Official Interview: Mike Murphey

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Official Interview: Mike Murphey

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Today's Chat with Sarah features Mike Murphey author of Wasting Time.

To view the official review, click here.

To view the book on Amazon, click here.

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1. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I grew up in the 60’s. The great adventure of that era was the manned space program, so like many other kids, I wanted to be a pilot and an astronaut.

2. Why did you decide to write a book?

Essentially, to prove to myself that I could. I was a newspaper reporter and editor for many years, and most reporters think they have a novel in them. I was never able to sustain anything longer than a short story, so I gave up on that ambition. When I turned 60, I had some time on my hands, so I decided to try again. I made myself write at least 500 words a day. Out of that exercise, a story eventually emerged. My sixth book will be published in August.

3. Let's talk about your book Wasting Time. Why time travel?

I grew up in a small Eastern New Mexico town where Jack Williamson lived. His granddaughter and I knew each other through junior high and high school. He and Robert Heinlein are regarded as the founders of American science fiction, writing in the 30’s’, 40’s and 50’s. So, I was exposed to his books early in my life. Like many people I’ve long been fascinated with the concept of time travel. Back to the Future was a wonderful example of the fictional possibilities. After seeing that movie back in the 80’s, I began to toy with a plot about time travel in which the travelers occupied the consciousness of their past selves. That story is what I chose for my first effort.

4. How did you make such a complicated topic simple to understand?

I’m not really sure. I didn’t want to write a book about technology. I wanted to write a book about a group of interesting, flawed people. So mostly, built on real theories supported by Einstein’s theory of special relativity and quantum mechanics—which, believe me, I probably don’t understand much better than anyone else—and kept from going into too much detail.

5. What was the most difficult part of writing about time travel? What was the most fun?

I don’t think time travel is any more difficult to write about than anything else—it’s all hard. Like most fantasy, you have to construct a believable world and follow the rules you’ve created for how that world works and spend time researching the premises of your science to feel like that would is at least plausible. The most fun about any writing is the process of getting to know your characters and seeing where they take you.

6. The reviewer thinks that the book could be a blockbuster movie. Who would you get to play the characters?

Despite the way he’s depicted on the cover of Wasting Time, Marshall Grissom is not a handsome guy. I think D.J. Qualls would make a great Marshall. For Marta, Taraji P. Henson or Tessa Thompson. And to play Cecil, Robert Duvall.

7. Wasting Time is book two of this series. Can this be read as a standalone? Is there a book three?

I think it can be read as a standalone, and most reviewers seem to agree. The backstory doesn’t seem to get in the way of the plot. And yes, book three, Killing Time, was published in May. A draft of a fourth book has been completed and is probably set for publication in the summer of 2022.

8. Have you ever or do you ever plan to write outside of the science fiction genre?

Section Roads, which I think is the best thing I’ve written, is a coming-of-age/mystery novel based in the small eastern New Mexico town where I grew up. The Conman… a Baseball Odyssey is a novel based on the life and career of a friend of mine named Keith Comstock who pitched professionally for sixteen years and coaches in the Texas Rangers organization. My first non-fiction book, We Never Knew Just What it Was… The Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio comes out in August. It’s about the 60’s era of folk music.

I like to end with some fun questions.

9. Since the universes in the book were named after older TV shows, let me ask: Which is your favorite?


Parallel universes are central to the Time Series books plots and Elvin, the genius garage physicist, discovers that each universe has a specific theme song entangled in its universal aura. Our universe is the I Love Lucy Universe. I probably like the Lawrence Welk Universe because accordions are funny. Humor is an essential element of all my novels.

10. Where do you like to do your writing?

I write best in my home office in Spokane. We spend winters in Phoenix, and for some reason, writing seems to be more difficult there. In both places, I write best in the company of my cat.

11. If you could time travel, where would you go and why?

The rules of my fictional world are that we can only travel to the past, and you can’t travel to a time prior to your birth. I’d go back to the 60’s and explain some things to the teenager I was then. Like Brad Paisley’s song, If I Could Write a Letter to Me.

12. What authors have influenced you?

I’ve already mentioned Jack Williamson. A huge influence was a New Mexico writer named Richard Bradford. Others would be Mark Twain, Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams, Tom Robbins, Michael Connelly and John Sandford.
A book is a dream you hold in your hands.
—Neil Gaiman
Ihuoma03
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Post by Ihuoma03 »

Well, I'd love to say thank you for not making your sci-fi novel hard to understand. That is what has been keeping me from developing an interest in that genre.

Halfway into this interview, I paused to go read the review of your book and it was interesting. With your comments, I'm definitely placing the book on my "Want to read" shelf.
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