Welcome Siobhan! Thanks for taking some time to talk about writing. First, a few quick-fire questions: What is your go-to writing beverage? What is the best thing about living in Scotland? And if you could spend an afternoon with any historical figure who would it be?  ​ Thank you Joshua! When I’m writing I drink copious amounts of tea, I have a cupboard packed with many different varieties, but I’ll be honest and admit that there is something rather lovely about a good whisky!  Scotland is a beautiful country, no matter the weather (and we famously get a fair bit of rain here), but aside from that there is such a rich history that lends itself so well to the imagination.   ​

"I’ll be honest and admit that there is something rather lovely about a good whisky!"
​

"Hemingway had a wonderful ability to describe human nature, how complicated we are as beings,
​and how destructive we can be to one another." 
​

As both a writer and a podcaster you have a lot going on creatively. How do you manage your writing schedule and keep track of your ideas as you bounce between projects? I try to divide my time as best I can, and not to let my writing and podcast schedule overlap as much as possible.  I have a habit of making notes, my reference materials are covered in post-it’s and there are a multitude of notepads dedicated to every project!  Being a writer and researching for the podcast often helps, if an idea for a show crops up I take a notes and look at where it might work in the podcast schedule.  I also function well with the idea that if my workspace is in order then my mind is too, there may be piles of material but they are ordered piles!

"I remember sitting as a child and looking at the bookcases filled with leather bound books
and the smell that comes with old worn pages..."
​

Your first novel, Children of Midgard, is set during the reign of King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark and follows the story of a woman named Liv whose fate it becomes to protect a child who is proclaimed to be the son of Odin. The story itself maintains a gripping balance of both historical and fantasy elements. Did you have any rules or guidelines set as you wrote the novel to determine where the line between history and fantasy would be drawn? I used some historical figures and a timeline to give the reader a reference should they want to learn more about that particular era.  For me it was an exciting time in Viking history, so much was changing; beliefs and religion, political leaders, the discovery and settlement of new lands.  However, the Norse myths, for me, are even more exciting.  I knew I wanted to explore characters who believed in their gods, who were guided by fate and what it meant to live well and face death honourably, who were destined to experience something more than they were prepared for but met with bravery and honesty.  Once I had my character’s personalities, traits and motivations worked out, it became easier to decide how they would react to otherworldly situations and how far I could take the reader on that journey with them.

"From reading the sagas and poems of the Norse I knew women were strong characters,
​they were driven and capable, but I knew I needed to delve a little deeper than that."

"From the sagas we have glimpses of situations young girls and boys found themselves in,
that violence played a part in their lives which is significant given the world in which they lived..."
​

As host of the Myth Legend & Lore Podcast you delve into the mythologies of many cultures beyond Northern Europe including those of Japan, China, and Inuit Greenland. What do you hope to achieve in facilitating this conversation across cultures? Discovering new cultures and mythologies has long been a love of mine, thanks to my family I had a great start to this with Norse, Celtic, and Japanese influences.  I quickly started to realise that even though there might be great distances and cultural differences present in various myths and legends, there were also similar ideas, characters and messages.  I began to look at migratory tales, motifs, and the more I gathered I came to realise that this might make for good podcast material.

"I quickly started to realise that even though there might be great distances and cultural differences present in various myths and legends, there were also similar ideas, characters and messages."
​

"My goal with the podcast is to share and encourage the tradition of storytelling,
to fire an interest or curiosity in our past and provide glimpses into the world in which our ancestors lived."
​

​   Welcome Nicholas! Thank for taking some time to chat about writing. First, a few quick-fire questions: What is your go-to social beverage? What are you currently reading? Where did you go for your last holiday?    My current favorite drink is the Mother of Dragons special from Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown (only 20 minutes away!) It’s a Game of Thrones-themed porter with dry cherry kriek that’s just amazing. And amazingly expensive too. I’m reading Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, set in medieval Lithuania. Pretty interesting, actually. Holiday? Hahaha - I have three kids. I have no holidays.

