From the Elucidarium issue #37: NASTRAGULL by Erik Martin Willén - Interview

 

 I have a fantastic recommendation for you today: ‘NASTRAGULL’ by Swedish author Erik Martin Willén. In Erik’s first instalment, ‘Pirates’, the human cadets on the interstellar transport Bright Star are heading home after eight long years of military training, but things don’t go according to plan. After a bloody battle with a group of space pirates, the Bright Star and its survivors are taken prisoner with the intent of selling them into slavery... or worse.  Cadet Alec Horn, along with the captain of the Bright Star escape, taking an emperor’s ransom in loot with them. Together, they set out on a dangerous adventure to rescue their friends and comrades. But can they succeed without bringing forth a war that will bring death and destruction across the Universe?   An epic space adventure that holds danger at every turn   As mentioned in my last newsletter, my latest novel, ‘The Fornax Assassin’, is now in its second draft with my editor. I’ll agree the publication date in the next few weeks, but I expect it to be available in July. However, if you would like an early look in exchange for an honest review, please request an Advance Review Copy (ARC). In other news, I am just ten weeks away from my trip to the Himalayas to climb Kang Yatse II. I just hope I get ‘The Fornax Assassin’ to readers before then!  Cheers, J.C.

 

Erik Martin Willén discusses his NASTRAGULL series   This is a story that I've kept coming back to since I was very young. Back then, a friend and I decided to create a cartoon. He was a great artist and could draw anything—and I was a bit crazy with my creative imagination. We decided I would come up with the story and he would handle the drawings. Boy, what a team we were! We produced a couple of pages, and then we got bored and went outside to play. Through the years, I made notes on the topic...many notes. Several times I attempted to write a book based on those notes, but didn't have the patience to complete it; after a few pages, I simply stopped. Years went by, and from time to time, whenever I faced difficulties in my life, I made more notes. Eventually I wrote the outline for the saga and turned it into several screenplays: Dawn Sets in Hell, Twenty-First, Nastragull, etc. The turning point in my life, the one that made me an author, was when my younger sister Sofia was diagnosed with Lupus SLE—and died shortly thereafter at the young age of 24 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sofia's death came as an incredible shock. It hit my family and me very hard, and made me revaluate my life. During my grief I started to write, and I wrote and wrote, and I held back nothing. Finally, I had found my author's voice, and the result is the saga called NASTRAGULL.     The story is original and very different. Five books have been th written in this series and I have planned for ten. Currently I’m working on part six and seven. There will also be a spinoff; The Vixens.  The story combines the non-stop high-tech adventure of Star Wars with the awe-inspiring, complex cultural backdrop of Dune—with quite a bit of Quentin Tarantino thrown in for good measure. This action-packed novel includes elements of military SF, traditional space opera, dystopian SF, and the sociological explorations of writers such as Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. LeGuin. At heart, though, it's a love story—the tale of two literally star-crossed lovers, and their Herculean efforts to move Heaven and Earth (sometimes literally) to find each other again and again as circumstances rip them apart.     “After the Swedish detective miracle, can we now, thanks to Willén, Swedish literature might be looking forward to a science fiction wonder?” Johan Holst, The Culture Magazine - Tidningen Kulturen, Aug, 06-2013 “Finally, something new in a genre of repeats” “a gripping, entertaining read…not for the faint-hearted…” “The most intense and new space opera ever!”   For more details about books by Erik Martin Willén visit erikmartinwillen.com or follow @ErikMartinWilln on Twitter, @erikmartinwillen on Instagram and on Goodreads.  Source: NastraGull by Erik Martin Willén (jcgemmell.com)