• …
  • About
  • Vampire Month Alumni
  • World Book Night

Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: Ruth F Long

Ruth Frances Long interview

26 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Interview

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

A darkness at the end, Author interview, Dubh Linn, Dublin, Fae, Fantasy Romance, Irish Mythology, Ruth F Long, Sidhe, YA Fantasy


adarknessattheendcoverAt EasterCon in April this year I had the pleasure of being on a panel moderated by the fascinating YA fantasy writer, Ruth Frances Long. After spending a lot of the conference talking to her about many various and random things (Irish census data being one bizarre topic) and on hearing she had a book release this month, I invited her to do an interview.

You set your books in Dublin and a fey mirror realm called Dubh Linn, how important is setting to you and how much of your real world experience of Dublin has gone into your world building?

Setting is extremely important to me. I believe that when writing fantasy the more real world, definite details a writer can put in, the more real the world becomes and the fantasy elements become more convincing. I grew up in Dublin and in Dalkey (the town just outside where Izzy comes from) and made a number of research trips to each setting. I have so many photos of the various settings that I think my computer might melt some day soon.

Your Dubh Linn series draws on a lot of Irish mythology. What is your favourite story from these myths?

It’s very hard to pick just one and so many of them have gone into the Dubh Linn books. Many of them are local folklore – which range from stories to tiny details about buildings and places. I love stories about fairy trees and mounds, about not messing with the Sídhe. In the grander mythological sense I’m very fond of the story of Midir and Etain, but didn’t really use it in this story. One that I used is that of the Leanán Sídhe, the fairy lover or muse, who seduces artists and musicians, making them great but draining them of their life force so their lives will be brilliant but short. I combined it with the urban legend of the 27s, musicians who all died when they were 27, which made for a different twist.

Who would win in single combat – Cuchulain or Hercules?

Cuchulain. I’m pretty sure he fights dirty.

As R.F Long you also write paranormal romance. Do you find there is a difference between writing this and your urban fantasy work?

A lot of it is to do with voice and themes rather than anything else, the type of story I’m telling. There is actually a lot of overlap but voice always is a key element in YA.

Do you find that being a romance writer has helped you develop more realistic relationships in your fantasy work or has it been a hindrance?

I think writing is all about capturing emotion – whether that’s love or fear or hate, whatever. I’m not sure if writing romance has helped that but the sense of emotion and the sense of story are key ingredients in romance. I love writing about relationships because of all the emotions relationships throw up. It isn’t just about love.

How has your work as a librarian helped or hindered your career as a writer?

I came to both through a love of books. I don’t think that could ever hinder a writer. Perhaps by putting far too many books easily to hand to procrastinate with. But that also has the advantage of research!

You have obviously been very successful in two genres of fiction. Do you feel you have yet ‘made it’ as a writer or are there still things to achieve to get there?

I’m not sure any writer ever feels that they have “made it”. There’s always room to grow and each new book presents a new challenge (or abject terror of getting it wrong). I tend to follow the story and telling the best story I can and having people read and appreciate it is the most amazing thing.

If you had a choice, which author (living or dead) would you like the chance to spend some time with?

I’m a bit fan of Terry Pratchett and I’d like him back to tell more stories.

What would you do with this author?

I’d like to talk to him about folklore because I think he had a sublime understanding of it. I love the way he worked it through everything he wrote.

Tell us more about your latest release – A Darkness at the End.

A Darkness at the end is the final book in the contemporary fantasy trilogy set Dublin and Dubh Linn, the fae world that exists in the cracks and corners of reality.

Angels, fae demons and humans are drawn into lethal conflict as the fate of the world hangs in the balance in the final instalment in this urban fantasy. Holly, the fae matriarch, tries to seize the power of heaven for herself, while Izzy has lost her memory and Jinx is dead … or is he?

Confronted with ancient powers, sacrifice and treachery. War is looming within the ranks of the Sidhe. The angels and the demons begin to draw lines, daring each other to transgress and start another war …

You have just ended a trilogy. What is next for you? What stories are there in your future?

I’m currently working on a Space Opera, and a Young Adult contemporary, and a timeslip… so plenty.

Bio

Ruth Frances Long writes dark young adult fantasy, often about scary fairies, such as The Treachery of Beautiful Things, A Crack in Everything, A Hollow in the Hills and the forthcoming A Darkness at the End. (O’Brien Press, 2016). As R. F. Long, she also writes fantasy and paranormal romance.

She lives in Wicklow and works in a specialized library of rare, unusual & occasionally crazy books. But they don’t talk to her that often.

In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy.

