Welcome to Niamh Murphy!

1. If you could have dinner with two of your own characters in real life, who would you choose and why?

I found this to be a particularly tricky question to answer! Then I realised that, although I love hosting a good dinner party, I don’t really write the type of characters who would be interested in being invited, they would be too bored and eager to leave so they could get on with their next adventure!

But right now, I’m writing a fantasy novel about a band of characters on a quest, there is the reluctant hero, the brave warrior, the cunning ranger, the friendly wizard, and the thoughtful healer. I would like nothing more than to join them around their campfire on a starry night and listen as they each tell their stories.

2. You write books across a plethora of genres. Of all of these, do you have a particular favourite?

The next one!

I am always excited about moving onto the next thing and by the time I finish a project as big as a novel, I am exhausted and want something completely different.

It has taken me an awfully long time to focus on writing books. I have written comedy sketches, radio plays, political satire, full length stage plays but my greatest love is the novel, and in order for me to become a master of the craft I know I will have to focus on novel writing for the next few years.

So, although I have now settled on a medium I don’t think I ever could settle on just one genre. My favourite genre will always be the next book I’m writing, or I don’t think I could ever write another one!

3. There are a few new-to-publishing writers who follow this blog, which leads to me to the next question. In terms of marketing your work to help audiences discover your stories, what methods have you found most effective? Is there any advice you could share?

I am still learning. Advice is always gratefully received!

But the most effective method I have found at getting my work in front of new readers has been to give it away for free. An awful lot of people are dead set against this idea and it is important that everyone chooses methods which are right for them. But I have a book, Magic and Romance: A Collection of Lesbian Short Stories, that I have available for free from almost every eBook outlet. This means that readers can try out my work to see if they like the way I tell stories and the characters I write, then, if they do, there are links inside to find me, and all my other books.

I think this is a lovely way for readers to really know what to expect if they then want to go ahead and spend money on my work.

4. Star Wars or Star Trek?

I love Star Wars. I love the original trilogy and love to sit down and watch them all on a rainy Sunday afternoon. But for me, it will always be Star Trek: the show stands out as one of the very few positive visions of the future, a future we can aspire to. Also, despite the often dodgy sets and costumes, it was true science fiction and had some fantastic speculative writing.

5. How do you choose the names of characters and settings for your novels?

I always start with story. This will often help with narrowing down the choices for locations, for example a pirate story simply must involve a pirate ship and that pirate ship must go to sea! Then I fill in the gaps with experience, and this can be in the form of references to other books or stories, or making use of locations I have visited. This does mean that a lot of my books are based in various forms of England and the UK, which just means that in the future I may have to take long holidays abroad for research purposes!

Character names are tricky. Within just one or two words it is important to convey so much about the character, who they are, where they come from, their rank and status in the society in which they live, but also the image they want to portray to other characters.

Sometimes the names of a character just pops into my mind or bubbles up from my deep subconscious in a way that I can’t fully explain. But most of the time choosing a name is a logical process. There are thousands of baby name resources online and I will often use very specific name categories which reflect the style of the genre and the character’s background, but every journey to finding a name is different and the influences on their name will be unique. But with every character I have written, even if I have changed their name a hundred times, I have reached a moment when I just went ‘yes’ and I knew that was their name.

6. Who are some of your favourite authors? What do you enjoy about their work?

I have just finished reading The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember. It was everything I would want in a story! Magic, romance, forbidden love, and a thrilling adventure! It was a re-telling of a little mermaid, with a few Nordic mythology twists thrown in!

It’s a book I really wish I had written myself and it has inspired me to start thinking about pulling my own half-written mermaid story out from a drawer and start working on it again!


7. Coffee or tea?

Coffee. Black, sweet, and warm. Gallons of it!

8. Thank you so much for your time, Niamh! To finish off the Q&A, could you please tell us about your most recently published book and how we can buy a copy?

My latest novel is Escape to Pirate Island, it is filled with rip-roaring adventure, lost pirate treasure, mutiny on the high seas, and unexpected love.

It is exclusive to Amazon, which means that you can read it for free through Kindle unlimited.


Check it out here: books2read.com/EscapeToPirateIsland

 When I first started reading my way through the world of "lesfic" about a year ago, one of the first novels recommended to me was Lise MacTague's Depths of Blue. I read it in one sitting, which is unheard of for me these days because my young children make that very difficult to do.  As such, I was most pleased when Lise agreed to share some thoughts with me for the next author Q&A. 

1.     What's the last novel you read? Was there something memorable about it?

The most recent novel I’ve read was A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. It’s a fascinating sci-fi novel about an AI who gets taken from the ship she was used to running and put into a human body. The body is mechanical but indistinguishable from a human from the outside. She has to come to terms to inhabiting a different form. At the same time, we get another story told from the point of view of a girl who was genetically created and raised to be a factory worker. She escapes from her circumstance and works with an AI (a different one) discarded in a junkyard. They’re trying to get off the planet. The two stories start out very separate but come together by the end. I loved the work the author did in crafting her world. The alien species are fantastic and so imaginative. The story is well-crafted as are the characters. It is sort of a sequel to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, but it stands perfectly well on its own. I highly recommend it.


