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Lucky 13 Interview with Justin Lee Anderson

1 – Can you start by telling us a little about your current book?


The Lost War is an epic fantasy mystery set in a kingdom based on the history, mythology and etymology of Edinburgh. It’s a twisted fantasy road trip with an RPG feel. It won the sixth SPFBO contest in April.


2 – Are you a plotter or a panster?


Somewhere in between. I have plot points I want to hit and I know the ending, and I pretty much pants it in between those wayposts. This formula will probably vary with every book I write though, to be honest. I’m not good at forward planning - at least not on paper. I do most of my work in my head.


3 – Savoury or sweet?


I have quite a sweet tooth, but if I had to do without one or the other I think I’d have to keep savoury. I’d miss pizza, chilli, burgers, Indian and Chinese food too much.


4 – Three books to a desert Island. Go!


Difficult! I tend not to re-read books, so that’s a hard one. Maybe if I could get collected editions of big series I haven’t read, like Malazan, Wheel of Time and… something else. Maybe something by Brandon Sanderson. Yes, they’d be ridiculously big books, but I’m thinking kindle editions. That’s not cheating, right? Wait. Is there a charger on my desert island?


5 – Star Wars or Star Trek?


Both! I grew up on Star Wars, though. I saw A New Hope in the cinema when I was about 3, thanks to my parents being very cool. I had the first two action figures they sold - Luke and Threepio, immediately. And I bought a lot more over the years. I remember going across the road from the cinema after seeing Return of the Jedi and buying the figure of Lando in that disguise he wears at Jabba’s palace. I watched TOS Star Trek as a kid, but it felt dated, even in the 80s. But I was excited when TNG came out and I watched it religiously. I’ve watched at least some of every series since (though very little of Enterprise) but I absolutely love Discovery. I know it divides fans but I think it’s among the best Trek. But I’m very much an advocate of not making people choose between fandoms. (Sorry!) There’s no real reason we can’t have it all, and love it all. Though, really, the correct answer to this question is: Firefly.


6 – If you could have any superpower, what would it be?


This I have thought about. When I roleplay, my first instinct is always to get telekinesis, because it’s just so bloody useful! You can usually get out of most situations when you can move stuff with your mind. I also like things like teleportation and invisibility for being a sneaky bugger, but if I have to have one, it’s telekenisis.


7 – Music or Silence when writing?


Varies. But if I have music it has to have no lyrics, because I get distracted by them. But even music or any sound can distract me sometimes. One of the problems with having an anxiety brain is that I often have to wrangle with it to get it to concentrate, so I might go from music to silence to background noises. One thing I’ve found really useful when writing is ambient-mixer.com. It has a library of background soundtracks and allows you to make your own. It’s really useful for getting me into a scene and helping me to focus.


8 – If you could live anywhere in the world, and take everything that you love with you, where would you choose?


Everything I love has to include all my friends and family and the NHS. And sensible gun laws. But *if* I can have all of that, then I’ve always liked the look of Hawaii. Growing up in the US, that was always sort of the ideal holiday destination and I very much want to visit it at some point.


9 - Your favourite karaoke song?


It’s an odd one. I’m a vaguely competent singer at best, but it turns out I’m a better rapper! My go to is Boom Shake the Room. It used to be a bit of an anthem when I played basketball at university so I know it really well. It’s all about the rhythm, baby.


10 – One piece of advice to an aspiring writer?


Believe in yourself. There is always a route to publishing now, whether it’s traditional or indie. Finish your book and you can get it published one way or another. There’s plenty of advice out there with what to do next, but the most important thing I wish I’d known twenty years ago is to believe you can do it.


11 – You win £1 million, but you must give half to charity. Which charity do you chose, and what do you do with the rest of the money?


Amnesty International. I think they do fantastic work around the world fighting for human rights and publicising crimes that might otherwise go under the radar. With the rest? Design and build a funky eco-house for the family. Buy a nice car - probably a Jaguar. Take an epic family holiday and then probably invest the rest in something like property to try to set up a side hustle that generates income. Friends are currently looking into a property business where they renovate and flip houses. That might be interesting. I have a bit of an interest in interior design of houses, so it could be fun.


12 – Horror films, yes or no? If so, any favourites?


Yes, but not gorefests. I like intelligent films that do something different. More suspense and gothic horror than torture porn. My favourite is Cabin in the Woods, which is so clever and funny as well as scary. I also like the Scream series for much the same reason. The twist at the end of Scream was huge at the time it came out, and I loved the character who spends the whole movie telling them what not to do based on horror movie tropes. I loved the Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor was also good, if not as good as Hill House. I also really liked The Woman in Black. And Fear Street was fun this year, just for being a celebration of the different styles of horror.


13 - What are you currently working on?


The sequel to The Lost War, which is the second book of four in the Eidyn series. I’m starting the first edit today (!) so there’s a lot of work to do, but I’m looking forward to it.

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