Geek Base interviews George Ivanoff
We have been lucky enough to get the chance to interview the writer of Gamers’ Quest, George Ivanoff, where he talks about his passion for writing, Gamers’ Quest, Gamers’ Challenge and his love for Doctor Who! I would just like to say thank you to George for taking the time out to participate in this interview! Please enjoy:
1. When did you first discover your passion for writing?
It was somewhere during high school that I realised just how much I liked to write. I loved it when we got to write short stories as English assignments… Mine were always about space battles and invading aliens and things like that. It was not until much later that I discovered I could get paid for it.
2. We know you’re a reader of Geek Base, what ‘geeky’ things are you most interested in?
Doctor Who is my geek obsession. I love both the old series and the new, and all its spin-off… Even the K9 series. I’m also into crappy old tv from the 70s/80s/90s. Things like Tomorrow People and Blake’s 7. I’ve just bought and watched The Martian Chronicles mini-series on DVD and now I’m on to seaQuest DSV. I used to be really into computer games when I was younger. I don’t play them that often these days… although I do borrow my daughter’s DS in order to play Space Invader Extreme!
3. How and when did you get the idea for Gamers’ Quest? How long did it take to write it?
It all came about because I watched a documentary about online gaming. It got me thinking about how much time I spent playing computer games as a teen, and about how I loved game-related movies, like TRON and The Last Starfighter. So I decided I wanted to write something set inside a computer game. Gamers’ Quest actually started off as a short story, “Game Plan”, which appeared in a young adult anthology called Trust Me!. I then expanded it into a novel. It took about 4 months to write and re-write before I sent it off to the publisher, and then another couple of months going back and forward between me and the editor for more re-writes.
4. What can we expect from Gamers’ Challenge and do you have any idea when it will be released?
At this stage it looks like Gamers’ Challenge will be released in August this year, by Ford Street Publishing. I just got the final back cover blurb from my publisher, so that might give you a clue as to what to expect from it:
“Tark and Zyra’s world is a game, their every action controlled by the all-powerful Designers. But when they break the rules life becomes a whole lot more complicated … and deadly. Pursued by a powerful computer virus they must locate the Ultimate Gamer, then face their greatest challenge — finding a way out.”
5. And finally, as you are a Doctor Who fan, who is your favourite Doctor and why?
Jon Pertwee is definitely my favourite from the old series. He was dashing and stylish, he was a man of action as well as intellect, and he was always so incredibly rude to bureaucrats and authority figures. What more could you want from a Doctor?
David Tennant is my favourite of the new series Doctors. I’m fascinated by his combination of child-like enthusiasm and desperate loneliness.
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