"Who in their right mind wouldn't want to read a book by Mark Barry!" (Mary Quallo, St Louis)

"Who in their right mind wouldn't want to read a book by Mark Barry!"  (Mary Quallo, St Louis)
Coming next week - Carla Eatherington

Wednesday 17 October 2012

An Interview with Rae Gee



Many of you will know that I'm compiling a catalogue for the Independent Paperback Gift Shop, and during the compilation process I met a number of authors including up and coming Steampunk author.Rae Gee, who, I discover, lives just down the road from me, the next county along in Leicestershire.

Naturally, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself and Rae agreed to take time away from her busy schedule to talk to us. 

You can also see how the catalogue is developing, as I am going to display Rae's catalogue page on the Gift Shop blog.
Its a Steampunk double bill.





Tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you? Where are you from? Do you write full time? Do you work?

Hi Wiz! Thanks for giving me time on your blog. I really appreciate it!

My name's Rae, and I hail from a small town just outside of Leicester. I wish I could write full time! That's my ultimate dream. That and make documentaries and take a huge, Easy Rider style road trip across America. 

During the day I work as an events manager for a care home. No two days are ever the same, which is just the way I like it. But one day I hope to walk out of there and to permanently in front of my computer.


Wiz Notes: Leicester is home to the National Space Centre. Walkers Stadium and for American readers, is the birthplace of cruise crooner, romantic balladeer and notorious used panties collector, Englebert Humperdinck. 

My mother loves Englebert Humperdinck, Rae.

Does she?

Do you know what his real name is?

Is it Arnold  Dorsey, Wiz?

That's right, it is. He has a pool outside his house with a big inflatable dome over it. Near Oadby.

Oh.

Okay. Anything else about you Wizardwatchers ought to know?

I have a tattoo of a Boeing 747 on my back haha.

Fantastic stuff! On to writing. How do you write? 2500 a day? Straight onto WP? Notepads? Lost Weekend style word binges?

I aim for a thousand words a day. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I manage 5,000. Sometimes it's lucky to make it a hundred. It depends what else is there to distract me, like someone jumping out of a pod from 24 miles above the earth. Now that was worth taking 3 hours out of writing for. I'd quite happily watch something like that every day over the multitude of reality shows we now have. 

Notebooks - There are notebooks everywhere. By the bed, in my work bag, by the computer, under the bed, under the sofa, by the TV. Scattered through them all are a multitude of ideas which, at some point, have to be pieced together. Only most of the time I seem to forget what I've written in them and go on a completely different tangent. And no, I don't plan at all! I'm a real “fly by the seat of your pants” writer.

Ray Milland - the everyday life of a writer. Lost Weekend 1945
You know, I haven't been on a Lost Weekend style word binge for a very long time. I did it about 10 years ago. The results still linger on a hard drive somewhere...


Tell us about Mars On The Rise, Rae: Mars on the Rise started as a paragraph while I was sitting on a train. 

Originally it was supposed to be for a friend to illustrate but, while sitting at one of the train stations, I looked at the bricked up arches. It went from there really. It follows Cedo Reilly, who's a storyteller on the pier. He finds himself being propositioned by Erus Veetu, who promises to make Cedo a star of the stages. 

Erus owns the country's largest weapons company and Cedo doesn't like what he does. He spends a lot of time trying to talk Erus out of what he does. There's a lot of twists and turns, dark alleyways and government conspiracies, 

Steampunk oddities, fearsome weapons and a man who has nothing to lose. A lot of people enjoyed it for the exploration of gay relationships in the Victorian era. I never set out to write it with gay relationships but, as we know, anything can happen when it comes to writing! You never know where the muses will take you.

You have a distinctive look. What do you wear when you write? Do you wear the top hat?

Haha, actually I do! Especially if it's cold! It depends what mood I'm in. 

Sometimes I just wear jeans and a t-shirt, sometimes I'll wear full Victorian clothing. You can imagine the looks when I have to answer the door to someone!












Moriarty out of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen wants you silenced and sends his gremlins to Leicester. You are captured while walking down the High Street and incarcerated in an Antarctic dungeon. Your gaoler, Faustus, is a kindly gremlin and allows you three books, two CDs and one DVD to pass away the time. What would you choose.

Books
War of the Worlds” - H.G. Wells


Anno Dracula” - Kim Newman

Brilliant horrorist, anthologist, archivist and fantasy fiction/Steampunk guru
Kim Newman
Contact” - Carl Sagan


CD's
Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?” - Megadeth


Appetite For Destruction” - Guns N' Roses









DVD
“Firefly box set”

That's a bit cheeky!

Well it all comes in one box, doesn't it!

I'll let you off! What are your personal ambitions. Do you want to write full time? How feasible is that in today's crowded market place.

I'd love to write full time. It really is the dream and I'm hoping to achieve it one day. I think it is still feasible in today's market place. Yes, the market is more crowded but with e-readers becoming more popular and self publishing not being seen as merely a vanity press, I think it's a growing market. And if you can make a niche for yourself then the world really can become your oyster.

I'm also hoping to go back to documentary film-making. It was my first love when I was younger and not so confident in my writing. I want to go and make happy films rather than ones which show the harsher side to life. The world really is a dark place right now and it needs something to help lift it. Books help a lot of people to escape the drudgery but we do need something to help people feel better about themselves and to remind them that they're not just a number in a very big system.

At some point I'd also like to own a Spitfire. 

You can buy flyable kits from several places and I'm half tempted to give Rolls Royce a call to see if they'd build me a Merlin engine. 

I'd love to fly it for charity and to make people happy. 

That's the aim of my life; make people smile and think!





A writer and a musician arrive at your door with a bottle of vino collapso and a bag of Walkers. Who would you like them to be and what food would you prepare/go and eat.


David Ellefson (Bassist for Megadeth) and Carl Sagan. I'd love to just spend an evening geeking out with them about life, the universe and everything. As for what I've cook... Apparently I can do a mean curry when the mood takes me. 

One of Rae's amazing curries, potentially.
Rumour has it that my homemade meatballs are also fairly good.

haha! What do fans of Rae Gee have to look forward to in 2013.

We're holding the book launch for Book 2 of the Veetu Industries series in April. It's going to be an evening of Steampunk splendidness. Everyone's welcome to come and join us, so feel free to check out the website:

Rae, thanks very much for an entertaining interview. I'm sure our readers will really enjoy it if the writing in Mars is as good as the way you come across!

Thank you, Wiz. That's really kind. Best of luck.

You can contact Rae here.


Late addition: Rae's novel and innovative
Boeing tattoo!

Lyrics:

"And you know all the long while,
It's the journey that you seek,
It's the miles of movin' forward
With the wind beneath your wings." ('River' - Izzy Stradlin)




2 comments:

  1. I ran into Englebert Humperdinck in Manhattan on my lunch hour - and yes, he did say hello. Also love Carl Sagan's Cosmos. Great interview guys.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Super interview with Rae Gee ... love her fun, up beat approach ... thanks for sharing. n x

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