Interview Roulette: Gus Li – Kim Fielding Writes

Gus Li joins us today!

What were your favorite childhood books?

The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

Watership Down, Richard Adams

Tolkien (I was a nerd early)

I also read everything our public library had about history and mythology. I’ve always loved reading about battles, strategy, and the evolution of weapons.

Which of your characters is going to Vegas with you and why?

Wow, great question. I guess if I’m going there for below-the-board reasons, I have a wide range of morally grey characters to choose from. My Blessed Epoch mage Yarrow would be tempting, because magic, but since he is also a little too fond of a good time, he would probably get too drunk to be useful to me early on—probably get us kicked out of the casino too. So I guess I’ll go with Sasha, who can pick pockets, expertly manipulate people, and is hellfire in a fight 🙂

What is your favorite appliance?

Anything I can use to make things: the Wacom tablet, the sewing machine, the MacBook.

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

Firearms. Sorry. I know that’s not going to be a popular choice, but since I would almost certainly be on a quick trip to the stake in the Middle Ages, well…. And I could possibly save other interesting people doomed to be executed.

Describe one of your characters’ deepest regrets.

The cat couldn’t bear to see the young monk being beaten, burned, and hurt. He was beautiful—outside and inside—and the cat could no longer stand by and watch him suffer. One night, after he offered the young man all the comforts and pleasures his body could provide, the cat made his way inside the fortress. He found the sorcerer’s chambers, and he proposed to the magician a bargain.

“Put an end to that young man’s suffering, and I will offer you my servitude for as long as you find it valuable.”

The wizard took the bargain, but he still needed to free himself from Tajo’s brutal control. He made another bargain with the powerful demon in the Dream Realm. He promised to see that mortals died in distress and became Phantoms, and in exchange the demon would destroy Tajo and free Kazuo from his control.

The monk was beheaded. The cat stood next to the ankle of his new master as the monk’s blood soaked the ground. His pain was gone, and that pleased the cat. But to free himself from Tajo, Kazuo needed the help of the Dream Demon. Kazuo fed souls to the demon—with the cat’s help. When it grew strong enough, it cut down the warlord Tajo in his dreams, but that meant Kazuo owed it a debt. Kazuo was not a fool, though, and he knew what he had unleashed. The last thing he wanted was to trade one master for another.

If you had to live in a movie, TV show, or book, which would you choose and why?

Can I choose a video game? I’m going to choose a video game. It’s a toss up between Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age. I like the idea of wandering around and finding treasure in caves. That beats the hell out of getting a crappy desk job all day! Also magic. By a fine margin, I’ll choose Dragon Age, for the added bonus of being able to bring down oppressive organized religion. F the Chantry.

Which of your characters would make a good BFF?

Fox-Hat. Magically speaking, he isn’t the most powerful of my characters, but he makes up for it with cleverness. He is also less cutthroat than many of my characters and has the capacity to actually care about people he bonds to. But he’s enough of a bastard and a trickster to still be fun, and he’s no altar boy, so we could still do what we needed to do. Best of all, he’s a fox, so he could take fox form and I could pet a fox whenever I wanted.