Paul Collins was born in England, raised in New Zealand and immigrated to Australia in 1972. He lives in a historic bluestone home built in 1851 with his partner, fellow author, Meredith Costain, and a menagerie of pets including a kelpie called Jack and Molly, a red heeler.His many books for young people include The Slightly Skewed Life of Toby Chrysler and series such as The Jelindel Chronicles, The Earthborn Wars, The Quentaris Chronicles and The World of Grrym in collaboration with Danny Willis. His latest book is Mole Hunt, book one in The Maximus Black Files.  He is also the author of over 140 short stories. Paul has been the recipient of the A Bertram Chandler, Aurealis, William Atheling and Peter McNamara awards and has been shortlisted for many others including the Speech Pathology, Mary Grant Bruce, Ditmar and Chronos awards.
He is currently the publisher at Ford Street Publishing.

1. Paul, it’s fascinating that you didn’t read books as a kid. How do you think your early diet of comics and movies has shaped your writing career? For instance, do you think it contributes to your very visual writing style and what Buzz Words described as ‘pace (that) would give Matthew Reilly a nosebleed’?

Apart from the fast-paced action many reviewers allude to, many also refer to my fiction as being “filmic”. Both of these are attributes of comics. Mix all this with my owning bookshops for many years during which I did novels, and I suspect we have a good mix there. We all have our little niche and not everyone wants to read “literature”. Hopefully my fiction is above a “hack’s” work.

2. A number of more recent YA novels deal with dystopian societies, including your new release, Mole Hunt. To what do you attribute this appetite for dystopia? When you reflect on our global current state of affairs, do you personally feel optimistic or pessimistic?

I’ve written dystopian fiction in the past with The Earthborn Wars published by Tor in the US (The Earthborn, The Skyborn and The Hiveborn). Fifteen years before The Hunger Games, I also wrote a virtual reality dystopian novel with a remarkably similar plot called Cyberskin. Characters get killed live combatting others for the audience. So it’s a genre that I feel comfortable with. I think dystopian fiction also lends itself to my style of writing. Sometimes it’s best to stay with what we know and love. My own favourite authors are Ioin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) and Philip Reeves (Mortal Engines). I can just as easily see these books as films, as I can Mole Hunt. To be honest, I have a bleak view of the world up ahead. We haven’t got it right after all the years we’ve been here — why would 100 years or more be any different?

3. Paul, you’re a master world builder. With Mole Hunt, you’ve once again created a complex, credible universe. How do you go about designing these imaginary environments? Is it difficult to keep the geography of a fictitious place in your head? Do you draw up maps, or even base some of the terrain on real places? What are some of your favourite imaginary worlds from literature and film?

It’s reasonably easy creating a universe. Using jump-gates characters can travel anywhere in the blink of an eye. It’s much, much harder creating a fantasy world such as Quentaris, Grrym or Q’zar. These have landscapes, whereas a universe scenario doesn’t. Most, if not all, fantasy writers draw a map of their world first. It’s too difficult to draw one from a book because it’s easy to say characters took two days to reach here, and six days to get there, etc; then when you decide you need mountain ranges (at the very least to provide water for those lakes, etc), you come to realise your novel doesn’t make sense. It’s much easier to have your map in front of you and see how long it will take to get through the pre-existing mountain range.

As an aside, Isobelle Carmody sold her first Obernewtyn book when she was 21 or so. Penguin contracted it and then asked for the map. There wasn’t one. If ever you interview her, ask her how hard it was to draw a map from the book! lol

Re my own tastes, I liked the Lord of the Rings films. They’re simply epic. From literature I loved Philip Reeves’s Mortal Engines series. So very easy to see his world of cities trundling over the desolate countryside swallowing up smaller towns.

4. Before you entered the publishing world, you had a number of jobs dealing with the public: you were once a waiter at the Brekky Creek in Brisbane; you were a club bouncer; you ran a clothes store; you were even a commando for a time! Have these work experiences provided you with writing material?

Most of my more substantial novels have action, and this comes from my martial arts experience. If I were writing contemporary fiction, such as Raymond Carver or Charles Bukowski-style, then of course my experiences in shops, being a waiter, etc, would help create characters and situations. However, my writing style isn’t character-based, it’s more plot- and action-based; filmic, some say.

5. Mole Hunt’s main character, Maximus Black, has been described as Artemis Fowl’s evil twin. Can you tell us a bit about the way you developed Maximus and how he evolved over time? When did he first creep into your consciousness?

