Rob is a British born writer and podcaster, currently living in Finland. His podcast, StorycastRob, features readings from his short stories and excerpts from longer work. His work can also be found in the anthologies Tales from the Underground, Tales from the Universe, Tales from Alternate Earths and Tales of Wonder published by Inklings Press.
His greatest geek pride is his entry on wookieepedia, the result of writing several Star Wars RPG scenarios back in the day.
What kind of books do you write?
My first is in ‘fun’ but not in ‘run’. My second is in ‘family’ but not in ‘fomily’… In fact, I’ve not really settled into a single genre yet. My published short stories are pretty varied. My two novels-in-progress… Well, I guess they are both about people finding that the world, and they themselves, are not quite what they always believed. Both have exciting action and occasional silly comedy moments, one has magic and demons, the other aliens and superheroes.
Can you describe your writing 'why'?
Crikey, these questions are tough, I was hoping for questions about cake. Um. Why do I write? Because I enjoy telling stories. Yuk. That seems a little trite, even to me.
But, when I say telling stories, I mean that in the literal, verbal sense. Everything I write is designed to be read aloud, I view writing as a performance art (hence my podcast (and why one of my toughest jobs when I edit is culling my various parenthetical asides (like this))).
I first caught the writing bug as a child reading a story I’d written to the class. I remember the reaction now, it was a story (okay, I was like six, it wasn’t much more than a paragraph) about a ghost, and I’d written a character talking with a stutter like Shaggy in Scooby Doo. “A g-g-g-ghost?” My classmates loved it. Probably. In fact, I don’t really remember how they reacted, but I remember my feeling about the way they reacted, and that feeling was awesome.
Ever since, one way or another, I like to entertain with words, preferably spoken aloud.
Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most.
That’s tricky, as the bits I enjoy writing the most are usually the big twists or reveals, and not only don’t I want to spoil anything, out of context they would be far less interesting. But here’s something from my current work in progress. It’s part of an advert our protagonist is watching as he begins to realise just what he’s gotten himself into:
"But maybe you're worried that you're not 'special' enough to become a superhero?” Hawk said, looking serious. “Maybe your parents weren't murdered in an alley? Perhaps you've never been bitten by a radioactive anything? Perhaps when you tried to build yourself power armour you found you couldn't move in it, let alone fly?
"Well, we say 'phooey' to that. It's a big galaxy. Somewhere in it, whatever you can do, whatever you are, is special, and here at the Justice Academy, we will help you find that place. And you don't have to be rocketed there as a baby, or even have your home planet explode.
"So... you want to be a space alien superhero? Join me, Captain Hawk, at the Justice Academy, and before you know it... you will be!"
Tell us all about your latest project.
My latest project, where you can find the most about me, generally, is my monthly podcast, StorycastRob. On it you will find readings of my stories, the first twelve chapters of my book Writ in Blood and Silver and more recently readings from other Indy authors, including a few strangely close to this interview. Writ is about demons stalking the London Underground and starts on episode 10 of the podcast. It’s all completely free, you can find it on i-tunes or straight from me at www.storycastrob.co.uk.
What is your favourite cake?
At last! Cake-adjacent interrogation. My favourite cake that I make is probably my Lemon Drizzle, it’s soft, moist, sweet and sharp, yum. I live in Finland now, and their cakes are… not like the ones I grew up with. But there’s a rather nice nougat cake that a local café does which is rather delicious. Oh! And I must remember my wife’s chocolate cake, and my mum’s walnut cake.
An excellent cake choice, thank you Rob! For those in the baking mood, here is a lovely recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake which I guarantee will have your taste buds tingling.
You can keep in touch with Rob across social media ~ follow him on Twitter @StorycastRob ~ like him on Facebook.com/StorycastRob ~ read his blog www.storycastrob.co.uk/wp ~ listen to his podcast StorycastRob
Join me next week when I will be having a slice of cake with indie author C H Clepitt, grilling them gently about their writing life and of course sharing their favourite cake.
If you would like to take part in A Slice of Cake With... please fill in the form found here. I'd be delighted to have you.
Claire Buss is a sci-fi, fantasy & humorous writer and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.
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