Elin Gregory

Good day – and here’s number 2 in our interview series from authors who have contributed stories to the Foolish Encounters anthology which will be available on April 1st from Wilde City Press.

Want to know more details – just click on the cover.

Please note: there is a small contest – comment to the post for a chance to win a small prize, provided by me personally. This is in no way affiliated to Wilde City Press’s formal book launch and blog tour which will taking place via Pride Promotions from April 8th. Look out for that, it’ll be rocking.

My guest today is Freddy MacKay, another prime mover in the inception of the anthology.

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What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?

I picked a prompt from a Rainbow Gold Review event that had to do with an alien being the Easter Bunny. I grabbed the absurdity and ran with it. If an alien was the Easter Bunny then what else is possible? *mwahahaha*

Could you tell me a little about The Nut Job.

The Nut Job is a science fiction, absurdist story starring aliens from the IMP Universe (I shouldered into Angel Martinez’s Universe – the boys needed to know each other). We have have our Napoleon-complex captain, Spencer, who is awfully squirrelly. Bikkas, his first officer, who tends to get Sasquatch hunters after him when he visits our lovely planet. Bope, our timid bunny-shifter who is a helmsman and scout that doesn’t actually scout. And Krapor, the ship mechanic whose bending ability surpasses all expectations.

These four lovely Nutcracker crewmen are visiting Earth to collect nuts, specifically Walnuts from the Canadian wilderness. Of course, things don’t exactly go as planned.

Could you please tell me about your other work?

I write a variety of works in the Queer fiction genre, everything from contemporary to fantasy to science fiction. So, yeah, not a whole lot of focus on genre, but the core to my stories is the same. I want interesting literature showing a variety of characters, and emphasis is always the story, the characters and their journey. I love to explore human nature and all its facets.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a fantasy short story and the third book in my Finding Peace series, Days Gone By.

Please could we have an excerpt?

The Nut Job

Thank the stars.
Finally, they could leave the outpost and not have to worry about delivering Rcrred anymore. He had been dropped off and signed for by their OIL contact, Sissal. Spencer normally felt a pang of guilt when the cobra shifter got stuck with a shit job, but not this time. As captain of the Nutcracker, all Spencer felt was relief that the dik-dik shifter couldn’t step foot on his bridge again.
“It’s peaceful.” Spencer exhaled, slumping in his chair. “No frantic yelling or nervous pacing.”
“Now that Rcrred is gone, yes,” Bikkas agreed. “Do you know he made me clean the kitchen three times after each meal? Three! Who in their right mind does that?”
Bope snorted. “The little Yervath definitely had issues.”
“Issues with a degree in bantering,” Spencer added.
They all nodded in agreement.
“I can’t believe the Home Office made us bring him.” Bikkas shoved away from his post, chair swinging in Spencer’s direction.
“We were on the way here. We couldn’t exactly say no,” he replied.
“I wanted to wring his neck when he organized the fitness station,” Bikkas grumbled.
“Same here.” Bope patted Bikkas’s arm. “Like when he reorganized my navigation files.”
Spencer’s tail flicked. “He alphabetized the kitchen pantry too.”
“Gods, how could one little dik-dik cause so much havoc?” Bikkas sighed.
“Spencer got even… stunned the little Yervath plenty of times.” Bope grinned, long ears swiveling. “I think Rcrred was building a tolerance.”
“He shouldn’t have gone near my chair.” Spencer sniffed and crossed his arms.
Bikkas wagged his finger at Spencer. “Rcrred had a twitch by the time we left him at Sissal’s. He’s going to report you.”
“He won’t,” Spencer said with more certainty than he felt. I hope. “Rcrred’s too em-barrassed about the first time I stunned him.”
They all nodded together again.
“That was pretty rough,” Bope shuddered. “You really shouldn’t have had the stun gun set that high.”
“I do not feel sorry for him.” Spencer tapped his claws against the armrests. “He was unbolting my chair.”

Author Bio

Freddy grew up in the Midwest, playing sports and running around outside. And honestly, that much has not changed since Freddy was small and throwing worms at other kids, expect worm throwing has been replaced with a healthy geocaching addiction. Freddy enjoys traveling and holds the view a person should continually to learn about new things and people whenever possible.

Freddy’s contemporary LGBTQ book, Incubation: Finding Peace 2, won 3rd Place – Best Gay Erotic Fiction in the 2012 Rainbow Awards. In 2013, Freddy’s story, Internment, tied for 3rd Place – Best Gay Fantasy in the Rainbow Awards. Freddy’s steampunk/SF story, Feel Me, was a Finalist and honorable mention in the 2014 Rainbow Awards for SF.

Author Links

Email: freddy.m.mackay@gmail.com
Website: http://freddysstereograph.weebly.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FreddyMacKay
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/FreddyMacKay