Interview With Author Robert Ford

Today we are joined by writer and filmmaker Robert Ford, who stops by for an interview:

 

 Interview With Robert Ford

1- Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.

Hello. My name is Robert Ford. I live in London and divide my time between writing and working in film and television on the editorial side of things. Currently in training for the Graeco-Roman wrestling, Rio 2016.

2- You’ve written your first novel, The King of Spain.  Can you tell us a bit about it?

The King of Spain is set in an old people’s home, in the future. It’s a dark comedy about the people who work there and the adventures they have. It’s quite silly but very serious and hugely entertaining. Of course.

3- What inspired you to write this particular story?

The King of Spain came about through a collision of elements, of thoughts and concerns. There were a set of personal strands that I wanted to explore and a set that were more global. It sound obvious, but the more I thought about things, the more I came to realize that these two tracts were absolutely interrelated, and it was from that starting point that everything else flowed.

4- You’ve written several screenplays, as well as the book.  What is the biggest difference you’ve found between writing a screenplay and a novel?

I loved the freedom that a novel affords you. You don’t have to think about the physical or financial constraints of making the final film. About casting or time pressures or any of those things. It felt liberating, not least in the respect that I could suddenly use language in a much more sophisticated manner - my screenplays were probably over cooked in terms of stage directions etc. At the same time I tried to remember that with a screenplay you can conjure a scene, and introduce characters with very few words. There is an economy inherent in their form and at their best this allows the reader to flex their imagination, which is a real strength.

5- You’ve also worked in film and had your directorial debut with Sexy Pig, broadcast on the BBC HD channel.  What was that experience like?

It was great, especially as the film was shot for no money and with no resources. Felt like we achieved a great deal with not much.

6- What is a typical day of writing like for you?

Unfortunately I rarely get to write during the day. More often I’ll write at night, when the rest of the world is sleeping.

7- What’s your greatest challenge when it comes to writing?

Finding time. Ideas come to me easily. I write slowly but I get there in the end. The biggest issue I have is finding time after work to write, especially now that I have a daughter. And I’m not someone who does well off no sleep, although I’ve had to adapt. My greatest wish is that one day someone will pay me to write. During the day.

8- Who are your writing inspirations?

Lewis Carol, Hubert Selby Jnr, Hunter S Thompson, Charles Dickens, Graham Greene, Roald Dahl, Haruki Marukami.

9- What’s next for you?

Once all the 4p royalties are in from the book I plan to buy a boat. Well, a rubber dinghy anyway. Yachts are so, like, last year. The dingy is a classic design and cheaper to run. My wife has offered to row us across the Irish Sea so we may hole up in Dublin for a while. TBC.

Author Bio:

After graduating from Reading University in 2003, Robert Ford briefly worked as a journalist in India before turning to the world of film editing, where he has been employed ever since. As well as prose, he has written several screenplays, and his directorial debut Sexy Pig was broadcast on the BBC HD channel last year.

He now lives and works in north-west London, roaming the streets in search of inspiration, drinking too much coffee and not writing as much as he should.

The King of Spain

When unworldly 22-year-old Sam is offered the chance to swap life in his regulation bungalow for a job at a countryside retirement home, he drops everything and heads to the rolling fields of Sussex. But things at the eerie Edge Hill are far from what he imagined.

The residents are easily over 100 years old, but due to rigorous cosmetic upkeep they look like they are in their twenties. The strange ‘handlers’ who work in the facility seem to have everything under control – until a geriatric stampede sets off a mind-blowing sequence of events that threatens to alter his life for ever.

In this sensational debut novel set in the not-too-distant future, Robert Ford has created a universe of his own in order to brilliantly illuminate the one – and the age – we all share…

 

The King of Spain:

http://apostrophebooks.com/kingofspain/

 

Magical, Mystical Tour: A Look Inside A Prince from the Shadows

Today the spotlight is on the book A Prince from the Shadows by J.Curtis Mace, as he stops by as part of his Blog Tour.

He's bringing with him a post detailing the fascinating background on the magic of the world inside A Prince from the Shadows, and a giveaway of a PDF copy of his book and some digital character art to one lucky commenter :

 The Myst

The magic of Erthlynd is called the Myst. This is the force of energy that surrounds and permeates everything. It can be moved and manipulated and even seen, but only by someone with a gift for the art. True mystics can harness this energy. They and use their own energy and even cast it out from themselves. It can also be combined with elemental magic (and other ancient strengths) and moved to a greater effect.

Before the breaking of the Old World and the "coming apart of all things," this Myst was contained in core of the great earthstone and only touched the world indirectly. Still, men abused the power and everything around them to know end, until the planet destroyed itself to be free of them.

And with the breaking, the Myst was set free. 

Of course, there was no one to use (or abuse) this magic, no life left to benefit from it. The great destruction erased even the memory of living things. But the Myst is the energy of everything, and it never dies. The deepest magic remained, and eventually it brought about another change.

It took a countless age for the Myst to manifest itself again. But life was eventually given a second chance. 