I thought the time was nigh for an anti-hero. I’ve been asked if I wrote a dystopian novel because of this genre’s popularity, but truth be known, The Maximus Black Files have been around for over four years. It just so happens that at last I had something on hand when a particular genre became popular. Writing something after a genre’s popular can often be too late. Most books take at least a year to appear once they’ve been contracted.

6. You’ve been in the publishing business for many years now and have therefore witnessed some major shifts in the industry. How do you feel about modern publication models and what are your predictions for the future of the industry?

There are some fundamental problems with the publishing industry, which, if addressed, would solve many problems. One being sale-or-return. Booksellers can take all the books they can accommodate and simply send back all those that don’t sell. This came about during the Great Depression. In a bid to get their industry back on its feet publishers offered this sale-or-return to help establish bookshops. Trouble is, the formula stayed long after the depression. You’d find bookshop staff would know their stock a lot better if they had to buy their books upfront and there was no return.

Some shops like Of Science and Swords does have this business model, and you’ll not find better qualified and more helpful staff. The other problem we have are high discount chain stores that sell their books as loss leaders cheaper than the independent stores can buy them at from the publishers. Two very silly situations that publishers have instigated.

I’ve also seen the library market shrink to a fraction of its former self. Once upon a time libraries were basically autonomous and would buy their own books. Then they formed clusters so that one library would lend their copy of a book to another library in its cluster so that only one copy need be purchased. It went on from there to inter-cluster lending, so that one system of eight libraries, for example, doesn’t need to purchase a particular book — they simply borrow it from another system of perhaps a similar size. So you have one book circulating among sixteen libraries. Of course, postage is such now that some  libraries are charging a $10 postage and handling fee for this service, so I predict the loan system is about to get hit! Not before time, either, if we want our authors to write books and at least get food in their mouths for the effort. I bet you’re sorry you asked that question!

7. You’ve mentioned that contemporary writers need to be adept at social media in order to compete in today’s publishing environment. Writers have traditionally been viewed as somewhat solitary creatures. What are your thoughts on this new dimension to the writer’s life?

Oh, you can be the world’s greatest hermit and still participate in online chats via Skype, Facebook and Twitter. It’s more the upfront and personal side of publicity that most authors baulk at. I had to go to Toastmasters for two years to overcome the fear of public speaking. Some people can’t even face up to that. Public speaking is apparently number one in people’s fears.

8. Fitness is important to you and you have a background in martial arts. How do you maintain the balance between body and mind, and can you tell us a bit about the discipline you derive from your martial arts training and how that has enhanced other areas of your life?

You can’t put a price on health. Luckily for me I’ve always been sports-oriented so never had trouble keeping fit. I started martial arts in my twenties and that paid handsomely financially as well as health-wise. I now train in my gym (I’ve taken over the garage) four times a week. I also have a kelpie and a heeler — both working dogs. I jog with them every day. I also play tennis every couple of weeks. They’re things I enjoy doing so I don’t see them as being onerous.

9. I’ve heard that wading through the slush pile can be a pretty soul-destroying experience. When it’s time to start reading, how do you approach the new submissions and keep yourself from becoming jaded? What are a few tips you would offer newbies when it comes time to send their manuscripts out?

If I’m to be completely honest, my interns are the first readers of anything submitted to Ford Street. Most of them have studied publishing and editing at tertiary institutions such as RMIT, CAE, NMIT, etc. I get them to write assessments. Not only do I send these to the authors, which hopefully helps them revise their work), but I gauge whether or not to spend much of my own time reading the unsolicited MSS. Publishing up to a dozen books a year is more than one person can reasonably handle, so I do take short-cuts. Regardless, I don’t think I’ve let slip any great manuscripts so far. At least, I hope not!

Regarding tips for authors submitting MSS — simply go through the potential publisher’s website. See what they’re publishing. If it’s children’s, then don’t waste anyone’s time on submitting adults or non-fiction. Check the submission guidelines. You’ll be surprised how many people email me their MSS or send disks. Publishers aren’t made of money, and small presses actually lose. There’s no way they should print out authors’ manuscripts when cartridges are now $100 plus. Also, always provide return postage if you want the MS back.

10. Authors clearly derive inspiration from a huge range of sources. You’ve described using quirky newspaper stories as ‘jumping-off points’, for example. What else do you do to get the creative juices flowing? Are there particular places you like to travel to, for example, music you like to listen to, or people you like to spend time with?

I doubt there’s a magic formula, Bec. We all have our own methods. As you mention, anecdotal stories are the easiest to write because the plot is there from A to Z. The Glasshouse, illustrated by Jo Thompson, was perhaps the easiest book to write and it’s possibly one of my top three best-sellers. It came about from my telling another writer some home truths which she disagreed with. I was quite frustrated to have these truths dismissed, that I used the metaphor of a girl in a glasshouse oblivious to the world about her. It’s been chosen by international IBBY as an Outstanding Book (one of only four chosen from Australia) and has also been short-listed for the CBCA’s Crichton Award. But longer works aren’t so easy to write. Most times, I just sit myself down at the computer and start typing. Sometimes I write a lot, or even a very, very rough draft. I have no particular method.

11. The last time we caught up with you, you were working on this very book and had another series, Broken Magic, on the go. Are you still working on that series? What’s next in line in your very busy schedule?

I was going to publish Broken Magic as a six part chapter series, one coming out every month. But I had to put that on hold because of Mole Hunt. And now it appears as though a French publisher wants to purchase rights, but needs book #2 for 2012. So I might need to find time to concentrate on Dyson’s Drop. I have the rough draft ready, so it shouldn’t take too long. Regardless, I can’t have Broken Magic coming out in the same year as Dyson’s Drop — that would make seven books in one year. The good thing about fantasy is that it’s not topical, so I think it’ll be fine even if it sees print in 2015.

[Bec Stafford]

Visit Paul’s website here.

Check out the Ford Street Publishing site here.

Mole Hunt trailer:

Zenobia Frost writes poetry in cemeteries, articles at a desk in a backyard rainforest, and to-do lists on receipts, bits of paper, the back of her hand, and flatmates’ spare bits of skin. She writes, edits, and types for a living, and occasionally orchestrates cabaret events that are really an excuse to drink tea. Her work has appeared in Stylus, Mascara, Small Packages, Burdock (USA), Rave Magazine, Famous Reporter, and Voiceworks, and she has performed at Queensland’s and Tasmania’s poetry festivals, as well as around Australia with the Queensland Touring Poets Program. Her debut collection, The Voyage, was published by SweetWater Press in 2009.

1. When were you first bitten by the poetry bug?

Mum is very proud of her copy of my first poem, written at age 5 or 6. It went like this:

Love Your Pets

Hot-cross bun.

Half-past one.

Silly billy,

I will sit on you.

Hm. Well. No, I couldn’t explain that one even if you asked. The poetry bug really bit me in my early teen years. An inspiring teacher liked my writing and urged me to learn more about poetry and enter competitions. I have bulging folders full of the fantastic teenage tripe I wrote in high school; I wrote a lot and, hopefully, honed the craft a little bit—at least honed it away from Love Your Pets.

2. Which is your favourite poetic form?
I enjoy writing blank verse, and applying it loosely to sonnet-ish forms and terzanelles. I like the way form can direct, rather than constrain a poem—it can be like a puzzle. I also write free verse. Both are challenging; both are rewarding.

3. Which famous poet would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with?

Oh, gosh. I’m not good at these questions. I’d give you a different answer every two minutes. Is David Bowie poet enough? I want to take him. We’d have a great time. I could choose the love child descended from numerous ‘page poets’ I love, but I imagine that would be cheating even than just taking Mr Bowie.

4. I was fortunate enough to have been at the launch of your fantastic chapbook, The Voyage, last year. Have you got another collection in the works?

I was glad you could be there; it was such a lovely night. I’m presently working on a collection of poems in conversation with the inhabitants of Toowong Cemetery. This has led to me writing a number of poems about history, mortality, death, decomposition, roadkill, ghosts, and a variety of other cheery topics. It won’t be a completely morbid collection, though, I promise. There are, I hope, moments of warmth and humour, and lots of life.

5. What’s your favourite punctuation mark and why?

Semicolons are downright sexy. Let’s be honest. What a delicious little mark; I love the way they seduce clauses together. Ahem. Also, I have flings with those versatile, playful em-dashes. I imagine you are remembering the punctuation cupcakes from the launch of The Voyage—all 99 of them.

