Lionheart
Interview
1. Please tell the readers a bit about yourself.
The pen name I usually use is S.R. Miller, but you can find me throughout the internet as Werewulf14, Wherewulf14, and YammitTheWherewulf.
The username I have here is actually based on a joke my friend made when she saw my account name, which because I signed in with Facebook, arbitrarily chose to use my name but with a 2 at the end. My friend responded to this with "There was a Sequel?" And so that's what I called my account. YammitTheSequel.
2. What types of books do you write?
I started out just writing fantasy adventure stories, but I've started writing scifi too. I love both of those genres because you are not limited by reality; I love thinking that anything can happen. With those two genres I can build the world as I see fit. Reality bores me.
3. How many books have you written?
Well, if you mean finished, the answer is 1. I have a really rough manuscript from last year's Nanowrimo that needs some serious editing called Cain's Clan. The second closest is
a novel I started 5 years ago that was my first honest attempt at novel writing, called Reality with Black Cat. I currently have several ideas I'm currently working on, and several more ideas that need to get translated into manuscripts. I have a story on Figment.com called Beautiful Machines that has quite a few chapters, it's about a 4th of the way written. My main project right now though is Lionheart.
4. What movie and/or book are you looking forward to this year?
The second Hobbit movie! I loved the first, and I love Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberpatch; so I can't wait to see Smaug. I love all the Lord of the Rings movies, but Ironically, the Hobbit is the only book by Tolkien I've actually read.
5. What type of books do you enjoy reading?
I almost exclusively read fantasy and scifi, even though I know that's a bad habit for a writer to have. The first books I read by myself were Brian Jacques Redwall books and that's part of the reason I write in third person. I loved Suzanne Collins Gregor the Overlander series, and Jim Butcher's Dresden chronicles.
I adore Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak and Demonata series for their gore and action I mostly read books from the teen section but no exclusively, and I really love Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic and Beka Cooper series. My all time favorite authors are Douglas Adams, Dan Wells and David Wong, and my favorite book is probably John Dies At The End and it's sequel, This Book is Full of Spiders. I love the sarcastic narrator style like Lemony Snicket, Douglas Adams and David Wong have.
There's really too many to say so here's a quick list of the rest: Holly Black, Brenna Yovanoff, Chris Wooding, Amelia-Atwater Rhodes, Philip Pullman.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?
1. A Swiss army knife
2. An enormous roll of duck tape
3. A block of magnesium with a bit of iron for starting fires.
7. Are you considering a sequel?
Yes, but we'll see where I am when it get's finished.
8. What inspired you to become a writer?
Actually it was meeting my friend Sam in junior high that started it off; I'd been dabbling with stories before but had never really written more than a page. We were both avid readers and loved discussing the books we read. We kept hearing about a book called Twilight and after reading it we decided we could write a better story; so we started to work on that.
That summer Sam showed me a writing site she'd found called Booksie, and we both agreed we didn't want to put our joint story on there for fear someone would steal it, so we both thought up new ideas and got to work. We still have the joint story we were writing, but we agreed to put it on the backburner until we got good enough to do it justice. We've both been writing ever since.
Excerpt
You were a lion born man.
You were a King as well. Although you had no crown or septer, you were a king if I ever saw one. Regal, distinguished. It was written in your measured gait and your hard bronzed eyes. You demanded respect without question, without command. You answered to no one, and few tried to make you. Some men are born dogs, barking and biting to make any effect, but you were a lion in your kingdom, uneffected by the yapping and nipping smaller creatures tried to phase you with. You were born a King in a shed, like the carpenter from Nazareth, and the dogs born in castles and called 'kings' are pale slurs on your name. I know so, for I have seen Kings throughout all ages, watched them rise like the sun and fall in blazes of glory. I loved your golden frame and hard bronze eyes, you King of kings.
But how I loathe you now, Golden One. There is no blaze of glory awaiting you-- your blazing zenith goes out like a self-snuffing candle, like a soft whimper in the dark. I loathe how you cast away youself like Lucifer out of heaven, how you forfeit without a thought what other men would kill and die for. How far you have fallen, Lionheart.
But you don't remember any of this, do you? You forfeited memory as well as Kingship. And your doom is all you will ever have to show for it. I laugh at your pain. Fallen, Outcast, Pariah, and not even knowing why. But I know, for I have loved and loathed you. And I will tell you how you inflicted all this upon yourself, little lion man.
Because I love your pain.
