First Saturday Sci-Fi - Jan 2019
Well, Happy New Year everyone !! Hard to believe another year has come and gone! It goes by pretty fast !! This January we have Nadine Little... Nadine is a speculative fiction writer who also dabbles in science fiction, fantasy and horror. She loves anything dystopian or dark (but she's a lovely person, really... ask me I can tell you ). Her first trilogy is based in a Scotland of warring factions and the first book, Captivity, follows one woman's struggle for survival through capture, torture and the constant threat of death. Her novels are written for adults due to their violent, and sometimes bleak, contents (not to mention the swearing and the sex). For fluffy, happy stories about unicorns and rainbows, you will need to find a different author.
1. Tell us about your favorite work… what makes it special?
My favorite work has to be my trilogy, The Faction War, because I started writing it from a dream I had when I was sixteen. Maybe I should have been concerned that my dreams focused on war and violence but I was too excited by my story idea. It’s based in a not-so-distant-future Scotland shattered into warring factions and follows Anita Carmichael in her struggle for survival through enemy encampments, torture and betrayal. It’s bleak and dark, but there are always flashes of hope. I’ve only recently written the last book of the trilogy and to finally be finished after all this time, through so many drafts, is a huge personal achievement. I’m sad to leave the world and characters I created but am excited about starting something completely different. I fought all the way alongside Anita in this war, and we’re both glad it’s over! Now, I just want to get it out into the world to see if other people love it, too.
2. What do you think makes for good Sci-Fi?
Characters you can fall in love with and see bits of yourself in. It doesn’t matter if she’s an alien from Babylon 5 or a robot called Dorothy, good Sci-Fi connects readers to characters and draws them into the story right alongside.
3. Do you think your books can help shape the future and if so how?
I guess you could say my books offer a glimpse of the future only a few wrong steps from where we are today with Scottish independence and Brexit. My books are in no way political but the war in Scotland is based on a rebellion for independence that has fallen apart. They’re more a prediction of the future than a way to shape the future and show what might happen if there was another war of Scottish independence (spoiler alert—nothing good).
4. Do you have inside jokes or true events hidden in your writing?
There are no inside jokes that I know of (unless I’ve hidden them very well) and the same goes for true events, which is probably a good thing. The Scotland of my books is a bleak and dangerous place. True, parts of Glasgow are no walk in the park but they don’t currently stake their enemies alive and ring the city with their corpses, so we’re all fine for now.
5. Which do you prefer… model your characters after people you know or just make them up?
A bit of both. My main characters have qualities and quirks from people I know. Anita definitely has parts of me in her, particularly as one of my friends read the book and the first thing she said was, “Anita talks exactly like you.” I wasn’t aware I swore quite that much! For other characters, I generally make them up, especially Wick, the evil leader of a faction called Nationless. He is completely made up since I don’t know any sadistic torturers who give me the creeps.
6. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to take away?
I didn’t write my book with a message in mind or any grand over-arching meaning. I just want readers to be entertained. I want them to follow Anita’s journey and empathize with her (we’ve all felt lonely, lost and hurt by people who should protect us). I want them to laugh with her, cry with her, cringe at her pain and then experience that icy burn of satisfaction when every single person who has hurt her gets their comeuppance. If readers finish my books and feel battered but happy, then I know I’ve done my job.
7. What is your favorite review?
One day I hope to have many! I have no official reviews yet since the trilogy still needs to be published. Friends, family and people I’ve coerced at work have read the first book with no complaints but I wouldn’t expect any of them to turn around and say they hate it (if they still want to keep getting Christmas presents from me, anyway). I’m both excited and dreading the day for when I get reviews from people who don’t know me and therefore don’t care about hurting my feelings.
What comes next?
The scary world of self-publishing to release my baby into the wild! As for other books, I’m now working on what might be considered a fantasy since it contains people who shape-shift into dragons and the normal humans who hunt them. My main character soon finds out it’s not so simple to tell monsters from friends.
Where can we learn more?
I’m hoping to self-publish early 2019 so if any of the above babble has caught your interest, feel free to follow me on Twitter @Nadine_Little_ for updates and news. You could join my mailing list but that’s, unfortunately, still as much of a
fantasy as my next book.
fantasy as my next book.
