Interviews

Daydreaming the future: An interview with Jenny Martin

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Black and white photo of a vintage toy race car.

Cars, racing and a passel of my favourite movies! I talk with Jenny Martin about what makes YA sci-fi awesome and her book, Tracked.  Don’t forget to check out how you can win a copy of Tracked at the bottom of the interview. BELINDA: What is YA science fiction to you? JENNY: First and foremost, it’s something near … Read more

On mirrors and YA sci-fi: An interview with N.K. Traver

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A computer-hacking teen. The girl who wants to save him. And a rogue mirror reflection that might be the death of them both. That’s a great opening line and it’s on the back of Duplicity, a YA cyber-thriller by N.K. Traver. Find out how you can win a copy at the bottom of the interview. BELINDA: … Read more

Geekdom, YA sci-fi and Africa: An interview with Shallee McArthur

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Shallee McArthur is the author of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, a sci-fi thriller about a girl who remembers everything, until the day she doesn’t. Don’t forget to find out how you can win a copy of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee at the bottom of the interview. BELINDA: What is YA science fiction (sci-fi) to … Read more

Someone to empathise with: Bokerah Brumley on antiheroines

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Bokerah Brumley is the author of the upcoming novella Feather, an urban fantasy about a vampire named Jane, the assassin out to kill her and the hotel she drags him to.

BELINDA: Tell us about Jane and what makes her an antiheroine.

BOKERAH: Jane Jones hides in average. She isn’t tall, she isn’t thin, and she isn’t drop-dead gorgeous. She wears baggy jeans, t-shirts, and has had the same pair of prescription glasses since the fifties. The only time she struts her tail feathers is when she’s hunting in Central Park. For her, the constant chaos of the mortal world is an annoyance, an interference in her nightly buffet. Jane’s caustic and blunt. She’s more than happy staying that way. After all, she’d earned it. The sweet has been burned out of her by the harsh realities of surviving. For hundreds of years, the universe has spun a vindictive web around her. She doesn’t love, she chooses not to have sex, and she doesn’t save anyone’s skin but her own. That is, until her assassin comes along and forces her to risk everything to save herself. It’s not her fault that means saving New York, too.

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On space opera, YA and druids: an interview with Janine A. Southard

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Revoltech Fräulein No. 004 Pocco by davidd (https://flic.kr/p/9TBxgD)

Janine A. Southard is the author of the Hive Queen Saga, a sci-fi (space opera, to be exact) trilogy about a group of teenagers who steal (kinda) a spaceship and take off on the adventure of their lives. If you haven’t read the first book, you can find out how to get a free copy of … Read more

Just trying to get out of it alive: D. Scott Johnson on antiheroines

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Image, 'Traitor', by JD Hancock (flic.kr/p/8nDfFk)

D. Scott Johnson is the author of Gemini Gambit, a novel about a woman who’s in hiding after she “accidentally-but-sort-of-on-purpose flash-freezes the son of a drug kingpin”.

BELINDA: Tell us about Kimberly and what makes her an antiheroine.

Gemini Gambit by D. Scott JohnsonSCOTT: I went and looked up the definition first, just to be sure I didn’t blow it by getting the basics wrong. Wikipedia says, “An antihero or antiheroine is a protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, and morality.” By that definition, Kim isn’t an extreme form of antihero, because at the opening of the story she does have a moral compass and can be courageous when she has to be. But she didn’t start out that way. In her earlier life, Kim was a cyber-thief who thought nothing of destroying people in the pursuit of a self-defined “greater good.” She lost her idealism when those decisions came back to haunt her. At the opening of the story, Kim’s been on the run and almost completely alone for five years because of that.

And, personality-wise, she’s not conventionally likable. She’s not fair, and she doesn’t want to be nice. Kim has anger issues, says what she thinks, and has no desire to fit in or get along. It’s usually her way or the highway. She doesn’t go on crusades, but if people show up at her door needing to be rescued, she won’t slam it in their face. She will, however, probably make them question whether this is the hero they were looking for.

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I don’t give a shit: Rebecca Lim on antiheroines

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Black by Doug Calloway

Rebecca Lim is the author of the Mercy series, a paranormal fantasy about an angel, named Mercy, who hijacks the bodies of mortal girls.

BELINDA: Tell us about Mercy, what makes her an antiheroine?

The cover of Mercy by Rebecca LimREBECCA: In Mercy and the other books in the series Exile, Muse, Fury and the next instalment I’m writing at the moment, Wraith, I created an amnesiac, exiled creature of spirit who calls herself Mercy.

She’s been forced to live thousands of human lives for her own protection and keeps “waking” inside a new human body with no idea of who and what she really is, and why this is being done to her – a process that I called “soul jacking”.

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Authors, readers and worldbuilders for interview

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Old Fashioned Microphone.

If you’re one of the following, I’m looking to interview you. An author of books and/or comics An avid reader A game designer/game master A worldbuilder in general. Interviews are posted here and promoted via my newsletter, Twitter and Facebook. Each month I post a series of interviews around a specific topic (check below for upcoming topics). … Read more

On starcats, worldbuilding and cinematic storytelling

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This is a reposting of an interview I conducted as part of the launch of Leonie Roger’s second book, Frontier Resistance, and has been edited to reflect the growing list of Leonie’s published works. Starcats are the kind of animals that we all would have nagged our parents to get for Christmas. Fortunately for our parents, starcats … Read more