Q&A with Michael Stephens, author of the upcoming sci-fi comedy novel, The Last of the Elvis Ninja Robots

I get it, you want to start out with the hard questions first! Ok, I’m new to writing, but not new to creating things. I previously spent a whole career developing new products for startups, big and small businesses - all kinds of products, household appliances, consumer products, software - you name it. I recently retired as a digital product manager for a large bank, so when I’m not out hiking or traveling around with my wife, I’ve turned my creative energies into writing. 

The short answer, it’s about Lexi, a fifteen-year-old coder who has a hand in unleashing an alien AI suffering from multiple personality disorder - including two who build an army of ninja-skilled robots. The story tells how all this comes about and how Lexi deals with biases against her age, gender - and species - as she tries to clean up her mess and save the world. 

The longer version, sure. Lexi tries to prove herself to some online trolls who tease her that girls can’t code. That leads to her helping a team of scientists to decipher a signal they received from another galaxy. Unfortunately, when they crack the code, it triggers the release of an alien AI suffering from multiple personality disorder - and the countdown to a global disaster.

So Lexi is thrust in the middle of a galactic showdown. As the alien personas build an army of ninja-skilled robots - that, yes, all look like an Elvis Presley impersonator - Lexi figures out their ultimate plan. And it’s not good for the humans. To save the world, she has to team up with the cyber bullies who used ot mock her, a slightly glitchy Elvis bot and a few other unreliable characters - which means lots of chaos!

It actually started with the title, which drew from several different concepts I had kept stowed away in my notes. I often think of story ideas by envisioning a single scene. From there, I imagine what might have led to that scene and what happens after. Typically, the scene is something funny. At least to me. 

So the idea for this book started with a scene that involved a ninja gardener - which came to me while thinking what  a retired ninja might do as a second career. Anyway, I envisioned a scene with this ninja dude, dressed all in black, sneaking up on weeds in the yard and slicing them down with a samurai sword. 

Well, I had an idea for another scene. This one came after I witnessed an Elvis pub crawl, which is where a large group of people dressed as Elvis Presley go bar to bar. It was a surreal sight and, for some reason, I wondered what an alien observing humans on the planet would think - maybe mistakenly think that all Earthlings looked like that - and then what if the alien makes clones of the Elvis impersonators, intending them to blend in with the general population. Of course they wouldn’t, but that’s what makes it funny. 

Somewhere along the line, I seemed to have merged those concepts so it became Elvis ninja clones and, obviously, I later replaced the clones with robots at some point. So I had this silly concept about a bunch of Elvis ninja robots.

Lexi is super smart, a bit sassy and likes to keep things to herself. In fact, she keeps a mental rulebook on how to keep things from her mother. The last thing she wants is to be thrust into the spotlight, but she doesn't shy away from a challenge - like try to save the world from an alien takeover. 

That’s exactly where it comes from. I read the book and must have seen the movie umpteen times. I guess after watching it one time I must have thought about the ninja robot and decided the Last of the Elvis Ninja Robots would be a funny title. Again, funny to me.

Though, the book is not a retelling of that story. I considered it. I tried, but it just didn’t work. I didn’t even get to use one of my favorite lines from the movie - it’s from the scene where Hawkeye gives the “I will find you” speech to Cora. It’s not a funny speech, but it always cracks me up the way Daniel Day-Lewis delivers it and the way the director shot it. It’s so dramatic, so serious that I get a chuckle out of it. Anyway, I couldn’t find a place to make that happen, so maybe the next book.

Oh, absolutely! Writing this one was such a blast and I have so many other pent up stories just waiting to get out of my head!