#Interview with Sarah Hester Ross about her #EdFringe show – Sarah Hester is What? #EdFringe #WhatsOnEdinburgh Venue 393

Interview with Sarah Hester Ross
By Louise

Just The Tonic Nucleus 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18 Aug at 2:30pm Aged 18 plus

Sarah Hester Ross is a comedian who is making it big in Las Vegas, has a huge social media following and a show on Apple TV. What she has to say is fascinating, not only about her show, but the depth she is prepared to share about this, social media and a certain movement. We also talked about the Edinburgh Fringe Show and audiences in the UK and US. It gives food for thought, especially when it comes to social media and movement.

Firstly, this a description: “Meet musical comedian Sarah Hester Ross. Following the release of her new comedy special on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, Don’t Mess With a Redhead, comes her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe. Sarah Hester Ross Is What? is a hilarious musical experience that shows you a woman being TikTok famous, who doesn’t want babies and is the leader of the Stop Giving Men Microphones movement. ‘I guess women are funny’ **** (A random guy after the show).”

Let’s welcome Sarah Hester Ross, who has come across “the pond” from the US to Edinburgh.

I wondered if musical comedy and was a path she always wanted to go down. She said:
“Definitely not!” I’ve been a musician all my life, but comedy is kind of new to me, maybe in the past 6-7 years.” It turns out she is a very talented musician. She continued to tell me that it came about doing duelling pianos, which is what she does in Las Vegas full time. It’s all request like top 40 music like Don’t Stop Believing, Living on a Prayer, Piano Man, people just write down what they want. It then is very comic driven, improv with audience participation and that’s when she realised she had a knack for comedy. She was honest about this on how it took awhile to “figure it all out”. She’s done it for 10 years now, so is like old hand now.

Sarah’s Fringe show is Sarah Hester is What? So we talked about what this is and who is she…

Social Media Chat:

She’s very popular on social media and it came about from this, but she gets called a lot of things in general. “When people don’t know who you are personally or only know you from one visual pointer, one video, one experience, the things you get called tend to be incorrect. The show is basically me mocking that concept of what I get called and then to answer who I really am and what.” She then goes onto talk about expectations, saying “well at the end of the day, I am putting stuff out into the world and how it is perceived is none of my business. I can’t control that. So, in the show Sarah Hester Ross is What, I get to control the narrative, explain who I am, how I want to be perceived and then people can do what they want” I’d hoped that people would then get a rounded picture of her, instead of just being judged on one photo etc. “It’s a nice introduction to who I am, so if you don’t know who I am through social media, you’ll see why people do like me. It definitely isn’t just a show for people who know me online.”

Pros and Cons of Being A Social Media Sensation

Her audience grew in lockdown. She said, “Lockdown was a surge for me, right place, right time, everyone was on their phones, no one was working, so I just massively put out content as much as I could, got an audience and they stuck with me, which is pretty cool.” I’d hoped they’d stick with her. She enthusiastically responded with “I’d like that, I’d like that. Honestly, it’s about consistency online. People, not out of malice or negativity, but people forget, so being consistent with my content and output. I just released my comedy special on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and that’s one of the things, I have to keep reminding people it’s out there because there’s a lot going on in the world. I’m the only one thinking about me 24/7, so I have to keep reminding people.” Which led to us talking about us all vying for some space, which she was in agreement of.

Apple TV and Amazon Prime Show – Don’t Mess With The Redheads

I was curious as to how this came about and the impact on her career.

“For the impact, it’s been the biggest thing I’ve done in my career. Being on 2 large streaming platforms has been huge for me. So far it’s been more bragging writes than anything else.” She then talked about touring. “So I started touring after the pandemic with my one-woman show, mostly comedy clubs and Comedy Dynamics is the production company that released my comedy special. They found me online and they reached out to my agent and it’s history from there. It was very Kismit! Honestly, again right place, right time. I guess that’s kinda my M.O. I’ve just got to be there to make it happen”. Which led us to talk about how sometimes we have to seize the moment.

“Stop Giving Men Microphones Movement”

I’d just heard of it, so it was intriguing, so I asked her to elaborate on what this is and what the goals were as I was taken aback by this being a “thing” and the striking title. The reply is fascinating:
“The title is quite shocking, so I understand people’s apprehensiveness. It basically came off the idea, there was a trend going round Tik-Tok, maybe 2 years ago that the male podcasts that specifically talk about making crude comments towards women’s issues, women dressing inappropriately, women shouldn’t being doing or that… blah, blah, blah. So that’s kind of where it sprung from.”

