One Book To Keep

There is that one book on your shelf that defines you. One book that, while you may not have read it for awhile, makes you gasp in horror if somebody mentions you might want to let it go. We all have one and it is mind blowing to make the choice of which one is your favourite.  I have asked a few people in the book industry, what is that special book is for them and the response has been quite interesting.

Abigail Nathan from Bothersome Words Editing Services.

“ You know this is just a fancy way of asking "if you could only have one book..." and those questions are IMPOSSIBLE! I shall go with sheer sentiment and say Diana Wynne Jones's 'Charmed Life'. That was my first DWJ novel and I think it's the most reread book I own. It's one of the books that got me properly into fantasy/speculative fiction and probably the book that made me realise I wanted to spend my life working with books and words and fictional worlds.”

Alan Baxter – author of the upcoming martial arts/fantasy book Bound

“Oh, man, that is almost impossible to answer! One book? The horror! Errr. first that comes to mind is Clive Barker's "Cabal". And his book "The Great and Secret Show". And Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea". And and and... I can't just pick one!”

Michael Pryor, Author of the Law’s of Magic series and the new Machine Wars.

“The hardback copies of 'Lord of the Rings' I got when I was thirteen”

Kim Wilkins, author of Rosa and the Veil of Gold and winner of an AUREALIS Award.

“Beowulf”

Jason Fischer, author of the Tamsyn Web series and the short story collection Everything is a Graveyard.

” Definitely Mary Stewart's "Crystal Cave", beautiful piece of Arthurian storytelling.”

Karly Lane, author of Northstar

“Mine would be Cross stitch by Diana Gaboldon . I think it's called Outlander in the US. Best. Book. Ever!”

Pamela Freeman, author of the Princess Betony books

“So many... the poems of WB Yeats. Or Lord of the Rings. Tough to decide.”

Fiona Palmer, author of Outback Heart

“Vampire Academy series. It's my big escape “

Fiona McIntosh, author of the Quickening series and Tailor’s Girl

“Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay”

Carla Caruso, author of Catch of the Day

“Mine would be 'Looking for Alibrandi' by Melina Marchetta - I read it when I was an Italian-Australian teenager, like the main character, finishing high school and wondering what the heck I was going to do with the rest of my life. It still resonates! 'The Undomestic Goddess' by Sophie Kinsella is also a feel-good, comfort read I love dipping into again. “

Jacqueline Harvey, Author of the Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series.

“The Book Thief with a beautiful inscription to me from Markus.”

What is even more interesting is the fact the genres that these author’s write does not always reflect what they love to read. A lot of people assume that just because you write in a particular genre then that is all you will read. This goes to show that is not the case at all.

For myself, I don’t have favourite books. I am like most people who, when they are asked this question recoil in horror at picking just one book. It is simply a hard question that can make your mind go blank when you are trying to pick a title. If I had to choose on the basis of a book that I read the most, then I would have to choose Tamora Pierce’s ‘Song of the Lioness #1 Alanna the First Adventure’. I re-read that book (which leads into 20 others in the series all following the same characters for about 30 years) at least once a year. I’m not sure why that series draws me to it, but I love the relationships of the characters and I think it is one of the books that really cemented it for me that I wanted write.  Also there is Patricia C Wrede’s Lyra books.  I loved the grittiness and emotion found in that series.

A big thank you to everyone that participated in my post and I hope you all go and check out these wonderful authors and their many books and you may find that one book you can never get rid of!

What is your One Book?
Tarran

Book Review - Steampunk Chronicles #1 Girl in the Steel Corset - Kady Cross

She thought there was something wrong with her. She was right.
Finley Jayne has known for quite some time that she isn’t ‘normal,’ but when she beats up the son of her employer and is forced to flee, she stumbles into a world where there are bigger freaks than her. They take her in, treat her like family and demand her trust. How can Finley trust them when she can’t trust herself? And why is she drawn to the powerful Griffin as well as the dangerous Jack? She has to get herself under control before she gets into trouble she can’t get out of.

Griffin King is one of the most powerful men in Britain but he couldn’t save his best friend from almost dying. He is determined to save Finley and help her become the person he knows she can be, but there’s evil afoot in London. Machines have attacked humans under the orders of a nefarious criminal called The Machinist. He has sworn to protect his country against such a threat, but he’s never faced any foe like this. However, when he discovers The Machinist’s connection to his past, Griffin vows to end the villain once and for all — but he’ll need the help of all his friends, including the beautiful Finley Jayne – the girl in the steel corset.

