DISCLAIMER
The H. L. Burke Random Interview is not like other interviews. The questions are all over the place. They have no purpose. Their purpose is their lack of purpose.
There are nine questions because cats, but these nine questions are subject to change without notice, so the questions one person answers may not be the questions answered by the next author.
Today we're doing something a little different. This Random Interview is combined with a New Release Blast (and giveaway) for Annie Douglas Lima's next book: The Gladiator and the Guard. So let's dive right in!
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| Annie Douglass Lima |
Annie
Douglass Lima spent most of her childhood in Kenya and later
graduated from Biola University in Southern California. She and her
husband Floyd currently live in Taiwan, where she teaches fifth grade
at Morrison Academy. She has been writing poetry, short stories, and
novels since her childhood, and to date has published twelve books
(two YA action and adventure novels, four fantasies, a puppet script,
and five anthologies of her students’ poetry). Besides writing, her
hobbies include reading (especially fantasy and science fiction), scrap-booking, and international travel.
What
is the best dream you ever had? Alternately, what is the worst
nightmare you’ve ever experienced?
I
don’t often remember my dreams, but once every couple of years I’ll
have one that makes a great story. There was one about a young prince
who was forced to flee from his palace when invaders attacked,
killing his parents. Together with his bodyguard (also a young boy),
he disguised himself and lived in a poor neighborhood in a far corner
of his kingdom, waiting for an opportunity to rescue his people and
claim his rightful throne. That dream later became my first published
novel, Prince of Alasia.
You're
the next Disney princess. What fairy tale is your full length movie
and how would you use your new ability to control woodland creatures?
What
fairy tale? I have no idea! I don’t think there’s one out there
with all the elements I would want: cats and unicorns and dragons and
a kingdom to save with the handsome prince I’m already married to.
I think I would need to write that fairy tale myself!
I
would get the woodland creatures to build me a house far away from
everything, where I could sit and write for hours or days on end
without a single interruption (unless I was in the mood for one). But
only after the kingdom had been successfully saved, of course.
Describe
your life as a film genre.
I
think I’d say a travelogue. I have been to a total of twenty
different countries and lived in four of them (including being raised
in Kenya and currently living in Taiwan). I love to experience
different parts of the world!
What
method do you suggest for dealing with dragons?
Make
friends with them. You might want to consider bringing along a cat,
as I hear they are often talented in this area. And having a dragon
as a friend can come in very handy.
Who
is your fictional best friend and what activities do you choose to do
together?
I
have lots of fictional friends, all characters in my books (or in
ideas that may someday grow into books). They tend to leave me out of
their adventures, but I do get a front-row seat to watch while they
have them. Many of the adventures get written into plotlines, but a
lot of them are unrelated and will never be written down. I mean, the
characters do have lives outside the pages, obviously.
You
have to trade places with one of your characters for a day. Which and
why?
Very
few of the characters in The
Gladiator and the Guard
have the kind of life that I’d want to live for a day! But if I had
to pick one, I’d probably go with Skipper. That
isn’t his actual name, but he keeps his real identity a secret, and
with good reason: if the authorities found out that he uses his
sailboat to smuggle slaves away to freedom, his boat would be
impounded and he would be sold into slavery himself. Though I don’t
like the thought of the danger, I’ve always wanted to be a hero
like that.
If you had to write only in one crayon color for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
Purple.
It looks nice, and it’s also dark enough to be easily read.
If
you had the honor of naming something really big (a country, a
spaceship, a planet) what would you want it to be and what would you
name it?
I
would like to name a spaceship that’s built to take humans to meet
or develop a relationship with an alien species. I’d name it the
Heartsong.
I’m currently working on a science fiction novel by that title; the
word is significant because it represents the character or essence of
an individual or people group. Singing a person’s heartsong to
someone else is a metaphor for helping someone to truly understand
that person. I couldn’t find a way to squeeze a spaceship with that
name into the story, but it would be almost as good if I could name
one in the real world instead.
If
this question were any question in the world, what question would you
want it to be and how would you answer it?
I
would like it to be, “Could you
tell us a little about your latest book and the setting it takes
place in?”
I
would answer it by saying, “Why, yes. I’m so glad you asked! The
Gladiator and the Guard
is the second book in the Krillonian
Chronicles,
the first one being The
Collar and the Cavvarach.
The
stories take place in a world almost exactly like our own. Although
most aspects of the culture are just about what they are currently on
Earth, a few sports are different, such as the martial art known as
cavvara shil. The main difference, however, is that slavery is legal
there.
“The
Krillonian Empire rules much of the world. An emperor, who is never
named, governs from the capital city, Krillonia, on the continent
known as Imperia. Eight separate provinces (independent nations
before they were conquered) can be found on nearby continents. Each
province, plus Imperia, is allowed to elect its own legislature and
decide on many of its own laws, but the emperor reserves the right to
veto any of them and make changes as he sees fit. This seldom
happens, however, and to most people the emperor is merely a vague
and distant ceremonial figure.
“The
prevalence of slavery is probably what would stand out the most to
visitors from Earth. There are nearly as many slaves in the city of
Jarreon, where both books take place, as free people, and they are
easily identified by the
steel collars they are required to wear locked around their necks.
From each collar hangs a tag inscribed with the slave’s name,
their owner’s name, and a copy of their owner’s signature. On
the back of the tag is their owner’s phone number and a bar code
that can be scanned to access additional information.
“Many
families own one or more slaves who do their housework and yardwork.
Businesses often own a large number of slaves, usually for manual
labor, though some are trained for more complex tasks. Those who
don’t own their own slaves may “hire in” one belonging to
someone else. The accepted rate for an hourly wage is two-thirds the
amount that a free person would earn for equivalent labor (the money
goes to the slave’s owner, of course).
“To
read more about the culture of the Krillonian Empire, take a look at
this
post on my blog.
“Here’s
the back-cover blurb for The
Collar and the Cavvarach :
“Bensin,
a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little
sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire's most
prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie's
escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin
is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how
can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
“And
the blurb for The
Gladiator and the Guard :
“Bensin,
a teenage slave and martial artist, is just one victory away from
freedom. But after he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he is
condemned to the violent life and early death of a gladiator. While
his loved ones seek desperately for a way to rescue him, Bensin
struggles to stay alive and forge an identity in an environment
designed to strip it from him. When he infuriates the authorities
with his choices, he knows he is running out of time. Can he stand
against the cruelty of the arena system and
seize his freedom before
that system crushes him?”
for $2.99 a
discounted price of just
99 cents through May 30th!
Connect
with the Author Online:
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon
Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
Google
Plus: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus
Now,
enter to win an Amazon gift card or a free digital copy of The Collar
and the Cavvarach!
