- October 11, 2024
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Garry Peterson earned an engineering degree from Youngstown State University, worked for General Motors in Detroit for 20 years and owned his own business consulting firm for 12 years.
Peterson, 76, and his wife, Vaune, retired to Palm Coast about 12 years ago. His “retirement passion” was to play golf and softball, but after 2,200 softball games he was bored, he said.
Vaune suggested he write that business book that had been talked about for years. He published “Who put me in Charge? Getting to the Next Level” in 2019, and then received a call from Robert Reed of Robert D. Reed Publishing. Reed, who died in 2021, noticed a scene in Peterson’s business book included aliens from the future and wondered if he’d be interested in writing fiction.
Since then, Peterson has written four books in his science fiction series “Stargate Earth,” a fiction book about relationships gone bad titled “Sharks in the City,” and a murder mystery, “Fatal Expressions,” based on the characters in “Sharks in the City.”
The fourth Stargate Earth book, “Battlestar Earth," is due out in July. He is now working on a movie screenplay for his murder mystery and the fifth book in his sci-fi series. While Peterson still plays senior softball, science fiction writing turned out to be his true retirement passion.
Have you always been a science fiction reader?
I’ve always been interested in science fiction: "The Twilight Zone," and I also enjoy the Star Wars movies. So, I’ve always been kind of addicted to that.
Who are some of your favorite sci-fi authors?
Clive Cussler, a little bit, but I don’t have a favorite per se. Every author has a different signature, so I would pick and choose genres. Maybe it was a parallel dimension or a shapeshifter type of fantasy.
Where do you get ideas for your books?
I’m an engineer, and I get ideas from researches that are really kind of hard to do anything with but put them down on paper. I dream things and put them right into my books. For example, “Shattered Truth” (the first book in the "Stargate Earth" series) was based on a progressive dream I had over almost 10 years. And I use experiences I’ve had. For example, I’m a scuba diver. My wife and I did a barefoot cruise back in the 1990s aboard an old wooden sailboat. Six months after we took that sail, that boat got caught in Hurricane Mitch and was destroyed. We knew a lot of the sailors. In my book, the aliens from the future rescued the sailors and put them on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. So, all the sailors that died, didn’t die. It's fiction, but it was easy for me to write, because it was the right thing to do.
How did you go from writing a sci-fi series to “Sharks in the City?”
My daughter, Sarah, challenged me to write a book about men behaving badly in the city she lived in — San Francisco. This book was supposed to be a one-timer, but it's been my bestselling book. Barnes & Noble sold almost 2,000 copies. When I got done with the first draft, I talked to Karen Brody (a writer and relationship coach), and she had me create a new character in the book after her. So, Karen gave me advice to put in the book. The last third of this book is about how you treat those men to see if you could get them to change their behavior.
How much time in a day do you spend writing?
It varies. I get up in the morning at 6, 6:30, I meditate, then I'll start writing depending on what I have to do that day. I almost never write less than three or four hours because you have to be so focused. I have the complete opposite of writer's block. I have so many ideas. I started book five in (the sci-fi series). I started book three in the (“Sharks in the City”) series. I've also started a book called “The Fifth Ascension,” about past life regression.
Did you ever envision your retirement looking like this?
No. As a matter of fact, my wife — we’ve been married for 50 years — we were going to retire and travel. COVID was part of the reason we didn’t. I’m just so busy right now.
Peterson’s books are available on amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in Daytona Beach. For more information, visit www.garryjpeterson.com, email [email protected] or call 407-388-4238.