This book is due for release in June and it is going to be popular. It is set in 1897 Victorian England, where automatons are the rage and horses are becoming redundant. Finley Jayne is a girl who has a duel soul and is on the run from the unwanted advances of her employers son. Trouble follows her and leads her to Griffin King, Duke of Greythorne who takes her back to his home and introduces Finley to his assortment of family. The writing is well done and the characters are believable. I throughly enjoyed this book. I finished it within a day of starting it. It is aimed for the older teens as it does have some mature content but I can see people who love steampunk and alternative histories loving this series. I myself, can't wait to read book 2 when it comes out. This is a book to look out for!

The quote on the back cover is from Sherrilyn Kenyon "Kady Cross never disappoints"

If you would like to know more then go to Kady Cross's blog page here
People who like Michael Pryor and Scott Westerfeld will love this series!

Guest Blog Post - Michael Pryor - How the Laws of Magic Started

With Michael's 'Hour of Need' book 6 of the Laws of Magic series released this month, we asked Michael if he would tell us how he first started the series.

THE LAWS OF MAGIC – THE BEGINNING

In 2002 I started writing Blaze of Glory, the first book in what became The Laws of Magic series. I was no novice to writing novels, having already published nearly twenty books for young adult readers, so I’d learned a great deal about the challenges of constructing a narrative. I had my writing organisation well worked out and I knew how to approach the task in what I felt was an efficient way. This was vital, as I was working full time. Writing had to take place in the evenings, weekends and in what used to be holidays.

At the time, I was also immersed in working with Paul Collins on the wide-ranging, ever growing creative project that was The Quentaris Chronicles. This was Australia’s first shared world series, a classic fantasy for younger readers, but it meant that as well as writing some of the titles in this series, Paul and I were series editors. We were chief guardians of the concept, making sure all the extremely talented writers who were involved were on the right track and comfortable working with the scenario. Paul and I read drafts, discussed and consulted, checked and vetted to ensure quality and consistency.

While I was doing this, however, I had an urge to spread my wings. The books in the Quentaris series were 25,000 words. They were neat and contained, but after writing a number of these adventures, I wanted to work with a larger canvas and for an older age group.

And so to the first stirrings of The Laws of Magic.

When I’m writing Fantasy, I tend to look to history for inspiration. The stories in our past are rich, remarkable and, by necessity, thoroughly human. I find that drawing on them can add backbone to a Fantasy concept, as well as useful coherence. The Quentaris series had been roughly Middle Ages/early Renaissance in flavour, so I looked elsewhere for a fertile historical period.

This is where a writer’s own reading is important in terms of influence. I’d always

loved the Steampunk genre, ever since reading its first flowerings in the middle-1980s. I remember reading Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates and thoroughly enjoying its panache, its adventurousness and its recreation of Victorian times. In 2002, Steampunk was quiet, barely bubbling along, so I thought it might be fun to revisit it.

Naturally, inspiration is just a starting point. The more I researched my Victorian times, the more I became interested in the latter part of good Queen Vic’s reign. Eventually, I became absorbed in the era of her son, Edward, and the period at the beginning of the twentieth century. So many social changes! So many scientific developments! So much going on in international politics! I began to think that this time was shaping up as particularly fertile for a writer. They had the best of the past (the manners and formality, particularly in the relationships between males and females) but the modern age was dawning (the women’s suffrage movement, changes in social stratification – workers uniting!).

I maintain that Fantasy is the literature of location. A writer needs a thorough grasp of this ‘otherworld’, the place that tells a reader that they’ve somewhere different, where normal rules may not apply. Geography is one thing, but the sense of setting is more than that. It’s architecture, clothing, modes of transport, weather, food and a thousand other minute details. I researched, made notes, read authors from the time (Arthur Conan Doyle was particularly helpful), took on vocabulary and turns of speech both consciously and by osmosis, marinating myself in Edwardiana until I felt odd at zipping up my fly instead of buttoning it.

With all this, however, I still wasn’t ready to begin writing. I needed characters. At least one would be a good start, so I began working on an idea for a protagonist.

