BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we interviewed Terrence King about his writing and his recently released book, Critical Habitat, an engrossing series starter with engaging concepts and memorable characters. (Read the review here.) TERRENCE is the author of the award-winning urban fantasy novel, The Silent Partner: the Eric Hoffer Award for Best Commercial Fiction, the Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award for superior work by a debut author, and Focus on Women Magazine’s La Femme De Prose Books Quill Award.

Critical Habitat is a great and interesting title, how did you come up with it?

Simply, Critical Habitat is actually a designation within the Endangered Species Act, and refers to a geographical area that must be protected so a specific threatened species can exist. So Earth doesn’t lose it. Considering who and what fights for survival in the book, I loved this as the title. Government bureaucracies and designations don’t often become book titles, fortunately. Example: to my knowledge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Historic Landmark both have never been used as a fiction book title and are available.

What’s Critical Habitat’s main theme or “big idea?”

Love and family can correct a path of self-annihilation is the controlling idea or theme, but there are a couple different themes layered throughout the story, and they will evolve in future volumes. What’s important is that each story offers something new and is not a tired retread.

How long did you work on Critical Habitat?

The conception process was about six years, which is honestly ridiculous, so I shouldn’t count it. Especially since it took just as long to write, re-write, and then prepare to publish it. It’s been a labor of love that I’m sure is not healthy.

Critical Habitat was originally supposed to be one book but it’s currently a series of three books, is that right?

It was as simple as the story got too big and sprawling, but I still knew the ending that I wanted for the story’s first episode. After going through the fleshing-out process, breaking the story into separate parts started to make sense. I remember exactly where I was when I made the decision to break it up into several books and called my wife. The decision became daunting for both of us. (Laughs) But depending how things go, including with the buildout of the follow-ups, it may be more than three books. It’s got to make sense.

A few things keep coming up in Critical Habitat’s extraordinary reviews, specifically pointing out the brisk story pace, character diversity, and your well-executed use of female characters. Want to point out anything about that?

That’s a lot to unpack. Diverse characters enrich storytelling when done right. Too often, I’ve found diversity for diversity’s sake to be patronizing, and I can’t be alone in believing that. Characters from different backgrounds offer more than when they’re all the same, don’t they? It shouldn’t merely be a device. Diversity adds dimension and realism. It’s more interesting, more impactful to more people, and it’s more fun and challenging to write.

Story pace . . . I just write how I like to read. Don’t run in a place too long. I’m part of the MTV generation I guess, with my attention span. Don’t lose me. Change the rhythm and tempo . . . and scenes often need time to breathe. It’s kind of like music, to me anyway. I’m sure some see it differently.

And female characters. Well, I have sisters. And all nieces! And a wife, a bonus daughter, and a female Bernedoodle. I’m sure it’s all part of it, and that’s my excuse.

What makes Critical Habitat important right now?

The future isn’t as bleak as some people make it out to be, though I don’t blame the pessimists. Governments lie and people will do almost anything for power, we see it every day. With the media, it can be hard to see the forest through the trees. It’s obviously not all roses, and there will be wars and devastation on Earth. Pollution will get worse before it gets better, I think, and there is a lot of us, and there will be more. But the human condition is a powerful force, and there are players who will step up as agents of change and will take on the evil forces, which also unfortunately will exist. Critical Habitat is my contribution to “hope.”

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