Interview Roulette: Blaine D. Arden

Today’s player is Blaine D. Arden!

 

  1. What advice would you give your 17-year-old self?

For crying out loud, research economics instead of enrolling because you like to play with numbers and they offer computer sciences. Most importantly, don’t put writing second. Just go for it and keep creating fantastical worlds.

 

  1. You’re being transported to the Middle Ages and can take with you a single piece of modern technology. What do you choose?

To be honest, being transported back in time, my whole life experiences could well be considered a piece of modern technology, having been brought up in this modern world. Still, in the end, I’d go for a fully charged e-ink ereader filled with information to help me MacGyver my way through the Middle Ages, and maybe a small number of books for those first dark nights of settling in.

 

  1. If you had a time machine, where/when would you go and why?

My first instinct is to go back to 1992, about a year before my mother’s cancer diagnosis, and just hang out with her.

 

  1. There’s Tumblr site called Describe a Film Plot Badly. Describe one (or more) of your own book plots badly, in no more than 140 characters.

Lovesick tree hugger pines for mourning friend’s cinnamon buns.

(not sure I’m very good at this)

 

  1. Aside from the country you live in now, which country can you best picture yourself living in?

That’s a tricky one. For a long time, I’ve been thinking about moving to the UK after my husband retires. Buy a nice idyllic cottage somewhere rural, where the hubs can tinker with cars and tend a luscious garden, and I can have a secluded hiding place to write, read, sing, and practice whatever hobby du jour. This whole Brexit thing more or less ruined that dream, though.

So, now I’m still looking for a new moving dream. It can’t be anywhere light and sunny, since I’m very light sensitive and don’t do heat very well, which leaves some lovely northern countries to choose from. Most of which I’ve never really looked at before. Though, Canada comes to mind. I’ve always wanted to visit. Still, should Scotland ever become independent and decide to stay in the EU, that would definitely be my first pick.

 

  1. What’s the one article of clothing you love, but really should throw away because you’d die if anyone ever caught you wearing it?

Maybe not so much die if anyone caught me, but more die if anyone realised just how threadbare a certain pair of trousers really are. I do tend to overwear trousers that fit me well. And the fabric of my favourite black pair(s) tends to fray white. It’s a good thing I prefer to wear long tunics over them.

 

  1. If one of your characters were to practice a random act of kindness, what would it be?

The guide exists for random acts of kindness, but choosing him is a bit of a cop out. Still, since he’s one of my personal favourites, I couldn’t help but mention him.

Ianys, though, from my Triad in Three Acts, would gladly pay a full meal for the family with four children whose parents are counting their cash to make sure they have enough for four burgers. He has a weakness for seeing children happy.

 

  1. If you could build any kind of structure to live in, what would you choose and why?

There are endless possibilities, yet, because I’m only slightly obsessed with them, *cough*, my brain immediately conjured up a cute tiny house with multifunctional furniture, including a sturdy and comfy writing desk, that we could take anywhere we wanted. When not travelling, it will connect to three others. One would be a bedroom/bathroom combo, and the other two would be our offices slash work spaces. Mine, of course, would have purple accents everywhere, no matter how much the hubs protests.

A good second would be a hobbit house that’s partially dug into the ground.

 

  1. Pick a politician and give him or her one piece of really good advice.

Such a funny question for someone who, though rather opinionated at times, knows nothing about politics, and prefers looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses. Why do you think I create my own worlds?

Even worse is that I read more about American politics than Dutch politics, since my timeline is filled with the results of the Trump administration. (though I fully understand it).

My advice, as much as I’m qualified to give advice in this matter, would be for politicians in general: “Think before you speak.”

 

  1. What’s the longest road trip you’ve been on?

I’d have to say my honeymoon. The hubs and I travelled from the Netherlands (where we live) through Germany, Poland, the Chech Republic, Austria (taking a day trip or two into Italy), and back through Germany on the drive home. We were young, carefree, and just married. We had a brilliant time.

Though our 2005 UK camping trip (from Dover to Scotland, Wales, Devon, and back to Dover) with the kids is a close second. Well, aside from eldest (then 13) breaking his wrist rolling down Greenwich park.

 

 

A Triad in Three Acts (the complete Forester Trilogy)

Book blurb:

“There is always a way.”

Kelnaht, Taruif, and Ianys are meant to be together, but old promises and the decree of the elders prevent them from claiming each other openly at Solstice. Kelnaht can investigate murder and foul play, but he can’t see how he can keep both his lovers without breaking the rules. But if he believes in the guide’s words and trusts his faith in Ma’terra, they will find a way to clear the fog and puddles from their paths.

 

The Forester

Kelnaht, a cloud elf, is a truth seeker caught between love and faith, when a murder reveals an illicit affair between two tree elves he desires more than he can admit. Kelnaht’s former lover Ianys once betrayed him, and the shunned forester Taruif is not allowed to talk to anyone but the guide, their spiritual pathfinder.

 

Lost and Found

A stripling goes missing from the tribe, and heavy rainfall hides all traces of his whereabouts. With days creeping by without a lead, it’s hard to keep the tribe’s spirits up, more so when Kelnaht’s own future depends on the elders. Taruif has been shunned for almost twenty turns, but now that a possible forester’s apprentice is coming of age, the elders consider reducing his sentence. Taruif could be set free.

 

Full Circle

When several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Ianys’ daughter Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.

 

Book buy links:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JPCNVAO

https://books2read.com/triad3acts  (universal link)

Author bio:

Blaine D. Arden is a purple-haired, forty-something author of queer romance mixed with fantasy, mystery, and magic who sings her way through life in platform boots.

Blaine is an EPIC Award winning author and has been published by Storm Moon Press, Less Than Three Press, and Wilde City Press. Her scifi romance “Aliens, Smith and Jones” received an Honourable Mention in the Best Gay Sci-Fi/Fantasy category of the Rainbow Awards 2012.

Author contacts:

2 thoughts on “Interview Roulette: Blaine D. Arden”

  1. fun. will have to look up the books, as they look interesting. Blaine is a new author for me.

    and Blaine and hubby should definitely put NZ on the list of retirement places. like the UK, but with no brexit (well, sort of. much more complex to emigrate there, but climate and culture is similar. except less crowded, and with an entirely different native people’s influence).

    1. 🙂 NZ does sound lovely. Plenty of time to ponder and research, since the hubs is about 10 years away from retiring (unless the retirement age is turned back again… but I’m not holding my breath).

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