Interview With Author Kia Leep
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Though I’ve been writing queer fantasy books for decades and posting stories on serialized sites for quite some time, Glass Kanin will be my debut novel!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Glass Kanin is about a man who gets turned into a bottle of ink. I’ve always written protagonists who were off the beaten path, so there wasn’t anything in particular that inspired it. Mostly, I thought it would be fun to write a character who has to completely reinvent himself – literally – brick by brick. Or, glass by glass, in this case. Writing someone who was starting from scratch and had to re-learn how to walk and communicate was a very fun challenge.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I started writing when I got my first laptop in high school, and the only place to do that in private was in my bed. Writing in bed became such a habit that these days I can’t write effectively unless I’m able to kick my feet up somewhere, be in in bed, on the couch, or in a recliner.
Or maybe that’s just the bisexual in me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Garth Nix and Jonathan Stroud fueled my early obsession with dark and strange fantasy that featured characters and settings a bit off the beaten path. I’m also a big Studio Ghibli fan, and love the dark-and-weird-yet-comforting settings that often crop up, like Spirited Away. Portal fantasy and isekai are also guilty pleasures of mine. Who doesn’t like the idea of literally escaping into their favorite stories?
What are you working on now?
Glass Kanin is part of a larger world, all featuring protagonists who got shunted to this new world and are now trying to survive in it. Each one of them is getting their own trilogy. Eventually I’ll be writing the characters crossing over into each others stories, which is just as much fun to write as it is a logistical nightmare to plan.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll get back to you on that after I’ve collected the data from this release lol. Gosh I love data. Number crunching is my jam. (I know, I know, what kind of author am I?)
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Perseverance is key. You’re not going to be able to quit your day job after your first book – that’s normal! So don’t lose motivation if your first book, or first series (or second!) didn’t do well. Each one is a stepping stone helping you get closer to your goals. Each book is an opportunity to learn and grow. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you’re worried about the price of going for it, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are.
What are you reading now?
The latest Dungeon Crawler Carl book, This Inevitable Ruin!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve got 6 books written, all of which I’ll be publishing this year, every two months, while I write the next ones in the series. Currently I’m working on the second book of Friendly Fyre, which is about a very sweet and reluctant Dark Lord just trying to do the best for her people.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I thought about answering sneakily with an omnibus or survival guide something of that nature in order to cheat the system, but I’ll behave.
– Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
– A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
– Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan
– Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
(Gotta have variety if I’m going to be rereading these guys ad nauseam)
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Kia Leep’s Social Media Links
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