he cannot stop them alone, Yamane has no choice but to seek the assistance of an enemy he helped defeat in a war ten years before. The problem is, Commander Yamane knows they have every reason not to come to Earth’s rescue.
RA: Who’s idea was it to write the book and how did you two decide to write this novel together?
ML: This is kind of a long answer, but I’ll do my best to hit the high points.
I was just lying on my bed when I thought it would be fun to write about a fleet of ships 1000 strong attack the Earth. This was back in 1981, and as I recall, it took me about 3 months to finish the novel. Mind you, this was before the personal computer age, and every page was typed out on a manual typewriter. When I was done, the thought of revising the entire story, cleaning up clunky dialogue, correcting misspelled words, and making plot changes just felt so overwhelming to me that I put the story away for a number of years, but I would take it out from time to time and do a bit of revising.
It wasn’t until 2004 when I finally decided to get serious about writing that I tried to get the novel published. After facing one rejection after another, I realized I needed help. That was when I met a fellow writer named Brandon Barr. I asked him to help me rewrite the entire novel, and for that, I made him a co-author. So yes, I wrote the novel in the beginning, but his revisions helped shape it into the story we have today.
BB: As Mike explained, this first book is unique in that he wrote it, and then I came along and basically did a heavy edit. What brought us together? The internet. We had exchanged edits on some of our short stories, so I guess you never know what can develop out of some friendly critiquing.
RA: What are the challenges of co-authoring a book?
ML: Though Brandon and I have developed a good working relationship, I know co-authoring a story is not for everyone. The creative process is very personal, and some people have a hard time receiving negative feedback from someone else. But that is what needs to happen if they are to have any chance of finishing their novel.
For us, there have been the inevitable disagreements along the away, such as deciding on the structure of a particular scene, the way a sentence should be written, or the kinds of personality traits we want for a character in the novel. In the end, the overall vision for the story is what mattered, to make it as exciting as we possibly could. That always trumped the other’s feelings about the way a scene should be written or what to leave in or cut out of the story. Usually, when one of us shared our reasons for why a certain part needed to be a certain way, especially when he felt pretty strongly about it, the other would usually defer to him, and then we would move on.
A good way to do this is to spell out in detail the creative process that works best for them. Since Brandon and I know that the story must come first, each of us has the permission to critique the other’s work however we see fit. Sometimes, we are in complete agreement. Other times, a bit of convincing in required. So far, neither of us has taken negative comments in a personal way. We listen to each other’s reasons why something in the story needs changing, and then usually find ourselves agreeing with the other. In the end, the story always ends up being that much stronger because we both embrace the collaborative effort.
BB: I’ll add that one must have a good stomach for critique in order to work with another person on something both personal and creative. It takes a good measure of sensitivity toward one another.
RA: Would you consider co-authoring again? And is there a sequel planned?
ML: We already have. Because Brandon and I have developed a strong friendship and working relationship, we enjoy working on stories together. At present we have completed two other novels since finishing When the Sky Fell and are currently working on a sequel. After that, we have a couple of other novels in the works.
BB: As Mike alluded, we’ve finished two other books. One, presently titled Midnight Over Midian is rather indefinable. It’s an epic scale, present-day, literary-thriller, with politics and a coming of age story. It has romance, humor, but also is a bit dark. The other book is easy to categorize. It’s an archeological adventure romance titled, After the Cross.
RA: Talk about finding a publisher. When the Sky Fell is a Christian-themed science fiction novel and yet a secular publisher has released it. Has this been a good experience? What, if anything, would you do differently next time?
ML: Finding a publisher was a long a laborious process for the two of us. I had tried on my own for several years, but got nowhere. At the same time I also sent out query letter after query letter to different Christian publishers, but they too were not interested in the book. After Brandon came on board, we sent out the newly revised manuscript and proposal to different Christian publishers, but the results were the same. Realizing our science fiction story just wasn’t going to be accepted in Christian literary circles, Brandon and I trimmed down the overtly Christian elements and made the story more allegorical in nature. We then focused our attention on secular publishers that specialized in science fiction and fantasy. And finally one day, I received a letter from Silver Leaf Books, saying they were interested in publishing the story.
Working with Silver Leaf Books has been a good experience for us. Because they are a small publisher, and have signed on only three other authors, we are very important to them. Our success is their success. If we have any problems or questions, Brett Fried, our editor, has been there to help us out every step of the way. The downside of working with a small publisher is that they don’t have the budget to do the things big publishers do, such as send you on a promotional tour or do much advertising in different markets. It’s basically up to Brandon and me to get the word out.
As far as doing it differently next time, that’s hard to say. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, and suffered just as many setbacks, but that is also how you learn the business of publishing. It’s those experiences that help you be more successful in the future.
BB: Mike put it well, but I’ll second his input on Silver Leaf Books. We’ve really enjoyed working with them. Though they don’t have a big budget for promoting the book, it’s nice talking with people who have time for you. I guess I like old-fashioned relationships…something that is often pulverized by fast-paced modern society.
RA: Who did the fantastic cover art?
ML: That would be Glenn Kim, an artist who works at Pixar Animation Studios. I met Glenn through a mutual acquaintance and had seen some of his work when he came to the high school where I work to talk to some of the students about what it takes to make a movie. When Silver Leaf Books agreed to publish our novel a few months later, Brandon and I were looking for an artist to do the cover. We knew a good cover makes the difference for a novel, and so we wanted something special. I contacted Glenn and asked him if he was interested in doing the cover for us. He said yes.
RA: What are some of your previous publications? What are your next projects?
ML: I wrote a book that chronicles the history of Dublin, CA, entitled Dublin. My family is from there originally. I’ve also had some science fiction short stories published by Ray Gun Revival, Residential Aliens, and Surprising Stories. I wrote a fantasy story that will come out some time next year for an anthology published by Silver Leaf Books. Brandon and I also came in first place in the Dead Robots Society’s first chapter contest for one of our novels. I just finished a short story for the newly launched website, Digital Dragon. It’s will be published in either July or August.
Our big project right now is finishing up the sequel for When the Sky Fell tentatively titled When the Sky Burned. After we’re done with that, Brandon and I will take a break for a while, and then start on our next novel, a futuristic story about cloning. You’ll have to stay tuned for that one. For more, visit my website (www.mikelynchbooks.com).
BB: I started out with a passion for short stories, and a fear for writing novels. I overcame my fear for writing novels, but my passion for short stories remains. To date I’ve published nine short stories in a variety of venues. Everything from sci-fi, to literary, to guidepost-style fiction. You can check out the list at my website (www.brandonbarr.com) under published works. If I were to recommend my favorite stories, three come to mind. “The Seeker,” a sci-fi tale published by Digital Dragon. “Mikel’s Hope,” a literary fiction story published by Haruah. And “Running for Malaika,” a true story, published by Haruah.
As Mike mentioned, we’ve got a good clone story in the near future, but before we get to it we’ve got to finish the sequel to When the Sky Fell. One step at a time. I’m sure there will be many more short stories forthcoming. For instance, “The Kitterson Ranch Incident” which I’m pleased to see is out in this month’s issue of ResAliens!
RA: Thank you both for your time in sharing the latest. Best wishes in all your projects!
Interview © 2009 Residential Aliens, Mike Lynch, Brandon Barr.
Own your copy of When The Sky Fell (Silver Leaf, 2009).
Tags: Brandon Barr, interview, Mike Lynch, science fiction
[...] Residential Aliens interviewed me about the release of my novel, "When the Sky Fell." You can check it out at: http://www.resaliens.com/2009/07/interviewing-mike-lynch-and-brandon-barr/ [...]