Author Interview Archives | Tellest

Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – RD Lancaster

Michael DeAngelo — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 11:30:51 +0000

Welcome, travelers. While we typically conduct interviews that go a bit deeper into the content and character of a world and its author, we’ve come upon a very interesting opportunity to talk to a number of storytellers who have all worked on the same anthology. These authors have collaborated on Beth Connor’s collection, The Golden Gull, which takes place in her world of Isdralan (and beyond).

Because of the shift in the way we’re interviewing these storytellers, we’re going to keep things a bit more open-ended, with this format serving as a sort of template for each of our interview subjects.

Today, you’ll get to meet one of the authors, a quirky pirate by the name of Redd Herring, and you’ll find out a bit more about them, including what other stories they’ve got in their catalog, and what they’ve got coming up. Read on to learn more about one of the authors of The Golden Gull!

Tellest: Greetings! First off, let me say that I appreciate you taking the time to share a bit more about yourself, and to talk about your story in The Golden Gull, as well as any other stories you’re prepared and excited to talk about! If you wouldn’t mind, could you please give a very brief introduction of yourself to readers?

RD Lancaster: RD Lancaster, author of Balloon Buster.

T: In the typical interviews that I conduct, I first try to find out some of the formative information about what turned an author to writing and storytelling. What was it that inspired you to tell your own stories? Did you have a favorite author, story, movie, or show growing up that helped to encourage your creativity? Or did you have a family member or person in your community who had the storytelling bug, and they managed to pass that on to you?

RD: I grew up sitting on the wood floor after dinner while my grandmother read to us every night. Listening to those stories woke something in me, and I knew I wanted to be the storyteller and not just the audience. In my teen years, I devoured TV shows like Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Ray Bradbury Theater, Star Trek, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. I also started reading more and was hooked on the Thieve’s World series, anything Tolkien or Asimov, and the Dune books. In college, I found Stephen King—especially The Dark Tower—Philip K. Dick, and Richard Matheson. I especially loved how Matheson churned out short work that was made into television episodes for Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, and even Star Trek.

T: How did you begin your own writing journey? Did you have a specific story that was turning in your head that you needed to commit to paper? Was there some sort of contest that you were invited to participate in? Or was it something else altogether?

RD: I used to write stories in high school, but I would not show them to anyone. I was terrified of being made fun of. I think a lot of people hide their creative tendencies out of that fear. I didn’t really let anyone see my work until a few years ago when I began entering the weekly Reedsy contests. That really changed me, as I had an outlet where like-minded people could read my work and give me honest feedback in a constructive way.

T: How did you first collaborate with Beth Connor? Were you already familiar with Isdralan when it was determined that you would write a story for The Golden Gull?

RD: I met Beth when she commented on one of my stories, “Whiskey, Diet Coke, Two Dollars, and a Pistol”, which was about my mother’s death and how I had to deal with it. Beth, along with some other great people on Reedsy, gave me so much good feedback on it that I felt maybe I could do this. I knew of Isdralan, because I had previously read Micah and the Candles of Time. Beth contacted me when she was starting The Golden Gull. She pitched the concept and I was all in.

T: Could you describe the process of developing your story for The Golden Gull? How did the ideas come about, and how much would you say you communicated with Beth throughout the creation of your tale?

RD: Part of the allure of The Gull is that it can take different forms. I was trying to decide what my version of The Gull would be, but I was just hitting a wall. One morning, after a long night with little sleep, I somehow fell down a rabbit hole and ended up reading about a WWI flying ace named Frank Luke. His story fascinated me, and I thought I could do him justice in a story where The Golden Gull was a fighter plane. I sent Beth a rough idea, and she loved it. I think I communicated with fellow Golden Gull author Riel Rosehill the most on this project. The story is the shortest in the book—I would categorize it as flash fiction—so every word counts. Riel was so instrumental in helping me get the most out of each word. There is no way this story would even be close to what it became with her help. THANK YOU RIEL!

T: What other stories would you like readers to know about that you have written—or that you are working on? Could you also give us a quick synopsis of any of the tales you want to bring attention to?

RD: I am an emerging author, so this is my first piece that is published. I am working on a novel about a middle school volleyball player and the struggles she goes through. She is the player that is not quite good enough to make the team, but the coaches love her because she works so hard and has “heart”. As a former coach—and I am sure any of you out there that are coaches would agree—I can say that these are the kids we look at and say “If I had ten like her, I’d take that all day even if we never won”. The tentative title is “LAST”, and we will just have to see where it goes.

T: Where would you like to see yourself in the next several years? Would you like to have a full series under your belt? Are you designing a massive, shared universe that you’d like others to play in? Or are you excited by telling shorter, more intimate tales?

RD: I am a teacher, and that’s where I will be. Writing is an outlet for me, but I would like to see where it might take me. Right now, my focus is on “LAST” and, quite honestly, I need to get back on it. I have been experiencing some writer’s block, but I also just run out of time once in a while and have to pull back. My goal is to complete “LAST” this coming summer. Beth is teaching me the ropes when it comes to publishing.

T: Finally, what is the best way for readers to learn more about you? Do you have a website that they could visit, or do you prefer for them to follow you on a specific social media channel?

RD: I am on Amazon, obviously. If you want to send me a message, the best way is through my good buddy, Redd Herring. When he showed up, we just hit it off like we had known each other our whole lives. His website is www.reddherring.com, and he can get a message to me. Now just so everyone knows, Redd spends most of his days in the Crossroads Cantina where he trades stories for drinks, so it might take a few days for him to get me the message!

T: Thank you very much for spending some time chatting with us. This was a little bit more of an unconventional interview than we normally perform, but I hope that you had a bit of fun discussing your writing journey, and that this helps more readers find you!

RD: THANKS for the interview. Everyone, please keep supporting emerging writers!

Tellest: I’d like to once again thank RD Lancaster for taking us to the skies and beyond in chatting about how he contributed to The Golden Gull, as well as what he has on his radar for the future. Do be sure to check out the author’s friend’s website, and don’t forget to check out The Golden Gull: The Isdralan Chronicles on Amazon today!

The post Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – RD Lancaster appeared first on Tellest.

Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – Redd Herring

Michael DeAngelo — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:30:15 +0000

Redd Herring: Redd Herring, author of The Red Diamond.

