Today, I’m pleased to welcome scifi author Christian Kallias. Christian is half-Greek and lives in Switzerland. He writes fabulous space operas and makes his own covers. Check out these beauties!
FREE!
“That ending! I’ll only say that I did not see it coming and I can’t wait for the next one! Read this book! Kallias does not disappoint.” ~ Van Warren
When the evil Obsidian Empire delivers a deathblow against the Star Alliance, hot-headed fighter pilot Lieutenant Chase Athanatos leads a few survivors to a remote planet called Earth. The Obsidian Empire is hot on their trail, and now the Alliance and the planet itself are facing the danger of total annihilation…
Ten thousand years ago, the Furies nearly exterminated all life in the universe, but thankfully, a coalition of worlds led by the Olympians defeated them.
Or so everyone thought… Now they’re back and a new reign of terror has begun.
Can be read as a standalone!
“Although Initially I read Ryonna’s Trials through my Kindle Unlimited, I decided to buy it anyway… Worth reading. A solid 4.0 out of 5 stars.” –Bill Anderson (Top 500 reviewer)
Ryonna, the Droxian who helped Chase and Sarah in their fight against the Zarlack forces threatening Earth, embarks on a mission to rescue her abducted son, Ronan.
Hello Christian and welcome to my blog!
Thank you for inviting me, Fros!
What has inspired you to write the Universe in Flames series?
I’ve always been drawn to storytelling but it wasn’t until not long ago that I realized words would be the best medium for me to create stories. In the past I’ve worked on many projects, video games, a manga/comic crossover and other things until I realized, after a burnout in 2014, that the best way to tell my stories was through books. So late 2014 I finished a book I had started more than 10 years ago, and I quickly finished it. In June 2015 I went the self-publishing route and I’ve been writing almost daily since then. Many things inspired the series really, first and foremost the Wing Commander games in the 90s, but also Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, Babylon 5 and Dragon Ball Z & Saint Seiya.
What other writing have you done? Anything else published?
I have reviewed a lot (hundreds) of metal music albums on a website my brother and I created back in 2000, www.metalreviews.com. At first my English was really poor and it hurts my eyes reading my older reviews. But over time I got better at it, and I think it was extremely helpful for me to review all these years as I got a better grasp at the English language along the way and it has facilitated the transition to writing novels.
Any hobbies or interests that you enjoy in your spare time?
I love movies and TV shows, and while I have much less time to indulge in them lately it’s still one of the few things I enjoy doing. I also love to draw. Since I have been doing traditional and digital art for more than 20 years I also used these abilities to make my own art covers for my books. I also enjoy playing video games even though I seldom have time lately. Now that most of the work on the latest book is done, I think I will take a little time and try to finish Legend of Grimrock 2 (an old school RPG that has a very nostalgic factor, as it reminds me of games like Eye of the Beholder that I loved playing when I was a teenager, but with today’s awesome graphics). I’m also looking forward to Virtual Reality games involving space combat; I have tried Elite Dangerous on my Oculus Rift devkit but I can’t wait for Star Citizen, which was created by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame, my all-time favorite games and probably the reason I wrote Universe in Flames in the first place.
Do you see yourself in any of your characters, or do any of them have traits you wish you had?
I think many of my characters have one or more facets of my personality embedded into them one way or another. I also give them traits I wish I had, yes. On an emotional level a lot of what I write is rooted into my own psyche, sometimes I don’t even realize it until I re-read the book and see it more clearly. The position I put my main characters in often reflects things I have had to deal with in the past or even things I deal with at the moment.
What are you working on at the moment? Tell us a little about your current project(s).
I’ve recently published the fourth book in the Universe in Flames series, The Beginning of the End, and have now started writing the next volume.
Well done! What genres do you read mostly, and what are you reading now?
My favorite genre is, hands down, Science Fiction. I also enjoy Heroic Fantasy but I haven’t read many of these since the time I read the Elric books from Michael Moorcock. I haven’t even finished the full cycle, I think I still have one or two books to read. These days I read a few books on how to improve my writing as well as books on how to publish successfully as an indie author. I’ve also started Darkspace from Jasper T. Scott last week.
