Novel Conversations... with Sharon Dwyer and Katelin

 In conjunction with Indie BRAG

a new series - posted every Friday
#IndieBragNovConv 

To be a little different from the usual 'meet the author' 

let's meet a character...

Katelin

from

Q: Hello, I’m Helen the host of Novel Conversations, please do make yourself comfortable. Would you like a drink? Tea, coffee, wine – something stronger? You’ll find a box of chocolates and a bowl of fruit on the table next to you, please do help yourself. I believe you are a character in S L Dwyer’s novel The Fantasmagorical Forest. Would you like to introduce yourself? Are you a lead character or a supporting role?  

A: Thank you, but I had some burrie berries before I left Suweiland. My name is Katelin and the stories from the fantasmagorical forest pretty much centre around me and my “impulsive nature” (finger quotes in the air). Everyone thinks I just, like, rush into a situation without thinking about the consequences. But that’s not really true. You can’t think about things so much. When you do, you end up doing nothing and that’s, like, totally boring.

Q: [thinks: I wonder what 'burrie berries' are?] What genre is the novel and what is it about? 

A: Everything from the fantasmagorical forest, by the way, my brother named it, is contemporary fantasy for teens and adults. I’ve even heard adults like the stories from both books because they can relate to my so called attitude. I don’t think adults really understand how teens think. But in the first book, I have to learn again what family means when my Nana gets kidnapped. Attitude aside, I had to grow up. Of course in the second book, I not only grow up, but I fall in love. Not that it was easy as we were running for our lives from a, like, really nasty faery who used dark magic and wants to control all the good and dark magic in all of the land of faeries.

Q: No spoilers, but are you a ‘goody’ or a ‘baddie’? (Or maybe you are both!)

A:  Definitely not a goody, at least for most of the time. A baddie? Hmm, not so sure about that either. Can a person be sorta good and bad? I mean, if you care about other people but don’t listen when you’re told something for your own good, does that make you bad? If you put yourself in situations that could, like, kill you, does that make you bad? I guess you would have to get to know me and decide for yourself.

Q: [smiles] That's a fair enough answer. Tell me about another character in the novel – maybe your best friend, lover or partner … or maybe your arch enemy!

A: There are so many great people and faeries and birds and other animals. It’s hard to pick one. I would say Anion only because he’s gorgeous and makes my insides feel like jello, not to mention, I love him. But the one who has been by my side and never leaves me, is Piney. Now don’t gross out, but he’s a mole. A smart one, but still a mole. He’s my conscious, my sounding board, and best of all, no matter what, he never judges me

Q: Is this the only novel you have appeared in, or are there others in a series?

A: I’ve been in books one and two and I’ll be in book three. After all, the stories about the Fantasmagorical Forest are about me and the forest. I think I like book three the most because I get to spend so much time with Anion. OMG, he is so sweet. Even Nana likes him. [whispers]That’s probably not saying much since she likes everyone.... even the bad guys.

Q: What is one of your least favourite scenes you appear in?

A: OMG, nothing was worse than being tied up in a tent that smelled so bad I had to stick my nose between some sticks in the wall to breath fresh air, and even that was nasty, nasty. Give me a bad guy to fight, or a seriously mean sea creature out to kill everyone, or mean faery, or even a spooky cave with trolls, but don’t put me in a nasty smelling stick tent and tie me up. Nooo way. Not going to happen again if I have anything to say.

Q: And your favourite scene?

A: In the private palace garden where Anion kisses me. And I’m not saying anything else about it.

Q: Tell me a little about your author. Has she written any other books?

A: S L Dwyer? Well, she’s, like, always writing. Even her list of things to do look like short stories. She has 5 books out there and I hear people like reading them. I heard several have won awards. I wouldn’t know since there isn’t any way for me to get copies in Suweiland. Try giving a delivery address in the land of faeries. Duh, no mail there.

Q: [Laughs] Even our British Royal Mail can't always find my address! Is your author working on anything else at the moment?

A: Yes, yes, yes. The final book in the fantasmagorical trilogy. Now that story is, like, really exciting. This is my best and scariest adventure yet. I can’t wait for you all to read it. And, of course, there’s the next book she is making her notes for. There are so many characters and their stories in her head waiting to get out. I know I had to, like, really annoy her until she wrote my stories. So good to be out of all that noise in her head.

