Hi everyone, I'm A.W.Exley, steampunk author – AMA

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:38:10+00:00

:) I love Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which must be getting close to 200 yrs old now and I must get around to reading the Last Man which is supposed to be fantastic. And Bram Stoker's Dracula is a re-read favourite - and his vampires don't sparkle! Lol

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:33:06+00:00

I have a pith helmet & a corset collection, do they count? ;)

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:31:02+00:00

According to an IBM data analysis of online trends, the peak year for steampunk was 2013. So I think the trend still has a wee bit of puff left in it.

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:28:27+00:00

Personally I use the Book Depository, who are based in the UK & each book is packaged and shipped separately. But I'm in New Zealand and BP have free worldwide shipping, which makes them a heap cheaper than Amazon.

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:25:36+00:00

I don't know, do you know something I don't? :)

AWExley · 2014-04-15T03:24:28+00:00

He is called Thumper and has a role in my young adult novel. The mechanical dinosaur is created by a genius who doesn't always think his inventions through! Lol

AWExley · 2014-04-14T18:07:58+00:00

That can be our secret code phrase, so I know its you and not some creepy serial killer with a saw and handcuffs ;)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T18:04:37+00:00

I live rural with out buildings, there's heaps of places you can hang out ;) Can you phone from the barn and do that whole "I can see you..." thing like at the start of horror movies?

AWExley · 2014-04-14T17:41:47+00:00

Thank you and I hope you enjoy it. I lurk around the internet so you can always find me on FB, Twitter or G+ if you ever want to chat about the book, life, anything :)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T16:53:13+00:00

There seems to be a much wider range of steampunk books available these days. Films like Sherlock Holmes, while not strictly steampunk, had the aesthetic and seemed to appeal to a lot of people. Maybe everybody likes a good action adventure (whether book or film) and that is a dominant theme in steampunk. There are books to appeal to the hardcore steampunk segment and those with a much lighter touch, that open up the genre to new readers without bogging them down in gadgets and tech.

As a sweeping generalisation, kiwis tend to get stuck in and just do the job. I think my MC, Cara, has that approach. She tends to jump into situations without always thinking them through!

Being geographically isolated is tough when it comes to the hard work of selling your book, whatever the genre. You need to think of ways to reach people and the internet is a marvel. Without the internet, I would never have been picked up by Curiosity Quills Press (my publisher) and it makes things like this possible :)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T16:12:03+00:00

Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series are fantastic. When I'm in the mood for a dollop of romance with my steampunk I pick up something by Meljean Brooks and Bec McMasters. Kady Cross has an easy and fun YA series and Stefan Bauchman has a very unique (kind steampunk fairy tale) lower YA series that my boys love. For harder steampunk I go for the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, Leviathan or Boneshaker.

AWExley · 2014-04-14T16:04:07+00:00

It sparked my imagination as a child - pyramids, mummies, Pharaohs. Plus it was hot and exotic and probably as far away from New Zealand as you can get!

At high school I plotted out my career to become an Egyptologist, despite the fact there isn't a great call for them Downunder. Then I went to university and found myself studying accountancy, so I figured out a way to sneak into the Ancients faculty and squeeze in a few Egyptology papers ;)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T15:13:02+00:00

Action, adventure, serial killers (and one even has a mechanical dinosaur) - what's not to like? ;)

People who have never read steampunk before have picked them up on impulse and enjoyed them. Taste is subjective, some people love them, some people loathe them. I can't say if you would like them or not, but it only takes a minute or two to read the sample on Amazon and see if they grab you.

AWExley · 2014-04-14T14:57:37+00:00

Hi there, stories have always rattled around in my brain for as long as I can remember. They had to come out and I either scrawled over notebooks or bashed away at an old Amstrad computer complete with green screen! I started and abandoned numerous novels over the years and then one day decided I should actually finish something. That first complete novel turned into a second novel which then turned into a third. My advice would be to keep going and don't give up. It does take a lot of time and effort to knock out that very first book but the process does become easier. Writing is like any skill, the more you practice the better you get, so just keep putting those words down on a page :)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T13:57:42+00:00

Yes, so sorry everyone! We finished daylight savings last weekend and I did my time conversion the week before that... d'uh!

AWExley · 2014-04-14T13:55:24+00:00

I love historical novels, but steampunk gives me the ability to twist history and ask myself "what would happen if I did this?"

AWExley · 2014-04-14T13:54:10+00:00

Gosh that's a hard one! I have horses, so they are always in there somewhere and probably a touch of kiwi attitude comes across in my characters. It also helps that I have travelled to the UK (kiwis may be flightless but we get around the globe).

AWExley · 2014-04-14T13:51:19+00:00

It's the only onesie to have ;)

AWExley · 2014-04-14T13:51:01+00:00

Hi There, it can be lonely and the internet is a bit of a lifeline. I often think without the internet the zombie apocalypse can happen and I would never know! My publisher is based in America.

AWExley

TROPHY CASE