Author Interview: Stephen Christiansen

1.  Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

Born in Henderson, Nevada, Stephen was born to a long line of military personnel.  His travels from base to base helped inspire a young and imaginative mind.  As he grew he continued his world travels and has visited ancient cultural ruins, rain forests, volcanoes, and exotic locations.  With these in mind, he is able to weave epic stories of wondrous places and extraordinary people.

Stephen now lives in Roseburg, Oregon with his wife and daughter.  Today, he inspires to share with the rest of the world some of the fantastic real-life inspired places and events that have shaped his life. When not writing he enjoys spending time with his family, going on long drives, or just working on the forested acreage of black oak in the backyard.

2.  To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!

Winter, spring, summer or autumn?
I will have to go with autumn on this one. I thoroughly enjoy watching the leaves change color from green to yellow and then orange and red. I stood in my black oak forest the other day and watched as the golden leaves fell like snowflakes all around me and it was just joyous. I love going to the farms during this time and picking out autumn fruits and vegetables or walking through a corn maze or picking out a pumpkin. There’s just something cool and crisp in the air before everything gets too cold during the winter.

Cat or dog?
I’ll go with cat. We have a cat, or at least our daughter does. Bastet, our cat, will follow me while I move about the forest and then disappear for a while. I’ll find her hunting some vole or small bird or lizard. Her graceful form is sleek as she becomes ready to pounce. When not hunting, she’s trying to find my lap (which becomes rather annoying while I’m trying to write). But still, annoying or not, she’s part of our family, or perhaps better to say that we are part of hers.

Morning or evening?
Ugg. I am not a morning person. Not at all. If I have one superpower then it’s the ability to hit the snooze button. Some people can embrace the morning; I am not one of those people. However, I perk up by evening and seem to be more alive than any other time of the day. I enjoy walking through downtown with all of their lights on or looking at the stars as they come out one by one. Sometimes it’s the shadows that play with my imagination or the glow of the moon that catches my eye. I am an evening person all the way.

Standalone or series?
I love a good series. I want to follow my heroes over a course of time and watch them grow and develop. I want to watch the characters deepen through experience. I want to be able to have references to the older books so I can bring them out and have to reread them. There’s nothing like collecting a whole series and watching a greater story arc encompassing them all.

Book or ebook?
Call me old school, but I enjoy the feel and the scent of a book. I love the texture of paper and the sound it makes as I turn a page. I like being able to carry it around with me like a trophy or a badge of honor and show off the title to everyone while reading it in public. There’s just something about reading a book over staring at the computer. I stare at the computer for work. I stare at the computer when I write. I want to read my book on paper. I want to sit in a window seal, looking out over the autumn leaves and sip my hot chocolate while flipping my pages. I want to lie in a hammock on a beach and listen to the waves lap the shore while holding my book in my hands. Give me a book any day.

3.  When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

I tend to gravitate to books that either have unlikely heroes or plots that take interesting and unexpected twists. In the first group, I enjoy rooting for the underdog, hoping that the character can turn his/her life around while overcoming the greatest odds. I enjoy watching our protagonist just barely win but only because of character development or some quick thinking. I’m not looking for “chosen one” or “fate destined”. The second type of story is something with plot twists. I don’t like a story that I can already guess who is going to live or die, or a plot that I can see a mile away. Give me the unexpected.

4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!

I mostly write high fantasy fiction. My biggest series centers on a group of dark elves, but there are also offshoots that focus on other characters as well. In these books you’ll read about dragons, wizards, pirates, trolls, undead, and much more. There’s a lot of traveling and world building and then multi-layers of various outer planes.