Choose a male and a female character from your book and tell us which actor and actress you’d cast to play them in a film adaptation.
Chase Athanatos & Sarah Kepler. It’s an interesting question and I would have to say finding which actor to cast for a movie adaptation isn’t really that easy. For Sarah I could see Scarlet Johansson playing her role. For Chase I would have more difficulty singling out a specific actor. A non-exhaustive short list would be: Ben Browder, Michael Shanks, Freddie Prinze Jr., Travis Fimmel, John Cusack or Shane West.
What do you enjoy the most as an indie author that you imagine you wouldn’t if you were traditionally published? If you had a choice would you still go indie?
I absolutely love the freedom that going indie has provided me. I am very much a control freak when it comes to my stories. I’m not sure how I would react if I was told to remove a character or a scene from one of my books if I had gone the traditional route. I love that I can control every aspect of what I publish from beginning to end. That is not to say that being an indie writer is a dream every day of the week. There is a lot of work that needs to be done outside of writing, such as maintaining a social media presence or building a platform that takes a lot of time – time that I often wished could be spent writing more. It’s still a very interesting journey but I never imagined when I finished writing my first book how much time I would have to invest in these other tasks. But to answer the second part of the question: Yes, definitely, I would still go indie. That’s not to say I wouldn’t accept a traditional deal if one came my way, but I haven’t even tried that route yet. I like having 100% creative freedom, doing my own covers and not having anyone tell me what I should change. I do listen to my readers though, and sometimes I make corrections on my books when they point out something that can be improved.
Do you listen to music while you write and if so, what kind?
Yes, about ninety percent of the time. I think it helps me focus on my task. Suffering with adult ADHD, I’ve noticed that listening to music while I write allows my brain to not get distracted by other external stimuli and helps me gets focused for hours on end. I listen to metal music. It’s a very large category so I can listen to very calm hard-rock or much more aggressive melodic death metal. I usually whip up a huge playlist of 100+ songs and put that in the background when I write. Metal has always been part of my life and I even use metal band names for some of the ships in my books. When I was done with the first draft of my first book, Earth – Last Sanctuary, I contacted bands I knew (Axxis, Iron Fire, Far Beyond, Euphoreon etc) to ask them if it would be okay to use their band names as names for my battleships in the series. I really wonder if any reader has picked up on that. My previous work reviewing these bands’ albums on www.metalreviews.com made it a very simple process; I was thrilled that they all looked forward for me to use their band names.
If you could have one superpower what would it be?
Why can’t have I more than one?
Be my guest! (*chuckles*)
(*laughs*) I think flying would be the main one but I would love to be able to cast fireballs as well. It’s a tie between these two, but I could probably whip up in no time at all a list of twenty plus abilities I’d like to have. I never like to restrict myself to one of anything in life really – with the exception of love partners (*laughs*). Kinda goes against my personality. I am someone who can get bored quite easily and I tend to always look for something new to do, to learn, to experience. I definitely struggle with routine of any shape or form, but then again that may be tied with ADHD and how my brain works.
I understand you have brought some pet photos to show us today!
Yes! I brought photos of my hamsters and cat. Here are two of my three hamsters, Obiwan and Screech.
How cuddly! And this cutie? Oh look at those fangs!
Yes, even though her name is Daisy, I’ve nicknamed her Vampirella because of the long fangs.
Adorable! Thank you for this wonderful chat, Christian.
Thank you for introducing me to your readers, Fros!
Photo by Valentina Kallias
Christian Kallias was born in Geneva, Switzerland. As a teenager, he was forever imagining stories, enjoying video games and creating various art projects. His novels reflect many of his favorite things, like Wing Commander, Star Wars, Star Trek and Babylon 5. Christian’s utopian aspirations for a better world where humanity shines and evolves towards a higher level of civilization, often find their way into his stories. As his surname suggests, he has Greek roots and often dreams of life in Greece. The rest of the time, he plots space operas and fantasy stories at home in Switzerland. He lives with three hamsters, Patate, Obiwan and Screech, and a cat, Daisy, who has prominent fangs and is nicknamed Vampirella.
Visit Christian’s Amazon page US UK
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Meet scifi author @KalliasX and his cat, Vampirella #ASMSG #scifi Share on X
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