Today I’d like to introduce science fiction author and producer, Joe Pranaitis. It’s great to have you here, Joe. I believe you are my first sci-fi author. Welcome to my Creekside Café.

Joe: Hello Sherri, thank you for having me.

Sherri: My husband and sons are all Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Star Wars fans. Your parents first introduced you to science fiction? The books or the movies, what came first for you?

Joe: The films can first and it’s all thanks to one night when I was a kid and my parents took me to the drive-in to see the original Star Wars, but on the screen behind us they were showing Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Sherri: What is it about sci-fi that has kept your interest over the years?

Joe: It’s the fact that anything is possible, and those possibilities are infinite. That’s what keeps me reading, watching, and writing.

Sherri: Who are your favorite authors? Have they influenced your own writing?

Joe: My favorite authors are Diane Carey, Carissa Ann Lynch, M.D. Cooper, Carrie Vaughn. And how they’ve influenced me begins with Diane Carey, she wrote Star Trek: Final Frontier which deals with the launch of the original Enterprise under her first Captain, Robert April and it still holds up for me whenever I write about the launch of a starship for the first time. Carissa Lynch is a great friend of mine and I love her work, M.D. Cooper came about because I was looking for a military science fiction series and his fit the bill. While Carrie Vaughn, I came across her Kitty series and have dipped into her other work and have been hooked since then. And all of them in have influenced me. 

Sherri: What I find interesting about science fiction is that what may start out as fiction too often becomes real, as in the watch phones from 1960s science fiction is now a reality. What inspires your writing?

Joe: What inspires my writing is the fact that I get to explore and create the technology that I need to when the story needs it.

Sherri: Where do your ideas come from? Are you interested in technology, space, etc?

Joe: Where my ideas come from is from everything that I’ve experienced or want to experience. Yes, I am interested in technology and space exploration, for me it’s the future of humanity and it’s something that we as a species need to focus on more.

Sherri: Tell me about your books. Are they all sci-fi suspense?

How many have you written? Are they part of a series or are they stand alone?

Joe: My current published books are part of a series. I’m currently working on my 20^th novel and it’s the sixth book in my Infinite Stars: Chronicles Series. While the short stories are connected to another universe that I created.

Sherri: You are producing a movie? Is this a screenplay of one of your books? Which one? Have you started marketing it or is it available for viewing?

Joe: My business partner and I have written several screenplays but no they’re not based on my books even though one of my goals is to have an animated Netflix show based on an alternate version of my Infinite Stars: Chronicles Seriesof which I have already written the series bible.

Sherri: You have been included in several anthologies, do you find shorter stories or full-length novels more difficult to write?

Joe: Yes, and I’ve created a universe that I can roam around in for anthologies. But I find both short and long fiction just as easy since I began by writing short fiction first.

Sherri: Building a world for a science fiction/space opera must be time consuming, do you plan every detail before you start writing? What is your world building process?

Joe: That it is and my original universe, that I created for my Infinite Stars: Chronicles series, bloomed over the years after I wrote the original trilogy wanting to fill in the gaps and grow the characters and the technology while I was at it.   

Sherri: Do you have any techniques or advice to new writers who wish to write sci fi?

Joe: No, I just sit down at my computer and write.

Sherri: What are you working on now?

Joe: As I’ve said before I’m working on the sixth book in my Infinite Stars: Chronicles series and it spawned an idea that will be this series’ first supplemental stories.  

Sherri: For me there is a love hate relationship with my writing. What is the most difficult thing for you about being a writer?

Joe: I love the process but the main thing that is difficult is making sure that I have the funds to get the next book produced.

Sherri: Joe, thank you for stopping by my virtual café. I wish you much success.

Links:

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3143760.Joe_Pranaitis

Amazon Joe Pranaitis

You tube Joe Pranaitis

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-pranaitis-69b22137/

Twitter Joe Pranaitis (@JoePranaitis) | Twitter

Allauthor Joe Pranaitis – Producer/Theater manager/Author – AllAuthor

AuthorsDB Joe Pranaitis

IMDB Joe Pranaitis – IMDb

Pinterest Joe Pranaitis (joepranaitis)

Website https://trekprime.wixsite.com/joepranaitis

Teespring Store https://teespring.com/stores/joes-store-31