Resident Badass Author-on-Author Interview
~Rich Knight with Justin Osborne~
The "Epic" Series
Rich: Tell me about "Epic," man. So, you get to this world called Avalon by drinking Meadale? What's that?
Justin: Passage to and from Avalon is possible through the Sidhes, or Faerie Mounds. Which can only be powered up by Faeries. Meadale is a potent Avalonian alcoholic beverage. EPIC's protagonist, Deacon, drinks too much and rather accidentally stumbles through a Sidhe after an encounter with a Faerie.
Okay, interesting stuff. But what's a "Sidhe"?
A Sidhe, pronounced 'shee' is a magical stone that act as a doorway between the two worlds, with many of them scattered throughout the United Kingdom.
Cool. And why did you set your story in the United Kingdom? Are there Sidhe's all over the world, or do they only appear in Europe?
Because that's where all the best legends come from! The story goes between Scotland and Avalon. Deacon is living in Canada before going to stay with his uncle Evon in Scotland. In story, the only known Sidhes are in the UK, but...There is mythology from all over the world, maybe there's others...
I see. So tell me about where you got the idea from. You plan this out as four books, right?
Years ago I had picture in my head of a boy falling through a portal with a guitar in his hand. As time passed, I fed that idea, and it some more until I had the outline of the whole thing in my head. And yes, EPIC will be a 4 part series.
Nice. And the second one is already out, right? Did you envision the entire story in the beginning or did you see more and more story once you were in the middle of writing the first book?
I had most of the story mapped out before I even started writing. Now I have it all mapped out, I just need to fill in the blanks.
That's really cool. Now tell me about your website. What's the song playing on there?
I really haven't used the website in ages, I don't even have the second book posted on there, haha. I had originally REALLY wanted to use 'Crystallize' by Lindsey Stirling as the first books 'Theme Song' of sorts, but I didn't want to get slapped with a lawsuit for copyright infringement! So I checked out Soundcloud for something similar and asked the composer if I could use it, he said Yes!
That's really cool. As a writer, what do you feel that you bring to the world of fiction that other writers don't?
As it is almost impossible to be completely original in this day and age, so the best any author can do is put a different spin on certain elements. I, for one like to throw many different elements of other genres other than the base genre I'm working in.
Such as?
The EPIC books are filled with Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Drama, and some light romance, it's very much a stew of everything put together to make for a tasty experience. Also the Horror stories have comedic elements to lighten the mood before I scare the bejeezus out of you.
Ha! I like to be scared. Who are some of your inspirations as a writer?
Stephen King, primarily. I really don't read anyone else except for a few choice Indies. I don't read much because I don't want to be accidentally influenced. Funny story: As I began to read Joe Hickey's Secret Seekers Society: The Beast Of Bladenboro, I noticed that the first chapter was startlingly similar to the beginning of EPIC: Legacy. Luckily the stories veered off in other directions after that, but Joe and I found it pretty odd, both books were published around the same time and we had never seen each others work up until that point. So, it can happen whether you read others' work or not, haha
This is true. So tell me, what's next for you after EPIC. Do you have another series in mind?
I've begun work on EPIC: Reunification, the third book. I'm also working on finishing Antholocaust, my short story collection. I'm making "Prepped" into a serialized series that will one day be made into a single book, and it was only supposed to be a one-off! As well as quite a few other novel projects lined up.
Awesome stuff, thanks for talking to me. Stay badass.
De Nada! And I can't be anything BUT Badass!
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