Authors To Watch: D.A. Hewitt, author of 'Dominion'

D.A. Hewitt is an award-winning author of four novels and over a hundred short stories. One novel was awarded a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Book Awards for best regional fiction. He attributes his success to hard work, honing a skill and providing an outlet for his passion for writing.

Born in Michigan, he lived for 25 years in North Carolina before returning to live in his home state. In addition to enjoying sky diving and mountain climbing, he is a proud veteran of the US Marine Corps and has earned a degree in mathematics.

Mr. Hewitt admits to a fascination with the work of Carl Jung and of the Gnostic religion. He’d always thought intertwining these topics in a science fiction novel was a stretch, but one day the storyline of Dominion came to him. He wrote the novel in a stream of consciousness. “It makes sense, tapping into the collective unconscious,” Mr. Hewitt says, “very much like Carl Jung might have predicted.”

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Title: DOMINION: FIRE AND ICE
Author: D.A. Hewitt
Publisher: Double Dragon eBooks
Pages: 372
Genre: Science Fiction

It’s the year 2075. Lunar mining and processing facilities have prospered near the lunar south pole, where the Moon’s largest city, Valhalla, rests on the rim of the Shackleton Crater.

Dominion Off-Earth Resources has beaten the competition into space and is ready to establish its monopoly with the opening of the orbiting space resort Dominion. But Pettit Space Industries has a secret plan to emerge as a major contender in the commercialization of space. The upstart company is training the first space rescue squad at a secluded off-grid site in Barrow, Alaska.

The rescue squad gets nearly more than it can handle when its first mission involves the Pope, who’s traveling to the Moon to establish the Lunar See. During the rescue attempt, they discover Earth is imperiled by an asteroid large enough to cause mass extinction. Using the unique skills taught during their training, skills emphasized by the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung, these Jungi Knights must elevate their game if they are to save both the Earth and the Pope—while not getting killed in the process.

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Welcome to My Bookish Pleasures, Doug. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Doug Hewitt, although my pen name for Dominion is D.A. Hewitt. My previous novels were a murder mystery and a suspense thriller. Because Dominion is a science fiction adventure story (albeit with a huge beneath-the-surface story), I decided to go with a slightly different name to differentiate between genres.

When did you begin writing?

The seventh grade! I remember it distinctly because my class had an assignment to write a story and it had to fill up most of one page. No one-word stories. There had to be some effort. Most kids that age write a couple of sentences and that’s the end. I wrote a 57-page story that had 3 distinct parts, which is typical for professional storytellers. I knew then that I wanted to be a novelist. Paperback Writer was my favorite Beatles tune.

Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?

I need to have everything plotted out. Actually, this is my favorite part of the novel-writing process. Everything is possible. I have a clean sheet of paper, a blank slate. I work with a pen and a notebook. College ruled. And I fill it up. I detail the character histories, the plots and subplots, and a list of must-have scenes. After I have all that, writing the novel is fairly straightforward. Notice I didn’t say easy. But if I do all that homework, the novel comes to me a creative flows. I just sit in front of a keyboard, and the words come to me.

Can you tell us about your most recent release?

Dominion is a sci fi novel set in the near future, the year 2075 to be precise. Note the U.S. is preparing for the 300-year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In that vein, the Moon declares independence at a time when the Pope is traveling to the Moon to consecrate the new Holy See on the Moon. The Moon is bringing in water and gold from asteroids and comets, and it has the proverbial high ground in relation to Earth. This sets up the main conflict background in the novel.

How did you get the idea for the book?

I was thinking about how to use the Process Map of Consciousness, a map I’d developed to describe the process of consciousness.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?

It’s Jess. She’s the chief engineer for the orbiting space resort, Dominion. She designed most of it. She’s brilliant. But she’s also hands-on. Her father calls her his gemba gal. Gemba is a Japanese word for being “at the scene of the action.” It’s a term used in reporting (and manufacturing). I mean, do you want a reporter reporting on a scene from behind a desk in Atlanta or a reporter who is actually on-scene and can report directly based on firsthand knowledge? Of course, she’s the feminine equivalent of the guy who has a harsh exterior but who has a soft spot in his heart for his one true love (although he’ll resist admitting it). It’s no coincidence that the main characters in this novel are named Jess and Doug.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

Because I wanted to impart the knowledge I’ve gained since discovering the Process Map of Consciousness, I had a tendency to over-explain things. But you can go to my website, www.StinkyUniverse.com, where I ferreted away these academic offerings, leaving Dominion as a pure science fiction adventure. Well, with some side benefits of knowing the Process Map of Consciousness. It’s a fine benefit for the first space rescue team, which is tasked with escorting the Pope to the Moon to establish the Lunar See.

Which authors have inspired your writing?

Too many to say. Probably Stephen King, initially. I love Stephen Donaldson, too. But I think the short story The Dead is the finest writing ever printed. So I love the classics, too.

What projects are you currently working on?

Ah, my next project is a dark fantasy. My working title is Frame of Mind but I might change it to Roanoke. It’ll be a gas.

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring authors?

Give up now, while you have a chance. Just kidding. Kinda. Seriously, it takes years and years of dedication to the writing craft to get to be a decent writer. It’s like brain surgery. Writing well is that complicated. What gets into people’s heads is that everyone can write a sentence. Most people can put together a paragraph. But interweaving subplots should best be left to the surgeons.