Grant Miller Interview Published on: 08, Apr 2024

First of all Mady, thank you for interviewing me! As a self-published author, I’ve found it hard to market a book on my own. It is even more difficult when you are dealing both with a genre such as science fiction and also having LGBTQAI+ characters/themes. AllAuthor has provided me a platform to launch into this crazy market of book promotion!

I can’t tell you what it’s been like trying to be heard as a gay man and author. Often members of my community have to fight for basic rights and trying to live in heterosexual based world. So, now that I am getting off my soapbox, I want to say thank you for this question.

I am a 61 year old gay man who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada in a small coastal town. I live in an old 1860’s house with my border collie, Finn and cat, Karma. I enjoy many activities that are outside of my teaching and writing as well.

I’ve been writing all my life - all of it just for fun starting when I was really young. At an early age, I found the world of science fiction and discovered that it was a great place in which to lose myself and hide from what I had to face as a child dealing with being gay. I watched all sorts of television shows and read hundreds of books starting at the age of five and beyond.

For most of my life, I’ve occasionally stumbled on science fiction shows, movies and books that contain gay characters. This includes A Different Light by Elizabeth A. Lynn - my first book that I read that had gay/bisexual characters. I was absolutely elated. Since then, I’ve discovered more.

What really drove me to write my novel was in 2005 when I saw Captain Jack Harkness on the Dr. Who reboot. It made me think that I would love to see more characters from my community - so, I decided to write a short story. It was about a man who stowed away on a spaceship in hopes of rescuing his gay partner from certain death in a prison for sexual deviants - i.e. gay men. The story sat on my computer untouched due to life circumstances. It stayed there until 2017 when I reread my story and realized that there was so much more to tell. It blossomed into Life-Line: Origins, a 64 chapter novel which I self-published in February 2023.

I’m a teacher by trade and as most know, teaching is sometimes more than 40 hours per week. It can be quite a tiring challenge - especially as I age… gracefully as I possibly can! The writing always takes place on evenings and on weekends.

A day in my life has meant leading a somewhat regimented life during the writing process - first in my novel and now in the sequel. An average day involves finishing school with marking, planning etc., heading to the gym for a workout, coming home and spend time with the beasties, then making dinner. Writing comes after - as long as I don’t turn the television on or jump onto social media! Successful writing evenings or weekends can be up to four to five hours. To my surprise, I’ll look up from my computer and realize I have been focussed for that length of time.

You readers may know the book, The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron. She writes about the state that creative people can enter - a kind of trance where the creativity seems to flow from some unknown space onto the paper or computer screen. In fact, I’ve pulled myself out of a creative focus and been floored by the time for what I’d actually written.

The opposite can also happen. There has been many a time that I’ve sat down at my computer with a plan in mind and nothing comes. I’ve found that if I can’t get more than a paragraph, I cut myself some slack and leave it for the next day. A good example is my second novel in the Life-Line series. It is tentatively entitled, Life-Line: Diversions. I’m working on the revisions after my developmental edit. There are days when I need to take a break from writing and let it sit in the back of my mind. It’s now evolving in a way that really excites me.

I teach French Immersion, which is for second language learners who wish to be bilingual here in Canada. Planning and teaching in French can be a challenge as I often have to translate my lesson plans into French. I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years and it has definitely been a creative space for me. I’ve had to use imagination and my what materials I have on hand to create a lesson or a unit plan. This has led me to be a better writer as a result.

When I lesson plan, I often build from scratch. The parallel to my writing is how I had to literally build a universe in which my Life-Line: novels take place. This includes character development, planets on which the characters live, spaceship design, societal norms, human conflict, and more. An example has been finding names for my characters. I took inspiration from Gaelic names and have branched out into Greek, German and French.

I think the creative process that occurs in my school planning and my writing are one and the same. There is a joy to see the creativity unfold in the classroom and in my writing.

To start, I live on a coastal bay that flows to the Atlantic Ocean. As I am writing this, I can glance through the window and see the bay and draw inspiration from the view, allowing me to relax or even helping me with writer’s block.

Since I live in a rural setting, there are fewer distractions that might keep me from writing; with the exception of gardening, hiking, cooking, dog training, maintaining my house, etc. With all kidding aside, it all comes down to my setting routines.

Surprisingly, Nova Scotia is quite the literary place! I have joined the Nova Scotia Writer’s Federation, participated in book fairs and I hope to get a table at Hal-con, Halifax’s Science Fiction Convention November 8-10, 2024.