6. What do you write your poetry in/on? Do you carry a notebook everywhere you go?

I have a huge pile of notebooks, and which one I carry depends on where I’m going and how big my bag is. Lots of notes and observations go in the ol’ Moleskin diary. Graveyard poems go in one specific notebook, when I’m drafting. When the good typewriter has ink, I’ll use that—I like being rewarded with the ‘ding’ at the end of the line. Very often, though, the story’s boring; I usually edit and finish pieces on the computer. I’ve learnt to back things up on multiple USBs, believe me.

7. You regularly participate in poetry readings. How important is performance to you?

I enjoy performing immensely, but I’m definitely a page poet at heart. Performing (and listening) is a great way to experiment with poetry, connect with other poets, and get out of the office/house/cemetery. Writing is very solitary, so I most enjoy readings for the socialising and networking. It must be said, though, that I get a real buzz from reading, and find that sometimes performance can make me look at a poem in a completely different light.

8. What do you most like to write about?

Finding the magical in the mundane. Also, strange animals (the ones that usually don’t get a lot of air time, like bugs).

9. Who is your greatest literary influence?

Eep! Another tricky one. I’d have to say the mentors and friends right here in Brisbane who supported me through my formative years as a poet (and who continue to support me).

10. Do you have a personal motto?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s motto was “Seize the day…because tomorrow you might be dead.” Perhaps that is suitable considering my current project. Really, though, I’d never be able to stick to one motto. I just keep my eyes peeled for moments of magic or madness in everyday life.

11. Can you tell us a bit about The Ruby Fizz Society for Superior People? How superior must one be to join?

As superior as you believe you are or want to be; The RFS embraces the fun and silliness of putting on airs and eating fancy cakes. I started the society with the goal of bringing different art forms together in a relaxed environment. I really wanted to hold events that felt like parties, rather than readings or performances where the audience would sit, unmoving, for the duration. The events I’ve held so far have been tremendous fun, and have featured some amazing local and interstate talents. I only wish I had the time to hold more!

12. What’s the best thing about being Zenobia Frost?

Being named after a warrior queen, being blessed with ridiculously good luck, living in the loveliest Queenslander, and being surrounded by gorgeous, creative people.

Rat – Zenobia Frost

I am the cloaked detective.

I am the silent choir. I am the top

of the slush pile.

I am sleeping inside your pocket.

I am the gatherer of secrets

in my nest of old headlines.

I am Icarus, scaling the maze

before flight and I am Houdini,

with supple spine. I am a mathematician;

I can multiply. I am looking to master

mischief’s map, whatever it is

that X might mark.

Read Zenobia’s blog here!

Music: David Bowie – Fashion

[Bec Stafford]

1. Ok, Yunyu — ‘Morbid Pop’. For newcomers to your music, would you like to elaborate a little on that category?

Well, this genre was probably made up to confuse the music industry a little less. I got this off a review by a nice broadcaster from the ABC. I kept it because there just seemed to be some logic to having the music named under Morbid Pop. Firstly,I try, with all my musical creations, to capture the attention of the listener within 5 seconds. I also assume that the listener, like me, has an attention span shorter than a bee’s needle butt. This means that my music had better get interesting fast and stay that way or face my destruction. These sentiments are, to me, the definitions of pop.

The morbid just comes from the factoid that most of my lyrics deal in the stories of life, and with it, death. I’m also told I obsess way too much over zombies.

2. Your Mum chose the name Yunyu because it means ‘beautiful rhythms’. Does musical talent run in the family?

The short answer is no. The name-giving council in the family didn’t pick my name because it meant beautiful rhythms. They picked it because my core name “Yu” promised the wearer some version of supposed awesomeness in a bureaucratic career. All very practical decisions.

Still here for the long version? Here goes:

The story is that my maternal grandmother/ uncle/ mum named me. See, traditionally, the Chinese are usually given 2 characters that make up your full name. One character is your common name, which acts like the y-axis to the x-axis of your surname on the geneology grid. Together with your surname, that allows geneologists to track not only which family you are from, but what specific generation/ branch of the family tree. The other character given is your true name, the core character which belongs to you and you alone.

This system only strictly applies to boys but my grandmother decided that it was cool that the girls in the family start this system too. It was decided that the girls have a common name of the character ”Rhythm” aka “Yun”. “Yu” got picked because, according to the Chinese name dictionary, individuals who got the ”Yu” character as a name would turn out to be high flying magistrates/ bureaucrats with an express ticket ride to awesomeness. Hence, in the spirit of all that was practical, it was picked.