Redd: When I was young, our captain had a footlocker stuffed with books, which were hard to come by. If I completed all my chores, he would let me choose one of his rare volumes, providing I took great care with it. Clutching my prize, I would climb to the crow’s nest and settle in. The rest of the world disappeared as I entered the world of Odysseus and his crew sailing the seas, fighting monsters, and using their wits to stay alive. At night, I would sit atop a rum barrel, the crew gathered round with their pipes stuffed and tankards full and recount those great adventures, always adding my own twist. As they listened, those grown men became wide-eyed children again, hanging on every word and always wanting more. It was those dark nights spent weaving tales that showed me I wanted to tell stories and bring the audience’s imagination to a new place.

Redd: It was a long time before I actually wrote anything down. Paper is hard to come by on a pirate ship, and what little the captain had was not to be wasted on a stripling such as meself. I committed my tales to memory. Whenever we went into port, I would find a good spot in the market and begin weaving a story out loud for all to hear. As the folk gathered, I would point out interesting-looking characters in the crowd, pull them up with me, and add them to the story. After getting my new compatriots to act out a glorious climax to the adventure, I would lead the crowd in a rousing Sea Shanty and pass the hat. Coming back to the ship with a purse full of coins grew my worth, and reputation, with the crew.

T: How did you first collaborate with Beth Connor? Were you already familiar with Isdralan when it was determined that you would write a story for The Golden Gull?

Redd: Beth and I first crossed paths on the Reedsy website. We liked each other’s work from the start, and it wasn’t too long before she produced my story “The Book of Choices” on her Crossroads Cantina Podcast. Oh, the cantina—one of my favorite places of all time. Where else can you trade a story for a drink? After that, I helped her with some formatting and proofreading on her debut novel, Hollow City. Ever since, we have talked about working together on a book. I did know of Isdralan; I am familiar with Micah’s story and The Gull. Beth told me she wanted to tell more tales featuring the magical vessel, and I could not wait to be a part of the crew! I grabbed my computer and started that very day. Now, you might wonder how a pirate from days gone by could be using a computer, a website, and listening to podcasts. Well friends, it has to do with connections between worlds that are found near water, but that’s a tale that we will save for another day.

Redd: I think Beth probably wished I didn’t communicate with her as often as I did! I had the idea of The Gull manifesting as a Viking longship when we first talked about the book. I wanted the story to have the feel of a classic sword and sorcery journey. The difficulty with a short story is keeping all of your ideas in such a compact format, and I struggled mightily with it. I can’t even count the number of times I started over or rewrote large chunks of it. The biggest issue I have when writing is that I never truly feel that the story is finished. As soon as I submitted the final draft, I already had new changes popping into my head.

Redd: I just released one of my short stories on Amazon. It is called “The Cold Shoulder”. It’s a quick read, coming in at about 2500 words. In it the protagonist, Trevor, moves in with his girlfriend. She is a complete tech junkie and has what we would call a “smart” home. All I can say is, Trevor does not get the warm welcome he was hoping for. I have quite a few short stories in the works, and I am working on The Book of Choices.

Redd: The place I most want to be in the next few years would be on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean. I can’t tell you exactly where, since one of you might try to plunder me booty! I am working on a series now based on The Book of Choices. In the original short story, an ancient book is discovered by two teens. The book sort of “activates” when it comes in contact with blood, and the person involved is given choices by the book. Usually, any choice you make is not desirable. Beth and I are working with multiple authors to create a series of stories based on the book. I want the authors to be able to use each other’s settings and characters as the book crisscrosses worlds and times. This concept is similar to the Thieves’ World series that started back in the late 1970’s. That is such a strange thing for me to say, back in the late 1970’s, since I sailed back in the late 1670’s!

T: Finally, what is the best way for readers to learn more about you? Do you have a website that they could visit, or do you prefer for them to follow you on a specific social media channel?

Redd: I have a website—www.reddherring.com—that is in the early stages, but it is live and you can contact me through it. I am adding to my Amazon library and any reviews would help out tremendously.

Redd: May your seas be calm, and your sails be full, my friends! I will leave you with two pieces of advice I learned from characters of great literature:

Always travel with wax in case you come across sirens – Odysseus

Always bring a towel – Arthur Dent

Tellest: I’d like to once again thank Redd Herring for taking the time to chat about the part he played in The Golden Gull, and for introducing us to the interesting history that brought them here, as well as speaking about the next projects coming up. Do be sure to check the author out on his website, and also don’t forget to check out The Golden Gull: The Isdralan Chronicles on Amazon today!

Special news! Redd Herring’s story, The Book of Choices, is free now through Tuesday at midnight. Make sure to move fast so you don’t miss this great deal! And there’s even a Crossroads Cantina podcast episode on it that you can listen to as well!

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Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – Riel Rosehill

Michael DeAngelo — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:30:18 +0000

Welcome, travelers. While we typically conduct interviews that go a bit deeper into the content and character of a world and its author, we’ve come upon a very interesting opportunity to talk to a number of storytellers who have all worked on the same anthology. These authors have collaborated on Beth Connor’s collection, The Golden Gull, which takes place in her world of Isdralan (and beyond).

Today, you’ll get to meet one of the authors, and find out a bit more about them, including what other stories they’ve got in their catalog, and what they’ve got coming up. Read on to learn more about one of the authors of The Golden Gull!

Tellest: Greetings Riel! First off, let me say that I appreciate you taking the time to share a bit more about yourself, and to talk about your story in The Golden Gull, as well as any other stories you’re prepared and excited to talk about! If you wouldn’t mind, could you please give a very brief introduction of yourself to readers?

Riel Rosehill: Hi! I’m Riel (pronounced as the “riel” in “Gabriella”) and I’m the author of Brave Soft Hearts in The Golden Gull. That story is a pretty good example of my work: character-focused, magical and queer. I have a good bunch of those both already available and also in the making.

RR: I think my first love was fantasy. The Neverending Story was one of my first favourite movies, and I still find the concept captivating.

I also loved reading Harry Potter, and I definitely had a fantasy-phase, but overall, I’ve read diversely. I had a collection of pony club books, and my parents had their bookshelves stacked with westerns, of which I have read every single one. It was also on their bookshelf I found Birdy by William Wharton, and discovered my passion for war fiction.

I’m a daydreamer, always have been, so I kept making up stories, inevitably influenced by what I was consuming. I had my fanfiction-phase too, though I’ve never written any of that myself.

More recently, the books that captured my heart and inspired me to be a better writer were The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller and, most recently, In Memoriam by Alice Winn.

RR: I have been writing stories for as long as I remember. My first story was a micro fiction which I had to dictate to my mum, as I’d not learnt the alphabet yet. I entered my first writing contest with a short story in elementary school, and I joined a fantastic writing club in my early teens. As I often struggle to express myself in other ways, writing has always been an important part of my life. Having my stories published is what little me had dreamed of.

