Author Interview: Donald Schlaich

How about we start out by having you introduce yourself? Tell us a bit about who you are.

My name is Donald Schlaich, and I'm a graphics arts professional and aspiring author. I've finished and self-published my first novel, Reckless Magus, and am working on the edits for the sequel, Dragon Magus.

I'm a geek who's been a fan of fantasy my entire life, and who underwent a kind of revelation when I discovered Terry Pratchett in Highschool. I'm also an avid biker, who sometimes regrets living in a city that gets ten feet of snow a year.

Where did the impetus to write come from? 

I've woven stories in my head for as long as I can remember, and when I was young, I can probably say I might have lost at least one job to living partially in daydreams as I went about my work. The stories have been a part of who I am for so long, and once I actually started putting them on paper, I found it hard to stop.

Explain who Abe Spellchaser is and how he came to be.

Abraxas "Abe" Spellchaser is an apprentice Magician, someone who has the potential to understand and use every type of magic. He's been trained by his father since he was ten years old in the use of his magic, including walking between worlds. He's confident in his knowledge, but he's mostly book-taught in his magic, and he's been stranded without any of his notes in a place where magic doesn't work according to rules he had written down. In place of his notes, he's left with his inquisitive nature and a tendency to get himself into trouble.

Abraxas Spellchaser is also a character I played several years ago in a Dungeons and Dragons game. I lived inside his head for a couple of years as I played him, and the first real long-form writing I did was recording the story of the game we were playing at the time.

How did you go about creating the universe in Reckless Magus?

I started with the characters of Abraxas and Simon, two characters who I already had a strong handle on, along with the history of Abe's father Nerick. There are bits of this universe that have been growing in my head for almost fifteen years, and once I had the two characters who the first story would center on, the rest of the world started to come together.

Magic features very heavily in the novel. Explain how the magic in your books works.

There are many different disciplines of magic, of which the first book only highlights a few. Not everyone has the talent to use every type of magic, and those who focus on a given type of magic often are referred to by their primary discipline.

* Mental magic, the ability to speak mind-to-mind, edit another person's memories, or even restructure their whole thinking process. Those who are skilled in this type of magic are typically referred to as Espers.

* Spirit magic is the one I've had some of the most fun figuring out and expanding upon. It's specialists are called shamans, and they specialize in the ability to reach across the boundary between waking and sleep to reach the creatures that live in the Dream Lands, a place made of spiritual energy, and making deals with them. In the universe of the Spellchaser Chronicles, this is probably the most common discipline, since even a minor talent in this area is required to be able to dream.

* Energy manipulation, the creation of light and energy, and the binding of that to an object, and it's specialists are called Illuminators.

* Travel magic, the ability to open doors and bend space to get from here to there. This discipline is the one Abe probably had the most practice with, and the one he most regrets not being able to use throughout the first book.

* Magicians are those who have the ability to use each discipline of magic, though their talents may vary in terms of strength and how much they've practiced with any given discipline.

There are several more disciplines, but I feel like going too much farther is probably a spoiler for future books.

Who is your favorite character? Who is your least favorite character?

I think my favorite character in the first book is Ari, a thief who Abe partners with. Ari is a person who goes through life with a laugh, never taking anything too seriously, and it's fun just watching him go to work in a scene.

I'm not sure if I have a least favorite character; I think to best write people you have to at least like them enough to understand what's going on in their head. I have characters I love to hate, like Jacob, an Esper who works against Abe and Simon because of his own worries and feelings of inadequacy.

If Abe's adventures were made into a movie, who would you like to see cast in which roles?

I would love to see the Spellchaser Chronicles made into a movie, though I've never taken time to go out and character board what I'd like everyone to look at. Maybe Luke Youngblood, but that may just be reaching out for a solid actor from a show I'm watching right now (Galavant's Sid).

What's next for Abe and his companions?

Abe's next adventure is in the editing phase, and there's an element of traditional sword and sorcery to his life: where he goes, trouble either follows or was already getting ready to throw it's coming out party when he arrives.

What are some things you'd like to write that aren't in the Spellchaser universe?

I've got a couple of other fantasy stories that I'm going to spend some time on once I'm done with Dragon Magus. After I finish those, I'm not sure what comes next. I may spend a bit of time world building, and see what my beta readers enjoy me fleshing out.

Why did you decide to publish your book the way you did and what has your experience been? Would you recommend it to other authors?

I self-published Reckless Magus, and some of the reason is that I figured I had the kind of skills I needed to do that from my day job. I wasn't completely right, but it's been a wonderful learning experience.