2.     Xena or Buffy?

That’s a tough one. I loved both shows so much when I was in my early 20s. Those are really formative TV shows for me, but I think Xena has the edge. I loved Buffy as a character, her kickass ways were awesome, and I loved tuning in to see what she was up to every week. But Xena… I love Buffy, but I wanted to be Xena. Xena was the show I rushed home to see after work in the summers because if I timed it right, I could watch two re-runs instead of just one. Xena was the show that introduced me to fanfic, which eventually led me to lesfic, then to writing. So, as far as shows go, Xena has the edge. As far as characters go, Xena also has my heart. I don’t know if I could see one of them winning in a fight. I think it would be a draw, then they’d go hang out together at the Bronze or something. I wonder if anyone has written that fanfic?

3.     What were two of your favourite movies growing up? What did you like about them?

I didn’t watch that many movies growing up. We didn’t have a TV for much of that time, in fact the only time we had a TV was the year my family spent living in Montreal. Aside from that, it was all books all the time at home, so the only time we saw movies was in the theaters or at friends’ houses. My dad loved bad sci-fi movies, so he’d take us to see those. Some of my fondest memories of him have to do with gong to those movies with him. One that really stuck with me was Stargate, the original movie, not the subsequent TV shows. That movie was how I discovered that I was a lesbian. I must have been sixteen when it came out. We went and saw it, and for the first time there was someone on screen who I thought was hot. I’d been listening to my classmates wax rhapsodic over the various boys they thought were hot, and I’d never gotten it. But in Stargate, I had a major screen crush in the villain character. I thought he was pretty damn fine. A few days after I went to see the movie with my dad and my brothers, I overheard a couple of my classmates ripping on how feminine he was and how he looked like a girl. I must have stood there stock still as the realization washed over me. I thought he was hot because he looked so feminine. So many things finally made sense in that moment. The summer I’d been excited about going to church for a change was finally explained. Our regular music group was on summer hiatus, and had been replaced with a group of teens with a pair of lead-singing twin sisters. They weren’t very good, but I actually looked forward to the service. (I’ve never been very religious.) So that was that. Stargate was responsible for my awakening as a lesbian.

I love stories like this! And, I must admit, I loved Ra in that movie as well. I have a similar story about pop. culture helping me work out some things (it involves Alanis Morissette - big surprise!). Just goes to show how important diverse representation really is. 

4.     Do you tend to focus on one writing project at a time, or do you have a long list of ideas and swap around between stories you're working on?

I force myself to focus on one project at a time. The problem is that I have so many ideas, and when I hit the sloggy middle part of the novel I’m working on, new ideas inevitably come to me. I have a little notebook for ideas and other notes related to my stories. The new ideas go in there so I can let them go until I’m done with my current project. The last time I went through the notebook, I estimated that I had about 15 years worth of material in there.


5.     What's a TV theme song (or two) you believe are memorable for some reason? Why?

I love the theme to Wynonna Earp. It has a rockabilly metal quality to it that I really like. I’m a metal-head almost exclusively in my music tastes (except for the occasional show tune), so it’s a musical genre I already relate to. Plus, I think it matches the show perfectly, it has so much attitude, just like Wynonna does. I get pumped when I hear the theme because I know I’m in for 45 minutes of female attitude and butt-kicking.


6.     Can you tell us anything about the book/s you're planning to release next?

My next novel to be released is called Demon in the Machine. It’s going to be out sometime in 2018, but beyond that I’m not sure as to the exact date. It’s steampunk set in late Victorian England, and it features a half-demon archivist and a cat-burgling high society debutante. I’ve been referring to it as “demonpunk” rather than straight up steampunk. In this alternate universe, the industrial revolution is being propelled by equal parts technology and demonic magic. What could possibly go wrong there? Which is exactly what Briar and Isabella have to figure out.

I’m pretty excited about this one. After writing Five Moons Rising, I wanted to do something that was lighter in tone. Five Moons gets pretty dark in places, and I needed something a little airier. Demon in the Machine allowed me to do that. Fun fact: Demon in the Machine is actually set in the same universe as Five Moons Rising, though Five Moons takes place over a hundred years later.

I’m a few months away from starting my first draft for the sequel to Five Moons Rising, At the moment I’m at the noodling stage.


7.     The novels you've released so far have been within the vast realm of speculative fiction. What is it about the stories that fall under the spec.fic. umbrella you like most?

I think it’s the feeling that the sky is the limit with spec-fic. If I can imagine it and ground it in one of the worlds I’ve created, I can explore it. I enjoy that kind of freedom. I also enjoy exploring “what if” scenarios, and something that doesn’t have to adhere too closely to the trappings of real life allows me to really let loose. I’ve always loved sci-fi and fantasy. The first movie I ever saw was E.T., and I used to watch Star Trek reruns from behind my dad’s easy chair when I was a three-year-old. When I was nine, I read The Hobbit, then The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Other worlds have been my bread and butter as long as I can remember.


