Welcome Gloria Oliver, author of fantasy for young adults and more grown up young adults!
Amber: Why do you write fantasy?
Gloria: I write fantasy because it's my first love. It's the genre I fell head over heels for when I began reading in my early teens. That broad shiny spectrum of possibilities! Unlike a lot of other genres, I feel fantasy can be more incredible, more fantastical, more open to my imagination's wanderings. A great big universe just waiting to be explored! All sorts of peoples, places, and things to discover.
Amber: What makes your fantasy titles different from others?
Gloria: I like to think of my books as a very personal experience for those who choose to read them. They'll take you on a journey of discovery and growth hand in hand with the characters I'm writing about. Each book normally has an underlying theme the readers can hopefully relate to at some level - finding our place in the world, realizing we're not bound to society's tethers, discovering your past can always find you no matter how hard you try to hide from it, that truth isn't always what you think it is.
Amber: What are your favorite fantasy novels?
Gloria: Oh my! The more I read, the more of them I have, to the point it'd take forever to list them all. Now I choose authors rather than novels, knowing these individuals will always deliver so I don't care what the subject is - I know I will go on a great journey. Tad Williams, David Eddings, Barbara Hambly, Tanya Huff, Piers Anthony, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Anne McCaffrey and more recently George RR Martin, Martha Wells, Rachel Caine, A Lee Martinez, Rob Thurman, Terry Pratchett (I adore his stuff! I can't believe how long it took me to discover him!). I suppose I can recall a few actual books, sort of...The Belgariad Series, Sword of Shannara, Dragonriders of Pern series, the Xanth books - all oldies but goodies!
Amber: Why do you think readers love fantasy?
Gloria: I think they love it for the same reasons I write it - because of the endless possibilities! The races, the societies, the situations as varied as there are stars in the sky.
Amber: Would you write fantasy even if no one read it?
Gloria: I am a slave to my muse, so I would have to say YES. The genre calls to me. I may dabble in others on occasion, but I will always come back to my first love.
Gloria Oliver lives in Texas making sure to stay away from rolling tumbleweeds and bowing to the wishes of her feline and canine masters. She is the author of “In the Service of Samurai”, “Vassal of El”, “Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles”, and “Willing Sacrifice”, all fantasy and YA fantasy novels. Her latest, “Price of Mercy” should see release in 2011. She is a member in good standing of EPIC and BroadUniverse though she has yet to make the list for Cat Slave R Us.
Gloria: I write fantasy because it's my first love. It's the genre I fell head over heels for when I began reading in my early teens. That broad shiny spectrum of possibilities! Unlike a lot of other genres, I feel fantasy can be more incredible, more fantastical, more open to my imagination's wanderings. A great big universe just waiting to be explored! All sorts of peoples, places, and things to discover.
Amber: What makes your fantasy titles different from others?
Gloria: I like to think of my books as a very personal experience for those who choose to read them. They'll take you on a journey of discovery and growth hand in hand with the characters I'm writing about. Each book normally has an underlying theme the readers can hopefully relate to at some level - finding our place in the world, realizing we're not bound to society's tethers, discovering your past can always find you no matter how hard you try to hide from it, that truth isn't always what you think it is.
Amber: What are your favorite fantasy novels?
Gloria: Oh my! The more I read, the more of them I have, to the point it'd take forever to list them all. Now I choose authors rather than novels, knowing these individuals will always deliver so I don't care what the subject is - I know I will go on a great journey. Tad Williams, David Eddings, Barbara Hambly, Tanya Huff, Piers Anthony, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Anne McCaffrey and more recently George RR Martin, Martha Wells, Rachel Caine, A Lee Martinez, Rob Thurman, Terry Pratchett (I adore his stuff! I can't believe how long it took me to discover him!). I suppose I can recall a few actual books, sort of...The Belgariad Series, Sword of Shannara, Dragonriders of Pern series, the Xanth books - all oldies but goodies!
Amber: Why do you think readers love fantasy?
Gloria: I think they love it for the same reasons I write it - because of the endless possibilities! The races, the societies, the situations as varied as there are stars in the sky.
Amber: Would you write fantasy even if no one read it?
Gloria: I am a slave to my muse, so I would have to say YES. The genre calls to me. I may dabble in others on occasion, but I will always come back to my first love.
Gloria Oliver lives in Texas making sure to stay away from rolling tumbleweeds and bowing to the wishes of her feline and canine masters. She is the author of “In the Service of Samurai”, “Vassal of El”, “Cross-eyed Dragon Troubles”, and “Willing Sacrifice”, all fantasy and YA fantasy novels. Her latest, “Price of Mercy” should see release in 2011. She is a member in good standing of EPIC and BroadUniverse though she has yet to make the list for Cat Slave R Us.
Visit Gloria at her website and her blog.
Great interview Amber. Gloria is a sweet and great lady. Include me as a grown up young adult because I read Gloria's book Vassal of El and it was fantastic.
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