Category Archives: Fantasy books

January 4, 2012 · 7:50 am

Meet Douglas Holgate…

I’m expanding my series featuring fantastic authors to include fantastically creative people across the different mediums, which is why I’ve invited the talented Douglas Holgate to drop by.

Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.

Q: We met at Supanova and hung out at the cocktail party. Do you get to many of the Supanovas? Is it fun to mix with other illustrators and talk shop?

Doug with Skye, one of the Amazing Supanova Team

I’ve been to Supanova on the east coast fairly consistently over the last 3 or 4 years. I’ve yet to make the trek to Perth but I’m keen (and not just because I’ve never been to Perth).

Absolutely one of the best parts of the shows is mixing with peers, it’s always great to catch up, especially with people out of state and while the internet keeps us all up to date on what we’re up to it’s not a substitute for a drink and chat. I’ve found of late though I actually really like meeting and talking shop with people NOT doing what I’m doing…but working in similar creative fields. I had a ball talking to all the writers just recently at the Brisbane show (where we met), and came away with different perspectives, work ethics and ideas around publishing and the like.

Q: Back in the 80s when I was working as an illustrator in Melbourne we used to have to make appointments with the art directors of publishing houses, lug our folios in and be interviewed in hope that they’d send us work. Now artists have pages on all sorts of sites, as well as their own blog sites, to promote their artwork. (eg. The Loop. Illustrators Australia). Do you still have to do the ‘meet and greet’ with art directors or is it all done over the internet now?

I was saying to someone the other week that I have no idea how I’d work if I didn’t have a scanner, a computer and email. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to navigate the creative process via the postal system. I do a lot of work for the US market so predominantly I work exclusively with them via the likes of email and sometimes skype. Local clients I do like to try and get a face to face with at some point. It’s nice to put a face and a voice to a name.

As for approaching clients for potential work, when I first started freelancing about 10 years ago it was still a phone call to the AD and physical hard copies of my folio sent to them if they were keen to see it. Now though…it’s pretty much all email and the internet. Which I think is good for ease of breaching that inner sanctum (It makes it less intimidating), and promotion wise you can have global reach instantly. But there is still something about even just talking to someone on the phone and a physical copy of your work in that person’s hands which can’t be replaced (Though I am a bit of a sucker for beautiful printed objects).

Q: You illustrated the Zack Proton (genuine intergalactic hero) books. Was this a chance to let your ‘inner kid’ loose? And how did you hook up with the writer, Brian Anderson, (I see he lives in Austen, Texas)?

I have such a soft spot for Zack proton. Not just a ridiculous, over the top, irreverent and just plain FUN series but also my first big time published work in the US.

All set up through my agent. The way it works is a publisher has a project, they approach my agent and ask if I’m free to work on the series and if I’d like to…and then I (always) say yes.

I then will back and forth with the publishers art director, receive a manuscript, any art direction they’re keen on, cover concepts, internal illustrations etc.

It’s very very rare that I’ll actually talk to the writer at all, especially during the process of putting the books together. This seems to be standard in the industry, which is a bit of a shame…but I can understand it from the publisher’s perspective, they want control of the books and don’t want creative decisions made without being in the loop.

I did however end up after the series was published getting in touch with Brian and we’ve stayed in touch every since, which is great!

Q: You worked on The Amazing Joy Buzzards from Image Comics, which is about an adventure rock-and-roll band. Look like lots of fun. When you work on a project like this how closely do you collaborate with the writer? Are there really tight deadlines?

I sort of already answered this one, but there are always exceptions to the rule. For original material I’m generating with writers to pitch, or self publish then absolutely it’s a complete collaboration.

Of course every writer is different and in some cases they’re happy to let me go away and work on the visual design of these things with minimal guidance. Others I’ve worked with have a strong vision and want to see it realised, from character design and aesthetic through to direction of what is happening specifically in a given scene. Writers like Alan Moore (whom I’ve not worked with) are notoriously specific about their art direction that in some cases almost becomes a novel in itself.

I do like a middle ground though. And there is nothing quite like brainstorming, back and forthing with someone and creating worlds and plots and characters from scratch.

For things like Joy Buzzards there was already an established universe that I was coming in to play around in. So the main characters and the like had pretty much already been fully realised. Which isn’t to say I didn’t have any creative input, it’s just a different challenge to say something original with someone else’s characters.

Q: And you worked on Super Chicken Nugget boy. When you were doing your Post Graduate Degree in Illustration at the University of Newcastle did you think you’d end up drawing animated chicken nuggets? LOL Do you have a personal project that you are madly working on in your spare time?

Haha! YES! Well…sort of. Maybe not chicken nuggets, but certainly I was aiming my sights on comics and material for kids and younger readers. There was a small group of us who were constantly getting in strife with the lecturers for pushing our project work in the comic book, cartooning direction. We were repeatedly told there was no future in it. Ironically I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones from our graduating class now working fulltime as artists and designers.

And I’ve got a list as long as eternity of personal projects. It’s one of the things that frustrates me some about what I do. IT TAKES SO LONG! If only I could snap my fingers, get that thing that’s gnawing at the back of my head DONE and then move onto the next thing. OH…and be paid a gazillion dollars for it…that would seriously not only make me happy but the world!

But yes. Right now I’ve got a couple of things in the works that I’m really excited about. The main one taking up all my time (When I get it) is an all ages graphic novel with a fantastic local Melbourne (though she’s been swanning about the streets of New York for the last 12 months) kids comic writer, Jen Breach.

Q: On Twitter we were talking about fantasy movies we loved like Mystery Men. “We struck down evil with the mighty sword of teamwork and the hammer of not bickering.” What were your biggest influences when you were growing up?

Oh, you mean the list of things that never seems to end? It’s funny, it’s only in the last couple of years since I’ve had a little boy that I’m rediscovering things that I used to love and adore as a kid…and I realise are a direct influence on what I’m doing right now. They’re obviously always in the back of your head, consciously or unconsciously, but tracking down vintage copies of Richard Scarry’s busy town series to introduce to him, looking at them and having this epiphany that he is a major influence is pretty wild. I spent some formative years in the UK and was obsessed with weekly kids comics magazines like Beano and Dennis The Menace. A lot of annuals like Eagle. Was a big fan of Roald Dahl and CS Lewis. And long form comics wise I was reading things like Asterix, Tintin and Lucky Luke a long time before I discovered American comics. Herge and Uderzo definitely are the two seminal influences though. Relatively strict realism of form with a cartoon sensibility inhabiting that world.

Q: If you could go back and give that starry-eyed kid advice, what would it be?

Get serious sooner. YOU’RE WASTING TIME!

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy (in books) is a bit of a boy’s club. I’ve come across quite a bit of talk on the blogs recently about female comic artists and writers, and their lack of representation in large companies like DC. Have you come across this in your professional life?

Not really no. I’d argue that illustration is actually a pretty even spread, in my experience anyway. There are as many female illustrators (if not more) whom I know and love working fulltime and being consistently published by major publishers. Also the majority of art directors I’ve worked with at the major US and Australian publishers have been women.

I’m a little torn on the issue of women in comics. On one hand I think that It’s pretty well established that there is indeed a boys club at the upper echelons of the likes of the major publishers, and obviously being a man I have no idea what that boys club mentality would be like to breach being a female creator. Not to mention the weird curtain wall of fandom thing you have to scale before even making your way to the keep.

But I also think that now is probably the best time in the history of comics for women. I can name you dozens who might not be published by the likes of DC or Marvel but they’re making original comics that are above and beyond in creativity, aesthetic, storytelling and vision than any run of the mill churned out monthly.

The push by established book publishers such as Random House and Scholastic into graphic novels, Independent comics publishers like IDW, First Second and Adhouse, the rise and rise of webcomics, artist sites like Deviant Art, Concept Art and the growing tendency for a lot of animators dipping their toes into comics making are all being driven by some incredible amazingly talented female cartoonists. I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.

This can’t help but change attitudes eventually at the dinosaurs. You know…if working on spiderman is something that you really want to do.

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer/artist change your expectations when you approach their work?

No not at all. If it’s well written, drawn, crafted and published I’m all over it. You know…I read my first babysitters club a few years ago and LOVED it, all because it was adapted by one of my favourite cartoonists (Raina Telgemeier) into a brilliant graphic novel.

There are as many male creators I like and don’t like as female. And none of that is based on gender it’s just about the work they create.

I don’t go into a movie or a novel thinking “oh it’s directed or written by a woman therefore it’s going to be formula X.”

Certainly there are directors and writers and creators who work in specific genres so you’re going to consume that material based on that. But that has little to do with gender and more to do with the genre’s I appreciate.

I think if a creator is specifically broaching topics of gender or social acceptance or struggle and it’s a key part of their approach or the material they’re producing then absolutely you view that work with that in mind. And that’s probably why you’re reading or watching it in the first place.