@mancunicon – a weekend in the life of Eastercon part 3: Sunday

06 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Adrian Tchaicovsky, Alan Garner, Ann Charnock, Annie Czajkowski, Communism, Deansgate Hilton, Doctor Who, EasterCon, Ed Fortune, Graphene, Jeff Noon, John Rylands Library, LM Myles, Madchester, Manchester, Manchester in Spec Fic, Mancunicon, Peadar Ó Guilínn, Peterloo massacre, Public engagement with science, R.A Smith, Ruth F Long, Starburst, Strange Horizons, The bookworm podcast, Tony Ballantyne


Sunday turned out to be the first (and only) full day I spent at the convention. I guess this is the disadvantage of living locally. While you get to save on hotel costs and travel costs, you miss out on some of the stuff that happens late into the night and early into the morning. Plus there is a tendency (for me anyway) to have to leave early to catch the last bus home and wander in lazily late the next day. Since it is unlikely Manchester will host for at least a couple of years, I suppose any future EasterCons I go to will be more full time.

As it happens, I made an effort on Sunday to get there early for a good reason which turned into an even better reason. I had promised R.A Smith that I would be present at the panel he was in with my camera so that I could take photos of him looking all knowledgeable and erudite. Since this panel was happening at 10am, and was therefore a so called ‘hangover panel’ this meant I needed to be in the building by not long after 9 in order (so I thought) to get a seat in what I suspected would be a packed room.

I was wrong on so many of the above assumptions…

This is where were staying... can you not see its similarity to a giant USB drive?

This is where were staying… can you not see its similarity to a giant USB drive?

When I wandered up to the Green room to see if I could track down Russ before the start of the panel, I was collared by  Starburst Columnist Ed Fortune, another of the panellists, and asked if I was doing anything just then. I said I was not and was therefore pressganged into service as a substitute panellist. Turns out Tony Ballantyne could not make it so I was a convenient Manchester based writer to contribute to the Manchester in Spec Fiction panel.

So, my assumption that I would not get a seat was unfounded as I had a reserved seat… right at the front. However, it also turns out that I didn’t need to worry even if I had not been in the panel as the venue was one of the larger rooms in the hotel rather than one of the smaller rooms such as used for the True Love and Trophies panel. There was still a large audience but the room was easily able to accommodate it with a few seats spare. I also did not manage to take any photos as I was somewhat busy being on the panel… Oh, and the audience were somewhat more awake than a ‘hangover’ panel might attract. They seemed to be a rather lively and interested group all told.

IMG_8380

The John Rylands library: for all your Cthuloid needs.

So… thrown into the deep end… and replacing a popular and well respected panellist in a HUGE auditorium with microphones instead of the more intimate setting of previous panels. The pressure was on. Luckily, I was able to call on a lot of knowledge I have about the city of Manchester. Myself, R.A Smith (the moderator), Anne Charnock and Ed Fortune discussed various things that made this city unusual and suitable as a setting for Spec fic. Anne was there with a lot of history references (first programmable computer, various other scientific advances including the recent graphene advances), I came in with the politics (Manchester has to take the blame for communism and even in the last election, when the map went decidedly blue, Manchester was one of the few areas still very red), Russ talked about the Madchester music scene and Ed rolled in some classics like Jeff Noon and Alan Garner while riffing off some Doctor Who audio set in the city and centring on the Peterloo massacre (with the comment made that he worked in an office on the corner of two of the streets mentioned in that audio and how that scared him). In all an excellent discussion and was supplemented by the comments from the audience about how strange some of the architecture in Manchester is… including the building we were in which does (as Russ pointed out) look like a giant USB stick. Speculations about what it might be downloading may be left in the comments below… Then there is the perfectly apt venue for an occult conspiracy novel that is the John Rylands library.

By the way, if the organisers of next years Eastercon in Birmingham are reading this, I would like to point out that I also lived in Birmingham for a long while and know an equal amount of weird stuff about that city should they wish a panellist for a similar topic… 🙂

image

Apparently it is Starburst tradition to take a selfie with the Stormtrooper… who am I to go against such tradition?

Once that panel was over, Ed invited me over to the Starburst offices to do a spot on the Bookworm – FAB radio’s regular Sunday book related show. We spent an hour talking book news (JK Rowling’s publication of her rejection letters being a major item of interest) and discussing the convention. As all three on the show (me, Ed and Ann the producer) were Eastercon newbies this mainly revolved around the atmosphere of the event as well as a discussion about some of the panels we had each attended. My first time on radio… The Podcast version will be published soon and I will post a link to that once it is up.

The Public Engagement in Science Panel

The Public Engagement in Science Panel

I got back to the venue and had a spot of lunch before wandering into the Public Engagement in science panel. Here a number of the conference delegates who were also scientists were discussing the issues of getting the public interested in all things science related. This, like the biology one on Friday, was an issue close to my heart and something I see both writers and teachers being involved in. The discussion was initially focussed on semantics – the differences between Understanding and Engagement, for example – and there were some good thoughts on how it should be about the public doing science – using the innate curiosity that humanity possesses to explore the universe – rather than just reading about it. Not sure they managed to solve the problem, at least not by supplying any practical solutions, but there were ideas aplenty.

