Thanks to Simon Williams for being with us today. First, would you tell us a bit about yourself? What area of the country do you live in? What’s your education, if it’s relevant to your writing, and how does that education help you/or do you find that you can write well even without the diploma others might think they must have?
I live in the UK, although I travel as much as I can afford to.
I did okay at school but I’m certainly not an academic genius, so I haven’t found that it’s particularly helped- I reckon I could do what I do just as well without any further education!
Tell us about your most recent publication/whichever book you’d like to talk
about today?
My most recent work that was published is Secret Roads, the second book in the Aona series. The first book, Oblivion’s Forge, was published in 2011.
What inspired you to write this story? What interesting thing did you learn or research to write it that you didn’t know before?
Oblivion’s Forge stirred up a bit more interest than I expected, and that pushed me on to write the sequel probably a lot more quickly than I would have done otherwise. Oblivion’s Forge took a long, long time to complete but Secret Roads was done in under a year- and I’m hoping that the third book, provisionally titled The Endless Shore, will be out around the end of 2012.
How would you best describe your books?
Probably dark fantasy with a certain amount of psychological horror and some sci-fi / tech elements, although they’re dealt with in quite a fantasy way if that makes any sense. Essentially this is based in the very distant future.
What is your favorite genre to write? To read?
My favourite would be the above- that’s what I feel best about when writing. As for reading, I read a broad range of fantasy but also some contemporary fiction.
What would you write if you could do write anything you wanted to write?
Well, I feel as if I can write anything I want- the words are mine, I just have to express them- so you can see my words of choice in my written works!
What do you most like about writing? Least like? When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
I like the feeling when a chapter or even just a paragraph suddenly comes together- that feeling when you just know that you’ve finally got it exactly right. I think the thing I like least would be the editing, looking for errors, trying to spot things that aren’t quite right- that can be quite a
strength-sapping process.
I wanted to be an author from a very young age- I was writing stories from about the age of five or six, so pretty much as soon as I could write at all.
Do you belong to any writing groups? Are there any writing websites you find particularly useful?
I was a member of a few writing groups many years ago but didn’t really fit in- or perhaps my style didn’t really fit in!
Is there any special music you like to listen to while writing? How does it inspire you?
I almost always listen to music when I’m writing. The type of music depends on my mood and on the scenarios I’m writing as much as anything else, and it could literally be almost any genre.
Tell us a little about your path to publication. How many books have you published? How many books did you write before selling one?
I wrote loads of books and stories when I was younger, but in recent times I have two published novels- the first two books of the Aona series. I started out the traditional route of asking agents or publishers to read my work, but the responses were few and far between, and most of those that did respond varied between terse and disinterested- so I decided to carve my own destiny. I certainly don’t regret publishing the books myself- sales are gradually increasing and they’re already far better than I expected!
What’s your favorite thing about the book featured here today? Any special memories you have in the creation of it?
I like the fact that it expands on a number of the characters that were introduced in the first book and adds depth to them as well as moving the plot onwards. There’s additional depth to the book and hopefully it keeps the same atmosphere as the first in the series.
What are you writing now? What’s next for you-will you be making personal appearances anywhere our readers can find you?
I don’t think I have enough fans yet to warrant personal appearances- and I’m pretty sure they’d be disappointed!- but I do have a number of projects I’m working on. Apart from The Endless Shore (the third book in the Aona series), I’m working on an anthology of short stories (as yet entitled) and also a standalone novel, provisionally called The Spiral. Find out more at http://www.worldofaona.com/
What would you like to tell readers?
Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing- as simple as that. It’s the feedback and comments from people that I value the most and which encourage me to keep going.
Oblivion’s Forge:
Amazon.co.uk (paperback)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oblivions-Forge-Simon-Williams/dp/1849141754/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Amazon.co.uk (Kindle)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oblivions-Forge-Aona-ebook/dp/B0082XW04G/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Amazon.com (paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Oblivions-Forge-Simon-Williams/dp/1849141754/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Amazon.com (Kindle)
http://www.amazon.com/Oblivions-Forge-Aona-ebook/dp/B0082XW04G/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
Secret Roads:
Amazon.co.uk (Kindle)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Roads-Aona-ebook/dp/B008H67A4S/ref=pd_sim_sbs_kinc_1
Amazon.com (Kindle)
(My publisher doesn’t seem to have distributed the paperback of Secret Roads to Amazon yet)
Best place to get paperback copies is CompletelyNovel.com:
Oblivion’s Forge:
http://www.completelynovel.com/books/oblivions-forge–2/buys/new
Secret Roads:
http://www.completelynovel.com/books/secret-roads/buys/new
Also my Goodreads profile for some links, reviews etc.
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6094097.Simon_Williams
