Since I started working with Rob on this project, I have had an absolute blast. While I'm already getting behind a bit on writing biographies and I haven't even begun the reviews yet (scolds self) I have found myself totally enthralled and captivated by the fact that already I have come in contact with some famous people.

Part of my job as Fantasy Editor is to get in touch with the various fantasy authors and ask them (hopefully not in a begging way) for an interview for the magazine. I have a list of ten questions, which I prepared before I even began emailing the authors (I wanted to stick to my old Girl Guide motto: Be Prepared) and those questions do not change for each interview. I have been asking the various authors the same questions, and in a sense doing a bit of research on the side, for a lot of the questions are designed in such a way that it is very interesting (to me at any rate) to see how the different authors handle them. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I have to say I'm very thrilled to say that not a single author has turned my request for an interview down. I have a list of about fifty authors to contact (those who have email addresses listed on their websites) and so far I've emailed about half of them. So far, I have heard back from fifteen authors. Two of them told me they'd be in touch next week or later in the month to let me know if they want to do the interview or not. Of the other thirteen, five of them have already given me their responses and those interviews can be found on the site, along with one that Rob got me through his comic interviews. The other eight have the questions, but due to other commitments, have not answered them for me yet. I have faith that they will, they are just busy authors with tight schedules.

Whenever I get a reply to my initial question of "Can I interview you?" (which is actually much more complicated and detailed that just that) I get such a feeling of pride and excitement. I'm actually interacting with well-known authors in the fantasy world! Part of me can't help feeling like a gushing overzealous fan, while the rest of me struggles to remain professional. I have to constantly remind myself to be as professional as a real magazine editor would when dealing with them. While in a lot of cases, I am a fan too, it doesn't bode well with the image of editor to come across as being hyper and easily excitable and giddy with them.

One of the authors even expressed curiosity regarding how I choose who to interview. To be perfectly honest, if they have an email address listed on their website as a way to reach them...then I ask them for an interview. It really is that simple. I'm not picky. As long as the person is a fantasy author of some sort, and I can get in touch with them fairly easily (remember, some of them have yet to get back to me regarding if they want to do the interview or not) then I'll ask. I was just supremely impressed and honored that the author who asked me, Michelle West, was interested enough to do so. Reminds me that they really are people and gives me some kind of hope in my own writing-aspirations.

Getting back to my research within the interview questions themselves, it's really quite simple. The first question is How do you come up with the ideas for your stories; in other words, how do the muses work for you?. I ask it (or variations of it...I might ask an author how he or she came up with the idea for a specific story or series they're more well-known for) because I have muses of my own and I know how they work. They're tempermental and ornery and contrary half the time and too energetic and ambitious the other half. I was curious to see how different authors answered that question.

The five authors who have answered the questions thus far all more or less answered that question the same way: Ideas are everywhere around us. And they are right. While I have my own set of muses that never really changes, I have expanded the world they live in in such a way that their original creators never dreamed of doing. Sometimes the ideas come from a TV show or a movie I've just watched, or a book I've read, or even a random song on the radio. I have yet to get ideas from work but maybe that's just a plotline waiting to happen. The fact of the matter is, there are story ideas everywhere, in everything; you just have to be observant enough to see them.

Another question I ask them is How do you deal with writer's block?. I ask it, knowing that occasionally I get blocked in the middle of a story...I have several that have been unfinished for months and will stay that way for awhile I think...but also knowing that I don't really consider it writer's block. I think that my muses get distracted very easily, more easily than I'm willing to admit sometimes, and want to move on to something else for awhile. I don't think of that as writer's block, I think of it as "I have muses with A.D.D." and let it go at that.

Each of the authors who has replied so far has had a different answer to that question, but I actually think Tippi N. Blevins, who was also interviewed for the Comics Section of GW, put it best when she compared writer's block to a Chinese finger puzzle. "The more you struggle, the more trapped you become. Relax, and you're let loose."

There are other questions I asked, such as What do you think makes a good fantasy author? that I won't really go into here. But I find it very enlightening to read the different answers to all my questions. Each author is different in his or her own way and it shows in their answers. I have not been let down yet by any of their answers, and I look forward on a daily basis to getting more answers and more insights into the way these different people, who are also very different from me, think.

If there were such a thing as magic lamps in the world (and who knows, maybe there are) and I was lucky enough to come across one and I rubbed it...maybe a big blue Genie with the voice of Robin Williams would appear and grant me three wishes. Okay so probably not since Aladdin is a cartoon created by the Walt Disney company, but bear with me here. If this were to happen, I would love the chance to talk to two of my favorite authors: Stephen King and Anne Rice.

I find both of these people fascinating and their writing has me spellbound from cover to cover of each book I read. It is probably one of my dreams to get to talk to them, even if it's through ten interview questions sent via email. Although for them, the questions would have to change somewhat because I'm not sure I could ask them the same questions I'm asking everybody else. That's not to say everybody else isn't unique and amazing, but those two authors are just...different. It's hard to explain. Stephen King is one of my literary inspirations, he has been for many years. And while I have just recently started reading Anne Rice's books, I have a feeling I will be adding her to my list of literary inspirations in only a matter of time.

I don't believe either one of them has an email address listed on their websites. In fact, I know King does not, and I don't believe Rice does either. In a sense, I'm almost glad of that, because I am sure if I were able to email them and ask for interviews, I would be incapable of doing it in the professional manner I wish to convey when dealing with this magazine. I would become the gushing, overzealous giggly fan and I would not be able to stop myself no matter how hard I might wish to.

I would like to take the time right now to personally thank all the fantasy authors who work so hard and dilligently at their craft to bring the world the wonderful books they do. This world would be a much more dull and dreary...and reality-driven...place if it was not for the books you give us to read and escape from everyday life with. I hope to one day join you in the ranks of professional author so I, too, can give the world something to escape into.

I would also like to thank the authors who have agreed to be interviewed for this magazine. It means more than I can possible express in a few short words, and I truly appreciate your willingness to give our fledgling e-zine a hand.

~Becca L., August 11, 2003