“So I wrote this song and I would do these Tik-Tok videos and people really seemed to engage with them and like them and understand by them what I mean by ‘Stop Giving Men Microphones’. It definitely is not let’s stop men from talking, sort of, because if you think about it, and I talk about this in my show a little bit that our entire society was made for men by men and men have had the power, the voice, the say so for centuries and I think it’s time for a change. I think women had the microphone more and the think this is the perfect time for it. There are so many brilliant, talented, smart, creative women out there, but, you know, a lot of them are being seen, but a lot of them aren’t and it’s strictly because they’re women and there’s no argument to it, so that’s kind of part of the whole vibe, and I do. It’s sarcastic, it’s satirical. I’m not saying let’s close the mouths of all men with staples. So everyone just calm down a little bit, but it is to start a conversation of the idea that women have things to say and the things that men say are really ridiculous, like a lot of the time…” (as she chuckles).

Mixing Music and Comedy Being Niche in The US and Victoria Wood and Differences in the US and UK for this Type of Comedy

This led us talking about comedian, Victoria Wood and how she would take a big topic and either talk about it in straight comedy or she would add music and sing it. It transpires, she “loves Victoria Wood and really has for a really long time”.
It led to me asking about marketing it to the “niche” market so she could say “hey folks, it’s comedy and music together.”
Interestingly Sarah said, “I think it’s a little more niche in America. The world of comedy is boxed in. Comedy audiences are expecting stand-up comedy. I think it’s a little different over here in the UK.”
She then divulged, “And I think that’s why I wanted to be here so badly. I think what I do, for lack of a better word accepted more in the UK, because you have huge comedians, like Tim Minchin, who is iconic” and we talked about other comedy/musicians like Bill Bailey. “These are some iconic musical comedians. Flight of the Concordes was huge in the States, but I know it was huge here in the UK, so it really is just kind of convincing people what I do is proper comedy, but at the same time, I lean more to the music side of things and it’s because I’ve always been a musician and I think also to be the extent of my music being proper good music as well is important to me. I want the recording to be professional. I want it to sound good. I want the melodies to be catchy and free to sing along to. As the musician brain of me, this side of my brain is important to me and I’m not sure that’s always the case with musical comics, but sometimes the comedy is more important than the music, but that’s one of the reasons I love Tim Minchin so much. His music is just flawless. Yes, it can be funny, but he also has this side of just gorgeous music, so I lean towards that a little bit more.

Audience Reaction of US and UK

Sarah candidly talked about this. “To be honest, I haven’t really got a good feel about it.” At time of interviewing she had done 3 shows, which were “pretty light on the crowd, but most of the people there have known me prior, so they have been walking in knowing what to expect, so they’re good audiences. They are kind and reactive, so I haven’t had an opportunity to really showcase to a brand new audience. I’m hoping that will change, but there’s a lot of competition here at the Fringe and over 3000 shows is unbelievable and there’s so much talent here.

Some fun things are “Seeing new acts. I just saw Chris Hall for the first time. We’ve been mutuals on Tik-Tok for a while, but I saw his stand-up and it’s just so very good. Another show I just saw was an American from California, T. Hall, he’s really fantastic.
I’m just looking forward to be surrounded by really talented people and possibly getting inspired. But that is also the challenge in the sense that I am trying to get that attention they are also trying to get. It’s like a frenemies type of thing, so it’s definitely a challenge.

Thank you for your time Sarah Hester-Ross for this illuminating interview.

You can get tickets for her Edinburgh Fringe Festival show here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/sarah-hester-ross-is-what

You can also find her for her non-Fringe show on Apple TV and Amazon

#Interview By Lou with Piotr Mirowski about his AI and his family show – A.L.Ex and the ImpRobots: an AI Show for Kids #EdFringeReview #AI #DeepMind #EdFringe24 #WhatsonEdin #WhatsonEdinburgh Venue 24

A.L.Ex and the ImpRobots: an AI Show for Kids

Interview By Lou with Piotr Mirowski from Deep Mind

What an honour it is to interview Piotr Mirowski, a scientist who works with A.I. for Deep Mind, a scientific company that is becoming increasingly known. I had not expected that! Here, we talk about the show and also some of the more burning questions of the day about AI, such as when it comes to jobs etc. I feel the answers are fascinating and important.

Let’s welcome to Bookmarks and Stages Piotr Mirowski

1. What can people expect from Artificial Intelligence Improvisation and from A.L.Ex and the ImpRobots: an AI Show for Kids?

Artificial Intelligence Improvisation and A.L.Ex and the ImpRobots! are two interactive live experiences featuring professional actors, cute real robots (an Aldebaran Nao), and various flavours of artificial intelligence on stage.

Artificial Intelligence Improvisation is our pioneering improv comedy show with AI: it is for a general audience and addresses conversations about human agency (some actors wear augmented reality glasses and are controlled by AI that sends them lines) or about deep fakes, and at the same it time showcases the ingenuity of human improvisers.

A.L.Ex and the Improbots! is a show for kids and the whole family where fellow young audience members learn fun facts about science and are invited on stage to co-create stories with robots.

In both our shows, Artificial Intelligence Improvisation, and A.L.Ex and the ImpRobots, language models give strange suggestions to human improvisers, giving them an opportunity to react, to incorporate the strange material and then to shine and to demonstrate their talents and sense of humour.