T: How did you first collaborate with Beth Connor? Were you already familiar with Isdralan when it was determined that you would write a story for The Golden Gull?

RR: I learnt of Isdralan around the time Beth published Micah and the Candles of Time, and I already knew Beth through the Blue Marble Storyteller’s discord. She has narrated a few of my short stories for the Crossroads Cantina podcast (those episodes are now hosted on the Blue Marble Storytellers website).

T: Could you describe the process of developing your story for The Golden Gull? How did the ideas come about, and how much would you say you communicated with Beth throughout the creation of your tale?

RR: Beth was always ready to help when we had questions or needed feedback, but she allowed us great creative freedom. There was no word limit, and we were free to pick any theme. There were only a few guidelines: the stories had to involve a version of the Golden Gull (which we could choose ourselves) and they had to be a speculative genre.

From the start, I knew I wanted my Golden Gull to be carrack (‘cause aren’t they cool?), so the next step from there was to figure out how to make it magic.

I thought of Charon’s ferry taking souls to the underworld and of boats carrying spirits and gods in fiction. I wanted my ship to also have a special cargo—this is how I came up with the idea that it would be trading dreams, and (slight spoiler) that the main character, Cillian, would end up on it as a traded dream himself.

Once I had the premise, this was a passion project: I blended all my very favourite things from war fiction to heartbreaks, steampunk and queer romance.

RR: I always have a few stories in the works, but I would love for everybody to grab their copy of The Golden Gull, so let me talk about Brave Soft Hearts:

Discharged from service and heartbroken from a fresh break up, a field surgeon, Cillian Hale, is still processing the horrors of his last day on the war front when he finds himself aboard the Golden Gull. To his surprise, he isn’t a passenger: he’s part of the cargo.

Here, Cillian is having to share the cabin of Haider Wright, the ship’s handsome sailing master, until they find a new home for him with someone who is willing to pay the price. But as he is getting to know—and starting to fall for—Haider, Cillian wonders if there is a second chance to happily ever afters.

Only, how could a happily ever after be real, if he is traded to be someone’s?

Cillian doesn’t want the kind of love that exists because of a transaction. Torn between his ex lover and Haider, and not wanting to be bound by a contract, will he lose out on his own happily ever after?

RR: While I’ve developed a love for telling short, intimate stories, I’m currently focusing on working on my first novel, Drop of a Crown. Hopefully in a few years I will see it in a bookshop—that is the dream. I’m also working on a collection of a few more interconnected short stories featuring the characters of Brave Soft Hearts, which I hope to get published towards the end of next year, but don’t hold me to that deadline!

T: Finally, what is the best way for readers to learn more about you? Do you have a website that they could visit, or do you prefer for them to follow you on a specific social media channel?

RR: My website and my Instagram are always kept up to date. If you want access to all my available stories, see my publishing history and read my bio, it’s on my website: www.rielrosehill.com and if you want to see what I am up to writing, reading or otherwise, I post to Instagram @rielrosehill with plenty of pet pictures—I’d love to connect with my readers and fellow writers on there!

RR: Thank you for having me! And to everybody who checks out my stories or gets their copy of The Golden Gull after reading this and finds themselves enjoying Brave Soft Hearts: thank you. It means the world to me.

Tellest: I’d like to once again thank Riel Rosehill for taking the time to chat about the part she played in The Golden Gull, and for pulling back the veil on the rest of her projects, and her love for fiction. Do be sure to check the author out on her website, and also don’t forget to check out The Golden Gull: The Isdralan Chronicles on Amazon today!

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Interview with J.W. Elliot

Michael DeAngelo — Tue, 03 May 2022 15:00:34 +0000

Tellest recently had the good fortune of working with a multitalented storyteller, J.W. Elliot, the creator of multiple franchises, including the historical fantasy series, Archer of the Heathlands. Elliot is continuing to write other fantasy stories, but with a 20+ book catalog, it’s been great fun diving into the worlds he’s already worked on and learning about what is to come. Now it’s your turn to dive in and see what drives this talented author. Read on to learn more about J.W. Elliot.

Tellest: Greetings to you, J.W.! I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about your writing journey, your incredible books, and your massive catalog. With all the things you have on your plate, I’m sure you are very busy, so I feel very appreciative to be able to be given some of your time. I’m interested in letting readers behind the curtain a bit, to see how you make your magic, and to learn more about you.

J.W. Elliot: Thanks, Mike. It’s good to be here. For me, writing is a hobby and a passion, so I always love the opportunity to “talk shop.”

T: I always like to start my interviews off with a bit of a softball question that helps readers learn more about their new favorite creator. What inspirations did you have that led you to the path of the writer? Did you have an author you looked up to growing up or a storyteller in the family or community?

JWE: Some of my earliest memories are of my mother reading to me. We had a subscription to National Geographic, which I devoured, and the Reader’s Digest, as well as a bookshelf filled with encyclopedias. So I have always loved stories and knowledge. But I think the real catalyst in me becoming a writer occurred when I was ten years old, and my family moved from Idaho to Oklahoma. It was a very lonely time for me, and I found solace and friendship in the characters I met in the books and comics I read. That was where I discovered J.R.R Tolkien, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Katherine Kurtz. That experience inspired me to take a creative writing course in high school, and I have been writing fiction ever since.

T: What are some of the moments that you’ve had in your writing journey that have encouraged you to keep going along with the craft? Conversely, what challenges have you had that might have been close to chasing you off the path?

JWE: I dabbled in fiction writing for many years while I went to graduate school and started building my academic career. I often worked on my stories to wind down and relax at the end of the day. Eventually, I started reading them to my kids at bedtime, and their enthusiasm kept me writing. I knew I had to have something new for them the next day. My new series, Heirs of Anarwyn, was created in that give-and-take as I read and the kids critiqued.

The biggest challenge is the time and discipline it takes to produce good work over and over again. Writing is mentally and emotional exhausting. If I didn’t find so much pleasure in writing these stories, I don’t think I could keep doing it.

I also spent years getting rejections and that can be quite discouraging. Then when I did get work published and the reviews came in, there were always those trolls who felt it was their responsibility to poke writers in the eye. I respect honest reviews. Personally, I read them and see if they have a legitimate point. If they do, I try to fix the problem. Most of the time, however, trolls criticize books for being something they never set out to be or they nitpick at things that are nothing more than personal preference and have nothing to do with the quality of the book. Those kinds of reviews can hurt, but I have long since abandoned any notion that I should hold out for universal popularity. I can’t please everyone. So, I write stories that I want to read and hope others will find them as fun and engaging as I do.

