Tagged: author interview
My Interview with Sherry Ficklin
Sherry Ficklin is the author of eight books, the most recent of which is Queen of Someday, a novel loosely based on the life of one of history’s best well known women, Catherine the Great. In this interview we discuss future Russian novels, Catherine’s transformation from naive teenager to powerful ruler and why history teachers hate her.
My Interview with Louise Turner
Louise Turner is the debut author of Fire & Sword, a thrilling historical novel set in 15th century Scotland that chronicles the life of John Sempill. Read on to see our discussion of why she suddenly decided to write a novel, how she kept track of her enormous cast of characters and her future plans.
1. Of all the times you could have set your novel, why Scotland in 15th century?
I’ve lived in the west of Scotland all my life, so when I first decided to start writing historical fiction, it seemed natural to look around me for inspiration. I suppose it was a sense of place that compelled me to write ‘Fire & Sword’; in particular, it was a fascination with two local historic monuments. The first of these was the Collegiate Church of Castle Semple near Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, which was built at the behest of John, 1st Lord Sempill (plain ‘John Sempill of Ellestoun’ in ‘Fire and Sword’). The second was Duchal Castle, where a siege takes place towards the end of the book. Even though Duchal played a crucial role in events that had repercussions across Scotland, most people travel past it every day without even knowing that it’s there. Continue reading
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.
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.