2. Why did you decide to cross science with comedy with an AI robot and what challenges did you have in setting this up?

Our primary aim is to leave audiences, and the younger generations, feeling empowered to critically engage with AI, and to directly explore for themselves through co-creation with the tool, rather than passively.

The show’s creators, Piotr Mirowski (that’s me!), Boyd Branch and Kory Mathewson are academics who are passionately engaged in communicating about science. We are also theatre actors who want to bridge disciplines. Their challenge is to explain, succinctly, the complexity of a fairly complex topic to the audiences, to give them back control over a key technology in their lives. When we started the shows, back in 2016, everything sounded new, from machine learning, to patterns, to biases in data. Today, most people have already tried experimenting with text and image generation via various apps.

The real challenges now, in a way, are to manage the very high expectations about what AI can do! In our very fast paced show, AI tries to react, live and in a fraction of a second, to the mayhem on the stage, and speech recognition and large language models really struggle to keep up!

3. How does it feel bringing a groundbreaking AI Improv show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

Kory and I actually brought Artificial intelligence Improvisation to Edinburgh in 2017. Kory (at the time studying for a PhD in robotics at the University of Alberta) and I were doing a duet with a twelve-inch robot and performed for a week at Surgeons’ Hall. The show was very experimental and very rough around the edges, but our friend Colin Mochrie (from Whose Line Is It Anyway?) came to see our show and had some good words about us.

We came back to Edinburgh last year and this year, to perform in a larger space at the Gilded Balloon. We encountered extremely supportive production and tech that made our tech-heavy show a (relative) breeze to get in and get out each day.

As a personification of the AI, our new robot is a bit larger this year, but it is extremely cute and gets lots of enthusiastic reactions from audiences or even from crowds when we take it out to flyer with us.

We’ve also seen amazing productions in Edinburgh that involved robots and AI. Shows that really marked us were the production of Spillikin at the Pleasance in 2015, of Siri by Laurence Dauphinais at Summerhall in 2017, or Robo Bingo by Foxdog Studios last year at Underbelly.

4. How much of an influence do you think AI will have on humans in the future?

I see AI primarily as a tool for search and discovery. We have seen inspiring examples of AI tools that can make predictions about the structure of proteins, predictions which can then be verified experimentally by chemists and biologists. I have worked on using AI for making weather predictions, helping expert meteorologists refine weather forecasts, with weather agencies now evaluating how AI can help predict the trajectory of hurricanes. We know artists who have been experimenting with AI tools and exploring the glitch aesthetic of their input to integrate this strange instrument in their process and create unique art.

5. Since working in the field of epileptic seizure predictions, mapping on smartphones and more for the likes of Bing etc, what made you decide to now join Deep Mind to work with AI in the artistic field in co-creations on stages?

The work of co-creation with AI for live theatre performance is done in my spare time and through my theatre troupe, Improbotics.

In my current job, I have worked on navigation, and in recent years, on weather forecasting and applications to climate modelling. However, my exposure to the theatre world inspired me to also focus on the ethical concerns when using AI in the context of the arts, and to evaluate the usefulness of language models as a tool for creative writing. Two years ago (before large language models became so popular), I ran workshops with screenwriters and playwrights trying to write with AI tools: their contrasting reviews were published at a conference on human-computer interaction. At the previous Fringe Festival, I took advantage of my presence in Edinburgh to interview comedians who had been using AI, to understand if large language models are aligned with the cultural values of comedians, and published findings at an AI ethics conference (spoiler alert: the comedians were not impressed).

6. Perhaps the question everyone really wants to know, since everyone talks about it, is: Many people in most industries are worried about their jobs as AI advances ever forwards, how does that make you feel and do you ever worry about your own job in this context?

I believe in the need for empathy and dialogue between developers and the rest of the civil society, in order for us to realise AI’s potential as a tool that benefits everyone.

My personal belief is that we all tend to underestimate the complexity of human activities (in particular when we are talking about other people’s jobs…) and that we forget the need for human connection and for sharing our lived experiences – which simply cannot be automated. The latter point was apparent when we interviewed comedians who had tried using AI for comedy writing.

For these reasons, I do not see AI as a substitute for work or for the process of writing, thinking and creation. I know that there is more to writing than merely putting words on a page, and there is more to computer science and engineering than merely writing lines of code. I believe there are better uses of AI than for the “automation of mediocrity” and am confident we can build a future where AI tools are used to help, not replace human activity.

Tickets here via The Edinburgh Fringe website: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/a-l-ex-and-the-improbots-present-an-ai-show-for-kids

Join for an #Interview / Q&A By Lou with #playwrite Tom Powell and #Director Stephen Bailey @_TPowell_ @directorsajb about #StagePlay #Surfacing by #TouringTheatre company #AsylumArts

Today I have the pleasure of publishing an interview I conducted with Stage and Screen Writer – Tom Powell and Director – Stephen Bailey about their brand new play, Surfacing.
Surfacing is Murakami meets Peep Show.
This original play is embarking on a tour. See details after the fascinating interview about their craft and working with each other, a bit about themselves, which may not be quite what you’d expect and of course the play, including some interesting, new technology and how to support theatres. You’ll also get a glimpse of the actors in rehearsal.
During the interview you will see T for Tom and S for Stephen, so you can follow who is saying what at any given time.

