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Felinity Interview – A.F.E Smith

 

Hi and welcome to Team Grimbold! Felinity is set to be the first publication under the Kristell Inkling imprint, and we’re thrilled to have you on board. Tell us about yourself. (Please include links to blogs/sites/Twitter/published works etc)

My name is A.F.E. Smith, and online I am often to be found in the form of a robin. Perhaps not the safest choice with Grim and Bold around, but I’m used to being a bird by now so I’ll take my chances. Very few people have seen my actual face … well, you know, except in my offline life. It’s not like I wear a mask to the supermarket or anything.

Anyway, I’m a fantasy writer and my first novel, Darkhaven, is due to be released as an ebook by Harper Voyager later this year – which means I’m currently in a permanent state of both excitement (making my début!) and fear (what if everyone hates it?). I have a website atwww.afesmith.com, where I blog and interview with varying degrees of, er, sporadicity, and I’m on Twitter as @afesmith. I’ve also recently made myself a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AuthorAFESmith, which does have my face on it. So if you’re curious, you know where to look 🙂

What inspired your story for Felinity?

Cats are renowned for having nine lives, so I began to wonder: what if the same cat had witnessed nine key discoveries in history? More – since we all know cats are in charge of us really, what if the cat caused those discoveries to be made? And that’s how Nein was born.

How do you feel about having an illustration accompany your story?

Excited. A little bit thrilled, actually. I’ve always longed for someone to create illustrations for my books – one of my ambitions is for my writing to be successful enough to be made into a graphic novel. It’s always amazing to see my work fire enough of a spark in someone else’s imagination for them to be able to bring it to life.

What writing projects are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on the sequel to Darkhaven, and a completely different adult fantasy called Dawn Rising (the first in a rather complicated five-part series), and also a young adult fantasy called Arcana. Sometimes I write short stories or flash fiction in between. Of course, all that has to fit around my actual job and my life with the other Smiths, Mr and Baby. And Baby Smith 2 is on the way …

Congratulations on Baby Smith 2! Now, the most important question – Cats or dogs?

As pets, or as overlords? I wouldn’t choose either a dog or a cat as a pet. Dogs are too needy, and I’d always suspect the cat of plotting against me. But I’d certainly back the cats to defeat the dogs if it came to an outright species war. They’re far better tactical thinkers.

 

Inkling Interrogation

 

  1. What sort of child were you?

    I’m reliably informed that I was the World’s Worst Baby. I cried non-stop until I learned to read at the age of two. After that I always had my head in a book and barely made a sound. Except to ask for more books.

    Of course, I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where there were always drawing and writing materials to hand, and plenty of books for all age groups to explore – so I always had an outlet for my creativity. When I was old enough, my mother introduced me to J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin and Anne McCaffrey. That was it. I’d found my spiritual home, and I’ve loved fantasy ever since.

  2. If you could be a superhero, who would you be?

    I feel like I already am a superhero. After all, I have two identities and almost no-one knows them both. Shame about the lack of actual superpower, of course, but I can work on that. Does an infinite ability to procrastinate count?

    Seriously, though … I think if I could pick, I’d be Iron Man. Because he’s a superhero not by virtue of being an alien or as a result of some kind of radioactive accident, but through the application of science and human intelligence. And that’s something I can get behind.

    (I realise Batman also fits into this category, but I don’t think I could cope with all that brooding. Besides, Iron Man has a flying suit, and for me that trumps the Batmobile any day.)

  3. What’s your earliest memory?

    You know, I’m not even sure. After a while it becomes hard to know whether you remember something, or just remember remembering it.

    I definitely remember being at my first primary school, seeing a copy of Roald Dahl’s The BFG that one of the older children had left in the cloakroom, and thinking ‘Wow, that looks like a really grown-up book, I’ll be able to read that one day’. And I also remember being given a copy of The Hobbit for the first time (I think it was in a doctor’s waiting room) and spending ages just looking at the cover. You know, the classic dark blue and green and white one, slightly abstract.

    Yeah … most of my early memories are about books.

  4. If you could sing one song on the X-Factor, what would it be?

    Pink Floyd’s ‘Have a Cigar’. Since it’s about the way the music industry treats artists as commodities, I think it would be appropriate. Plus it contains one of my all-time favourite lyrics.

  5. What’s your biggest disappointment?

    I don’t know. Probably myself. No matter how I try, I can’t stop wasting time. I have no idea what I was doing before Baby Smith was born. I must have had vast quantities of free time, and yet I don’t appear to have used it wisely at all.

    That, and hot chocolate, which never tastes as good as the idea of hot chocolate.

  6. If you could enroll in a PhD program, with your tuition paid in full by a mysterious benefactor, what would you study — and why?

    Theoretical physics. Quantum mechanics. Elementary particles. That kind of thing. I can’t think of a more fascinating subject than the fundamental fabric of life itself. (In a parallel universe, I’m basically Sheldon Cooper.)

  7. Who would play you in a movie of your life?

    If they made a movie of my life it would have to be part fantasy. My life so far has been so normal that it would make an incredibly dull movie. So it would have to be one of those films where you see the protagonist’s imagination come alive. Then the story of my life would basically just become the framing narrative for my characters’ stories, and that would make a far better movie.

    I don’t really want an actor to play me. Rather, I’d like the film to be animated, because I love animation. To begin with I was thinking Disney, so lots of pretty dresses and me breaking into song all over the place, but actually I think Studio Ghibli would be a better fit for me. Something dark and strange to match the contents of my head. James Earl Jones could do my voice. (Not that I sound anything like him, of course; he just rocks.)

