A Letter from the Editor
by Timothy Pike

If you’re concerned about the way extremism seems to be taking hold in the United States, you’ll appreciate what Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes is trying to do.

“It is alarming to witness the way such ideologies have gained traction in recent years,” she tells me in our interview, “and I felt compelled to address this issue through my writing.”

This, along with a fascination for the work her husband used to do in the intelligence community, are the reasons she wrote her soon-to-be-released CIA thriller, A Fifth of the Story. It’s slated for release on February 27 and is now available for pre-order.

The plot centers around a CIA agent named Brock, who discovers that one of his closest allies was involved in an attack on U.S. soil. It’s just the kind of sticky situation that Katherine is all too happy to explore and analyze. “Through the characters in my novel,” she says, “I aim to shed light on the complexities of human relationships.”

But success didn’t come easy.

Katherine was working as a school principal when a brain hemorrhage landed her in the hospital. The health scare prompted her to re-evaluate her career path, and that’s when she decided to try her hand at publishing.

A newfound determination to push through despite long odds, a desire to try something new, and her “do it to done” approach to life and work have all led Katherine to considerable success in her new field. In our interview, Katherine explains how she stays on top of it all and makes sure everything she needs to do gets done.

Adopt the “do it to done” mentality →

There’s a lot to read (and learn) in the February 2024 issue of Books & Buzz Magazine. Let’s take a look:

You never know where a podcast will take you

An anthology is like a potluck dinner, as far as award-winning author Edward Willett is concerned. “It’s almost impossible to leave a potluck feeling you haven’t dined sufficiently,” he writes. “Indeed, you’ll generally leave feeling pleasantly stuffed—or slightly overstuffed—but happy.”

And that’s exactly how Edward hopes you’ll feel after reading the stories in the sci-fi anthology he’s put together. How did the anthology come about, you ask? Edward reached out to the authors he’d been interviewing on his podcast—just as it was really building steam—to ask if they’d contribute stories. Then he ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first book in the series.

Now, Shapers of Worlds is in its fourth volume, and none of it would have happened if Edward hadn’t taken the leap of faith to start the podcast in the first place.

Take your own leap of faith →

Meet the anti–Mark Twain

“If I knew what I was getting into before I started to write a story, I’d never have the courage to begin,” explains short-fiction author Bill Hemmig. “Call me a coward,” he says, “but there you have it: direct, conscious self-examination, at least in writing, is not for me.”

This is why Bill prefers writing fiction to other genres, like memoir. Yet he admits that in a way, this contradicts Mark Twain’s famous advice to “write what you know.” Instead, Bill has some advice of his own. “Just dive in there and write,” he says. “Figure out what you did later.” If you’re anything like Bill, you might discover that often, not knowing where you’re going ahead of time leads to more inspired writing.

Start writing what you (don’t) know →

The trick is to find the good 10%

If you want to disagree with author Nir Yaniv when he says ninety percent of military science fiction is trash, don’t bother—you won’t change his mind. “Heck,” he says, “ninety percent of the entire field of literature is trash. And films. And pop music. Ninety percent of everything is trash.”

Hear him out. Nir’s opinions on the matter are informed by his years of military service, and if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along with the points he makes. After all, when it comes to military sci-fi, couldn’t we do without the long-winded political lectures that serve only to keep us from enjoying the next exciting space battle? Or the self-righteous commentary where authors go back and forth, condemning war one minute and salivating over high-tech weaponry the next?

His latest release, as it happens, is a military sci-fi novel—but fortunately, it’s one that gives readers more of what they actually want.

Find out why 90% of military sci-fi is trash →

Enjoy this month’s issue of Books & Buzz Magazine!

To your success,

Timothy Pike
Editor of Books & Buzz Magazine