Cast

Luc played by Sarah Livingstone
Owen played by Jerome Yates

Synopsis

What if when you came up for air, the world you once knew was gone?

NHS therapist Luc is fine. Honest. She’s definitely not overwhelmed by meeting Owen, a new client, definitely not freaked out by what she’s started seeing, definitely doesn’t think her reality has been punctured and something else is leaking in. Luc goes for a swim and feels a hand dragging her down to the bottom of the lake… When she surfaces, her reality is different.

She’s haunted by tormented mice, shape-shifting shadows and secrets she thought she’d buried. As she hunts for Owen through this upside down world she comes closer to her past and the truth she’s desperately hidden.

Papatango Prize Winner Tom Powell’s breath-taking new thriller examines hallucinations, neurodivergence and the state of mental health care. With innovative creative captioning and haunting music, the production uses new motion sensor technology to create responsive light and sound to evoke a very real and lived experience of disassociation.
Directed by RTST Sir Peter Hall Director’s Award Winner Stephen Bailey.

All performances are presented in a relaxed environment, captioned and have integrated audio description.

Supported by Arts Council England, Pentabus, Unlimited and The Barbican Centre.

Now, without further ado, let’s welcome Tom and Stephen to my blog as we proceed with the interview.
(T – Tom S – Stephen)

In a nutshell, what can audiences expect from your play, Surfacing?

T: It follows Luc, an NHS therapist whose life is thrown out of kilter by a new client. Luc nearly drowns, and when she surfaces, her reality is entirely different…

S: It’s a fast-paced dramatic story about hidden pasts, guilt, and failing to be normal. There are some quite absurd/unusual moments and scenes with some comedy amidst the drama. And under all that is a social critique of how we look at and treat mental health now.

T: What Stephen said. If you’ve ever felt lost, alone, or overwhelmed, you’ll see echoes of your experience in Luc’s.

What inspired you to use the premise of a therapist and client for a thriller and how did you research this?

S: It’s mostly Tom’s idea, but I’m always keen to not reduce these things to therapist vs client. I made another verbatim piece years ago which really emphasised that systems of care and limited resources affected practitioners as well as service users. Luc is both therapist and client in a way – as all of us do not fit into neat boxes.

T: I’d like to think whatever people expect from a therapist client relationship, they will be surprised by Surfacing. I spoke to a lot of people during the writing of this play – and we have two consultants, Dr Jasmine Martinez on NHS Talking Therapies, and Dr Ruth Cooper on research. But the starting point was going to the European Conference of Neuropsychopharmacology years ago. The conference was at a lavish five-star hotel in Nice, near the sea. A homeless woman came in, asking for help. Psychiatrists demurred. Security ushered her out. I was told about it when I arrived the next day. It was outrageous. It was no surprise. The germ of an idea was planted.

3. You’re use new motion sensor technology to create responsive light and sound to evoke a real and lived experience of disassociation. What does this technology involve in creating the desired effect for the audience?

S: Actors move and things happen! It’s new and exciting! If you want a more psychological read, our perception is variable and there is no correct answer. If some people hear sounds others do not or perceive variations of light in their vision – does this matter? Is it something to be fixed? We wanted to give a sense of wonder at times rather than simply problematising, and suggest that there’s more around you than you might see with ‘normal’ eyes. Hallucinations etc. are hard things to stage as their personal experiences. We’re offering a way to link audience and character that’s a bit deeper than putting on weird light colours.

Tom, what inspired you to become a stage/screen writer after having a cycling accident and what makes you reckon your “off the cuff” unplanned work is better than some of your more planned?

There was a period of time when I could barely speak, or speaking was extremely painful, and in that introspective moment I found a different way for me to communicate the things that felt vital. Writing for stage. For other’s voices.

Why is writing off the cuff sometimes better than work that has been meticulously planned? Well, sometimes writing is like keeping a fire alight. For me there’s a point in a good process where your characters become real – they whisper to you and refuse to do what you tell them. That’s when it’s better to let them guide you to where they want to go, into the dark woods.

Stephen, what or whom inspired you to become a director and, being neurodivergent, what challenges do you face and what positivity do you come across?

It was the only thing that made me happy when I was doing very poorly with my health at university. The collaborative rehearsal environment is still where I’m happiest. Challenges – if you place that label out there there are people who aren’t willing to entertain that you could be neurodivergent, disabled, etc. and a good, professional artist. I’m also nervous around neurodivergent story-telling/alternate mental health models on stage. We have such a strong cultural narrative that deviations from the norm must be fixed that some might feel the way we take the story alienating. Positivity – there are people who can hold access needs and artistic respect. It’s been good to see an increase in representation uncovering some amazing artists.