T: You described spinning tales for your children, and then having more for them the next day. That sort of storytelling has been picking up pace over the last decade or so with things like WattPad, and certainly more recently with the advent of Kindle Vella. Have you ever thought about writing a story where your fans help to give you near-realtime feedback?

JWE: I have tried both WattPad and Kindle Vella without much success. I found WattPad cumbersome and time-consuming to manage. And when I announced that I was releasing a story on Vella, I actually had fans write me and tell me they would never use Vella for reasons I never understood. After several months, I finally pulled the story. I may try again later, but for now, I have had more success publishing novels and novellas and giving away free short stories in Prolific Works and MyBookCave.

T: A great deal of fantasy writers have their favorite authors or fandoms, but you seem to appreciate it all. Is there a certain fantasy that you lean on if you ever need to decompress or reel yourself back out of any of your own works?

JWE: I love all great stories. I really don’t care what the genre is. But my “go-to” fantasy books—the ones I return to over and over again—are, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earth Sea Trilogy. I think these stories have a timeless quality to them that spoke to me as a child and still speaks to me as a more jaded adult. I devoured the Terry Brooks’s Shannara series. Somehow, I missed reading Frank Herbert’s Dune while I grew up, but I just read the first book and loved it. So now, I’m getting into that entire series. I really enjoy Brandon Sanderson—especially the Mistborn trilogy and The Reckoners series. I find the Harry Potter series enjoyable, and I’m about halfway through Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.

T: You’ve mentioned before that you can’t watch the Hobbit movies again. How do you think they mismanaged that project enough for you to not want to watch the works of one of your favorite authors?

JWE: I think my response to the movies was conditioned partly by the fact that during one of the most challenging times of my life, Tolkien and his hobbits were there for me. I also expected The Hobbit films to be more in line with the Lord of the Rings movies. I have things I disliked about those movies (elves at Helms Deep, for example), but overall, the producers attempted to remain true to the stories, the characters, and the world that Tolkien created. I don’t think the Hobbit movies did.

I understand that they had to modify things to translate a literary piece into a visual medium, so I’m willing to give them some leeway. However, they introduced characters and relationships that could not have happened in Tolkien’s world (i.e. a love relationship between an elf and dwarf and the white orc who wouldn’t die). They also were not faithful to the magic or the technology.

For example, they turned Radagast into a bumbling fool, when he was a powerful wizard, and they transformed Bard’s longbow into a massive crossbow and the black arrow into some fantastical harpoon. (By the way, a crossbow with limbs that thick could NOT have been drawn by hand and had Bard shot if off his son’s shoulders like they showed in the movie, it would have taken his son’s head off.) The final film with the battle at the Lonely Mountain was more like a bad Disney ride that just wouldn’t end than a Tolkien novel. I could go on, but basically as a lifelong fan of Tolkien, I felt betrayed by the movies. I think they betrayed the world of Middle Earth and robbed it of the wonder and magic that most fans found in The Hobbit. I hope someone will go back to The Hobbit and remake the films.

T: You write fiction, in both the fantasy and science fiction genres, but you also write non-fiction works as well, covering a good deal of historical content. Would you say it is difficult to jump back and forth between the two styles, or have you written enough of each at this point that it’s second nature?

JWE: I see both history and fiction as simply different methods for telling a story. History is a story about reality, while fiction can be about anything the human mind imagines. Historical work should be truthful, accurate, based on solid, verifiable evidence, and must give us some insight into the human condition. Fiction needs to meet the same criteria. Certainly, we have more freedom to make things up in fiction when the evidence doesn’t exist, but it also needs to be truthful in the sense that it should come from the heart and not shy away from trauma and prejudice, joy and confusion, fulfillment and sadness. We are hard-wired to tell stories, whether real or fictional. There are challenges in moving back and forth from fact to fiction, but I have been doing this my entire adult life, so it doesn’t give me much trouble. The only problem is finding the time to do both.

T: Speaking of that, not only do you have a huge catalog of books, but you have a vast array of hobbies that I’m sure inform and inspire your works. But it all must suck up a lot of your time. How long have you been working on these stories, and what are your methods for keeping to pace when you’re writing?

JWE: The trick is to prioritize writing time and avoid time wasters. I grew up playing video games (heck, I remember when Pac Man first came out), but I don’t play anymore because, for me, it was non-productive time. I also don’t spend a lot of time watching TV or sports or surfing social media. There is nothing wrong with someone finding fulfillment and joy in those activities, but for me, I have to choose whether to do those things or the things I really enjoy.

I also make sure I do some work on my stories every day. Even if it’s only rereading what I wrote the day before. Some authors use word quotas to keep their productivity up, but I don’t find that useful. I work full-time at my “real” job, and so I can’t tell from one day to the next how many words I can write. But I write fast, and once I get a block of time to work, I can dive in and get seven thousand words down in a few hours. It’s all about consistency and discipline.

T: You spend a great deal of your time among nature, so it’s no surprise that your Archer of the Heathland series feels so at home in the wilderness. Does your mind wander when you’re off canoeing or rock climbing, or are you rooted in the moment?

JWE: It depends. I’ve been canoeing so long it comes naturally to me, and I don’t have to think much about it unless I’m shooting some rapids. So my mind wanders a lot. Rock climbing is less natural for me and requires my full attention. It doesn’t help that I have a healthy respect for heights. I have found that getting out and enjoying the real world is one of the best ways to recenter and get ideas for my stories. There are several scenes in the Archer of the Heathland series that came directly from my adventures in the outdoors. And my trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky inspired several scenes in The Clone Paradox.

T: Do you ever find yourself planning nature trips for the sole purpose of finding inspiration for one of your stories?

JWE: My wife and I like to take summer road trips across the country. We live in Massachusetts and have family in Idaho, Utah, and now Colorado, so it works out wonderfully. I am a historian, and I seek out historical sites, natural wonders, etc. All this feeds my historical and creative brain. On occasion, I have traveled to places to get ideas for stories. For example, in the short story “The War of the One-Eyed Woman,” I went to New Hampshire to hike through the flumes and gorges there so I could describe the feel and smell of them more accurately in that story. Part of the reason for visiting Mammoth Cave was to help me get a feel for what it felt like to be deep underground in utter blackness. I used that experience in the Heirs of Anarwyn series. So, to a certain extent, I do plan trips that way, but mostly I am just traveling for the thrill of adventure and discovery and to meet new people and see new places. I try to channel that sense of excitement into my stories.

