Interview- Author, Scott Kaelen
As part of author Nancy Chase’s, “The Seventh Magpie” book launch extravaganza, I’ll be interviewing a series of participating authors. Check out all the interviews here.
Today I’m very pleased to have author, Scott Kaelen!
Q: What are some of the challenges of your work?
A: The human life is so short that a day can’t go by when we don’t learn something new. Even seventy good years of living only amount to six hundred thousand hours. And so when you want to craft a story – any story – there is always research to be done, there’s always characterisation to be pondered over. Even the darkest and dirtiest story needs a literary shine, and to achieve that you need to do two things. The first is to learn how to write, not just to vomit words onto a manuscript and consider it a piece of art when it’s really a steaming mess. The second is to delve right into the heart of your story, be it a piece of flash fiction or the world setting of an epic fantasy series. Time is short, and mastering an art not only takes a lot of time, but it’s also something that very few writers can lay claim to achieving. Me, I’ve barely bested the foot-hills of the moutain, so far.
For the Verragos Tapestry, and the ongoing creation of world and story, it’s been a huge exploration of self and an incredible journey into languages and etymology, geography and geology, human society through the ages, cosmology, and a whole host of other interesting areas of research.
My short story When Gods Awaken is less than 5000 words long, but there’s a lot to be found in those words, between the humour. I researched physics, the Big Bang and other astronomical phenomena, the book of Genesis and the creation myth, Earth history from the time when neanderthals and gigantopithecus were still around, and much more. But people don’t see all that on a conscious level when they read it, though hopefully it shows on a subconscious level, or a further read-through, and adds to the overall experience.
Q: What compelled you to write your first book?
A: 2011 was the year I realised I wanted to be a writer. It was a long-overdue realisation, after having been an avid reader of fantasy, science fiction and horror novels from the age of seven until the age of thirty … (mumble) … until today. At the time, I was studying Tolkien’s Arda, which is to Middle Earth what Earth is to Europe; people don’t realise how much richly-detailed lore they’re missing out on when they only know about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
I remember thinking to myself, “I love this. This is world-building at its finest. I want to do that.” So I began. And boy did I not realise how steep a learning curve it would be to become not just a writer, but a good writer. So while I’d received my catalyst to write, those first attempts at creating stories were appalling, because I hadn’t learned how to polish and tighten my prose. I know when a story is polished enough to be shared with the world, and my time for sharing came in 2014 when I began releasing my short stories and poems between September and January.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I’m simultaneously juggling with my current work-in-progress, which will be the first novel-length story of my Verragos Tapestry series; updating the Encyclopedia Verragos and adding all its spoiler-free content to my brand new author website; putting the final touches to the German-language edition of my short story, Bleak ‘93; and also thinking ahead to future planned instalments of the Verragos Tapestry and other projects, both fiction and non-fiction.
The novel I’m working on now is called The Blighted City, and is currently half-finished. I’m really excited about this one since it will be my first published novel.
Q: If you could live in one of your books, which one would you live in?
A: I don’t have to think about this at all. I’d live on Verragos, the world of my epic fantasy series, the Verragos Tapestry. Verragos is undoubtedly the most richly detailed setting I’ve created, and the best part is that I know some of its juiciest and darkest secrets, which the reader won’t be privy to until future instalments (unless they pick up some of the subtle breadcrumbs I’ll be dropping throughout, not only in the Verragos Tapestry entries, but also in some of my other releases.) To quote my website: The world of Verragos is rich and colourful, dark and bleak. From the lush and verdant Palominos Pastures to the magnificent Bleeding Falls. From the snowscapes of Thylea to the treacherous Stone Jungles at the farthest reaches of the world. There are places on Verragos to please the fairest of souls, and the cruelest of hearts.
That being said, I would also love to visit the Earth of 200,000 years ago to witness Cosmos descend from the stormy skies, and listen to his hilarious conversations with his First Man. Many of the worlds of my short stories I would not like to visit, as they are often bleak, dystopic, rotting horror-filled nightmares, either literally or psychologically. Even the story When Gods Awaken would be my idea of hell, which is precisely why I decided to parody the creation myth in the first place.
Q: Where you have lived and what you have experienced can influence your writing in many ways. Are there any specific locations or experiences that have popped up in your books?
A: Absolutely. There’s always at least a grain of my own personal experiences in each of my stories.
Bleak ‘93 is set in what was a polarising year for me personally – at once both devastating and fantastically unforgettable. As for the story’s characters and setting, throughout my life I have witnessed too many people to whom the parents in Bleak ‘93 are far too reminiscent.
