5 Questions with Pete Hautman

Pete Hautman is another Minnesota writer whom I admire. He wrote the introduction to the mystery anthology Fifteen Tales of Murder, Malice & Mayhem from the Land of Minnesota Nice, so I got to meet him at that anthology's launch party at the Once Upon a Crime bookstore. His upcoming book (see below) also has the best description I've read in recent memory (also see below). How can you resist? Much thanks to Pete for answering my five questions!

1 – What’s your latest book about?

I’m just finishing up a time-travel trilogy called The Klaatu Diskos. The first two books are The Obsidian Blade and The Cydonian Pyramid. The third and final book, The Klaatu Terminus, will be coming out in April, 2014. It’s set very near your hometown, Rochester, Minnesota, and is the story of Tucker Feye, a young teen whose parents disappear into a mysterious disk. Tucker enters the disk to try to find them. Complications ensue. The time periods go from 2000 years ago to 10,000 years in the future, and we see societies ranging from an autistic-controlled medical technocracy, to a human-sacrifice driven theocracy, to a post-physical utopia. There are time-traveling maggots, violent librarians, murderous priests, nuclear submarines, and nanobots. I pulled out all the stops on this one.

I made a couple of videos here: http://www.petehautman.com/videos.html  and here: http://www.petehautman.com/video-preview.html

2 – Who’s your favorite author and/or what’s your favorite book?

Aw, jeez, c’mon, I hate that question! It’s all about context. I have at least two dozen favorite authors and favorite books. They don’t necessarily intersect, and they change with the weather. There was a time (I was ten years old) when I considered Franklin W. Dixon to be the best author in the universe. I now know that he never existed.

I've listed a few favorites on my FAQs page here: http://www.petehautman.com/faqs.html

3 – What’s your favorite aspect of writing?

The aspect where I write stuff down and, for a moment, think I have done something wonderful and brilliant and lasting. It is a fleeting moment, but it’s nice while it lasts.

4 – Any good anecdotes about being a writer?

Yup. Lots. Really, really good ones!

5 – What was the most helpful writing advice you've ever received?

SHUT UP and LISTEN. Listen to your readers. Listen to your critics. Listen to everybody, even when they are “wrong.” Because everybody isn't you, and that should be a cause for celebration. Never forget that writing is an act of communication.

Visit Pete's Amazon Page