I was tired of reading YA fiction with main characters who were difficult to warm to. I’d also had enough of brooding characters who were aimless and meandered through life. I wanted to write that most unfashionable of characters: a hero. I wanted someone who was intelligent, witty, brave, resourceful, ambitious and selfless. Since I was writing Fantasy, it seemed natural for him to be a magic user of some genius.

But what were his flaws? If he was going to be so capable, wouldn’t the story be boring, with every challenge no challenge at all? I began thinking about how to make things difficult for him and, unprompted, a first line popped into my head: ‘Aubrey Fitzwilliam hated being dead. It made things much harder than they needed to be.’

Now, this sort of thing doesn’t happen all that often. When it does, I pay attention. Here, I had a name for my main character (always tricky) and he was immediately working under considerable difficulty, being dead and all. How he was dead and continuing to do anything at all was something I hadn’t worked out, but I was sure this was a good start. Working out the whys and wherefores was going to lead to some delicious, meaty stuff.

With the setting under control, and an intriguing main character shaping up, it was a matter of working out some sort of plot. To do this, I went back to history. The Edwardians didn’t know it, but their golden times were leading to a ghastly war. That tipped me into considering the politics, the manoeuvring, the espionage, the arms build up and the momentum that seized the world. My main character was going to be involved in this, I was sure. No passive observer, he. He was going to be involved in an assassination attempt, various magical conspiracies, while supporting his father – who turned out to be a former Prime Minister looking to gain the leadership of the nation again.

Then I sat down and began writing. Nine years, six books and nearly 700,000 words later and it’s all come to a conclusion. I feel satisfied, pleased, but strangely bereft. I’ve lived with Aubrey, George and Caroline for a long time. I’ve seen them grow. I’ve watched them risk their lives, save millions of people and misunderstand each other in awkward (and familiar) ways.

Waving goodbye to them was hard.

Vital Statistics
Full Name: Michael Pryor
Date of Birth: 23 April
Place of Birth: Swan Hill, Victoria
Height: 173 cm
Weight: Variable
Interests: Computers, the Internet, games of all sorts, sport, reading, food, wine, gardening
Favourite Colour: Blue
Favourite Book: Probably Lord of the Rings
Favourite Film: It changes, but currently The Big Lebowski
Favourite Dinosaur: Triceratops
Favourite Food: Curry
Favourite Word: Cashmere
Favourite Animal: Pig, with otter a close second

If you would like to know more, then visit the wonderful website of Michael Pryor here.

Tarran's picks of the week!

I am going to suggest some really good books for people to read. These are all books that I have read and I really enjoyed! Also they are not going to be all fantasy titles either (sigh, I love fantasy) I am going to be good and revel this weeks Tarran's Picks (hmm might need to think of a new name haha)

General Fiction:

At the end of the Great War, two young men find themselves far from home, with everything to gain or everything to lose…

 Charismatic womaniser Jack Bryant has the world at his feet, but when trouble catches up with him he's forced to flee Britain for good.

 Handsome, honest Ned Sinclair is on a family adventure in Rangoon when he is dealt a bitter blow. With all the odds against him, he risks his life in a desperate bid to escape. 

 Both men hope to start their lives anew, seeking their fortune in India's fields of gold. Their paths collide in the colourful city of Bangalore, where they form a friendship like no other. In the years that follow, they remain inextricably bound by a dark secret, while their love for the same woman threatens to tear them apart.

 Website

 The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was-and its true nature could change the modern world. Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts-and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he'd left behind.

 Website

Tamara Goodwin has always got everything she's ever wanted. Born into a family of wealth, she grew up in a mansion with its own private beach, a wardrobe full of designer clothes, a large four poster bed complete with a luxurious bathroom en-suite. She's always lived in the here and now, never giving a second thought to tomorrow. But then suddenly her dad is gone and life for Tamara and her mother changes forever. Left with a mountain of debt, they have no choice but to sell everything they own and move to the country to live with Tamara's Uncle and Aunt.

When a travelling library passes through Kilsaney Demesne, Tamara is intrigued. She needs a distraction. Her eyes rest on a mysterious large leather bound tome locked with a gold clasp and padlock. With some help, Tamara finally manages to open the book. What she discovers within the pages takes her breath away and shakes her world to its core. 

