How long have you been writing for MDPWeb, why did you join the group, and what do you like about being part of it?

I think for about a year. I joined because it’s a wonderful opportunity to be associated with great writers, and it keeps me writing.

What creative piece are you working on, and what author would you liken your work too?

Currently attempting a re-imaging of the first story I wrote for young readers. I’m not sure whose style I’m similar to but I’ve been told that my stories have an Alice in Wonderland/Narnia feel to them, with a modern edge.

What book have you most enjoyed reviewing for MDPWeb?

Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2013. Those stories are on fire!

What’s your favourite thing to do in your downtime?

Obviously nothing shameful like inhale TV series and shop online. So…read and be in nature. I also really love to lie down and think.

Is there somewhere else online/in bookstores we can find your work?

Not yet, but you can follow me on Twitter @AVMather, check out my writer’s page on fb under AV Mather, and also find me on my agent’s website blakefriedmann.co.uk

What’s your favourite TV series?

Just one? I can’t be expected to work within these stingy parameters. Twin Peaks, hands down.

Who or what is your current crush?

My current addiction is Canadian and American home renovation shows, and have major crushes on a several of the hosts. I want to be Joanna from Fixer Upper when I grow up.

BIO:

I am a Brisbane-based writer of Fantasy fiction for Young Adults. I have a BA in Fine Arts and a Post-Grad in Education. In previous decades I have worked as a Scenic Artist and a Secondary School Art teacher. Eight years ago I finally gave in to my overactive imagination and devoted myself wholly to writing. I am represented by Tom Witcomb, of Blake Friedmann Agency in London, England.

I enjoy reading widely across genres and am also interested in art, satire, history, the natural world, photography, popular culture, psychology, road trips and good stories – real and imagined.

Introducing Belinda Hamilton:

How long have you been writing for MDPWeb, why did you join the group, and what do you like about being part of it?

I started writing for Marianne in 2009-ish putting out her e-newsletters. It turned into guest blogging, then reviewing. I was so impressed with Marianne for her drive to give a hand to the up and coming that I grabbed hold of the offer and ran with it.

I love the fact our crew is diverse in age, culture, and we’re flung pretty far across the globe. If I do say so myself, I think we’re pretty lucky to have Marianne to bring us all together.

What creative piece are you working on, and what author would you liken your work too?

Currently, my brain is numb from real life getting in my way. In my day dreams I write paranormal fantasy and would love it to be akin to Keri Arthur, or Yasmine Galenorn.

What book have you most enjoyed reviewing for MDPWeb?

This is a hard one. I have discovered SO many new authors, like Jennifer E Smith, and Ben Chandler. I got my hubby hooked on Monster High thanks to the Lisi Harrison books about the dolls. But I think probably the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy and getting the chance to meet Laini Taylor was pretty damn epic.

What’s your favourite thing to do in your downtime?

Read, watch tv, head to the movies and hit the farmers markets.

Is there somewhere else online/in bookstores we can find your work?

When I was president of Vision Writers, we put out an anthology to celebrate 18 years of our group meeting. I don’t have a story in there but it’s still my baby.

What’s your favourite TV series?

Gilmore Girls is my go to when I’m in need of a pick me up.

Who or what is your current crush?

Travis Fimmel could give me his icy Viking glare any day of the week, and Johnny Depp, well, that’s just a given.

Bio:

Belinda Hamilton is a 30 something wife and Mum of one. She attributes her love of books to her Mum and hearing the phrase, “The more you interrupt me, the longer it will take,” more times than most kids.

She is a sucker for a beautiful cover, and loves a happy ending, but by-golly, don’t let the prince do all the saving. Darwin’s theory needs to apply, even in high fantasy.

Bec Stafford interviews Sean McMullen about his new fantasy series written in collaboration with Paul Collins.

Sean, you’ve recently collaborated with Paul Collins on a new 6-part fantasy series, The Warlock’s Child. The first two books (The Burning Sea and Dragonfall Mountain) have now been released and are enjoying a very positive reception. (Book 1 has, in fact, already gone into its second reprint). What was it like co-writing with Paul and what can you tell us about this tale of dragons, magic, and deception?

