Rick Krusky - A Mysterious New World Full of Alien Creatures, Nefarious Plots and Beautiful Royalty

Rick Krusky is a publicist, entrepreneur, and emerging author. Rick was born and raised in Calgary, but relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 where he currently resides. As our Author of the Day, he tells us all about his book, Anomaly One.

Please give us a short introduction to what Anomaly One is about.

In a way, it’s about corruption and control. But in terms of storyline, there’s a dying princess with an incurable disease. She’s exposed to something that offers a potential cure, which is the “anomaly” in the story. But this potential cure has not been identified; its source has not been revealed. So the search then becomes to discover the source. Along the way it’s found that it can not only potentially save lives—millions of lives since the disease is widespread—but also, if modified, it could be weaponized. So the story escalates in size and scope after that, with a lot of colorful characters ranging from royal figures to corrupt politicians, the dark underworld, alien species, ex-military, a traitor—all taking place in a space-opera environment. There’s even a messianic aspect to it.

What inspired you to write about a cure to man's deadliest disease that was discovered but then lost?

It was initially inspired by the loss of my mother to cancer many years ago. I don’t remember making a conscious decision to write about disease specifically, and certainly did not envision an entire novel at the time, but I do remember starting to write shortly after losing her and the incurable disease wound up being the premise of the story. But I then put it down and didn’t write at all for twenty years or so. So it sat for a long time, during which time I also lost my father to cancer. My sister battled it too but thankfully survived. The story remained in my mind unfinished, and then during the lockdown for Covid, I picked it up again and decided to finish it. So ultimately it was a number of real-life disease-related events that inspired it.

Why did you pick 2351 A.D. as the backdrop for your story?

Honestly, just an arbitrary number. I think I was trying to write a description and for some reason added a year. And then it stuck. [laughs] But I did play around with a couple of numbers and went with one that felt right somehow.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

Being able to detect inauthenticity? [laughs] I don’t know. I love to ride motorcycles.

Readers say you had them hooked from the very first page. How did you pull this off?

That’s nice to say. I hope it’s true. It’s funny because I initially felt the beginning needed to be stronger, so I moved some chapters from later in the book to the beginning, which made for a more non-linear storyline. I don’t know if it’s better that way or not, but that was one thing I consciously did to try to grab the reader’s attention right away. So it’s possible that helped. I also tend to keep chapters short and try to maintain some sense of intrigue in each.

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

I’m a lover of Sci-Fi myself. Though I’m not a big reader per se, the books I have dug into were all sci-fi. I’m also a big movie person and I love science fiction films. Always have. Even as a little kid, my mom said I was always watching things like “Planet of the Apes” and “Star Trek.”

Are you a plotter or pantser? Do you plan the story out before you start writing?

Definitely a pantser. In fact, so much so that I’d painted myself into many corners with this book. I would then need to stop and figure out how to get myself out of it, which was quite challenging in almost all cases. But I like the creative process of being a pantser. By just diving in and going for it you wind up with interesting ideas that you might not otherwise have found.

Which of your characters was the most challenging to create?

Boy. Good question. I guess the main character since he’s so tied to the “anomaly” in the story. I also wrote him as an undefined or unknown species to the rest of the story’s universe. I feel that even though he’s the main character, we know the least about him too. He’s by nature “anomalistic.”

Which characters were the most fun to create?

Easy. The antagonists. Don’t ask me why, because they’re unsavory individuals with unsavory intentions and I like to think of myself as a pretty positive guy. And I like to think the story has a sense of hope to it. But the bad guys wound up not only being fun to write but also easy. They came as a nice surprise to even me. They’re good examples of “pantsing”—that really came into play with all of the darker characters.

Does writing about surreal worlds and enigmatic scenes pose specific problems?

Yes, there were times where I had to stop and figure out how to make something otherworldly actually seem believable. How to make something feel plausible in an unplausible world. But there’s also something liberating about it too since you’re not bound by typical “rules.”

Readers say that your protagonists are really relatable. How did you pull this off?

I could see that with the main protagonist for sure. He was actually written as a very simple character given the context of the story, so maybe that helps make him relatable. He was kept very down-to-earth, so to speak. Whereas some of the other characters are much “bigger” and more dramatic, which could definitely make them less relatable.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I have a bad one [laughs]. I have a habit of editing while I write, which a lot of writers are against. And I can see why that would be. I think it’s much better to just let loose and be creative, let the creative juices flow, and then come back and edit later. So I struggle with that.

In terms of an average day, I can’t say there is one. If I’m inspired, it’s easy and could be any time of the day or night and for any length of time. But if I’m not, though I do sometimes try to push through it, I often walk away and come back when I’m in a more creative state of mind.

What are you working on right now?

I’m actually in preparation for the print and audiobook versions of Anomaly One. Since those formats are so much more set in stone than the digital version, I’m going over the story again and also taking in the feedback I’ve gotten so far to see if I need to make any more adjustments before releasing those formats. Print will come first. Then I’ll tackle the audiobook.

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

My personal website, rickkrusky.com. And they can also sign up for my mailing list there.