Joe Pranaitis is the author behind the dystopian sci-fi Infinite Stars series. What We Reading sat down with Joe for our latest author interview, talking to him about everything from his roots in comic books, the influence of classics such as Star Trek on his work, as well as what separates his work from others in the genre!
Thanks for speaking with us, Joe! First off, tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to the world of writing.
Thank you James, I’ve been writing since I was a kid. First by drawing my own comic strips then when I was in high school my art teacher gave me the assignment of creating my own comic book after seeing me read a lot of the old DC run of ST:TNG comics. That gave me a full universe to work with and this leads into your next question.
Talk to us about Infinite Stars. What is it about, where did the inspiration come from and how has the process of writing the series been compared to your other works?
Infinite Stars was originally Infinite Possibilities and as I said in the previous answer it came from a comic book that I created in high school. It is heavily influenced by both Star Trek & Babylon 5. The writing process for me is a simple one I come up with the chapter titles and the years that it’s supposed to take place and it takes me roughly 9 to 10 months to write depending on how much I can write a day.
What is the number one goal you want your work to have with readers?
The number one goal would be to give people hope. That has been lost with all the Dystopian science fiction.
What would you say has been your biggest success so far?
My biggest success so far is my novella Temporal Experiment (Temporal Universe Book 1)
If you could go back in time to one book you read for the first time, what would it be and why?
That is a tough question because I’ve read so many books. Though I would say that Star Trek: Final Frontier by Diane Carey would be the one and it’s because it has helped influence my works. Plus it’s the launch of the Original Enterprise in 2245 and has my favorite characters.
What’s one tip you would give your younger self if you had the opportunity?
I would say don’t go with the first two publishers that I originally had, save the money and use it towards publishing through Amazon and with our editor.
And finally, what do you hope the future holds for you and your writing?
What I hope the future holds for me and my writing is that one day it inspires someone to write or to create some of the technology in it so we can all jump to hyperspace or temporal space.
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Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