As I mentioned before, there has been a lack of representation for gay characters in science fiction. This is definitely changing and I am proud to be an gay author. The struggles that I have faced as a gay man are reflected in what I write. In the current political environment of our world, I fear that all the LGBTQIA+ community has fought for could easily be taken away.

In my novel, gay men are again discriminated against from a society that has designs on exploiting them. Even though the story takes place over a million years in the future, it shows that humanity can always back pedal and discriminate against those who are not the population’s norm. The struggle of my protagonists are based in science fiction but the premise is the same for today.

It is my hope that all sci fi readers will partake. After all, I’ve read countless stories, watched many movies or television shows that contained straight characters. The only difference between those stories and mine is simple: gay protagonists. However, they fight against what any minority faces - to be heard. Ultimately, it is my hope that the world will move beyond the hate and tolerance. The end result must be acceptance of my community and other minorities. As a gay man, I truly wish to have the same rights as anyone else. There is no “special treatment” wanted! I want to be accepted for who I am.

This is a story that takes place over a million years in the future. Mankind has explored and expanded into three local galaxies: the Milky Way, Andromeda and Messier 100. Evolution has stalled for some strange reason and mankind stagnates. Humanity also finds the three galaxies void of any other sentient life. All that can be found are similar species of plants and animals found on Earth. To make matters worse, humanity begins to feel as if they are being watched. So, they go to great lengths to hide themselves from the fear. Humanity does such a good job that over the millennia they forget from where they came. This is a reason why the word origins is included in the title.

In addition, somewhere in the distant past, gay men were genetically altered. They contain mysterious codes in their DNA that have been long forgotten. Many of these gay men are mind readers, telekinetic and Life-Lines as a result of this alteration - making them something to fear.

The story starts in a corner of the Messier 100 Galaxy where a desperate stowaway lies concealed in a space freighter’s cargo hold. Tam Amergan is bound for the prison world Corustloth, where his partner Brogan has been abducted. Ever since the Senate took over the planetary system decades earlier, gay men like Tam and Brogan—degens, as they are labeled under Senate rule—have been forced to live in secrecy. Brogan is Tam’s life-line, bound to his soul in a ritual performed by a secret sisterhood of women with ancient, unknown designs known as the Sirens. Tam is linked mentally to Brogan - What Brogan sees, Tam sees; what Tam feels, Brogan feels. If one were to die, the other would as well. Tam goes as a reluctant on a journey to save Brogan and himself.

During his voyage, Tam meets space pirates, singing sirens, the horrible Magistrate who is the dictator of his solar system, and a second nemesis who is bent on destroying Tam.

As well, thousands of lightyears away on the other side of the galaxy, an ancient brotherhood of mentalists works at uncovering the mystery of humanity’s long-forgotten origins. Their leader, Father, enlists the help of Bennett, who is able to connect with the mind of a space freighter stowaway on the other side of the galaxy. Tam’s journey could become more than a rescue. Is Bennett the key to humanity’s origins? Could Tam’s quest to find Brogan have a wider purpose?

The theme is a universal one taken from A Hero’s Journey by Christopher Vogler. A reluctant hero must venture into the unknown to face archetypes, both good and bad. The hero leaves his ordinary world, and is reluctantly called to adventure. He’s tested, meets allies and faces enemies. The ordeal goes beyond the rescue of just one man, and even beyond freeing a solar system from a psychopathic dictator. It could be something even bigger.

Another message I want to convey is simple: gay men fight the same battles as everyone else; we love other men but, again, love is universal regardless of our sexuality. I challenge someone who is straight to read my novel and come to relate to what my characters experience!

As I mentioned before, I had to build a whole universe. The original short story was only about ten pages long. It was meant to be claustrophobic - dealing with a man hiding and feeling trapped in a cargo hold with no way of knowing that he would succeed in rescuing his partner. There was no end - the reader was left to wonder what happened next. The story also asked how far would one person go to rescue another.

When I began to feel that there was more to tell, I took my short story to a writer’s group. The consensus was that all the things mentioned in the story needed to be fleshed out. I took that advice and started building characters, technology, societies, worlds and even galaxies. The hardest was to develop the characters and bring them to life. In my writing, I found that many of my characters sounded and acted like me. So, I spent a lot of time developing character profiles. As an aside, Tam has many of my characteristics except I wrote Tam as a black man. It seemed to be natural to do so. I was concerned about cultural appropriation, so I spoke to many of my African Canadian and American friends and they all applauded me for doing so. They told me that the world needs diversity in all our stories…

Another aspect of world-building has been space battles. I really didn’t want the Phew! Phew! fights seen in many shows. Mind you, I love Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica (Both series) and much more. I wanted the technology to be closer to ours because humanity has forgotten how to develop major technologies. I used James S. A. Corey as inspiration and his Expanse series. There are no phasers or photon torpedoes. Instead, missiles, railguns and lasers are used. Lasers aren’t as seen in many shows though. The fact is that a laser could boil people inside a spaceship. A laser also be shot from a great distance, which comes into play in my storyline.

