Ask and Ye Shall Receive Part the Second

Yesterday I said I'd answer the questions remaining from Wednesday because I didn't want Part the First of these posts to be humongous. And today I come through on my promise.

From L.T.:

What inspired you to write steampunk? What do you like most about it?

The reason I decided to write steampunk is kind of simple. I say "kind of" because, well let's be honest, I'm a bit long winded.

When I first wrote SON OF MAGIC (the only finished MS I have worth looking at), I began adding certain elements like trains, steam carriages, and steam cannons that I'd seen in other fantasy stories and thought were interesting pieces of technology. The desire to write steampunk with all the accouterments came up when I was composing the first draft of CALLARION AT NIGHT (which was originally called MORIAH, CHILD OF THE ROWAN). I essentially decided "hey, I want to write something with more technology but not so advanced that it can be mistaken for urban fantasy. How about steampunk?"

What I like most about steampunk is that it allows me to play with the Victorian culture, something I like doing quite a bit. As scott g.f. bailey said in a comment at The Literary Lab, "AI is boring, but AI powered by a coal-burning engine and programmed by Edwardian gentlemen who drink brandy with Jules Verne? That's cool."

And yeah, I heartily agree.

Do you like hazelnuts?

Yes, yes I do. But not as much as cashews. Mmm ... cashews.

From Adam:

* How far along is Callarion at Night? How long have you been working on it?

CALLARION AT NIGHT is currently midway through Chapter 18. I'm having some issues working on that particular chapter though, which is tremendously bothersome. I've been working on it for (looking at a calendar now) eight months now. That's counting writing 21 chapters of an original draft, scrapping them, restarting it with 5 new chapters, scrapping those, and restarting it in the current incarnation. Also including a few weeks where I only wrote freelance articles, the period where I got married/went on honeymoon, and several busy earnings times.

* Is CaN your first novel-sized writing? What other fiction have you written, if any?

The original version of SON OF MAGIC (a book called ROSEFIRE) was my first novel-length fiction. ROSEFIRE's absolutely painful to read now. As for other fiction, I have a lengthy paranormal short story called EMERALD MIDNIGHT and an abortive flash fiction attempt called DEAL WITH A DEVIL.

* What are you thinking about writing next (if at all)?

A steampunk alternate history of the Final War of the Roman Republic, which is tentatively titled FUMO IRACUNDIA AEGYPTUM (translates to THE STEAM FURY OF EGYPT).

* Favorite book? Favorite video game?

I have several favorite books, so that's a difficult question to answer because it depends on genre. For example: my favorite Dean Koontz story is WATCHERS, I love everything that comes from Terry Pratchett's brilliance, and my favorite Stephen King novels are the Dark Tower series. See my problem?

My all-time favorite video game has to be Super Mario Bros. There's no competition for that game's place in my heart. Heck, it's the reason this blog is named what it is.

* Ninjas or pirates? (Yes, that question).

Ooo ... well ninjas are silent but deadly, so they have that going for them. But pirates have the whole ocean-going thing going for them. And they have cannons.

I propose a middle way -- the Ninja Pirate!

This was a lot of fun, folks. So much so that I'm probably going to repeat it when I get to 100 posts. Well, so long as I get more entertaining questions from my loyal readers.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive Part the First

Thanks for the questions yesterday, even the ones from two smartasses who shall remain nameless. First off, some random trivia that no one asked about*: this post's title is adapted from chapter 7, verse 7 of the Gospel of Matthew ("Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.")

My faith is a fairly big part of who I am as a person, which I won't get into here because ... well let's be honest .. that's not why you read my blog. I also tend to not discuss religion with people -- not because I'm afraid of offending them (I really don't care if people get offended by my religious beliefs or not. They're my beliefs. Not yours) -- but because I've done so much independent study that my answers tend to be much longer and more detailed than necessary.

And now onto the questions:

From Susan:

I want to know if you write anything other than steampunk. If so, do you research as much for the other genre?

I do have an epic fantasy trilogy on the back burner (SON OF MAGIC is actually book one). I've attempted to write paranormal fiction though, so I guess you can count that. To answer the second part of your question, yes I've done a lot of research for those stories. There's reams of notes about Renaissance Europe, Imperial China, and the Vikings (yes, the Vikings) that I've made as the basis for several cultures on Haldor (the world of SON OF MAGIC).

It doesn't help that I'm fascinated by history and discovering new things. I very much suffer from over-researching something, but I still maintain it's not my fault that history is so interesting.

From Stephanie:

If you sold your first book and got an advance of $7,000 (which you'll earn through in no time since your book has landed on the NYT Bestseller List), how would you spend that $7,000?

As it stands right now, I probably wouldn't do anything with it. Well that's not true ... I'd use the after-tax income to pay down my student loans (I hate having debt with the fiery vengeance of a thousand supernovas). Then again, my wife would of course have her say in how we spent that money as well. So my opinion doesn't carry that much weight.

All things being equal though, I'm thinking a weeklong vacation to Ireland. The Irish are easily my favorite people in the world (after all, I did marry a woman who's an Irish/French-Canadian blend).

From Renee:

You work a lot, and you write. So, do you have time for any other activities/hobbies? How is married life? All that you expected? What is your favorite childhood memory?

About the only other hobby I have time for (and this is an uncommon occurrence) is playing video games with my wife. Neither of us have much time for them as of late, even though she's excited for several games that are already out and some others that will be released in February.

Married life is ... interesting is perhaps the best word. My wife and I spent our first two years living very different schedules (and we still do), but the difference now is I get to see her every night when I come home. Which is a very pleasant change. I'm also lucky enough to have entered holy matrimony without any pre-conceived notions of what it was going to be, so I didn't have any expectations to either be fulfilled or disappointed.

I don't have one specific favorite childhood memory that I can point to and say "that's the one." Rather, I'll go with all the Christmases before my older brother and sister moved away. Those were always a fun time around the Delman household.

Since I don't want this post to ramble on, I'm going to cut the answer goodness here. No worries for the other submitters though -- your questions will get answers tomorrow.

Thanks for making post 75 a good one folks! You keep reading and I'll keep writing.

Oh and L.T.? The square root of muffin is doughnut. Thought you'd want to know that right off. ;)

* People who know me in real life know my love of random trivia well.