At the end of the day it should be about creating the best material you can, and letting your story speak for itself regardless of gender.

The best work always will.

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

Rowena, this isn’t the fun question, this is the HARD question! I’m a pretty mad history buff…can I go EVERYWHERE?!

God…just one?

I love pre history…but I’m not sure I’d want to get eaten by a giant mosquito (It’s not the dino’s you’ve got to watch out for).

Adore American history…from Revolution, The Westward push to Civil war to Cold War and modern politics.

I’m doing a lot of reading and playing around with  Gallo/Romano Britain at the moment for a project. So I’m a little obsessed with that. And Roman history in particular…so maybe Ancient Rome?

Do I really want to gad about in tartan and blue body paint screaming murder at Roman legionaries in their incredibly well drilled formations? Yes…probably. So I think I’ll go there. But only if I can use the time machine again to scoot to medieval England for lunch, then shoot to Aztec south America for a couple of days and then over to Ancient China for tea and then take a break on a circumnavigation of the globe with Magellan, back in time for dinner with Caravaggio.

(And then wake up in WWII occupied France.)

To win a copy of Zinc Alloy and Super Chicken Nugget Boy here’s the give-away Question:

 What was your favourite comic book character when you were growing up?

 

Follow Doug on Twitter: @douglasbot

See Doug’s Blog

My folio is here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/sets/72157627375431276/with/3265305994/

But some of my favourite (read, newer) images are at these links –

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/5830416545/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/6304341159/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/5239949004/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/5308333564/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/4673721219/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/4884587173/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/2208125088/in/set-72157627375431276

http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglasbot/3265305994/in/set-72157627375431276

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Filed under Australian Artists, Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Children's Books, Collaboration, Comics/Graphic Novels, Conferences and Conventions, Conventions, creativity, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff, Gender Issues, Genre, Inspiring Art, Movies & TV Shows, Tips for Developing Artists

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December 26, 2011 · 9:11 am

Meet Claire Corbett…

I have been featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) but this has morphed into interesting people in the speculative fiction world. Today I’ve invited the talented Claire Corbett to drop by.

Watch out for give-away details at the end of the interview.

Q: Your book When we have Wings appears to be a near future story with elements of the detective genre. The cover makes it look like a cross between a dark urban fantasy and a literary novel. Did you have any say in the cover design?

No, none whatsoever. In fact my publisher only showed it to me when they’d finalised it. I think they wanted to avoid stressing out the new author until they’d solved all the challenges to their satisfaction. I’m lucky that the talented, award-winning Sandy Cull was chosen to design my cover. I’m glad you used the L-word, literary! Allen & Unwin was very concerned to get that message across – that this is a book with exhilarating ideas but with real love and concern for the craft of writing.

It can be good, having the publisher protect you a bit. Writing can be so exposing, anxiety-provoking. You don’t realise how vulnerable you feel till you’re published. I also like the sense of collaboration, that when you’re picked up by an agent and a publisher your work now exists in a larger sphere. It’s exciting that my work now sparks the imaginations of others and inspires their creativity.

My agent has just emailed me a cover concept from my Dutch publishers. It’s very different but I love it too; they are also very concerned to stress that the book appeals to literary readers as well as lovers of imaginative fiction.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udovhIeyFAY&feature=player_embedded]

Q: At the core of your book’s conflict is the premise that people can fly and what would someone sacrifice for this. You said:  ‘I knew I had to research flight. Sometimes it seems that every second literary novel uses flight and wings as a metaphor. I needed the opposite of the romantic use of flight; if I didn’t convince the reader of the reality of the characters flying the book would fail.

The key came to me one day while watching pigeons on the street and wondering why they scurried out of my way: you’ve got wings, why don’t you fly? And the answer came: because it’s hard work. Far from being easy and free, as flight is in our dreams, if you had wings flying would be the hardest work you’d ever do.’ You did a lot of research for this book. Is that you hang-gliding?

 I wish. I was a small child when those photos were taken – I’m watching the hang-gliders in one of them. I did do a lot of research – into the evolution of bird flight, the physics of lift, air movement and clouds, and the experiences and insider talk of the paragliding community – but no actual hang-gliding or paragliding myself.

I was thrilled when a friend of mine who is a real adventurer – mountain climber, Antarctic explorer, you name it – and has spent a great deal of time paragliding and hang-gliding, said I nailed the experience of flying in the book. He said ‘you absolutely got it. That’s exactly what it’s like.’ That was one of the most gratifying comments I’ve ever had.

It was also wonderful to hear from a reader who’d studied avian physiology as part of a degree in veterinary science. She’d been sure there would be holes in the book’s research but was happy to say she couldn’t fault it.

Q: You studied film and writing at the University of Technology Sydney. Have you been tempted to write screen plays?

Strangely no, though I love film and loved my time crewing on feature films. I think a great deal about the craft of film – I used to devour copies of American Cinematographer, a highly technical magazine for Directors of Photography. I never thought of writing a screenplay because I came to writing through loving the texture of words and crafting sentences; screenplays don’t offer that pleasure.

Now that I’ve learned more about novelistic technique and the importance of character and structure I think I’m ready to write a screenplay. Especially as I’ve discovered I adore writing dialogue. I have no time for novels without good dialogue; it’s the most economical way of discovering character. You discover character through action: speech is action.

Virtually every reader has told me how much they’d love to see the book as a film, how cinematic it is. I’d love to see it made into a film. I had to think so much about the book’s structure because the plot is quite complex that I think I’d enjoy writing the screenplay – with some help from an experienced screenwriter.

Q: You had a Varuna mentorship in 2000. (Varuna is a house in the Blue Mountains where writers can write in peace. Yay!). Can you share your Varuna experience with us?

It was unusual because I live close to Varuna in the Blue Mountains and my son was a small baby so I was going home every night; it wasn’t the total escape that it is for most writers. What I loved was having Amanda Lohrey as such a fabulous mentor. She can deliver real, honest criticism without crushing you.

Though I was working on another novel, I began writing When We Have Wings during that mentorship. We had a public reading of our work and I learned a lot from that.

I’d like to go back sometime because there’s nothing that turbocharges productivity like not having to plan and make dinner every day. The house is quiet with a lush garden often wrapped in fog. Perfect for writers.

Q: In an interview on Booktopia you said (when I was eighteen) ‘I believed in the inevitability of progress – in human rights, the spread of scientific knowledge, feminism, animal welfare, environmentalism. I now see how every inch of ground gained has to be fought for over and over again. There are no permanent wins. Even slavery is probably more widespread now than it ever was. Literacy and education are the only ratchets in the flow of history, the only things that stop us slipping backwards.’ This is so true and terrifying. Do you believe genre books have a place in spreading ideas and provoking thought?

Yes, very much so. Speculative fiction in particular is increasing in importance almost by the day. Lis Bastian, the head of Varuna, has spent fantastic amounts of energy and time trying to raise awareness about climate change; she was one of Al Gore’s ambassadors. She was telling me the other day that presenting facts to people just isn’t working; they have to engage their imaginations, really feel what it might be like to live in a different world. Orwell’s 1984 has done that, Huxley’s Brave New World did that. I’ve just read The Windup Girl, set in a post-peak oil, post bio-plague world where the cities are drowning. I loved it; it made me look at our world with new eyes.

When We Have Wings is also set in a post-peak oil world where we can’t be so profligate with our natural resources. This is one reason being able to fly is so important in the story. When We Have Wings tackles urgent contemporary issues, such as how will parents use the powers that reproductive technology and genetic engineering put into their hands. Contemporary events prove that such powers will be used to the utmost; they already are, as the history of sex selection and surrogacy shows us.

It’s important to remember that speculative fiction does not just ask us to think about what might happen in the near-term; it’s also a way of looking at what has already happened. This after all is the most important function of all art: to get you to notice. To pay attention.

Huge changes are wrought in our world and we barely seem aware of them. We’ve already ignored the most significant ethical sticking points when it comes to creating families. Tens of millions of baby girls have been murdered because of their gender alone; if we can do that, there’s no moral barrier we will not smash in our rush to create the children we want or think will have an advantage.

It stuns me that so much contemporary literary fiction could have been written at any time in the past sixty years or so. I think more writers could truly engage with what is happening now.

Q: When we have Wings is your first published book. What are you working on now?

I’m contracted for a second novel with Allen & Unwin. I can’t say much about it yet but it definitely has the lush, imaginative quality of When We Have Wings as well as dealing with urgent issues we are facing now.

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?