Of course, in the course of un-translatable complicatedness between languages, the 2 characters of “Yun” and “Yu” coming together just happened to spell beautiful rhythms…which, according to the tale, was mostly an afterthought.

Do musical talents run in the blood? Not that I know of. There are a few talented visual artists in the family and my late maternal grandmother was an amazing storyteller who used to scare the crap out of me with her horror tales.

3. For those who don’t know, ‘You Are Expendable’ won Triple J’s Unearthed Competition in 2002, leading to national (and international) exposure. What was that experience like?

Great, surreal and, as an afterthought, it also felt like some sort of a massive automobile pileup… except I’m wearing this stupid smile on my face while the carnage is happening.

Don’t get me wrong. It was a good thing that happened, but it was also a very strange time for me. To put it in context, it was a year and a half after I moved from Singapore to do a commerce degree in Australia. I had no idea what Triple J was. (I think there probably is a recording in the ABC vault where I asked Caroline Tran — twice — who she was). I had only just started writing songs that year I was Unearthed and You’re Expendable was the 4th song I ever wrote in my life. And, at that time, my performing experience was limited to mostly tutorial presentations — which lead to massive bouts of fear-induced gastro regurgitation backstage from pure fear.

Unearthed brought many things into my life. Most of it wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t a bad occurrence.

4. Your video clips are incredibly creative. How much input do you have into these? How long did it take to make that amazing video for ‘Lenore’s Song’? Was the process fun?

Thanks. Very glad you like.

Lenore’s Song took us a year. I worked with Matt Carter, who produced it, and hijacked the crew talents from LOTR and Superman Returns, and the bulk of them got it all happening. Tahnee McGuire, who directed it, was the one who wrote the concept of the video clip, and Callan Green was the cinematographer who took the pretty pictures…I mostly played the human Gumby.

5. You’ve described yourself as ‘a psycho musician whose songs range from love to violent murders’ and have said that your hobbies ‘include visiting psychosis self help forums and studying murder case files’. I have 2 questions: 1. Should we be scared? 2. Do you have crazy fans? (If so, what’s the nuttiest thing that’s happened at a gig?).

1 — No don’t be. Long as you bring offerings on approach you have nothing to fear.

2 — I have lovely fans. One gave my performing stage goat a bell necklace and another gave me a teddy bear with teeth. It warmed my muses greatly and they did not bite.

6. Despite describing your classical training as a grim thing that you were glad to escape from, it’s obviously stood you in great stead technically. If we swiped your iPod, would we find that you still secretly listen to classical stuff or are you modern in your taste all the way now?

I listen to everything from Kanno Yoko to Edith Piaf to catchy Middle Eastern pop and Tibetan Chants. My iPod is my time/genre-crossing TARDIS.

7. Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis are both fans of yours. What is THAT like? (Also: We don’t envy you at *allllll*!!!).

When they were kind enough to mention my tunes on their blogs…a Major Yay just about covers it. They make me feel like a special human bean.

8. Anime: What are your faves?

Fwoah…hard to pick. I have shelves and shelves of Anime and they are all good. Mushishi, Cowboy Bebop, and Neon Genesis are the first thoughts if I had to really pick

9. ‘Writing dead people love letters is Yunyu’s idea of romance.’ What do you write for your *living* romantic interests?!

I bring them lovely offerings of dead animal carcass grilled to perfection…with a healthy serve of decapitated vegetation… I’m really not so big on the waxing lyrical. See…being into the “morbid pop” and all, making it into my songs as a subject matter is generally not perceived in most cultures to be a good thing.

10. What comes first: the words or music? How long does it typically take you to write a song once the muses have visited?

Depends. I took 3 minutes to write a song called Souls Alive and 2 years to write one of the songs in my new album. Most times these days, I write by deciding what I want the story in the song to be, and create and kill a lot of potential music in rapid succession until they suit the story, then whack the words in. That’s…sort of the gist of it I think.

11. Tell us a secret!

O.K…No secrets…But what about a revelation? I’m just discovering that all my musical compilations and work I get involved in come with repeating alphabets. (Spiked Soul, T_____T___ (new album that shall not be named), Burn Bright, Angel Arias…). See a pattern?

12. What’s the best thing about being Yunyu?

I get to have awesome minions.

[Bec Stafford]