T: Where in the world would you like to adventure to next to infuse into your written worlds?

JWE: I have traveled Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada, but I really want to visit the British Isles—especially Scotland. Both my wife and I have Scottish ancestry. I also have some Welsh, English, and German. I love Celtic music and Scottish history. I borrowed extensively from Scotland in my Heathland series as several reviewers have noticed. I also used a modified Welsh language in my Heirs of Anarwyn series. After that, I want to travel Spain, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, India, and then travel the Andes. Basically, I want to see the whole world.

T: Likewise, another trait that you have in common with your main character in the Archer series is your hobby of crafting and shooting longbows. How did you come about that activity, and what is your favorite part about it?

JWE: My dad gave me a fiberglass bow when I was about eight or nine years old. I’m afraid I did some really dangerous things with that bow that I’m not going to talk about here for fear of giving someone bad ideas. I took up bow hunting as a teenager when I transitioned to compound bows. Graduate school left me little time to pursue archery, so I set it aside until I graduated. When I went back to my compound, I found I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I had, and I almost gave up archery altogether. About that time, I served a week at my daughter’s summer camp as the archery instructor where I met a man shooting a 42 lb. recurve. He let me shoot it, and I discovered what I had been missing. Perhaps it’s the historian in me, but I find the simple bow and string fascinating, and that is where my passion is. I sold all my compounds, purchased a Fred Bear recurve, and started relearning the joy of shooting again. I wanted to try a longbow, but all the ones I could find at the time were just too expensive to justify purchasing. So I set out to learn how to make my own. It took me a couple of years to get the process down, and I published a book on how to do it that I hope shortens the learning curve for others. I am currently reverse-engineering a Turkish bow I have. My first attempt came close but was not good enough. I’m hoping to make a second attempt this summer. Still, it is very satisfying to go into the woods using equipment I made.

T: I’m sure it’s a passion project, so I may already know the answer, but out of sheer curiosity, do you take commissions for bows if one of your fans wanted a J.W. Elliot original?

JWE: I have made longbows for family and friends. The challenge is that it takes about thirty hours to make a bow, and with my full-time work and the demands of my writing, I don’t really have time to offer to make bows for folks. In addition, few people understand the time and effort it takes to craft a bow by hand in a small shop like mine and are seldom willing to pay a reasonable price for one. If I sell a bow at $500 dollars, after I subtract the cost for materials, etc. (about $100-150), I only make about $10-$13 an hour. That isn’t sustainable or cost effective. There are some great bows out there for less than I can make them. Kustom King Archery and 3Rivers Archery are a good place to start looking. If you want an Asian or Turkish bow, Alibow and AF Archery have reasonably priced bows that are of high quality.

T: As mentioned earlier, you don’t limit yourself to fantasy as your only fiction expression. You’ve also got an award-winning science fiction series in The Ark Project. Was that a project that you had to separate from the Archer series and your other more fantasy-facing stories, or were you able to work on that simultaneously without any issues?

JWE: I always have at least three books in process at any given time. One that I’m editing. One I’m writing. And one I’m planning. The Ark Project was a series that came and went over the years as I became more involved in the Archer of the Heathland series. But the question of what it means to be human in a world where science and technology have superseded biological evolution just wouldn’t leave me alone. It was challenging because, as a historian, I tend to live in the past. I had to do a lot of research to make sure I got the technology and science correct. Even though I made up a bunch of advanced technologies, I think the future I created for The Ark Project is possible. It could actually happen.

T: You’re right. In a lot of ways, The Ark Project feels like it could be prescient. What’s one thing that you’re worried could come to fruition that you’ve written about in that series?

JWE: As a historian, I study change and continuity over time, so I am not afraid of change or technology. What I worry about is that because humans tend to be very conservative creatures, we will resist adjusting thoughtfully to a changing climate and new technologies until we face cataclysmic change that could result in considerable human suffering. I think we need to have a thoughtful debate about cloning and genetic therapies. Are there moral limits we should not transgress? If so, what are those limits? What are the ethical implications of modifying human brains and bodies with technologies that can make them faster, stronger, smarter, etc.? At what point have we gone too far?

And how do we manage climate change so that our species can survive on this planet? Life will probably struggle through no matter what we do. The question is, will we still be here in 5,000 years to enjoy this magical planet. I hope so. But I think it will depend upon the choices being made now and in the next few decades.

I also think we need to figure out how much we want algorithms to dictate our life choices. Our online shopping, web surfing, and social media use are already dictated by algorithms. It is only a matter of time before algorithms will know more about us than we know about ourselves. We need to manage that possibly and plan for it.

T: You study martial arts as another of your hobbies. Do you find that helps you to choreograph some of the action sequences in your stories?

JWE: I do. Those who practice martial arts will find familiar techniques being described in my fight scenes. I also teach a college course entitled “A World at War” which examines human-on-human organized violence from the paleolithic to the present. That evolutionary and cross-cultural perspective really helps—as does having been in real fights. I often find real historical battles and tactics I modify and redeploy in my fiction. Action scenes are challenging because you have to balance the need to keep the pace moving but still give the reader enough information to experience the fight emotionally. Too much “action” can be confusing. Too little can be disappointing.

T: What mistakes do you think you’ve caught yourself making (either in the process, or after publishing) when it comes to your books? Did you ever look back at one of your books years later and think it was rubbish—I feel like that’s a pretty common thought among authors.

JWE: I didn’t publish until I felt like I was writing at a professional level. That meant I spent years working on the craft and submitting novels and short stories to agents, presses, and contests. I took the feedback I received and tried to learn from it and get better. Consequently, I don’t think of any of my earlier books as rubbish. They were learning experiences, and I have been tempted to go back and correct things like overuse of dialogue tags or to tweak scenes for more tension and suspense. But I’ve resisted because I think my time is better employed in writing new, and I hope, even better stories.

I did start out writing from the seat of my pants—what folks in the writing community call “pantsing.” I have since learned that it is far better to do some initial planning and outlining before I start. That way, I know I’m starting with a story that is going to work. I always drift from the original outline, but that’s part of the fun of creating. This is why I always finish every book I begin. I don’t waste time on a story that isn’t going to work. I make sure it will work before I start. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to be an award winner, but it should be able to stand on its own feet when I’m done.

