Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this, and please, do call me Brandon. We’re all friends here (laughs).

I’m not sure how to answer that succinctly and not come across as more interesting than I really am. I’m just a big kid really. I love to help people, and I love to laugh, and to make people laugh. If you want to delve deeper we’d need an hour or two (laughs).

I am the office manager for a small tech company here in New Zealand. It’s a somewhat sophisticated title for what’s easily the most expendable job in the office (laughs).

Grady Hendrix really blew me away this year with “Southern Guide” by not only taking me out of my comfort zone and scaring me, but also taking me back to a different place in time. I’m an unashamed, lifelong fan of Tolkien. Jeff Smith was and is a huge influence on me to this day. But my greatest influences would have to be my late parents, John and Natalie. I just want to make them proud of me, even if only in some small way.

I’ve recently discovered that, among the writing community, I’m what’s referred to as a “pantser.” Pretty funny really because it’s fairly accurate. I start with a general idea and then that seems to morph and take shape from someplace I don’t know where. I love that part of the process, though, because I think any good idea probably should go beyond what we ourselves imagine it to be in its infancy. I’m not saying I’ve always been able to do that with my ideas, but I try to let go of the reins enough to at least allow for it. As far as learning to write? I’m pretty certain I have my schoolteachers and all the guys and gals writing in the comic book industry in the 80s and 90s to blame for that. (laughs)

I think of everything I write in a cinematic sense. I don’t fully know why that is. It could be from my boyhood in the 80s, and growing up with film, and being so influenced at a young age by the movies. You’ve only got roughly two hours to tell a good story on the screen, which is ironically about the length of my attention span on a really good day (laughs). But yeah, you know, I guess my writing style, if you could even call it that, is just an outgrowth of thinking visually.

It’s interesting though because when people ask me about it, if they allow me, I’ll go off on several tangents. And some people get it and some people don’t. If I were a super-hero I’d be the guy who had the power to make eyes glaze over. (laughs) Honestly though? I think Foreword Clarion reviews said it best when they wrote, “… self-sacrifice, a desire for revenge, and a mother’s love could save the world in this….”

If we’re talking about Transference specifically, the idea came to me because I wanted to criss-cross something like Ghostbusters with Aliens, but also sort of introduce spiritual elements into the mix. I think we as human beings are spiritual, and that we look for the spiritual in life. Whether we ignore it, or deny it, or embrace it is the real question. But yes, research is so vital to all of that, and an enjoyable part of the writing process for me. You ever fall down the YouTube rabbit hole late at night? Research is the same! (laughs) I’ll often find myself studying up perhaps a bit too much, and I end up down a well of information for half an hour, or whatever, all over fine details for what may amount to only a few sentences.

The title aptly describes a sort of metaphysical transformation that happens to many characters in the story. I also wanted the process of transference to serve as punishment to some and as a reward to others. That’s a frightening proposition. The entire plot of course revolves around it, in some way or another. To say anything more would probably spoil it.

Barrabas Madzimure is the main character, but I have never thought of him as the protagonist in the traditional sense. Some readers may think I’ve broken convention by having a “hero” who doesn’t grab the bull by the horns and take control of the situation. So, while it may seem like events are happening around Madzimure, you’ll see that the man’s been in prison for thirty years, light years away from Earth. He’s broken down, and weary, and I think in our own lives we can feel that way, and indeed become that way. Subsequently, we can get taken along for the ride, if you will, rather than carving our own way ahead by action or by choice. Madzimure’s story, if you bear with it, is still one of design. The primary antagonists are Corvus the interrogator, and a prophet named Jovian. They are the driving force behind the way the story plays out because they are the ones with the most power, or at least the perception of it. The second half of the book features what I consider the real heroes like Elisabeth, Terra, the Surgeon, and even Nav… all major and minor characters which flesh the narrative out in a better way than the claustrophobic start, which was done intentionally.

Hey, you nailed it. It’s all of those things! (laughs). It’s violent yes, and vulgar in its language. And I really struggled with that. The first half of the story takes place in a prison, so the crassness is there out of necessity. I think it’s scary in the sense that it points a finger towards the dangers of blind conformity and gross intolerance. But yes, it’s absolutely hopeful, and by the time you get to the end, that becomes more apparent amidst the carnage of it all.

The cover art had been doodled out in a sketch pad of mine dating back quite a few years. I had three or four ideas that I thought might work, and I took my thoughts to Damonza. The team there did an amazing job. I wanted to portray a sort of human cloning/frozen on ice type of feel. Duality with the split colours. The metaphysical aspect of the human soul. All those things. Damonza created several different mock-ups, and when I saw it, the one that it ended up being, I just knew. I knew that’s what it was meant to be.

The story is told from multiple points of view, so while that felt very natural to me, it might not be easy for everyone to follow. But hey, I don’t want to exclude anybody. I can say that I purposely wrote equally strong men and women, you know, so that it wasn’t all a male-dominated slug-fest? (laughs). I realize that not everyone is going to like it, and it’s not a perfect book. The story is driven forward by transference itself as a plot device, but I did also put my heart into it, so I think that means it’s also rife with deeper meaning. I think anyone looking for something substantial in a more “broad” type of sci-fi will get something from it.

The book is littered with a fair few pop-culture and historical shout-outs. Some of them have been picked up on quickly, others haven’t. So yeah, I really have enjoyed the fact that some readers have said, oh I liked that you mentioned this, or how you described that. I did that to give the story a grounding, and a past which would be relatable. But ultimately, the story is about family, and the love of family. And it’s also about asking questions. By the time you get to the last chapter, I hope that you are asking yourself some deep questions. If I did my job even half-right, then you will be. (laughs)

Wow, no pressure! (laughs) Well to be quite honest, when I wrote the book I was in a much different and more supportive place in my life. Now I find myself very distracted and lacking the energy to devote to doing the work, and I’m seeking out ways to be better at that. That said, I am writing the sequel to Transference. I would’ve liked to have had it ready this year, but I don’t want to put a timestamp on it. Fingers crossed for 2022, eh? If I can’t make that happen, I’d like to put out what is hopefully the first of many picture books.

No way, thank you! Does my thank you cancel out your thank you?? (laughs) I don’t know about you guys, but man, 2020 and 2021 has been tough on us all. And sometimes I can be of the glass-half-empty sort right along with the best of them, but I’d rather just say to anyone reading, hey, keep going. Keep forging ahead even if everyone around you says you can’t do it. I’m hopeful that there’s still good things ahead of us.

NOTE: Many thanks to Justine, Timy & the Storytellers On Tours for giving us an opportunity to take part in this tour.