Coming to Town: Lady Soliloque for NC Speculative Fiction Night at Quail Ridge Books
← Coming to Town: John and Carole Barrowman for NC ComiconComing to Town: Garth Stein for A Sudden Light at Quail Ridge Books →
Coming to Town: Lady Soliloque for NC Speculative Fiction Night at Quail Ridge Books
Posted on 2014-11-18 at 20:38 by montsamu
This Saturday evening (November 22, 7 pm) Quail Ridge Books hosts the next reading event in the NC Speculative Fiction Night series, “From the Trenches to the Stars”, which is bringing together a fantastic panel of six authors for an evening of military science fiction and interstellar fantasy. It’s for the latter where my interviewee today comes in. Charlotte author Lady Soliloque is the author of Immortalis Venatio: The Immortal Game and Enoch the Traveler: Tempestas Viator among other books and stories, in addition to being an artist and filmmaker. It was at ConCarolinas this year and for Enoch the Traveler that I personally first started hearing about her work, and I enjoyed the audiobook edition — narrated by Torchwood star Gareth David-Lloyd (“Ianto”) and a full cast — quite a lot. I hope this interview helps you get to know this multi-talented author a bit better, and hope as many of you as can fit into the bookstore come out to meet her on Saturday. Enjoy!
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your background in writing and your other creative pursuits, prior to working on Enoch the Traveler?
I began with writing dark fiction and was published early on. I had several short stories in anthologies back in the 80’s and my first published novel came around 1990, The Oubliette. The Immortal Game, also a dark fiction novel, came soon after that and has had a few updated editions released over the years, with the last revision published in 2013 as a prelude to my Enoch series.
Q: Where does the name “Lady Soliloque” come from?
The Lady part comes from my heritage, I’m a born and bred Southern Lady. Soliloque is a play on the spelling of the word ‘soliloquy’ which is an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself. Basically, I talk to myself. A lot. Lady Soliloque is a good representation of me.
Q: I really, really enjoyed your DragonCon “fan video” submission this year, with slices of so many fandoms all put together. Other than Doctor Who and Torchwood, what are some of your other favorite fandoms?
Thank you! I really enjoy taking the occasional break from writing and just doing something fun. I do love SciFi, Fantasty, and SpecFic, but I am a huge horror fanatic! Evil Dead, Chucky, psychological horror, slasher flicks…I love them all!
Q: Your “alt universe” fan fiction gathered a lot of fantastic reviews, including from some folks involved in the shows. Why was Enoch the Traveler the right story to tell for you, instead of writing more of the work that had been getting you noticed?
First of all, getting noticed was never high on my list. I write and create to entertain, and I am so glad my writing entertained so many people. I had a blast writing Tempus Temporis and doing the audio drama for it with a group of cosplayer friends at the time. I moved on to create Enoch because I really wanted to give them something original they could be a part of and work with, rather than a fan work. Even though I had been kicking around the story idea for a few years, I wrote Enoch with them in mind. I had no idea it would reach the level where it is today!
Q: The dramatic radioplay audiobook is an absolutely fantastic production, and quite a big undertaking. How did that get started and actually come to happen?
I had plans to turn Enoch into an audio drama from the beginning. Once I finished the novel, I scripted it out and organized the recordings. Cosplayers and voice actors who had previously worked on the Tempus Temporis fan audio made up the majority of the cast. I cast Chris Millington as Enoch and for the narration I got in touch with Gareth (David-Lloyd). I knew him from the convention circuit and after he read the novel he jumped on board. After I got everyone recorded, I sat down and edited it together, added the sound effects, put in the amazing original soundtrack and score by Laura Reynolds, and mixed and mastered it myself at Rocky River Studios. It was quite a bit more work than the fan audio, but I learned as I went and I’m really happy with the end result!
Q: And now you’ve made it available for free download, hopefully hinting at picking up even more readers ahead of a book two to come, right?
Yes! The next book in the Enoch series, titled Enoch the Traveler: Tempestas Venator, is coming out in 2015! Gareth contributed quite a bit to the second book. He is amazingly talented on many levels!
Q: Do you visit the Raleigh-Durham area often, and if so, any favorite local places? If not, any place you’re especially hoping to visit this time?
Well, I’m a Charlotte gal, and if you’re from Raleigh then you know what that means! If you’re not, there’s a a bit of a rivalry between our cities. I’ve been to Raleigh quite a few times, mainly as part of my UDC chapter. The State house for the UDC is in Raleigh. I’m looking forward to seeing Quail Ridge Books, I’ve heard a lot about that book store!
