What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
Ten years ago, I released my first book. Ten years of learning experiences later, I have rewritten it so readers can experience it the right way.
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
I have read plenty of fantasy and literary classics, and occasionally chapbooks of independent poetry.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Right now, I don’t have one. Having gone through big life changes and moves over the past couple of years, it has taken me a lot to refocus. When I am writing a book, I do not read anything else because I need to be thoroughly in the headspace of my book and not immediately influenced by whatever else I might be reading. I may then have a few months to build and navigate a TBR before I embark on the next project.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
Compared with the source material, every scene has been rewritten, but I think only one is entirely new. It’s close to the beginning and served as part inspiration for the cover art. I will leave it at that.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
For this book, I went to a small trailer on a campground—Dreamer’s Writing Farm over in Hepworth, Ontario. I just needed to block time away where I wasn’t obligated to think about work or the daily chores of my home or my usual social interactions. I know that’s not a habit, but I can’t offhand think of anything that isn’t otherwise part of my routine. You might interpret this as saying that I needed to break away from what I usually do.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
I don’t think the way people live can easily be summed up in a quote without being reductive or dismissive of important parts of life. My protagonists generally favor their work toward more hospitable societies with amicable governance. Even Alathea, who has a book of her own but becomes the series antagonist, believes that these would be the long-term achievements resulting from every terrible thing she does.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
Legacy may place you near the top by accident of birth or cast its tall shadow over you. It may grant you burdens along with the tools you need. But whether and how you interpret the lessons it apparently presents to your life, there you have some measure of power and responsibility. When communities do not afford people healthy assistance to consider those lessons, shoulder those burdens, or recognize those tools and how to use them, then any individual might turn to the simplistic and the extreme. At that point, whether they do is left to uncontrolled outside factors, which we sometimes call chance.
