Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I graduated from Cambridge in Engineering and Computer Science in 1977, and work as a consulting software engineer. I’ve always been fascinated by SF and spent a long time working out the technology, arts, customs and cookery of a possible future. Then I used this background to write Run From The Stars and Turn To The Stars.
I have also written “Teach Yourself Linux” published by Hodder, and “Tales from the Future” for the European Commission.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Run From The Stars and Turn To The Stars are the first two parts of the unconventional career of Jane Gould, an officer in the Arcturian Confederate Space Fleet.
Jane herself inspired these. I was trying to make sense of my ideas about future history when Jane came bouncing into the story and, in her unique, feminine but very strong way took over.
Jane knows what is right and does it, irrespective of personal safety or Space Fleet regulations. However on the way she enjoys a little romance and a lot of flirting.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do vast amounts of worldbuilding, and use very little of it in the stories. There is a rumour that as well as engineering drawings of the spaceships I have wiring diagrams.
That rumour is true.
I really do have a schematic of the Mk29 eighty-footer, Jane’s spaceship. I insist on fixing the technology before I look at the story, because that way I can avoid those irritating inconsistencies that can so easily break the thread of the story for a reader.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
All the classic SF writers, such as Blish, Poul Anderson, Sladek, Asimov, Larry Niven and best of all Heinlein.
What are you working on now?
Seek for the Stars is the next episode in the Jane story. Instead of fighting criminals armed with nukes, she now has to face an enemy that can see into, and interfere with, her mind.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have set up a blog and reference site here: http://arcturian-spacefleet.com/
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Good books are not just written, they are rewritten, often many times. Never give up editing before what you have is perfect.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
There is no guarantee of success, but only those who try succeed.
What are you reading now?
Ian Mortimer’s “Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England”.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to take the Jane story on to about six books. I’d also like to get into writing for the stage.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I think it has to be Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”
Author Websites and Profiles
Robert Billing Website
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