T: Even though you’re plotting out a bit more of the time these days, do you ever run into any writer’s block moments? How do you manage to circumvent those?

JWE: I don’t think I ever get what I would call writer’s block, which I understand as the inability to write. Since I have so many projects going, there is always something to work on. However, if I run into a problem with a story, I make lists of possible trajectories and then play with them until I find one that works. I also switch projects and work on a different book for a while. I might take a break to exercise, shoot my bow, go canoeing, or do some woodworking and let my brain settle. I have found that trying to force ideas to come never works. If I just let things rest for a day or two I will find the solution. Our brains are incredibly elastic tools, and if we get out of the way, they will come up with amazing things.

My philosophy is that inspiration is not found, it’s created. By that I mean there is no mystical muse upon which we have to wait for inspiration. We can create work habits and processes that generate ideas and inspiration consistently. Once we understand the structure of an effective story, what makes a good character, etc., we can construct tools to help us generate all kinds of ideas. That’s what I do, and so far it is working pretty well. My entire Archer of the Heathland series is on the Amazon bestseller lists, two of my books have been the #1 New Release on Amazon. I’ve won several writing awards, and I am making good money on my fiction writing. I can’t claim to know everything or even to have mastered the writing craft. I don’t think I ever will. But by systematically studying the craft and always trying to get better, I think I am making real progress. It continues to be a learning experience. And it’s this constant challenge that makes writing so fulfilling.

T: What is your favorite writing tip or bit of advice that you’ve received or heard from a famous writer?

JWE: Years ago, after receiving a series of “positive” rejections from editors and presses, I contacted David Farland, a New York Times Best Selling author. (He passed away recently, which is a huge loss to the fantasy community and the writing community.) Despite all the demands on his time, he took a moment to write a very encouraging email in which the most important phrase was “study the craft.” This is what every writer, fledgling or well-seasoned, needs to be doing. Those three words changed my life and helped me write some award-winning books and allowed me to make money pursuing a hobby I find so fulfilling.

T: What are some of the things that other storytellers might be missing when they’re creating their work that they could focus on to bring out the best in their work?

JWE: I’m going to dive into a controversial subject here because I feel strongly about it. Some writers insist on trying to ignore story structure. I have even read some professional writing coaches that dismiss structure out of hand. In my opinion, this is a huge mistake. We are biologically wired to anticipate certain things in a story, and authors ignore this fact at their peril. Some authors with an intuitive sense of how stories work might get away with this, but their stories would be better with a little bit of work on story structure. There are lots of options, and I don’t care which one an author uses. I prefer James Scott Bell’s approach because he has a clear, repeatable method that works. I’ve created my own system that I have cobbled together from other writers and writing coaches that leans heavily on James Scott Bell, Lisa Cron, Dwight Swain, Sol Stein, and Jack Bickham. I am continually refining my process and learning as I go.

Also, some authors fail to include all of the senses in their writing. As authors, we almost always mention sound and movement, but some don’t show what a place smells like or how it feels to the touch. These are really important details that help bring a story to life. Some authors also overuse dialogue tags or add unnecessary and distracting adverbs to dialogue tags. (Ex. “he said soothingly.”) Likewise, I think authors need to treat their setting as a character to which the other characters respond. We all have emotional response to our environment. Our characters should, too.

T: What’s some advice that you could give to other dreamers who are starting their journey, and want to develop an impressive catalog of stories?

JWE: There is a lot of bad advice out there, so have your BS detectors turned on. Just because a famous writer tells you there is only one way to do something, that doesn’t make it true. I really find it unhelpful, for example, when successful writers pontificate about their muse or tell a beginning writer to just keep writing. There is no muse. There is only your brain and your lived experience. So don’t waste your time waiting around for the muse to clobber you over the head. And spilling more ink on the page without any self-reflection, analysis, or evaluation of what you’ve done is of very little use. You should always be trying to improve your craft. To do that, you have to study it. On my website, I have a list of great books about the craft of writing. You can start there. https://www.jwelliot.com/writers-resources/

T: The newest Archer book ends in a way that is smooth enough to move away from if you needed to, but it also leaves the door open enough to return. What are your plans for Brion now? Are you sticking by his side, or are you looking to focus on another hero? And if you are choosing a new protagonist to breathe life into, are you staying in the same world you’ve built?

JWE: For now, I am going to let Brion rest. His character had a full arc with lots of growth, and he needs some time to settle into his new role as duke. But I have already started work on a spin-off series with Mara and Jack (see Archer of the Heathland books 4-7) that I think will be three books. Then I have at least one more spin-off I want to do that focuses on crossbows rather than longbows with a couple of the characters introduced in book 7. These will all be set in the Heathland, and they will all have some familiar characters in them.

T: J.W., I want to thank you for taking your time to pull back the veil a bit and let new and old fans alike learn more about you and your craft, whether it’s writing or your other passions. I know that you are always working on a lot, so I appreciate the opportunity to carve out a bit of your days leading up to the release of this interview.

If someone wanted to learn even more about you and your worlds, where could they find you?

JWE: Thanks Mike. It’s been a real pleasure. Your questions were insightful and fun to think about.

My website is www.jwelliot.com, where you can find all my books with links to purchase them. I also have a blog on my website and a page for writers with lots of good books and links to podcasts, etc. My book pages also contain links to Pinterest pages. I also have a YouTube Channel at J.W. Elliot where I have free audiobooks.

You can also sign up for my email list where I offer free stories, access to free books, announcements of sales events, and a lot of free material about archery, and other historical traditions and events that inform much of my writing.

I’m on Facebook @JWElliotBooks. All of my books are on Amazon, in print, Ebook, and Audible. They are also available in Kindle Unlimited (KU) and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library

I’d like to thank J.W. Elliot one more time for being a lovely guest to the Tellest website, and for enlightening us, interviewers and readers alike, to what sort of things make him tick. It’s always interesting to see how the gears move in the mind of such a talented storyteller. As we mentioned in the interview, Elliot’s catalog is expansive, but we recently promoted his book, Archer of the Heathland: Deliverance, and you can see that promotion here. Or, if you want, you can just check out Archer of the Heathland: Deliverance on Amazon now! You can get it 66% off if you pick it up while it is on sale.

The post Interview with J.W. Elliot appeared first on Tellest.

Interview with Katlynn Brooke

Michael DeAngelo — Wed, 25 May 2016 04:01:08 +0000

Today, we have the awesome privilege of bringing to you a conversation with the author of The Six and the Crystals of Ialana, Katlynn Brooke. We had the opportunity to talk with Brooke for a good while, and we have to say it was an enlightening and entertaining discussion.