"I do have a special writing station, I have noise cancelling headphones
and my favorite 16th century choral music station on Pandora"​

"The folktale is the frame for me, the backbone. I don’t study it or read it; it’s inside me already, I grew up with them."
​

The first book in your Raven Son series is influenced by the Russian folk tale of Prince Ivan and the Grey Wolf. What was your approach as a writer in re-working this classic story?    Actually, originally, I wrote the book without any reference to the Prince Ivan story. But as I was rewriting, I realized that I was unconsciously working within that legendary framework. So I went back to the story and added a few details that lovers of Russian tales will recognize. But really, that part is window dressing or the nice frame around the picture. The meat of the story, I hope, is more universally human.     I often see you write about the profound messages that folktales can convey. Others sometimes complain about folktales being rather simple. How do you respond to comments of that nature?    Well, they are simple. There’s no arguing that. They’re from oral tradition, after all, where much of the subtext is given not in word, but gesture and inflection and action, or even in music.

"there’s something about fairy tales that can tell a deep truth in a way that goes straight to the heart,
sometimes even bypassing the brain"

One of my favorite local bookshops recently displayed a sign that read as follows: Due to recent happenings we have moved our ‘Dystopic Future’ section to ‘Current Events’.  Isn’t that just the case though? Everywhere you turn and every device you turn on has another article about environmental catastrophe, a research report heralding disaster, and opinion pieces laying hefty bets on where, when, and how humanity will ultimately destroy itself. Best-selling books are bleak, despairing, and pessimistic. Popular Netflix series like Black Mirror paint a horrid picture of where humanity is headed and the movie industry seems to only have time for scripts where superheroes, rather than relatable humans, solve all our problems for us. ​

"It is my firm belief that the kinds of stories a culture tells will, in fact,
​tell you far more about that culture than the stories themselves."
​

​For this reason I am eternally intrigued by the concept of Ragnarok in Scandinavian mythology. For those unfamiliar with the Norse Myths, Ragnarok is an apocalyptic battle that will take place in Asgard where the Norse gods reside. Odin will be swallowed whole by the giant wolf Fenrir, Thor will slay the world serpent Jormungandr only to die by its venom, and Frey will be slain by the fire giant Surtr with the edge of his own sword. In short, it is a prophecy of utter doom. The gods lose.

What sort of people tell that kind of story? What kind of culture lets their heroes lose?

Welcome Rachael! It’s great to have you on. First, a few quick-fire questions: How do you take your coffee? What are you currently reading? Who is your favourite villain of all time?    Thank you for having me! I love tea but will never say no to a latte. I’m currently taking a pause on reading to work on a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project. I will be picking up A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab in December. Moriarty from the Sherlock TV show, who was played by Andrew Scott. I absolutely love that intelligent, calculated, but a little crazy character and it has helped to inspire one of my villains. What does a productive day of writing look like to you? Do you have any particular writing habits or rituals?      A productive day includes accomplishing anything to do with the novel whether that is writing, world-building, or marketing. On a really good writing day, I will have 3 to 4 hours and can get between 1000-1500 words written. I really enjoy working where there is a bit of a buzz. If I am at home I’ll have a candle and some background music. Most often you will find me writing in a cafe. No matter where I am I always have to have a hot drink in hand when I write.

"Be an active and genuine contributor to the community. 
​Nobody responds well to the person with the megaphone shouting buy my book."

Your novel Demons at the Doorstep sets the threat of an Incan god of death in modern day Toronto. What are some of the challenges and/or advantages of story-telling across cultures and across time?       I have been fascinated by ancient mythologies for a long time. Since I have worked a lot with Greek and Roman myths, I wanted to explore a character from a mythology that isn’t highlighted very often. Working with ancient mythology takes a lot of research. It is crucial to ensure you use proper sources. The fun of working with ancient mythology as a writer is that you have a background and sometimes even purpose for the character, but how you bring that figure into the modern world and form their personality is up to you. We see this done really well in the Percy Jackson or Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan. Mythology can give us an insight into what an ancient civilization valued, and I hope it sparks readers’ curiosity to learn more for themselves.

"When creating your own creature, think about the environment that organism is from and what features it would need to survive there: how does it get food, how does it protect itself, how does it reproduce?"