This author interview is with Charity Bradford
Welcome
Charity thanks for talking to us today and letting us have a little
insight into you and your books.
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Q:
Tell us about your books, Magic Wakes and Stellar Cloud.
The
Magic Wakes
is a mix of light science fiction, fantasy, and adventure with a
touch of romance. Talia continually dreams of the invasion of her
planet and her death at the hands of a species of half human half
dragons. As the nightmares increase in frequency, she knows the
annihilation of her world is drawing near. On
her planet Sendek, magic is dead and science rules, forcing Talia to
keep another secret, one that could cost her everything if it were
known. Now, in order to save her planet, Talia must awaken the powers
within her and rely at last on the magic that is her true
inheritance.
Stellar
Cloud
is a collection of short stories. A
soldier struggles with the emptiness left behind by amnesia until he
learns he is more than the world would have him remember. The earth
is desolate, and only one ship of humans remains. An assassin plays
god, dealing out justice and mercy as he sees fit. Explore
the outer reaches of the imagination through these and other short
stories. From brainwashed clones to winged aliens of destruction, the
stories in Stellar Cloud will pull in any lover of science fiction
and fantasy.
Q:
What’s your genre and why did you choose it?
I’ve
always loved science fiction and fantasy so when I started writing I
naturally drifted that way. The ability to lose myself in fictional
worlds makes me happy, and I hope to share that with others.
Q:
What’s the biggest obstacle you faced with your writing journey?
Time.
It’s hard to balance the time needed to write with everything else
in my life. My muse rarely shows up at convenient times and sometimes
I fear my family suffered for it. Now I’m trying harder to keep a
better balance.
Q:
Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from?
Most
of my ideas come from crazy dreams. The others come from everyday
events around me. I’m always asking, “what if...”
Q:
Who or what are your influences?
This
is a hard one. I believe that all my life experiences, as well as
every book I’ve ever read, combine to influence my imagination and
thus my writing. Growing up I read a lot of the classic science
fiction authors—Asimov, Bova, Card, Nivens, Nagata...
Q:
Are you self-published, legacy or a combination?
The
Magic Wakes
was with a small publisher, but I self-published Stellar
Wakes.
It has been interesting to see how things work on both of those
fronts.
Q:
What was the hardest part of your self-pub / publishing journey?
I
have a list for this one!
- I didn’t realize how important it would be for me to learn to be patient with myself.
- Allowing myself to write horrible first drafts so I have something to revise.
- Learning that not every idea is worth a full length novel.
- Learning to trust my instincts in spite of what others were saying.
Q:
What format are your books available in?
The
Magic Wakes
is available in print and for Kindle. Stellar
Cloud
is currently just kindle, but I’m working on the print formatting
now.
Q:
How many books have you published so far?
These
are the only two so far.
Q:
What things did you outsource, if any at all?
With
Stellar
Cloud
I was lucky enough to have my brother-in-law do the cover art. He did
an AMAZING job! I did everything else.
Q:
What’s the best bit of advice you received when starting out?
We’ve
all heard it—write
what you know.
I took this to mean write about the emotions and internal conflicts
that I understand. Obviously I’ve never drank the sunsrise to heal
myself, but I love sitting in my back yard with the sun warming my
face. It offers a little emotional medicine to my soul. I took that
and ran with it in The
Magic Wakes.
Q:
What advice would you offer to the future Authors out there?
Don’t
give up! Put in the time to get better and better, learn to use
criticism to your advantage, and keep dreaming.
Q:
What’s next for you? Any projects in the pipeline for us to look
forward to?
I’m
nearing the end of a YA Fantasy as well as digging into the sequel
for The
Magic Wakes.
Q:
Give us one of your favourite quotes……………….
“It's
easy to believe in magic when you're young. Anything you couldn't
explain was magic then. It didn't matter if it was science or a fairy
tale. Electricity and elves were both infinitely mysterious and
equally possible - elves probably more so.”
― Charles de Lint
― Charles de Lint
This
one is hard! I don’t think I do many funny things, but I do a lot
of stupid things. Because my head is so full of other worlds and
strange characters, I often have a hard time paying attention to the
real world. One time I placed a pot of chilli on top of my car while
loading my kids to go to a church pot luck. I forgot about that
chilli until I pulled onto the street and it went flying across the
road. Another time we were at a neighbourhood picnic and I left my
husband and baby sitting on a blanket to run inside for a minute.
When I came back I sat down and snuggled up really close to who/what
should have been my husband. Unfortunately, my hubby had gotten up as
well and a neighbour had sat down with his baby. So embarrassing! I
couldn’t look at the poor man for a week!
Click the Links below to purchase the books, or learn more about Charity.
Website-- http://charitybradford.com/
Twitter-- https://twitter.com/charitybradford
Amazon Author Page-- http://www.amazon.com/Charity-Bradford/e/B00FA3QRKO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1382031964&sr=8-1
Goodreads Page-- https://www.goodreads.
Read the First Chapter of The Magic Wakes for free-- http://charitybradford.com/books-2/original-first-chapter/
