An Interview with L.A. Kelley, author of the Sci-Fi series Rimrider

L.A. Kelley is the author of seven fantasy and science fiction adventure novels with smart female characters more comfortable with thinking rather than shooting their way out of a tricky situation. Rimrider is the newest and the first book in the Rimrock Adventures series. The second, Outlaw Jane, is also available with the third due in 2017. The story arc is a nod to the American Revolution, but with space colonists as the Yankees and Earth as the redcoats. A reader can expect to find an element of fantasy and sweet romance, humor, space battles and conflict, but no gore.

Rimrider, a YA Space Opera, follows the life of teen Jane Benedict. One morning she is awakened by her father and ordered to memorize a mysterious code. Hours later, Mathias Benedict is dead and Jane and her brother, Will, are wards of United Earth Corporation. To evade the company’s murderous clutches and uncover the meaning of her father’s last message, Jane leads Will on a desperate escape across the galaxy aboard the Freetrader smuggler ship, Solar Vortex. Tangled in the crew’s fight against UEC, Jane saves the life of young smuggler Maclan Sawyer and learns her father’s code identifies a secret cargo shipment that can spell doom for the entire Freetrader cause and the extinction of an alien race.

Piracy, intrigue, romance, and a daring rebellion from Earth wait on the planet Rimrock. Will Jane answer the call to adventure and find new purpose on the galactic rim or will death for high treason be her fate?

Now, let’s get to know Rimrider’s author, L. A. Kelley. 

1. When did you start writing? 

I’ve written stories since I was old enough to chew on a number two pencil, but never used to let anyone read them. Then a few years ago, someone found out I wrote and encouraged me to publish. Actually, she snuck up behind while I typed, read over my shoulder, and shouted in my ear, “Hey, this is good.”  Nearly gave me heart attack. I started submitting manuscripts to publishers and received my first contract in 2013.

2. A story about a teen space pirate is an original concept. Tell about how you got that idea and the series it spawned.  

I wanted to write a space opera and focus on a girl’s evolution from typical teenager to space pirate. While Rimrider is set in the future, the story’s roots are anchored firmly in the past, influenced by my first relative to come to America. She joined the flood of Eastern European immigrants who braved the trip across the Atlantic around 1900. Barely sixteen, she traveled alone with no knowledge of English or American customs and culture. She had no money, few skills, and carried nothing more than a beat-up suitcase held together with rope and a burning desire for a better life. As I thought about her, it struck me a girl crossing the ocean might have a lot in common with an interplanetary settler.  Communication with people left behind would be difficult. Trips would most likely be one-way as expense or political unrest could make a return impossible. The scariest part for past and future travelers is the same; abandoning everything familiar and loved. Only the most adventurous take the leap.

With an idea of the heroine’s personality, I needed to flesh out the story and decided to make Rimrider a loose parallel of the American Revolution. On Earth, the colonists on the galactic rim are considered pirates and outlaws, plotting revolution against legal authority.  Meanwhile, the Freetraders see themselves as fighting tyrants who make rules to only benefit Earth, ignore colonists’ rights, and treat them as cheap, exploitable labor. I especially wanted to add a lot of interesting female characters. For most of American history, women’s contributions were hidden or dismissed. They couldn’t vote or participate in politics or military campaigns. The girls and women in Rimrider are equal partners in the fight for freedom from the very beginning, and their voices are loud and clear.

Mostly, I didn’t want a dark tale full of angsty teenagers searching a dystopian wilderness for their ‘specialness.’ Rimrider is fast and fun with plenty of both humor and adventure and not a whiney puss in sight. The full story of Jane Benedict couldn’t be told in one book and became a series. The second book, Outlaw Jane, is out now. The third, The Boneyard, will be released in 2017. At least two more are in the works after that.

3. What is your favorite writing style?

I’ve written in several fiction genres, but always add some element of science fiction or fantasy.  I like the freedom of speculative fiction. I can bend and twist mundane reality to suit my fancy.

4. Please tell my readers about other novels you’ve written like Moon, Mist, & Magicor One Enchanted Evening.

Moon, Mist & Magic is a paranormal romance anthology by five authors. We created the book as a fundraiser with all proceeds donated to the World Wildlife Fund. The stories range from sweet to sensual (no graphic sex), all with a touch of fantasy and a happy ending.

One Enchanted Evening is a Kindle bestseller. It’s a modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. A woman discovers a peculiar red cape in a consignment shop and gets dragged into the hunt for a serial killer in a wolf mask. The hero is a former Marine who thinks his hunting days are over. Little does he know…

I also have a historical fantasy released this summer called Spirit Ridge. The novel takes place in 1885. The heroine is a plucky newspaper reporter who discovers a plot by a nefarious crime lord to control the Arizona Territory. The hero is a half-breed Apache marshal with spirit visions. Can Sam use his power to help Nell stop the mysterious dark riders or does death wait for both at the end of the trail?

5. Besides phoning in Bigfoot sightings to the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife (You really do that?) what do you do with your time when you’re not writing?

Would I lie? Other than writing, I like reading nonfiction and nerdy science books…also eating dessert. I like to hike, too, because then I can work off the calories and eat more dessert. That’s pretty much it.

6. What genre do you prefer reading and who’s your favorite author(s)?

This sounds weird, but I rarely read fiction anymore. I invariably come to a part or character I want to change and can’t because it’s not my story. I’ve always been a science geek, so I read a lot of nonfiction and sciency stuff. Cynthia Barnett is one of the best. I never read self-help manuals. They usually boil down to a starry-eyed author telling the reader to grab a rainbow and release your inner child. No one wants to meet my inner child. She’d make your grandma clutch at her blouse in horror and say, “Oh, lawdy lawd. What is wrong with that girl?” 

7. What are you reading right now? 

Every Frenchman has One by Olivia DeHaviland, a reissue in honor of the actress’ hundredth birthday. The book is her autobiographical account of falling in love with a Frenchman and moving to Paris. It’s tres charmant.

8. What would you like my readers to know about you and your work that I haven’t asked so far?

I write adventure stories with smart female characters that fight when need be, but prefer to think rather than shoot their way out of a tricky situation. My books always have humor and elements of fantasy and sweet romance, but never any graphic sex or gore.

Thank you so much, L.A. Kelley. Feel free to drop by Pop’s Blog anytime. And readers, if you’re enjoying Pop’s Blog, subscribe in the orange box. It’s free.