  8. Do you sing in the shower?

    Always. I sing whatever’s got stuck in my head, so these days it tends to be songs that Baby Smith likes. ‘Walking in the Jungle’, ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, or songs from the Frozen soundtrack – he loves those. In fact, I’m humming ‘Fixer-Upper’ right now.

 

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Felinity Interview – Rachael Brown

 

Hi and welcome to Team Grimbold! Felinity is set to be the first publication under the Kristell Inkling imprint, and we’re thrilled to have you on board. Tell us about yourself. (Please include links to blogs/sites/Twitter/published works etc)

What inspired your story for Felinity?

I was reading an online publication about the devastating deforestation of jungles across eastern Asia, and the effects on the large cats which inhabit them while watching a weather forecast for the following week I was initially struck with the idea of a bizarre panther stuck atop a weather cloud who secretly controlled the weather and was luring weather forecasters with premonitions to their deaths out of spite over what atrocities were being done and still are done to his kind. This idea remained with me for several weeks, and I frequently dreamt about the events of it as a possible short story. However I wanted an outlet for it, which I found with the felinity contest.

How do you feel about having an illustration accompany your story?

Fantastic! Its eye-opening to see a piece of writing visualised because you get a real perspective of how others interpret your characters and your writing. Sadly, without the ability to share perception it’s easy to get caught up in your way of seeing while writing. Also the illustration will be absolutely exquisite with the talent that these illustrators I am sure possess.

What writing projects are you working on at the moment?

Currently I’m writing a sci-fi novel on Watt pad

The most important question – Cats or dogs?

I would have to say cats, personally. Dogs are lovely with their loyalty, spirits and energy but there is a deeper sense of comfort and contentedness I feel when with a cat. You can rely on them and you don’t have to fuss and fend for them, because their indepent detached animals, unlike Dogs which need constant attention, which isn’t a bad thing but for quieter people can be difficult to handle. I personally, curled up with my cat and a classic film is one of my favourite pastimes.

 

 

 

Inkling Interrogation

1. What genre of music do you love? – First and foremost classic rock from the 60-70’s, I just can’t get enough of the sweet sounds of Queen, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie. I also enjoy gospel music, jazz, classical music (mostly game soundtracks), traditional Japanese music and a guilty pleasure- Lithuanian folk music.

2. What’s the worst present  you’ve been given? – The worst present ive ever been given was for Christmas. It was a bizarre hairstyling device for creating ‘hot buns’ as it said on the label- I spent over an hour attempting to wrestle my hair into a bun, getting tied up and fuming in the process until I banished it to the space underneath my bed, where it has now been assimilated beneath unwanted clothes and old socks, never to be seen again.

3. If you were an animal, what would you be? – I would like to think I would be a dolphin based on their intuitiveness and sensitivity, but in all honesty I would probably be a sloth. The rate in which I get out of bed in the morning is appalling….

4. Pick 2 celebrities to be your parents, why them? – Hayao Miyazaki, mastermind behind animation behemoth Studio Ghibli, I would make my father, because of his abundant creativity, wit intellect and open-mindedness as an individual. As a feminist his films provide strong three dimensional female role models which speak to me as an independent person, and the hidden meanings behind all of his films speak volumes about what he could communicate to me about wisdom, politics and the state of the world. Also he has an incredible beard, like threads of snow. Meanwhile Marie Curie, influential and outstanding physicist and chemist I would make my mother. With her drive and determination, sparkling brainpower and raw dedication to her craft she would serve as a true inspiration for me. Hopefully she would also encourage me with goals of my own, as one of the key female figures of history in the STEM area of work.

5. What was the last gift you gave someone? –  The last gift I gave someone was a Nintendo 3D’s console for their birthday, along with the newest Mario Kart game. This is awesome considering I now have someone to play with and aim all my blue shells at. Heheheheh

6. A penguin walks through your front door wearing a flat cap and smoking a pipe, what does he say and why is he here? – The penguin screeches “the eels are coming, high-lord Rachael. The eternal ice-wars begin.”  To warn me, as me and my penguin armies prepare in my top-secret base located in the heart of the polar Alps to engage in battle with the eels, a noble race that simply wishes to bring socialism to the polar Alps, which we strive against.

In my mind.

In reality the nurse who has diagnosed me with schizophrenia is just walking into the room to give me my medicine, proclaiming to my shrieking and squealing that no, she is not a penguin.

 7. What’s your favourite food? –  Im personally a real glutton, so something like tiramisu would have to be my answer. The velvety layers of rich cream, coffee and soaked sponge are simply to die for, especially when washed down with a steaming mug of coffee. Mmmmm, I’m feeling hungry already just writing about it. How do the Italians have such a culture of perfect food?!

8. If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out? – I would request for whoever had placed me in the blender to also pour in cream, which they would then lightly blend until it turned into butter and buttermilk. Then I would form a slippery staircase using the butter, not forgetting to throw some nearby to cushion my fall as I jump out. Then I would ask for some French toast or mini toast to eat with the butter to celebrate my escape.

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Our First Grimkin Author!

Kate1When we opened up submissions for Grimkins, Inklings and Nyxies, we received a huge amount of high quality work (and we’re still working through the submissions!). One piece of work that stood out was ‘Green Sky and Sparks’, a novella by Kate Coe.
Green Sky and Sparks mixes steampunk and fantasy with a fresh and fast-paced writing voice. The first of a trilogy, here’s a little bit about the book from the author:

 

In a world of magic, wind and electricity, Catter Jeck is offered the chance to explore a myth. Travelling from city to city, his search for the centre of the magic catches others in its coils. When the Lord Heir of Meton offers to continue the search in his flying machine, the consequences of their crash – and Toru’s accidental link to a dying Healer – suddenly become of central importance to all of their lives.
Thank you for joining Team Grimbold, Kate!

Click HERE for a little more on Kate.