On the barren surface of the stone that would later become Erthlynd, a small flame appeared. Flaring blue at first then green with it and then red, this fire was the raw manifestation of the Myst burning in its purest form. These Fyres of Creation, the Incyn Vi'Ari, were literally the spark of life and the catalyst for living things brought back into the world. 

Of course, Man tried to control this fire and its elder magic and take it for their own.

The Incyn Vi'Ari ended the First War by changing the face of Erthlynd again to protect itself from Man's lust for power. Closed off from the world by the Genesys Mountains, the power of the Myst housed beneath the base of Ilsfore's Peak, still touches the world directly, but it's protected by the surrounding stone and by the fabled few who swore oaths to protect it.

The hands of Man can no longer touch the flame and the power of the Myst within, but those with the gift can manipulate the Myst and move it at their will. 

These are mystics, and Jeodyn is one of them.

In the East, the art of mystic manipulation was lost and forgotten. Those with the gift were/are looked down on as witches and evil men. In West though, the Myst was embraced. Vallyn, Jeodyn's first forefather, brought the study of the art with him into the West, and for a long time it flourished. The Blood of Vallyn was known from its beginning as a line of mystic kings, until one king without the gift took the throne. There had been others to carry Vallyn's blood and not his passion for the Myst, but this last king's pride and insecurity got the better of him, and he banished the practice, forcing it underground. 

With the practice banned, those who studied the Myst were forced into hiding. They banned together to form the Brothers of Sodal, and they studied the Myst in secret. They were a close-knit of group of brothers who vowed to never let Vallyn's teachings die. It was always understood that one should know the Myst and study and keep it, so that they may keep it safe from those who would abuse it. This promise kept the mystic art alive in Vallynhelm. 

When my story starts, the art of mystic manipulation has been banned for generations. Jeodyn is the first of the Royal line to be accepted as one of the Brothers of Sodal. His friend Leye is a very strong mystic, who would only take their offer to join if they took him.

The Brothers have their traditions, and a young mystic's seeking is one of their oldest. Earning a beard and dreadlocks during the year alone in the wild is another, though it's now custom to shave them before coming home (Jeodyn decides to keep them as tribute to the old ways). He spent all year in seclusion studying his art and realizing his talent.

Jeodyn can move objects by focusing on the energy surrounding them, he can even break them apart. Focusing on the energy of the Myst inside him (which is very strong, the strongest since Vallyn himself, though Jeodyn doesn't know it yet), he can cast his Myst as a punch or a strike, as an extension of himself. He's learning to channel it, and he even has the opportunity to use his own strength with another magic just as powerful and just as old as the Myst.

With the new incarnation of an ancient darkness now gunning for his family, Jeodyn's gonna need every bit of the strength he possesses and then some to keep his family safe. He knows his greatest power is rooted in the royal blood he shares with his namesake (Vallyn), and he knows he must use everything he can to keep that bloodline unbroken.

A Prince from the Shadows

A reluctant prince, determined to be a better man than his father, the king, has ever been, Jeodyn spent his last year in the wild, secretly studying the banned art of manipulating the Myst. Returning home, he knows he'll have to face his king's wrath and his mother's worry. But what Jeodyn finds with his younger sister is completely unexpected: Jynn has become dark and distant of late and has committed herself to a lover whose sinister demeanor personifies her own rebellion perfectly. No one realizes just how dark Jynn's heart has turned though or how deeply she's fallen, until she disappears.
Now, everything Jeodyn has learned and everything he's ever known about himself will be tested, when he sets out to do what his father should but never will: defend their family. Convinced Jynn will only leave again if they force her back, King Thayne gives the order that no one is to follow after her. So, to keep the promise he makes to his mother, Jeodyn must leave out alone to face the creature of darkness that has taken his sister.
Noirlok was born a man of Vallynhelm, but he lost his love and his life to the throne he swore to protect. Now, he has sworn revenge. To him, Jynn is that vengeance he's wanted for so long and the face of the love he'd for so long been without, and he takes her as his own. With the dark legion of shadowmen known as Shadorym behind him and the night at his command, Noirlok is ready to use all his power to keep what is his.
When Jeodyn ventures into the darkness of the ShadowLands to face Noirlok and take Jynn back, the fight to defend what they all have at stake begins.
A Prince from the Shadows is Book One in the series, Heroes and Flame, Blood and Myst.

The book is available from Lulu.com and Apple

About the Author:

J.Curtis Mace was born in Baltimore, MD, lived in Colonial Beach, VA, then North Hartford, MD and moved to Caroline County to in the ninth grade.  He graduated from CHS, class of ’96.  He's lived in Richmond, VA ever since (except for brief stints in Abilene, TX and Venice, CA).

He's married, he and his wife Heather have three children, and a dog.  He loves writing, art, and telling stories. Sharing them with the world is a new thing for him, but he's quickly learning how much he loves that too.
 