IMG_8268

A storm hits Manchester, as seen from the 22nd floor

My final official engagement of the day was a visit to the Strange Horizons Tea party which was taking place in the Presidential Suite, 22 floors in the sky. There I hobnobbed with the editors of Strange Horizons and chatted with Ruth F Long again, mainly discussing Irish history and some strange anomalies in the Irish census data. A fun hour of chat and drinks and a chance to see the city from the great heights of the 22nd Floor. While a major storm was blowing in…

Then I ended the evening with a bit of relaxation in the form of a game of D&D refereed by Adrian Tchaikovsky. In this I joined R.A Smith, Ed Fortune, LM Myles, Peadar Ó Guilínn and Annie Czajkowski as a disparate group of monsters (I was a hobgoblin sergeant major) forced together out of mutual desire to escape a curse. It turned out exactly as you would expect a game run and played by a bunch of creative lunatics to go. Luckily the day was saved (thanks to cunning subterfuge, careful following of the letter of the rules, beheading a forger and the catchphrase ‘Greetings fellow humans!’) in time for me to head home…

In our final instalment shudder as the unexpected happens and Sunday is inexplicably followed by… MONDAY!

@mancunicon: a weekend in the life of Eastercon Part 1: Friday

01 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bees, Charles Stross, Chris Wooding, David Tallerman, EasterCon, Jacey Bedford, Justina Robson, Kate Soley Barton, Manchester, Mancunicon, panels, R.A Smith, Romance, Ruth F Long, The Female Gaze, True Love and Trophies Panel


NB: There are a lot of links in here as I have tried to link to something from every person I saw over the weekend. However, I could not link to everyone mainly because I could not find a link I was 100% certain people would want shared (personal twitters etc.) If I linked you and you want it removed or (horrors of horrors) I didn’t link you and you are offended by this contact me. It can be fixed.

So, the weekend of Easter is always Eastercon time for those of a SF and Fantasy bent. An event where writers, artists and fans get together to talk, panel, display, sell and generally network amongst themselves. This year’s event was set in the sunny northern climes* of Manchester and was therefore aptly named Mancunicon and given a SF remodelling of that location’s famous Bee symbol** as a logo.IMG_8232

I’d decided to check out Mancunicon and see what all the fuss was about. After all, it was in the same  city and I am nothing if not lazy about how far I travel. So I booked as a member of the convention with no idea of what to expect. Not only that, I decided to offer myself up as tribute and volunteer to go on panels. May have been an insane thing to do but I soon discovered that insanity was all good here…

In the weeks leading up to the event I was informed which panel I was to be sacrificed on and given contact with the other members of it. A few emails and we all seemed to be up to speed on what we were doing. I therefore turned up well prepared for what I had to do on the panel and a lot of excitement for what was to come, though still not really sure about a lot of it…

Before my panel, however, there was a whole afternoon to get through. I wandered into the Deansgate Hilton in time to register and to attend the first panel that had caught my eye – Twisting the Story with Editor Gillian Redfearn, Susan Bartholomew, David Tallerman, Chris Wooding, Sebastien De Castell and Charles Stross. A fascinating discussion ensued about a topic that I have blogged about in the past and which gave some interesting insights. Ideas such as how to make a villain sympathetic were discussed (love seems to conquer all here, I used that one myself later). Unfortunately for me, Charles Stross was employing some hi tech gadgetry to jinx camera electronics, possibly involving the binding of demons into computer circuits, which meant that every time I tried to take a photo in that room it would not expose properly. Well that or I’d stupidly set the camera wrong… My ego says it was option one because that involves being defeated by a foe with superior resources. Chances are it was option two. Regardless, I could barely get any decent photos of that panel, which is a shame. The camera was mysteriously behaving for the next panel (which to be fair was a better lit room and I had noticed the settings were messed up and was able to fix them).

IMG_8169-Pano.jpg

The Biology in SF Panel. Not shown – Alex Lamb who is hiding offscreen

This was followed by a panel on Biology in SF. This one was lead by a group of writers who had between them more science PhDs than the average person could accumulate in a lifetime and two of them were not academics at all. When I had originally seen this in the schedule I had felt a little put out that I had not been considered for it given my background, but I judged the panel worthy and they played well to a packed house with standing room only. There was discussion of modern genetic techniques (in particular the technology that has recently been used to remove HIV virus DNA from T cells) and how Biology is now at the point where it is useful to SF, being at a point where it is still accessible to the layman while being weird and abstract enough for the wow factor without getting quite so weird or abstract as physics sometimes strays into and which only Stephen Hawkings can understand (which does somewhat limit your audience share…). The double bonus was that I could count this as continual professional development for my RL job…

Following this I went get some food and to sit in the bar and soak up the atmosphere of the event with a friend while waiting for my panel to start. It was during this time that Storm Constantine and Freda Warrington wandered in and casually claimed some seats right next to us.