 Website

Crime:

Elizabeth Peters's unforgettable heroine Amelia Peabody makes her first appearance in this clever mystery. Amelia receives a rather large inheritance and decides to use it for travel. On her way through Rome to Egypt, she meets Evelyn Barton-Forbes, a young woman abandoned by her lover and left with no means of support. Amelia promptly takes Evelyn under her wing, insisting that the young lady accompany her to Egypt, where Amelia plans to indulge her passion for Egyptology. When Evelyn becomes the target of an aborted kidnapping and the focus of a series of suspicious accidents and mysterious visitations, Amelia becomes convinced of a plot to harm her young friend. Like any self-respecting sleuth, Amelia sets out to discover who is behind it all.

Website 

 

Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best - until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead - but her life was shattered forever. Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again. She dreams about placing the cold steel between her lips and pulling the trigger one last time. Because for a woman who's lost everything, what is there left to lose?

She's about to find out

 Website

Paranormal:

 An erotic thrill ride about genetically altered Breeds with feline DNA-and the humans who arouse their lust.

The runt of the lab she was created in, Dawn Daniels endured years of torture by her pride brother and the council soldiers. Finally freed from her torment, she's now a Breed Enforcer, in control of her own life. Until she's assigned to protect the one man destined to be her mate- and realizes it's far too easy to lose total control.

Website

 Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

 Website

Fantasy:

A fabulous epic of deadly assassins, desperate journeys and the desire for vengeance ...

Slave has been owned by Sondelle, and kept prisoner, since he was a child. Finally escaping through the catacombs, Slave is almost killed by a revenant warrior spirit. He gains his freedom only by swearing fealty to this dangerous creature.

Befriended by Ileki, Slave begins to learn about the world outside. However, in a fight to the death, Slave discovers that the revenant warrior has given him a ′blessing′ - a form of berserk rage that makes him virtually unbeatable in combat, but also makes him lethal to anyone in the immediate area, friends and foes alike. When he is left alone, Slave heads for Ileki′s home city to make amends and seek help. Also heading for the same city are a number of other desperate runaways ...

Meanwhile, an evil pirit imprisoned for centuries beneath a city finds its freedom ... and seeks its revenge.

 Website

 When a routine hanging goes wrong and a murderer somehow survives the noose, the man announces he is an immortal. And not just any immortal, but Cayal, the Immortal Prince, hero of legend, thought to be only a fictional character, a figure out of the Tide Lord Tarot, the only record left on Amyrantha of the mythical beings whom the part-animal, part-human Crasii believe created their race.

Arkady Desean is an expert on the legends of the Crasii. At the request of her childhood friend, Declan Hawkes, the Kings Spymaster, she is sent interrogate this would be immortal, hoping to prove he is a spy, or at the very least, a madman.

Set the task of proving Cayal a liar, Arkady's own web of lies, and that of her husband and the King's Spymaster will start to unravel. Nothing is really as it seems around Cayal, the Immortal Prince - the lies seem plausible, his stories improbable and truth more than any of them bargained for.

 Website

 The World Tree rises up out of the seething clouds like a green mountain. All creation nestles in its green branches. There is no world besides this one ... or so the people believe.

Tymon grows up at Argos seminary in the lush heart of the Central Canopy, where science is a heretical pursuit and travel beyond the Tree is banned. But he yearns to break free of these rules and discover new horizons. When he meets a despised Nurian slave in the city baths, his dreams of freedom take on a completely different meaning.

Banished to a drought-ridden colony, Tymon falls in with a group of Nurian rebels and finds himself facing difficult choices. Fighting for freedom and power is not so enticing when it may mean betraying his own people and severing all ties to the world he knows ...

Website 

Young Adult:

 Twin brother and sister, Lenis and Missy, are slaves aboard the powerful airship the Hiryu - but when the airship is stolen on its maiden voyage, they find themselves working for a captain whose noble quest seems to make no sense. Relentlessly pursued by the Emperor's own airships, they fly over the perilous Wasteland, where corrupted Demons lie in wait. When Lenis dreams of Apsilla, the Blue Dragon of the East, the captain decides to help the twins find Apsilla's daughter. The survival of the last Totem may be their only hope - but will they find Apsilla's egg in time, or will their enemies find them first?

