Author Spotlight: Russ Colchamiro

• a podcaster and sci-fi and mystery writer

Readers, thanks for checking out another Author Spotlight Interview. Let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the ongoing sci-fi noir series featuring intergalactic private detective Angela Hardwicke. He has written various other sci-fi and mystery stories across more than 20 novels, novellas, and short stories. He also hosts his Russ’s Rockin’ Rollercoaster podcast, where he interviews a who’s who of sci-fi, mystery, crime, and horror authors.

Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and his black lab Jinx.

Russ, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most author spotlight interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

I’d bring back my cat, Alex – aka The Buddy. He was the coolest cat ever. He drove cross-country with me twice, lived with me in my Buffalo, NY, Long Island, Tempe, AZ, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, and loved to play couch-side baseball. When he first met you, he wanted to be your buddy – thus, The Buddy – but if you ignored him, he was totally unfazed. He’d move on to someone else. He loved to eat sugar-free Fig Newtons, rip apart catnip socks, and lay out in the sunshine. He was also a vicious killer of birds – which he liked to bring to me as presents! But mostly, he was chill.

A good cat is irreplaceable. I can see why you’d want The Buddy back.

What do you write? And how did you get started?

I write pulp, mostly sci-fi, mystery, and a mash-up of those genres. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, but my first novel, the sci-fi backpacking adventure Finders Keepers, debuted at the NY Comic Con in 2010. These days I’m far more focused on sci-fi noir.

What a great genre to explore the breadth of!

What do you like to read?

I mostly read what I write—sci-fi, mystery, and crime fiction. I used to be an avid comic book reader, although not as much lately. I also read a ton of books on philosophy and psychology.

As a recovering webcomic addict, I understand. Excellent genres for any writer.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you

Write every day.

Ideally, I would, but between my day job, being the dad to 12-year-old twin ninjas, and life in the modern world, writing daily isn’t realistic for me.

So true! I can do it for NaNoWriMo, but it isn’t sustainable for me. (Also, twins are the best.)

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice they can pry out of your cold, dead hands

Edit relentlessly.

If you’re the kind of writer who can produce pristine work with just one or two drafts, good on you. I can’t. I typically do between 8 and 15 rounds of revisions (and sometimes more) before I’m satisfied with what I have. The Devil’s in the details, as they say, and I need to review, review, review before I can smooth out the nuances, find the little mistakes that can really trip things up, and add the layers of world-building that help the work really sing.

Oh, wow! I’m usually 3-5 drafts, but maybe that’s my problem.

---

Shameless Self-Promotion time!

The Angela Hardwicke Mysteries (3 books)

Crackle and Fire

Angela Hardwicke isn’t just any private eye.

She’s a PI from Eternity, the cosmic realm responsible for the design, creation, and maintenance of the Universe. When accountant Gil Haberseau hires her to find an intern with stolen corporate files, Hardwicke soon finds herself embroiled in a deadly case of lies, intrigue, and murder, clashing with vengeful gangsters, MinderNot rallies, and a madman who’s come a long way to get what he wants.

In book 1, Angela Hardwicke learns once and for all that when it comes to being an intergalactic private eye, there’s no telling what threats she may face on-realm and off… including the demons that lurk deep within her soul. Bonus story included! The AI-themed Angela Hardwicke murder mystery, “The Case of Jarlo’s Buried Treasure”

Murder in Montague Falls (Noir-inspired novellas)

White Hot Thrills! Pitch Black Deeds! 3 Tales of Teens Tackling Their Darkest Rites of Passage

Acclaimed storytellers Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, and Patrick Thomas each present an original novella brimming with enough danger, intrigue, and murder to get readers’ blood pounding and hearts racing.

In Colchamiro’s RED INK, a paperboy with an overactive imagination witnesses a brutal killing on his route—or has he taken his fantasy spy games a step too far?

In Hatton’s THE DEVIL’S DELINQUENTS, a trio of teenage misfits in pursuit of success, power, and revenge practice amateurish occult rituals… with deadly consequences.

In Thomas’s A MANY SPLENDID THING, a sultry high school teacher enrolls one of her students to get rid of her husband. But will the young man really graduate to murder?

Check out Russ Colchamiro across the web!

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Goodreads | Amazon