The Golden Gull Archives | Tellest

Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – Steve Drew

Michael DeAngelo — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:30:35 +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, 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! 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?

Steve Drew: Hello! Thank you for inviting me into your process. My name is Steve Drew and by day I am a designer of software, changes to software and all things dealing with data. I spend my evenings alternating between amusing and annoying my wife, two kids, and two dogs with stories, jokes and my sense of humor. I have to remind them frequently that I am hilarious.

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?

SD: Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Batman and Battlestar Galactica were early contributors, followed by the A-Team. However, the Star Wars universe was the single largest contributor. I spent so many hours riding my bike around the neighborhood pretending it was an X-Wing. Dismounting my X-Wing (jumping off the bike) to have lightsaber battles or later to deliver newspapers. I wonder how many adults at that time thought the kid on the bike was a bit unhinged. I had quite a few of the action figures as well. No matter how cleverly I snuck them into school with me the teachers always seemed to know I had them in my desk. It was years later that one of them told me the lightsaber noises were a clue I was playing with something…

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?

SD: I have always injected elements of fun writing into my communications and technical writing. It started with inserting humorous or thematic elements into technical documents to see who read them. (Hint, no one.) Most of the writing between there and Covid was for friends or the pen and paper gaming crews. During Covid I collaborated with Beth as a voice actor on some of her Crossroad Cantina episodes. That progressed to writing a few and then to writing short stories. Raama and his friends are characters that have been with me for a while and needed to be let out. As I record his story, other short stories I have written work their way in.

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?

SD: I have known Beth for years and been privileged to participate in her process with Crossroads Cantina and also to see early drafts of her books. We even collaborated on a few short stories for competitions. When I started writing Raama’s story I asked her if he could or should tie in with Isdralan. She read all my drafts as we discussed how the two worlds overlap. The concepts from my book in progress have shown up in Beth’s books. In Raama’s narrative, the ship life is a transition point in his hero’s journey. It is a point where despite his best intentions and his own personal sense of honor, things just go awry. When I reached that part of the story, I asked Beth if she could help craft the description of the Caves of Time. It was around then that she conceived the concept for the Golden Gull anthology.

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?

SD: My original story was a humorous chapter of misfortune for Raama. As the Golden Gull concept started forming, I created a few drafts that roughly outlined the experience. Beth shared one of those drafts with all the authors. While they wrote their stories, I went back over mine to flesh it out. I kept iterating over it until I felt the key personalities shown through and the story made me smile again. As I narrowed in on my final draft, I shared it with a friend that is not a fan of the fantasy genre. When he got sucked into the story, I knew I was done. I wrapped it up and gave it to Beth. Regarding how often we spoke, it was a fairly constant dialog. During the early stages it was around my book connecting to her world. Then it was around several ways of connecting my story with the stories of the other Gull authors. At the same time, she took elements of Raama’s life and incorporated them into Prodigy of Flame. I’m not sure if she had the other authors write the interludes between the stories or she did that herself. But we spoke about each to make sure Raama’s voice, motivation and state of mind were well represented. I am exceedingly pleased with the result.

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?

SD: I hope the readers enjoy the glimpse into Raama’s world. I hope to share his full story soon. In the meantime, the Crossroad Cantina episode “Two Immortals Walk into a Bar” was written in collaboration with my daughter. We voiced it as well and it is a great glimpse into the dinner table with the Drew family. “Half Assed Adventures” was another episode I contributed when Beth was trying to nudge me to do a full podcast based on a D&D campaign I ran for a group.

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?

SD: Raama’s story has three distinct parts. I am uncertain yet whether that is three books or one longer book with three acts. I will have to finish it to know for certain. My hope over the next 5 years is that I’ve published his story and the stories of some of his intersecting characters. Raama is notoriously bad with names of people and places. I have used that to my advantage, because the locations he visits can intersect with anywhere. I would love to have other authors connect their world with his and use the magic system or any other part that tickles them. I found it exciting that Beth was so fascinated by certain elements of my drafts that it inspired some of her story. I’d love to be that catalyst for other writers as well. Stirring the imagination… that’s the goal, right?

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?

SD: I am light on the Social Media front, so far. You can find more at amazon.com/author/stevedrew or https://wolfgrove.media/steve-drew I always welcome feedback. Fans can contact me directly at my Stevedrew@wolfgrove.media I try to reply to everyone. Sometimes it takes a while when my day job has gotten crazy. Of course, they can always call Beth and ask her questions. Her phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. (Who edited that out?)

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!

SD: Thanks again for including me! You made me reach deep here, but it was a fun experience. I hope to go through it again when Raama’s story is finished.

Tellest: Once more, let’s thank Steve Drew for his contributions to The Golden Gull (both the book and the story therein), and for sharing some more about how it all came to be. Remember to check out the author’s social media links, and to dive deeper into The Golden Gull: The Isdralan Chronicles on Amazon today!

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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).

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!

RD Lancaster: RD Lancaster, author of Balloon Buster.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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Interview with the Authors of The Golden Gull – Redd Herring

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

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

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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