Tell us a bit about the working relationship between your roles of writer, director and actors and how does this transform as the play gets closer to opening night?

S: This is a weird one as we’ve worked on it for years, and we sort of say we co-created it. The amount of suggestions and input I’ve given is highly unusual – to the extent that in recent drafts I’m recutting scenes and even offering lines. I wouldn’t do that with a writer I didn’t know well. Working with the actors has been interesting as Sarah and Jerome are new to the process. That’s been really helpful as their exploration has brought fresh eyes which don’t have all that baggage. It’s been fun finding bits for their invention to creep into what was already a well-developed work.

T: Often the writer is the first one in the process and the first one to be superfluous. It starts with their idea and there’s a point in rehearsal where they’re no longer needed. This has been different, as Stephen says, it’s co-created. I’ve had company for the whole of the journey. Whole sequences have come from other people’s minds. And the great thing about working with collaborators is that you end up in unexpected places.

You’re play is touring in various parts of England, how important do you think that theatre plays tour?

S: The number of theatres and performances declining over the last several decades, and particularly recently, smaller towns/cities sucks. I don’t think it’s much for a wealthy country to be able to offer affordable, enjoyable and thought-provoking work in your local area. In particular, we wanted to tour to Blackpool given the high incidence of mental health treatment in the area. It felt like the right audience. As someone who also leads a company (Vital Xposure) the numbers are making it really hard right now to tour as much as we’d like to.

T: Everyone should have access to great culture, no matter where they live. It can be harder for a (mostly) live medium, but touring is part of making sure that great culture gets around.

What hints and tips do you have for budding stage/screen writers and directors?

S: I think watch as much as you can, be decisive about what you like and then proactive trying to contact the people you can learn from. Also don’t compare yourself to other people who might have the independent resource to commit more time than you now.

T: Don’t punish yourself for the industry’s failings. You’ll be doubly hurt. There are not enough opportunities or money at the moment – don’t blame yourself if things aren’t going the way you want them to, or as quickly as you’d like.

Theatres are often facing hardships, so we are told, how can people best support them and the people within them more?

S: Go? Go to smaller theatres that are platforming new artists who are really struggling at the moment. Financially, it’s just really tricky. We’re Arts Council funded and I’m investing past funds from ASYLUM, but we still need to sell over half of tickets to avoid financial risk and pay collaborators above the industry minimums (which aren’t viable in London). But you could see three shows at Clapham Omnibus (£18 a ticket) for the price of a standard seat at a lot of theatres, let alone West End!

T: Yes – go to the theatre! And tell everyone – friends to elected representatives – how much meaning and enjoyment the arts give you.

Touring Dates and Places

Surfacing opens at Blackpool Grand Studio in May 2024, touring to Mercury Colchester (May 4th), Nottingham Playhouse (May 10th), running for three weeks at Clapham Omnibus (May 14th to June 1st) and the Yvonne Arnaud Guildford (June 8th).

Blackpool Grand – https://www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/event/surfacing

Mercury Colchester – https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/surfacing/
Nottingham Playhouse – https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/surfacing/

Clapham Omnibus – https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/surfacing/

Yvonne Arnaud – https://www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/book/92401

#Interview by Lou with Author – Tim Maleeny about his book – Hanging The Devil and much more…

Interview With Tim Maleeny by Lou

The Hanging Devil is Tim Maleeny’s latest mystery book, set in the art world and today, I welcome him to my blog for a Q&A, where you will get to know more about more about why he writes in the Mystery genre, he also discusses AI Technology, Poisons, Art, How to follow him and more…

Tim Maleeny has won the Macavity Award and the Lefty Award. This book is a fascinating look at art forgery and heists, based on actual crimes, featuring a unique third-person POV within the private investigation mystery subgenre.

Without further ado, find out about the blurb and then what Tim Maleeny has to say. His answers truly are insightful and fascinating.

Blurb

It was supposed to be a simple job: steal the paintings, leave the forgeries…

When a helicopter crashes through the skylight of the Asian Art Museum, an audacious heist turns into a tragedy. The only witness to the crash is eleven-year-old Grace, who watches in horror as her uncle is killed and a priceless statue stolen by two men and a-ghost? At least that’s how the eerie, smoke-like figure with parchment skin and floating hair appears to Grace. Scared almost to death, she flees into the night and seeks refuge in the back alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Grace is found by Sally Mei, self-appointed guardian of Chinatown. While Sally trains Grace in basic survival skills, her erstwhile partner Cape Weathers, private detective and public nuisance, searches for the mysterious crew behind the robbery before they strike the museum a second time. As the clock winds down, Cape enlists aid from some unlikely allies to lay a trap for a ghost who has no intention of being caught-nor of leaving any witnesses alive to tell the tale.It was supposed to be a simple job: steal the paintings, leave the forgeries…

Now, you know more about the plot, please proceed onto the interview.

Who or what inspired you to write novels and in the mystery genre?

