Jay Sandlin - Short Stories Set in an Interconnected Galaxy

Jay Sandlin is the author of books & comics, like: OVER THE ROPES, SPACE POLICE FILES, HELLFIGHTER QUIN (Coming in March) & Host of #WhatHappensNext podcast. As our Author of the Day, Sandlin tells us all about his book, Space Police Files.

Please give us a short introduction to what Space Police Files is about.

Think Rick and Morty meets The Naked Gun. Space Police Files is my uncensored, unredacted, and irreverent anthology of five adult Sci-Fi short stories. Eye witness accounts from the case files of the space police operating in the most effed up sectors of the Milky Way.

Was there anything in particular that sparked the idea for a book like this?

I write prose and comic books and I was overdue for some prose. At the end of 2018, I decided to write five short stories to put together for my website and newsletter giveaways. The first story I wrote became the first story in the book, “The Case of the Exploding Vapor-Virgin”. After writing that one, I decided the next four would stand alone while all taking place in the same universe of the Space Police.

Why Sci-Fi? What drew you to the genre?

I’ve been drawn to Sci-Fi since I saw Luke Skywalker activate his lightsaber with that iconic Snap-Hiss sound on my VHS copy of A New Hope when I was a kid. I write in other genres, but my first home is always Sci-Fi. Guess I’ll always be a space cadet.

Which short story in this bundle is your own personal favorite and why?

Choosing a favorite, I’d say it’s the Case of the Samhain Slasher, the final story in the bunch. As to why, it’s because I used that story to tie together some threads and characters from previous stories and leave a door open for future installments. For the details there, you’ll have to read and let me know how you think I did. Preferably with a review on Amazon (cough cough).

Which character did you find the most challenging to create?

Definitely the empathic detective from the Samhain Slasher story. Aside from being a male trying to write for a female, this character was empathic and experienced the feelings and emotions of others. So it was more than just knowing her character, I had to understand every character on stage and filter their emotions through her.

Some of the stories have great twists and turns. Do you plan them out before you start writing, or does it just "happen" along the way?

With short stories, it’s all about the twist. I typically outline and plan the twist from the start and work backwards from there. Of course, some things do up and happen along the way, but they normally feed into what I already had planned. A good writer creates his characters, scenarios, and major plot points then gets the hell out of the way to let the characters have fun with it.

Readers say that you are very skilled at grabbing their attention and keeping it throughout the story. How do you pull this off?

Readers said that? Really? Good…I’m glad to hear those bribes I’m sending out are paying off. Kidding. Wait, sort of.

Grabbing a reader’s attention and keeping it really comes down to pacing, so I encourage writers to plan their scenes accordingly during the outlining phase. If there’s a certain section, chapter, or scene that doesn’t grip you, it’s definitely not going to grip the reader. Don’t be afraid to kill your darlings and cut scenes or interactions you salivated over during the planning stages, many of those will be completely unnecessary by the time you get to your final drafts. Above all, keep the story tight, keep it moving, and read how some of your favorite authors manage to hook you into turning to the next page or chapter.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I recently reached an intermediate level in the Ataru form of Jedi Lightsaber Combat by mail, so after a few more installments of $59.99 I’ll be well on my way to Jedi Lightsaber mastery.

In addition to writing, I podcast regularly on my own show “Jay Sandlin’s #WhatHappensNext”, a podcast for writers, readers, and true believers. We meet weekly with professional writers and other creatives and pick their brains on a variety of topics while providing tips for the writing community. I’ve been a stage actor for twenty-two years and still regularly perform on stage with my improv group, “The Wickets”. And in the near future, I plan to try and do more with voice acting.

Your characters are so relatable and real. Who inspires them? Are they people you know?

Of course, I know them, they live inside my head. I talk to them while driving down the road, imagine how they’d react in certain scenarios of everyday life. I never set out to write a character like someone I know in reality, if it happens it’s unintentional.

Do any of your characters ever take off on their own tangent and refuse to do what you had planned for them?

Negative. I’m a difficult taskmaster and I control my characters, not the other way around. This goes back to the planning and outlining stages because I’m not much of a pantser author. Broadly speaking, I know I want to get my characters to points A, B, and C before I start the drafting stage. How they ultimately get there, however, can at times be up to them. Happy accidents can be fun. But if you let your characters run away with your story, did you really accomplish to tell what you set out to tell?

What did you have the most fun with when writing this book?

The most fun came from writing The Case of the Duplicate Policy, the fourth story in the book. After the heaviness from The Case of the Golem Gopher, it was fun to brighten things up a bit, change the tone, and let the humor come out. This was a case when some of my character’s dialogue did surprise me, as it emerged naturally. It was also fun to make clone jokes, puns, and humor.

Do you have any interesting writing habits, what's your average writing day like?

I don’t think I’d call any of my writing habits interesting, it’s mostly a matter of finding the time to block off, set a goal, and then take the time to reach a daily goal. When writing for prose, my goal is typically 3K per day. When writing comics, I try to write at least 5 script pages per day.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a number of projects, few I can talk about. My ongoing comic book series, Over the Ropes, just released issue 3 this month, with issue 4 coming in March.

I also have a NEW release coming up on March 4th with Mad Cave Studios, my second comic book series: Hellfighter Quin. Hellfighter is a Mortal Kombat meets Bloodsport, fantasy martial arts tournament. We’re going to have cyborgs, ninjas, and monsters from five clans all competing for the Azure Sun, an orb which grants superpowers to those who touch it. You can pre-order at MadCaveStudios.com.

I have more coming out in the comic book realm, but you’ll hear more about that in April! Stay tuned!

Where can our readers discover more of your work or interact with you?

Go to my website and sign up for my newsletter at JaySandlin.com for updates, calendar, and free stuff. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at JaySandlin_WHN and on facebook at Jay Sandlin Writer.

I’ve got a big year of releases ahead of me and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.