Paul and I have worked together before, so we have our collaborative roles, strengths and weaknesses pretty well sorted out. I helped Paul with the tech for a young adult story called Deathlight a while back, and after this was published, he started to expand it into a series. Because his publishing company is going really well, he ran out of writing time about a third of the way through. That’s why I was brought in. The language had to be easily accessible to an older child/young adult readership, but I have written for this age group before.

I decided that we needed to plan out a stronger series arc. Dragons are always popular, and Paul had Marc McBride lined up to do the covers. Marc does wonderful dragons, and I had some dragon themes that I’ve wanted to work on, so dragons became the driving force behind the plot.

Dantar, the fourteen year old cabin boy at the centre of things, presented a problem. He was just a cabin boy, and we needed the view from the top as well as the riff-raff’s PoV. I expanded the role of Dantar’s older sister, Velza, rather massively. Velza is an officer on his ship, and she gets to mingle with the leaders, so we see the big picture through her. I rather like Velza, because while she is brave and accomplished, she is also very insecure and highly approval-conscious. Heroes with weaknesses are way better heroes.

The story’s basis is that humans can only ever use one type of the four magics – earth, air, fire or water. Dragons can use all four, and they don’t want humans to become as powerful as themselves. While the dragons are immortal, they have become sterile, which is a big concern for any dragon. Now a human warlock has discovered the cure for dragon infertility, and he wants to trade this secret for power over all four magics. He is even willing to kill his son Dantar (the warlock’s child of the title), to get this power.  Dantar is less than enthusiastic about being the raw materials for dad’s experiments, so he goes on the run in Book 2.

Two editions of your ebook collections, Ghosts of Engines Past (featuring steampunk stories), and Colours of the Soul (your recent science fiction and fantasy work) have been released through ReAnimus Press and Amazon.com. What do you enjoy about short fiction, and which is your favourite genre to write in: steampunk, science fiction, or straight fantasy?

Short stories are the motorcycles of literature, they allow me to dash in quickly and do some really exciting things, while the reader hangs on and hopes I don’t crash. They have intensity rather than complexity, but they are a definite challenge when fitting in character development characters and creating a plausible background. Novels are more like container ships, not as exciting but able to carry way more. I am currently about two months off finishing a steampunk novel, which may turn out to be a container ship that handles like a motorcycle.

Steampunk is my favourite genre, although I consider it to be a mixture fantasy and science fiction. The Victorian era backdrop that steampunk uses is easily as romantic as medieval fantasy, but you can also use electricity, steam engines, computers and telegraphs. Even better, a lot of people tried to establish a scientific basis for the occult and magic during the Nineteenth Century, so steampunk can have magic as well.

When writing steampunk, I enjoy the challenge of keeping the technology feasible for the period. In Ninety Thousand Horses I had a rocket powered train that can travel faster than sound, so the setting had to be 1899 – when liquid oxygen was commercially available. That said, Ninety Thousand Horses also needed a strong romantic theme. I based that part on Verdi’s La Traviata story of love, tragedy, revenge and assorted highly charged emotions. It won the Analog readers’ poll, so I seem to have got the balance right.

On your website, your fans can listen to a series of audio tales which you personally read. Hearing our favourite authors read their own stories is always a real treat. Do you enjoy reading your work? Which of your own favourite writers would you like to hear reading their works and why?

I love reading my work, it’s like being able to write more detail into the text without adding more words. I have a professional background in acting and singing, and have had training as an actor. That’s very important when doing audio recordings because readings are as hard to get right as songs – if not harder.  It’s not uncommon to hear an author admit to buying a nice piece of audio kit to do readings of their own work, being horrified when they hear themselves reading, then putting the recording unit straight onto eBay. It’s a skill that needs a lot of work and practise, there is no doubt about that.

Neil Gaiman is easily the best reader among the authors I know. He has it all – breath control, characterisation, intonation and great material to read. I am particularly fond of Owls, his take on the Seventeenth Century antiquarian John Aubry. At his best, Douglas Adams was just as good. His reading at Melbourne University was magical, nobody did Marvin the Paranoid Android as well as Adams himself. Unfortunately, his commercial readings don’t come across as well; they sound as if they were recorded one sentence at a time.

