Greetings, humans, half-breeds, and everything in
between. This week I had the pleasure to interview my new friend, Paula Stiles. She has been visiting the
ECS as a guest and sharing loads of interesting insights into her work. Be sure
to look around and see what she has to offer. Here are the results of our
interview. A good time was truly had by all and here’s how it went down.
Hi
there Paula! It’s so awesome to have
you here at the ECS Universe. Don’t worry about the darkness, your eyes will
adjust.
So tell me who is Paula Stiles?
I'm just a random citizen of the world. I've done a
PhD in medieval history. I've been a Peace Corps
Volunteer in Cameroon. I've run a rescue squad. I've trained horses. I'm
trilingual, have studied ten languages, and I really know my Latin. If there's
an esoteric skill out there that only five other people in the world have, I'm
all over it.
Talk
about being a Renaissance Woman, you give new meaning to the term “well rounded.”
I am pretty excited about what you have to share. Everything you’ve done in
life, I’ve only dreamed about.
So
whacha got for me today?
The
Mighty Quinn is about a guy, Quinn Bolcan, who
leaves Vancouver in a hurry after his growop's busted, ends up accidentally
defusing a nuclear bomb on the Vermont border, and soon faces an entire state's
worth of folklore. Werebikers, zombie suicide bombers, elemental demons,
low-rent sorcerers, fairies, vampires, ghouls, Homeland Security, Champ...they
all want a piece of him.
Wow,
you don’t play around. This story sounds intense. It’s a good thing I just
picked up my copy; I don’t want to miss out on this.
So
who’s staring is this 2 dimensional script read of The Mighty Quinn?
Quinn has two major characteristics. One is that
he's a nice guy who just can't win in life. Having a flexible approach toward
law and order probably doesn't help. The other is his ability to suck up heat,
and other kinetic energy (including magic), which he accidentally acquired in a
card game not long before the book starts. This complicates his life
considerably.
I
bet it does. I hope you don’t mind if I geek out a bit, but I love stories that
creatively find a way to mesh science, fiction, and magic together. I’m already
looking forward to the videogame and film versions of this book (fingers
crossed J).
Past,
present, future, is there a rhyme or reason to your writing?
I'm sitting in front of the computer, sucking on peppermints to avoid overeating, listening to Duran Duran, Melissa Etheridge and Holst's The Planets (<=listen)- specifically, “Mars, the Bringer of War.” Because it's badass.
This month, I'm working on my NaNoWriMo project, which is an historical murder mystery set in medieval Catalonia. Trying to, anyway. I'm way behind on my Innsmouth Free Press writing because I was working the early voting and election polls in my county last month and through November 6. I'm making myself write a little bit of the novel every night until I catch up with the other stuff.
That’s
cool. Sometimes listening to music when I write is a distraction, but when I
get stuck on something, I find just the right song to inspire the moment. I
passed on NaNoWriMo this year, but started a short story yesterday in honor of
I Love to Write Day.
What
author(s) has most influenced your writing? Why or how?
Oh, Lord, so many. There
are modern sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers like Leigh Brackett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Joanna Russ, Tim Powers, Samuel R. Delaney, Charles Saunders, and Tanith Lee. Then there
are older classic writers like Hemingway, Lovecraft, Chandler and Hammett. Then
there are older writers still like Poe and Melville. And even older writers
like Homer. And Shakespeare. And the King James version of the Bible.
Mostly, it's in ideas and
characters, though I really like writers who experiment with tense and POV.
And, of course, you'd have to be tone deaf not to be influenced by
Shakespeare's language. Or, for that matter, Chandler, Hammett and Hemingway's.
I
agree, some writers can’t be ignored. Even if you don’t love their work, you
have to appreciate it. I also agree that it’s more about ideas and characters
sometimes than the writing styles.
Who’s
brain are you just itching to scratch?
It's probably an obvious one, but I'd like to
interview Gaius Julius Caesar. I think he's always been misrepresented as a
tyrant. He comes across in his biographies as ruthless, yes, but also smart,
charming, progressive for his time, and remarkably flexible when it came to
changing battle conditions or showing mercy to enemies (though he didn't always
do that). Also, he seems to have connected especially well with women and the
lower classes – which may be why all the aristocratic male writers of his time complain
about how evil he was when he wasn't any worse than any of them!
Good
choice and I love the logic behind it. I have to admit, that I would probably
be too intimidated to interview Caesar if I had the chance, but I’d totally
stick around to watch you interview him.
Who
is so you and why?
