Interview with author, Adam Oster – Part One

Buddy Jackson, in THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO, was instantly endearing to me since he also has “a long-standing feud with mornings.” The hapless protagonist isn’t the only person who drinks to forget.  What Buddy has forgotten might just kill him, that is, it would if he wasn’t indestructible. 

Buddy is a meta-human and a former superhero, but a world-wide mind-swipe has left everyone unaware of his true character, especially Buddy. When his ultimate nemesis returns from oblivion, Buddy starts to change from a lazy drop-out to a hero as he encounters former enemies and friends.

Since the government turned its back on supers, their only supporter is mob boss, Arthur Flores.  The moral dilemma of working with the Flores Corporation is balanced against the alternative of facing the government.  It’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones.  Even arch-nemesis, Dominion, thinks he’s justified in destroying the world because God is on his side.  We question everyone’s motives, and reevaluate stereotypes.  In the end, good prevails, as it must, but another mind-swipe leaves the Defenders wondering, what’s next?

We get the answer to that question on August 1, 2014, when author, Adam Oster, releases Book Two in THE DEFENDERS SAGA.  Here is my interview with Adam on the dawn of his new book release.

Adam, give us the name of your new book and where we can find it.
It's called THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL, and it will be available through Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Mogul-Defenders-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B00M9LFJBI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406823195&sr=1-1/.

Pitch the book for us in your own words.
Saving the world doesn't mean squat if no one knows it was ever in trouble. Buddy Hero and The New Defenders may have defeated the villainous Dominion and saved the world from ultimate destruction, but thanks to another worldwide redaction, no one knows. So when a familiar face reappears and claims to be the head of the Meta Human Defense Team, the heroic team finds themselves facing the ultimate decision.

The New Defenders find danger coming at them from all sides as they face off against yet another world-threatening calamity, all in full view of the Sun City Comic Convention and the Real Life Superheroes.

Now if only they could come up with a way to pay the rent.

It's easy to make comparisons between your parody of the graphic novel superhero genre to Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES.

On the topic of The Incredibles...I had been working on The Legend of Buddy Hero for years before that movie came out, and when the first teaser came out for Brad Bird's great film, where an overweight Mr. Incredible is tossing on his tights for the first time in years, I was admittedly rather saddened. One of the sequences I had first come up with for this past his prime superhero was one very similar to that and I realized now I would appear to be copying. However, I have managed to incorporate what I believe to be a much more clever (and appropriate to the series) version of that scene into The Rise of the Fat Mogul, which is quite honestly one of my favorite scenes in the book. The Incredibles caused me to have to modify a lot of my original ideas for the book (you know, the ideas that bounced around in my head for the decade before I started putting words on the page). Movies like that (as well as graphic novels like The Watchmen) have trodden similar ground over the years and I wanted to be careful to pay homage, but not copy what had come before. To be unique, while recognizing what was there.

In THE INCREDIBLES, the super population is driven underground because people rebelled against property destruction caused by the heroic efforts of superheroes to save lives. In your saga, the Defenders follow government orders to save a bank while nearby a bus falls off a bridge and the citizens aboard it suffer and agonizing death by drowning. The difference is the government's involvement in controlling the superhero's efforts. Your government chooses to save property at the expense of a few lives.

The philosophical question you raise captured my interest. Does your second installment in THE DEFENDERS SAGA continue to explore these philosophical questions about society?
I think you'll find that The Rise of the Fat Mogul is a perfect continuation of the first book. There's a lot more revelation of the time before the original Mind Wipe, a lot more about what brought these characters to their current situation and a lot more of that basic philosophical question of, who is really doing what's best for the world. I'm pretty proud of it.

In THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO you took the time to not just develop dynamic protagonists, but you also created a robust backstory in Dominion, his psychotic break, and the tragedy that drove him to become a villain. Do you spend as much time developing backstory for the villain in the new book, THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL?
As the title might suggest, I like to consider that The Rise of the Fat Mogul is about the villains. Obviously, the story follows mostly from Buddy's perspective, but this one really gets into the nitty gritty of how these villains could have come about and gives a lot more of that origin type stuff that people love, but of course, not at the sacrifice of the action.

Also, in THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO there seemed to be some relationship building (or re-building) between Kid Zero and Maggie as well as between Buddy and Alexa. Will we see those relationships grow in THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL, or will you be introducing new characters?
Characters are what the books are all about to me, although I did do a lot with this book to try to cater to those who wanted some rather specific answers after reading the first. There's a lot of interpersonal action going on, in fact, the main catalyst for the basic action of the book is due to a renewed relationship between two of the main characters. But...as you'll see, this book just doesn't stop there. We get conflicted relationships and. of course, new relationships with the new characters that come into play.

I also love that you bring up Zero and Maggie. Not many people seem to latch on to the fact that there's something going on there. Unfortunately, that won't be fully explored until book three, The Return of Kid Zero.

So, there you have it folks! More backstory, more action, new villains and new relationships await us in THE RISE OF THE FAT MOGUL, available August 1 on Amazon.com. Tune in to my next blog post when my interview with author, Adam Oster, continues. He'll talk about himself and his experiences with this new world of self-publication.

Find out more about Adam and his books for both young and old at http://fatmogul.com/, Twitter at @fatmogul and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/fatmogul/.

Sign up to receive e-mail notification about new book releases by Adam Oster at http://fatmogul.com/email/. Feel free to e-mail him at adam@fatmogul.com.

Check out his Amazon author page at http://www.Amazon.com/Adam-Oster/e/B00C5RBJR4/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1/.

And obtain your own copy of THE LEGEND OF BUDDY HERO at http://www.Amazon.com/Legend-Buddy-Hero-Defenders-Saga-ebook/dp/B00C4VHP4W/ref=la_B00C5RBJR4_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406263445&sr=1-2/.