I also wanted to self-publish because there's a way in which I like the independence offered by self-publishing. I wasn't paid any small advance that my book had to earn back before I saw the long-term profits, but instead it's been a slow trickle of sales, and the size of that trickle is somewhat my fault. I got caught up in the other parts of my life and haven't been pushing Abe's story as much as I should have. 

What advice do you have for new writers?

Write. Keep going and just write. It's a muscle that you build the more that you do it, so exercise that muscle. And let your first draft suck. It's a common bit of advice you hear, but that's because it's true. Write when you're writing the story, and leave the editing for after you're done.



-Gabe

Interview with Katherine McIntyre

On Sunday I posted a review of Katherine McIntyre's awesome novel, Snatched. Katherine was nice enough to agree to an interview as well, which I'm posting today. I really enjoyed reading her answers and I hope that you will, too! Visit her website for more information about the things you read about here.

Where did the idea for Snatched come from? What inspired the shifters?

I’ve always loved dystopian and survivalist stories, but the idea for Snatched wasn’t straightforward. Part of the concept came from a setting I’d played around with—of folks going back to herbalism in the future. Of course, I was attracted to that since I’ve worked with herbs for a long time, and have a veritable storehouse in the side room of my house. But the shifters were inspired by genetic mutations caused by long-term effects of bad medications. I love the post-apocalyptic settings that are mankind’s folly, and this was one of them, stemming from man’s reliance on modern medicine.

I was really intrigued by the religion of the tunnelers. Can you explain how that works and where it came from? Was it something that had happened before the Rift or because of it?

The religion was something that rose post-Rift. A lot of conventional religions fell after that time, and as part of a society that had returned to more primitive forms of medicine and practice, an earth-based religion flourished with concepts closer to Wicca and other Pagan religions. It draws a little bit of shamanism with totem gods, but also encompasses a Great Spirit, which is sort of like the Wicca Goddess. Since practitioners of Pagan religions tend to gravitate towards herbalism and have a greater knowledge of their use, aspects of those religions took root the strongest, and in a lot of situations, healers and priestesses are one in the same.

There’s a bit of a love square going on in the book amongst Kara, Hunter, Dinah, and Jared, but it takes a back seat to the rest of the action. What made you decide to focus on Kara’s struggle rather than on her love life, unlike other books featuring characters on the cusp of adulthood?

I think all writers have a subconscious agenda—some way that their strong moral beliefs leak into their writing, whether they intend to or not. One thing that drives me nuts in a lot of books is how immediate issues will take a backseat to some love drama. While I like me a good romance, and enjoy writing them from time to time, there’s a time and a place. In so many stories, women are defined by men. She can’t live without him, or she can’t save herself—but that’s never the heroine I wanted as a kid. My favorites were Princess Cimorene from Patricia Wrede’s books, or Alanna, from Tamora Pierce’s Lioness Quartet. I’ve always loved the ladies that show just how complex and tough women can be.  

Tweak is such a great character and she has a unique voice and personality. Was she inspired by someone?

Ha, Tweak was my husband’s favorite character. So, she just kind of clicked for me from the start, but if I could relate her to anyone from anything, she’s got a similar bluntness to Anya from Buffy. She speaks a bit more broken English and is way twitchier, but she’s not used to politeness, or tunneler customs, and tends to just blurt things out.

Who is your favorite character in Snatched? Who is your least favorite character?

My favorite character was Tweak. While I love Kara and empathize with her big sister sense of responsibility a ton, I had so much fun writing scenes with Tweak. My least favorite character at first was Dinah, because in the early drafts, she really didn’t have much personality. That changed though, and the way she handled her hardships really helped me admire her. Out of the main cast, I think my least favorite is Jared—he’s a little too vanilla for me, even though I still love his loyalty.  

What did you find most difficult about writing this novel?

The ending. I actually originally wrote a whole different ending to it which I scrapped. I changed it around the middle section, took it in the Europa’s Nest direction and went from there. The original ending was weird, and sort of repetitive. They broke into places to save people twice in a row and realized that wouldn’t work. Actually, the first version of this didn’t have Tweak!! It had some other characters that didn’t hold a candle to her.

Have we seen the last of Kara Orris or does she have other adventures waiting for her?

I think we have seen the last of Kara Orris, but not of characters like her. One of the most important things to me in fiction is making sure women have realistic, dimensional characters to relate to as well as guys. I get a little tired of the helpless woman and domineering man clichés!

As a follow-up to that question, whether or not a sequel is in the cards, I’m curious as to what happens to the characters. Without spoiling the ending, of course, what can you tell us about the future of Kara and her friends?