Without further adieu, our conversation with Katlynn Brooke:

Tellest: How did you get the inspiration for Eglog? He seems like the single most despicable person I have ever read about in a very long time.

Katlynn Brooke: I am so glad to hear that! I have done a lot of research on psychopathic personalities. I felt that in a world where there is no law, or at the best, unfair laws, that those placed in positions of power are, by necessity in this chaotic world, malignant personalities. A kinder, gentler man in charge of forced army recruitment would be considered ineffective. Striking terror into hearts and minds is exactly how a malignant and putrid man would handle his job, and Eglog was a master. Worldwide, we can still see these types in powerful positions today: that when given free rein, Ids run amok, and they’re actually no better than Eglog.

But fasten your seatbelt, Eglog is not alone. There are more of that ilk to come throughout the Ialana series! Not all are as over the top, but they’ll keep you awake at night.

T: Ialana seems at times so familiar and yet so different from our world. How did you come up with this realm?

KB: I have always been fascinated and inspired by tales of Atlantis. While Ialana is not Atlantis, it is based on what I imagined the legendary continent to look like; particularly the City of Rhiannon. Like Atlantis, the ringed city of Rhiannon, to the inhabitants of northern Ialana, was only a legend. Few knew for certain if it actually existed. It is our world, but in a time so long past that all history and all traces of it have been lost. Today, we might still find remnants of this lost civilization in our present time in the form of legends, myth, and strange creatures.

T: So in a way, this is almost fictional history? This isn’t something that takes place on a fabricated planet—it is Earth presented from beyond recorded history? That is an interesting twist!

KB: It could be one of our possible pasts. I did not want Ialana to exist on a fictional planet. I wanted the reader to be able to identify with the familiar. For example, the seasons are the same, the animals and flora are the same, and except for the mutant creatures and differently shaped or placed continents, it is Earth. I refer to other continents in this world (such as Afarre, which is Africa), so some of our more familiar locations co-exist with Ialana.

T: Each of the characters in this novel have such exotic names. What steered you in that direction instead of a more common name? And how do you keep such good track of them all?

KB: I researched many ethnic, ancient, or legendary names, and some of them are just my own—made up names. I picked the names that seemed to “fit” each character best. Names are important in shaping who a person may become. Like words, name sounds carry a mathematical frequency formula or encryption that our subconscious minds recognize. It is the language of the universe. On a conscious level I don’t know the formula, but I can “hear” the frequency or vibration of each name, along with that of the personality of each character. I know instinctively which name will fit a character, and which will not.

T: There’s almost a metaphysical, philosophical bend to this tale. Your comment about the frequency in the character names kind of blends into that as well. Where did those notions come from, and how did you determine that you’d focus a little more clearly on that?

KB: You are correct. This series goes a lot deeper than the average fantasy book. We write from our base of knowledge, and everything we have ever learned becomes our story. There are fantasy authors who deliberately leave that stuff out, and it’s just “magic”. It’s a simpler concept and I see the value in that, but they most likely don’t have the foggiest idea why their broomsticks fly or their wizard’s wands create spells.

Early in my life (teen years) I began to question things. I felt that there was so much more we didn’t know about the world and the universe, way more than what we do know. I began to seek out the older paths of knowledge, studying Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufi-ism, and then, like gateway drugs, a short hop to teachings of various new age paths, paths that at least tried to explain the mysteries of the universe and creation.

While I do not pretend to be a scientist, or even say that my books are correct scientifically, I like to create a world where an understanding of the mechanics of creation exist, even if most of its inhabitants still think of it as sorcery. Pockets of knowledge remain, and I feel that one day we, on our modern world, will regain this knowledge, but only if we acknowledge that it indeed does exist, and that magic and science are not incompatible.

T: So it wouldn’t be so far off to say that your book series is to fantasy the way Dr. Strange is to Marvel superheroes…

KB: I look forward to the movie of Dr. Strange that is rumored to be coming soon! Yes, that would be an apt analogy. Dr. Strange’s creator tapped into the ‘60’s counter-culture of youth who were fascinated with Eastern Mysticism. Since I am a product of that generation, it has definitely influenced what I write, too. I could have written only for the market tropes, what is currently out there, but I wanted something that went deeper yet was also entertaining, much like Dr. Strange!

T: The way that your characters are introduced, from all over the countryside, is an interesting breath of fresh air. We get to see things from their points of view and understand their scope of the world in new ways with each chapter. What made you decide to follow them from their own origin instead of adding them as the other characters met or found them?

KB: I wanted to acquaint the reader with each character before they came together so that once they met up there would be as little backstory to fill in as possible. I wanted to keep the pace moving along with each character, so that to the reader each one would feel real, as if they already knew them. I have multiple characters who show plot development from their point of view rather than consigning them to lesser roles and backstory. It was a gamble on my part, but I’ve had some positive reviews on this strategy and I feel it’s paid off.

T: I would have to agree with that. A lot of times, the characters we meet feel like they’re sidekicks along for someone else’s ride. The Six seem to be fully developed, and it makes you feel more strongly for each of them.

KB: Thank you. It is what I hoped would happen. As the series progresses, the Six become even more real and three dimensional. I had one reviewer say he felt like he had made six new friends!

T: That’s not a bad way of putting it. You give each character enough time to feel like they’re this fully realized person, and it really makes it easier to root for them. Even the villains have their own presence that you sometimes miss in other stories.

KB: I love developing my villains as much as I do my heroes. Most of them have a back-story, a past that motivates them in the book’s present, and a few of them may even possess the capacity for growth and healing, just as my heroes do. There are, however, some villains who are just not able to heal, and those are the most despicable, damaged personalities I can conjure up, such as Eglog and Amrafalus. If a character can’t grow, they become dispensable.

The Continent of Ialana by Misty Beee for Katlynn Brooke.

T: There’s also a deeper relationship with these people that goes beyond just what we see in their villages. Was it a challenge to describe these pasts while simultaneously developing their young lives?

KB: Not really a challenge at all. Their pasts just seemed to flow naturally into their present, and they came into their current lives with an arsenal of abilities that were rooted in their past. It felt like a natural progression.

T: Your characters are also guided by their dreams, almost to the point where it feels like seeing into the future. How did you raise the stakes to make these pseudo-premonitions carry as much of a sense of danger and intrigue as you could?