You know, as if they were ordinary people and not authors who are like well known and stuff.

And that, as I was beginning to learn, was the spirit of Eastercon. There were some well known names here. I already mentioned Charles Stross, Chris Wooding and a few others above and there was also Ian McDonald (present as a Guest of Honour) and some other names who I was at that point unaware of. Award winners, best sellers, known names in SF and Fantasy literature. But there was no ‘us and them’ feeling. We were all ‘Us’ and that led to a nice relaxed atmosphere in which it was possible to have a conversation with someone about Donald Trump and forget that they have sold more books than you probably ever could.

12910969_10153335559156876_1939369643_n

The ‘True Love and Trophies’ Panel as taken by R.A Smith (who was standing at the back due to lack of seats)

My panel started at 7 but the usual procedure was to report to the Green room for a chat with the rest of the panellists so we can go over our plans. It was called the Green room but in reality it was more the ‘Green Landing’ – a partitioned space on the third floor of the hotel near some of the panel rooms where those taking part in events could wait before going in. The room was run by the hard working and efficient Green Room Gophers who were there to check everything was in order and all panellists had everything they needed – including the drink that was on offer for anyone doing an event at the Con.

 

12910721_10153335559236876_194514975_n

All I can say here is I was probably making some deeply relevant and emphatic point, hence the hand blurring. Kate is clearly not impressed 🙂

I met up with the rest of the panel – the moderator Ruth Frances Long, Jacey Bedford, Kate Soley Barton and Justina Robson – and we had a short discussion about what we were going to talk about and, mainly, if we all agreed on what the brief for the panel actually meant. Then we did the panel…

And it was amazing! I was expecting a handful of people and all of those people we knew personally (R.A Smith was in the audience at my request taking photos and there were a few others I knew). However, like the biology panel, it was standing room only. OK, to be fair, the rooms were a little too small and so filled up quickly, but that was still a lot of people interested enough in ‘True Love and Trophies’ to stand at the back and to hang around outside trying to get in even though we were clearly full.

Discussions revolved around romance clichés. We touched on the ‘female gaze’ as that was the topic of a panel planned for later in the weekend the concept of using imagery designed specifically to attract female readers or viewers such as when male superheroes flex flawless musculature. Ruth posed the question about how this has affected romance literature. The inevitable and ubiquitous ‘half naked male six pack’ was put on the table (um, not literally I should add here…) and each of the female romance writers on the panel (Ruth, Justine and Jacey) seemed to have a story about how their publishers keep putting such things on there despite all requests not to. On other topics, Kate, as the reader in the group, made references to fan fiction and how romance works there. I made comments about the prevalence of ‘Happy Ever After’ and how it is ironic that the story considered the greatest romance ever by some, Romeo and Juliet, does not end happily at all.  The overall theme was what fantasy and SF could learn from more traditional romance stories and I think we covered a lot of it very well in the time we had. We could have gone on longer but we were out of time. I guess we left the audience wanting more which is always good.

The evening ended with drinks and discussion in the hotel bar… Overall a good time was had by all and there will be more on this in our next instalment (stay tuned!)

 

 

 

*Remember, as Obi Wan Kenobi was wont to say, we mean sunny ‘from a certain point of view’ i.e. not at all sunny. I’ve discussed Manchester weather before.

**You know about the Bees yes? They are on every bin and bollard in the city. No one could miss them (well I did…). The mystery of the bees was referred to a few times this weekend. TLDR version is they refer to the industry of the city.

Twitter Updates

  • Just entered the Mirror competition on @PurplePort #photo #competition #PurplePort purpleport.com/competition/vi… #NSFW 2 weeks ago
  • Just entered the Dance competition on @PurplePort #photo #competition #PurplePort purpleport.com/competition/vi… 3 weeks ago
  • Interview: Gillian Polack #SFF #fiction #amwriting dalascelles.co.uk/2021/01/19/int… 1 month ago
  • Blending the Con dalascelles.co.uk/2021/01/19/ble… 1 month ago
  • The Elementals: Russell A Smith interview. #knoxpublishing #theelementals dalascelles.co.uk/2021/01/06/the… 1 month ago
Follow @areteus

Like me on Facebook

Like me on Facebook

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join the Lurkers

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,000 other followers

Recent Posts

  • Interview: Gillian Polack
  • Blending the Con
  • The Elementals: Russell A Smith interview.
  • New Year Dog
  • The Elementals: Heather Young Nicols interview

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy