Bec Stafford interviews Lynette Lounsbury.

Bec: Dominic Mathers is your central character in Afterworld. Can you tell us a bit about him and the Trials he faces in the Necropolis? How long did it take you to write Afterworld?

LL: Dom is a guy who is really uncomfortable with his place in the world – he feels out of place in his skin, in his family and in his country. His family lives in India and he doesn’t know how to deal with the poverty he sees there. He is quite depressive and would be happy never to draw attention to himself. I thought it would be interesting to follow this sort of person into the afterlife – it takes death to make him realise that life is actually quite an amazing thing. The Trials are something I adapted from Roman history – the idea of taking pleasure from wielding a huge amount of power over others suited the Nephilim, particularly Satarial who was incredibly angry with the humans. In the beginning, it was a place to train and prepare, but as people became more listless and “stuck” he turned the Trials into a way to torture and “collect” humans.

It took me nearly two years to write Afterworld – I was writing around having a baby boy who demanded a lot of time – but it was also a complex story and there were periods of time where I just needed to think it through.

Bec: Afterworld features a nasty Nephilim, Satarial, and I’ve read that you lecture in ancient history, as well as creative writing. Do you find that the former often informs the latter? Can you talk to us a bit about Satarial and how his character developed?

LL: My love of ancient history definitely influences my writing. I love mythology especially – the stories that people believe and which define their cultures.

The Nephilim are mentioned in quite a few ancient traditions. Sometimes they are called “The Watchers” and other times “Giants” – and in the Bible it mentions that they were the children of Angels and human women.

Satarial is the name of one who is recorded in a Jewish manuscript called The Book of Enoch. Since the first part of the name means “adversary” but the whole name means “on the side of God” I thought he must have been a very interesting and complicated being.

Most religions also have a flood myth – from the Mesopotamians to Indigenous Australians – and so I put the two together. I found Satarial’s motivation in the fact that humans (in this case Noah) allowed his people to die in the flood. It’s just a case of me reading these ancient stories and imagining the human face behind them.

Bec: You grew up in Papua New Guinea, are the editor of Ytraveler.com, and each year you volunteer in the South Pacific on behalf of an Australian aid organisation. How do your travel adventures influence your writing, and do you like to write while you’re in transit and abroad?

LL: Travel influences everything I do. Growing up in PNG meant we had very close contact with magic and witchcraft and people who both practised and completely believed in it. I remember some locals bringing a little owl to our house once when I was about 6 and they were talking about how it was evil and carried spirits in it. It as actually just a very cute little bird, but I can still remember that the locals really believed it was evil, and that was all that mattered. I was heavily influenced by this idea that our beliefs control us.

 Travel has made me very aware of the “serious” side of the world. Which sounds a little bleak – and I don’t mean I like that. I just know from experience that the world is fragile and that for a lot of people it is a difficult journey.

I write a lot when I am overseas. I just feel more open and inspired when I don’t have “everyday” life to worry about. And I like warm weather – hot even – I’ll write anywhere if its hot. 

Bec: Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

LL: Eduardo definitely burns brightest in my mind. This is a being who has been waiting for thousands of years for the love of his life and is committed to continue waiting. He’s not happy about it, he is not enjoying it – but he won’t give up. And at the same time, he is not so jaded that he doesn’t see something valuable in Dom. He invests time, energy and eventually love and loyalty into Dom and because he is willing to give like that, he  opens himself up to the possibility of letting go. When he lets go – he ends up finding what he was looking for.

Bec Stafford interviews Bundaberg writer and newly minted novelist Cheryse Durant.

Bec:  Congrats on the recent launch of The Blood She Betrayed in Brisbane! What does it feel like to send your ‘baby’ out into the big, wide world? Would you share some of your fears and hopes?

Cherie: How does it feel? Like unsheathing my sword for my first-ever battle and discovering my blade’s been changed to rubber – I can either dash off the battlefield and hide behind the geraniums, or stay and face the critics. Fortunately, I’ve been buoyed by some fabulous reviews and gorgeous fan mail since The Blood She Betrayed was published. Readers have written to me and told me how much they’ve loved my characters and storyline. One reader has even begged me to write a new Heart Hunters novel every week (I wish! It takes months and months to put a story like this together – for me, at least).

As a newly published author, I wanted to spin a book that touched people’s hearts. I’m hoping I did that. My second hope is that people will read and share my book and give it the chance to become known not just in my neck of the woods, but around the world.

 My biggest fear? Will I be able to write future Heart Hunters novels that resonate with the same magic as the first? My second novel, The Ghost She Killed, is due at my Publisher by March so once my author tour is over, I’ll be typing my little fingers to the bone to get the manuscript finished. For me, writing is therapy. There are all these images and conversations exploding inside my head and I need to pour them out onto. The hard work is making sense of all the characters and plot arcs and shaping it into a story that deserves to be read by readers. Readers are, after all, very discerning 🙂

Bec: The Blood She Betrayed is Book 1 in the Heart Hunters series. Can you tell us a bit about your gutsy heroine, the half-Taloner Shahkara, and your plans for Book 2, The Ghost She Killed?

Cherie: Seventeen-year-old Shahkara is a warrior princess from another world who comes to Brisbane, Earth, to find an ancient artefact, the Elnara, which can wipe out the heart-devouring Taloner demons plaguing her kingdom. As she arrives on earth, she manages to save the life of Max, brooding, directionless son of the enigmatic billionaire Liam McCalden. Max discovers that Taloners are trying to kill him and Shahkara discovers she needs an Earthern guide so they team up to find the Elnara together. The only problem: Shahkara’s hiding a deadly secret of her own. She’s half-Taloner. This gives her enhanced strength and sensory perceptions, but it also means she shares the same dark heart-lust and fears getting too close to Max in case she rips out his heart. You can watch the book trailer here:

Shahkara evolved from an image that flitted through my head – one of a warrior princess with gritty determination and fighter’s heart. I knew that, for her, I needed to create a story where the stakes were high and the sacrifices great. The Blood She Betrayed is a story of life and death, good and evil and an apocalypse that needs to be thwarted… within three days.

 Shahkara’s not a brilliant swordswoman or magician or mathematician, but she knows how to hold her own at court. Stripped of royal title, she becomes a stranger in a strange land, fearful of relying on anyone, but determined to forge her way through the murky, technologically-driven Earthlands so she can save her people. She’s every young woman I know, facing challenging circumstances with no easy answers. We may not be saving the world, but we use our courage, compassion and smarts to wade through the mire, whether it’s an overdue assignment or a dying friend with cancer.

The Ghost She Killed is the second novel in my Heart Hunters series. Without giving away an spoilers, I can say that it has a lot more action and adventures for my main characters. A chunk of the book is set in a huge, hotel/casino in the heart of Brisbane, inspired by a stay at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, a few years ago. There are also new threats, new demons, new ancient artefacts and a lot more magic.

Bec:  You’ve just chaired a panel at GenreCon 2013 in Brisbane. Authors are famously pretty introverted creatures. Do you get the jitters, or are you confident when it comes to public appearances? What advice would you give first-time panel members?

Cherie: As a child, I was quite shy around strangers. I was more comfortable making friends with books than real-life people – but real-life people are so fascinating! Since my late teens, I’ve learnt to overcome my nerves and step out of my comfort zone so I can talk to strangers.

Some people say imagining their audience naked helps overcome their fears. I’ve never remembered to do that, but I also think it probably wouldn’t work for me – it’d just freak me out!

My advice for first-time panel members:

1. Know your subject but don’t feel nervous about any areas that aren’t your expertise – that’s why there’s a panel.
2. Write the three or four most important areas of discussion in short, sharp bullet points on a palm-sized piece of cardboard – so you don’t forget to bring these subjects up.
3. Imagine you’re only talking to the panel – that the audience doesn’t exist.
4. If you’re asked a question that you really can’t answer, say: “That’s an interesting question. Panel member B, how would you answer this?”
5. Remember to breathe! 🙂

Bec: You come from a strong writing community in Bundaberg. Can you tell us what’s happening up there?

Cherie: Bundaberg has a vibrant writing and arts community and one of the best libraries that you can find down under. Bundy writers are particularly proud of our annual one-day WriteFest in May each year, which brings authors/presenters from across Australia together to deliver cutting-edge info on craft and publishing. We attract attendees from as far away as the northern tip of Queensland and the far south of New South Wales. It’s a warm and close-knit gathering and gives writers like myself the chance to learn heaps – and pitch to top Australian publishers, including Hachette, Random House and HarperCollins. Speakers at next year’s event include international best-selling author Kathryn Fox, children’s picture book author/illustrator Jacque Duffy and industry stalwart Jo Butler who will present a masterclass on fitting your book into the changing shape of Australian publishing. Details will soon be available via bundywriters.com

 Bec: Where would you like to be as a writer in ten years’ time?

Cherie: My ultimate goal is to write full-time – and to find beautiful friends/fans who help spread the word about my stories to others. I write to unleash the characters and stories cluttering my mind. I can do that anywhere, anytime, but I often feel stretched because I’m trying to juggle work, writing, family life and community. My dream is to earn a full-time living from my fiction writing and if I could do that within the next decade, that would be fabulous. I have some amazing stories that I want to share with the world. Watch this space.

Cherie’s Bio:

Dead fingers curled around an ancient crypt and a love of Celtic mythology were the two inspirations behind Cheryse Durrant’s The Blood She Betrayed, the first novel in her Young Adult Urban Fantasy  Heart Hunters series, published by Clan Destine Press. Durrant grew up on a small farm outside Roma where she chatted to scrub faeries and imaginary friends, including a superhero. She wrote her first story on her aunt’s bedroom wall when she was roughly four, but it failed to attract literary acclaim. She worked as a journalist for 15 years before trading her soul for fiction. The coffee/chocolate/strawberry addict now lives at Bargara on the central Queensland coast where she teaches writing through Creative Dragons (www.creativedragons.com.au) and is an avid WriteFest (www.bundywriters.com) fan.

Social media links:

Website  www.cherysedurrant.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CheryseDurrant

Twitter  @CheryseDurrant

GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7166832.Cheryse_Durrant

Paul is interviewed by Bec Stafford.

The Only Game in the Galaxy, Book 3 in The Maximus Black Files, is hot off the press. Congrats! Can you tell us a bit about this third instalment and your experience writing it?

The back cover blurb says: 

In a galaxy of cut-throat companies, shadowy clans and a million agendas, spy agency RIM barely wields enough control to keep order. Maximus Black is RIM’s star cadet. But he has a problem. One of RIM’s best agents, Anneke Longshadow, knows there’s a mole in the organisation. And Maximus has a lot to hide. 

So begins a game of cat and mouse between Maximus Black, our anti-hero, and Anneke Longshadow, pillar of light and good. You might remember ROR conducted a survey a long time ago when Mole Hunt, the first book in the series, came out, you asked if main characters need redeeming features. No respondents thought they did, and a few came out with some classic bad guys who have none. And this is where major publishers fail themselves. This “redeeming features” business is a fallacy. This trilogy was rejected by many publishers. The closest it came to even getting published was with Penguin in the UK, but after a meeting decided they already had the young James Bond series and I think Artemus Fowl, so they declined. It’s lucky I’m a publisher myself. The Maximus Black Files finally saw print with Ford Street Publishing, and it’s been selling extremely well.

Paul, Maximus and his sassy nemesis, Anneke Longshadow, are lively, emotionally complex characters that leap off the page. Can you talk to us about their development and how much fun you have playing them against one another?

I get asked sometimes if I use friends as inspiration for my main characters. I don’t think I do, but I definitely have in mind my favourite characters from other writers’ books. I think of Anneke as Modesty Blaise, Maximus as Artemus Fowl’s evil twin, Daretor from The Jelindel Chronicles as Willie Garvin (Modesty Blaise’s sidekick). When playing characters off against one another you need to know how far your characters will go to top the other one. You need to know from the outset that they’ll do anything to win, bar killing their opponent. So to suspend disbelief, you need to show how the characters are feeling toward their nemesis, and how they personally want to exact revenge rather than hiring someone to do their dirty work. And when it comes to a time when they have their opponent in their sights, the reader needs to know exactly why they’re not going to pull the trigger. So all of this has to be foreshadowed. If you hate someone enough to wish them dead, and then you don’t kill them when you have the chance, there needs to be a rationale for this outcome.

As well as your latest Maximus Black story, Damnation Books in the US just released an adult horror novel, The Beckoning. Do you enjoy getting into different creative headspaces, and do you do anything special to prepare before you sit down to write for one audience or another?

 To be honest, The Beckoning was written over thirty years ago. Yes, persistence is the key when being a writer! This book was first typed on an electric typewriter on the counters of two bookshops I owned in the 80s and 90s. Luckily for me I saved it by typing it on to my first computer back in the mid 90s. It’s since been stored on 3.5 discs, floppies, CDs, zip drives and USB sticks and transferred to about four computers. So in answer to your question, there was no trouble in getting into a specific adult versus young adult headspace when writing these books. But seriously, I can swap genres quite easily. While writing and editing The Only Game in the Galaxy, I also wrote six Lucy Lee books for Macmillan, a choose-your-own adventure called The Toastinator for Macmillan NZ and a middle reader called The Pranksters’ Club for Blake. So we have lower, middle, young adult and an adult horror book that I revised with an editor, all happening at the same timeframe.

Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

 The answer to this might have once been Jelindel, from The Jelindel Chronicles. She’s feisty, going through the rite-of-passage with two young blokes, one of whom is a shyster, and yet somehow she never (well, most of the time!) complains. She learns, she battles wizards and foes despite overwhelming odds, and fulfils her quest. I think Maximus would now burn brightest. As I’ve implied, I thought I had the ultimate anti-hero, someone so bad he killed an entire civilisation seemingly on whim, eliminates enemies with not a second thought, and yet somehow, Maximus Black fans have told me they wound up rooting for him to win. Maybe I did too good a job on him lol. A close friend of mine read the first draft of Mole Hunt and basically said the lead character was so bad that he found reading the book distasteful. Luckily for me the vast majority of readers found the complete opposite.

Hi, Y’all… Bec here with a bit of *FRICKIN’ FANTASTIC* news…

This just in:

Marianne just took out the award for best Science Fiction Novel at the Aurealis Awards for Transformation Space.

From everyone here at Team MDP: CONGRATULATIONS, Marianne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARCH 1st, FINALLY!

Today is the official release date for… yes… you guessed it… Burn Bright!

Trust us when we tell you Marianne’s first YA novel is absolutely *brilliant*. Dark. Thrilling. Spellbinding. Transportive. But why take our word for it when you can have a copy in your hot little hands TODAY?! Run, don’t walk, to the bookstore. You can thank us later 😉

From the staff here at burnbright.com, huge congrats to MDP on this very exciting day.

~Keep watching this space for info, updates, reviews, interviews, and MDP’s appearances~.

and…

BURN BRIGHT!

(p.s. — The Burn Bright blogger draw winner will be announced later today, so stay tuned!)