Currently,
I guess that would be Dean
Winchester from the show, Supernatural. He's a natural
smartass who is loyal and stubborn and speaks his mind. The whole universe can
grind him down and he'll claw himself back out of whatever hole it puts him in.
He proves you sure can't keep a good man down, especially one with such a bad
reputation.
Nice.
I love bad boys who are good guys or sort of. I like characters that tip toe
that line. He’s the kind of guy I’d write about in a story, but in reality I’d
stay away. I’m a wimp.
What’s
your ideal reading spot for your next highly anticipated read?
I'm currently reading a paperback I picked up in a
used bookstore in an airport a few years ago.
My
next highly anticipated read will be Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley.
It's pretty fascinating to read about women in that
period. I like to read books about very ancient history, the origins of things,
and Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest – if not the oldest - civilizations out
there. Egyptian women did not have the same opportunities as men, and their
worth was heavily tied up in their fertility, but they were also much freer and
better treated than other women in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East.
This
sounds like a read I may have to pick up. Thanks for the tip. I love history,
but oddly enough, I sometimes forget about it.
What
was your favorite book or story, pre teen years?
 |
| Amazon |
Star
Wars or Star Trek. Book?
Either Tolkien or Narnia, though I was also really fond of Watership Down. Sorry, I know that's like every other geek out there who grew up in the
70s.
Don’t be sorry for appreciating a work that
influenced a generation. From one geek to another, I like Star Wars first then
Star Trek. I leave the true blue Trek love up to my dad…
Now
this where the questions get a little kooky; are you ready?
Go for
it.
Alright
then, here we go.
If
you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
That's kind of tough.
Don't they all get boring after a while?
Maybe Bull Durham,
because it's such a rollicking story about life. Or maybe Forrest Gump.
Or Casablanca. Or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I
know what you mean. If I could only choose one, I might decide to have none at
all, but I love movies. I hadn’t considered Forest Gump, even though it’s a
great film. I guess it would be nice to have a movie that made references to
many other times in history and had a varied sound track.
What
makes you geek out?
Astronomy, history, archaeology, paleontology, and
all the speculative genres.
Wow,
that’s a first for me, but I like it. I can only imagine what insights into the
world you must have knowing so much about its history. That’s pretty cool.
So what’s testing your patience right now?
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| IMDB |
Well, the new Bond film [Skyfall]is already out, but I
haven't seen it, yet. And I really want to see it, but I have to wait until
after Thanksgiving.
Ahhh!
I’m totally with you. I haven’t seen it yet, but my hubby and I are waiting
until Thanksgiving so we can take my father-in-law to see it…I may have to
sneak out to see it on my own before then.
When
the soundtrack of your life is playing in your head, what songs express your
glee and what songs bring out your rage?
I really like hard rock, blues, Motown, classical
(especially Russian composers), metal, some pop (especially pop and folk music
from different countries), soundtracks, some techno, older country. Opera and
jazz aren't favorite genres, but I do have favorite songs in them, especially
swing like “Sing,
Sing, Sing” (<=listen).
I used to be a college DJ, so I've actually been exposed to a fair bit of
music.
Yeah,
Björk is “special” and emo is irritating sometimes, but I can see why some like
it. I love old/classic music like you’ve mentioned as well as classical. I like
Jazz, but again, understand why some don’t. I actually have “Sing Sing Sing” on
vinyl. I have to admit that I’m a product of the Hip-hop generation so I do
like rap, but it is pretty sad to see the state of it these days. So much of it
just isn’t any good anymore.
What’s
the most fun experience you’ve ever had?
I like to say that the
most fun is still coming up. Why go through life feeling as though you already
peaked?
But so far, I guess I'd
say it was my two years in Peace Corps.
I
see your point. Maybe I’ll reword this question to my next guest as “to date”;
surely there are more good times to be had. I bet the Peace Corps is something
you will never forget.
Remind me again how I was lucky enough to
meet you?
Oh
yeah, that’s right. She found me on LinkedIn in the Book Marketing group and then we got this party
started.
Not
that you can see into the future, but in your opinion, what does the future
hold?
Hopefully, I'll be making a decent living as a
writer by then (I'm making a living now, but I wouldn't call it “decent”). I could
be back in Vancouver. Or on the Outer Banks. It's hard to say. I have goals,
but I've learned the hard way not to be rigid about long-term ones.
Well,
it seems you have pretty good outlook on things in the past, present, and in
the future. Thank you so much for sharing with me this week and taking the time
to let me and my followers get to know you.
Ok,
humans, half-breeds, and everything in between, that’s all for today. For more
from Paula Stiles, check out these great links:
The Mighty
Quinn
GoodReads
Facebook
