Featured Interview With Paul J. Fleming
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Liverpool, UK. My teen years spent in a south-Liverpool area called Woolton Village which had a lovely little library with a very well stocked Doctor Who section downstairs in the Fiction department. Many a day I walked out with three or four books to just sit, read and relax – letting my mind wander into adventures through space and time.
As time moved on and my interests grew I did divert into works of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and H.P.Lovecraft, together with Stephen King, Clive Barker (mainly as he’s from Liverpool too!!) but even though I did like the mystery/horror/suspense genre, Science Fiction kept drawing me back.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Very early. Books were the source of fantastical adventures free from dodgy props and alien monsters which were obviously men in badly painted rubber suits. It was a case of reading a pile of adventures and then creating my own stories with the popular characters – whoever I had been reading at the time. Throughout my childhood and my teens there were numerous little stories and tales penned which have never seen the light of day, but I wrote them for me. It actually never crossed my mind that others out there may enjoy them, they were just silly stories for my own amusement.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Terry Pratchett. Absolute genius with his Discworld series, but with regards to how he ‘de-technified’ items suchs as cameras (imps in boxes painting!).
To be honest, aside from Mr Pratchett above, I will read mostly anything I come across by a whole host of authors, both new to the field and old hands at the craft. Obviously if there is one who makes an impression I will be more versed to reading more of their work, but not exclusively at the expense of others. There’s so much talent brimming about in the world of self-publishing, talent which previously may have been stemmed by repeated rejection letters from the publishing industry biggies.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
This latest book is actually a bit of a diversion for me, as I originally had a line of titles planned within the environment of the 23rd Century which all featured the Erstwhile and her crew on their misadventures, but then I wanted to show off other characters and people too within the setting.
The big thing I wanted to try and avoid was bogging down the main title with disparate sidelines and spaghetti tangled tales, so I decided to write the Chronicles line to feature a whole variety of characters and situations, all around the main book line ‘Tales’.
Essentially, in reading Chronicles you are being introduced to the universe and details about a variety of settings which may feature in the main story books, but these are separate mini adventures which paint a colourful background picture and also introduce some characters who may cross over into the main title at some point (no spoilers here!).
That’s why Chronicles is set around 70 pages or so as opposed to the 300 pages of the main storyline books. An easy quick read to provide detail and colour.
Thing is though, and I feel I have to say this, that I am still writing these adventures for my own amusement and entertainment. There’s still a great part of me which responds with utter amazement at the feedback people are giving me, as I really did not expect the take up to be so positive. My first ever book, Tales from the 23rd Century earned such a glowing 5 star review that it almost brought me to tears – honest. I still can’t quite believe it.
I just hope that Chronicles follows in the footsteps of it’s bigger sibling and entertains. I know I enjoyed it, and will proceed with many more of them around the main title line as time presses onward.
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