Terence Jackson, born in South Carolina while his father was stationed at Fort Jackson Air Force Base, grew up near the University of South Carolina Gamecocks stadium, where he developed a love for SciFi by watching shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Lost in Space with his brother and mother. He also had a passion for comic books, particularly Batman and Superman, and his interest in the genre was solidified by the novel The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. Despite the usual ups and downs of life, including college, work, and personal experiences, Terence’s love for SciFi and comic books remained constant. He started writing for Amazing Stories in 2013 and enjoys covering comic cons, especially in the UK, where he has had the opportunity to meet some prominent celebrities. Terence aspires to continue writing for Amazing Stories and publishing his own novels in the years to come.
If you could travel to any alternate universe where a different version of yourself exists, what do you think your other self would be like?
I would hope that I’d be a nice guy, not a villain in the alternate universe, but since I’m pretty much a nice guy in this one, that might not be the case in the contrary. Come to think of it, it might actually be quite fun to see how bad a bad version of myself could be. I’m thinking Batman type of villain, the more modern, darker, Batman versions – not the cheesy 60s villains. For goodness sake, they had Liberace as a villain. Anyway, I’m always joking about how I have a list of people that I would love to see get their comeuppance at the very least, so, yeah, maybe an alternate universe where I’m the bad guy, the psychopath even, might just be the way to go.
If you were to write a love story between a human and an alien, what challenges would they face?
I have written a love story between a human and a vampire, and a love story between an Air Force Captain and a rugby player, so they both sort of fit in the whole alien/human storyline. Seriously, though, I really hadn’t considered the human/alien pairing as a plot point if I was going to write a sci-fi love story, but I have read other author’s work that uses this premise and it can be quite interesting. You could hardly get through an episode of the original Star Trek without Captain Kirk seducing some colorful alien of the female sort. When I got older, I did sort of wonder why all these alien species just happen to have genitalia that match up with ours. Hmm.
I always try to avoid writing about things that others have written; I love the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris but did not read any of them until years after I had published my own vampire novels. I’ve tried to give new twists to the tale as old as time genre. So, I would approach the alien/human romance in much the same way, looking for something different. And yes, that’s easier said than done.
That being supposed, I would probably go with the idea of an alien species that aren’t sexual beings, not in the way humans are, making the idea of love between the two groups intriguing at the minimum. The aliens would be enticing to the humans, exhibiting the ultimate qualities of human physical beauty while being totally oblivious to the fact of just how enticing their species is…or do they actually know and have been trained to use it against us?
If you had to choose between being a time traveler or a space explorer, which would you pick and why?
This is an easy one. Time Traveler. As is noted in my bio, several of my favorite shows are Doctor Who and Time Tunnel, paired along with my first SciFi novel ever bought, The Man Who Folded Himself, time travel is something that has always fascinated me. Yes, Doctor Who is a sort of time traveler/space explorer as he can go anywhere, anytime, distant galaxies or London, he’s all over the place. And I did like the aspect of Time Tunnel where they honed in on a location and a time period and went there. The usual argument with time travel is you’d be in the same spot, just a different time; so, that part is not particularly appealing given where I currently live. After I did all the usual time traveler checklist items – kill baby Hitler, go back and play the lottery the week before a big win to get the prize, etc. – then I would try to come up with something probably more personal. I’d like to be there that first day of school when my dad was driving the bus and he saw my mom for the first time as she got on. He always said that he knew from that moment that was the girl he was going to marry. Or maybe go back and sign up for the army, fight along side my dad in WWII. He told so many stories about things that happened during the war, that I’d like to live those things along with him. There is the premise that if you go back in time you would run into yourself, but that wouldn’t be necessarily a bad thing. I’d want to go back and see myself at certain points in life – like the main character in The Man Who Folded Himself did – and maybe even tell myself how things are going to turn out, but most likely not. Why spoil the surprise? I don’t know that I’d want to time-travel into the future, but who knows? Might give it a whirl, see how things turn out if I know what the future is supposed to be; could I be the one to change the future of mankind? Could be.
If you had to choose one of your books to be turned into a cheesy made-for-TV movie, which one would it be and who would you want to play the lead roles?
Funny you should ask. I have had one of my novels considered for a made-for-TV movie for one of the broadcasters in the UK. I don’t know that it would have been cheesy, though. It wasn’t one of my vampire stories – there are enough tacky vampire movies as is. It was the first novel I wrote, Thirty Days and Counting. It’s a romance and I guess it could be cheesed up a bit if they wanted to, maybe like one of those Hallmark or Lifetime movies that so many people love. I really like cheesy SciFi, myself, so I understand the whole cheesy thing. The story is set in the U.K. for the most part, and there are American and English characters. Casting for the two main characters would be easy. Nigel, the English professor/rugby player would have to be Taron Egerton. The American Air Force Captain would be Hugh Jackman if he’s available – and I know the latter isn’t American but he does a good accent and he works well with Egerton. They could ham it up and make it just as tasteless and tawdry as they like. I can see those two actors hamming it up big time!
If you could have dinner with any fictional character from any sci-fi book or movie, who would it be, what would you talk about, and where/what restaurant would you choose?
Another easy question – hands down Captain Jack Harkness – Torchwood. He’s such a dynamic character. He’s funny, sweet, intense at times, caring, and not hard on the eyes. He’s lived so many lives over time, seen so much, done so much, and met so many people that I think I could probably live a few lifetimes myself just listening to him talk. I’d love to talk to him about his many loves, as well. Most likely I’d choose London as the place to meet, even though Torchwood is in Cardiff, as I’ve never been there and don’t know a thing about the restaurants in the area. I guess if I did decide to dine with Captain Jack in Cardiff, I could certainly let him pick the restaurant. If we did meet up in London, I think maybe the little French restaurant in Islington, Le Petit Auberge, would be a good spot. It has several floors and we could grab a table on the upper floor in a corner and just chat away without disturbing others.
Terence has just come back from vacation in London where he attended MCM Comic Con. He will be posting photos and the usual article on Amazing Stories soon.
His Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/terencejacksonauthor/.
His books are available on Amazon, worldwide, so whatever country you’re in, you can get them – for Kindle and in print, as well. The links are below:
Amazon.com: Thirty Days and Counting eBook : Jackson, Terence: Kindle Store
Thirty Days And Counting: Jackson, Terence: 9781434879097: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Von Dred eBook : Terence Jackson: Kindle Store
Von Dred: Jackson, Terence: 9781441452702: Amazon.com: Books
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W9BXL0
The Book of Jacob: Jackson, Terence: 9781449538378: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Blood Underground: Book One – Thavs eBook : Jackson, Terence: Kindle Store
Blood Underground: Book One: Thavs: Jackson, Terence: 9781461135456: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Blood Underground II eBook : Jackson, Terence: Books
Blood Underground II: Thom Blood: Jackson, Terence: 9781475048445: Amazon.com: Books
Amazon.com: Blood Underground III: Blood Revenge eBook : Jackson, Terence: Kindle Store
Amazon.com: Blood Underground III: Blood Revenge eBook : Jackson, Terence: Kindle Store
