Ask the Author: Alex Silver
Answered Questions (8)
Alex Silver
Hmm I read a number of books this summer. I don't really do a summer reading list, I always just have a massive tbr on my Kindle and audiobook library to get through. I did have a lot of fun doing a summer reading group reread of the Whyborne and Griffin series and discussing the books with other fans of the series. There are also a few books that are releasing soon that I am psyched about. Chief among them the last W&G novel, Deosil, TJ Klune's Heartsong, CS Poe's Mystery of the Bones, KJ Charles' Gilded Cage, Cat Sebastian's Two Rogues make a Right, and CL Polk's Stormsong. There might be some others that I'm missing too, so many great books out there!
Alex Silver
I'm a sucker for a good animal companion story. I used to daydream about finding a telepathic ghatten from Gayle Greeno's Ghatten's Gambit trilogy or a companion from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar. My current favorite in that category is hands down Jordan L Hawk's Hexworld. Their familiars aren't really animals, but they can take animal shape so I'm counting it and I would love to meet up with a familiar and explore the ways Hexworld is different from our own.
Alex Silver
All sorts of things inspire me to write. The world around me, I grew up on a family farm after my mom remarried, but before that we moved around a good amount and I've moved a bit myself since growing up so getting to see different places and all the little quirks of those places inspires me to write. And as an dual citizen coming from two previous generations that moved across national borders and having done the same with my family, I get to see things from a different perspective sometimes.
My education also inspires some of what I write. The history of public health fascinated me and influenced some of the history in the SPIREverse for instance.
But really even the mundane can make an idea pop into my head. When I was a kid my family used to joke that I was probably writing about them, because I was constantly coming up with stories or they would say or do something and I would reach for my notebook.
My education also inspires some of what I write. The history of public health fascinated me and influenced some of the history in the SPIREverse for instance.
But really even the mundane can make an idea pop into my head. When I was a kid my family used to joke that I was probably writing about them, because I was constantly coming up with stories or they would say or do something and I would reach for my notebook.
Alex Silver
Part of the inspiration for Keen Sense (which was originally going to be the first Psions book, so really the whole series) was my experience working with long term care patients. We got a lot of orders to compound a topical cream that the nurses swear by, but the pharmacokinetics show almost no absorption through the skin. So based on the way the drug functions, it shouldn't work at all. We joked that the compound was useless. But it still helped calm very upset and emotional patients so the calming probably had more to do with therapeutic touch. And I wanted to take that concept of the healing power of touch further, so that was where Oscar came in, I developed the basics for how my psions functioned through his eyes. And my psions and their need for touch stems from there. Andy's emergence was study in what might happen if the need to connect to other people were literal and taken to extremes. The rest of the world grew out of that concept.
Alex Silver
Write. I must have written hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of words in stories that will never see publication from the time I was a kid typing stories for my friends on a purloined typewriter in my closet. And those stories are how I honed my writing skills to the point where I am able to share my stories with a wider audience now.
Alex Silver
Tea. And long walks. Figuring out any major plot snarls on my head on a long walk helps me to get the ideas flowing again. That or going back to see why the words aren't flowing and where I went wrong that point A no longer connects with point B and what needs to change to make it all work out.
Alex Silver
Getting to write the sort of stories I wish I had available when I was younger. Seeing happy queer characters means the world, knowing I didn't have to chose between being myself and being happy, that it was possible to be both is priceless so I love that being an independent author allows me to give that to other people. The affirmation that you can be yourself and still save the world, be a superhero or live up to whatever definition of success suits you and still find love and get your happily ever after is powerful.
Alex Silver
At the moment I am working on two new books. The first is the next book in my Psions of SPIRE series, the working title is Quick Fire and it features Finn and Oliver. The first draft is currently about 50% complete. The other project is the first book in a new series, working title is Tabletopped: Heirs of Dragonis. And it is a bit different. Half of it is contemporary romance following Theo, who runs a table top campaign for his friends. The other half takes place in the game world from the POV of the player characters in Theo's game and has a more high fantasy feel with swords and sorcery and dragons. I am so excited to tell both of these stories and they both feature trans characters. Getting to see myself in the type of story I love to read is a huge part of what inspired me to start writing novels in the first place so I am thrilled to bring these two books into the world.
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