As a Pitch Wars alumnus and indie author, I’m pleased to participate in the Pitch Wars 2018 Indie Blog Tour! No, we haven’t time-travelled back to 2018 (one can dream). Fellow indie author and Pitch Wars 2018 alumna, T. C. Duck gathered a bunch of us PW authors who’d gone indie and suggested (then organized) a reunion blog tour during which we reflect on our Pitch Wars experiences, our post-Pitch Wars writing journeys, and the legacy of the program on our work.
Over the next three days, Before We Go Blog will be hosting interviews from three 2018 mentees!
Check out all the other great guest posts, reviews, and spotlights here!
ABOUT PITCH WARS
“Pitch Wars was a volunteer-run mentoring program where published/agented authors, editors, or industry interns chose one writer each to mentor our a month to three months period depending on the year. Mentors read the entire manuscript and offered suggestions on how to make the manuscript shine for the agent showcase at the end of the mentoring period. The mentor also helped edit their mentee’s pitch for the contest and their query letter for submitting to agents. Some mentors participated as solo mentors while others paired up with a co-mentor.” – From Pitch Wars founder Brenda Drake’s website.
INTERVIEW
For anyone who may not know you, can you introduce yourself to readers of Before We Go Blog?
I’m Alexis, a writer of queer speculative fiction! My very first short story was published in 2018, and since then I’ve had over 40 works published by various lit magazines and anthologies. The Chamos Project is my first published novel (but certainly not my first written one!) Science fiction is my preferred genre, although sometimes I dabble in fantasy and horror.
I think the questions that artificial life presents in science fiction are so interesting to explore. What does it mean to be human? What constitutes life?
Can you tell us a little about your PW entry?
The Chamos Project was first written in 2013, and it was my answer to the lack of queer characters in Star Trek at the time. Its short pitch is: “A ship on its way to Alpha Centauri to seek out a new home for humanity becomes stranded years away from aid after a mysterious accident, and Doctor Leander Dade must fight for survival alongside the very androids who once cost him his love and almost his life.” Out of everything I’ve ever written, this book is closest to my heart. It has everything I love—older queer characters, forbidden love, android politics, and a spaceship setting!
What was the mentorship and showcase experience like for you?
It was a great experience for me! My entry didn’t actually need a ton of work, all things considered, as I’d been working on the book for 5 years at that point. However, I did learn a LOT about pitching! I also really enjoyed working with my mentor, Sarah Remy, and I did get an agent through the showcase.
Can you tell us about your post-PW experience(s)?
I was with my agent for 6 years, during which time 3 of my books went on sub. Unfortunately, none of them made it past the publication line, although I got feedback from editors that they stayed up all night reading them, or that they couldn’t stop thinking about them. I decided to take those 3 books and self-publish them, and I’ll also publish the other books I’ve written over the years!
Is the PW legacy still felt, in your estimation (either personally, or in a broader community sense)?
Yes! I have a group of roughly 15 friends that I made through Pitch Wars that I still talk with on a regular basis. The community aspect of Pitch Wars was so, so important. I met a lot of fellow authors and readers that I still follow on social media today or who I am still in contact with. It was so important for launching my Alexis persona and getting my first readers/fans.
Much of your work deals with the concept of the human, the sapient, and the sentient. How do you approach these concepts and related themes? What about them appeals to you as a storyteller?
Prior to ChatGPT coming on the scene in 2022, I was fascinated by artificial life in science fiction. Androids, robots, you name it. Some writers are into vampires and others are into aliens, but androids have always been my favorite thing to write about. I think the questions that artificial life presents in science fiction are so interesting to explore. What does it mean to be human? What constitutes life? Can we co-exist with sentient technology? I like doing thought experiments with technology and writing stories that let these thought experiments play out to what I feel would be their natural conclusion.
I will admit that I’ve soured quite a bit on writing about androids and robots since 2022, now that AI is destroying the environment, costing thousands of people their jobs, and being forced into every aspect of our lives. I’ve moved on to writing about alien life, which will feature in my upcoming books, but I hope to once day return to my first love.
What’s coming up next for you as an author?
I have a large backlog of books and I’m hoping to release one every 6 months or so. My next book is a time travel story that will be coming out in August 2026, followed by a third in February 2027. I’m hoping to keep up that August/February schedule for as long as I have books to publish! I haven’t officially announced my upcoming titles or summaries yet, but those are coming soon.
If you want to be the first to know about my upcoming releases and be the first to see book covers, or want to read exclusive excerpts, the way to do that is by signing up for my newsletter: https://alexis-ames.kit.com/.
On the short story front, I’ve already had 3 short stories released this year, with a 4th coming out in a disability anthology in July. Again, check out my newsletter or my website for details on my short stories!
The Chamos Project
Twenty years after an attack perpetrated by androids takes the lives of those closest to him, Doctor Leander Dade is living a reclusive life on Earth—until the Alliance Fleet recalls him back into service aboard the first extrasolar colonization vessel, Ariadne. Unable to refuse this order, Leander returns to space and finds himself serving alongside androids, whom he has never forgiven for the attack.
Tensions are high from the start, but when a mysterious accident strands Ariadne years away from aid, the ship’s crew and colonists—humans and androids alike—must band together for survival. Leander is forced to work with the very enemy who nearly cost him his life, and he soon finds himself falling for the last person he expected: Mac, the ship’s android chief engineer.
After a mutiny splits the ship in two, Mac comes to the realization that he alone can save the ship and everyone on it, and Leander faces an impossible choice: intervene, or allow Mac to risk his life and their love for each other.
Author Bio
Alexis Ames is a speculative fiction writer with stories in Escape Pod, Radon Journal, and Pseudopod. Her first novel is The Chamos Project. You can read some of her short fiction for free on her website: www.alexisamesbooks.com.
Grab a copy of The Chamos Project
Check out Alexis Ames’s Linktree
Learn more about Alexis’s work on her website!