Finally, there was a need for being able to travel between planets. I was loath to use the words hyperspace or warp speed. A friend gave me the term “curved space” and I went with that. The only difference between this and hyperspace or warp speed is that it can only be used over shorter distances and time. I do venture into the possibility of folding space as well.

I usually start with an idea such as Tam, the stowaway. I plan the plot from there as a basic outline. Then I flesh out the characters and begin with a draft. I leave a lot of space in the outline for creativity as I write. My second novel in the Life-Line series changed drastically as I wrote the draft. It is still changing as I go through the developmental edit.

As far as rituals, I have a few things I always seem to do before I begin to write. I take a beverage dependant on the time of day, sit in my chair and gaze out over the bay letting my mind wander as I partake in the drink. Often ideas pop into my head while I am meditating that I can use later.

When I am struggling, I set small goals of fifteen minutes or so until I get into the flow. If I don’t, I allow myself to step away and try again the next day. I will even sometimes binge a series to help me focus. I recently watched the entire series called Killjoys. I had a blast and went back to my novel with a newfound desire.

The one author that has inspired me the most is Isaac Asimov and his Foundation series. Another is Elizabeth A. Lynn’s A Different Light with her bisexual/gay characters who can read minds. I’ve already mentioned The Hero’s Journey by Christopher Vogler that helped me develop the plot. How to Grow a Novel by Sol Stein was another road map for me. I also mentioned The Artist’s Way by Julie Cameron to help me with writer’s block.

I would like to normalize characters from the LGBTQIA+ community in my writing. An interesting point about normalizing characters actually came from looking inside myself. I asked my editor for Life-Line: Origins whether I should tone down or take out the sex in the story. She said ABSOLUTELY NOT! While the sex in my novel is not overly graphic, it is important to the story and I left it as it is written.

I did some soul-searching and realized that I still harboured internalized homophobia around gay sex. I looked at the situation and came to the realization that sex is natural and that there is nothing dirty about it. I found myself surprised that someone my age could actually over come years of shame that society had heaped upon me.

While my book is targeted towards adults, younger readers could take away my message. A friend of mine has allowed her 15 year old gay son to read my novel - even after I told her about the sex. She read the book and then passed it on to him.

Finally, In my novel, there is Tam’s younger sister Cassie. She might become a main character in a young adult’s book. I have to thank my school librarian who said that we need more young adult books from my community. Who knows?

Thank you so much for this question! Without giving too much away about the first book, I can tell you a few tidbits! The first novel is a voyage of discovery through the eyes of one man and his allies. The second novel, Life-Line: Diversions is also a journey but it involves conflict between three distinct regimes and how some of the main characters from the first book get stuck in the middle of the war. At the same time the main characters must solve a mystery in order to save themselves. Like the first book, there are bigger themes running through the story that I’ll not mention here.

I had so much fun creating new characters - some of them fashioned after several close friends. Also, the battle scenes have been an eye-opener - especially after my developmental edit. I’ve really been working on the old adage of showing not telling. It’s been fun seeing how my writing has changed and evolved.

I mentioned The Artist’s Way earlier. When I get blocked up (I call it literary constipation!), I refer to Julie Cameron’s lessons. She provides ideas such as doing brain dumps/stream of consciousness writing and more.

Lastly, what's next for you after completing the Life-Line series? Do you have any other writing projects in mind?

As it stands right now, I envision the Life-Line series to be a trilogy. I might find myself building new worlds and realize that I’ll need more books in the series. I’m toying with writing a short story anthology, either by myself of with a few new authors like me. I’ve written some poetry so that might be another area to be creative. Finally, I wrote a script for a short film that I envisioned to be show at a film festival. Maybe I’ll revisit that script and see what I can do with it now that I am a little more experienced.

I really like AllAuthor. They are sending me mock up banners for my first book as well as tweeting out about my book. My profile looks great as well. I’d love to see a place where I can blog or link to my blog on my website. I’d also like to find out how I can put a book teaser on my profile. Right now, I have it as a link. It would be fun to post pictures, photos, blogs, reviews of other AllAuthors on my profile. Goodreads has some features that I really like. (Mady, I don’t know if this part will be in the interview. Feel free to take Goodreads out if so!)

Again, thank you Mady for this interview!