8.     For anyone who might not be familiar with the podcast you're involved with, Lez Geek Out!, can you tell us a bit about it?

Of course! Lez Geek Out! is a geeky-type podcast I do with fellow author Andi Marquette. We enthuse about popular culture and media, but from a lesbian/feminist point of view. We mostly concentrate on other media than books, but we’re prepared to break that rule from time to time. So far, we’ve looked at movies, TV shows, web comics, and more. I want to do some geeking out about video games, since those are my geek area of choice. It’s great fun. Andi is a blast to chat with and she has a great perspective on these things. We don’t always agree, which also makes it fun.

9.     Thank you so much for your time, Lise! For our last question, what are your writing snacks of choice? 

I don’t actually snack while I write. I’m usually accompanied by a cat, so that makes it challenging to snack and write. However, when I was writing full time (which is a fancy way of saying I was unemployed), I would take a break and go get myself some gummy fruit snacks when I got stuck on something. There were some mornings I’d eat a lot of them if what I was working on was being particularly stubborn. I’m currently trying to figure out what my new writing routine is going to be like, now that I’m working again. Since I’ll probably be writing as soon as I get home from work, the snack situation is something I haven’t yet figured out.

You can find Lise's website here. ​

If you haven't read E.J. Noyes's debut novel Ask, Tell then my message to you is...read it! I don't tend to gravitate toward romance novels, but I started this book and finished it in the same day because it wouldn't let me stop reading.
E.J. is a fellow Australian like myself and so I was really pleased to be able to steal some of her time for this interview.

1. Let's start off with the important stuff. Beer or wine?

Can I say gin? No? Okay…

I live in Queensland where beer is mandatory, particularly in summer. I’d go for an ice-cold amber ale, like Ruby Tuesday.



 
2. If you could have a meal with one of the characters in Ask, Tell, who would it be and why?

 I think Sabine’s sister, Jana would be seriously fun to spend time with. I imagine the (boozy) meal would start with deep discussions about movies and music and philosophy, segue to whispered observations about fellow diners and probably end with her chucking food at someone. Then she’d drag me to karaoke.

 3. Let's say your novel was being made into a film. Who would you cast in the main three or four character roles?

Sabine – Gal Gadot

Rebecca – Kim Dickens

Mitch – Bradley Cooper

 Oh, wow. I'd definitely go see that movie! Gal and Kim...excuse me for a moment...

*cough*. Okay. I've recovered now.

4. Your first novel has been published with Bella. Can you tell us a little bit what it's been like to work with them?
 
Wonderful. They’ve been so professional, and so patient with all my new author worries that it’s taken a great deal of the stress away. And the other Bella authors have been incredibly welcoming and gracious.
 
5. You have a new release coming out in a few months. Can we expect something similar to Ask, Tell, or something quite different?
 
I think Turbulence leans more towards a “pure” romance, in contrast to Ask, Tell. There’s certainly a different dynamic between the two lead characters, Isabelle and Audrey, because they start with sex and have to work backwards to find their relationship, rather than building from the ground up.

 6. Who is your favourite Orphan Black clone and why?

Oh, that’s just cruel, making me chose one. I’d be the world’s worst lesbian if I didn’t say Cosima, right? I love her storyline and relationships, but I think I’d have to say Helena is my favourite clone. The funny parts of her aside, I adore how unapologetic she is in the way she lives her life and protects what she loves.

7. Looking back on what you've read in the last six-twelve months, what's a book you would recommend for anyone looking for something memorable to read?

 There’s so much quality lesfic out at the moment, but I’d have to say a series – Jessica L. Webb’s Dr Kate Morrison Mysteries (Trigger, Pathogen, Troop 18). I turned around and re-read them the moment I was done and I know I’ll read them again. I dig good stories, but I’m definitely a character person, and I love Kate and Andy. Also, maybe, I might have a crush on Sgt. Andy Wyles. Ahem.
 
8. What are your writing goals for the next year or so?
 
My first goal is to complete the sequel for Ask, Tell, which is tentatively titled Ask Me Again.
Then I’d like to tidy up the three completed novels I have written:

Gold - About an ex-Olympic alpine skier turned ski instructor.

Alone - Is the one I don’t know how to categorise. Kind of psychological, a bit of romance, just…weird.

Lena - The book that I love, the one that sits in my heart and won’t leave. It’s about two Polish women during WWII.
 
If time is kind to me, then I’d like to work on the dozen or so semi-finished novels and start on the list of ideas I already have.

​What will probably happen is I’ll have a bunch of other new ideas, and start new projects while worrying that I should be trying to complete the others. I have a tendency to write a few novels at once, swapping and changing…and complaining that I can’t concentrate on just one thing.

 
Thanks, E. J.!
 

Twitter - @zgrokit

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