I do have a Star Wars fan fiction going. The first book takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Although there isn’t any mention of our favorite and beloved original characters, they are sometimes referenced. The Emperor has felt a tremor in the dark side that needs to be dealt with as he completes the second Death Star and sends a small contingent to explore. Things quickly spiral out of hand. The last book that hasn’t been written yet, will take place just after Return of the Jedi. A lot of people have enjoyed the initial two and I’m looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

There is also a modern day/time travel thriller/horror story. It will be part of a series. A family is plagued by ghosts while going on vacation, but when their daughter goes missing the real nightmare begins.

There’s a sci-fi two book series (I might make it into three). It’s a dystopian future with aliens, government conspiracy, time travel, and a whole lot more. I loved how these two books turned out.

Finally there’s the spy/thriller novel. Our FBI agent gets called into a investigate the deaths at a Prudhoe research center only to find that she’s uncovered a shadow government conspiracy that threatens the whole world. I’m currently working on this one and hope to release it early 2022

5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!

I have recently released the 17^th book of my dark elf series. It’s called “Resolution” and brings the whole dark elf series to its final conclusion.

“The time has come. With the pieces in play, the Spider Queen makes her final move.

War has come upon the lands once again. Again, it pits gods against each other and shakes the very foundation of the heavens. However, this time the scheme of the Spider Queen is revealed. Her prize is within her grasp. Everything is at stake. It is a race against time and the cost will be high. Sacrifices will be made. Nothing will be the same

Follow the epic conclusion of intrigue that has spanned throughout time itself. Follow the scheme of the Spider Queen to its…Resolution.” 

I think that the readers who have been following along throughout the series will be pleasantly surprised by the various plot twists in this book.  It was fun to write. You can get it here: Amazon.com: Resolution (Orbbelgguren Book 17) eBook : Christiansen, Stephen, Smith, Randy: Kindle Store , although I recommend starting with the prequel to the series first: Amazon.com: Eclavarda: Promise of the Spider Queen (Orbbelgguren) eBook : Christiansen, Stephen , Christiansen, Stephen, Smith, Randy: Kindle Store

6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!

Wow, there’s a lot to cover here. First, I grew up watching Twilight Zone (old black and white version), The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and others like this. Later I got into the X Files. I loved the odd, bizarre, and twisted tales that can keep me guessing and then hits me with a plot line that I never saw coming. I would read Stephen King and my favorite author is Edgar Alan Poe.

I had become fascinated with spiders and watching them spin their webs. I would research different types of spiders and they way they lived and hunted. Add to this an absolute appeal to different mushrooms and you can probably guess how excited I got when I read my first Salvatore dark elf book. The War of the Spider Queen series had a huge influence on me and I wanted to write my own dark elf series right after reading it.

To add to my influences, I’ve been to so many places around the world. I’ve been to rain forests, beaches, deserts, cultural ruins, volcanoes, mountains, and so much more. I’ve been through earthquakes and typhoons and snow storms. There are so much of my life experiences that I can and have pulled from and I do my best to weave these in and out of my stories.

I try to add a bit of all of these things to my writing and hope that I can bring out something intriguing and relatable.

7.  What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

I try to write every day, right after work. I sit in front of the computer and put on the radio turned down low. I used to have this great geek tavern where I could write while listening to the background of gamers and would love to find another tavern just like it around here. But without one I just write at home. I then call up my document and reread a little before moving on, getting me into character or remembering the plot. I make sure that I have something to drink and a snack. It takes a little to get into the rhythm but once I do the words just flow from me as if the book is writing itself and my fingers are just following along.

8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?

“Don’t give up; believe in yourself, you will do fine. Keep reading. Keep writing.”

I had a lot of discouragement when I was younger about reading and writing and there was a long period of time that I had put both aside. I won’t go into detail, but it had a huge negative impact on me. It took a while to start back up again with both. If I had started earlier and kept at it then I would have published sooner. Two of the best advices that I can give anyone who wants to be an author: read and write.

9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!

Here is a website that showcases all of my novels: https://maldev2002.wixsite.com/orbbelgguren and you can buy them on Amazon here: Amazon.com: Stephen Christiansen: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle