Information Technology Support Specialist Ryan McHargue shows off his newly published book, ‘The Factionist Old Recruit’ in his office Tuesday at the Municipal Building. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Los Alamos County Information Technology Support Specialist  Ryan McHargue said science-fiction stories – whether on the screen or in the pages of book – captivated his imagination while he was growing up.

Movies such as Total Recall and Blade Runner were his favorite to watch, and he was a fan of books such as Neromancer by William Gibson and Asterion Noir by G.S. Jennsen. McHargue said these stories stewed inside his mind for a time before a new story, his very own, appeared.

This story, The Factionist Old Recruit, was recently published through Amazon. It is available for purchase on Amazon, as well as through McHargue’s website, https://ryanamchargue.com/

It also can be purchased at Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse, 174 Central Park Square. McHargue will be promoting his book during Atomicon Aug. 5 at Mesa Public Library.

McHargue describes The Factionist Old Recruit as a dystopian story with a cyber punk flair and a romance.

He explained the setting is in the not-too-distant future in which climate change has laid waste to the planet and a man has had his mind erased. When his memories return, he discovers he had a whole other life. There are romances and rebellion, a city underneath a dome and people living outside of the dome who want in.

This is McHargue’s first novel although he plans to write two more books in this series.
“Honestly, the whole process has been a completely new experience for me … I’ve never been down this road before,” he said.

The book was written in two years. McHargue said he wrote one draft and then decided to scrap it and take it in another direction. The first draft was set on the moon. He also recruited his niece to edit the book. Even after completing the story, he said the whole publishing side of the process had to be completed. McHargue said he needed to decide how to get the book published; if he should go the traditional route and submit it to publishing companies for their consideration or self-publish.

Then there was how to get the book in front of people.

“Every stage has been a new experience,” McHargue said. “There’s been a lot of learning, a lot of research, so I’ve been very proud of all the hard work … to have it be in an actual bookstore.”

One of the major hurdles McHargue said he had to overcome was marketing the book.

“Probably one of the biggest challenges I ran into … was figuring out how to get the book out in front of people … what it came down to for me was being tenacious about asking about it and talking about it in the local community and generating word of mouth.”

That is his biggest piece of advice for aspiring writers: to be willing to take chances and put themselves out there.

“Putting yourself out there is a very vulnerable thing to do,” McHargue said. “That’s a difficult thing to do – marketing your work and putting yourself out there. The biggest thing is just to be willing to look for opportunities to talk to people you know so that they know that the book is even there. If you don’t ask, it will not happen.”

He added it is incredibly rewarding to create an original piece of work.

“Writing a book, if you ever had a desire to do that, is definitely worth the effort, whether you publish it or not,” McHargue said. “It made me feel good to get ideas on paper. I encourage everybody to write; it is a lot of fun and it is very cathartic, for sure.”

McHargue said he has worked in the IT field for more than 25 years.

When not writing his book, McHargue, who resides in Española, hosts a podcast, Geezers of Game.