Name: Felicia Fredlund
What attracts you to the genre in which you write?
I write in several genres, but I mostly write fantasy. When I write I want to go on an adventure, to somewhere different and interesting, and perhaps a bit dangerous. Wonders like magic can exist. I love the idea of going on an adventure.
What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d known when you started your writing adventures?
Entertain yourself / have fun. Keep the fun and when it starts to go away, cut away the worries and fears and keep seeking the fun. Writing as a way of making a living means a lot of work with no guarantee of money at the end of all that effort. So to make the effort always worth it, fun is the needed ingredient.
If you could have dinner with any famous person or character who would you choose?
So I’d have different answers depending on what I’d want to achieve with the dinner! For just a fun and interesting time, I’d probably pick Aly from the Tricksters series by Tamora Pierce. As a fine spy, I bet she knows all kinds of interesting things. But, I guess she might not be famous. Ops!
The writer Nora Roberts would be another pick. I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting her but I think it would be fun and I could learn a lot from her. I really love her In Death series under her open pen name J.D. Robb.
Who has been the greatest influence on your own work?
For the genre I write (fantasy) and the mainly female main characters I create, I guess I can thank Tamora Pierce and her book Alanna: The First Adventure, which is the book that made me fall in love with reading and featured a girl want to be a knight. I loved that book as a kid. As an adult I favor the last book in series more (Lioness Rampant).
Do you think the e-book revolution will do away with print?
Considering we are about a decade into the revolution and print is still strong? Probably not for a while yet. Do I think we will always have print books like we do now? Probably not, we don’t use papyrus much anymore. My point being that technology do change over centuries and millenniums.
But do I think print will disappear anytime soon? It doesn’t seem likely at the moment, but that could change tomorrow.
Which 3 books would you take to a desert island and why?
Only 3 books? Does my kindle count as one book? Because I’d take that, haha.
The Deeds of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, because it is an excellent fantasy adventure book (trilogy that is always sold as one book nowadays so I’m counting it as one!). It just hits all the notes for me to make a great fantasy book and it goes dark without going into horror.
Eat. Pray. Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert (I’m sensing a trend in author names…). I didn’t read it for the first time when it got famous. I read it a few years later when it showed up on my radar for some reason I can’t remember. I love Gilbert’s writing, what I’ve read of it I mean. It is a story of a physical, emotional, and mental journey that I already know I’ll want to come back to periodically (I’ve reread it once so far).
The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings. Constraining me to three books means I have to make different choices than I might otherwise. I wanted another fiction book on the list, another meaty one preferably, but since it could only be one, I couldn’t choice any of my favorite series that I might have chosen otherwise. This is still a great choice. Another fantastic adventure, with a lot of humor this time, so more light-hearted than Paksenarrion. A more comfortable ride, which is what is needed when life throws too many hard balls.
Author bio and book synopsis
Please introduce yourself (250 words or so):
Felicia Fredlund writes fiction about entertaining adventures and emotional journeys of interesting people. She currently lives in Japan after a period of traveling.
She writes one series, a dark fantasy series called Sorceress Islands. Her short stories have appeared in several Fiction Rivers.
She also edits. She edited Fiction River: Last Stand with Dean Wesley Smith.
Learn more about her on her website www.FeliciaFredlund.com, and join her newsletter for up-to-date information about all her books.
Tell us about your book(s) – title, genre etc (short)
Links: www.FeliciaFredlund.com, https://www.feliciafredlund.com/newsletter/
Social media (I don’t use it).
Library of Erana 