Website

There's a magical and political storm brewing - and Aubrey Fitzwilliam is making sure he's right in the centre of it ...

Aubrey Fitzwilliam is the son of a prominent ex-prime minister. He's also brilliant at magic, but he's stuck at boarding school. At least he has his best friend, George, there to back him up. George would follow Aubrey anywhere - and with Aubrey's talent for thinking up daring schemes that will get them both into trouble, that's no easy thing to do.

At a weekend shooting party at Prince Albert's country estate, the boys find themselves in a hotbed of political intrigue. They discover a golem, a magical creature built to perform one task: to kill Prince Albert. Aubrey and George are hailed as heroes for foiling the attempt on the prince's' life - but who sent the golem, and why? Aubrey is far too curious to let the authorities handle this one, and he and George start investigating ... 

Website

Okay hmmm, it looks like I fibbed a bit. There are a lot of fantasy books on my list mwahahahaha. I tried I really did >.>  -_-  <.< All these authors are fantastic and everyone should read them!!

World Con (AussieCon 4) Day 3

World Con (AussieCon 4)

Day 3:  Saturday 4/09/10

By this stage I am feeling it. Days of constantly running around and walking up and down those monstrous steps! (I caved and got on the escalators, I just did not look over the edge and had a death grip on the side)

Another full day was planned; to start with I went to the Duncan Lay signing. Now this is a man who knows how to engage his audience! His series is Dragon Sword Histories and the first book is ‘Wounded Guardian’ it is fantastic!! I loved every moment of it.

I got him to sign my bookplates (I didn’t bring my books, there are wayyyyyyy to many of them) We chatted for the rest of the hour and then I got once more into a line for signings. This time it was for Fiona McIntosh, Michael Pryor. Both are brilliant authors and fantastic funny people. Michael writes the series Laws of Magic, of which ‘Blaze of Glory’ is the first one! And Fiona, well Fiona has too many series to list. Her latest one is the Valisar series, of which; Kings Wrath is the first and last.

Then I went and caught the end of the George R R Martin reading. Yes my friends he too was there!

I then rushed just before the masses and made it to the signing hall. Right after his reading, George R R Martin was doing a signing and I had scored myself a place proberly 6^th in line. Not only was George signing but Jennifer Fallon  (who is awesome lady who has her own Seal Stamp), Jean Johnson and Jay Lake.

I spent the rest of that hour getting pictures and getting signatures. I did make it to the last ten minutes of a panel called Pitching the Novel, and that was fascinating.

I swear this day was the day for signings! I practically lived in the signings room. After the panel I went back and had to wait again, yes you know it, in a line for Gail Carriger who writes the PARASOL PROTECTORATE series. The third Blameless was released for the Con!

Then Lunch. At 3 I had a kaffeelatsche with Mary Victoria. That was great! Met some really nice people around that table.  Then the next stop was a panel called Thinking in Trilogies, with Trudi Canavan, Fiona McIntosh, Glenda Larke and Russell Fitzpatrick.

Then I wondered about taking in all the interesting costumes and people. It wasn’t long before I had to leave for the day.

You Like Steampunk?

If you are a fan of Steampunk then try these authors out!

Gail  Carriger - Soulless ISBN: 9780316056632

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. 

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Gail Carriger Blog  Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning.

 

 Michael Pryor  -Blaze of Glory ISBN: 9781864718621

Aubrey Fitzwilliam is the son of a prominent ex-prime minister. He's also brilliant at magic, but he's stuck at military school. At least he has his best friend, George, there to back him up. George would follow Aubrey anywhere - and with Aubrey's talent for thinking up impulsive and daring schemes that will get them both in trouble, that's no easy thing to do. 


Laws of Magic Facebook Michael Pryor was born in Swan Hill, Victoria. He spent his childhood in country Victoria and Melbourne before moving to Geelong at the age of 10. He lived in Geelong until he went to university in Melbourne after secondary school. 

 Katie MacAlister Steamed: A Steampunk Romance ISBN: 9780451229311

 When one of Jack Fletcher's nanoelectromechanical system experiments is jostled in his lab, the resulting explosion sends him into the world of his favorite novel-a seemingly Victorian-era world of steampower, aether guns, corsets, and goggles. A world where the lovely and intrepid Octavia Pye captains her airship straight into his heart...

