Category: Interviews

My Interview with Matt Myklusch

Matt Myklusch is the author of the Jack Blank series, where the main character, Jack Blank, is introduced to a secret world called the Imagine Nation that’s full of superheroes—and super villains.  Here is the interview I conducted with him via email in which we discuss future projects, the road to being published for him and how the future isn’t written—literally.

1.  I know you probably get this a lot, but where did the inspiration for the Jack Blank trilogy come from?

It all comes from a love of comic books, really. I wanted to showcase the comic book world that fired my imagination as a kid, and maybe introduce it to people who have never seen it before. If you didn’t grow up reading comic books, you might not be familiar with a world full of heroes, villains, aliens, robots, ninjas, and more. That’s what it’s like in the comics… it’s normal to see heroes fighting villains in the middle of the street on a random Tuesday. It’s commonplace to see a man flying through the air and shooting lasers out of his eyes. The city is full of guys like that, you see them everywhere you look. I wanted to show that world. A world where the impossible happens every day. I decided the best way to introduce it to the reader was through the eyes of a child going there for the first time. That became Jack, and everything else kind of grew out of him.

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My Interview with Michelle A. Hansen

Michelle Hansen is the self-published author of the amazing fantasy novel, Painted Blind, which is far from your typical fantasy.  It mixes Greek mythology in with the modern world in an unexpected and I had no idea it was self-published until she told me; it was really that good.  She agreed to an interview via email and here is the result.  Warning: there are a few minor spoilers.  So go on and read about Michelle Hansen’s incredible road to being published, writerly advice and how she came up with the idea for Painted Blind.

Where did you get the idea for Painted Blind?

I was walking through Barnes and Noble in February 2002, and I saw a beautiful picture book version of the myth of Cupid & Psyche. I was in the middle of teaching The Odyssey to my freshman classes, so I bought this book to read aloud to them on Valentine’s Day. Whenever I read it, I wondered how the story would translate into our day. There were so many things the Greeks accepted—like gods who could make themselves invisible and fly—that we as a society do not accept.  I was particularly intrigued by the idea of a girl who was too beautiful to find real love in her own society, a girl who was lonely while being admired by everyone around her. Eventually, these musings became Painted Blind. Continue reading

My Interview with Henry Venmore-Rowland

Henry Venmore-Rowland is the author of The Last Caesar, a book about the infamous Year of the Four Emperors, told from the point of view of Aulus Caecina Severus (later dubbed Aulus Caecina Alienus).  The Last Caesar will be published by Transworld on June 21st and will be available via Amazon.  I have to say that I’m pretty excited about this upcoming book because it has tapped into an ignored period of Roman history, at least for historical fiction writers.  Henry V-R was kind enough to agree to an interview, so read on to see our discussion about accuracy in historical fiction, the road to his publication and inviting Cicero over for dinner.

Of all of the fascinating figures in Roman history, why did you choose Aulus Caecina Severus?

It was a case of story first, character second. After starting a novel in a completely different period, I decided to come back to my comfort zone of Rome. The trouble is there are lots of great authors who have done/are doing Rome so well, it was tricky to find an exciting story that hadn’t really been done. Then in the back of my mind I remembered something called the Year of the Four Emperors, and surely there had to be a great story there. After a quick read of everything from Tacitus to Wikipedia, I found the perfect narrator for the events in Caecina. He had an extraordinary knack of picking the winning side, and the fact that we know next to nothing about the man before AD 68 meant that I had the freedom to give him a backstory that told you something about the character and it gave me room to play with the relationship between his friend the future general Agricola, as well as his wife Salonina.

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My Interview with Krystal Wade

Krystal Wade is the author of Wilde’s Fire, one of the few fantasy books that I love.  So imagine my delight when she agreed to do an interview!  For all you folks out there that might want to buy Wilde’s Fire, it’s coming out on May 13 of this year.  Go ahead and pre-order it; you won’t regret it.

The fantasy world you’ve created is definitely one of the more unique ones.  Where did you get the idea from?

Wilde’s Fire started off as an image of a girl in a dense, green forest, reaching out her finger to touch something shimmering. The image of this girl wouldn’t go away, so I decided to write. When it came time to figure out where this shimmering thing (the portal) was leading her to, I was clueless . . . in the dark, if you will. I couldn’t see anything in my head, so I made Encardia a world ravaged by Darkness! Hey, if you can’t see it, make it dark! 😉 Continue reading

My Interview with Andrew Levkoff

Andrew Levkoff is the self-published author of one of my favourite historical novels, The Other Alexander.  It’s a greatly underrated novel and this interview definitely sheds some light on why Mr. Levkoff decided to pick such an unusual figure in Roman history to write about.  Today he graciously agreed to do an interview with me, so if you love hearing about Roman history, self publishing and tips for aspiring authors, please read on!

Update:  Mr. Levkoff has just informed me that he won gold in historical fiction category of the eLit Awards.  For anyone who wishes to see the results, here is the link: eLit Awards 2011 (PDF)

1.  Why did you choose to focus The Bow of Heaven on Marcus Licinius Crassus?  Out of all the figures in Roman history, why him?
I think Crassus may have gotten a bad rap. Rome hated nothing more than a loser, and in the eyes of historians like Plutarch and Cassius Dio, he was right up there at the top. Crassus lost the standards of his seven legions to the enemy. It took Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus) 27 years to negotiate their return, and the day they were returned to Rome there was a celebration as great as if Caesar had earned a triumph. Continue reading