To be honest, I don’t know. Perhaps women writers are a bit more realistic in their depiction of character and more aware of certain kinds of politics – eg Marge Piercy, Joanna Russ and Ursula Le Guin. I love the way Robin Hobb deals in a gritty, naturalistic way with character. I could think of many exceptions to this of course. I love the Iain M Banks approach to politics in the Culture novels. The characterisation of male Golden Age SF writers as the ‘Rotary Club on Alpha Centauri’ is funny because so true but surely we’ve left that behind?

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?

No. There’s a type of middle-aged to elderly ethnocentric male writer I tend to avoid because I know how cliched his portraits of women are and how narrow his concerns. Often these are writers who supposedly write ‘big’ books with ‘important’ themes but I disagree. A remarkable number of male writers do not grant female characters subjectivity, as in mainstream films where most female characters are either helpmeet or obstacle to the hero. Like most women, though, I read a good mix of male and female writers.

A certain ex-Premier of NSW published a book about his reading life which included virtually no women; the man hasn’t even read George Eliot! We have to move past the point where anyone can present themselves as any kind of thinker or be taken at all seriously while ignoring half the human race. It’s as bad as racism and yet somehow remains more respectable.

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

I would travel to the future of the Culture novels, where I could live indefinitely and change my form whenever I wanted. If I lived in the Culture, my life would have the drama, mystery and fantasy that now exists only in books. It’s the only writing to dent my ingrained scepticism about the desirability of the Singularity.


Give-away Question, Claire says:

I’m currently running a give-away on Goodreads until January 7, 2012 and would love to encourage your readers to enter it.

There are 2 copies in the give-away, Each lucky winner also receives a signed copy of the stunning poster.

 

Follow Claire on Twitter: @ccorbettauthor

See Claire’s Blog

Catch up with Claire on Facebook.

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Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Covers, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors, Gender Issues, Readers

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December 21, 2011 · 9:43 pm

One Writer’s Daydream Directors

Normally, I would put an interview up today, but I figured everyone is probably madly scrambling doing holiday/christmasy things so I thought I would indulge myself. I’ve watched the trailer for The Hobbit.  Who hasn’t?

Sigh … Love that deep, melodic male singing.

Since this is the silly season I’ve compiled a list of the directors I would like to see turn my books into movies/TV series. Here goes:

Peter Jackson. Why? Because he took LOTR and did what I did when I read it for to boys. He picked the narrative high points. He knows how to craft a story. Have you seen The Frighteners?

Allan Ball. Why? Because I’m impressed by his interpretation of Charlaine Harris’s books – the humour, the exploration of prejudice and the humanity. A very perceptive man.

Guillermo del Toro. Why? I find his sensibility fascinating. Look at what he did with Pan’s Labyrinth and the backstory of Hellboy 2. Something can be both beautiful and frigthening.

So there you have it. This is what writers daydream about when they should be writing …

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Filed under creativity, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff, Genre, Inspiring Art, Movies & TV Shows, Nourish the Writer, Obscure and Interesting, Resonance, Story Arc, Writing craft

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December 20, 2011 · 8:35 am

Winner Fiona McIntosh Book Give-away!

Fiona just flew in and was suffering from jetlag when she wrote this original post.  Apologies for the confusion. See Update.

Hello everyone…back from my enforced sabbatical where I allowed my mind to go blank for the first time in what is probably years. But now I have to ramp up my focus again with three novels to get finished by end February – a sequel to an historical novel, an adult fantasy and a children’s fantasy.

They’re all at various stages from first draft to final draft and I have to crack the whip because there’s a tour coming up in March for the launch of the new historical novel and then rollout of the children’s fantasy for July at this stage and I hope the new adult fantasy for next October/November. In the meantime a new historical novel and a new adult fantasy to craft during 2012. It’s all go.

The winner will sort out which book they get. This is just one of Fiona's fabulous books!

Fantastic fun to come back to your responses. Thanks so much! I think this was quite a difficult question because there are so many amazing, inspirational characters to choose from. But I so enjoyed reading your thoughts. Sean, I loved your notion to be Mr Darcy with the mother in law from hell but also the Unnamed Guardian…so mysterious. Lexie and Jacob – yes, yes!….so much to love about your ideas – and yours, Shadow. Thank you for liking Trinity and hope my freefalling style of writing assures you that you can get your mss finished with ease if you let go and not worry about how others do it. We’re all wired differently. Aymon…brave of you to welcome the notion of being frightened! And I agree, MM, who wouldn’t want to be a gorgeous gal in a fairytale who gets her handsome prince?

But forgive me for being so ludicrously predictable but being kissed and adored by Mr Darcy is the ultimate romantic fantasy in my book and so Mary, my sincere congratulations. I too would want to be Lizzie Bennett with her strong opinions, determined nature, her couldn’t care less attitude to the way of the world in her time where women were not accorded equal rights but especially because in spite of it all she caught the eye of the most eligible and handsome of men with high principles and despite his too proud bearing, won our hearts as well as Lizzie’s. Thanks, Mary.

 

UPDATE: Fiona says she’ll give a signed book to Mary, Cecilia and Melanie. So email me ladies!

Love it and hope you enjoy your gift, which I’ll organise soonest. And huge thanks to Rowena for her generosity in welcoming me into her world and to all of you for your equally warm welcome.

Happy reading over the festive season. Books last…I hope you’ll give a book to someone. Talk again soon – feel free to drop by the site anytime – or come visit at my facebook pages. There’s one for fantasy readers and another for general chit chat with lots of baking be warned! Bye for now and happy new year. Go safely wherever you’re headed for your celebrations. Write hard all writers in 2012. Fx

Mary, Cecilia and Melanie email me (Rowena). I’ll pass your details along to Fiona.  rowena(at)corydaniells(dot)com

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Filed under Australian Writers, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors

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December 18, 2011 · 10:15 am

Winner Mark Charan Newton Book Give-away!

Mark has a copy of City of Ruin to give-away. He says:

“All good answers here. It would be good to see Winston Churchill knocked down a peg or two by Mary’s mother, and Gillian’s dinner party weekend was thought out in an admirable amount of detail!

But it has to go to Nicole Murhpy, whose interest in her own family history managed to chime nicely with the mood of Christmas!”

So Nicole email Mark on:

villjamur(at)gmail(dot)com

to organise the postage of your book.

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December 10, 2011 · 8:52 pm

Meet Tom Taylor …

I’m expanding my series featuring fantastic authors to include fantastically creative people across the different mediums, which is why I’ve invited the talented Tom Taylor to drop by.

Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.

I usually put a photo right here, but I couldn’t resist this:

Artist Harrison Chua draws comicbook writer Tom Taylor

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCDGPRKdn8A]

Q: Not only do you write for comics, but you’re also an ‘award-winning playwright who has written for radio, musicals, film, magazines, satirical news and sketch comedy. (For a full list of Tom’s works see here). Tell me, did you sit there doodling in your school books while daydreaming about what you’d do one day? Did your teachers encourage you, or tell you no-one ever makes any money from writing? Did you ever dream you’d see your work performed in the Sydney Opera House?

Yes, I absolutely spent all of high school doodling in books, especially in Geography, where I just drew and drew… in-between sleeping. My geography teacher wasn’t very engaging. He’d probably have far less-kind things to say about me.
Outside of the arts, the education system was never really my friend. I did have a few teachers who encouraged me, and one in particular who used to let me leave class and do creative writing up a tree.

No, I can’t say I ever thought my work would be on at the Sydney Opera House or at the Edinburgh Festival. However, being involved in theatre from the age of 12, and in a singing group before that, I probably thought I’d have a better chance of having something on at the Opera House than to be writing in a galaxy far, far away.

Q: I’ve interviewed authors who write books for Star Wars, Star Gate, Doctor Who etc. And many of them start out as fans, so it is no trouble for them to immerse themselves in the world. You’re currently writing for Star Wars – Blood Ties with Chris Scalf, Invasion with Colin Wilson published by Dark Horse Comics, with more on the way. Looks like you are thoroughly immersed! Is there a huge ‘bible’ of information you have to refer to? Do you get to add to this ‘bible’ as you develop your stories?

Absolutely. Star Wars canon is immense. On top of the movies, you have the cartoons, computer games, short stories, role playing games, novels, and more, and almost everything that is created becomes canon. So yes, all creators need a bible and I think everybody becomes fast email friends with a man known as Leland Chee, Lucasfilm’s keeper of continuity.  He’ll be called on a lot in the next year as I work on the next instalment of Star Wars: Blood Ties ‘Boba Fett is Dead’ and some other Star Wars work.

Q: You also write your own original material. The Deep: Here be Dragons has just come out from Gestalt Publishing, art work by James Brouwer. In a review on Broken Frontier Kris Bather says: ‘Comedy in this artform can always be tricky, but the pair know what they’re doing and elicit the most laughs out of each comedic moment, thanks to great pacing, expressions, and dialogue’. Comedy can be challenging. Did you have to work at developing your relationship with artist James Brouwer, or did the two of you just click?

