Y.S. Pascal is an award-winning author of mystery-thrillers, sci-fi/fantasy, and feature articles; a scientist, and the parent of three wonderful young adults. Her first book in The Zygan Emprise Trilogy, Renegades--Where Angels Fear to Tread won a Mensa Sharp Writ Books Award.  (The second edition of The Zygan Emprise has been recently published.) Her mystery thrillers, Dead Air and Devil Wind, co-written with Deborah Shlian as Linda Reid, won the Royal  Palm Literary Awards for Best Suspense/Thriller.  Book 3 in the Sammy Greene thriller series, Deep Waters, won the Florida Authors and Publishers Silver Awards for mystery, suspense, and thrillers.  Her latest thriller Dirty Deeds will soon be published by Akeso Press.  www.akesopress.com

Interview with Y S Pascal

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?                                     

I came to America as a Greek infant on the rust-bucket Nea Hellas a few years before the ship yielded to its watery  grave.  My mother was a survivor of the 1922 Smyrna "Catastrophe", ethnic  cleansing in Anatolia, and my father a refugee from Nazi assaults in  1930's Berlin.  Their experiences in the Resistance against the Nazi  occupation of Greece are echoed in Shiloh's missions, and in her passion  for truth and justice.  Dad went to work for NASA, and I was lucky  enough to get actual Moon Rocks to show my classmates in 1970--as well as  anecdotes about John Glenn's return to space on the Shuttle in '97.   Having your father rub  shoulders with astronauts in the Star Trek TOS era inspired my desire to  travel throughout our universe--if only in fiction. 

When did you first start writing?                                      

I wrote my first novel at age 8 about a young girl  who ran off to join the circus.  Yielding to my inner Mary Sue, I also  penned a story of joining the travelers in the animated series Space  Angel.  The lure of independence and adventure that captured my spirit  is echoed in Shiloh's adult experiences in "The Zygan Emprise.   With a backpack full of courage, she joins the Zygan Intelligence  Service and journeys across space and time to find her missing brother  and save her family's lives.  Mary Sues need not apply.  I hope readers will enjoy Shiloh's and Spud's adventures!   

Who are your favorite authors?                                      

As an award-winning co-author of three medical  thrillers, Dead Air, Devil Wind, and Deep Waters, I admire the late Michael Crichton's  groundbreaking work in the genre.  I'm also a fan of the great Sir Arthur  Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes, of course), Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's  Guide to the Galaxy), and Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek's Great Bird of the  Galaxy).                                          

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?                                      

Let me see...the chance to help people as a doctor,  the chance to share entertaining stories as a writer, the joy of  spending the day with my beloved family and friends...?  And, if I'm  going to be 100% honest...like everybody else, I gotta go to work and  pay my bills.                                        

When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?                                      

Paying my bills.  Like everybody else.  ;-)                                   

Describe your desk.                                      

Virtual.  My desk is my imagination--and it travels  with me around the world and across the universe.  Getting the words  down on paper--wherever I rest my wonderful Surface Pro and flip open  the keyboard.      

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?                                      

Creating an entertaining experience for readers--and providing hours of fun.                                       

What do your fans mean to you?                                      

I'm deeply grateful to the many fans that have let  me know how much fun they've had with Shiloh and Spud.  So glad you  loved "The Zygan Emprise"!  And, if you're just meeting Shiloh and Spud -- enjoy!