Book Two

Q: How do you think indie authors, such as your author, can be helped or supported by readers or groups? What does your author think is the most useful for her personally?

A: I really think that there should be indie writers forming groups in their own towns and getting together and maybe having writing panels for others at their local libraries or schools. Or maybe asking some writing magazines to do a short feature on indie writers each month. My author, well, she likes talking to everyone about books. Go figure, a writer talking about books, even their own. She gets excited talking about her books and before you know it, someone goes and buys three of her books at the same time. There’s always face book and all the new people you meet and conferences.

Q: Finally, before we must bid adieu, the novel you appear in has been awarded a prestigious IndieBRAG Medallion, does your author find this helpful, and is there anything else she would like IndieBRAG to do to help indie authors receive the recognition they deserve?

A: They already do so much just by being there for indie writers. That gold seal goes a long way when advertising a book. I just got an idea. Maybe have, like, small dues and indie Brag could advertise in magazines. Just a thought.

Helen: Thank you so much Katelin it was a pleasure talking to you. Would your author like to add a short excerpt below, and I'm afraid I haven't got any of your special juice, but I can offer Ribena if you'd like some of that? [pours some but adds a dash of gin to her own...]

Salute! Here’s to being a successful Brag Medallion Honouree!

READ AN EXCERPT:
“Hey, Katelin. Glad you decided to wake up.” Simon rose and rushed over to her. “You scared me for awhile when Bluie carried you in. I didn’t know if you got hurt or what.”
   Katelin stared up at him, a scowl on her face. She stood and said, “Are you nuts? I might have been like, killed in those tunnels all because you wandered off and didn’t tell anyone where you were going.” She dusted herself off, slapping at the dust and dirt covering most of her backside and hair, eager to rid herself of any vermin who happened to be residing in the disgusting furs. A sticky cobweb stuck to her fingers as she ran them through her hair and she shrieked again, dancing around, swiping at her head.
   “Katelin, stop screaming. You’re gonna scare them and I don’t know what they’ll do.”
   “Scare them? Scare them? What about them scaring me?” She grabbed her brother’s hand.     “Come on, we’re getting out of here.”
   Simon jerked his hand away. “No. I’m not going anywhere. These guys are way cool. Well, once you get to know them. The one who carried you here is named Bluie. Well, I call him Bluie. See, his nose is kinda blue. Anyway, I can’t pronounce his name. Why does everything around here have funny sounding names?”
   “These things have names?” Movement brought Katelin’s attention back to the group of beasts whose eyes were all focused on her. While she had been arguing with Simon, several in the group began to move toward them.
   “Yup. That really big guy over there...”  Simon pointed to a beast all the others crowded around. He stood taller than the rest. He had dark hair instead of brown, with deep set eyes almost obscured by bushy eyebrows. He was built like a stack of rocks−very big rocks. His lower lip almost touched his chin and his bulbous nose lay flat against his face. Pointed ears flapped over on top and stuck out from the mass of matted hair. His eyes were locked on Katelin. “That’s Watsomz. That’s what it sounds like, anyway.” Simon shrugged. “I call him Chunk.”
   He pointed out a smaller version. “This is Droblin, I think. I call her Dobie.”
   “You have nicknames for these…these things?” Katelin shuddered.

CONNECT WITH SHARON
Website: www.sldwyer.com

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Tuesday Talk: What's In A Name? by Helen Hollick

www.helenhollick.net

You would think that pirates, being pirates, would have either straightforward memorable names or ‘Jolly Roger’ type names wouldn’t you? I mean you have Captain Hook from Peter Pan (appropriate,) Captain Pugwash from – well, Captain Pugwash. Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Black Sam…

And many of their ships had names with variants upon the theme of  Revenge, Rover, or Adventure. (I presume that there was no ‘Suggested Ships’ Names’ books in the early eighteenth century – and pirates didn’t have much of an imagination.)

Black Sam Bellamy was called ‘Black Sam’ because of:

1.      His black coat

2.      His black hair

3.      His black ribbon, which he used to tie back his black hair

Take your pick of which one you fancy.