Thanks to my parents I grew up surrounded by books. Dime paperbacks from the thirties, historical novels, science fiction adventures, pulp thrillers and noir mysteries, along with books about the Greek myths and a small collection of leather-bound classics. I always knew I wanted to write fiction but didn’t know where to start until I began writing short stories. At the time, the bulk of what I was reading for pleasure was crime fiction, and I found my voice in those stories. A mystery can incorporate any style of storytelling, from humor to horror, historical to romance, or all of the above. The only necessary ingredients for a mystery novel are equal parts intrigue and suspense, the rest is up to you.

Hanging the Devil is an art heist. What research did you do into art crimes?

A story that began as a museum heist turned into an international thriller by the time I finished writing because it turns out there is quite a bit of mischief in the art world. Auction houses and museum directors who look the other way as known forgeries are sold and displayed as original masterpieces. Specialized police units in countries around the world, like the Carabinieri Art Squad in Italy and the Cultural Heritage Division of Interpol. Thieves, smugglers and forgers on government payrolls. When I first walked into a museum to check their security and begin my research for Hanging The Devil, I never would have guessed that I’d discover an underground economy where organized crime, greedy government officials and some of the world’s biggest museums conspire to keep the art world a mystery.

Do you like art and if so, what’s your favourite piece?

I am an art lover but would never claim to be an art expert. Learning about art is like reading a book—it begins with a visceral reaction to an idea, and before you know it, you’re empathizing with the characters on the canvas, then learning all you can about the history and context of the painting. Art has inspired me to study history and learn about other cultures, but my tastes, like my interests, run the gamut from comic book art to classical paintings and everything in between. I’m as likely to fall in love with a velvet Elvis as a Rembrandt, as long as it strikes a chord and looks good on the wall. For Hanging The Devil, it was crucial to know what an art forger or thief would look for in a painting, so I spent a lot of time researching the techniques of famous painters. And since part of the story takes place in present-day China, it was essential to understand the historical significance of paintings and sculptures from the 18^th century that could be on display at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, where the robbery in the first chapter takes place.

You’re said to do excessive research into exotic poisons and other things. What fascinates you about poisons and what is the most exotic poison you’ve discovered to be in existence?

My first major short story was called “Till Death Do Us Part,” the title story in an anthology edited by Harlan Coben for the Mystery Writers of America, about an older couple who’d been trying to poison each other for over forty years, a marital game of chess between two masters. From Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie to more modern mysteries, poisons always make the puzzle more perplexing, often unseen and undetected except by the sharpest eye. I’m fascinated by any poison used as a weapon in the natural world, whether it’s secreted by a tree frog, jellyfish, or octopus. My favourite might be the venom of a blue-ringed octopus, a cute little critter that can kill you in under a minute if you get on its bad side. And you can’t go wrong with poisons from plants, like cyanide, which can be found in the pits of apricots and cherries; or arsenic, which is found in rice. So if you want to become a criminal mastermind or famous detective, crack open a book on chemistry and start taking notes.

Hanging the Devil is darkly comical as well as mysterious, how do you go about injecting some humour into what are essentially dark subject matters, such as murder?

Humor is a bridge to empathy. When reading fiction, a smile or laugh helps you connect with a character faster, and so much of the misdirection in a mystery can happen when one character deflects with humor rather than share their true feelings. And when two characters with competing agendas collide, it may not be funny to them, but we’re laughing from having been in equally frustrating situations ourselves. Consider your favorite TV show or sitcom. When Lucille Ball is working on the assembly line in the chocolate factory with Ethel it’s pure mayhem, a nightmare for them but pure comedy for those of us watching.

I wanted Hanging The Devil to be exciting and suspenseful but also fun. Some books are quiet walks in the garden, but mine are more like a drunken ride on a roller coaster.

There is a great tradition of understated humor in noir fiction, often a hard-bitten cynicism peppered with wry observations about the human condition. Those hardboiled mysteries are the books that inspired me to write crime fiction, and later I discovered writers like Elmore Leonard, Loren Estleman, and Ross Thomas, virtuosos who seamlessly blend humor into their narratives through their very real-life characters. People do stupid things, and when you’re a criminal, any misstep can have devasting—and hilarious—consequences. I’m less interested in writing about a perfect crime than a perfect plan that goes horribly wrong, because in life, as in any good mystery, you never really know what happens next.

What made you decide to have an 11-year-old witness a guard being murdered and how did you put yourself in your character’s shoes to be able to write about their perspective?

I vividly remember what it felt like to be that age, the confidence of youth coupled with a growing realization that the world is so much bigger than you are. As for 11-year-old Grace, the witness to the museum heist in Hanging The Devil, fortunately I have two amazing daughters for inspiration when writing about a clever, creative and courageous character.

People are watching AI fairly carefully and discussing it, what is your perspective on this?

