Skip to content
Answering Your Questions About Reactor: Right here.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Everything in one handy email.
When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Welcome back to The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe, a recurring series here on Tor.com featuring some of our favorite science fiction and fantasy authors, artists, and others!

Today we’re joined by Marcus Wynne, bestselling author of contemporary thrillers including No Other Option, Warrior in the Shadows, Brother in Arms, as well as With a Vengeance, Johnny Wylde, and Air Marshals. His latest novel, The Sword of Michael, is the first book in a new contemporary fantasy saga—available now from Baen.

Join us!

What is your favorite short story?

“The Lady with the Pet Dog” by Anton Chekhov

Describe your favorite place to read or write.

A crowded café with great coffee and attractive women, with Polica or Lana Del Rey playing in the background; where I can be anonymous until I don’t want to be.

Name your favorite monster from fiction, film, TV, or any other pop culture source.

Oh, without a doubt Vanessa Ives in Penny Dreadful, whether possessed or not. Eva Green does an AMAZING job in that role and stretches the boundaries of what an actress can do.

The Sword of Michael Marcus WynneIf you had to choose one band or artist to provide the official soundtrack to your new book, who would it be?

Polica. Go Minneapolis!

Choose your dream cast for a Hollywood adaptation of your new book.

A Hollywood adaptation of The Sword of Michael would star Michael Fassbender as Marius Winter, Eva Green as Jolene LaMour, Gerard Butler as Dillon Tracy, and Lena Headley as Sabrina Murphy. And Otto Skorzeny would be played by Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead).

The adaptation/screenplay/series bible would be written by John Logan (Penny Dreadful).

What’s your favorite sandwich?

Half-pound Angus burger with Portobello mushroom relish, cheese and bacon!

What literary or film science fiction technology do you wish existed in our world right now?

From Elysium—the total body healing machine.

What was your gateway to SF/Fantasy, as a child or young adult?

Oh, I LOVED SF/Fantasy—first books I read were all of Asimov; The Weapon Shops of Isher by van Vogt; Poul Anderson’s high fantasy, Heinlein, and then I discovered Roger Zelazny and I reread his entire oeuvre every other year. What a genius!

If you could open a new shop in Diagon Alley, what would you sell?

Oh I would so run the best weapons shop in the entire Universe or Multi-Verse. Anything that shoots, cuts, or blows up—I’d have the best, and the best concealment systems. Training in the back!

Battle to the death, which weapon do you choose: A) Phaser, B) Lightsaber, or C) Wand?

Lightsaber all the way, in the Mace Windu style!

Do you have a favorite phrase?

“Vuko jebina”—a Serbian phrase which means “out in the middle of nowhere.” The literal translation: “Where wolves fuck.”

Strangest thing you’ve learned while researching a book?

That the American population has one of the heaviest, if not the heaviest, incidence of possessions, curses and spiritual intrusions of any society. That 75% of the American population is estimated to be possessed at one time or another and that while some of those may spontaneously clear, most require some sort of spiritual intervention.

If you could name a planet after anyone (other than yourself), who would you choose and why?

I’d name a planet Hunter, after my son. When I had my near-death experience, it was a vision of my young son that brought me back to life.

What’s your favorite fairy tale, or fairy tale retelling?

The Steadfast Tin Soldier, the dark original by Hans Christen Andersen.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Tor.com

Author

Learn More About Tor.com
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments