An idea squeezed into my head in 2023, after seeing so many of the book community gathering at conventions across the US and UK. And once my FOMO subsided, I got to thinking about who might be gathered together if we had similar conventions closer to home. Pending the master planning required to arrange a massive convention, I thought the next best thing might be to run an Australian & New Zealand author showcase. So, I sent out the call, with the only prerequisite for participating being the author had to have been born in either country or currently live there.
As we romp through 2024, the Aussie / New Zealand Author Showcase will carry on as I have had a few more authors contact me to say they are keen to take part. At this rate its threatening to become a year long event! So I will continue to post their individual showcases at regular intervals and hopefully you will enjoy these interactions with some very talented people. Please be sure to check out their work, sign up to their newsletters and follow them on their social media of choice. I make no apologies for any damage inflicted to your TBR’s!
Showcase No 25 finds me chatting to Assaph Mehr, award winning Romanophile, who saw the light and now calls Australia home. His third book In Victrix in the Stories of Togas, Daggers and Magic series is set to be published in June 2024.
- Do you feel that being an Aussie / Kiwi (or residing there) influences your writing?
Kinda, maybe. It’s complicated.
First, I use the Queen’s English (sorry, all my life it’s been the Queen, and I’m not adjusting well). But my main writing to date has been an historical-fantasy blend based on Ancient Rome (think Harry Dresden in a Toga), so there’s more Latin slang than Aussie.
That said, I have recently moved to Tassie and plan on a modern urban fantasy set here. Think Deadloch meets Rivers of London. So, if that ever sees the light, you could say that it affected my writing.
- What are some of the challenges being located so far away from the rest of the world, do have any tips for overcoming these?
Challenges? Surely you mean blessings. I live in a state that has an international airport… but no international flights. And I don’t even live in the capital, but a bit outside of a regional town. Far Away is a happy magical place for me, as long as I can get internet service.
When it comes to writing and publishing, everything is online anyway. The days of three-martini lunches with your agent in an upscale CBD bar are thing of the past, and the publishing industry is struggling now in the same way the music industry did 15-20 years ago. Those lunches are not coming back, everything is done off the computer screen anyway, and I’d much rather have the breathtaking view out the window behind the screen.
- How do you go about establishing connections in the book community? (any tips / suggestions)
Be yourself and be nice (hopefully those are not contradictory). Join discussions groups, but don’t let social media take over your life. Provide value (especially to other readers) and offer help when you can, not out of expectation of future gain but simply to share the love of reading and writing with others. Trust people and assume that they will be nice in return (and know that some would disappoint, but it’s still worth it; much better than approaching everyone with distrust). You’ll build connections over time.
I help promote other authors by interviewing the characters out of their books. You can see this madness on TheProtagonistSpeaks.com. I’ve met many other nice people – both readers and authors – that way.
- Do you have a favourite character to write? And conversely are there any of your characters that are the more of a struggle?
The main character in the above series is Felix, and the books are written in first-person POV as befitting the occult detective genre. I obviously have to say he’s my favourite, because he knows where I live.
But I also love writing his friend Araxus, who’s a bit unhinged and his grasp of reality is shifting. It’s fun to write someone to whom time and space flow differently. I don’t often struggle with writing characters, it’s keeping their voices in my head down that’s the issue.
- So aliens finally reveal themselves to us and your work is presented to them as example of what humanity has to offer, what do you hope they will take away from this intergalactic exchange?
“Mostly harmless”.
It’s better than the alternative, trust me.
- Tell us something about yourself that not many people know?
Besides writing, my other creative outlet is cooking. That might not be a surprise to those who read my books (the love of historically-accurate food comes through, with fish sauce on top), but my favourite vegetable is the tomato. A day without tomatoes is a day wasted. Even my wedding vows include pickled tomatoes. My wife and I look forward every year to the tomato and garlic festival, because apparently that’s what people do for entertainment once you move to the country.
- What would you say is the best thing about being an author and the worst?
The insane cackling (goes for both). I’ve got wild imagination, and some of the things that go inside my head… Well, let’s just say that it’s better I get an outlet via creative writing. It lets you excuse weird behaviour (oh, ignore me, I was just daydreaming about a scene I’m writing) while conjuring fiendish situations to the entertainment of yourself and others. I mean if you’re already a bit crazy, might as well make some money out of it, right? Certainly better than golf.
- Any other Aussie / Kiwi creatives you’d like to give a shout out for? (let’s spread the love)
There are a few I befriended over the years (Rosie Chapel, Nikki Moyes, and Cindy Tomamichel come to mind), a couple non-Aussies whom I’d love to drag down here, and a slew of others.
- What’s your favourite quote or passage from one of your books?
Never practice magic when you’re drunk.
I’ve actually used it twice, once in the books and once for a short story with Felix, which is freely available here: https://egretia.com/2015/11/14/new-directions-part-i/
- What can you say about your current project or what you are planning next?
I’m in the final stages of publishing In Victrix, the third full-length novel in the Togas, Daggers, and Magic series. It’s a story of races, curses, and godly places. It should be released mid 2024.
I have the opening few chapters of an epic fantasy (written from the monsters’ point of view), which I’ve started before the pandemic and want to get back to, but I’ve been distracted with the next shiny thing: I’m in the planning stages for an idea for a modern day, Tasmanian based, semi police procedural urban fantasy. It will have a lot of painful puns.
Bonus Question: Lastly Vegemite* yes or no?
Yes. For starters, my son would otherwise starve because he has the culinary horizons of a koala. Second, besides making its way to the occasional toast or sauce, it makes an excellent gag gift. (See what I did there?).
* An iconic dark salty spread that (most) Australians slap on toast for breakfast (NB explanation for the rest of the world)
Author Bio:
Assaph has been a bibliophile since he learnt to read at the age of five, and a Romanophile ever since he first got his hands on Asterix, way back in elementary school. This exacerbated when his parents took him on a trip to Rome and Italy – he whinged horribly when they dragged him to “yet another church with baby angels on the ceiling”, yet was happy to skip all day around ancient ruins and museums for Etruscan art.
He has since been feeding his addiction for books with stories of mystery and fantasy of all kinds. A few years ago he randomly picked a copy of a Lindsay Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco novel in a used book fair, and fell in love with Rome all over again, this time from the view-point of a cynical adult. His main influences in writing are Steven Saylor, Lindsey Davis, Barry Hughart and Boris Akunin.
Assaph now lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife, kids, cats, and – this being Australia – assorted spiders. By day he is a software product manager, bridging the gap between developers and users, and by night he’s writing – he seems to do his best writing after midnight.
Social Media & Book Links:
Website: http://egretia.com
Author Blog: http://egretia.com/news
Newsletter – free novella for subscribers: https://egretia.substack.com/
Character Interview Blog: http://TheProtagonistSpeaks.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Assaph-Mehr/e/B015U1F3NC
Murder In Absentia on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1XbfKN1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14422472.Assaph_Mehr
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