In general, actors do a far better job with readings than authors; so, I prefer readings by actors. Tony Robinson, Peter O’Toole, Boris Karloff, Nigel Planer and Sean Connery and among my favourites. You may have noticed that there are no women among all those actors and authors named, and that they are all British. That is because I am probably (subconsciously) looking for examples of readings that I can learn from to improve my own reading technique. After all, I have a deep voice and I do a reasonably convincing British accent. I used to think I sounded Australian, but people kept asking me how long I’ve been out here, and whether I went to Oxford or Cambridge.

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

“Burns Brightest” could have various meanings, so I’ll make two attempts. The bad-boy wastrel John Glasken is certainly a favourite with many readers, and he does loom exceedingly large in the Greatwinter novels. He is a mixture of all sorts of people I knew from my university/rock band/folk music/party-all-night-and-try-to-sleep-at-work years. My attitude to him is similar to the way Rowan Atkinson feels about Mr Bean: a wonderful piece of character creation, but if he arrived to take your daughter on a date you would slam the door in his face.

My personal favourite is Zarvora, the dragon black chief librarian who invents the human powered computer, the Calculor, in Souls in the Great Machine. She is a bit like Terry Pratchett’s Lord Vetinari, a strong, ruthless leader who gets results and does not suffer fools gladly – yet she does get it wrong occasionally.

I have a great fondness for characters who are flawed but brilliant. If asked which character I wish I had created, it would definitely be the Sherlock Holmes from the Sherlock TV series. I shall be doing some more work on the fourth Greatwinter book later this year. It is set two hundred years after Eyes of the Calculor, so Zarvora is no more, but there is another chief librarian continuing the tradition of being brilliant, dedicated, flawed, focused, and just a little short of temper.

Bec Stafford interviews Gold Coast based YA author, Marianne Curley.

Q1. Fearless (the third book of your Avena series) will be released later this year and is already available for pre-order. Your star-crossed lovers, Ebony and Nathaneal, are determined to reconnect, though Ebony is trapped in a hellish reality. Will he free his angel?! How does your romance background inform your YA novels? And are you a romantic in real life?

What a loaded first question! In the upcoming finale to the Avena Series, Ebony and Nathaneal are determined to reconnect, but whether they do, and whether or not Nathaneal is able to free his angel, is not something I’m willing to divulge at this time. In other words, you have to wait until Fearless is released on the first of July to find out! But I can tell you that Fearless is packed with action, and whether the star crossed lovers reconnect or not, it won’t be from a lack of trying by the both of them.

I’m assuming by romantic background that you mean the eight manuscripts I wrote and submitted to Mills & Boon twenty odd years ago. They were enormously helpful even though Mills & Boon didn’t publish them. I refer to those manuscripts as my learning phase, my writing apprenticeship. Those were the books that taught me discipline, patience, persistence, and above all, how to write romance. All my young adult novels, from Old Magic to Fearless, have strong romantic elements. Almost all great books have love stories at their core. It’s the love story that drives the characters as they forge ahead to eliminate the obstacles that keep them apart.

Your question whether I consider myself a romantic intrigued me, and I had to check what being a romantic actually means. There are quite a lot of ideas and interpretations on the Internet, but it seems the general consensus is that a romantic is someone with a sensitive nature and who has an awareness of people’s feelings. They can tell when someone is sad, for instance, and they give love out as much as they receive, and probably more. Their view of love is idealistic, believing in the happily ever after scenario, and their actions and gestures come from their hearts. In other words, they’re sincere. And finally, they look for beautiful things and beautiful ways to express themselves. Is this me? Other than being slightly jaded from life’s occasional bitter experiences, I would say, yes, at heart I am a romantic.

Q2. I read the amazing story of how one of your avid Guardians of Time trilogy fans actually wrote a sequel to your story. How does it make you feel to know that you’ve made such an impression on your audience, and if you could continue, or extend, a favourite storyline, which would you choose and why?

I am consistently floored and humbled by my readers. Whether my writing has inspired someone to create a drawing of my characters, a poster or book cover for a school project, or write a 500 page sequel, or go on to become a published writer, every time I’m made aware of their achievements, I feel privileged and inspired to write more and more.

