The talented Kim Falconer lives in Byron Bay, where she daydreams for a living. She’s the highly successful author of the Quantum Enchantment & Quantum Encryption series, an astrologer, a Masters student (in writing, of course), and she wields a mean sword. And she prefers the Bear Claw.
1. The inspiration for the Quantum Enchantment & Quantum Encryption Series was …
… the zap and brain jarring of three major lightning strikes! 1) Arthur C. Clarke’s notion that any significantly advanced form of technology is indistinguishable from magic, 2) current quantum physics theory that says ‘reality’ deserves quotations marks because, at its core, it isn’t ‘real’, 3) a writing prompt from Stephen King. He said, ask what if . . . and write five hundred words about it. I took a true life story from high school and asked What if a girl came home and found her family murdered? That first five hundred word essay is now over one million words in six novels and one novella!
2. You get to go anywhere and anywhen: discuss.
I would travel two hundred and fifty million years into the future to see the Earth with all her continents returned to one land mass surrounded by a single sea. Amassia! I’m writing a series about it at the present—a preindustrial Earth after quite a few cycles of extinction. Humans, and others, have gone down a different evolutionary track. I would take extensive notes, SCUBA of course (I’ll let you guess why) and a dear friend who is a genius environmental scientist with a mystical heart. I mean, why go so far and not share the journey!
3. I first knew I was a writer when …
… I spent a year learning JRR Tolkein’s language of the High Elves so I could journal without my brother or any of his friends ever reading my words. I was fourteen. Of course now I want people to read my words. I’ve become more open that way.
4. Five leading influences on your work?
Not necessarily in order, I have been richly influenced by Anne McCaffrey and her world of Pern. She created a beautiful balance between science, fantasy, human hearts (dragon hearts) and political intrigues. I never thought of this while I read her. I was too immersed, but things rubbed off. Joseph Campbell, the most wonderful storyteller. He opened my eyes to the mythic themes around the world and through the ages. He also said, follow your bliss, and I did . . . JRR Tolkien: see above, plus his thesis on ‘secondary worlds’ changed the way I think about fiction and why we go there. Tanith Lee’s inspiration is on multiple levels: her beautiful prose, intriguing plots and the way she grabs you at the first sentence and doesn’t let go, even when the book is finished. Nizim Hikmet, a brilliant Turkish poet who spent most his life as a political prisoner. He’s like Wilde in the sense that he gives voice to large and hard topics through the day to day, seemingly insignificant events.
5. Donuts or danishes?
Danish! To be exact, Bear Claws. Oh how I miss these wonderful things, hot from the oven and butter melting down the sides. I remember them from California. *sigh* If anyone knows where I can get one, please email me!
She lives here.
