BRAINERD — Growing up, Joe Prosit had three goals: to be a soldier, a writer, and a running back for the Green Bay Packers.
And so far, he can check two of these off his list. As a recent retiree from the United States Army living in Brainerd, Prosit has recently accomplished his second life goal — he is the author of several short stories and books, with the latest being a cyberpunk sci-fi series called “From Order.”
“I've always written. ... I never really stopped. I don't think I could stop if I wanted to."Writer Joe Prosit
In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Prosit said he’s been a writer for most of his life.
“I've always written. I think since I was 2, my mom would sit me down with papers and my toys and I’d tell her the stories of what my toys were doing and she would write it down,” Prosit said. “And I’d draw pictures along with it. I never really stopped. I don't think I could stop if I wanted to.”
As an independent writer, Prosit takes care of the business end of being a writer himself. Typically, if writers choose to go the route of finding a publisher, the process takes time. Prosit said he wanted to do this work on his own terms and timetable.
“Even when you're traditionally published, you still have to do a lot of the promotion and a lot of the selling — a lot of the work yourself. And I said, ‘OK, well, if that's the case, then I'm not going to wait.’”
Prosit schedules author appearances, interviews, and sells books from his website.
“I kind of like it. It's very DIY,” Prosit said.
Prosit’s latest series is called “From Order,” a play on the saying “from order comes chaos.” Book One is called 99 Town, which is set 100 years in the future when people are required to wear an implant replacing cellphone functions. Crime has essentially been eradicated except in 99 Town, where they’ve outlawed all technology created after the year 1999. The protagonist Federal Agent Chuz Alawode is sent there to investigate a murder.
Prosit explained, “Our detective has to go and learn to solve crime the old-fashioned way. And then once he's off the grid he discovers a lot of lies and corruption and conspiracy. And of course, it opens up into this bigger plot.”
Books Two and Three of the “From Order” series are called 7 Androids and Zero City, respectively.
Find out more about Brainerd sci-fi, horror and “psycho fiction” writer Joe Prosit on his website.
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