I think Snatched will stay a one shot, but I did play around with what would happen to them. There are a LOT of complexities to the shifters that I never went into, one of which is how they reproduce—they’re pretty chilling antagonists. Kara and her friends are a plucky lot though. Chances are, they’ll survive and keep fighting for a better future!

Do you have any strange writing habits or rituals?

I do the normal thing when I sit down and write—put on a soundtrack, which I actually customize based on each story. However, I do think I’m a little weird with assigning zodiac signs to each of the characters. I’m obsessed with astrology though and it actually helps me expand on the characters and how they’d react in certain situations. So, for example, Kara is a Sagittarius—she’s able to detach, she’s pretty blunt, but I think she’d have a Capricorn moon or something, because she’s kind of unyielding.

You’ve called yourself a modern day Renaissance-woman and you have the list of hobbies and interests to back that up. How did you get involved in things like soapmaking and beer brewing? And would you talk a bit about Solstice Brews?

So, I have this problem of always wanting to learn something new. With cooking, I enjoy making things from scratch, and I got curious about beauty care from scratch which is what led to the soapmaking. My studies in herbalism kind of bled into the beer brewing thing, because I love a good beer, and while some places like Dogfish Head utilize herbs creatively in beer, there were so many combinations I wanted to try. Which is what finally led to Solstice Brews, my tea blending business! I absolutely love coming up with new blends of tea—it’s an addiction. Most recently, I’m excited to say I came up with a branch of Novel-Teas which are blends I based off of each of my books. The Snatched one is an Oolong with blueberry and lemongrass.  

You have several projects in the works, including an audio book version of your novel, Poisoned Apple. What are you currently working on right now and what can you tell the readers about Stolen Petals, which is coming out April 24? (I’ll include links to your blog posts about these things if you’re okay with that.)

So, right now I’m back in the realm of dystopian sci-fi, but this time with pirates. I’m just a wee bit obsessed with pirates, and I absolutely can’t wait to finish the edits on my manuscript for Red Skies Take Warning—it has all the snarky banter, huge adventures, and of course, epic speeches a girl could dream of!

As for novellas on the horizon, get ready to binge on romance! I’ve got Stolen Petals coming out with Breathless Press, a steampunk romance about two rival bounty hunters—lots of sass.

And Soul Solution was recently picked up by Decadent Publishing, an urban fantasy about a soul collector who meets the perfect woman, yet they can’t be together, because his touch kills.

Finally, any advice to potential writers (or soapmakers) who may read this post?

It’s been said a million times before, but don’t give up. Those first stories may be terrible, and may never see the light of day (my first three or four manuscripts were), but with each one, you learn. If you’re open to learning, the possibilities are endless for you, but that takes time to build. People go into this business with an ego, and I get it—it’s terrifying to put your work out there, especially after the long hours you put into it. However, that ego is only going to inhibit you in the long run and keep you from becoming better. When I get a couple beta readers telling me that something isn’t working, you bet I look at it and see what the problem is. Writers are people, and people are imperfect. The hurt of criticism, or a mean review, whatever—it can be overcome. If you never try and instead give up, you risk losing something greater, because being able to share your worlds and your experiences with other people through story is worth every ounce of the struggle.  

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A big thank you to Katherine McIntyre for being awesome. :D

-Gabe

Blog Tour: Interview with Christopher Meeks, Author of Love at Absolute Zero

As a participant in the Love at Absolute Zero blog tour, I was given the opportunity to interview Christopher Meeks. If you're looking for my review, click on this link.

Gabriel Reads: What got you interested in writing a book about absolute zero?

Christopher Meeks: Absolute zero was the furthest from my mind when I started this. I wanted to write about a professor who was clueless in love and ended up in Denmark. It’s Denmark because I know that country and because being in a foreign country offers an extreme view of not understanding language and people. I wanted to write a duck-out-of-water romantic comedy—not a novel with science necessarily. To push this to an extreme, Gunnar could not be a traveler and also something bad had to happen to him in a relationship. I decided he’d meet a Dane in Wisconsin, which has a large Scandinavian population.

For an American to work in Denmark means he could not take a job away from a European (because Denmark is in the European Union). Denmark happens to be top in physics. I’d met a lot of American physicists when I lived in that country during my junior year abroad.

Thus, Gunnar needed to be a physicist. If engineering in new strains of corn would have been better, then Gunnar would have been a genetic engineer.

Originally, Gunnar was going to be a nuclear physicist because in the eighties I had a tour of a nuclear facility in Roskilde, just west of Copenhagen. A former neighbor was a nuclear physicist, and on the tour, he explained passionately what he was looking for when he was smashing atoms. However, Denmark banned all nuclear facilities in the country in the late eighties, so I had to make him a different kind of physicist.