The storyline I would continue is The Guardians of Time, a fourth novel to pick up after the final battle in The Key. I’ve thought about doing this many times, even to the point where I created a plan for a new series based on the same characters but one year later. The reason I would like to do this is simple, this series doesn’t feel finished.

Q3. Where to after the Avena series, Marianne?

It’s going to be something different for me next. I’ve written a young adult contemporary manuscript, title not yet confirmed, that I have just sent to my agent to read. My fingers and toes are crossed as I wait a verdict. After that I will be writing another YA contemporary novel. And following that book, I will likely return to writing paranormal fiction.

Q4. Which of your characters burns brightest?

Without hesitation the character who burns brightest in my family of characters is my most recent member – Ebony Hawkins. I’ve watched her evolve from being a confused girl who knows she is different to something unique and special. From the start Ebony knows she does not fit in the normal world. Questioning her parents, she learns of her unusual adoption. Then a remarkably-beautiful stranger enters her life. He tells Ebony that she’s an angel. And while trust doesn’t come easy to Ebony, nothing will now stop her from searching for the truth. Ebony goes on a roller coaster ride, breaking free of restraints that were forced on her at birth, learning more about herself with each chapter, each volume, until she evolves into her true self.

Bio:

Marianne never thought she would be a writer. It was not until her mid-thirties, while teaching office studies and computers to adults at the Coffs Harbour Education Campus that she began to write, taking courses and experimenting with various styles and genres.

Marianne’s first four novels, Old Magic, The Named, The Dark and The Key, were published by Bloomsbury Publishing in Australia, the UK, and the USA, with translations into more than a dozen foreign languages. They have won numerous awards, and sold in numbers well in excess of half a million books worldwide.

In 2004, just as The Key was being prepared for printing, Marianne was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone marrow cancer called Myelofibrosis. With only a short time to live, she was given a stem-cell bone marrow transplant using her sister’s cells, which saved her life. Marianne has now been cancer free for ten years and has written a new trilogy called the Avena Series. The first two books, Hidden and Broken were published in 2013 and 2014, with the third, Fearless, is to be released on the first of July, 2015.

Belinda interviews Lauren Galley as her latest book KISSING FROGS is released. You can read Bel’s review here.

The theme of your book ‘Kissing Frogs’ is to have self-awareness enough to move on from less than ideal relationships. How did it feel laying your stories out for everyone to see?

The thought of sharing my awkward, embarrassing and sometimes scary dating stories for the world to see gave me a little anxiety but in order to get my message across to young girls, I knew I had to find common ground and refrain from preaching. Instead, I felt my stories would be relatable and my honesty might tug at their hearts enough to question their perspective on dating.

How do you think people can go about breaking the cycle of divorce and failed relationships?

This is really tough. I believe breaking this cycle starts from when we are a child. I grew up in a very loving stable home with parents who believed in being in the moment with their children. I learned the values of kindness, right vs wrong and respect from a very early age. Being surrounded by positive mentors gave me the fundamental building block to make smart choices and not be afraid of knowing my self worth.

Did you read any relationship self-help books while you were dating? If so, which ones made you think more positively?

I loved reading books in high school…still do but wish I had more time. I never came across a popular book about dating; one that was written from a peer’s perspective. This is one of the reasons I felt inspired to write “Kissing Frogs.” I didn’t have a big sister growing up and as we all know, girls love reading about others experiences.

For any guys who are desperate to figure out the ideal first date to keep the pressure off, what would you suggest?

I love this question and I think I can speak for most of the girls out there when I say that a first date should always be without tons of distraction. Movies, busy restaurants and house parties don’t allow us to have great conversations. A lot can be determined on a first date if you ask the right questions and really get to know the person you are considering a relationship with. Keep it simple guys!! A fun picnic at the park, a coffee date, or even something fun like a game of putt putt golf or bowling. First dates can be a little nerve-wracking so do something fun and end with an opportunity to ask those important questions. One last thing guys, never put a girl in a situation that she feels too isolated. Girls want to have fun, talk and feel safe.