Our guest this week, Tom King, a former CIA Counterterrorism operations officer, discusses life fighting on the front lines post 9/11, and his life now as a husband, father, and full-time author. We discuss the strong themes in his novel A ONCE CROWDED SKY about war, avoiding a world full of violence, and the pull between being a hero and being a husband. Tom discusses how he still doesn't know if he made the right decision to leave the CIA, and how his novel illustrates the lack of cut and dry answers in life that are also the hardest to live with. For the superheroes in his novel who lose their powers, they go from living the dream, to having everything taken away, and having to deal with their new, unglamorous lives. PenUltimate, the only superhero who didn't give up his powers, is hated, and doesn't want to leave his wife to help save the day. As the enemy returns, that decision becomes more difficult, and his story really touches the heart.

My review of A ONCE CROWDED SKY.

We also discuss, starting around the 28 minute mark, the writing growth that Tom went through from his "practice novel," to A ONCE CROWDED SKY and the novel that is in the editing process with his publisher, Simon and Schuster. He also shares how writing comics is helping him improve his craft.

Mentioned in this podcast:

SFFWRTCHT interview with Tom King, hosted by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

Tom's artist, Tom Fowler, who drew the cover and all the art inside A ONCE CROWDED SKY.

Tom's Facebook Page, and Twitter (@TomKingTK).

A ONCE CROWDED SKY is now available as Hardcover and Ebook, with the Paperback set to release in July. Click (here) to find this book at your favorite dealer.

Subscribe to iTunes (here). I would love an honest review if you’ve listened to the past few episodes. You can also catch the podcast on RSS, Stitcher, and SoundCloud.

Upcoming schedule:

Monday, January 28th: Chicon 7 Panel, "Conquering Writer's Block."

Conquering Writer's Block
Has your story fizzled out or hit a wall before completion? There are common reasons for this, and common solutions which work for most writers. Pros discuss their tips and tricks for getting a story back on track.
Russell Davis, Tom King, Eldon Thompson, Monica Valentinelli, Gene Wolfe

Music provided by Big Daddy Scrabble's "Lorda Mercy" from freemusicarchive.org

Previous episodes:

AudioTim 42: Chicon 7 Panel "Write What You Don't Know"

AudioTim 41: Ramez Naam, Author of SF Thriller, NEXUS

AudioTim by Timothy C. Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Based on a work at timothycward.com.