Featured Interview With Aileen Morris
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1993. I still live in the area, with my family. I was born with a condition called Asperger’s Syndrome, so I was homeschooled by my mother for most of my childhood. My main interests have always been artistic – reading, writing, music, dance, etc.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My parents tell me that I always showed more of an interest with books than with toys. And one of my favourite things to do with books, when I was younger, was make up new stories for them based on the pictures! Particularly, I remember turning “Sleeping Beauty” into a version of “Cinderella” and vice versa! I wrote my first original story when I was three. It was called “The Evil Queen.” It had no plot and no ending!! My writing matured as I kept with it, of course.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors, at this point in time, are J.K. Rowling and L.M. Montgomery. I love “Harry Potter” and almost anything Montgomery wrote. I also have enjoyed Jane Austen, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Shakespeare, and Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” I love to read classics, celebrity biographies, and non-fiction books about movies and music. Oh, and I love to read comics like “Archie” and “Calvin and Hobbes!” As for who or what I’m most inspired by, I find that two things in particular are most likely to set my imagination going: other people’s life stories; or the nagging feeling that, in the book I just read, some element or other could have been handled much better! Therefore, you may find that the books I like best aren’t necessarily the ones I base my own stories on!
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“The Darkness of Peoh” is my attempt to incorporate an old-timey, classic-novel feel into a fantasy series for young adults. I was inspired to write it after watching “The Wizard of Oz” with my friend, so there are definitely some elements of that story in my book! For one thing, I’ve called the main character “Dorothy,” although she’s not actually much like Dorothy in the Oz movie. My character is much more quiet and serious! But my Dorothy does have to leave her home, in a very dull and gray place (the Land of Peoh’s Gray District) to go to an “emerald city” (called Emeraldia) – and she’s also not sure when or if she’ll get home!
My Dorothy has been recruited to work in the Land of Peoh’s Tar-Pits, highly toxic and dangerous mines from which the entire country gets their currency. She’s never left home before, and now she has to leave to do a job which might end up killing her! She also has to contend with impossibly strict and demanding supervisor Clara Martin, the fact that her Emeraldian landlords are dealing with relationship issues, and even with the high expectations of Peoh’s cold and enigmatic ruler.
But there is also Freddie, the kindly older boy from back home who looks out for Dorothy, as well as a trio of new friends who support her during her term in the mines, to help make things more bearable for her. Add in a hi-tech compass, an inpenetrable Dark Forest, and a magical Silver Pin… and you’ve got the main ingredients for an exciting tale!
“Darkness” is the first book in the “Peoh” trilogy, and the three books together took me two years to write! Now that the first one is published, I’m editing the second. Stay tuned!
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