Ah, this is a big topic. So-called AI has tremendous positive potential and is being successfully applied in so many ways in business, science, even medicine—but there is definitely a dystopian side to AI that is starting to show its face. We have a co-dependent relationship with our digital devices and spend every waking moment on a digital landscape that is manipulated by companies that want to sell us something and monitored by governments that want to track everything we say or do. In countries around the world it’s become incredibly Orwellian almost overnight, so although I’m a technophile at heart, I’d argue that today’s inventors are not thinking things through in their rush to build what’s next. We’re at a moment in our civilization when our tech is more advanced than we are, and our brains are not ready to handle some of the software that’s already shaping how we live. A recent study showed that the average adult attention span is now less than nine seconds, so we’re turning into a civilization of goldfish.

Hanging the Devil will be published on 14^th How will you be celebrating?

The best way to celebrate a new book release is to go on tour! I’ll be signing copies of Hanging The Devil in New York on the 15^th of November and then head to Scottsdale, San Francisco, Houston and LA on the first leg of the tour, meeting readers and reconnecting with booksellers who love mysteries as much as I do.

What is next for you?

Currently I’m procrastinating but have plenty of writing to do, most importantly the next book featuring Cape and Sally. There is also a standalone novel I’ve been thinking about for a while, a YA adventure if I can make the time, and a couple of short stories on the horizon.

Where can people follow you?

Readers can reach me through my website www.timmaleny.com or follow @timmaleeny on Instagram, where I post updates on books I’m writing and books I’m reading.

The Interviews By Lou – Questions answered by various actors, a presenter, authors

The Interviews

Conducted by Louise Cannon (Lou), featuring various guests, whom I am eternally grateful for giving the opportunity to interview them.

Ever wanted to know more about what inspires authors to write? What’s behind the written page? Behind the scenes of an actor’s life as they take to the stage? Plus much more? Here, I have 22 interviews I have created and conducted with authors, actors, a presenter from both sides of the Atlantic. Also included are a couple with blog tour organisers, where you’ll learn more about what this entails and an extraordinary secretary.
Get comfy and cosy with a cuppa, sit back and see what people have divulged for you. All interview answers are exactly as people have told me. So many genres, you may be inspired for what to read or who to look out for on a stage or TV.
Check out the links. They’ll open in a new tab, making it easy for you to navigate back to this page.

Actors/Presenter/Authors

Fern Britton on The Daughter’s of Cornwall, part of her family’s life, letters and more. The review also weaves through and more… Interview Here

Robert McNamara on the play – Report to An Academy By Franz Kafka, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and more… Interview Here

Vanessa Heron on being The Secretary of the Oscar Wilde Society, how the society came into existence, her favourite play, how to join and more… Interview Here

Ronald Rand – Solo Transformation On Stage on getting into character, his acting, his book and his charitable works, and more… Interview Here

Laura Loane – The first interview I conducted. She talks about books, acting, disability and more…. Interview Here

Authors

Cecelia Ahern on PS. I Love You, Postscript, Freckles, themes around health and more… Interview Here

Matson Taylor on the Evie Epworth books. Discover more about what inspired him, his job out-with being an author and more… Interview Here

Lotte R. James on The Gentleman of Holly Street, the strong themes and advice for historical fiction authors… Interview Here

Anna Willett on The Newlywed where she talks of special crime squads, keeping writing fresh, getting into the psyche of the setting and more…. Interview Here

Val Penny on Hunter’s Chase, setting the book in Edinburgh, combining dark themes with humour and more… Interview Here

Isabella Muir on A Notable Omission, writing crime fiction, the fun of research, the 1970’s and more. Interview Here

Miriam McGuirk on Second Chances, the importance of finding new opportunities after seismic life changes occur, the importance of communities and their hubs and more… Interview Here

Jeanine Englert on Conveniently Married to A Laird, writing historical romance, the class system, marrying out of convenience and more… Interview Here

Viv Fogel on Imperfect Beginnings, writing poetry, an art installation, her birth mother, the noise and the silence within her writing and more… Interview Here

Candi Miller on Salt & Honey, Africa, Culture, Charities and more… Interview Here

Lela May Wight on Bound By A Sicilian Secret, the importance of relatable, gritty themes being included in romance, the inspiration behind the main character being Sicilian and more… Interview Here

Bobby Twidale on De-Ja-Vu, being a former teacher, engaging boys in the education system, writing complex relationships and more… Interview Here

Sarah Rodi on Claimed by the Viking Chief, writing about the Viking period, devouring books in the library, servitude and marriage and more… Interview Here

Tani Hanes on Puppily Ever After, writing a ‘coming of age’ story, values in the book relating to real life, pets and more… Interview Here

R.L Baxter on Blue Lunar and the Apex Grail, writing fantasy, building fantastical worlds, his varied career and more… Interview Here

Paul De Blassie III on Goddess of Everything, the mother/son relationship, the supernatural and his other job of Depth Psychology, the healing of the human mind Interview Here

Simon Van-Der-Velde on Backstories, his “office kimono”, the inspiration for short-stories, his ‘desert island’ books and music and more… Interview Here

Thank you for taking the time to read the interviews.

