UFI welcomes Author Anton Strout . Thanks for Joining us!!
What
can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on
your bio or reading in another interview?
I have a deep, unnatural love
of the movie Strictly Ballroom. I also love roller coasters and once drove 11
hours from New York City to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio because they have
some of the best record holding steel and wooden coasters. Totally worth the trip. And lastly, I have a sushi eating
problem. I must eat ALL THE FISHIES!
What
do you enjoy doing on your down time?
I do not understand this
“down time” of which you speak. Is there
perhaps a store I can purchase some at?
Right now I am writing at
negative time to write in a week.
There’s my day job with Penguin Random House. There’s promoting the launch of Stonecast.. There are the sixteen week old twins. There’s want of sleep.
These aren’t complaints, mind
you. Just one of those critical mass
times of year…. When I do get a little time off, I love to crack out on graphic
novels, books, and video games. I wish I
had time for more guitar or to play more Dungeons & Dragons, but staring at
the Wonder Twins for hours makes up for all that…
Then there are all the other
project ideas floating around my head….
What
is your Favorite part of writing?
My favorite part of writing
is having written. When it’s done, there is immense relief. You type “the end” and DONE! Well, an author never really thinks a book is
done. Even after it’s gone to press,
you’re still thinking of things you wish you could tweak a bit more. For a book to come out, I suppose there’s
“done enough.”
Actually, I think my favorite
part of writing is when I see all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that my work
in progress is come together.
Everything starts to click together, make sense, and the journey of
faith I took in writing scene after scene begins to pay off.
That’s the best. It’s the moment where I realize that after
seven books I might have the inkling
of an idea of what I’m doing.
Do
you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
Does drinking the blood of
the living count? Actually, never mind…
that’s more of a ritual than a routine, really.
I have a lot of little routines to get the words down. I’m a tech nerd, so I outline in Excel to
keep track of the order of things going down in the book. I hand write in a notebook every day, and in
the evenings I get a quick editorial pass on those words when I type them in. If I’m writing a fight, I probably have The Matrix soundtrack on or The Crystal
Method playing.
What
are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal
Genres?
Diana Rowland does a great
white trash zombie series… Kevin Hearne has the excellent Iron Druid series…
but I REALLY cut my teeth on Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
series. I read like nine in a row over a
few short months before needing a break.
Those early books reminded me of old time pulp page turners… just with
monsters. I also enjoy the quirky
Christopher Moore, who I occasionally seem to have the same idea as, but he
usually beats me to the punch.
How
would you pitch the Spellmason Chronicles to someone who has not heard of it
before?
Hmm… Disney’s Gargoyles fan fic…?
Actually, girl sculptor in
Manhattan (Alexandra Belarus) meets a gargoyle (Stanis) who had been set
centuries ago to watch over her family.
She also learns that their true family business isn’t real estate.
Also, the magical side of New
York City we first learned of in book one, Alchemystic,
was just the tip of a Titanic-sinking iceberg.
Can
you tell us a little bit about the world that the Spellmason Chronicles is set in?
The series takes place in
modern day Manhattan, the world seemingly much like our own. The average Joe on the street has no idea
that there is a paranormal world. Hell,
the main characters of the book have barely discovered that magic and alchemy
exist. Although I suspect that Stanis,
our other narrator (oh, and a
gargoyle) has a clue.
Spellmasonry itself is the
long lost art of fusing stone with magic, a skill that Alexandra Belarus has
only discovered is her family’s true legacy.
With Stonecast, we learn more
about how much magic potentially does exist beyond the small fragment she and
her friends have been exposed to.
Do
you have a favorite scene in Stonecast?
So hard to choose! I mean, I try to write only favorite scenes… but I suppose some are a bit more favorite
than others. There’s some areal combat
that starts at Gramercy Park and ends up in Central Park after crashing through
the Empire State Building. And it
involves more than gargoyles in flight.
I had a lot of fun with that.
Also, any scene I write with
Bricksley in it always makes me snicker (Bricksley is a single-brick golem that
serves Alexandra Belarus in her Spellmasonry). (Author note to UFI: SEE PIC)
I
am told that you will be donating $1 for every pre-order copy of Stonecast
to
the Worldbuilder's charity. Could you tell us a little bit more about that and
why this charity caught your attention?
Sure. Worldbuilders is the name of my arch-nemesis
Patrick Rothfuss’ charity. A lot of
authors usually donate cool stuff or services to his charity, and in the end all
the money goes to Heifer International.
In Pat’s words:
“Heifer helps people raise themselves
up out of poverty and starvation. All over the world Heifer promotes education,
sustainable agriculture, and local industry.
‘They don’t just keep kids
from starving, they make it so families can take care of themselves. They give
goats, sheep, and chickens to families so their children have milk to drink,
warm clothes to wear, and eggs to eat.”
I like Heifer International,
too. What’s not to like? And I love how
direct their effect is. Plus I feel all squishy inside.
In the past, I’ve offered read
and critiques for their auctions, signed books… but the best way I raise money
for it started last year with Alchemystic
and I’ve continued it this year with Stonecast.
Thanks to my day job at
Penguin, I can track my preorders. For every book preordered before September 24th,
I throw in $1 of my own into the charity.
What’s great is that Penguin will then match the first $1,500 that I
contribute, thereby doubling the amount give to Heifer. People get a great gargoyle book and buy some
baby chicks or a heifer! Win-win.
Which
character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write
about?
I really enjoy writing about
Marshall Blackmoore. Marsh is a bit of a
D&D nerd, and he approaches the discovery of gargoyles and alchemy in
modern day Manhattan with a special excitement.
His entire thought process in dealing with it revolves around gaming and
nerd culture, which of course makes him close to my not-so-secret heart and
probably my favorite.
The hardest to write for is
probably Stanis, one of my two first person narrators in the series. First of all, he’s a gargoyle from the 1800s,
only now discovering a sense of self.
Most of my narrators in both my series have been contemporary people, so
suddenly I have to write in this far more… stoic tone. He doesn’t contract words. He doesn’t understand or use idiomatic
language. It’s definitely challenging,
but I love the strength and honor he brings to the tale.
What
Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
I’m frantically working on
book three in The Spellmason Chronicles.
I have a short featuring pole arm wielding dancer Rory Torres from the
series going into an anthology next year.
I also have two other projects I’m hoping to put some time into: what I call my young adult Dickensian Voltron
Steampunk Iron Man novel, and a sekrit graphic novel idea I’ve been tinkering
with that reminds me of both Fables and
The Sandman series.
__________________________________
StonecastThe Spellmason Chronicles #2
The adventures of a girl and her gargoyle continue in the second installment of this “thrilling, funny and eerie” fantasy series. —Romantic Times on Alchemystic
Alexandra Belarus, the last practicing Spellmason, doesn’t know what has become of Stanis—her gargoyle protector. Hidden forces are watching her and threatening her, and, now, she’s worried for her stone-hearted friend—who may no longer be so friendly..
Alchemystic
The Spellmason Chronicles #2
The Spellmason Chronicles #2
AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY…
Alexandra Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by an inhumanly powerful winged figure. A figure who knows the Belarus name…
Lexi’s great-great-grandfather was a Spellmason—an artisan who could work magic on stone. But in his day, dark forces conspired against him and his, so he left a spell of protection on his family. Now that Lexi is in danger, the spell has awoken her ancestor’s most trusted and fearsome creation: a gargoyle named Stanis.
Lexi and Stanis are equally surprised to find themselves bound to each other. But as they learn to work together, they realize that only united can they save the city they both love…