anghara

(and no, the icon is NOT a hint [grin])

via casacorona:

Describe me in one word. Just one single word. Positive or negative. Leave your word in a comment, before looking at what words others have used.

Then,if you like, copy and paste the meme to your journal to find out how people describe you when limited to one word.

stephanieburgis asked, and I answer...

1. You've written in several different subgenres of fantasy now - alternate-historical fantasy, high fantasy, alternate-contemporary YA fantasy... Which one was the most fun to write? Which one are you planning to visit next?

No fair, asking momma to choose favourite children... [grin]

They were all very different, and yet it's the same thing that drives them - "tell a good story". I love my jin-shei books with a reverent passion because their complexity and their layered stories gave me the space to spread my wings and really find out how well I could fly; I love my "changer of days" stories because, well, the sheer joy of building your own world is unmatched by anything else out there; I love the YA books because they gave me several chances I had not had before - the chance to go back to my inner kid, (hopefully) the chance to reach out to young readers in a way that some of the writers of my own childhood have reached out to me, the chance to use Nikola Tesla as a character in one of my books. It's all good.

What next? Well, I've finished another alternate history/historical fantasy doorstop in the tail end of 2008, currently with Agent Lady awaiting disposition - and I'm writing something completely different now, a magical-realism kind of thing, something that's stretching my writing muscles in quite a different way. And after that there's ideas for another high fantasy, another historical fantasy, another YA, a pure SF - but they'll have to wait their turn and jostle on the back burner and draw straws for whichever gets top billing once the current WIP is done...



2. If you could have lunch with one writer from the past, whom would you choose?

Roger Zelazny. I had the privilege of meeting him briefly, once, only a few months before he died. I would have loved to have a chance to REALLY talk to him. I think he was a fascinating man, and I think that I would have learned a lifetime's worth of writing wisdom in the space of that single lunchtime...


3. If you couldn't be a writer, what would be your dream career?

Unh.I don't know.

Whatever it was it would probably have involved writing on the side.


4. You've lived in several different countries. What are three of your favorite places in the world?

London, because I am fiercely in love with that city and have been since I first set foot in it. Cape Town, because it's one of the most spectacular places in the world. San Francisco, where I would LOVE to live if only I could afford it.

But over and above those, the shores of the Danube river in a little town called Novi Sad. The place that holds the ghosts of people I have loved. The river that makes tears spring to my eyes the moment I hear the first trembling chords of the "Beautiful Blue Danube" waltz. *My* river, the place where my ghosts and my angels and my own personal river god all dwell.

5. Which of the characters in your Worldweavers trilogy do you identify with most?

The obvious answer would be Thea, but I find myself with a curious and fierce affinity for Nikola Tesla. And this might sound a little odd but... the concept Coyote the trickster spirit is something that resonates with me deeply. It isn't that Coyote is evil, or even bad - he is not IMMORAL as AMORAL, he doesn't really care who wins in the end as long as they play the game. It's an interesting way of looking at the world - not one which I embrace, having SOME convictions of my own, but one I can dimly comprehend...


PS - if anyone else wants to ask questions, just use the comments...

From jaylake via matociquala:

“If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now,even if we don’t speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want — good or bad. When you’re finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.”

Blame mareklamo -



Tell my family about worldweavers? Really? Like they don't know already...? [grin]

And I refuse to buy new cats. I like the ones I have.

And anyway, this is all for *2007*. Eh. Get with it, guys. 2007 is about to snuff it...