If you work in the world of stage and theatre or in the world of books and would like to be interviewed, then please do get in touch via my Contact Form

#AuthorInterview with Lou for Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail Author R.L. Baxter #RickyBaxter @ZooloosBT #BlueLunarAndTheApexGrail #Fantasy #BlogTour

Q&A with Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail Author –
R.L. Baxter

Q&A By Lou – Bookmarks and Stages

It gives me great pleasure to interview R.L. Blue Lunar about his book – Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail as part of the Zooloo blog tour. Let’s give a warm welcome to Ricky Baxter.
You’ll discover his inspiration and what he particularly likes about the fantasy genre, discover the heroes, where you can follow him and more. Ahead of the interview, let’s find out a bit about him and then check out the cover and discover the blurb.

About the Author

Ricky Baxter is a London born, fantasy author of novels and short novellas. He is an avid blogger, giving advice and thoughts to fellow creators from all walks of life. Starting out as a composer after graduating with a Ba(Hons) in music and multimedia, Ricky worked for many independent short film directors, gaining notable IMDB credits. Since then, he has embraced his earlier passion for writing fictional stories.

Blurb

In a world where the gods have long deserted mortals, a powerful sorcerer emerges from a 100-year-old prison. Releasing an army of beasts, he enters a path of destruction while searching for an ancient relic.

Tasked with challenging the darkness, a pure and naive-hearted boy named Luke embraces his destiny to defeat the wizard – for the promise of a better tomorrow.

Equipped with a divine armour, fashioned by the most powerful goddess, Luke will journey across the land in pursuit of the dark sorcerer, making unforgettable allies and bonds along the way. However, as a long-buried tragedy slowly comes to light, the boy will question everything he believes in… including his destiny.

Without further ado, let’s head to the first question.

1. Who or what inspired you to write novels?

I was actually inspired to write novels thanks to my secondary English teacher. At the time, I was heavily into gaming, films and TV shows but I couldn’t find a way to create my own stories. One day, my English teacher tasked the whole class to write their own story! I believe the assignment was named “Original writing”, and it changed my life forever. I wrote my first story ever and it was named “Rei’s great adventure”, a story about a boy who could transform into a tiger. I received an A+ for my work, which surprised both myself and teachers. Since then, I have been writing ever since and I probably will continue to keep writing forever!

What do you particularly like about fantasy and what made you choose this genre to write in?

I love fantasy for the sheer fact that it isn’t the real world. As amazing as the real world is, I adore fantasy because it provides a wonderful escape/break from our lives for but a moment. To have characters, laws and history that is wildly detached from our own is wonderful. At the same time, I love who certain parallels can be found between fantasy and our reality as well. Problems such as war, love and friendship are just as vital within fantasy as it is the real world. As such, fantasy has always been my genre of choice, as I can get to tell stories that we all can somewhat relate to, yet in an amazing world of make-believe. I especially chose this for Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail for that very reason.

Who are the heroes of your book and how did they emerge to write about?

The three heroes of my story are: Luke, Aurora and Umbra. Luke is the main hero, being a boy tasked with saving the world. He is naive , kind and thoughtful. At times he can live in his own thoughts, causing him to be overly critical of himself and hesitant. He possess a divine suit of blue armour that allows him to do what no normal person can. My idea for Luke came from childhood TV shows such as power rangers, where the heroes could transform into a powerful version of themselves. Aurora is a master female swordsman. She is strong and focused. Born with a mysterious golden eye that allows her to heighten her skills, many fear her for being different. As such, she tends to not trust others easily. I thought of Aurora upon watching an anime named Claymore. Within that anime, there was a character named Teresa who was almost perfect in every way, to the point of being envied and hated by her comrades. Lastly is Umbra, a boy who claims to be a vampire, although he has no problem being out during daylight. He possesses the uncanny ability of immortality which he almost never explains. He likes to laugh, rub people the wrong way and is seen as the joker of the trio. However, his smiles belie a seriousness to him which he keeps hidden. Umbra was thought due to the need to create a mystery character that is somewhat hard to fully trust.

What’s your process of creating a fantastical world?

That’s a great question! I typically imagine just enough of the world to get started, without knowing everything about it. For example, in the case of Blue Lunar & The Apex Grail, I knew enough that it was a world with lands yet to fully be explored, and that a blue moon orbits the world. From there, I create as I go along, in many ways seeing the world through the main character’s eyes. This not only helps to get the story moving, but also keeps a level of excitement from an author perspective, for of course the last thing I would want is to grow bored of my own world. Essentially, I create the laws of the fantasy world (gods, mortals and demons etc) and then allow my imagination to do the rest. In many ways, I’d like to think that the creation of fantasy worlds take a certain kind of faith in the imagination.

In your bio it states a wide and varied career, it says you started out composing music. What genre did you compose and where can people find it?

Yes I used to compose music! In fact, I am quite the piano player. I used to compose orchestral background music to short films in my university days. I absolutely adored composing piano and string pieces. You can find music to a past short film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVrjap6n_c