Check out this spotlight for Fantasy author E. C. Greaves!
You can find all his links furthest down the page, and donāt forget to check out his books!
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!
Hi, Iām Ed Greaves. I was born in the UK, but have lived most of my life in NZ. Besides writing books, Iām also a specialist secondary teacher who works with kids who have behavioural and academic barriers that prevent them from attending mainstream schooling. I also spend a good deal of my time making video games (mostly horror stuff) and working on old cars and bikes.
2. Tell us 5 fun facts people might not know about you!
- I can speak Russian.
- I played drums in a post-hardcore band that did the rounds during the āsceneā days here in NZ.
- I can draw and write with both hands.
- I have an Autobots tattoo.
- My sister, Charlotte Greaves, is also a writer – check her books out too!! š
3. To get to know you just a little bit better, Iād like to ask you some āThis or Thatā-questions. Answer 5 of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!
Ebooks OR physical books?
I definitely prefer physical books, and even do my final rounds of editing by ordering a cobbled together version of my own books, which I can scribble notes all over. Nothing beats that new-book smell!!
First person view OR third person view?
I prefer first person because it lets me get inside a characterās head. Iām a sucker for first person present-tense for maximum ānoir narrationā style too. That said, I do think that any first person perspective needs to have a hard cap on just how introspective our narrator is. Too much, and I start wishing I was reading in third again!
Plot driven OR character driven?
Character driven stories are my preferred style. I certainly want a plot, but it needs to stem from how the characters work their way through whatever the author has thrown their way.
Thing is, itās often a fine line for me.
I canāt stand when issues are entirely derived from unrealistic lack of communication between characters. A bit of angst is fine, but crikey, I do wish more protagonists just had a good old fashioned heart-to-heart with their foils! So if the character is driving the plot into strange and uncomfortable territory, Iām like to bail outta the taxi!
Shop at an actual bookstore OR shop books online?
Whilst, as I mentioned, I do love that new book smellā¦ I live in New Zealand.
Most of the bookshops here kinda suck. There are VERY few that would ever stock indie stuff, so I get that from online sources (despite the godawful shipping costs, and the lack of options as far as hard vs softcover goes!)
Hero OR anti-hero?
I like heroes. Good old fashioned good people, doing good old fashioned good deeds.
Iām honestly so over ādeconstructionsā āSubverted expectationsā and all that other stuff, that I am enamoured with kind-hearted and pleasant characters, who strive for good. I donāt really write them that often, myself. But I like to think that positivity is somehow manifested into the universe when we think or feel positive vibes, and those characters bring a little more of it into being… or something weird like that!
4. When you look for books to read, what trope, theme, or type of story will always catch your attention?
I suppose stuff with an undercurrent of philosophy. I studied it for several years of my life (somehow didnāt end up working in a cafe, either!) so I always like to see philosophical and ethical issues and quandaries worked into stories – regardless their genre.
As far as genre goes, I love old-fashioned adventure fantasy, although my all-time favourite book is Starship Troopers (Movie too, though it really isnāt an accurate representation of the book, nor is it some kind of critique or response!)
5. If you were to describe your writing style using 3 words, what would they be?
Honest, unpretentious, andā¦ maybe evocative? (as evocative as honesty and a lack of pretence can be!)
6. So what do you write? Tell us a bit more about your chosen genre, style and ongoing projects/WIPs/series!
I write coming-of-age fantasy novels. Or at least, I have just finished the last draft of the final book in a trilogy of the sort, and will be releasing it in October – yay birthday release!!
The series follows a girl who is stolen by beast-people in order to satisfy the terms of a mysterious pact made by their matriarch. Theyāre inspired in part by Slavic myth and folklore, and have all the usual adventure, mystery, and action youād expect, alongside a dash of romance and humour too!
The series link is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q8ZBQQR
After this series, I started work on a pirate fantasy, and some others, though Iām not too sure which will make it to the finish line first.
7. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!
The most recent release is āSister of the Dead,ā which is book 2 in the aforementioned trilogy, and which you can grab from uncle Bezos here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B55GNKRL
This story is a little more contained than the first book, and sees our heroine embarking on a journey to an ancient city (filled with cool ziggurats, all manner of weird oddities, and a boatload of danger) in order to figure out what on earth has happened to the Spirits of her peopleās dead. Like I said about the series in general, thereās plenty of action, adventure, mystery, and yeah, romance too. There are also pirates in this one. Several, in fact!
Iām also set to release āMother of the Bondā in October, which is the finale to this trilogy!
8. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!
I have a website: www.ecgreaves.com
And am on zuckerbook, sorry, āMetaā at: /ECGreaves.Author
And twitter at: @GreavesEc
