Monday, June 23, 2014

Interview: Pangaea: Eden’s Planet by Tom Johnson




Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

I was born in a log cabin… Oh, wait, that was someone else. I was born in Seymour, Texas in 1940. My dad was a cowboy and cook, so we were itinerants during my early years. After high school I joined the Army, spending the next twenty years in the military. I never wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. After retiring from the military, my wife and I started a publishing imprint and published a hobby magazine and several genre magazines for the next 22 years. In 2002 I starting writing seriously, and have since been published in over 80 books. Now retired, we moved back to Seymour where I write and listen to 1950s rockabilly and doo-wap music to relax. I also have a deep interest in entomology and paleontology.

Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

“Pangaea: Eden’s Planet” is a SF/Survival novel, with a romantic tease. Seven astronauts en route to Mars enter a space anomaly, disabling their ship and sending them back 250-million years through time. They crash land back on Earth 60-million years before the dinosaurs, and now face a survival situation in a world of vicious reptiles and natural disasters. Two people will find love, but not without great risk and sadness.

Are you a parent?

I’m a dad. We have one son, but he and his family live in another state, so we don’t see them very often.

Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

Yes, one novel, “Cold War Heroes” was a fiction account of my old Army unit in France, and the characters were loosely based of men I knew, though not necessary from the base in France.

Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?
That love will find a way, despite the hardships.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

Hmm. Do I really have to tell? I was involved in a UFO incident. No abduction, however.

When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?

I used to fish. I love to read, and always have a book in my hand, if I’m not writing my own.

Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?

A Fantasy. “The Tides of Avarice” by John Dahlgren. It was a wonderful story, with a simple moral, “Love can change the world.”

Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?

Most of my stories involve action and adventure, with heroic men and women fighting against evil, and triumphing against great odds. But it would be fun to try my hand at a snappy hard-boiled detective story.

Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is your favorite and why?

The Black Ghost, a costumed crime fighter like Batman. He is human, yet not afraid to stand up against the underworld to bring justice where deserved.

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

“Pangaea: Eden’s Planet” is the forerunner of the Jur series. Six novels set in the Jurassic Period. In that series, there is a mysterious race called the First Ones, but little is known about their origin. Eden’s Planet tells that beginning.

What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?

“These Alien Skies” has just been released on Kindle. I’m not working on anything else at present.

What book are you reading now?

“The Cave of The Chinese Skeletons” by Jack Seward, a paperback from the 1960s that I missed back then.

What is in your to read pile?

A pile of old paperbacks, mostly from the 1950s and ‘60s. Mostly spies and thrillers.



Pangaea: Eden’s Planet
Tom Johnson  

Genre: Science Fiction/Survival

Date of Publication: June 18, 2014

ISBN -13: 978-1497340749
ISBN-10: 1497340748
ASIN:

Number of pages: 100
Word Count: 50,000

Cover Artist: Jared from Off the Wall Creations

Book Description:

Seven astronauts en route to Mars encounter a time warp in space that disables their ship. Crash landing on Earth, they discover an alien planet sixty million years before the dinosaurs.

Pangaea, the super continent, is filled with danger and terror, as they must survive against fierce reptiles that ruled the Earth 250 million years in the past!


About the Author:

As a twenty-year military veteran, I served on the Korean DMZ under fire, as well as in Vietnam. I have a law enforcement background. My studies of paleontology and entomology have been an influence in many of my novels.

My wife and I started the publishing imprint of FADING SHADOWS in 1982, and published a hobby magazine and several genre magazines for 22 years, before I settled into writing my own novels.

I have now been published in over 80 books, which include fiction novels and short stories, as well as nonfiction books. I write SF, YA, Western, and Action novels.











1 comment:

Tom Johnson said...

Thanks for Hosting me Wenona. I like your Blog.