Enter a wondrous universe…the latest volume of Sword and Sorceress, featuring stories
from new and seasoned authors. Herein you will find tales of fantasy with
strong female characters, with some version of either martial skill or magic.
Not all the protagonists will be human, and sometimes the magic will take
highly original forms, but the emotional satisfaction in each story and in the
anthology as a whole, remains true to the original vision. The release date will
be November 2, 2018.
Kindle: https://amzn.to/2NitlHH
Deborah J. Ross: Tell
us a little about yourself. How did you
come to be a writer?
Melissa Mead: I don't remember when I wasn't telling stories,
even before I could write them.
My first attempt to write a story for publication actually
came about when my then-husband suggested that I write a story for Sword and Sorceress, but they
weren't open to general submissions at that time. My first submissions (and
rejections) were in 1997. My first publication was in The First Line, in 1999.
DJR: What
inspired your story in Sword and
Sorceress 33?
Mm: Thinking that
it's kinda creepy how so many girls in fairy tales end up marrying "Prince
Charming" without knowing anything about him, or him knowing anything
about her. And why WOULD the rulers of a kingdom need to invite every eligible
maiden in the kingdom to a ball to get the heir to the throne married off,
anyway?
DJR: What authors
have most influenced your writing? What
about them do you find inspiring?
Mm: Gosh,
probably more than I realize. I wish I had Terry Pratchett's wisdom and humor,
Robin McKinley's gift for making familiar fairy tales come alive in new ways,
and Lois McMaster Bujold's general brilliance. She writes the way I wish I did.
And Gail Carson Levine inspires me not only with her work, but the wise and
kind advice she gives to new writers in her blog. I'm sure I'm missing many
more.
DJR: Why do you
write what you do, and how does your work differ from others in your genre?
MM: Well, I write
more than fairy tales, but I come back to those because they come with a set of
assumptions that readers think they know, and it's fun to play with those. More
than one editor has told me that I take stories in odd directions.
DJR: How does
your writing process work?
DJR: Far too
slowly. I get an idea, write as much as I can, then stare at the screen in
frustration. Sometimes I'll combine parts of 2 or more stalled stories to make
a new one.
DJR: What have
you written recently? What lies ahead?
MM: Mostly flash,
most of which is available from Daily Science Fiction. I'm also attempting a
trilogy, which is about as far from flash as I can imagine. I don't know what
came over me.
DJR: What advice
would you give an aspiring writer?
MM: Read
everything. Fiction, non-fiction, whatever strikes your fancy. It'll all float
around in your brain until some alchemical process makes it into stories.
And write. Even if you think it's crappy. First drafts are
SUPPOSED to be crappy. Even if you don't like how the story comes out now, you
may be able to come back and rewrite it when you've had more experience. Ex: I
recently sold a rewrite of a story that I wrote in school about 30 years ago.
So for now, just have fun!
Melissa Mead lives in upstate NY. She loves messing with fairy tales.
Several have appeared in Sword and
Sorceress anthologies, and she's also the author of the Twisted Fairytale
Flash Series at Daily Science Fiction.
Her web page is https://carpelibris.wordpress.com
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