I’ve written a lot of comedy over the years – musicals, sketch comedy, and plays, including for the Comedy Festival, and generally I don’t really have to think about, or analyze, if something is funny. With James, I found a guy who also just gets it, and just as importantly, is a fantastic storyteller. I used to direct theatre back in the day, and for me the characters on the page need to react appropriately to situations, and need to react to whatever people are saying, just like actors. There are some fantastic artists in professional comics who think that 22 pages of some dark superhero, switching between the same two expressions tells a story. James isn’t one of those guys. James puts so much character and life into the Nekton family (The main characters of The Deep). No character stands around blank-faced while someone else is talking. Every page he sends me has me smiling. So yes, James and I did just click. And, thanks to that click, The Deep is the most joyous comic I’ve been a part of. Seriously, get this book for Christmas, for yourself and for your children. It will fill your heart with rainbows. It will fill your heart with exactly six rainbows. Any more than that and your arteries would begin to clog with rainbows and that would end messily… but probably very colourfully.

Q: Rombies (written by Tom Taylor, illustrated by Skye Ogden, Colours by Mikiko Ponczeck) is a historical paranormal tale set in ancient Rome. What inspired you to set a story in ancient Rome? Have you always been fascinated by its history?

Skye Ogden inspired me. Honestly, this was originally his idea. I just ran with it, and I’m very glad I did. Gestalt actually asked me to write this very early on in our working relationship and I said no.  I’m not a massive horror fan and I wasn’t sure this was the project for me. The night after I said no, I had a dream about Gladiators fighting zombie lions beneath the Coliseum. I called them the very next morning to say yes. I wanted to see Zombie Lions come to un-life. We made that happen. Where we plan to go next is epic.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9eVw0wPd7vI#]

Q: Example (written by Tom Taylor, Illustrated by Colin Wilson) is being made into a short film. Newsarama said: ‘This book should be used in writing classes everywhere, and should be the primary example (no pun intended) for aspiring comic writers to reference when trying to learn how to write dramatic and compelling dialogue.’   This is quite an accolade for any work, let alone a graphic novel. (I see it is an adaption of your award-winning play Example. I always tell my kids a play needs to be really well written because it has to hold the audience with the power of the premise, characterisation and dialogue – no special effects).  Do you do a lot of train travel? Do you listen in to people’s conversations or does it all spring from some deep dark part of your psyche?

The Example was written in the wake of the London Bombing. And it was these events, along with a typically appalling, fear-mongering ad for A Current Affair, which inspired the play. The government in Australia at the time was pushing the ‘Be alert, not alarmed’ slogan and that was also driving me insane. A lot of my writing is a vehicle for vent – an outlet for outrage. Almost all of my short plays stem from this.

On the surface, The Example is a story about a man, a woman and their reactions to an abandoned briefcase on a railway platform. Below the surface, it’s an exploration of terror and racism. It’s essentially a prejudice versus preservation story. And it’s just been optioned and filmed.  Yay!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1KCYq11GHY&feature=player_embedded]

Q: Flinch is a collection of stories including Shaun Tan, Justin Randall, James Barclay, Terry Dowling and yourself among others. The stories all revolve around each person’s interpretation of the word ‘flinch’. One of your stories White Dove 111 is about a colonist ship leaving a dying earth. This looks like an SF mystery from the description. Did you grow up reading Science Fiction?

I did read a lot of sci-fi, but I was far more into Fantasy. White Dove III was another great excuse to work with the man, Colin Wilson.  I also wrote another short story in Flinch called 96,000m, illustrated by Tom Bonin, which was my first published underwater story. It was the first time I’d publicly shown my fascination for all things underwater and squid-like.  Although, that story was a far cry from the joyous all-ages adventure of The Deep: Here Be Dragons. 96000m is pretty disturbing. If you like disturbed, or are disturbed, you’ll probably like 96000m.

 

Q: You are working for DC comics (Green Lantern and Sinestro). Is this one of your childhood dreams to write in the DC universe?

Yes. So many times, yes.

I grew up with DC comics. I loved all of these characters as a kid and never stopped loving them (except outwardly when I was a teenager). Superman is my absolute hero and writing him is one of my ultimate goals. I’m really proud of The Brainiac/Sinestro Corp War which is the story I’ve just written in DCUO Legends #16 and #17 and I was very lucky to get to work with a great artist like Bruno Redondo (another guy who, like James, just gets it). I’ve written something else unannounced, and I’m also still staggered I got to write The Authority for a year. The Authority was the super team that made me realise that superhero comics could also serve as an outlet for outrage.

Q: Looking at your published works you have been amazingly productive. In an interview on HYPERLINK SciFiBlock you say: ‘Like any work, there are times when it’s a hard slog and things get very hard, but then you just have to pick up the nearest blunt object, smash yourself in the face, and remind yourself that you’re writing Jedi and superheroes for a living.’ Do you have a work routine that helps you meet these deadlines?

I’d like to say I have a routine but, really, I have kids, including a baby who doesn’t sleep very well, and that throws all routines out. My only real routine is that I stay up very late to write. The rest of the world needs to be asleep before I can do my best work. The Example was written one night between 1am and 5am. I started writing this very interview at 2am, it’s now 4.27am… and the baby’s already been up twice.

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy (in books) is a bit of a boy’s club. I’ve come across quite a bit of talk on the blogs recently about female comic artists and writers, and their lack of representation in large companies like DC. Have you come across this in your professional life?

I have heard this, and I do know this was an issue for DC in the announcement of the New 52, one they’re trying very hard to rectify. I think mainstream superhero comics have the perception of being a boys club, but the comics medium absolutely isn’t.

This year alone, I’ve worked with four female artists on eight different projects, which is possibly more female creators than some of the majors are working with.

I’m not sure superheroes have the same appeal for women. And I’d argue that they are often narrowly written and illustrated with men in mind. For every brilliantly written and lovingly illustrated superhero book like Secret Six by Gail Simone and (Australia’s own) Nicola Scott, there is a book with a scantily clad superheroine tearing her clothing while scratching the face of… probably another scantily clad woman who is tearing her clothing.

But outside of the Superhero genre, there are a lot of women telling brilliant stories.

Keep an eye out for Believe, which is set to be published soon, to see the incredible work of Emily Smith (and two other huge unannounced things we’re doing together). On top of Rombies, Mikiko Ponczek has just handed in the last pages of a 22 page story she has illustrated and coloured. I can’t wait for that one to be announced. It’s a script I’m very happy with and Miki has just smashed it.
Kate Moon has already finished the story Poppins which will be included in Brief Cases (whenever that comes out) and I have a small, but very cool story coming out with someone else who must remain nameless for now. She knows who she is. Hi, you!

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer/artist change your expectations when you approach their work?

Nope. I never really think about it. And, when I do, I actually tend to get genders wrong.

Sorry, Robin Hobb.

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

I think it’s ridiculous that a time-machine company needs to take bookings. You can be anywhere and anywhen! Why do you need me at the time-machine depot at 9.30am?? It’s a disgrace!

Having gotten over my rant, and glared at the Time Machine operator who apparently couldn’t come to my house at 12, I would take a trip a very long way back.

I hypothesized earlier tonight that a pterodactyl may have eaten a missing link which would have caused humans to have one extra thumb. I would go back in time and ride that Pterodactyl into a live volcano before it ate our three-thumbed ancestor, thereby making all of us fifty percent more opposable.

You’re welcome.

Give-away Question:

For your chance to win a copy of The Deep: Here Be Dragons, and the six rainbows in your heart that come with it, answer this question.

If you had three thumbs, what would you do differently?

 

 

Follow Tom on Twitter:  @TomTaylorMade

See Tom’s Blog

Catch up with Tom on Facebook

 

 

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Filed under Australian Artists, Book Giveaway, Book trailers, Characterisation, Collaboration, Comics/Graphic Novels, Covers, creativity, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fantasy books, Gender Issues, Genre, Indy Press, Inspiring Art, Movies & TV Shows, Nourish the Writer, Writers Working Across Mediums

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December 7, 2011 · 7:02 am

Meet Les Petersen …

I have been featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) but this has morphed into interesting people in the speculative fiction world. Today I’ve invited the talented Les Petersen to drop by.

Look out for the give-away at the end of the post.

Q: Your web page doesn’t have a bio. I tried to find a bio for you on Wikipedia. The closest I came was your numerous  listings as cover artist of various books. Next I looked up your listing on Linked in. This is about as brief as a bio gets ‘self employed illustrator and scriptwriter’. I know you live in Canberra, are married and have a son. Are you being deliberately mysterious or is a bio just something you haven’t gotten around to doing?

