Friday, July 5, 2013

Untethered Realms Spotlight: Graeme Ing



For the last several weeks, Graeme Ing has been interviewing his fellow Untethered Realms authors, including me, and hosting us on his blog. I thought it would be fun to give his interview questions back to him and see his answers to the questions he has posed to the rest of us. So here is Graeme interviewing Graeme!

Tell us about your latest Book:

"Ocean of Dust" is a YA Fantasy story about a young girl, Lissa, who finds herself a slave on a mysterious ship that sails upon a huge ocean made of a gray dust, not water. Strange things start to happen to her and she discovers her latent talent, one linked to the dust and the monstrous creatures that live in it. After a lethal battle aboard ship, Lissa is abandoned on a remote island with the Captain and few supplies. Only her quick-thinking, bravery and secret talent can help her save the ship and her best friend.

What genre(s) do you write/want to write in?

Primarily fantasy, but I also plan to write science-fiction, paranormal, cyberpunk and steampunk, and you'll see crossovers too.

What do you like most about being an author?

World creation. I work out entire timelines, draw maps and try to turn the usual into the unusual. Then I need interesting characters to populate those worlds.

What do you hate most about being an author?

Like many authors, I'll say Marketing. I love meeting and talking to new people, but I'm not a natural salesman.

What does Untethered Realms mean to you and why should folks follow UR?


I 'm proud to be a member of UR. It really helps to know fellow authors to bounce ideas off, and trade tips about how to best get our books before the most people. We write the same genres so it's easy to cross-promote. My fellow Realmers are extremely talented, and if you like to read spec-fic then follow UR and sample the great stories on offer.

What do you enjoy doing when you're not writing?

One of my passions is travel. My wife and I have a wall map in our home office with pins marking all the amazing places in the world we have been to, and there are still a lot of gaps on that map. Greenland anybody? I also play and design role-playing games and attempt to pay attention to our six demanding cats.

What's the most fun you've had writing a scene or character and why?

I'm thoroughly enjoying the main character of my work-in-progress. He's a cocky, sarcastic necromancer and I have so much fun with him. His partner is a fiery, fearless woman and I can't help but chuckle when I write dialog between them, especially when they argue. Apart from those two, I'm a sucker for a sad scene, and hope that if it has me crying when I write it, readers will get emotional too.

If you could live as one of your characters whom would you choose and why?

There's a character in my upcoming necromancer book that I think of as me, but you'll have to figure that out for yourselves, and no its not the cocky hero himself. :) In "Ocean of Dust", I'd like to be Oban, the ship's navigator. He has a special role and responsibility aboard ship, but is quite happy to report to the Captain.

Tell us a secret, something few people know about you?

If I ever made millions out of my books (A man can dream!) I'd happily fork out $200,000 to Sir Branson for a flight into space aboard Spaceship 2.

What's your next book about? Go on tease us!

It's a fantasy about a young necromancer in a city inhabited by as many undead as the living. My goal is to show a totally different side to the necromancer stereotype. A new and seemingly invincible creature threatens the city, but when the necro discovers who is controlling it and why, he and his new apprentice, Ayla, face an uphill battle to save the city. It's the first of several books I plan to write about him and this new world. Look for it on all ebooks, paperback and audio book early 2014.


About Ocean of Dust:

YA Fantasy:  Fourteen-year old Lissa is snatched from her home and finds herself a slave on a trading ship traveling on a waterless ocean of nothing but gray dust. A feisty, curious and intelligent girl, her desire to explore the ship earns her the hatred of the cruel first officer, Farq.

Fascinated by the ocean of dust, Lissa becomes embroiled in its mysteries, sensing things that the crew cannot, while cryptic whispers in her head are leading her toward a destiny linked to the dust itself. Only one man aboard can help her make sense of her new talent, but can she trust him? All is not as it seems, and she must unravel the clues before it’s too late.

When a sinister plot casts her adrift on the barren ocean, her best friend is left in the hands of the treacherous crew. Everything hinges upon her courage, quick wits, and her ability to master her new talent.

Where to Buy:
Amazon Kindle: USA | UK | Canada |
B&N Nook | Apple iBook | Kobo | WHSmith | Smashwords
Paperback: USA | UK


About Graeme:

Graeme Ing is a writer of fantasy and SF novels, both adult and YA. His first novel, Ocean of Dust is a YA fantasy.
 
Graeme is currently working on his second book, a dark fantasy full of undead, destruction, and a sinister pact. The hero is cocky and sarcastic, but a hero none-the-less.

