We are sharing our recent interview with The Enigma Series Authors Charles Breakfield and Roxanne Burkey.
First of all tell us about the start of your professional career?
Burkey’s professional career started with the excitement of a cook in a short order grill, with fork-tender pastrami as crowd draw. With college started she went through several variations of technology with a focus on financial services before full on technology integration. Customer experience is Burkey’s main applied technology focus when she isn’t writing. Breakfield went from editor of the school newspaper and onto huge success as a distributor and owner of a graphic novel business in Texas. Then he was seduced by technology and with multiple certifications in a wide array of technology, he became a full-on geek par excellence.
How and when you first get into writing?
Breakfield, of course started with the school newspaper and continued with several technology white papers. This dynamic duo also collaborated on non-fictional technology publications. Burkey started with poetry and moved on to technical documentation for a couple of the companies she worked for. The shift to fictional was when they both realized that technology moved too fast to ignore the fictional side and the complex story aspects that it inspires.
What kind of books you normally write?
Breakfield and Burkey write technical thrillers. What we feel are the key elements of this genre classification include intrigue, mystery, relevant technology and the human use of that technology. We use all real technology as applied by people and current R&D types of development. Even when some seems farfetched at times, readers need to keep in mind that organizations all over the world are filled with bright people focused on bending technology to their presumed problem, good or evil.
Tell us about your recent project ‘The Enigma Series’?
The Enigma Series is a project we have worked on for nearly 6 years. We have 9 books out in the series with another in the works. We have over 150 characters in the series universe and leverage them as needed. Not all characters are in every story, nor do they all last in the series, but they are evolving. We have a core of characters that are cyber good guys and then of course the opposing side. We like to weave in acronyms like the technology industry does and insert some humor, be it ever so subtle. Each story can be read on its own out of order, and focuses on a specific point, like The Enigma Stolen focuses on Big Data stealing our future decisions and The Enigma Broker using technology for manipulating the commodities market. However, the series is a richer read if you start at the beginning.
What was the inspiration behind writing the Enigma Series books?
We both love technology and how folks integrate or don’t integrate it is fascinating. The shift from business based technology usage to consumer based is making it even more fun from a fictional story aspect. The social media avenues and what people will say, do, and share is simply a rich ground to pull story ideas and characters from. With our individual business and personal travel, professional associations, the humor discovered almost everywhere and seeing the meanness of some folks keeps the ideas coming for new stories in the series.
What kind of response you have received from the release?
Early on the marketing aspects of our stories was really far, far behind the writing. We simply did not work that angle the way we now realize is key. We have stepped up the marketing aspect and will continue to pair that with the stories. We get great responses and good discussions with people on the series and for those that beg for the next book. Recently, Burkey sold a man the first book in the series. He went away and read the first chapter then returned in a panic to make certain he would purchase the rest. It is the kind of response we see from discerning readers. We are slowing making them into audio formats, but they are all available in paperback and ebooks today!
What is your favorite part of being an author?
Just the simple fun of storytelling. Humans have used this method for eons and it is a way to share information, engage people, and watch how they get pulled into stories and, in our case, sometimes even root for the bad guys.
What do you do in your off days or free time?
We both have full time jobs along with writing. Breakfield likes to ride his Harley and work outside on his woodworking projects. Burkey likes to work in the garden and play with her dog. Most free time is spent with writing. However now and again they do have combined family bar-b-ques and work through the plots of a current story. You’ve no idea how the aromas of a spicy foodie in the air can solve a twist in a plot.
For further information and updates on the authors you can follow them on twitter