 Katie MacAlister Blog Katie MacAlister is an American author with a passion for mystery, a fascination with alpha males, and a deep love of history. She has worked as a bird skeleton cleaner, a wave machine solderer, a Fortran programmer, and a sales assistant for Harrod's. .

Young Adult Fiction

As a bookseller we see alot of books come in and go out. Some the teenagers like and some they don't, you will get that. We see a lot of Y/A books that cross the boundries where mainly adults read them. Some of our most popular Y/A authors are Kristen and P.C Cast, Stephanie Meyer, Michael Pryor, Kate Forsyth, Eoin Colfer, Richard Flanagan, Robert Muchamore, Richelle Mead, Garth Nix and many more.
Our question to you is what draws you into these books? What makes you want to buy them? I know why I read a lot of Y/A fiction, I love the characters and the cleaness of the stories.
I love the 'Cherub' series buy Robert Muchamore because it is gritty and shows a truth that many adults seem to forget; Children are people too.
Richelle Mead's 'Vampire Academy' and Kristen and P.C Cast ' House of Night' shows the value of bonds between friends and enemies.

Michael Pryor "Laws of Magic' show that techonolgy and magic can exsist together and that we need to embrace both in our lives.

It is fantastic our childern are embracing these ideals and forging something inside themselves. They are learning lessons and history by reading these stories as most of them have some basis in fact, whether they are fantasy, urban, medieval etc.. I read one post the other day saying this girl was at a quiz night and she knew some of the answers because she had leaned them from reading fantasy. I believe it was a question about armor.
Well that is my rant for the day, Please do tell us why you like to read and what do you get out of it?

Interview with Michael Pryor

We asked Michael Pryor, the author of the 'Laws of Magic' series to give us a moment of his time for an interview. He kindly agreed and here it is!

A&R: Can you please explain your world and the premise of your novel!

‘The Laws of Magic’ (including the just released ‘Moment of Truth’) is set in a world like our own in Edwardian times – except that it has magic as an integral part of society. Imagine 1910, but with magic operating on much the same basis as science. It is a legitimate area of rational study, observation and experimentation, with many new discoveries happening all the time. This is a turbulent world, full of social change, technological change and political change, and with the dangerous prospect of a major war on the horizon.

The series is about the adventures of a young man, a talented magician, making his way in this world. Aubrey Fitzwilliam has ambitions, but he also has the handicap of being balanced on edge of life and death, thanks to a magical experiment gone wrong. Thanks in part to his father being Prime Minister, Aubrey and his friends become involved in conspiracies and plots mostly involving the malevolent sorcerer Dr Mordecai Tremaine, who is doing his best to bring a world to war.

A&R: Why Steampunk?

I love Steampunk because it combines the appeal of Victorian/Edwardian times, with its courtesy, manners and formality with the capacity to incorporate wildly imaginative elements. It’s romantic, it’s fun, and it allows a writer to use language that would, naturally, be considered obsolete or archaic if used in a contemporary world. It’s often full of adventure, heroism and values that are seen as old-fashioned and unfashionable – duty, human dignity and self-sacrifice, but they have an charm that is resonating with many, many readers.

And then there’s the clothes …

A&R: Can you have Steampunk in any era? Or does it just have to be Victorian?

Genre definitions are always tricky. Often, a genre starts off with a particular format, or a set of characteristics, and as it grows writers start experimenting and pushing the boundaries. In some ways, then, ‘classic’ Steampunk is set in Victorian/Edwardian times, but variations can – and do – flourish. I suppose the general principle (revelling in slightly anachronistic technology in an historical era) can produce something Steampunkish, but I can imagine writing something adventurous set in Georgian times, or Elizabethan times …

A&R:Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

Apart from the neck and shoulders issues that come from hunching over a keyboard for far too long, the main hazard I worry about is forgetfulness. I have no shortage of ideas for my stories, but I have a dread of having a magnificent idea and then forgetting it … That’s why I try to carry a pen with me wherever I go. I can usually find a piece of paper, if inspiration strikes, but a pen is never around when you need it.

Occasionally, other people can be a hazard, especially the ones who come up to you and say ‘I’ve got a story, but I’ve never had time to write it. Maybe you’d like to?’