Not so much ‘haven’t got around to it’, rather I don’t really see the need for it. I know I’m not good at self promotion, but again there’s no need for me to promote myself at present. I have a steady income and so throwing myself to the lions (both fans and clients) wouldn’t necessarily be healthy. Maybe I’m a little bit private, as well, rather than being mysterious. But just for your info, I come from a large family of talented musicians and film makers, but I’m the one who wants to draw the pictures. My wife and son are my own world of wonder.

Michael Whelan's Cover

Q: Where did you go to study art (if you did study formally)? What artists inspired you to dedicate yourself to this calling, to the speculative fiction genre specifically?

Blame Michael Whelan. Short answer but it packs a punch. I saw a cover of his (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Princess of Mars) way back in the 70’s, and loved it. Tried to paint like that, but I don’t have Michael Whelan’s sense of colour. That drove me to follow up on art as a course of study and I did 6 years at a couple of art schools. BUT I didn’t end up painting, rather I ended up print making for other artists because that paid a few bills. I learnt then that you can get trapped into professions you don’t enjoy by not sticking to your guns. Eventually I was lucky enough to get work as an illustrator and things turned around. But I would have wasted about 10 years doing something I didn’t really enjoy as much as I had hoped to. And artists can be suck picky, fernickety people with egos as big as houses.

Q: You have done at least 40 covers for speculative fiction books, magazines and anthologies (see ISFDB list here). This data base only goes up to 2009. In the book cover section of your web page there are 13 recent covers and it looked like only two of these were from the end of the ISFDB list, so you must have done more covers recently.  Do you have a couple of favourites and if so, why?

Shadow Queen by Deborah Kalin

Yes, the database is a little out – I am pushing 100 covers now. Many of the missing ones are for ebooks or self-publishing clients. That area of publishing is growing all the time and is now the mainstay of my illustration work.

As to favourites, I think Shadow Queen for Deborah Kalin  and Myrren’s Gift for Fiona McIntosh.

Myren's Gift by Fiona McIntosh

Both these really pushed me for design and the colour work started to get where I was trying to go, and the task of painting them was extremely enjoyable. Both began as scribbles on a piece of paper and expanded out to a full spread. Myrren’s Gift book design was also shortlisted for the 2005 APA Book Design Awards, which made everyone happy. It was my first cover to break the US market.

Q: I see you did the cover for Isobelle Carmody’s The Stone Key. I love this cover.  Did you do the whole series? They have a wonderful feel. Could you describe for us the consultation process that went into the design of these covers and then the actual physical process involved in constructing the covers?

In truth, I can’t take credit for these covers. Cathy Larsen, the lead designer from Penguin is responsible for the design of this series; I added some of the backgrounds and a bit of jewellery etc, but Cathy’s ‘touch’ is what makes it so successful.

As to the process: Cathy sent through a design brief, which lays out what is needed for the cover. I then worked my magic on the backgrounds and she incorporated that component into the design, changing things to suit the finished product. Interestingly, the most difficult part of the process is to get sign-off from the marketing team at Penguin (it’s the same at any publishers – they are trying to get a perfect product, after all). The design team can ask for change after change, to the point it kills a product’s freshness and drives designers and illustrators batty. Note how I call the book a ‘product’. That’s exactly what we have to keep in mind when working on a cover – we are selling the author and the story and the packaging must evoke the power of the writing. It can be tricky, but that’s what makes in an interesting profession.

Q: Back in 2001 you did the cover for Trudi Canavan’s best selling book The Magician’s Guild. The new covers for Trudi’s books are very different. (They were produced in the UK). Cover styles are constantly evolving what do you think of the current ‘look’ for fantasy covers?

The short answer is ‘fashions change’. I think a cover has a life of about three years before it’s considered in need of a renovation. And there are regional differences – something marketable in Aus or the US is definitely not ok in the UK, and vice versa – so each area produces their own covers. What is frustrating about the process is every now and then you see your cover design ‘utilised’ by another illustrator working outside Australia, probably because they have been asked to adapt what you have provided. But you live with it because the contracts are fairly flexible and the remuneration is ok.

The other side of the coin is that illustrator’s change. Many new skills are need and we’re ‘updated’ as new illustrators come through. That’s life. We move on to other projects, other genres, other lives, really. I’ve been fortunate to have work trickle in, though the nature of it is different. I spent some time doing computer games, and that’s a whole new board game – a production line kind of work ethic is needed, with its own challenges and deadlines.

UK cover of Trudi's book

One influence worth noting on illustration is the influence of computer games, and special effects from movies. They’ve really shaken up our skill sets and many publishers expect you to have that kind of vision for their covers. Interestingly, the response to it has been a reliance on photo-manipulation and 3D modelling, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

And finally, there’s a wealth of talent out there. Now we can get illustrators from around the world working in our ‘patch of dirt’. I’m amazed at some of the Asian illustrators that are around – that’s skill to die for. Sometimes when I see their artworks, I feel like a fake, or a hack. Young, talented, and their currency isn’t as strong as ours – they’ve got everything going for them.

 

Q: You were one of the Exhibiting Guest Artists are Conflux in 2006. Did you come to fandom as a fan, or did you come to it after you became a professional artist?

I came along as a professional artist. Though I love the genre, and especially Terry Pratchett’s humorous take on it (my Fav author of all time), I wouldn’t put myself down as a genre ‘fan’, because I read so widely and have a few other interests. I go along to see the authors and some of the people I know, but that’s about the extent of my participation. Sorry. Mind you, if I had a fan base…nah, I’d probably die of embarrassment.

And 2006!  You realise that’s five years ago already. Sigh. What good have I done since then? No, that’s a rhetorical statement.

Q: In 1998 you were shortlisted for the George Turner $10,000 Fiction Prize for your novel Supplejack. Are you still writing? I see you’ve had several short story sales. What have you done with this book?

Supplejack sits in the archives of my computer, still unpublished. I’ve written five novels since then, all of which exist in the archives, probably because I don’t self manage well. I’m glad to say that I still write, but have moved onto scriptwriting, and have produced six full length screenplays and about twenty shorts – and you guessed it, all in the archives of my computer, though I have produced and filmed one of the shorts myself, and two of the full length and one of the shorts have been optioned by productions companies. Those of course have been shelved though because of the global financial meltdown (or whatever the current term is being bandied about).I still hold out hope.

Q: On your web page you have the stills from some animations. Are you animations up on You Tube? (I looked but couldn’t find them). Do you have a secret project which you are going to unveil to the world? If so, what is it?

Yes, I’m working on a secret project, but if I tell you what it is, it won’t be a secret.

OH OK, SINCE YOU INSIST.

I’m working on a 17 minute short ‘The Weatherman’s Gift’, which is part puppetry, part 2D animation, part 3D animation. It’s based on a short script I wrote, which was in turn based on a really crappy animatic/animation I did the Parallel Lines Film Competition in 2010. I really entered that competition to test a few animation techniques and I quite liked the story concept and the feel of the work, in the end. So decided I’ll have a try building it into something magical.

The plan is I will be making a music video first, based on the theme song my brother wrote so I can learn a few puppetry techniques, and then (using the skills I learn) produce the final 17 minute version.

At this stage I’m building the background mattes and puppets, and finishing the storyboards. I’ve been warned by Jonathan Nix not to do the final product until the animatic for the final version is exactly as I want it to be, and I’m taking that advice seriously.

Q: Also on your web page you have some character designs. Are these from your animations or for something else entirely?  

Something else entirely.

 

Q: And then you have your Gallery Pieces, which you say you do to keep your skills ticking over.  What programs have you been playing with to develop your skills?

Over the last five years, I work almost entirely from pencil sketches, utilising Poser for figure maquettes and Photoshop for production final work, but recently I’ve moved to using Vue for landscapes and I’ve been looking at a lot of film editing software, as well as 2D animation packages. I’m ok with some 3D packages, and have gotten familiar with particle system generating software to round out animation effects, but there’s still so much that interests me. I’ll probably be fiddling with all these packages till I go blind. But I always, always, always have the base work of a concept drawing to go from. It’s the cornerstone of the craft, I believe.

Q: There are also the matt paintings. This makes me think they are back grounds for animations. What have you been doing with these matt paintings?

Three of these are backgrounds for the short film I produced (Treasure) the others are for a Star Wars fan film by a New Zealand company (which incidentally did very well in a competition judged by George Lucas) as well as a background for The Weatherman music video animation. More will be added as I complete them.

Q: What advice would you give an aspiring artist just starting out?

  • Take a deep breath.
  • Work your butt off.
  • Keep a drawing pad handy and use it frequently.
  • Get thicker skin on your ego because you’ll get battered and bruised.
  • Don’t concentrate on just one genre.
  • Marketing people are GODS and can destroy in an instant what you’ve slaved for weeks over so give them what they ask for as well as something you’d be proud to put in a portfolio if they knock it back.
  • Continue building your skill sets.
  • Stay current.
  • Watch what your competitors are doing, not so you rival them but so you get a sense where the market is going (very important).
  • You won’t get rich doing this job.
  • Small jobs and charity jobs can bring paying clients your way, and give you a chance to flex your creativity.
  • Read every word of the brief and watch your image dimensions/ratios.
  • Leave yourself time to do the fiddly bits ‘cause the details make the work sing.
  •  If you’re using photo manipulation, watch the colour matches, the resolution of the originals and the moiré pattern.
  • Black is a colour too (that will cause a stir!). But printers have problems with it so check with your publisher.
  • Contracts get signed but the details are quite often ignored. If you REALLY need to bark about something in the contract, do so and stick to your guns and ask for the contract to be changed before you start the work. BUT be warned, you’ll probably find work hard to get from that publisher if you’re asking too much.
  • Good faith is worth more than a contract, and most publishers work well with good faith. But a contract trumps good faith in a court of law.
  • Be EXTREMELY flexible and forgiving.
  • Work your butt off.

Oh, and one last thing – many people – and that includes authors and designers – “see” images in their mind’s eye in three dimensions so you’ll find they expect to see front and back of objects, as well as all the minute detail, all at the same time – so when you get to the nitty gritty don’t stress. Do your best and learn to smile and mutter under your breath at the same time.

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy (in books) is a bit of a boy’s club. I’ve come across quite a bit of talk on the blogs recently about female comic artists and writers, and their lack of representation in large companies like DC. You have illustrated for magazines and done covers. As an artist do you think there is a difference in the way males and females are portrayed on speculative fiction book covers?

Isn’t that two questions? Such as ‘why aren’t there more female illustrators represented by…?’, or ‘why is there a lot more male illustrators?’ or something like that, and then ‘do I think there’s a difference etc?’

If you want an answer that covers both sides of the coin, blame the publishers and their marketing teams. We illustrators do as we are briefed to and it’s up to the publishers to hire the illustrators to do the work. The old ‘scantily clad woman in a battle bikini’ was something that appealed to the masses way back in the 60s etc, so the marketing teams wanted that, but tastes have changed. Now they want strong female role models and men without shirts, or sparkling teenage vampires and werewolves that look like Adonis. Tastes change. There’s no systemic movement to produce work that denigrates any one particular gender or limits them to the backyard studios. Everyone has to find their way through the morass, and skill and a great deal of luck gets you through.

I don’t know if there’s a majority of males in the illustration profession. Both sexes are capable of the skill sets required and most of the students going through art school with me were female, but few of them did anything with that skill. They turned to other professions – usually within management, actually.

All my ‘bosses’ in publishing, with one exception, have been women. I don’t see a gender bias against women in Australia. Also, I like to believe I was fortunate enough to get a job as an illustrator not because I was a male but rather because I’d put a bit of effort into learning the skill, then had a stroke of luck when I put an image on a webpage that Trudi Canavan saw and followed up on. In other words, the skill ‘spoke’ and I was willing enough to sell my soul to get the work that came from that.

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer/artist change your expectations when you approach their work?

No. Out of all the covers I’ve done, with about five exceptions, the authors I have created covers for have all been female. There are very subtle differences in writer’s voice that you pick up on (please don’t ask for examples) and overall women can write family situations a bit better, and men write action better, but that’s probably some reflection on past expectations that boys will play with soldiers and girls with dolls or some such rubbish– and we know that is not necessarily the truth.  However, having said that, in the wash authors are fairly similar and they are usually supportive of your efforts. Some even surprise you and change their work to suit your illustration.

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

I thought long and hard about this and decided ( as all of you would have no doubt done instantaneously) that this question shouldn’t be answered seriously. If it was, and I said I wanted to go back into the past, it’d be too much about past regrets. If I went into the future, I’d be dialing up the expectation and a type of voyeuristic adventuring. So instead, I’ll strap on frivolity and elect to go sideways, into another dimension, to see if I was ever answered this question with a decent answer instead of all this waffle. Then I’d head over to Dixie’s house and she can explain all that stuff about birds and bees again. Lots of miming. Very interesting conversation. Especially as I don’t know anyone named Dixie. And never will, probably.

Giveaway Question:

A free custom ebook cover illustration. Quest ion: Who was Dixie and what did she tell me about the birds and bees, and how did that affect me for the rest of my life?

 

Les says he’s happy to talk illustration with others if they want to email him through his web page. (If you google him, don’t get Les mixed up with Leslie Petersen a ‘fine artist’).

Contact Les on Linkedin.

 

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December 3, 2011 · 9:33 am

Meet Fiona McIntosh …

As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) but this has moprhedinto interesting people in the speculative fiction genre. Today I’ve invited the talented cross-genre author, Fiona McIntosh, to drop by.

Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.

Q: You are well known for your fantasy novels with four trilogies, Valisar, Percheron, The Quickening and Trinity, plus a children’s fantasy, Whisperer. You cut your teeth on big fat fantasies. Do you keep a flow-chart to keep track of all the characters, the relationships, the timelines and the festivals of your invented worlds?

I wish I did.  No, I’m a vicious freefaller.  My reality as a writer is that no matter how hard I try to plan, my subconscious refuses to play along.  Even glossaries are beyond me and while the notion of a document on my desktop filled with lots of helpful facts about my own story and its characters makes such perfect sense, I fail miserably at it. Given that in between volumes of fantasy I’m working on other books, you’d think a plan would be vital…at the very least a working file but no.  My consolation is that I’ve now written 22 novels in this manner and it just seems to work for me.  If you’re wired similarly…it’s hard to change – but for those of you nodding your head take heart, it does have some advantages.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xZ1fw8KkU&feature=related]

Q: I attended Shekilda the Sisters in Crime conference a few weeks ago and met many wonderful crime writers, all smart articulate women. Now I discover you write crime as well. There’s your DCI Jack Hawksworth books Bye Bye Baby and Beautiful Death. Many of the fantasy writers I’ve met also write crime. Why do you think this is?

Crime is a genre that just about everyone reads at one time or another and also the sort of stories that most people pepper through their reading year even if they’re not committed fans of the genre that reads their way through various writers’ bookshelves.  It can harmoniously blend into mainstream because of that wide appeal so I think many of us are likely writing it because we enjoy reading a good crime novel and thus understand the expectations of readers.  I also believe that crime writing is a fantastic counterbalance to fantasy writing.  Fantasy is all about how far can you push your own creative/imaginative powers and ideas.  With crime it’s grounded in reality – so for me it’s the two opposing poles of the storytelling world and I like playing with characters in both.  I guess it must be the same for other fantasy writers who, like me, enjoy the mix up of genres.  Keeps us sharp in each area!

Q: You say you research extensively for your crime novels, going to London and walking the streets where you set the books. You used to work in the travel industry and I know you travel a lot. Does this mean you can write your trips off your tax? And having been born in Britain, does it feel like home to you when you go back there?

I have been a traveller all of my life.  As a child I travelled with my father’s work, as soon as I was old enough to fly the nest I was heading off to France and then further afield to Australia, arriving here at 20.  I deliberately made a beeline for the travel industry, working for a tourism authority, an international airline and ultimately with my husband in our own travel publication.  I left the magazine to write books but I’ve never lost my joy of travel and it’s true that all of my books tend to be Euro-centric because I do believe we’re all mostly a product of our upbringing and I was raised on the other side of the world.  And so because my historical sagas have a broad international focus, my crime is British based, my fantasy has a faux European medieval world, it does mean I’m usually heading off on a plane somewhere to gather up the research material.   Does Britain feel like home?  Yes and no.  I’m one of those people for who home is where my closest loved ones are and so my heart is definitely in Australia with my immediate family, all Aussies and fortunately my parents and brother emigrated out here too.  However, I think there’s such a thing as a ‘soul home’ and for me that’s Britain.  When you spend 20 years of your life growing up somewhere, you can’t pretend that it isn’t imprinted on your soul.  That doesn’t mean I prefer it or necessarily want to live there – I’m happy to visit but I do like to get my fix.  Let me assure your readers that because I travel the world extensively and always have, I can confidently say we all live in the best country on the planet.  Anyway, I do love to get back to London regularly and particularly to Sussex where I was born.  I have lots of lovely family still in the UK so that’s the major drawcard…and Colin Firth, of course.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasKmDr1yrA]

Q: Not only do you write crime and fantasy, but also write historical fiction in Fields of Gold, which is set in India in the 1920s. Historical fiction is another area that is dear to many of the fantasy authors I interview. I see you based this book on a fictionalised account of your two grandfathers with a bit of poetic licence. Was it fun doing the research?

I love history so digging around in the past is pure pleasure.  But to be digging around in my family’s past was fun but also confronting at times.  I learned plenty that we didn’t know about, some of it painful.  I was able to walk in the footsteps of my four grandparents in places like Cornwall and Sussex in the UK as well as Myanmar and India.  I met family in India I barely knew existed and that was an emotional and unforgettable experience.  Walking the streets of Bangalore in southern India that my parents knew as children was filled with poignancy and frankly any trip to India – for whatever reason – is enriching, challenging, memorable.  I would go back in a blink…and will sometime soon.

Writing Fields of Gold showed me that historical fiction is probably the area of writing that most interests me and it’s because I am writing about a different era.  It’s likely why writing fantasy set in medieval times comes to me with a fluidity that I know wouldn’t be there if I attempted contemporary fantasy.  My next project is a WWll novel that was a joy to write because it has allowed me to set a book in France during a crisis era – learning about occupied France – and particularly Paris – has been an education and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  It meant a tower of books to read and of course visits to the locations in the books, lots of interviews with locals and what has felt like endless research on so many small details.  It’s finally done – and in fact as I answer this question I’ve just finished reading the page proofs today so the novel is ready now and I shall set it free.  It is published in April 2012 by Penguin.  And will roll out internationally from later in 2012.  I’m writing its sequel now, set in the 50s and 60s in Britain, Australia and France.  I hope to have that finished to first draft by the end of November 2011.  This sequel required me to travel to some new destinations including Austria and Poland including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Schindler’s Factory.  Although this is not a Holocaust story, I’ve read, seen, experienced a lot about the Holocaust in a compressed period preparing for these books; I felt I needed to know far more more than I did so that I could understand better the psyche of one of my characters profoundly affected by it.  It’s been a stunningly emotional period as a result and I suspect this area of research is going to travel with me all of my life now.

Q: I find it interesting that you write the crime, historical sagas and your fantasy all under the one name Fiona McIntosh. Your first crime book appeared under Lauren Crow but you reverted to Fiona McIntosh. Why did you do this?

I always believed it was ill-advised to use a pen name.  I was thrilled when we changed back to one name across all books. In fairness to my publisher, it was only trying to protect the fantasy books, which had such a strong following.  I believed then and still do that readers are discerning creatures, more than capable of deciding to read my fantasy while not being offended that I choose to write across genres. The Lauren Crow experiment only lasted a few months I’m pleased to say but it was never my idea or desire.

Q: You say you are a person who rushes into things and in an interview on SF Site you said: ‘It’s very easy to stand back and say ‘oh that was an odd decision by Wyl’ but this is deliberately allowed by me to ensure he doesn’t always follow the ‘intelligent’ pathway that someone who is utterly objective can. Wyl is not objective most of the time. He’s never out of a bad situation in this story and constantly required to make decisions under enormous pressure not just for his own survival but for the safety of others. I like a bit of confusion — makes it more realistic because life is never straightforward.’ So your characters make mistakes. In real life we all make mistakes. Are there things that you wish you could go back and change in your life?

Decisions are presented to us everyday – sometimes they’re small, other times overwhelming. And taking the ‘right’ pathway is always going to look a lot clearer in retrospect.  I am a decision-maker.  I don’t dither and I’m always comfortable that I’m making the best decision with what I know at the time.  As the writer, it’s easy to be the puppet master and look ahead for characters – save them heartache and bad moves – but I’d rather they behaved as we all do; age, maturity, wisdom all comes into it, plus only knowing so much about a situation and basing their decisions on that.  Otherwise for me it doesn’t feel real.  Nevertheless – sigh – some reviewers still find the need to point out that some characters make odd decisions.  Yes they do…and that’s life.

On a personal note I can’t think of many poor life decisions, that would require me to time travel and re-write my own history and besides, each decision has led to the next set of circumstances and I’m pretty happy with where I am right now.  I believe in doors openings as others close and that making a decision and taking a step forward is far better than being frozen in indecision. So to answer your question, no I don’t wish to go back and change things but there are occasions I guess when I could wish to have been wiser at the time.  But, as I said, that’s life….

Q: You said in an interview on the ABC that your father (who is half Indian) didn’t come to anything at your school because he didn’t want to compromise you. ‘When I was at junior school, seven or eight years old, and there was an outbreak of lice in the school. And they just automatically blamed the Indian family. And so the health inspectors came to our house. In fact, we were the people who were bathing more than the Brits.’ Are you drawn to explore discrimination and persecution in your books?

No.  And I would never set out with any sort of agenda for my novels.  I write popular fiction and the whole point of that – for me anyway – is that my job as the writer is to be an entertainer. I’m happy to be a writer who crafts books that will keep a reader engaged and turning pages during a long flight, a tedious delay, or be that book that someone can’t wait to get back to during their lunch break. So long as my books provide that escape, I’ve done my job.  And really, if I look back over all my novels, the common theme seems to be revenge! <grin>  However, I suspect discrimination and persecution enter my stories because in the historical periods that I draw from life was not nearly so politically correct or protected.  In fact in the middle ages life was cheap and vulnerable people were persecuted daily and discrimination of all kinds was rife.

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?

Possibly.  But these days although I’m writing it, I’m not reading enough fantasy to know.  However, I would suggest that traditionally – and here’s a huge generalisation – male writers do the whole battle thing with aplomb, while female authors really know how to plumb the emotional depths of a fantasy story.  That said, I think women have become rather adept at writing wars and bloodletting and men have wrapped their storytelling abilities very nicely around more emotional characters and storylines.  Take Guy Gavriel Kay, for instance.  I don’t think I’ve read one of his fantasy stories and not wept with or for a character.  So, I’ve not really come up with an answer for you, have I? Not wishing to fence-sit – and I could be way off – it strikes me that the male writers I meet – particularly the emerging ones, yet to crack the fabulous publishing contract – are more into the world building stuff and perhaps delivering complex worlds. There, that should have people howling for my blood!…my experience only.

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?

Not any more.  But perhaps it used to 30 years ago – men did battles, women did emotion well…that’s what I thought.  I remember reading BattleAxe when it was still in draft and feeling utterly gobsmacked to learn afterwards that it was a female author.  Similarly, I was thrilled to learn that Robin Hobb was a woman.  Both of them inspired me to give writing fantasy a go.  Over the last two decades that I’ve been focused on fantasy, gender has not been an issue for me – it’s not ever a consideration when buying a book in any genre. I’m far more intrigued by a cover, the blurb and its opening few pars than by the name on it

Q: So what’s next…more of the same? 

I enjoy writing fantasy so that’s not going to stop unless I sense that I can’t maintain a freshness in my stories any longer.  And writing historical fiction is a big personal buzz because each book’s research educates and enriches me and at the age I am now, I take great pleasure in learning new ‘stuff’, so that will continue.  I would like to craft more crime but that will depend on publishers who would probably prefer me to knuckle down and just write crime exclusively for a while but that’s unlikely given my track record. While other genre writers dabble with crime, in the main I hope it’s fair to say that crime writers have a tendency to keep writing crime exclusively.   I can’t commit wholly to one genre.  I’ve been writing some children’s fantasy, which is fun – it feels as though it has no bounds and I’ve had a good time with the characters.  I would love to write a thriller and also a big emotional romance.  I have a dream to write a cookbook and an even bigger one to write a screenplay.  I’d love to be part of a writing team that collaborates on a TV script.  So my ambitions are broadening, which is healthy I believe, and I probably take this attitude because I would hate to get stale in one area and risk losing the joy of storytelling.

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

Blimey, there are so many eras I’d love to travel back in time to experience and so many people I would want to meet and as I thought about this it became so overwhelming with the freedom of choice you’ve given me that I couldn’t settle on one – do I meet Henry VIII? Do I drop in on Hitler’s Europe that I’ve been researching so much and try and understand that madness? Do I walk around 11th century Constantinople? Fun to eavesdrop the Romans, or meet Cleopatra!  Do I go back further still in search of some answers to big questions?  In the end I simplified it, brought it all closer to home, and as odd as it sounds I think I’d want to go back to my early childhood and be aware enough to pay more attention to it.  I have a shocking memory at the best of times so to be able to relive – as a voyeur – some of the great times of childhood would be incredible and I think to spend time again with my granny, whom I was close to and who was a tremendous influence on my life, would be exquisitely special knowing what I know now. I’d quite like to appreciate my parents as much younger people too – in their thirties – full of life and energy, dressing up and going out dancing, drinking, playing, entertaining.  We can often forget our seniors were once young, crazy and dreamy.  Although we didn’t have much money I had a busy, fun filled and happy childhood and so I’m not surprised that I find myself thinking it would be a grand romp to revisit it but as an omnipotent observer rather than a participant.

 

A copy of Royal Exile, book one of the Valisar series could be yours, dear reader, by sharing the following:

If you could be a character in any book, who would you be and why?

Follow Fiona on Facebook – I have two pages….and you are welcome to join me at either, or both:  Fiona McIntosh or at Fiona McIntosh Fans Group.

 

http://www.fionamcintosh.com

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November 30, 2011 · 11:28 pm

Winner Ian Irvine’s BookGive-away!

Ian says:

“Tough choice. Whose evil plan should be rewarded? Melissa’s? Being hung upside down in a portal would certainly be a challenging end. Grey’s? I’m not sure quite how grim this doom is, not having read Kraken. Or Cecilia’s, which has a nice touch of irony? Yet Belinda’s fate ­ being stuck with an eternal teen ­ is also a delicious reversal. Tempting, very tempting.

However, after evil consideration, I have to go with Saaremartha. Humourless, irritating, pompous bigots have to be brought down, whatever their faith, and I too want to see the encounter between Redlaw and the Elder God.

Saaremartha, please email me at ianirvine@ozemail.com.au with your mailing address and I’ll post your signed book.”

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· 11:07 am

Meet Mark Charan Newton …

I have been featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) but this has morphed into interesting people in the speculative fiction world. Today I’ve invited the talented Mark Charan Newton to drop by.

Look out for the give-away at the end of the post.

Q: I see we are cousins of a sort. I’m published with Solaris. I didn’t realise that you helped create this press. That must have been exciting. Did you have a Mission Statement when you put the editorial team together? And what are your thoughts on how the publishing world has changed in just the last five to ten years?

Yes, guilty as charged! As for a mission statement – if I remember correctly, at the time we were aware of a widening gap between the big mega publishers and the small press; that left a gap for mid-list authors or those authors who write more than one book a year and didn’t have a venue to publish. That lacuna was our publishing niche.

As for how publishing has changed? Well, it’s been doing the same thing solidly for the past ten years. Trends come and go, of course, and now we have ebooks which are simply another format like hardcover or paperback. There are fewer places to buy on the high street, and Amazon now has a powerful influence over the industry. It is tougher than ever for publishers at the moment – but it’s been tough as long as I can remember.

I think, if anything, I’ve become a little wiser of the past few years – in that I know not to react quickly to hype and panic. Things change. Trends come and go. Publishers are still here though.

Q: After working on one side of the fence as an editor, you then sold three books to Pan Macmillan. Did your experience as an editor give you any advantages when it came to writing your own book? And, conversely, did the experience of going through the editing process as an author, make you think, Oh, I wish I’d done things differently in the past with authors?

Probably no more than someone who reads a lot of fantasy and SF anyway. The only advantage I can really think of was to realise that there is a huge amount of creative freedom in both writing and the genre. There are so many critics out there who talk through their bums about prose – as if the art of fiction was some concrete bunch of criteria. How dull would life be, if fiction was a checklist of boxes churned out by a creative writing article?

Most of what’s written about fiction is nonsense – novels can take a huge number of forms, and that was a very pleasurable experience as an editor: to see those many different forms taking shape.

But to be honest, I always tried to keep those worlds separate: for the sake of both myself and the authors I worked with.

Q: You wrote a post about Genre Diversity called Bloggers’ Frontlist Fetish. This is where bloggers review and talk about the latest releases. You suggest we should be talking more about the great speculative fiction books that moved us so that new readers can find these authors. (For instance Joanne Russ and Tim Powers. To which I would add Mervyn Peake and Fritz Leiber. Certain scenes from Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books have stayed with me 30 years later, same with Joanna Russ.) You suggest that bloggers also take the time to search out interesting books from small press. I love it that small press can take a gamble on books that push the genre. Which authors opened your eyes to the genre?

I’ve mentioned several times about the impact that reading China Miéville’s The Scar had on me (suddenly I realised just what fantasy fiction could achieve). But the authors who opened my eyes the most are problably M John Harrison, Christopher Priest and Steven Erikson; for older authors, Michael G. Coney.

There’s just so much out there that is going to be forgotten in the scramble for the promo tables in bookstores. Sometimes I think bloggers should simply head into a second hand store and find something unusual to review. It’d make the blogosphere a more interesting place.

Q: You have a background as an environmental scientist. I can see shades of this surfacing in your first book, Nights of Villjamur, with refugees fleeing an encroaching ice age.  Did you set out to write this theme into the book, or did it happen when you weren’t looking?

Not especially, I don’t think. I studied Environmental Science at degree level, and I think that does inform my fiction in a more subtle way: that is, a realisation of how politics, economics, climate and so on are connected and that realisation has an impact on the plot.

In Nights of Villjamur, there is an ice age that is predicted by astrologers, as opposed to scientists. But the challenge there is the polar (forgive the pun!) opposite of the challenges our society faces today: there the huge amount of scientific evidence (dating back 200 years) supporting the concept of a planet warming significantly. There’s also the battle against the doubt in the media, which is funded by oil companies and the like.

Q: City of Ruin is a stand-alone book. You say that if anyone is going to read just one of your books, you’d like it to be this one. Why is that?

It’s just a better book by a long way, in my opinion. Technically it’s better, the prose is stronger, I’m less self-conscious, I’m having more fun. Also, you don’t need to read Nights to enjoy City. So I’ll always encourage readers – if they’re going to experiment with my fiction – to head for that book. I’m more proud of it – and it’s got more of a wow factor, in my opinion.

Q: The Book of Transformations revolves around Villjamur and the encroaching ice-age, politics and the consequences of decisions. Do you plot your books in detail or do they evolve as you write?

A bit of both, to be honest. I plot, I write a bit, I revisit the plot to see if can be expanded upon… And it changes from book to book. For my new series, because of the complexities involved in the plot, there is a lot of planning to be done.  I find my approach tends to fit what the book demands.

 

Q: I just discovered you have an earlier novel, The Reef, which has been re-released as an ebook.  Does it also explore the themes of environmental impact on people and society?

Yes, though I wrote it a long time ago, so much of the specifics escapes me! It’s more to do with ecology and botany than environmentalism per se. Those themes were much more stuck in my mind (fresh out of my degree) than for Nights.

Q: You recently signed another 3 book deal with Pan Macmillan. Can you tell us a little about this new series? Will it be set in the same world as Villjamur or a completely new world?

It’s a completely new world – nothing whatsoever to do with the Red Sun books. I’ve drawn a line under those now and want to move on (for my own sanity!).

The world is very much inspired by the classical world, particularly the Roman republic and Empire – there’s so much there which fascinates me, such a level of sophistication and culture, which puts later centuries to shame.

The lead character, Lucan Drakenfeld, is a bit like a young lawyer-slash-detective, and certainly the polar opposite of a private eye (if anything, he’s a public eye). I’m really trying to steer away from noir pastiche because I feel that would be disrespectful to crime readers. The book is as much a crime novel as it is a fantasy novel. Imagine a mainstream writer trying their hand at a fantasy novel, and filled it with a paint-by-numbers story – they’d be strung up by the fanbase, which is why I’m not doing a paint-by-numbers crime novel, either.

So it’s a pseudo-classical-crime-saga!

Q: I’ve been following you on twitter and you often provide links to interesting articles on environmental topics.  Do you think that writing books with these kinds of themes is a way of reaching out to people?

Not especially. I don’t think a mild environmental streak in the novels will reach out in a meaningful way to people; one is fiction, the other is science. Which is not to say it can’t be done, but it seems unlikely. If I want to write about the environment, I’ll write a blog post on it – that’s a much more effective way, in my opinion.

Q: Your mother was Indian and your father English. You grew up in a bilingual household with parents from two different cultures. Do you think this gives you a unique advantage when it comes to writing ‘alien’ worlds?

My mother rarely spoke her native tongue growing up; I had a very English upbringing, as it happens, so I can’t really claim an advantage with alien worlds. I’m not sure I do aim to write alien worlds to an extent – everything I write about is vaguely familiar, or based on our own culture.

Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?

I don’t think there’s a gender difference in why people write. I’d like to think that people write because they want to write, irrespective of gender. As an editor I could certainly see little difference.

The boy’s club aspect probably comes from society wide prejudices – it’s still tough for girls/ladies/women out there, in any industry, and only a conscious effort from readers can help stop that.

Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?

Not at all. If it’s fiction, my first concern of a writer is: can they inspire me with a paragraph?

Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?

Ancient Rome! Probably from just after Caesar stepped across the Rubicon, until Augustus died – can you imagine a more exciting period in history, with such a profound change?

And I’d need to start off as a wealthy citizen of the Republic, of course. If you were poor, you didn’t tend to fare too well…

 

 

Giveaway Question:  If you could bring back a figure from history, to rent your spare room or crash on your sofa, who would that be and where would you take them?

Read Mark’s Blog.

Catch up with Mark on Goodreads –

Follow Mark on Twitter. @MarkCN

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