‘Blackbeard’ was actually Edward Teach. Or Tatch. Or Thatch. (When looking into the matter of pirates you soon come to realise that there are quite a few maybes, might-haves, probablies and perhapses.) The difference between Blackbeard’s name could be explained because it is believed that he might have (see… what did I tell you?) originated from Bristol, so would have had a distinct, strong West Country accent, pronouncing his name as something like ‘Taaa…ch’.  Oh and yes, he was famous for his black beard.

Blackbeard

‘Calico Jack Rackham’ was so-called because he (Jack Rackham) loved wearing calico. 

Calico Jack Rackham

As for the Jolly Roger, the popular name for the familiar pirate flag, we (again) are not certain of its origin. The best theory is that it comes from the French Jolie Rouge. But there’s no written or verbal source to confirm this, and as most of the early pirates started out as privateers with a Letter Of Marque, which was a legal license-to-kill or plunder the enemy – Spain and France –  it seems odd that French words would have been eagerly used. It’s just as possible that the first (now unknown) pirate who flew a variation of the skull and crossed-bones flag was a jolly chap called Roger.

My own Jesamiah Acorne was a name I made up while thinking about the idea for Sea Witch while walking along a rain-drizzled Dorset  beach (see the full story HERE if you don’t already know it.)

A friend (and now my editor) Nicky G. mentioned something quite interesting while reading through my recently published Pirates : Truth And Tales…

Buy the Book (US pre-order)

Stede Bonnet was not a very successful pirate. (Understatement. He was useless.) ‘How did he pronounce his name?’ Nicky asked.

Answer: no idea.  But it led to an interesting conversation.

Bonnet as in a Jane Austen lace-trimmed bonnet?  (Not very piratical!) Or did he say  ‘Bonnay’?

I am reminded of the UK sit-com Keeping Up Appearances where the lead character Hyacinth Bucket calls herself Hyacinth Bouquet.

Very recently my dear friend, John F. Millar who runs a fabulous 'Colonial Style' B & B in Williamsburg, Virginia, came across something interesting about the pirate Thomas Tew:

Tew went on only two expeditions. He came back from the first a very rich man, but did not return from the second. He is known as the ‘Rhode Island Pirate’, as it is widely believed that his family settled there in the early 1640s. Allegedly, he was married with two daughters.

Moving to Bermuda in 1691 he engaged in government-backed privateering and obtained his Letter of Marque in 1692. His mission was to attack and destroy a French territory in the Gambia, West Africa. After a few days at sea, Tew turned to piracy telling his crew that it would be more profitable than blasting away at a few French buildings. They sailed to the Red Sea, taking a ship heading from India in 1693. With their victim offering no resistance Tew’s men ransacked the hold and acquired treasure worth something in the region of £100,000 (add a couple of 0s for today’s equivalent!) They returned home in the spring of 1694. Tew paid off the men who had sponsored him and pursued an amicable friendship with the Province of New York Governor.

Thomas Tew relates his exploits to
Gov. Fletcher of New York.
Painting by Howard Pyle

By winter that year, Tew sought another Letter of Marque and sailed off again with between thirty to forty men, increasing the crew to nearer sixty when he reached Madagascar. At the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the entrance to the Red Sea, Tew came across several more pirates all with the same intention, one of them being Henry Every. They joined forces and in either June or September 1695 came across a Mughal convoy.

Tew attacked one of the ships, the Fateh Muhammed, and in the battle that followed was killed by a cannon ball: a direct hit to his belly which disembowelled him. Shocked and disheartened his crew surrendered. One version of the tale states that Henry Every caught up, captured the Fateh Muhammed and freed the men held prisoner in the hold, while another claims that those who had not been immediately executed died in an Indian prison. Tew’s resting place is unknown as he would have been buried at sea. Tew’s family is rumoured to have lived a pleasant life of luxury from his first plundered fortune.

Now, like me, I assume you’ve read the above pronouncing ‘Tew’ to sound like ‘Pew’ - the benches you sit on in church, or  ‘phew’ or dew as in morning dew.

Well, apparently not! It is Tew to rhyme with ‘sew’ or ‘go’ or ‘no’ or toe...

Confusing lot these pirates aren't they?

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Oh and yes, Jesamiah Acorne. With an ‘e’.

call back Friday for the new Novel Conversations series!