Born in England in 1965, Graeme lives in San Diego, California. His career as a software engineer and development manager spans 25 years, including the development of a dozen computer games for consoles, home computers and online. He is also an avid D&D nerd, armchair mountaineer, astronomer, mapmaker, pilot and general geek. He and his wife, Tamara, share their house with six crazy cats.


Thanks to Graeme for playing along with me for this spotlight post. I recently read Ocean of Dust and can't recommend it enough, it's fantastic!



I can't believe it's the end of another week already, but here we are at Friday and another round of the Celebrate the Small Things hop.

Thanks to the 4th of July holiday here in the US I am enjoying a four day weekend, so that is a very welcome celebration for me this week. I hope my American friends enjoyed the holiday and I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead.







29 comments:

  1. Thank you, always fascinating to learn about another author, Julie.

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  2. I'll be there to send you off on Spaceship 2! (While I keep my feet on the ground.)
    Following Untethered Realms already, as I know most of the authors well, and looking forward to being featured there this fall.

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  3. Great to read the interview. And great to have the weekend ahead, even though it only makes me think that things are moving too fast for me this summer.

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  4. I'm grateful to have found UR. How did I not know about it? Thanks Julie for sharing. Good idea to turn his questions on him, too. :)

    Stopping by to Celebrate. Enjoy the break.

    Shah X

    http://bit.ly/1bcgwmd

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  5. This is a nice book. Funny 4th of July just passed and this book has a girl as a slave.

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  6. Nice interview. I follow Untethered Realms since last week, I think. Glad I found it. :) Enjoy your long weekend.

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  7. Great idea that resulted in a great interview.

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  8. There are so many great books to read out there!! A four day weekend is always a good thing.

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  9. @Carole, I agree, I love meeting new authors.

    @Alex, so glad you are going to be featured on UR.

    @Lee, it is hard to believe how fast the summer is going by. I hope you enjoy your weekend too.

    @Shah, thanks so much!

    @Sheena, oh, I didn't even think of that but good point.

    @Al, thanks!

    @Inger, glad you enjoyed it.

    @Cathrina, isn't it? Too bad we don't have them more often LOL.

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  10. Thanks for allowing me on your site, Julie. Great idea for you to fire my own questions back at me, but I had a lot of fun answering them. Hope everyone had a happy 4th.

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  11. UR sounds great for authors.

    ......dhole

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  12. Happy 4th July and 4 day weekend ;)

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  13. The cover is great. Tweeted!

    Hugs and chocolate,
    Shelly

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  14. I have to check out UR, this was a great interview :D

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  15. Great interview! I like that Julie threw your questions back at you, Graeme. I can't wait to read your new one. Sounds awesome. Hope you both are enjoying the weekend!

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  16. @Graeme, thanks for playing along with me, it was great to have you here. I hope you've had a nice weekend too!

    @Donna, it is! :)

    @Vikki, thanks!

    @Shelly, thanks for sharing, I agree about the cover.

    @SK, glad you enjoyed it!

    @Christine, I agree, I am anxious to read Graeme's next one too. :)

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  17. Oh, and I meant to say that I agree with Graeme on the marketing bit, and I love stories with great world creation - you can tell when authors love that part. :)

    And thank you, Julie, for the shout out yesterday!

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  18. Great interview! I agree with Graeme about world creation. That's always been a fun part of the process for me, too...

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  19. @Tyrean, you're welcome, and I hope you had a great holiday as well.

    @Heather, I've never tried that but I can imagine it is fun to do.

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  20. I'm totally on board with your choice of marketing. The noise online is deafening to the point that nothing works.

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  21. Great interview. I love learning about other authors!

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  22. World.creating is one of the highlights of writing. I have a parallel Earth with same characters from our world and a couple of.the protagonists froends.get trapped there and need to make it back aa they are a day ahead and see my MC killed.

    Worlds like this need.to be similar yet different enough to pose various threats and dangera that aew totally unexpected.

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  23. Ocean of Dust is a great book. I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to read Graeme's next one!

    Sorry late to the party. :D

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  24. Ocean of Dust sounds amazing.

    Marketing is not easy.

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  25. Nice to meet Graeme! This ya fantasy sounds like an interesting read!

    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  26. One great thing about being both interviewer and interviewee is there are never any off-the-cuff surprises. Great job! Sounds like a terrific book. Here's wishing you much success with it, Graeme.

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  27. Thanks for the great questions and details about this author and his book! Writer’s Mark

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  28. Terrific interview Julie! Congrats to Graeme!

    Julie

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