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THE INTERVIEW:
When did you first want to write for a living?
When I was 14, I thought Woodward and Bernstein had the most heroic profession ever. Then I won second place in a contest when I was 17 for a poem, and won $25 and a TV spot. I got over wanting to be a journalist, but I never got over wanting to get paid for writing.
What made you decide on your current genre?
I've always had an affinity for specfic and mysteries. Mainstream is just...boring, aside from historical fiction. Horror scared the willies out of me when I was a kid, so, naturally, I read as much as I could get my hands on. Science fiction and fantasy, too.
How long have you been writing?
I used to draw stick figures when I was very small, telling stories with them. That was from about age two. Sadly, I'm no artist and I started writing, instead, when I was nine. I started with horse stories and wrote my first novel when I was ten. It was a sequel to “Star Wars.” With colored-pencil illustrations. I still have it.
What kind of inspirations do you have?
I like classic literature and the genre greats of whatever I'm writing. But for specific inspiration in stories, I use personal experience, folklore, music, prehistoric art, and magazines like “Archaeology” and “Scientific American.”
Favorite authors/or books?
My two favorite books of all time are “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “Moby Dick.” I love the language of “Huck Finn” and how Twain Shows rather than Tells Huck's internal journey out of bigotry and poverty mentality, while “Moby Dick” has some of the wildest and most creative worldbuilding in a non-speculative novel. That's a tough novel to get through, but it's worth the time (which is more than I can say for James Joyce).
I also really like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, especially the Continental Op stories and “The Big Sleep.” I'm a sucker for a good detective story, also crossover dark fantasy mysteries by Thomas E. Sniegoski and Simon R. Green. Another favorite is historical mysteries like Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa books and Ellis Peters' Cadfael novels. And I've always had a soft spot for George MacDonald's hilarious Flashman series, which is paradoxically stuffed to the gills with strong, historical women.
For speculative genre, I'm a fan of H.P. Lovecraft (obviously, since I edit a Lovecraftian zine), Tanith Lee, Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar books, C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories, Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen trilogy, Charles Saunders' Dossouye stories, Leigh Brackett's Mars stories, Robert Heinlein, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
That probably dates me. It's not that I don't like newer stuff. It's just that favorites take a while to sort themselves out from “stuff I like right now.”
What can we expect to see from you in the near future?
Next year, we'll be doing a sword and sorcery anthology, “Sword and Mythos,” that I'll be co-editing with IFP publisher, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. “Confraternitas,” the sequel to the urban fantasy novel, “Fraterfamilias,” that I co-wrote with my late friend, Judith Doloughan, comes out next summer from IFP, as well.
Paula's Bio:
Possessing a quixotic fondness for difficult careers, Paula has driven ambulances, taught fish farming for the Peace Corps in West Africa and earned a Scottish PhD in medieval history, studying Templars and non-Christians in Spain. She is the author of horror novel, "The Mighty Quinn," co-written supernatural mystery novels, "Fraterfamilias" and the upcoming “Confraternitas,” and non-fiction medieval history book, "Templar Convivencia: Templars and Their Associates in 12th and 13th Century Iberia." She is Editor in Chief of the Lovecraft/Mythos 'zine/micropress Innsmouth Free Press. You can find her at: http://thesnowleopard.net.Paula's Facebook
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