An Interview with Chris Chia
Chris Chia was born in London and has traveled to more than sixty different countries throughout his careers as a professional maritime navigator, energy industry executive, and management consultant. He spends his time writing and working between family homes in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and in Houston, Texas.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
As a first novel, it has taken me several years to write on a part time basis. For a long time, I had a working title that was not very good, and it was only in the last few months that I worked on the final title – which took me quite a bit of time and I had to keep coming back to it over several weeks before I was finally happy with it. In contrast, the sequel, which I am working on now, already has a title I am quite happy with and which will likely be the final title.
How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?
It was very satisfying, and the culmination of what had been a boyhood ambition, or aspiration, that I had finally turned into a reality after putting it off for literally decades – and having to do the work to convert my aspiration into a completely new skill set – as I built a career and raised a family. The best thing about it was that I could demonstrate to my kids – as they watched me work on it over the months that it took to finish – that you can do anything you set your mind to if you keep it real and do the work!
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
I was always a big reader as a boy, as we did not have television in our house most of the time. So, I grew up initially as a big reader of sci-fi and westerns written by classic authors, many of whom most people have never heard of today. Later on, I became a huge fan of the big techno-thriller, although I realize that today popular reading is a lot cleaner with a lot less technical detail. In any case, I wanted to write something that was in a way an homage to those techno-thrillers of the past, while still trying to make it relevant and entertaining today. A few years ago, I was very fortunate to meet Clive Cussler, and his sincerity, humility, and desire just to write entertaining stories that people liked struck a deep resonating chord with me.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
I was literally the ‘boy who ran away to sea’ and I joined the merchant marine as a Midshipman at the age of sixteen, which you could get away with back then. Through doing that, I found out that I had a talent for understanding the art and science of navigation, which I eventually became expert at. So much so, that after eleven years as a navigator and ships’ officer, I changed careers and became a well positioning expert, helping the oil and gas industry work out how to drill the first long horizontal wells that are commonplace today. After doing that for twenty years, I decided to go back to school, and after finishing an MBA, I became a successful management consultant, specializing in helping businesses from across the energy spectrum transform their organizations and optimize their operations. So, as a first-time novelist, I suppose I would want readers to know that I have tried to include aspects of things that I know about, or places I have been, into what I write about.
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
The most meaningful part, surprisingly, has been coming back into contact with many former friends and colleagues that I haven’t spoken to for many years – in some cases more than twenty years – who have reached out through social media to congratulate me on the book. I have never been very good at keeping in touch with old friends and colleagues, but the opportunity to share the news of my book has taught me a really valuable lesson in just how rewarding it is to hear from an old friend after many years just to say thank you, and to ask them how they are doing.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Perhaps the Mission Impossible soundtrack (haha), or maybe Eye of the Tiger (also haha), and a lot of dark foreboding background music, maybe what they call dark country music…that’s a hard one to answer, and something I hadn’t really thought about.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?
That the risks of what might happen with AI are real, and that there is a very fine line that we will have to walk to make sure we don’t let it ‘get away’ from us. Also, that AI, and just technology in general, are far more advanced than most people realize. Most of what is in my book is based on real technology, and real capabilities, where I have only embellished a little bit here and there to try to tell and entertaining story. My perfect reader is an adult reader who likes a little ‘techno’ with their thriller that is close to reality and perhaps told in an easy-to-understand way, and that also likes credible characters who have real faults and flaws. I have actually found out through feedback from several friends who have read my book that they have passed it to their teenage children who showed an interest in reading it. So, as we speak, I am waiting to hear if they liked it or not – and this would be a readership that I was not expecting, and that I didn’t intentionally aim for – it will be a pleasant surprise if it gets some traction with younger adults.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
I am working on a sequel to The Apex Code, which I will consider publishing if it seems like enough people liked the first one. I am also gathering material for a business book, based on my management consulting experience – mainly focused on things they don’t teach you at business school, and just how dumb managers and management teams can be sometimes. It may not ever make it to print, but I have some interesting anecdotes about some of that stuff.
How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?
Working with Atmosphere Press was truly an excellent experience. They did a fantastic job, and I was really happy with all aspects of their work, most especially the cover design. I don’t know if there are awards out there for book cover design but in my view, my book cover would definitely be a contender! The one piece of advice I would give new authors who might want to publish using the hybrid approach, is that you should not try to scrimp or penny-pinch on your first book – you don’t know what you don’t know, so just accept that as true and go with the flagship offering. It is also highly unlikely I would do anything differently in this regard when working with Atmosphere again in the future.
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