Tell
us a little bit about yourself.
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| Author Ashley Capes |
I’m Ashley and I’m a poet, novelist and teacher from
Oz. I usually write under the speculative umbrella; fantasy, magic realism,
supernatural and occasionally suspense. I find it pretty hard to stick to one
subset – which means I’m never bored at least!
I also love volleyball, haiku and Studio Ghibli –
although Cowboy Bebop is fast
becoming my new favourite animated work. Over the last two years fighting for
free time to read more, as I miss it so much.
What
is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Amber Isle is my latest and it was inspired by
my love of mysteries and the uncovering of secrets, I think. The main
character, Never, is looking for the truth about his curse and the truth about
his name – and within that, there’s also a search for ancient civilizations –
so in that respect there’s probably a touch of Indiana Jones in there (except
Never is probably more flippant than Indy.)
How
would you categorize your book?
It’s epic fantasy without the epic page count,
perhaps? I was aiming for big themes and sweeping changes (by the end of the
series certainly) but also books that were faster to read and – I hope –
importantly for readers, quicker for me to release. I’m hoping to put these
books out quarterly, rather than every year and a half or so, like my longer
books. There’s also an action/adventure feel to The Amber Isle that I hope puts in a lot of fun too.
Introduce
us to your series character. What is it about this character that appeals to
you as a writer?
‘Never’ is a bit of a rogue and a guy who’s been
around long enough to be a little bitter – but he hasn’t lost his humour yet.
He uses it both as a weapon and to diffuse risky situations, which made him a
lot of fun to write. He’s very driven too; so he always has a clear goal. I
like writing these sorts of characters because they know what they want – it
also allows me to throw all kinds of stumbling blocks in front of them :D
Tell
us more about the cover design. How
involved were you with creating the cover?
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| Available Now |
Only at concept stage, really – it’s for the best too, as I’m not much of a painter :)
For instance, with The Amber Isle, I asked artist Lin Hsiang to place Never within the Amber Isle
itself and mentioned only that Never wore knives and was carrying a lantern. I
provided a few details of what I imagined for the background (like the
honeycomb-like walls of the Isle) then there was a little bit of chatting after
various draft images and then Lin did the rest and I’m thrilled with the
result!
For the text, I asked VividCovers to help me as
again, the layout of text is not one of my skills – and we went through various
fonts, sizes and arrangements. Because there was a lot of text to fit on the image,
I like how the title catches the eye and the other elements become more visible
once you looked closer and again, I’m really happy with the end result. It’s
actually one of the most thrilling aspects of being an author, for me – seeing
an artist bring your world to life.
Tell
us something about your book that isn't mentioned in the synopsis.
Got one! The synopsis doesn’t mention one of the
characters he meets along the way – which is Luis, a spear-wielding treasure
hunter whose optimism masks a troubled past of his own, something readers will
learn more about as the books are released.
What
is next for you?
Next is to get back to reading! I’ve got such a pile
that if it fell, I’d be buried. One book I’m particularly looking forward to is
#3 in the Dresden Files. I’ve read the first two but had to put off the next
one for months now, it’s depressing! So, starting next week – I’m reading more,
come hail or shine.
Update: Since our interview, Ashley has released Forest of Eyes, the second in The Book of Never series. His third book, River God, is set to be released in July along with a bundle option for the first three novellas in this series.
You can find Ashley Capes at the following places:Update: Since our interview, Ashley has released Forest of Eyes, the second in The Book of Never series. His third book, River God, is set to be released in July along with a bundle option for the first three novellas in this series.
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| Available Now |
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| Coming in July |
http://www.cityofmasks.com/
http://www.cityofmasks.com/book-of-never.html
https://twitter.com/ash_capes
http://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Capes/e/B004H6WC4K
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5806251.Ashley_Capes
You can find the artist Lin Hsiang at:
http://linhsiang.deviantart.com/
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