What to Study If You Want to Write Speculative Fiction

Today we have a guest blogger, writer Lauren Bailey, who's here with some interesting advice for those geeky writers out there:

 

What to Study If You Want to Write Speculative Fiction

Judging from my own experience, and that of other sci-fi lovers I’ve met, people frequently fall in love with speculative fiction as adolescents, or perhaps in junior high. Not that you’re entirely unfamiliar with the tropes of sci-fi as a child, in our society where a whole generation of post-Star Wars blockbusters have made sci-fi-lite the hegemonic genre of entertainment. Sure, you watch TV shows with spaceships zooming around, but as a real mind-bending, life-changing literary experience it usually hooks you a little later. For me, A Wrinkle in Time was a one-off thing when I was nine, but then I remember reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and A Spell for Chameleon and the floodgates just kind of opened.

The point is, for a lot of young people, by the time they’re in high school science fiction has become a passion, and can even feel like a calling. So what do you advise a kid in that position to “do with their lives”?

This is trickier with science fiction than other artistic vocations, because, obviously, there’s that whole “science” thing. You have to know something about science to write good (hard) science fiction. Besides, people will be pressuring you to do science and engineering anyway, cause that’s where the money is. But if you really want to be a writer, you’ll need some skills beyond the lab. Here’s my college advice for aspiring LeGuins and Heinleins:

1. Take mainstream lit and creative writing classes.

Literature is a trade in itself. While it’s possible to be both a chemical engineer, say, and a novelist, you have to put time into both. The danger here is that you may feel alienated by the snobbery of most MFA-style writing workshops. There will be strong pressure to drop the speculative elements in your stories or at least do some non-speculative work. My advice: give in to that pressure. You have more to gain than to lose. You can remain loyal to nerd-dom in your heart while taking what you can from the artsy-fartsy world of creative writing.

2. Stay well-rounded.

Besides science, and fiction, there’s a whole wide world of content that goes into any novel, and no field of experience is without its use. Furthermore, the “world-building” aspects of speculative fiction require one to have a good working knowledge of history and the social sciences. A generalized appreciation for the arts is important to be able to have confidence in your judgment as a writer. Good science fiction is good fiction, which means it must appeal to anyone who might pick up your book, not just the initiated and obsessive otaku few.

3. Consider computer science.

This is my big regret as a writer. I double-majored in English and Religious Studies because I was fascinated by the world’s religions. While that’s certainly helped lend some color and flavor to my imagination, I had not anticipated just how much tech skills make a difference for even the most liberal-arts-leaning of poets today. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve always been an early adopter and I can get by just fine. But in terms of practical skills for making an artistic dream happen these days, it can’t hurt to learn computers.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Keep watching the stars!

Lauren Bailey is a freelance blogger who loves writing about education, new technology, lifestyle and health. As an education writer, she works to research and provide sound online education advice and welcomes comments and questions via email at blauren99@gmail.com.

When Did Authors Become Second Class Citizens?

When Did Authors Become Second Class Citizens?

Why are people still condoning online piracy and pirate sites?  And worse yet, participating and encouraging these sites.  Why the lack of respect for authors and other artists, people that you the public supposedly admire?

What is it about being online that makes illegal activities so appealing?  Is it the anonymity?  Except with the technology today, anonymity is harder to come by, users can be tracked, and there is a real possibility that someone will prosecute you.  So why do people do it?

Frankly, I don’t know why people are that offensive and callous, perhaps they just don’t consider what they are doing wrong.  Well consider this, if someone walked into a brick and mortar store, bought several books and then handed those copies out free to incoming shoppers, the owners (or security) would evict them from the store.

But that is exactly what people are doing on pirate sites and in far greater numbers than a few books.  So why is it acceptable online and frowned upon in the real world?

Stop treating authors like they don’t have feelings and they’re not worthy of ethical treatment!

A Fantasy to Watch: A Review of the Watchtower

My Book Review of The Watchtower:

I was pleasantly surprised reading The Watchtower by Darke Conteur.  I expected a reasonably interesting fantasy novel, a short and quick, agreeable read.  What I got was a highly crafted, delightfully intricate book, entangled in a dark and a fascinating fantasy world populated with captivating characters.

The book starts with the character of Martin Cunningham, who is looking for a job and getting a bit desperate.  This job urgency is what brings him to Terin Global, a not-at-all typical place of employment.  Once hired, he slowly gets dragged into a dangerous and strange world.

One of the best aspects of the book is Martin’s point-of-view, which goes from, “okay these guys are quirky” to “I can’t believe this is happening” without ever seeming forced or out of step.  As a reader, you identify with Martin and are drawn into the story as he is wrenched from his comfortable beliefs and faced with another reality.

The plot is fast-paced, but never sacrifices continuity or believability in favour of keeping the action moving.  The reader receives just enough explanation and back-story to construct the fantasy, without breaking the authenticity of the real world setting.  The Watchtower is a first-rate urban fantasy and I highly recommend it.

The Watchtower is available at:  Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, and B&N Nook