Hey everyone! Today, I’m excited to share with you an interview with John E. Stith, as well as a giveaway for Redshift Rendezvous. First, here’s more about the book:

WARNING: Read This Guide Before Boarding the Redshift.

The environment aboard a hyperspace craft is quite safe as long as you are careful. The management reminds you that the speed of light on board this craft is ten meters per second (or about 30 million times slower than what you are used to). This means you will frequently encounter relativistic effects and optical illusions.

Aboard the hyperspace liner Redshift is a relativistic world of slow light and treachery. The first sign of trouble is the apparent suicide of a passenger. When the first officer discovers that she was murdered – he wants answers.

Before long, a desperate group of hijackers use the hyperspace liner to plunder a fabled colony – and only one man stands in their way.

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And now for the interview! Enjoy!

Question:You’re re-releasing nine of your novels in just under a year! Can you share what inspired this decision?
Answer: Since originally published by Tor Books and Ace Books, most of these books were available in ebook form, but some haven’t been available in paper for more than a decade, so I felt it was time to correct that. ReAnimus Press specializes in bringing back SF that has been unavailable for a while (e.g. Jerry Sohl) and re-releasing works that have been in print all along (e.g. Ben Bova).

Question: You write both sci-fi and mystery – do you have a preference for one over the other?
Answer: I love both. Some of my work even blends the two. Deep Quarry features a private eye. The protagonist in Death Tolls is an investigative reporter. Naught for Hire is a futuristic private eye tale, Reckoning Infinity is a space exploration and Manhattan Transfer deals with a very unusual form of first contact– kidnapping.

Question: What are your initial thoughts when thinking about your book(s)?
Answer: I often start a book with a trio of concerns. First, is an emotional issue that’s currently important to me. Next is the kind of story I want to tell and then finally, I pick a setting that interests me and supports the first two elements.

For example, while writing Death Tolls, personal responsibility was an important issue for me. I had been on a Dick Francis kick and thought it would be fun to use a mystery plot that echoed some of his plots. And finally, a lightly terraformed Mars seemed an interesting backdrop. Redshift Rendezvous centers on a hijacking. REUNION ON NEVEREND is set at a high school reunion in a space-equivalent of a small-town environment.

Question: Any special research you had to do for these various titles?
Answer: I almost always wind up picking projects that require more knowledge than I already have, partly because I enjoy constantly expanding my horizons. Memory Blank necessitated knowing more about Gerard O’Neil-inspired L5 orbital colonies and Death Tolls required media and reporting research. Redshift Rendezvous also required research into relativity because most of the novel takes place aboard a hyperspace craft where the speed of light is ten meters per second. That means relativistic effects like redshift happen when people run. Flipping a light switch causes a room to slowly fill with light.

And now for the giveaway! One winner will receive a copy of Redshift Rendezvous! To enter, simply leave a comment telling me why you want to read the book. Be sure to leave your contact email in the comment so I can contact you if you win!

Giveaway is US only, ends 11/21/16 at 11pm EST

PLEASE NOTE (11/15/16): FORMAT OF GIVEAWAY COPY OF BOOK (PAPERBACK VERSUS EBOOK) SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
***UPDATE (11/16/16): I’ve now confirmed the giveaway will be for an eBook version***

Author Biography of John E. Stith:

John E. Stith is the author eight novels, including REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS, a Nebula Award nominee, and MANHATTAN TRANSFER, a Hugo Award Honorable Mention. Several of his works with Ace Books and Tor Books have been bought by the Science Fiction Book Club and optioned for film. He has optioned several feature-film screenplays, and has sold to television (Star Trek). Complete information on his works may be found at www.neverend.com. A photo is available here. During 2016 and 2017 his backlist is going to be re-released in trade paperback and all major ebook formats from ReAnimus Press. His “Naught for Hire” from ANALOG is the basis for the upcoming webisode series starring Ben Browder.

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