eli steele | author | fantasy fiction

Name:  N. A. Foy. Tell us a little about yourself:  I am a writer and musician. I was first introduced to high fantasy when I was 16 and began reading the Dragonlance Chronicles. As a writer, I started off as more of a mystery/thriller writer with both supernatural and science fiction elements and eventually shifted to fantasy. All my novels to date can be categorized as speculative fiction. I currently keep 3 blogs, one for speculative fiction, one for non-fiction, and one for political satire. I play guitar and love metal. What authors do you draw inspiration from and why:  Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis play a major role when it comes to my fantasy writings. I find that they are excellent at creating worlds and have very solid characters. J. R. R. Tolkien is another, as he was one of the original ones to create a fictional complex fantasy world. I have drawn from Dan Brown when it comes to the mystery/suspense aspects of writing, although my writings always...

Name:   F. James Blair.  I'm a CPA (certified public accountant) by profession, living in Eastern Washington state. Besides writing I also maintain a small farm and like to do ultramarathon runs (or at least I did before children came along, hopefully I'll get back to those soon!). Tell us about your Book:   I could probably spend a couple hours trying to name all the authors that either inspire me or who I try to emulate. Stephen King's Dark Tower series is my knee-jerk reaction, as it was the inspiration for my current series, but I also love the way Brandon Sanderson weaves his worlds so perfectly with his narratives.  My current series is called Bulletproof Witch. It's probably best described as Weird West, and follows the adventures of a girl named Temperance Whiteoak, the granddaughter of a famous daemon hunter known as "Brimstone". My story follows her adventures as she works not only to maintain her family legacy, but locate the daemo...

Name:   C. Thomas Anderson Tell us a little about yourself:  I’m a self taught artist and writer working to create graphic novels and eventually novels. I’ve been drawing and writing comics for nearly 10 years, mainly basing my style on manga. In this last year I’ve begun drawing the stories I’ve built up over time as well as drawing comics for a page rate for various indie creators. I am working to earn enough drawing comics that I can rely less and less on my day job, in the long term I want to get skilled enough to draw a weekly series.  What authors do you draw inspiration from and why:  The creators that inspired me first and foremost are the combination of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata: the team behind Death Note, Bakuman, Platinum End and various other comics. The first two are of particular importance to me, Bakuman most of all for giving me the idea to draw comics at all. Tsugumi Ohba’s engaging and clever writing gave me an idea of how to ...

Name:   Vaz Anzai Tell us a little about yourself: Born in California and have been living with my family in Pittsburgh, PA for 10 years. What authors do you draw inspiration from and why: Lewis Carroll, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz. Tell us about your book: Strange Tales From The City of Dust is an experimental concept. Instead of one medium length book, I wanted to do things like a season of a show would. Each book is in episodic form and together when complete, will form a "season"-length book. Each story will intertwine with the others until they all come to a cataclysmic ending. How long did it take you to write it?  What were some of the challenges: Each Episode takes about a month with writing, editing, formatting, cover. What is a unique or interesting bit of lore or background detail about your world: Set in futuristic Pittsburgh PA, I try and give readers my look at what the future could be. A.I. controls the Poli...

Tell us a little about yourself: I'm a writer from Raleigh, North Carolina, and am currently working on my third young adult fantasy novel. I've been writing seriously for about four years now, and I am hoping this is the first book I can polish and sell! I've had two of my plays produced onstage, and have been publishing short stories on Reddit - Fantasy Writers when I can. For over a year now I have written every single day, including over holidays and while on vacation! What authors do you draw inspiration from and why: Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite writers and authors, the fact that he puts out amazing books while also giving back so much to the community is something I aspire to do. Tell us about your book/works: My current project is a story about a girl named Jordan who runs away with a magic circus. How long did it take you to write it? What were some of the challenges: I've been working on this novel for about a year and a half. I'm us...

Today we visit with S. Kaeth, and discuss Windward. Tell us a little about yourself:  I’m drawn to creating things as a way to sort of push back the darkness, so my house is littered with various creative endeavors: journals of conlangs and worldbuilding sketches, strings and beads and jewelry making supplies, paints and books and various musical instruments that I can nominally play if your expectations are low. I train animals and adore reptiles, and I enjoy hiking and playing Capoeira when I’m not writing. Ever since I was little I’ve been a storyteller, telling awful passive-aggressive bedtime stories to my older sister, writing a historical fiction serial in the high school newspaper, writing terrible fan fiction, etc. I’ve been serious about my writing for about seven years now, and my writing has grown by leaps and bounds as I’ve averaged a bit over 100k in stories through those seven years while learning to embrace my own style and to succeed at self-editing ...

Please Welcome Peter Hartog, author of the sci-fi fantasy crime thriller Bloodlines. Tell us a little about yourself: I’m a damn Yankee living in the Deep South for the last 25 years. However, I grew up in the small town of Ashland, MA which is about a 45-minute drive west of Boston. I graduated Brandeis University in 1992, then moved down to Georgia two years later with my then wife. My One-And-Only Wife (tm) likes to call that other one my “practice wife.” To maintain domestic tranquility (as well as continue breathing), I’m content to agree with her. By day, I’m a commercial property underwriter for an insurance company, which sounds incredibly boring, but actually isn’t. At night, I spin tall tales of mystery, excitement and adventure, one word at a time. I owe my love of science fiction and fantasy - reading, shows, movies, all of it - to my mother. She introduced me to Star Trek at a very young age, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Besides Tolkien, I feasted upon the ...

Francis Williams, author of Honor , stopped by for a spell.  Here's what he had to say: Francis, tell us a little about yourself.    I grew up in Sacramento, CA to parents who encouraged me to read from the moment I could recognize letters. I loved reading these old books my grandparents owned, and later figured out I wanted to write one of my own. I wrote a few short stories I submitted into random competitions I'd come across, but never took it very seriously until about fairly recently.  I grew up playing baseball, also from a very young age. That was probably the thing that shaped my life the most. A lot of the people I know, I met them playing the sport, and I went to college because of it as well. Writing has become extremely important to me, but I would still say baseball has my heart. What authors do you draw inspiration from?   Bernard Cornwell. I first read his Saxon Stories series before I chose to actually try and pursue a writing c...