But what kind? I didn’t know. In 2004, I ended up talking with Nils O. Andersen, who was the director of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. He told me that a lot of Danish physicists were focusing on the ultracold.

I loved researching the ultracold. In fact, there’s an amazing Nova episode called The Race for Absolute Zero. You can see it on the Internet. Click here. The more I researched, the more I realized that what happens to atoms near absolute zero is a metaphor for love. I can’t explain it in a few sentences, but the reader will get a sense of the whole thing in reading the novel. The science and the symbolism slips down the throat as easily as a cherry soda.

GR: What made you decide to start the novel in the middle and then flash back?

CM: I love books that drive the reader to want to find out something. In this case, I thought what if Gunnar looks to be near death at the beginning? The reader would want to know more. It also set up his problem with women, one that he had to surmount if he was to get ahead in life romantically.

GR: Is Gunnar more of an "everyman" or is he based on someone you know?

CM: I tend not to write about powerful people—no presidents, CEOs, queens, or princes. The “everyman” interests me, but one can’t just come up with a generic person. I write from people I know. My wife worked at Caltech in Pasadena, so I met a lot of brilliant scientists, some of whom seemed shy to me. I used to be shy, too. Because I teach, I could empathize with how Gunnar taught (which is the way I’d teach science).  In short, Gunnar is an amalgam of people, which also includes me.

GR: What did you do in order to research this novel? Did you actually go to labs, speed-dates, Denmark, and more?

CM: Yes, I ended up going to labs at Caltech and at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I didn’t know Madison very much, so after a few drafts of the novel, I flew there from Los Angeles and went to every place I’d found for the novel. I had a tour of my own novel. If this book were to get popular, someone could put together a tour of the places in the book. I even spent a lot of time searching for a real house next to a corn field where Gunnar would live.

Every place is real, and going there improved the book. Some things that looked a certain way on the Internet were different in person. I realized afterwards that for my next book, why not choose Los Angeles where I live so that I wouldn’t have to spend to much money to check on the details? I’m writing a mystery that takes place in L.A.

As for the speed-dating, my cousin Elisabeth was trying out speed-dating at the time in Denver, and I could just imagine how it would be. Her stories were funny.

With Denmark, I’d lived there and went to school at the University of Copenhagen at one time, but also I traveled to Denmark in 2001 with my mother just for fun and to visit the family I’d once lived with. Elisabeth was teaching on a Fulbright in Finland, so she came down, too. Seeing Denmark again must have moved something in me to want to use it in a novel.

GR: Which of the speed-date girls was the most fun for you to create and why?

CM: While Svetlana, his student, wasn’t one of the speed-date girls per se, she was there at one of the events. I had fun with her because she oozed sexuality and was young and outgoing—everything that both attracts and scares Gunnar. He has his high standards for how he interacts with students, and she pushes the boundaries. Because she’s Russian, she also foreshadows his involvement with a foreign woman.

As for the other women, I just wanted them different from each other, and I wanted to play with miscommunication. I wanted them funny to the point that they made me laugh. Who says writing can’t be fun?

GR: The Gunderson family dynamic is quite interesting. How do you feel it shaped Gunnar and his naiveté?

CM: My own mother was a character, even if she didn’t see it, and I borrowed from her—my mother pushed to an extreme. Creating Gunnar’s mother was simply fun. I laughed every time something wild came out of her mouth. I’m not sure where Gunnar’s sister came from because I was the oldest of four boys. However, I could picture Patty vividly.

Ever see Punch Drunk Love with Adam Sandler, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson? Sandler’s character, Barry Egan, is a perfect example of someone shaped by a powerful family dynamic, and I knew Gunnar’s family—and the loss of his father when he was a teenager—helped shape Gunnar. Showing that dynamic in the present was both challenging and a delight.

GR: What's one thing you know about the character of Ursula that isn't revealed in the novel?

CM: Another stop on this tour was an interview with the character of Ursula, and I had fun being in Ursula’s POV. What I knew, and what was clear to me but is only suggested in the book’s subtext, is that when Ursula and Gunnar meet at the Muni in Fond du Lac early in the novel, she’s deeply attracted to him and is watching him at the bar with the two coeds. Gunnar doesn’t know how attracted Ursula is to him then—everything is a mystery to him—but there’s a powerful attraction by both of them. Her needing to leave is a defense mechanism. Think of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The same misunderstandings of the 19th century happen in the twenty-first.

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Thanks to Christopher Meeks and Teddy Rose for this opportunity!

-Gabe