A&R:Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

I always regret it whenever I dispatch someone in a story, but by the time they’ve gone I’ve usually convinced myself that it was necessary for the narrative. I don’t do it through spite, or through a sense of justice – it happens because the story demands it.

Right near the end of my second ever novel – ‘Talent’ – I had to dispatch the main character’s best friend. I tried not to, but the whole story had been leading up to this crucial, character defining event. I tried to avoid it, I wrote versions where it didn’t happen, where he was only wounded, where he had a lucky escape, where someone else died instead of him, but none of them worked. When I finally did the deed, I regretted it immediately, because he was nice guy, very funny, very appealing – but I held firm, and it made the story work.

A&R:What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

Having a life that’s interesting and full. Believing in your own ability while, at the same time, being open to feedback. Having a good income stream, because nothing adds more to stress than money worries. Having good professional support from editor and publisher. Being able to share the occasional frustrations with people who understand, be they family or writing colleagues. Facebook and Twitter, because they can help lessen the sometimes solitariness of writing. Exercise, because it frees up the mind as well as the body. Having a good imagination.

A&R:Do you feel any of your heroes or villains could possibly exist in the real world?

I do my best to make my characters realistic, or believable, so I think that they could indeed live in the real world. Some of them, the villains especially, I wouldn’t like to bump into, but most of them I’d be very keen to meet. Aubrey Fitzwilliam, George Doyle and Caroline Fitzwilliam would be wonderful dinner guests, and I’d have to be on my toes to keep up with their conversation.

A&R: Do you think that fiction brings something to peoples’ lives?

I firmly believe that fiction makes better people. There are some very serious studies that show that reading fiction is vital – especially for young people – to help them develop a sense of empathy, to understand what it’s like to be someone else. When you read fiction, good fiction, you immerse yourself in another’s experience and you can learn about other experiences, other places, other ways.

As well as that very worthy benefit, I also think that fiction has a somewhat overlooked benefit – it can bring joy. Reading fiction can be superb entertainment – it can delight us, it can thrill us, it can make us laugh, it can make us cry. This is a magnificent thing that can be gained from a tiny paper package.

A&R: What led you into a writing career?

I wanted to write because I loved reading so much. I wanted to do for other people what my favourite writers were doing for me. I wanted to inspire them, I wanted to make them gasp, I wanted to make them keep turning pages to see what was going to happen next. It’s a marvellous consensual partnership, that between writer and reader, and I’m fortunate to be part of it.

A&R: Are the names of your characters are important? And what do they mean?

Character names are vital to the story – and they can be a real headache. I spend an enormous amount of time trying to get my character names right, because having a name that doesn’t fit a character is a sure-fire way to spoil a story.

I look for a match, a name that clicks. It shouldn’t be too unusual, but it shouldn’t be too commonplace either. It must sound right as well as look right, so I actually say every possible name out loud to see if it works.

Sometimes names come easily, sometimes they are extremely difficult. ‘Aubrey Fitzwilliam’ came to me very early, and I was happy with it. ‘George Doyle’ was a bit trickier – I thought ‘George’ was a perfect fit for the era, and then I had an idea of using the name of the creator of Sherlock Holmes as a bit of a tribute. ‘Caroline Hepworth’ was another one I culled from books of the era, with ‘Caroline’ being one of the more popular names of the time and ‘Hepworth’ was the surname of a minor Victorian musician.

One other thing. Sometimes, it pays for your main character to have a short name – because you’re going to write that name so many times …

There you have it! An awesome interview with an awesome author. Michaels new book "Laws of Magis #5: Moment of Truth is our now in all bookstores. Michael Pryor has published a number of fantasy books and over forty short stories, from literary fiction to science fiction to slapstick humour. Michael has been shortlisted six times for the Aurealis Awards (including for BLAZE OF GLORY and HEART OF GOLD), has been nominated for a Ditmar award, and five of his books have been CBCA Notable Books, including WORD OF HONOUR. His most recent series are THE CHRONICLES OF KRANGOR for younger readers and THE LAWS OF MAGIC for older readers. He is currently writing the final book in the LAWS OF MAGIC series.

Michael Pryor Website 

Michael Pryor Fan Page 

Here is the blurb to Moments of Truth