The SoundArt Dragon Award and Radio Interview

Hi all!

This week I'm going to talk about a radio interview I did a few weeks ago. You may remember John Eden from previous blog posts, who interviewed me on SoundArt Radio about the books in the Elemental Dragons series. You can check out SoundArt here:

In this interview we talked about Elemental Dragons as a whole, in order to get onto the topic of Cinder and Fire. We discussed the characters and my reasons for writing the books, as well as I'm what I'm planning for Elemental Dragons in the future. This interview was a little different, as we couldn't actually meet face to face in the studio. Instead we did it over webcam, although John couldn't see me!

He presented me with the SoundArt Dragon Award, which sits above my bookshelf (mainly so Mishka can't knock it over).

The SoundArt Dragon Award

Although the interview was a bit different from usual, it still followed the usual format. I had three songs played, which were:

Til The Love Runs Out - One Republic

Hey Brother - Avicii

It's All So Incredibly Loud - Glass Animals

We discussed Draca and the Wyrms again, as well as the characters in Elemental Dragons. We also discussed a blog post I made a few weeks prior, about the element of metal. He wanted to ask more about the Elemental Dragons series, but unfortunately I couldn't give too much away thanks to planning the Original Elementals series!

Mute and Years were brought up again, the next two books I'm planning to publish. I talked about what a wendigo is and how it features in the story of Mute. Audra as a character was also discussed, as she is the first character I've written who never verbally speaks a line of dialogue. I did mention the gore, but that didn't seem to put John off!

Mishka was constantly wandering in front of the camera throughout, which lead to me losing my train of thought at times! Luckily I was able to keep her from walking all over my laptop, which was her primary goal.

I read a bit of Cinder and Fire, and I think this time I managed to slow down a bit more. I tried to make my voice more steady, and I don't think I stumbled as much as I have in the past. Thanks to doing this twice before, I think it alleviated my anxiety a lot. I knew the format, I knew what was going to happen. That definitely helped with my nervousness.

That's it for this week, next week's blog post will be dedicated to a bit of Mute's lore which I hope you will find interesting. See you next week!

PS; looking for some new books without breaking the bank? Check out this free bundle:

Spring Sci-Fi and Fantasy Giveaway

My Second Radio Interview

Hi all

If you haven't seen my Twitter or Facebook posts, you may not have known I appeared on SoundArt Radio for a second time, being interviewed by John Eden. This is the second time I have been interviewed by him, the first being in August of this year. Although the main focus of the interview was my third book, Elemental Dragons #3: Glass and Ice, we also discussed my other projects and the broader Elemental Dragons universe.

Like last time, John gave me two gifts, a book and a plush cat, which we have named Normie. (John, if you're reading this, it did indeed frighten Mishka to the point where she runs as fast as lightning if we try to move it)

The presents John gave me, though this time Mishka is giving them a wide berth

I played three songs from my writing playlist, which were:

Bellyache - Billie Eilish

Sweater Weather - The Neighbourhood

Your Love, Deja Vu - Glass Animals

Like last time, my interview wasn't until 12.30pm, but I met with John an hour beforehand to catch up and discuss our Christmas plans and also what I'm writing in the future. He also asked that we dedicate a few minutes to talking about my climate change book, Years, as he has done poems and segments on this in the past. Again, he maid me feel at ease before we started the show.

We discussed the dragons of the Elemental Dragons universe, though this time in much more depth. John asked me questions about how the dragons evolved and their different sub-species. This time the interview was more centred on Draca and the Wyrms, but we also discussed Fairy Dragons as well. He also said that I should make a 'Dragonology' book about the dragon species in Elemental Dragons, which I may make one day!

My boyfriend told me I did well, as I answered all of John's questions without slipping up and managed to push most of my nervousness to the side. Again, I think I stumbled when reading a passage from Glass and Ice, but that is something I'm trying to improve on. My anxiety makes me rush through reading as I feel that people will find it boring, but that's something I have to work on myself. Afterwards my boyfriend and I spent the day together, had lunch and cuddled with Mishka next to the heater. John has kindly invited me on his show again next year, which I can't wait to attend! This show will be about Cinder and Fire, the final book in the Elemental Dragons series.

John’s show, Feast of Eden, is on Thursdays at 12:30pm GMT if you want to check out his other interviews! His show is having a break for Christmas, but will be back on air 14th January.

By the way, there’s still time to enter my Christmas giveaway! Read the rules and enter here: Elemental Dragons Virtual Advent Calendar

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. If you listened to the show, I hope you enjoyed it! See you next week, where I will be discussing how I did with my goals for 2020.

PS; looking for some last minute reads before Christmas? Check out the books in this bundle!

Fantasy Reads for Cold Winter Nights

My First Radio Interview

Hi all!

If you haven't seen my social media posts, I went on the radio! John Eden at Soundart Radio was kind enough to invite me onto his show, Feast of Eden. If you want to check out Soundart Radio and all the other shows it has to offer, click here.

My interview didn't start until 12:30pm, but I met up with John at 11:30am for a quick chat before the show started. We met at a cafe and sat outside, surrounded by pouring rain and wasps, but had a good time chatting about books and our lives. We then went to the studio when it got too wet, where I met some of the Soundart team and continued chatting before the show. John was even kind enough to give me a few presents before we went on. (If you're reading this, John, Mishka has her eye on the bag, I think she wants it for herself.)

You can just about see Mishka eyeing up the presents in the background

Before I went on air I was nervous, but John made me feel comfortable as we chatted. All of my music played fine, I picked a few songs from my writing playlist, which you can read about in a previous blog post.

I thought it went well, I was told by my colleagues and boyfriend who listened live that I spoke well and sounded confident in what I was saying. Even though I thought I stumbled on a few parts, no-one else seemed to notice. The only part that I thought I did the worst on was reading a passage from Venom and Earth. I tried to slow down as I've been told before I read too fast, and it seemed to go okay.

We then talked about various themes in my books, mostly the dragons, elemental powers and the politics. John also referenced a few my blog posts and asked me to talk more about them, especially the one on creating alien planets. Of course, he also asked me about my cats; Rocky and Mishka! I couldn't forget about my little writing buddies!

Overall I think I did quite well despite my nervousness in the beginning. My anxiety kept me up most of the night before worrying about it, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Afterwards my boyfriend drove us home in the torrential rain, where we had lunch and played with Mishka for a bit. John has also invited me on his show again, to talk more about Glass and Ice. I can't wait for the next one, and I'll be a bit less jittery next time as I know what to expect!

John’s show, Feast of Eden, is on Thursdays at 12:30pm BST if you want to check out his other interviews! Next week he’s interviewing another author, John Simes, who actually recommended the show to me.

I've also done two other interviews with authors on their blogs, which you can check out here:

Sudesna Ghosh

Rockebah Stewart

That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next Sunday!

PS; want some free books to download this weekend? Check out this book bundle organised by me!

Dragon, Creature and Monster Giveaway