The short story Falling, featured in From Grains To Galaxies, is based on a dream I had when I was four or five years old. At least, my adult brain tells me it was a dream now. Perhaps it wasn’t!
Island in the Sands is also loosely based on a dream I had, this one being when I was about seven or eight years old.
Moses Garrett and Angerland are strongly based (in foundation) on the town in England I used to live in until several years ago, and a particular moment in a specific alleyway. The character of Moses is also loosely based on certain elements of myself.
Not many of the characters in my stories are moulded from people I’ve known, but many of their characteristics are of course based on people whose lives have brushed past my own, or affected me in some other way, be it for good or bad.
Final thoughts?
Anyone interested in learning a little more about me, my books, the Encyclopedia Verragos, and a bunch of other stuff including a blog and a gallery of my sketches, can visit my brand new website here. There are also links to my Kindle and paperback releases on Amazon and Createspace, as well as free PDF downloads of (at the moment) three of my releases – Bleak ‘93, Moses Garrett / Angerland, and Night of the Taking (complete with the full first chapter of my upcoming novel.)
Thank you so much for your time. I wish you the very best of luck! Let’s chat again soon.
A: Thanks, Vanessa. I always love a good interview! Next time I’ll bring Battenberg cake, and camphorwood for the fire.
Sounds like a plan to me! 
Author Biography
Scott Kaelen writes in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, humour, speculative and contemporary fiction, poetry and non-fiction. His releases include the prose and poetry collection From Grains To Galaxies; the religious parody and criticism collection When Gods Awaken; and the short story Night of the Taking, the first instalment into his epic fantasy series, the Verragos Tapestry.
His current projects include a collection of tough-themed essays and a novel entitled The Blighted City, the first major release in the Verragos Tapestry series following the introductory Night of the Taking.
As well as the pen, he is also modestly adept with the pencil; his work includes concept character designs for his characters, and sketches of famous personalities.
His other interests include sci-fi, fantasy and horror (in written word, and on the small and big screens), etymology, psychology, computer RPGs, deep Earth history, palaeontology, geology and cosmology.
He’s also been known to flosculate.
Though thankfully not too often.
R elease Blurbs
When Gods Awaken – The beginning is a good place to go wrong, some say, but there’s a certain deity who omnipotently disagrees. Forget all you thought you knew about the first moments of existence, and prepare to have your beliefs played with, tickled, spanked, stretched across spacetime and shattered into so many irrelevant motes of stardust. Travel back to before creation itself, and witness what happens… When Gods Awaken. This definitive edition of When Gods Awaken is chock-full with bonus material, but remember: Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat…
Bleak ‘93 – Callum Fisher’s life with his parents has been a survival from one bleak year to the next, and it needs to change. A particular day in 1993 seems just like any other day in Callum’s miserable life, but soon he will discover that the biggest of changes take only a moment of bravery.
Containing the equally tough-themed bonus poem Playroom.
Moses Garrett / Angerland – The past is plundered. The present rots with avarice and excess. In a time not so distant, a transitory altercation fuels Moses Garrett’s empty existence with reason.
When a good guy is pushed too far, you’d do well to run.
One dystopic vision, two versions – prose and poem.
This is the future.
From Grains To Galaxies – From Grains To Galaxies is an exploration of wonder and dread, beauty and terror. It’s a trek through the scenes of deep millennia, from sandy dreamscapes to apocalyptic nightmares, from Earth’s fiery beginning to it’s infernal end, from gleaming future vistas to the darkest era of the universe. It traverses life’s moments from birth till death, exposing a plethora of emotions and experiences between and beyond, in all their naked truths. It grabs the genres of science fiction, horror, contemporary and speculative fiction, epic and comic fantasy and slipstream by the fragiles and casts them into the forge, melting them at high temperatures.
Are your bags packed? Have you said your goodbyes? Then it’s time to start this journey. All that’s left is to open the forge and reach for what’s inside…
The Verragos Tapestry: Night of the Taking – Decades ago, the Volami opened the walls of their shining city of Midhallow and invited the surrounding tribesfolk to venture within. Now, the two races dwell together inside the city, not quite as equals, and watched over by the ever-present Retainers. A treaty, offered by the tribes to the Volami, was to seal their tenuous union during a long-held ritual. But it was a ruse. The celebrations became the bloodiest treachery the Volami would ever know, and set in motion events that would echo down the ages.
Includes the short story Night of the Taking, three Verragos maps, one character sheet, two creature sheets, and an exclusive full first chapter of the upcoming novel The Blighted City.
Links
Facebook Verragos Tapestry Page
Twitter Profile
Amazon Global Author Page Link
Google+ Verragos Tapestry Page