KB: The dreams my six main characters have are not actually dreams in the ordinary sense; they are memories that have been reactivated. The characters, in their past lives, knew their mission had failed, and they must come back again and pick up where it left off, so they programmed the memories to activate in the form of dreams and premonitions as soon as they were physically able to pick up their mission again. Of course, it was not a perfect science, and only the strongest emotions were able to penetrate the conscious mind, such as fear and danger.

T: A handful of the characters are seemingly fate bound by several things. The first is obviously the “dream” that brings them all together. But another component is the thought of marriage. Nearly all the heroes consider or are forced to consider this prospect—what made it so prevalent in this story?

KB: On a large and extremely dangerous continent where the human population is still fairly sparse, reproduction of the human species is paramount to survival of the species. The population of Ialana lives in the equivalent of the dark ages of Europe, but only with fewer people, and tribal or clan survival is what motivates the rules of their societies. It is every parent’s desire to see their child married, even at an early age. Being alone, without family, means death. They mean well, and do not understand if their child or teen does not desire this fate. It is a case of “We know what is best for you.” Arranged marriages, forced marriages, and general pressure to get married is the norm on Ialana, and airy-fairy stuff, like dreams, are not conducive to survival.

T: With which character do you most closely relate?

KB: I think nearly all of the Six, in some way, but mostly Tegan. She and I possess a similar sensitivity to life, and she is an unlikely hero. Her fears and anxieties often control her, but she is much stronger than she gives herself credit for.

T: You introduce some very interesting races to the mix as well. Where did you get the inspiration for these amalgamations?

KB: When I was a teen we used to go to movies at our local club where they would show old black and white serial cliffhangers each week before the main movie. These were made during the 1930’s, 40’s and 1950’s, and they were cheesy as they sound, but we loved them! I don’t remember all their names anymore, but there was one about Atlantis (it might have been part of a Buck Rogers serial). In this cliffhanger, the DNA of animals was mixed with human DNA to create mutants. It used to frighten the bejeezus out of me—kept me awake at nights—so when I created the Trueni, this was my inspiration. There are other mutant beasts in my books even scarier than the Trueni. These mutants are lethal. The sting of the Arrach (scorpion men) could kill in a few minutes, and the wolf-men (Werewolves) ate or killed anything that moved. These, no doubt, are inspired by some of those old movies too! The mutants were formed eons ago by genetic experimentation gone crazy.

T: Speaking of your upbringing, you’ve had an interesting one even beyond the philosophical and religious research. You grew up in Africa and then later made sojourns in India and Indonesia. That had to have made some impact on your storytelling imagination.

KB: It certainly did! Growing up in Africa during the 50’s and 60’s, especially living in the bushveld for most of my youth, we had to create our own entertainment. I come from a very creative family. My mother was an artist, and an aspiring author and playwright, and my father dabbled in it too. Instead of television, which we did not possess, we wrote and produced our own plays, taping them on an old, squeaky reel-to-reel recorder, or even filming them on my mother’s old 8 mm movie camera. We preferred horror stories, and produced “The Creaking Door” tales inspired by an old radio show. Each one of us would write a bit, and pass it on to the next person who would continue the tale.

Later in life, I did live in India for two years, and Indonesia for three years. I got to meet a lot of interesting people, visiting many places tourists don’t often get to. I feel travel expands one’s horizons in a way that nothing else can, and when I write, I am often transported back to certain locations that I would like my readers to see, hear, and smell as well as I can.

T: Are there any other places that you can think of that you’d like to go to that might inspire more of your fantasies and adventures?

KB: I have always wanted to visit Ireland. Part of Ialana, the province of Aelfar, is reminiscent of Ireland, and although I have never been there, I can imagine it very well. A setting, similar to the Pacific northwest coast of the US, is part of my fourth book in the series, and the beginning (or continuation, however you like to look at it) of a new direction for Ialana. For the most part now I am an armchair traveler, but the value of actually experiencing a country with all one’s senses is something that I will always appreciate.

T: Back to your menagerie… What is your favorite creature, race or hybrid that you’ve created in the Ialana series?

KB: It’s kind of like asking a mother which child she loves best, but I do love my shape-shifters. I have two of them, and the second one appears in The Six and the Gardeners of Ialana. She is The Raven, and can shape-shift into a bird. She has as much capability as my first shape-shifter, Irusan, but they are polar opposites in nature and intent. While Irusan is wise and benign, The Raven has experienced extreme template distortion and she has deteriorated into a power-hungry monster, but a beautiful, and seductive one. I went to school with her, I think. She is an archetype all of us are familiar with!

T: I can’t wait to read about her, and I’m sure all our readers are just as eager!

KB: There is a lot to look forward to in this series. It is not a static series. Although my main characters, and even some more minor ones, appear and reappear throughout the three books, I do bring in new blood occasionally. I also push some characters into the background while I bring others out more.

In my fourth book, which will be out this year, I push the Six into the background more, and bring out some very interesting characters we have not yet seen. There are still undiscovered races, and parts of Ialana that no one is aware of.

T: Is there anything else you’d like readers of your series to know about?

KB: I tend to push the first book the most because it is the foundation of the series. It is essential that a prospective reader read this book first, and then the others, in the order they were written, because, like Lord of the Rings, the characters will then make more sense.

Each book in the Ialana Series is a continuation of a saga, but unlike The Lord of the Rings, for e.g. there are no cliffhangers at the end of my books. Plots are neatly wrapped up and the next book picks up where they left off with an entirely new story line. Personally, I dislike cliffhangers at the end of a book, even if within a series.

I would also like readers to know that while my books go deeper into metaphysical and paranormal theory than is usual in the fantasy genre, I do not expect anyone to take my ‘explanations’ or theories presented as any kind of established truth, or that I make any claims to understand the laws of the universe. I can only see things from my perspective, and it may differ greatly from how others see things.

My main intent is to entertain, not alter anyone else’s perceptions of reality, or beliefs. I want readers to feel as if they know the characters, and the world I have built, and I want them most of all to care. I hope I have accomplished this.

One last bit of news, too: The Six and the Crystals of Ialana should be releasing soon in audio form on Amazon. It should be completed sometime near the end of June, and it will be awesome. A first rate narrator, Jeff Hays, is narrating it. If this is successful, I will be putting them all out on audio. I am very excited about it. Jeff is an amazing narrator, and he composes his own music too.

I can say that Brooke has managed to do just that. I’d like to thank her once again for taking the time to talk to us about her growing series, and what helped to shape it. If you’d like to get started with the Ialana books, you can dive into The Six and the Crystals of Ialana right away. Pick it up on Amazon today!

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